{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-tokuda-votes-against-republicans-big-ugly-bill", "Rep. Tokuda Votes Against Republicans\u2019 \u201cBig Ugly Bill\u201d", "2025-05-22", "2025", "2025-05", "Democrat", "House", "HI", "Jill N. Tokuda", "T000487", "tokuda.house.gov", "tokuda", "https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases?PageNum_rs=3&", "scraper", "Republicans' budget bill would cut $880 billion from Medicaid, $313 billion from SNAP, and $500 billion from Medicare, and increase the national debt by $45 trillion\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Today, U.S. Representative Jill Tokuda (HI-02) voted against passage of Republicans\u2019 budget bill which implements President Trump\u2019s agenda to permanently give tax cuts to the wealthy while gutting essential social safety net programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and SNAP that millions of Americans depend on for health care and food. Despite House Democrats\u2019 united opposition and efforts to delay and prevent the bill\u2019s passage, House Republicans rammed the budget bill through early Thursday morning by a party-line vote of 215 in favor, 214 against, and 1 abstention.\n\n\"It really was disgusting and shameful to see Republicans cheering as they passed a bill that's only going to support billionaires, all at the expense and on the backs of hardworking Americans,\" said Rep. Tokuda. \u201cAmericans will go hungry because of this bill. Americans will die without the health care that Republicans are ripping away from them. And Republicans who have spent decades railing about \u2018fiscal responsibility\u2019, have betrayed the American people, forcing our keiki to shoulder the long-term costs of these tax cuts. I will not give up and will continue fighting against this agenda to protect our working families and our future.\u201d\n\nIf enacted into law, the \"One Big Beautiful Bill\" would lead to the largest cuts in health care coverage and nutrition benefits in our nation\u2019s history. Here are some of the impacts to Americans:\n\nAn estimated 13.7 million would lose their health care.\n\nAt least 3 million a year would lose SNAP benefits.\n\nThe top 0.1 percent will get an average benefit of $255,000 a year ($700 a day), while the average benefit for people making less than $50,000 will be $265 a year (less than $1 a day).\n\nFive trillion dollars would be added to the national debt over the next decade and $45 trillion over the next 30 years, triggering cuts to Medicare by the end of the decade without action by Congress.\n\nIn addition to Rep. Tokuda's leading role last week as a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee during the marathon markup of Republicans\u2019 proposals to gut SNAP benefits, she worked tirelessly this week to prevent the budget bill's passage. Yesterday, in a last-ditch effort to prevent the bill\u2019s cuts to SNAP from affecting rural and remote communities in Hawai\u2018i, she proposed another amendment to the House Rules Committee. In a meeting that lasted over 20 hours, Rep. Tokuda testified in support of her amendment and urged her colleagues to help protect families and businesses in rural America.\n\n\"SNAP works. It feeds families and fuels local economies. Every SNAP dollar we know generates over $1.50 in economic activity. It supports farmers, grocers, small-town businesses. It breaks cycles of poverty. And Medicaid keeps rural hospitals open, keeps parents and kids healthy \u2014 it keeps people alive. Cutting these programs isn't just cruel, it's anti-American,\" she said during her remarks on the amendment, which can be seen here.\n\nAs House Republicans prepared to bring the budget bill for debate earlier this week, Rep. Tokuda also spoke twice on the House Floor against the bill, sharing stories of her constituents who would be harmed by cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.\n\n\"Atalina is a mother of five, soon to be six. Her husband, battling cancer and now severe back injuries, can't work consistently. And yet Atalina still works full time, still serves her neighbors and her community. If I put my entire family on my employer insurance, she told me, it would cost more than half my paycheck. Medicaid gave her family access to life-saving care. SNAP made sure her kids didn't go to bed hungry. These programs aren't handouts, she says, they're lifelines,\" said Rep. Tokuda on the House Floor, which can be seen here.\n\n\"Rural America is already in crisis. People there die younger. Mothers there face greater risk giving birth, and hospitals teeter on the edge of collapse. Medicaid is the thin lifeline that fragile systems are using to hold itself together. Cut it and people will die. At Adventist Health Castle in Kailua, 75 percent of patients rely on Medicaid and Medicare. They've weathered already the storm of COVID, but with new GOP-led cuts to provider fees, they may be forced to shut down essential services: obstetrics, pediatrics, emergency services \u2014 care that literally keeps babies and people alive. But this is not just about one hospital in Hawai\u02bbi. This a national crisis. Rural Americans face significantly worse health outcomes and health disparities. In too many rural counties, life expectancy is a decade shorter than that of their urban neighbors,\" said Rep. Tokuda on the House Floor, which can be seen here.\n\nThe bill now heads to the Senate for consideration, and Republican leaders have set a deadline to enact this bill by the Fourth of July.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T00:49:36Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-tokuda-votes-against-republicans-big-ugly-bill"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8525699377059937, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}