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"Stealing money away from life-sustaining programs to fund war, weapons, and death should be an immediate nonstarter for every member of Congress," said one advocate and author of a new report.
With the House GOP's Medicaid-slashing reconciliation bill now headed to the Republican-controlled Senate, a trio of groups on Thursday highlighted that the tens of billions the reconciliation legislation allocates for the Pentagon and the Trump administration's immigration crackdown efforts could instead be used to protect and expand health insurance access for millions.
House Republicans' reconciliation bill includes $163 billion for the Pentagon and for mass deportation and border-related expenses that U.S. President Donald Trump has requested be allocated in fiscal year 2026. Those dollars could instead go toward providing 31 million adults with Medicaid, or providing 71 million people with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, according to a report titled Trading Life for Death: What the Reconciliation Bill Puts at Stake in Your State.
The report is a joint publication from the progressive watchdog Public Citizen, the progressive policy research organization the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), and the National Priorities Project (NPP), which is a federal budget research organization and a project of IPS.
In a statement on Thursday, Lindsay Koshgarian, program director at NPP and one of the authors of the report, framed the reconciliation package as a "direct redistribution of resources from struggling Americans to the Pentagon and militarization."
The reconciliation bill, which passed 215-214 in the House of Representatives on Thursday, includes tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy that would add $3.8 trillion to the national debt, a roll back in clean energy tax credits, sweeping cuts to Medicaid and SNAP to the tune of nearly $1 trillion, and an increase in the maximum payment available through the child tax credit until 2028—though the bill is designed so that it would block an estimated 4.5 million children from accessing the credit, according to the Center for Migration Studies.
Under the legislation, an estimated 8.6 million people would lose Medicaid coverage over the next 10 years, according to a May 11 analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that 11 million people would be at risk of losing at least some of their food assistance under the changes to SNAP.
Millions more could lose their healthcare due to Obamacare decisions/provisions.
Per the report, the militarized spending increases for 2026 would more than enough to fund Medicaid for the millions who are at risk of losing their health insurance under the bill, and the millions at risk of losing their SNAP benefits.
In addition to highlighting that the bill includes a huge cash injection for the U.S. Department of Defense, the report argues the Pentagon does not need more money. "The United States is already the world's largest military spender, allocating more taxpayer dollars to the Pentagon than the next nine countries combined," according to the report, which also notes that the department has never passed an audit.
The three groups also quantify the tradeoffs between defense spending and healthcare at a more granular level.
For example, the bill includes a $25 billion initial investment in Trump's "Golden Dome" project, a multilayered defense system that Trump has said will be capable of "intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world and even if they are launched from space," according to CBS News.
In just one congressional district, Tennessee's 2nd District, taxpayer funds going toward the investment in the Golden Dome could instead be used to put 12,310 people on Medicaid, according to the report. In Texas' 21st District, taxpayers' funds redirected to support the Golden Dome could provide Medicaid to 13,589 people.
"If implemented, this budget would rip the rug out from under everyday Americans relying on Medicaid and SNAP to survive, just to further enrich Pentagon contractors," said Savannah Wooten, People Over Pentagon advocate at Public Citizen and report co-author, in a statement on Thursday. "Stealing money away from life-sustaining programs to fund war, weapons, and death should be an immediate nonstarter for every member of Congress."
"The people stealing from Americans are not folks with tattoos and hoodies—it's people wearing suits and ties and congressional pins, sitting in this Capitol right now," said Rep. Maxwell Frost.
House Republicans on Thursday morning passed their sprawling budget reconciliation package after making last-minute changes to the legislation to mollify far-right hardliners.
The final count was 215-214, with every Democrat voting no and Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.)—chairman of the House Freedom Caucus—voting present. Two Republicans, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio, opposed the bill.
Earlier Thursday, the House voted to begin floor debate on the legislation after the GOP-controlled rules panel approved a slew of amendments to the bill, including a change that would move up the start date of draconian Medicaid work requirements to December 31, 2026—resulting in even bigger cuts to the program and more people losing coverage. Under an earlier version of the legislation, the work requirements would have taken effect at the start of 2029.
The updated bill would also "give states a financial incentive not to expand" Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act "to people with higher incomes than traditional enrollees, though still near the poverty line," Politicoreported.
If enacted, the House GOP's legislation would slash roughly $1 trillion combined from Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), potentially stripping health coverage and food aid from tens of millions of low-income Americans to help fund trillions of dollars in tax cuts that would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest.
The bill, which runs over 1,100 pages, would also trigger cuts to Medicare, slash clean energy tax credits, and hand the U.S. military an additional $150 billion.
"Republicans just voted for the largest cuts to healthcare in American history—cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act," said Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee. "At least 13.7 million will now lose their healthcare as a result. And why? To pay for tax cuts for billionaires and special interests. This is a betrayal of the middle class."
I’ve literally never seen anything like this before. There’s no legislation in history that does so much, so fast, w/ so many last-minute changes, with so little analysis of the bill. Of course that’s the point. They’re going at warp speed to avoid analysis because they know it’s wildly unpopular.
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— Bobby Kogan (@bbkogan.bsky.social) May 21, 2025 at 11:40 PM
A Congressional Budget Office analysis released earlier this week showed that U.S. households in the bottom 10% of the income distribution would be worse off if the House Republican bill became law, while the top 10% would end up wealthier.
"Let's call this what it is—theft," said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the House Rules Committee. "Stealing from those with the least to give to those with the most. It's not just bad policy, it's a betrayal of the American people."
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said in floor remarks just after midnight Thursday that "at least here tonight, the people stealing from Americans are not folks with tattoos and hoodies—it's people wearing suits and ties and congressional pins, sitting in this Capitol right now."
"Not in some random alley wrapped in darkness," Frost added as Republican lawmakers booed, "but in the United States Congress wrapped in the flag. It is disgusting, and we will never forget this."
Frost: Tonight the people stealing are not folks with tattoos and hoodies but people wearing suits and ties and congressional pins sitting in the capitol now, not in some alley wrapped in darkness but in the US congress wrapped in the flag. It is disgusting and we will never… pic.twitter.com/7BpiNS0Ezs
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 22, 2025
One GOP lawmaker, Massie of Kentucky, blasted his party for advancing the legislation while most Americans were asleep.
"If something is beautiful, you don't do it after midnight," said Massie, alluding to the official title of the legislation—the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Republican lawmakers teed up the final House vote after days of marathon hearings, jockeying behind closed doors, and private meetings with President Donald Trump, who pressured far-right Republicans to drop their objections and fall in line.
The legislation still must clear the Republican-controlled Senate, which is expected to make significant changes. The House would then have to pass the bill again.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said in a statement following Thursday's vote that "Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' is a betrayal of our families and a $7 trillion handout to billionaires."
"So many families in our communities are already struggling to put food on the table and pay for their healthcare. For the over 324,000 children, seniors, and people with disabilities who rely on Medicaid in our district, it is the difference between life and death," said Tlaib. "This budget makes $880 billion in cuts that will decimate Medicaid, nearly $300 billion in cuts to food assistance, but increases the Pentagon war machine by $150 billion."
"It's tax cuts for billionaires, and healthcare cuts for our families," she added. "It will take food out of the mouths of hungry kids. Nearly 14 million Americans will lose their healthcare, and thousands of people will needlessly die. We will not stop fighting to block this budget from being signed into law."
"If enacted, this would be the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in a single law in U.S. history."
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that the Republican legislation speeding through the U.S. House of Representatives would cut household resources for the bottom 10% of Americans while delivering gains to the wealthiest in the form of tax breaks.
"If enacted, this would be the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in a single law in U.S. history," Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress, said in response to the CBO analysis, which was released shortly before the start of a dead-of-night House Rules Committee hearing on the Republican reconciliation package.
On average, according to the CBO, U.S. households would "see an increase in the resources provided to them by the government over the 2026–2034 period."
But the resources "would not be evenly distributed among households," the CBO found, estimating that "in general, resources would decrease for households in the lowest decile (tenth) of the income distribution, whereas resources would increase for households in the highest decile."
"This is what Republicans are fighting for—lining the pockets of their billionaire donors while children go hungry and families get kicked off their healthcare."
The analysis takes into account an extension of soon-to-expire provisions of the 2017 Trump-GOP tax cuts as well as Republicans' push for around $1 trillion in combined cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which would primarily harm low-income Americans.
"The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's unprecedented analysis has confirmed what Democrats have known to be true—the GOP Tax Scam will hurt working families the most while delivering massive tax breaks for billionaires like Elon Musk," said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who joined Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) in requesting the distributional analysis.
"Any claims otherwise are intentionally deceptive regarding the Republican plans to rip healthcare away from nearly 14 million Americans and take food out of the mouths of millions of people, including children and seniors," said Jeffries. "Republicans are attempting to quickly jam this unpopular legislation through the House because they know that the longer they wait, the more will come to light about this cruel and unconscionable bill. For a party that claims to be for the working class, this analysis indicates the opposite."
Boyle, the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, said that "this is what Republicans are fighting for—lining the pockets of their billionaire donors while children go hungry and families get kicked off their healthcare."
"CBO's nonpartisan analysis makes it crystal clear: [President] Donald Trump and House Republicans are selling out the middle class to make the ultra-rich even richer. Every word out of Trump's mouth about helping working Americans was a lie."
The CBO also said Tuesday that the Republican reconciliation package, which Trump has championed, would trigger automatic cuts to Medicare spending—reductions that the nonpartisan body did not factor into its distributional analysis.
The CBO's analysis also did not include the impact of a tentative deal to boost the cap on state and local tax deductions (SALT), a change that would primarily benefit wealthy households.
"This reported SALT deal and accelerated Medicaid cuts would make the bill even more effective at transferring resources from low-income to high-income households," said Brendan Duke of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, referring to GOP hardliners' push for an earlier start date for Medicaid work requirements, which experts have decried as cruel and ineffective.