Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (7th District of Washington)
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), a Member of the Budget Committee, released the following statement regarding the vote on “One Big Ugly Bill”:
“This budget is a betrayal of the American people – full stop.
“Drafted and debated in the middle of the night, under the cloak of darkness, it is a giveaway to billionaires, paid for by stealing from the poor. It strips 14 million people off their health care, it slashes food for the hungry and cuts basic needs, all to give a tax break to the people who need it the least.
“If you’re in the top one percent, you do well in this bill – but if you’re a poor or working person, you get screwed. I voted no because I stand with the people, not the billionaires.
“This is not the end. We will continue to fight this budget to stop this destruction as it goes to the Senate.”
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Norma Torres (35th District of California)
May 22, 2025
Voted No to Protect Critical Healthcare, Food Security, and Fair Tax Policies for California Families
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Norma Torres voted against the Republican Budget Reconciliation bill, which harms millions of Americans. The bill includes devastating provisions that would cut healthcare coverage for nearly 14 million people, reduce SNAP benefits by $300 billion, and leave 42 million Americans facing cuts to their benefits. Congresswoman Torres has been at the forefront of efforts to protect vital programs and services for working families, children, seniors, and people with disabilities.
“I cannot in good conscience support a bill that undermines the basic needs of our nation’s most vulnerable,” said Congresswoman Norma Torres. “This bill would slash critical healthcare coverage, make it harder for families to put food on the table, and further burden Californians already struggling with the high cost of living.
“Almost half of my district relies on Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid. More than 110,000 residents of my district rely on food assistance programs.”
“The Republican Budget Reconciliation is an outright assault on these families, and on working American families across the nation. I’ll keep fighting for Californians, pushing back against these harmful cuts and standing up for policies that protect healthcare, food security, tax fairness, and a stronger future for all. It’s shameful that my Republican colleagues are prioritizing billionaires over the needs of their own constituents.”
Congresswoman Torres proposed amendments were not included by Republicans but would have significantly improved the bill and protected healthcare, food security, and fair tax policies.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Don Beyer (D-VA)
Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) issued the following remarks this morning during the Ways and Means Committee’s portion of House floor debate on H.R. 1. Beyer’s remarks as delivered follow below, and video is available here:
Mr. Speaker, our dearly departed friend and colleague Gerry Connolly used to say that “our job is to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.” This bill does the opposite.
My Republican friends say this act is about “helping the working families in America,” but nothing could be further from the truth.
This monstrous bill strips health care from 14 million Americans.
It cuts $300 billion in food and nutrition from working Americans.
While giving a temporary head fake to those working on overtime and those working for tips, it actually raises taxes on the poorest 20 percent of Americans – exactly the folks my Republican friends pretend it helps.
The overwhelming benefits of H.R. 1 flow to the wealthiest Americans, the largest transfer of wealth from working Americans to rich in the history of our country.
Mr. Speaker, Gerry Connolly was a devout Catholic who studied to be a priest. He and I agreed that the essence of this bill sent the opposite message of the New Testament, which is to give our lives to help the poor.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Dina Titus (1st District of Nevada)
Congresswoman Dina Titus announced today that she has successfully removed language from the Republican budget bill that would have sold off at least 65,000 acres of land in Southern Nevada. Rep. Titus has been leading the effort to remove the provision since Rep. Mark Amodei introduced an amendment in the early morning hours of May 7th to sell off public lands and direct the proceeds to the federal government to pay for tax breaks for the rich.
“This is the right decision,” Congresswoman Titus said. “The Republican budget bill already forces states to deal with billions of dollars in federal cuts to Medicaid, as well as to education, food, and housing assistance programs. The Amodei amendment would have created an additional burden on taxpayers who would have ultimately had to front the costs of infrastructure improvements needed for developments in distant areas. It would have further strained our limited water resources. On top of that, this provision would have broken precedent by sending money back to Washington D.C. rather than keeping it in Southern Nevada to invest in conservation, preserving critical ecosystems, wildfire prevention efforts, and public schools.”
Just after midnight on Monday morning, Rep. Titus was ready to defend Southern Nevadans by introducing her amendment to nullify the proposed land sales in Clark County. The language was removed in the manager’s amendment, however, after the Congresswoman worked successfully with her colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure the provision was struck.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Dina Titus (1st District of Nevada)
Rep. Dina Titus Statement on House Passage of Budget Bill Harming Nevadans
Congresswoman Dina Titus today released the following statement after the House voted to approve the budget reconciliation bill:
“Passage of the disastrous Republican budget bill threatens every Nevadan. Sixty-four thousand Nevadans will go without health insurance because tax credits for the Affordable Care Act will be allowed to expire. Households able to keep their coverage will see their premiums double, paying an extra $3,690 per year. In my congressional district alone, 19,000 adults and children will be immediately kicked off their Medicaid coverage, and 33,000 people will lose some or all of their SNAP benefits. And while billionaires will get tax breaks of $762 per day, average Nevadans making $50,000 per year or less will get less than $1 per day. While House Republicans march in lockstep with Donald Trump, Nevadans are being left behind – poorer, sicker, and hungrier.”
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (8th District of New York)
Washington, DC – Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke on the House Floor in opposition to the dangerous GOP Tax Scam passed by House Republicans to strip healthcare and nutritional assistance from the American people in order to enact massive tax breaks for billionaires.
JEFFRIES: Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this reckless, regressive and reprehensible GOP Tax Scam. This is One Big Ugly Bill that House Republicans are trying to jam down the throats of the American people under the cover of darkness. This legislation will not make life better for the American people. The GOP Tax Scam represents an assault on the economy, an assault on healthcare, an assault on nutritional assistance, an assault on tax fairness and an assault on fiscal responsibility. There are more than 100 other reasons to vote against this One Big Ugly Bill that can be found by reading this more than 1000-page document. Those reasons are too numerous to mention, but this legislation also undermines reproductive freedom, undermines the progress that we have made in combating the climate crisis, undermines gun safety, undermines the rule of law and the independence of the federal judiciary. It even undermines the ability of hardworking and law-abiding immigrant families to provide remittances to their loved ones who may just happen to live abroad. There are more than 100 different reasons to vote against the GOP Tax Scam. And in the days and the weeks and the months to come, all of those reasons will be exposed for the American people, in each and every one of your districts.
But this bill represents a failed promise. Last year, Donald Trump and House Republicans spent all of their time talking about their promise to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America. In fact, Donald Trump and Republicans promised that costs would go down on day one. We’re now more than 120 days past the inauguration. Costs aren’t going down. They’re going up. Inflation is out of control. Insurance rates remain stubbornly high. Our Moody’s rating, our credit rating has been downgraded. And you’ve got people losing confidence in this economy. Republicans are crashing this economy in real time and driving us toward a recession. But beyond that, costs are actually going up. The trade war that Donald Trump has recklessly launched—his tariff scheme—will raise the cost of goods and groceries and gas for everyday Americans, the Americans that you claimed you were going to help, but the Americans that you are clearly hurting. You’ve destabilized the business environment. Small businesses are at risk of closing. Farmers—small family farmers are in distress. Businesses can’t invest. People are not hiring. You are actively crashing the economy, driving America toward a recession. You promised to lower costs on day one. Costs aren’t going down. They are going up.
Now, as House Democrats, we believe that we have to build an affordable economy for hardworking American taxpayers. We’re committed to lowering housing costs and grocery costs and insurance costs and child care costs and utility costs. America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world—there are far too many people living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to make ends meet. Here in this country, no American should find themselves in that situation. And you promised that you would do something about it. But things are not getting better. They’re getting worse. We could have partnered together to try to find a bipartisan path toward building an affordable economy for hardworking American taxpayers, but you chose to go it alone, to try to drive your extreme right-wing policies down the throats of the American people. And that’s what this One Big Ugly Bill represents.
Not simply a broken promise, as it relates to your failures on the economy. And despite the gentleman from Louisiana trying to articulate all of the so-called successes that have taken place, we know that this presidency has already been a failure, filled with crisis and chaos, cruelty and corruption. And the American people know it, which is why Donald Trump, at the 100-day mark, was the most unpopular President in American history. The American people understand it’s unfolding right before their eyes, no matter what kind of MAGA spin you try to put on the situation. And things are going to get worse. Why? Because of this Big Ugly Bill. Not simply an assault on the economy, a broken promise, it’s an assault on the healthcare of the American people. You see, as Democrats, we believe, in this country, healthcare is not simply a privilege, healthcare is a right. And from Medicare to Medicaid to the passage of the Affordable Care Act and subsequently enhancing it, we’ve begun to move America to a place where every single person in this land can have access to the healthcare that they need to live a life of dignity and respect.
At this moment in America, we have the lowest rate of uninsured people in our nation’s history. But this GOP Tax Scam will reverse that, with this assault on healthcare, the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. And here’s what it will mean for the American people. Children will get hurt. Women will get hurt. Older Americans who rely on Medicaid for nursing home care and for home care will get hurt. People with disabilities who rely on Medicaid to survive will get hurt. Hospitals in your districts will close. Nursing homes will shut down. And people will die. That’s not hype. That’s not hyperbole. That’s not a hypothetical. The people that you all represent have been writing to us to make that clear. Thousands of people who’ve written to us—everyday Americans—have made that clear. And let me just present a few of those stories into the record.
I have Type 1 diabetes and was diagnosed when I was seven years old. I’ve had jobs with private insurance in the past, but I lost my job during the pandemic. With child care becoming a major challenge, it made more sense for me to stay home with the kids, but that also meant losing my health benefits. Right now, we’re all on Medicaid. It’s crucial for me to stay alive and healthy. I need insulin and supplies to manage my diabetes every single day. Without it, I could die. That’s Shauna, who lives in Arizona’s Sixth Congressional District.
My youngest son has leukemia. He was a self-employed handyman, and therefore, he didn’t have sufficient insurance. When the cancer became more debilitating, he could no longer work. He has undergone radiation, stem cell transplant and then more radiation. He is still fighting the cancer. And without Medicaid and the fine physicians, he would surely die. That’s Greg, who lives in the Eighth Congressional District of Colorado.
As a cancer survivor with chronic illnesses, I rely heavily on Medicaid and food stamps to get by. Without these essential programs, people like me would suffer. I’m currently taking expensive medication to stay in remission, but my condition and the side effects of my treatment make it impossible for me to work. Unfortunately, my work history also disqualifies me from receiving Social Security benefits. I’m not alone in my dependence on these Medicaid and food stamps benefits. Children, elders and many others who are sick or struggling, also rely on them to survive. I urge you to do the right thing for the people you represent. Without food stamps and Medicaid, the consequences would be painful and even deadly. That’s Julisa, who had a message for her Representative in Pennsylvania’s Eighth Congressional District. But we’re here to say, as House Democrats, to Shauna, to Greg and to Julisa, that if your representatives won’t fight for you, we will. We will. We will. If they won’t fight for you, we will fight for you, for your healthcare, for your decency, for your well-being, for your grace and for your dignity.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, Representative Mike Kelly (PA-16) reintroduced H.R. 3514, the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act along with Representatives Suzan DelBene (WA-01),and Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-06), and John Joyce, M.D. (PA-13) and Senators Roger Marshall, M.D. (KS) and Mark Warner (VA).
“With nearly 33 million Americans enrolled in Medicare Advantage, modernization of the prior authorization process is long overdue. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, hundreds of health care organizations, and Americans from all corners of the country agree – streamlining this process will allow our Nation’s seniors to receive the care they are entitled to more efficiently. I am proud to reintroduce the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025, which would move the health care sector into the 21st century by giving doctors and Medicare Advantage plans the tools to make health coverage decisions in a timely manner. I thank my House and Senate colleagues for their years of hard work and for joining me on the reintroduction of this critical legislation,” said Representative Mike Kelly (PA-16).
“We’ve made important incremental headway in helping seniors get the medical care they deserve with the administration’s prior authorization regulations. However, we must go further and enshrine these advancements into law. By passing the bipartisan, bicameral Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act, we can make it much easier for seniors to receive the care they’re entitled to while also alleviating unnecessary burdens on physicians and hospitals,” said Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01).
“When decisions on patient care are made by bureaucrats with no experience treating patients, care is often delayed or denied altogether, which results in worse outcomes for patients,” said Rep. John Joyce, M.D. (PA-13). “By streamlining the prior authorization process through the bipartisan Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act, we can ensure that American patients receive the care they need without unnecessary barriers.”
“As a doctor, I’ve seen firsthand how the broken prior authorization process delays needed care and frustrates both seniors and their physicians,” said Representative Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-06). “The Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act cuts through red tape and makes it easier for seniors on Medicare Advantage to access the treatments and services they need, when they need them. This bipartisan legislation is a common-sense fix that puts patients over paperwork, restores trust in the system and helps physicians focus on delivering quality care. I’m proud to reintroduce this bill alongside my colleagues and am grateful for the broad coalition of support behind it.”
BACKGROUND
Prior authorization is a tool used by health plans to reduce unnecessary care by requiring health care providers to get pre-approval for medical services. But it’s not without fault. The current system often results in unconfirmed faxes of a patient’s medical information or phone calls by clinicians which takes precious time away from delivering quality and timely care. Prior authorization continues to be the #1 administrative burden identified by health care providers, and three out of four Medicare Advantage enrollees are subject to unnecessary delays due to prior authorization. In recent years, the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) raised concerns after an audit revealed that Medicare Advantage plans ultimately approved 75% of requests that were originally denied. More recently, HHS OIG released a report finding that MA plans incorrectly denied beneficiaries’ access to services even though they met Medicare coverage rules.
Health plans, health care providers, and patients agree that the prior authorization process must be improved to better serve patients and reduce unnecessary administrative burdens for clinicians. In fact, leading health care organizations released a consensus statement to address some of the most pressing concerns associated with prior authorization.
Specifically, the bill would:
– Establish an electronic prior authorization process for MA plans including a standardization for transactions and clinical attachments. – Increase transparency around MA prior authorization requirements and its use. – Clarify HHS’ authority to establish timeframes for e-prior authorization requests including expedited determinations, real-time decisions for routinely approved items and services, and other prior authorization requests. – Expand beneficiary protections to improve enrollee experiences and outcomes. – Require HHS and other agencies to report to Congress on program integrity efforts and other ways to further improve the e-PA process. – Previously, Rep. Kelly led similar legislation in the 118th Congress. The Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act unanimously passed the House in the 117th Congress and was cosponsored by a majority of members in the Senate and House of Representatives.
The bill text can be found here and a section-by-section can be found here.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green Ohio)
Latta Urges Senate to Vote to Strengthen Medicaid, Prioritize American Energy Dominance, and Reduce Fraud and Abuse in Federal Government
Washington, May 22, 2025
Today, the House of Representatives passed the Reconciliation Bill, with Congressman Bob Latta (R-OH-5) voting in favor as it now heads to the Senate. Congressman Latta released the following statement:
“I am proud to have joined my colleagues in voting in favor of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill that will help the United States get back on track. House Republicans will continue to stay unified and deliver on the promises made to the American people. Today’s vote takes us one step closer to strengthening Medicaid, prioritizing American energy dominance, keepings Americans’ tax rates lower, cutting wasteful spending, and reducing fraud and abuse in the Federal government through the reconciliation process. I urge my Senate colleagues to act quickly to get this bill across the finish line.”
Congressman Latta voted in favor of the Energy and Commerce budget reconciliation markup. Read his statement HERE.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Paul Tonko (Capital Region New York)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Paul D. Tonko today issued a statement following the narrow passage of Republicans’ budget, which makes the deepest cuts to healthcare, food assistance, and environmental protections in American history.
Tonko spoke against this budget on the House floor in the early hours of the morning ahead of the House vote. His remarks can be viewed HERE.
“Ripping away healthcare from 13.7 million individuals. Snatching food out of the mouths of children, mothers, and veterans. Opening the door for polluters to pour toxic, cancer-causing chemicals into our air and water. These are what my Republican colleagues voted to pass this morning with their monstrosity of a budget. Even worse, they are making all of these ruthless cuts to essential services for working class Americans and adding trillions in new debt just so they can give more tax handouts to the wealthiest Americans.
“Over the last week, I have spent multiple sleepless nights in committee rooms, on the House floor, and in the halls of Congress condemning in every possible way the horrors of this bill. I was compelled to speak up and speak out about the harms that these cuts would have on my constituents and on Americans across the nation. Despite this effort, and the incredible public outcry from folks demanding Republicans keep their hands off Medicaid, SNAP, and other basic needs programs, My GOP colleagues denied and ignored these pleas to advance a budget they couldn’t even be bothered to negotiate in the light of day.
“This bill now heads to the Senate, where in all likelihood it will be revised and sent back to the House. Make no mistake, I won’t stop using every tool at my disposal to fight against this cruel budget and on behalf of the lives who would be destroyed by its enactment.”
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jared Huffman Representing the 2nd District of California
May 22, 2025
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) released the following statement on this morning’s budget reconciliation vote:
“The GOP Tax Scam is an assault on the American people’s health, wallets, and basic freedoms,” said Ranking Member Huffman. “This is the most environmentally destructive bill in American history. Let’s call this what it is: One Big Bailout for Billionaires, paid for by gutting our environmental protections, auctioning off our public lands, and dragging us back to the days when rivers caught fire, the air choked our lungs, and polluters ruled unchecked.”
“Every American household will see their energy bills go up thanks to Trump and his GOP enablers. And while they’re at it, they’re killing over 830,000 American jobs, wiping out $1 trillion in GDP, and kicking 14 million Americans off their healthcare—all so their billionaire cronies can get even richer at our expense.
“This is what Trump’s golden age of grift looks like: corporate polluters get sweetheart deals, clean energy gets the middle finger, and communities get left in the dust. If your energy bills are going up, your town is struggling with more catastrophic floods or wildfires, or your kids are getting sick more often — this is why. Republicans are rigging the system so polluters profit while American families pay the price.
“It’s almost cartoonishly corrupt, until you remember that this is exactly how they want government to work: captured by billionaires and weaponized against the public it’s supposed to serve. The American people won’t stand for it, and neither will we.”