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Minnesota progressives sound alarm over Trump tax bill • Minnesota Reformer [1]

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Date: 2025-07-02

Even as U.S. House struggled to wrangle the votes to pass President Donald Trump’s major domestic policy initiative Wednesday, Minnesota progressives, food shelves and health care advocates sounded the alarm over the “big, beautiful bill” that would deliver steep cuts to Medicaid and food aid for low-income families.

“There are seniors who will not have care because of this bill. There are Minnesota low-income college students who will not be able to go to college because of this bill. There are people who will not be able to get health care, and people who get health care who are paying thousands of dollars more because of this bill,” said Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, at a Wednesday rally in Minnehaha Park.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed Trump’s plan that would extend 2017 tax cuts and slashes spending on the Medicaid program for low-income people and people with disabilities. The legislation also shifts significant costs of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to states for the first time.

The U.S. House passed its own version of the bill in May and now House Republicans are facing pressure to pass the Senate’s version before Trump’s self-imposed Friday deadline. The Senate’s version includes steeper cuts to Medicaid compared to the House, though the House’s most far-right members want even more cuts and have threatened to withhold their votes if they don’t get their way.

Because of the tax cuts and increases in spending on defense and immigration enforcement, the plan would add about $3.3 trillion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The richest 5% of American taxpayers would receive 44% of the net tax cuts next year, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

The bill would hit state Medicaid programs across the country. All told, changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act in the Senate bill would cause 12 million additional people to be without health coverage in the next decade.

Over 1.2 million Minnesotans receive health care through Medicaid, known as Medical Assistance in Minnesota, and the congressional cuts would impact people’s health care coverage or their ability to access care. Many of Minnesota’s rural hospitals see a high rate of Medicaid patients, and they could see increased costs through uncompensated care.

Fair Share America rolled a dollar-green bus into Minnehaha Park Tuesday, where advocates and legislators gathered to protest the bill. It was part of the “Stop the Billionaire Giveaway,” a cross-country bus tour with a focus on the bill’s tax cuts for the wealthy.

Several Minnesota legislators and advocates gave speeches to a group of roughly 40 people, who staved off the summer heat with fans shaped like dollar bills.

Jerry Guritz, 72, and John Heidelberger, 72, attended the rally together. Sitting in the front row, they had signs reading “Tax the Rich” and “No Kings.” It was the first action Heidelberger had attended since the early 80s when he protested with the Teamsters.

“We’ve got to quit giving the richest people a free pass. They’ve got to pay their share. That’s where the revenue is going to come from, to aid all of the rest of us. I mean, the billionaires made their money off of the workers. Whichever industry it’s in, they’ve had workers,” Heidelberger said.

Zach Rodvold, public affairs director for Second Harvest Heartland, said that food shelves across Minnesota have seen a vast increase in demand, which will be exacerbated if the bill passes.

“This could affect benefits for as many as 150,000 Minnesotans in the near term through cuts to benefits, or outright stripping people of their benefits altogether,” Rodvold said in a virtual press conference Wednesday. “Over time, it will affect every Minnesota SNAP participant because it makes it harder for benefits to keep up with costs over the next 10 years.”

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[1] Url: https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/07/02/minnesota-progressives-sound-alarm-over-trump-tax-bill/

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