WASHINGTON, DC – Senate Republican leaders spent all Saturday struggling to get their own members lined up behind a controversial and unpopular budget reconciliation bill (the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”) that would gut Medicaid to provide a bigger tax cut for the wealthy.  After making a backroom deal late on Saturday night, they finally got 51 of 53 Republicans to agree to advance the measure.

After the Senate voted 51-49 on the motion to proceed, U.S. Senator Jack Reed issued the following statement:

“Republicans aren’t under any real deadline or time constraint here, they’re just rushing this under cover of darkness because the more people know what is in this bill, the more they hate it.

“This shameful budget is a prescription to weaken the U.S. economy and our health care system while widening the gap between the haves and have-nots. 

“It will take nearly one trillion dollars from Medicaid and take away health insurance from millions of Americans.  It will contribute to higher health care prices, bigger bureaucratic hurdles, and undermines the Affordable Care Act.  It is fiscally irresponsible and explodes the national debt.  It’s got tons of tax carveouts for special interests like Big Oil and the NRA gun lobby at the expense of everyday Americans.  Meanwhile, it cancels billions of dollars in shovel-ready renewable energy projects, halting billions of dollars in economic activity and sending utility bills soaring.

“Budgets are about priorities.  If Republicans actually wanted to help the middle-class, they would have targeted real help to the middle-class.  Instead, they deliberately chose to skew benefits to millionaires, billionaires, and corporations.

“We need responsible, forward-looking investments in America’s future, not handouts to old-money interests and outdated industries.

“I oppose this catastrophic bill and will work hard to block it and replace it with a more balanced, measured, and fiscally responsible budget that targets real help to working people, not the ultra-wealthy.”