By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire Washington Bureau Chief and White House Correspondent
The Senate floor is busy with the vote-a-rama, a procedural process that allows Senators to submit amendments to the GOP’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ that must be voted on in turn. These include additional targeted tax breaks and spending cuts that are not expected to be added as amendments.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also forced the reading of the 940-page legislation that Republicans want to be able to place on the President’s desk for signing into law by July 4.
Democrats’ messaging is focused on key provisions of the bill that they say will negatively impact millions of Americans: Significant cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, and other services that affect communities of color and others nationwide.
Reverend Dr. William Barber, a leader of the Moral Monday movement on Capitol Hill, reminds us that the bill passed by only one vote in the House. If it loses only three Republican votes in the Senate, it will not pass. Barber feels that this bill is immoral since, should it pass in its current state, “millions of children will lose free and reduced lunch.” Additionally, the bill does not address policies that government can put in place to support “a living wage.”
Just beyond the table of contents, one of the first cuts in the just under 1,000-page Big Beautiful Bill is to food assistance programs. Estimates show that the Senate version of the legislation would also lead to loss of healthcare coverage for 16 million Americans.
The actual cost of the legislation is in dispute. The White House denies the bill will add $3.3 trillion to the national debt. However, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, along with many other independent groups and economists all concur that the legislation will add trillions of dollars in debt to the deficit to an already troubling deficit over the next ten years. The Trump administration does not accept its numbers.
Alphonso David, President and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum, finds the bill also hits Black Businesses hard, saying, “Small businesses and Black-owned businesses will be disproportionately impacted by this spending bill. To succeed in business, you need capital,” he continued. “This bill would make it more expensive to borrow money to start or grow your business.”
“There are 33.2 million small businesses in the United States, providing jobs for more than 60 million people,” notes David. “The bill would push federal government debt to record levels, which means interest rates will increase—and it will become more expensive to borrow money. We should all be aware that 20% of small businesses and 80% of Black-owned businesses fail within their first 12 to 18 months. With this bill and added constraints on capital, more small businesses will fail.”
