Special to The Truth
One year ago, President Trump signed the so-called
“Big Beautiful Bill,” commemorating the July 4th holiday by throwing
millions off their health care and food assistance and cutting hundreds of
thousands of health care jobs. The AFL-CIO marks the anniversary by
detailing the damage the law has done to working families, while the
wealthiest few continue to cash in.
In a statement, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said:
“It’s been one year since President Trump signed the worst job-killing bill
in American history. It was made possible by every senator and
representative who voted to sell out working people and pick their pockets
to hand another payday to corporations and billionaires.
“Since the passing of the Big Ugly Bill, the U.S. economy has had one of
the worst years of job growth in decades. Black workers have been hit the
hardest, with an unemployment rate now more than double the rate for White
workers. Millions of Americans have lost their health care and access to
the food programs they rely on, all while dealing with higher costs on
everything from gas and groceries to electricity. With even bigger cuts
going into effect after the midterm elections, states’ budgets are getting
blown up and local lawmakers are planning devastating cuts to even more
essential programs to cover their residents’ SNAP and Medicaid costs.
Meanwhile, the people at the top are doing better than ever. This bill
handed billionaires, one trillionaire and the country’s wealthiest
corporations massive tax giveaways paid for by the social programs working
families depend on to survive.
“In 1776, Americans stood up against a powerful king who thought he could
steal from us, trample on our rights and get away with it. We refused to be
silenced. Two hundred and fifty years later, that same spirit is alive in
American workers who organize their jobsites, fight for policies that
actually help workers and show up at the ballot box to hold their elected
representatives accountable.
“This Independence Day and every day, America’s unions continue to fight
the damage this bill has caused and build an economy that actually works
for working people.”
One year later, the “Big Ugly Bill”:
* Contributed to one of the worst years for the job market in decades,
with the U.S. economy experiencing almost zero job growth in 2025, and
the gap between Black and White unemployment doubling .
* Stripped food assistance from more than four million Americans through
SNAP cuts with participation dropping in every state and the steepest
losses in Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and Oklahoma.
* Forced about 3 million people off their health insurance and drove
up costs for people who get their coverage through the Affordable Care Act
marketplace; premiums rose by 58 percent and deductibles reached a record high
of nearly $3,800 a year.
* Cut state Medicaid budgets by nearly $679 billion, with new
bureaucratic red tape projected to strip coverage from up to 10 million
more people by 2028 and put hundreds of hospitals at risk of
closing.
* Raised electricity bills by more than $110 a year after repealing
clean energy investment incentives that created good union energy jobs, all
while Americans get slammed by inflation at a three-year high.
* Gifted $1 trillion in tax breaks to the top one percent and raised taxes on
Americans earning under $15,000 a year, while adding $3.4 trillion to the
deficit.
* Is still on track to throw 600,000 health care workers out of a
job, along with threatening 1.75 million construction jobs and 840,000
energy jobs in the years to come.
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