The House Republicans just sent their budget bill to the Senate. It is a wallet, people, and climate killer.
If your eyes glaze over at the words “budget reconciliation,” you’re not alone. But that’s exactly what the House Republicans are going for: using a wonky process to threaten the lives and wallets of everyone except the super rich. But there’s still time to push back.
The Budget Bill Kills What the People Want: Climate & Health Protections, Jobs, & More
Despite how proponents try to spin it, this bill will NOT save the government or the people money. This isn’t just a giveaway to the rich, it is a huge blow to the working class, eliminating jobs in clean energy manufacturing. Killing clean car emissions standards while expanding fossil fuels—knowing full well they are unnecessarily costly in every way—will ensure worsening climate impacts. This will threaten the health of urban communities already over-burned with greenhouse gas emissions. And the Medicaid cuts would keep people from the medical care they need to treat the health impacts they have suffered at the hands of the government.
To add insult to injury, this bill includes specific carve-outs to cut the necessary gender-affirming care protections in Medicaid and Obamacare for all Trans folks, regardless of age. We already know the LGBTQI+ community is under attack by this administration. And that the TQ+ community is more likely to be impacted by the climate crisis than our cisgender-hetero counterparts. But this bill combines both hits to make sure everyone but the wealthy suffers.
This bill hits close to home for me, as a Black, Disabled Trans person who is trying to address the climate crisis. I have not fought so hard for my own communities just to give up now. We cannot let this Big, Ugly Bill make it to Trump’s desk in its current form.
The Senate can make changes and even stop this monster in its tracks. So regardless of party affiliation, call your Senator, make your voice heard. Tell them to not kill low-income, Black, Brown, Indigenous, Disabled, LGBTQI+ folks and our planet just so the richest can get even richer. Tell them to vote no on ending national standards for emissions for new cars. Vote no on Medicaid cuts. Vote no on cutting investment in clean, real, renewable energy solutions and grid infrastructure. Vote no on singling out the Trans community from receiving the healthcare that saves our lives. And vote no on tax cuts for the rich.
The Senate can stop this, and we need you to tell them to stand up for all of us.