Republican members are joining the fight against Medicaid cuts, as the Union mobilizes to protect the rights of working people.

The Trump ticket promised to lower the price of gas and groceries, remove the tax on overtime and bring back jobs from overseas. So far, none of these promises have come even close to being kept. Egg prices are trending upwards again, mainly because of unchecked bird flu. Gas prices are also on the rise and job creation is stalled, as stock prices tumble over continued uncertainty on tariff moves.

In spite of the flurry of executive orders attempting to roll back our rights and trim lifesaving programs, very little is actually being done to improve our lives. On the contrary, short staffing threatens to get even worse as some of us are losing our work authorization and even facing deportation. ICE agents are sweeping up hard working neighbors at our workplaces and schools instead of focusing on violent criminals. 1199ers in New York City recently protested against threats to allow ICE into treatment and clinical areas (See Safe Spaces, p. 4).

Above all, just like during the last Trump administration, the Republicans want to re-up the 2017 tax cuts for billionaires before they sunset at the end of this year. But the only way they can deliver for their wealthy backers, is by slashing the Medicaid program upon which so many of us depend by $880 billion.

They claim they simply want to eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse.” But we all know there is nowhere near $880 billion worth of fat on the bone and the only way of they can appease their billionaire puppetmasters will be to make devastating cuts.

That is what members told their Republican congressional representatives when they lobbied their offices in Washington D.C. at the end of March. (See Fighting Back, p. 16). They shared their real-life stories of family members who could not afford diabetes medicine, elderly parents who could not afford long-term care and autistic children who could not afford the life-changing therapies that they need without Medicaid.

Members who work at Planned Parenthood and other clinics in Boston, Baltimore and New York City also rely on Medicaid reimbursement to provide services like birth control, lifesaving cancer and STD screenings, as well as genderaffirming care (See Revoking Equal Access to Healthcare, p.20)

The good news is that the Republican majority of just three votes in the House is the closest margin since the Great Depression. We know that we only need to convince three Republican members to vote against deep cuts to Medicaid to put a stop to the idea. But the fight has only just begun and we can’t afford to let up the gas, if we are to save the rights and benefits that we fought for decades to win in the first place.