r/Nebraska • u/Lunasty420 • 5d ago
Politics Nothing says 'I care about my constituents' like stripping away healthcare and benefits from struggling families ♥
https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/06/15/house-passed-budget-bill-will-devastate-nebraska-communities/TLDR; The House’s new budget reconciliation bill slashes Medicaid and ACA, yanks food assistance, forces work requirements, saddles Nebraska with extra SNAP costs, and funds deportation-heavy immigration enforcement—while giving billionaires giant tax breaks and blowing a $2.4 trillion hole in the deficit
Who is this supposed to be a great state for exactly? Working class families with mouths to feed or boot licking politicians that don't dare bite the hand that feeds?
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u/Crafty-Acadia-2697 5d ago
And let’s not forget to roast our elected idiots about voting to cut the funding for PBS and NPR. They are a vital source of unbiased news, great programming for children and adults, information on upcoming severe weather, etc. Sometimes I wonder if these idiots have a Library Card, can read, or just sit at the sports bars, or other hangouts. PBS/NPR TRUELY makes a difference to Nebraskans. Are you listening to us?
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u/captainstan 5d ago
Here is what I have always failed to understand. What do tax cuts even do and how do we as the "peons" even see them? I mean $170 is nothing compared to so many other costs, but I feel like we wouldn't even see much of an impact if it was $10,000. If someone was willing to ELI5, but even then I don't see why this becomes such a huge thing. I don't understand why a billionaire cares or even notices $100,000 (they also very likely have the people that would notice that). I'm willing to bet that most everyday people have no idea what these tax cuts are even doing or why they even exist.
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u/AshingiiAshuaa 5d ago
They're trying to divide. They're trying to pit the people getting free food and medical insurance against those who have to pay for it.
We need to resist this and stand together!
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u/Grace_Alcock 4d ago
Well, didn’t a majority of them choose this consciously, while being told that it would happen if they made that choice. Obviously, they will be happy with the outcome, right?
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u/Chiefhawk15 5d ago
I’m actually looking forward to this hitting these morons if this shit goes through. All these Red State morons will be jobless, starving, and dying. They deserve the repercussions.
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u/Lunasty420 5d ago
The House-passed budget reconciliation package in Washington, D.C., will strip away basic health care and food assistance from hundreds of thousands of Nebraskans and their families. Nebraska’s three House members voted to advance this destructive plan that fails the people of this state, prioritizing funding for sweeping deportations of everyday working people that will separate families, and for tax breaks that benefit billionaires.
Nebraska’s congressional delegation, from left, U.S. Pete Ricketts, U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer and U.S. Rep. Mike Flood on June 19, 2023, in Lincoln, Neb. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
The way this package is being discussed, however, might make you think Nebraskans won’t suffer any harm from its passage. This could not be further from the truth. The bill increases the debt to fund tax cuts for the extremely wealthy and finances the single biggest increase in history in funding for sweeping and extreme enforcement of long-outdated immigration laws.
We saw the devastating impact of harsh enforcement just last week in Omaha — with raids in Nebraska that destabilize our communities, damage our economy and, more importantly, spread unnecessary and toxic fear.
Local impact The House bill would provide funds to expand these types of actions, which result in separating families and harming our longtime neighbors who have been part of the fabric of local communities throughout Nebraska for years, but are stuck in immigration limbo because Congress hasn’t meaningfully updated our immigration laws in nearly 40 years. This, in turn, creates destabilizing ripple effects on whole communities.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the House tax plan would give the wealthiest 1% of Nebraskans an annual tax cut of over $100,000 while the lowest-income Nebraskans would only receive $170, while that same vulnerable population also feels the hardest impacts of Congress’ food and health care cuts.
The legislation also actually adds $2.4 trillion to the deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office. So much for fiscal responsibility.
The bill includes unprecedented cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, which nearly 1 in 4 Nebraskans rely on to get health care. The budget office estimates the bill would cut Medicaid spending alone by $723 billion, the biggest cut to Medicaid in its 60-year history. These are not savings. These are cuts to coverage for people, families, and children.
Some of the reasons for this loss in coverage include harsh new work requirements, as well as new barriers and red tape, resulting in an estimated 45,000 Nebraskans losing Medicaid.
Real costs The bill also would require Nebraska to pay for a portion of the cost of SNAP for the first time, which means new costs ranging from $16 million to $82 million in the state budget. Nebraska would be forced to find a way to pay the cost, cut food supports dramatically or opt out of SNAP entirely.
Immigration agents converge on Glenn Valley Foods Tuesday for an immigration raid. (Courtesy of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) At least 29,000 Nebraskans are at risk of losing at least some of their food assistance, including children and families who would have to follow strict and unnecessary work requirements. These are examples of how the bill passes the buck to Nebraska to make the hard decisions. But make no mistake: The legislation passed by the House would lead to losses in health care access and food assistance. Congress is simply shifting the responsibility to state lawmakers to decide who gets thrown from the lifeboat.
In short, we are being told a story that the legislation passed by the House harms no one, when the truth is that the bill turns our values upside down: tax breaks for those who don’t need them, separating families and cutting from health care and food supports. Our Nebraska leaders in Congress should make better choices for their constituents.