By Tyler Bridges – 07/10/25
“The big ugly bill.”
That’s the term U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and four of his colleagues repeatedly used Thursday night in New Orleans as they took turns blasting President Trump’s signature tax and spending measure, known by Republicans as the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Jeffries, Rep. Troy Carter of New Orleans and three other Democratic representatives said during a town hall meeting that passage of the bill last week will take away health care for hundreds of thousands of Louisiana’s most vulnerable residents.
“We believe in an America where health care is not simply available to the privileged few,” Jeffries told the crowd of several hundred. “It is a right that should be available to every single American.”
Last Thursday, Jeffries broke the record for the longest House speech, nearly nine hours, as he inveighed against the bill.
Jeffries, Carter and the three others — Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, Rep. Robin Kelly of Illinois and Nanette Barragan of California — are wasting no time in taking the offensive against Trump’s biggest domestic priority, passed by Congress on July 3 and signed into law by the president the following day.
It extends the Trump tax cuts approved by Congress in 2017 and also temporarily cuts taxes on tips and overtime pay.
Wasserman Schultz noted that studies show the bill showers its biggest tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans.
The Tax Policy Center at the middle-of-the-road Brookings Institution in Washington reports that someone who earns less than $34,600 per year will save about $150 in taxes. Those who earn between $460,000 and $1.1 million per year will save $21,000 on average.
To pay for a portion of the tax cuts, the bill reduces Medicaid spending by $1.1 trillion over 10 years. That means that over time, Kaiser Family Foundation reports, 267,550 people in Louisiana will lose their government-subsidized health care unless Louisiana lawmakers raise taxes or cut other spending programs to offset the revenue loss.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, played a pivotal role in rounding up the votes to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
They portrayed the reduction in Medicaid as a way for the federal government to reduce waste, fraud and abuse, and they have said the tax cuts will promote investment and create jobs.
“Every Democrat who voted no on this bill needs to explain to the people of Louisiana why they voted to raise taxes on every single hard-working family in our state, and they should also explain why they voted against giving much-needed relief to overtime workers and waiters and waitresses when they’re eating at our great restaurants,” Scalise said in a statement after the event. “Louisianans voted overwhelmingly to put President Donald Trump back in the White House and give Republicans majorities in the House and Senate to implement the America First agenda, which is exactly what we did with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, and the hard-working families of our state will benefit tremendously from it.”
A mention of Johnson and Scalise Thursday night elicited boos.
About 40% of Johnson’s constituents under 65 — he represents western Louisiana from Shreveport to Lake Charles — are on Medicaid, compared to 27% for Scalise’s district.
Carter pointed out that the Republican supermajority in the Louisiana Legislature passed a resolution asking Congress not to slash Medicaid because the state doesn’t have the money to restore the lost federal aid without raising taxes, a no-no in red Louisiana.
Carter said the loss of federal Medicaid dollars threatens 33 rural hospitals in Louisiana.
He described the bill as “reverse Robin Hood, stealing for the poor and giving to the rich.”
The Republican bill also aims to reduce federal government spending for the food assistance program known as SNAP. The bill shifts administrative costs to states and requires most adults under 65 to work or volunteer for 80 hours a month, as a condition to continue.
In May, 806,000 people in Louisiana — or about 17% of the population — collected SNAP, according to the state Department of Children and Family Services.
The Republican move stands to undo much of what then-Gov. John Bel Edwards did on his first day in office when he extended Medicaid to the working poor. That extended health care to more than 500,000 Louisiana residents.
Jeffries noted that the Medicaid cuts will take effect after the November 2026 midterm elections, which he said “was not a coincidence.”
“We’re going to show up and stand up and speak up,” Jeffries said, “until we get this bill reversed and end the national nightmare.”
Carter followed up on Jeffries’ theme, saying, “If Democrats were in control and this man was speaker, we would be talking about something else.”
Wasserman Schultz noted that Republicans hold only a four-seat advantage in the House.