WASHINGTON — More than two dozen people in the entertainment industry, including well-known celebrities such as Zayn Malik and Scarlett Johansson, signed onto a letter sounding the alarm against proposed changes to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, being pursued in President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending bill.
The details of the legislation, dubbed the “one big, beautiful bill” by Trump, are still fluid but are currently being worked out by congressional Republicans who are in a time crunch to pass it.
What You Need To Know
More than two dozen people in the entertainment industry, including well-known celebrities such as Zayn Malik and Scarlett Johansson, signed onto a letter sounding the alarm against proposed changes to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, being pursued in President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending bill
The details of the legislation, dubbed the “one big, beautiful bill” by Trump, are still fluid but are currently being worked out by Congressional Republicans who are in a time crunch to pass it
The open letter was shared by the non-profit Feeding America and is addressed to “Members of Congress” and urges them to reject cuts to the programs; others who signed on include Connie Britton, Kristin Chenoweth, Liev Schreiber, Matt Damon, Minka Kelly, Don Johnson, David Arquette, Sheryl Crow and more
Yet, in a setback for Senate Republicans, the Senate parliamentarian on Thursday decided that some of the proposed changes to Medicaid do not fit rules governing the method they are looking to use to pass it
The open letter was shared by the non-profit Feeding America and is addressed to “Members of Congress” and urges them to reject cuts to the programs. The celebrities warn that the bill being considered by congressional Republicans “would make some of the largest cuts to SNAP and Medicaid in U.S. history — taking 9.5 billions of meals a year through SNAP off the table and pushing hundreds of thousands of people off Medicaid and into food insecurity.”
“This is unacceptable and wrong,” the group wrote. “It is not how people in this country treat each other when facing hard times.”
The letter notes that millions of low-income Americans, including children and seniors, rely on the federal government-funded health insurance and food assistance programs to “make ends meet.”
“These programs make it possible for them to live more healthily and with dignity, in turn helping communities across America to thrive,” the letter reads.
More than 30 figures in entertainment backed the message. Along with Malik and Johansson, others who signed on include Connie Britton, Kristin Chenoweth, Liev Schreiber, Matt Damon, Minka Kelly, Don Johnson, David Arquette, Sheryl Crow and more.
The massive legislation is meant to contain some of Trump’s biggest priorities on tax cuts, the border and defense and spending cuts.
The bill that passed the House last month looks to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and implement some new ones, such as for tipped workers, while boosting defense and border spending and raising the nation’s debt ceiling. It seeks to make up for lost revenue to the federal government from tax cuts in part by making changes to programs such as Medicaid, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated would result in more than 10 million more people lacking health insurance.
But the Senate still needs to pass its version before that bill can go back to the House to get final approval and ultimately reach Trump’s desk.
And the Senate has been seeking to go further in making changes to Medicaid — which were believed to result in more cuts to the program — than Republicans in the House did in their version of the bill that passed in May. Some Republicans in both chambers have been expressing concerns about the changes to Medicaid being sought as well, particularly the impact it could have on rural hospitals.
Yet, in a setback for Senate Republicans, the Senate parliamentarian on Thursday decided that some of the proposed changes to Medicaid do not fit rules governing the method they are looking to use to pass it.
The process the Senate is trying to use — called budget reconciliation — has specific rules that surround it and ultimately would allow Republicans to clear the bill with a simple majority instead of the usual 60-vote threshold and therefore avoid the need for any Democratic support on the bill.
The decision from the parliamentarian means Senate Republicans will have to make changes to its approach on Medicaid reforms.
Trump wants the bill on his desk by July 4, although such a timeline has come into question, especially in light of the changes from the parliamentarian.