All four northeast and northcentral Pennsylvania congressmen voted Thursday for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that cuts taxes and slashes spending on food stamps and Medicaid.
The four, all Republicans, praised the bill in statements or House floor speeches.
Their support came as House Democrats criticized what they called the “largest cuts to Medicaid and food assistance in American history.”
U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-Luzerne, who pledged to fight gutting Medicaid and vowed in April to protect it “for vulnerable populations,” said the bill would protect Medicaid and food stamps for people who need them.
Bresnahan also highlighted its tax cuts and other features and said the bill takes care of “Main Street, not Wall Street.”
Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Luzerne, said the bill would restore “common sense” to the federal budget and sustain “Medicaid benefits for those who truly need them.”
Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh, said the bill will help senior citizens and working families, secure the southern border and control “reckless spending.”
Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Centre, the House Agriculture Committee chairman, did not issue a statement, but spoke in favor of the bill on the House floor Monday.
Thompson said the bill would prevent “the largest tax increase in American history,” restore “integrity” to the food stamp program and invest meaningfully in farming.
Dems rip 'One Big Ugly Bill'
House Democratic leaders lambasted Republicans for passing “the GOP tax scam.”
“House Republicans promised to lower costs. Instead, Donald Trump’s One Big Ugly Bill will mean millions of families will pay higher premiums, copays and deductibles,” the House Democratic leadership said in its joint statement. “Hospitals will close, nursing homes will shut down and communities will suffer. It will take food out of the mouths of children, seniors and veterans at a time when too many families are already struggling to live paycheck to paycheck.”
The bill would keep intact President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, often criticized by Democrats for favoring the wealthy.
The bill would also increase the child tax credit by $500 to $2,500 for four years; eliminate taxes on tips, overtime and car-loan interest; increase the standard annual tax deduction in general and additionally for senior citizens; and create savings accounts for newborns with a $1,000 government contribution.
“This package is a win for working families, small businesses, and anyone tired of Washington stacking the deck against the working-class people of Northeastern Pennsylvania,” Bresnahan said. “It locks in the Trump tax cuts, delivers real relief to mom-and-pop shops, and ends the Biden-era tax breaks that reward big corporations and send our tax dollars to special interests in China.”
Medicaid spending in focus
The Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan arm of Congress that analyzes bills for financial effects, estimated the bill would cut federal spending on Medicaid by $698 billion and on food stamps by $267 billion.
The Medicaid cuts reflect new “community engagement requirements” for able-bodied adults without dependents – at least 80 hours a month of work or service or half-time education. The requirement would go into effect Jan. 1, 2029.
The food stamp cuts reflect requiring able-bodied adults up to 64 years old to work and shifting benefit and administrative costs to states, which would not have to make up the funding.
Democrats said millions of the nation’s most vulnerable would lose badly needed food stamp and Medicaid benefits.
Bresnahan said he fought “to preserve the programs while rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse.”
“By ensuring states are not using Medicaid dollars on illegal aliens, conducting more frequent eligibility checks, and requiring work for able-bodied recipients, we are securing Medicaid for those who truly need it,” he said.
Bresnahan said he blocked Medicaid cuts that would have harmed hospitals and nursing homes. He also pointed to exceptions to work requirements for people younger than 18 or senior citizens; pregnant women; parents, guardians, or caretakers of a dependent or disabled person; full-time students; disabled veterans; and people with medical needs, including physical, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, mental health and substance abuse disorders, blindness and serious or complex medical conditions; and people who receive food stamps or are in rehabilitation programs.
Meuser, Mackenzie weigh in
Besides the tax cuts, Meuser pointed to the extension of tax deductions that benefit small businesses and manufacturers; money to hire and retain thousands of border and customs officers and modernize the military; incentives for domestic oil and gas production; and the reversal of electric vehicle mandates.
“Passing this bill will increase production so supply better meets demand, thereby reducing inflation. And with lower inflation comes lower interest rates, which leads to greater investment and more American production,” he said.
Mackenzie pointed to the increase in the child tax credit, the additional tax deduction for senior citizens; the elimination of overtime and tip taxes; the extension of the 2017 tax hikes and the business tax deductions.
“This is about putting working families first — making life more affordable, our country more secure, and our government more responsible,” Mackenzie said. “I’ll keep fighting to deliver the change that the people of the Greater Lehigh Valley are counting on.”
Shapiro: 'We will go backwards'
Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act “a bad bill” and said hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians would lose Medicaid and food stamp benefits and rural hospitals would close.
“All while increasing our national deficit by $2.3 trillion,” Shapiro said in a statement.
The bill would shift $1 billion in food assistance to the state.
“We cannot make up those dollars and as a result, at least 140,000 Pennsylvanians could lose access to assistance they need to put food on the table,” he said. “Over 300,000 Pennsylvanians could lose Medicaid coverage — meaning that after a decade of our hard work to reduce the number of uninsured Pennsylvanians by nearly 50%, we will go backwards and 10% of our Medicaid population will lose coverage and become uninsured. This will raise health care costs for all Pennsylvanians — including those with private insurance.”
