Progress NC Action Weekly Memo (5/16): What's beautiful about this?
What's Beautiful About This?
This week, House Republicans pulled an all-nighter. In an 18-hour markup session, they finalized the legislation they've proudly called Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”-- a budget proposal that would make devastating cuts to several essential federal programs in order to fund massive tax breaks for billionaires.
The tax breaks are heavily tilted toward the wealthy. The top 2% of earners in the country are looking at $1.1 trillion in tax breaks. As a result, a family earning $1 million a year would receive an annual tax cut of $90,000. A low-income household would receive an average tax cut of just $90.
Measures meant to benefit the working class– such as an increase to the child tax credit– will be phased out by the end of 2028. Tax breaks that benefit the wealthy– like raising the estate tax exemption threshold– would be permanent.
The small gains, if any, that working class families will see from Trump’s tax plan will almost certainly be wiped out by his cuts to federal programs.
MAGA lawmakers are looking to cut $300 billion from SNAP– the federal food assistance program that serves 42 million Americans– and $880 billion from Medicaid– the health insurance program that covers 1 in 5 Americans. Millions of working families would lose their health insurance. Millions more would struggle to put food on the table.
Gov. Josh Stein recently wrote about the severe harm that Trump’s cuts would have on everyday people: “As the cost of living, including groceries, continues to rise, we should not be making it harder to eat. Hunger makes doing the most basic things harder—it is harder for kids to learn, harder for adults to work, and harder for seniors to stay healthy..”
1.4 million North Carolinians– that’s roughly 1 in 8 people in our state– utilize SNAP for support with feeding their families. SNAP covers families of all counties, all backgrounds. 4 out of 5 of those families have a child, senior, or an adult with a disability at home. SNAP has supported the 25 NC counties impacted by Helene, and annually contributes $2.8 billion to our state’s economy.
About 1 in 4 veterans and 1 in 4 small business owners live in a household that utilizes SNAP, Medicaid, or CHIP at some point in the year. More than a third of births in North Carolina are covered by Medicaid, and over one million children depend on the program to pay for their inhalers to breathe, glasses to see the chalkboard, and vaccines to protect from deadly illnesses.
We need these programs to live. But MAGA lawmakers are being crystal clear: They are willing to do whatever it takes, including sacrificing children and working families, to indulge the greed of billionaires.
What’s beautiful about this?
In Case You Missed It
WRAL: Slow rollout of NC House budget reveals cuts, partisan priorities
By: Will Doran & Laura Leslie (May 15, 2025)
https://progressnc.actionkit.com/go/428569?t=15&akid=102690%2E32604%2Epw4qBx
WUNC: What K-12 policy changes are in the House education budget?
By: Liz Schlemmer (May 15, 2025)
https://progressnc.actionkit.com/go/428570?t=16&akid=102690%2E32604%2Epw4qBx
Carolina Journal: Poll: Trump favorability, economic optimism among NC voters underwater
By: David N. Bass (May 15, 2025)
https://progressnc.actionkit.com/go/428571?t=17&akid=102690%2E32604%2Epw4qBx
WCNC: Charlotte, N.C. advocates offering resources as more ICE activity is reported
By: Jesse Pierre (May 15, 2025)
https://progressnc.actionkit.com/go/428572?t=18&akid=102690%2E32604%2Epw4qBx
NC Health News: Proposed state rules on forever chemicals weakened as EPA retreats
By: Trista Talton (May 16, 2025)
https://progressnc.actionkit.com/go/428573?t=19&akid=102690%2E32604%2Epw4qBx
Matt Schlosser, Progress NC Action
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