PA Republicans vote to cut taxes for billionaires, take healthcare away from their own communities

Pennsylvania’s Republican House members voted to cut health care coverage and food assistance for constituents in order to fund President Donald Trump’s tax cuts that benefit corporations and billionaires.

All ten of Pennsylvania’s congressional Republicans on Thursday voted for President Donald Trump’s budget bill that cuts taxes for the rich and corporations by taking healthcare and food away from Pennsylvanians.

The delegation’s four most vulnerable members — Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mackenzie, Rob Bresnahan, Scott Perry — voted for the bill, even though it cuts Medicaid by $698 billion and will cause 7.6 million Americans to lose their health care. 

“Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mackenzie, Rob Bresnahan, Scott Perry, and House Republicans have broken their promise to help the people they were elected to serve,” Suzan DelBene, Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), said in a statement. 

Republicans in the US House passed the budget in a 215 to 214 vote early on Thursday after spending all night and the early morning hours debating the bill. Two Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against the bill. 

“Their vote to pass a singularly devastating piece of legislation that will hurt millions of working people, all to pay for hundreds of billions in tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy is the latest example of their complete abandonment of everyday Americans in favor of billionaires,” DelBene added. “By passing the largest cut to Medicaid in history, Fitzpatrick, Mackenzie, Bresnahan, Perry, and their fellow Republicans are ripping away health care from millions of Americans and levying a de facto hidden tax on working class families.”

Medicaid supports 2 million adults and 1.4 million children throughout Pennsylvania and helps cover 34% of all births throughout the state.

Democrats warn that these cuts will put a larger strain on rural hospitals that serve Medicaid recipients. 

“ If these Medicaid cuts happen, if Republicans really do this, we’re going to expect to see rural hospitals close, senior facilities, nursing homes likely close, and that’ll be worse in the more rural parts of our state,” Congressman Chris Deluzio told The Keystone in an interview prior.

Thursday’s vote. “I think my Republican counterparts are hearing the same thing, and they know it. And yet, they’re going down this path and I don’t get it.”

Deluzio was incredulous as to why Republicans would choose to add an estimated $4 trillion to the national debt in order to help pave the way for tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans. 

“They’re really setting up to hurt a lot of people in more rural parts of our communities and districts, and again, why,” Delzio asked. “They’re doing this to help pay for tax giveaways that even then they’re not fully paying for. They’re going to  jam us all with several trillions in debt. I can’t make this stuff up.” 

The budget also includes a roughly $300 billion cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps put food on the table for millions of Americans who are struggling to afford groceries. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, close to 2 million Pennsylvanians, or 1 out of every 6 residents, use SNAP to help put food on their tables.

According to the New York Times, an analysis from the Penn Wharton Budget Model estimated that those making between $17,000 to $51,000 a year would see their after-tax incomes fall by an average of $700 starting in 2026 under the budget. 

Americans making less than $17,000 per year could see their incomes fall by as much as $1,000 when combined with the benefit cuts, while those making over $4.3 million per year would see their incomes increase by more than $389,000 thanks to the tax cuts. 

“House Republicans passed a dangerous reconciliation package that gives trillions in tax breaks to billionaires and corporate profiteers at the expense of Western Pennsylvania and working families across the country,” US Rep. Summer Lee said in a statement. 

“This package was negotiated behind closed doors and pushed through committees in the dead of night, deliberately to mask the scale of harm Republicans are inflicting on everyday people.”

The bill, which is being advanced using a special process called budget reconciliation, now heads to the Senate, where it just needs a simple majority to pass under reconciliation rules. 

Update: This article was updated to reflect the number of Republicans in the congressional delegation