Press Releases

Today, after the U.S. House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act without any Democratic support, Maine First District Congresswoman Chellie Pingree released the following statement:

Today, the House passed the most harmful, heartless, and regressive bill I’ve seen in my time in Congress. It’s difficult to overstate the scale of devastation this legislation will unleash on families across the country.

This bill represents one of the largest wealth transfers in American history—cutting more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and putting health care for millions of people at risk. It slashes SNAP benefits by nearly $300 billion, threatening food security for working families and children. The burden this will put on states, whose budgets are already strained—particularly with respect to health care and food security—is enormous and will almost certainly lead to higher state and local taxes. And they’re doing it all to hand more than $1 trillion in tax breaks to billionaires and corporations, adding $3.3 trillion to the national deficit. They’re willing to sacrifice the health and wellbeing of hardworking Americans, struggling families, and marginalized communities to make the rich ever richer. It’s deeply immoral and needlessly cruel.

And let’s not forget the absurd political vendettas and pet projects tucked in the bill, like raising taxes on clean energy, showering the oil and gas industry with subsidies, building the President’s so-called ‘Garden of Heroes’, and moving the Space Shuttle Discovery to Texas. It hands ICE over $75 billion—more than we spend in a year on the Marine Corps or medical research–to create a sprawling, secretive deportation force and a vast network of detention centers, enriching private prison companies while subjecting immigrant communities to unfathomable fear and suffering.

The impact of this legislation here in Maine will be devastating. Tens of thousands could lose access to health care and food assistance. We’re already seeing the closure of hospitals and clinics across the state. This bill puts even more pressure on our state’s already strained health infrastructure. And immigrants in our communities—many of whom have already survived unimaginable hardship and who contribute actively to our communities and local economies—will be forced to live in even greater fear of being detained or disappeared.

That Speaker Johnson chose to keep the procedural rule vote open for hours last night while holdouts made backroom deals with the President on their own pet issues, forcing debate on the bill into the dead of night, underscores the chaos that has defined this process from the very beginning. 

Leader Jeffries’ extraordinary floor speech today laid bare just how dangerous and damaging this bill truly is, and how Republicans are betraying the people they represent. Meanwhile, it’s clear from the President’s own comments that he doesn’t even know what’s in his signature legislation, or that it will kick 17 million people off their health care. The ignorance and apathy on display is staggering.

This bill is not about helping everyday Americans. It’s an assault on the working class, a gift to the ultra-wealthy, a climate disaster, and a ticking time bomb for the economy. 

It’s shameful. It’s dangerous. And it’s unforgivable.

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