The U.S. Senate returns this week to discuss the federal reconciliation bill. The legislation includes hundreds of millions of dollars in funding cuts to programs that Hoosiers said they depend on to survive. Some Hoosiers are calling for U.S. Sens. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) to vote no on the legislation.
The federal bill includes significant cuts and changes to Medicaid, Medicare and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Jerome Albert, with the grassroots organization Lawrence County Deserves Better, said the people of Mitchell, Indiana, want lawmakers to come to meet the people who they’re supposed to represent — and they want lawmakers to vote no on cuts to services that people rely on.
“Come to Mitchell, come walk these streets,” Albert said. “Come meet the families that you're supposed to represent. Come hear the stories of the people your decisions will impact. We want you to hear us. We want you to look us in the eye before you cut us off.”
Albert was the lead organizer for the “Mitchell Deserves Better” rally. Mitchell is in a rural part of the state, which Albert said means it already struggles with care and food deserts. He said cuts to these programs will make basic needs even more inaccessible for the people of rural Indiana, like those in Mitchell.
“This is food off of the table,” Albert said. “This is people without care. This is people not going to the doctor when they need to. People are going to die because of this, and people are going to be affected right here in Lawrence County.”
Albert said the proposed bill will "affect so many different people."
"People with children — who have disabilities, our elders, our children. This is a low income area, and people already can't afford basic things," Albert said. "When they come for what little we already have left, what little these people are relying on, they're going to have nowhere else to go."
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Evie Phelps is also an organizer for the grassroots organization. She said people deserve stability and transparency.
“We deserve basic care. We deserve to be out of a food desert. We deserve to not be constantly worried about Medicaid being cut and changes to SNAP benefits," Phelps said. "I don't want to see my neighbors and my family and friends just keep being worried about what's going to happen to their livelihoods day-to-day.”
Phelps echoed Albert's call to state and federal lawmakers to talk to the people of Mitchell, Indiana, to understand what they’re dealing with.
“There are a lot of people that don't feel like their voices are being heard,” Phelps said. “In early March, a lot of these town halls of senators and representatives coming to see us got canceled, so we haven't had this chance to really interface aside from leaving voice messages.”
Phelps said these funding cuts are a part of a growing trend of “omnibus bills” that are difficult for the average citizen to have the time and energy to dig through and dissect.
But, Phelps said people can still call their lawmakers and rallygoers added on “every morning.” Phelps also said people can make sure that people in their community understand the consequences of the policies in the legislation.
“It's hard to talk to your neighbors when they are not impacted, and it's hard to talk to people who don't know yet,” Phelps said. “But, we've got to sound the alarm, because the most vulnerable people are going to be the ones that get hurt in all this.”
The federal legislation only needs a simple majority in the Senate to pass because it’s the federal reconciliation bill and not a typical bill, which would require a vote to pass a 60-vote threshold to pass.
That means the Republican majority doesn’t need any support from Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. Senate. However, if Republican leaders want the legislation to pass in the Senate, they can only afford to lose three members of their party in the vote. And there are several members that are already signaling problems with the current version of the bill.
The House passed the current version of the bill with a final vote of 215-214 — less than two weeks after the initial draft of the legislation was submitted.
Abigail is our health reporter. Contact them at aruhman@wboi.org or on Signal at IPBHealthRuhman.65.