The “Beautiful” Budget Bill Is Pretty Ugly for Black Americans

by Jennifer Porter Gore, Word in Black

Donald Trump’s signature legislative package calls for deep cuts in America’s safety net. As a result, experts say millions of Black people will fall through.

Talk to most experts, and it’s clear that the Trump Administration’s massive, much-hyped budget proposal — the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” currently working its way through Congress — confirms that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

And if it becomes law, they say, the future won’t look good for Black Americans. 

The bill takes a chainsaw to government programs that members of the Black community disproportionately depend on for healthcare. It calls for hollowing out Medicaid, as well as a legislative sleight-of-hand that all but repeals the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a Obamacare. Experts say those two provisions alone could cause 14 million people, a sizable percentage of whom are Black, to lose access to healthcare insurance. 

But the bill also calls for deep cuts to public health agencies, as well as slashing the budget for the anti-poverty program known as food stamps and ending government reimbursements to nonprofits that provide Black women with free or reduced-cost reproductive healthcare. 

These cuts, experts say, will disparately hurt Black Americans and will push the poor deeper into poverty while the wealthy will benefit. 

Learn why cuts to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will be the most damaging.

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