Statement on passage of Congressional budget bill from Heba Atwa, BTC Director of Legislative Advocacy & Campaigns

In the dead of night, behind closed doors, Congress maneuvered the largest cuts to essential social programs in our nation’s history. While their dealmaking was hidden from public view, the devastating consequences will be painfully visible – in empty refrigerators, shuttered clinics, and lost livelihoods across North Carolina and the nation.

This legislation threatens the very programs that help everyday North Carolinians meet their most basic needs — food, health care, and stability. As this bill is implemented, the personal devastation will become undeniable. Families will go hungry. The most vulnerable will be forced to forgo medical care and support. Hospitals and small businesses, especially in rural communities, will be pushed closer to collapse.

Let’s be clear: This bill is a handout to the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. It’s not about avoiding a so-called “tax hike” — it’s about shielding millionaires and billionaires from paying what they truly owe while taking away the things that mean well-being for the rest of us.

Our federal lawmakers had a choice. With their vote, Senator Budd and Representatives Edwards, Foxx, Harris, Harrigan, Hudson, Knott, McDowell, Moore, Murphy, and Rouzer chose to please the powerful and punish the people. They chose to ignore the vital contributions of working people — the true engine of our economy — and instead diverted our public resources to the pockets of corporate interests and the ultra-wealthy.

We applaud Senator Tillis and Representatives Adams, Davis, Foushee, and Ross, for their NO vote and their commitment to North Carolinians’ well-being.

With every missed meal and delayed prescription, North Carolinians will now be subsidizing the rich. And that is not only unjust and cruel, it’s unsustainable.

Here in North Carolina, state lawmakers now face a choice. Will they follow Congress in putting the rich ahead of the rest of us? Or will they stand with our communities — people who teach our children, grow our food, and care for us when we’re ill — and support the policies that give us all the opportunity for a decent life?