AFSCME members are stepping up their fight against inhumane federal budget cuts that anti-worker extremists are pushing in Congress.
They’re fighting back even as anti-worker lawmakers passed a proposal to cut $1.5 trillion in federal spending to pay for more tax cuts to billionaires like Elon Musk.
These cuts — especially to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — would spell disaster for vulnerable Americans who use these programs.
A group of child care providers from United Domestic Workers of America/AFSCME Local 3930 (UDW) visited Capitol Hill for the second time in recent weeks to demand no cuts to these critically important programs.
UDW member and child care provider Charlotte Neal traveled from Sacramento to lobby lawmakers to protect and defend Medicaid — a program her clients rely on to pay for child care. She’s also worried about the future of SNAP.
Prior to her meetings with members of Congress, Neal spoke at a rally outside the Capitol Dome alongside pro-worker Sens. Raphael Warnock, Chris Murphy, Richard Blumenthal and more.
“I am in Washington, D.C., today because anti-union extremists and billionaires want to take away the Medicaid and SNAP benefits that working families need to care for their kids. They say they want to make these cuts to force people to work. But let’s get real — these cuts hurt working people most,” Neal said.
“In fact, two-thirds of the adults on Medicaid are already working. Like the parents of the kids in my care, they don’t need any incentives to get a job. They need steady hours and a real pay raise, not cuts to the services that help them stay afloat while they do their essential jobs.”
The budget cuts that anti-worker lawmakers are advancing will require that $880 billion dollars be slashed from Medicaid, leaving nearly 80 million Americans without care, pushing many to the brink.
Neal also noted that cutting Medicaid and SNAP will blow a huge hole in state and local budgets. That, in turn, will cost jobs and sink our economy faster.
“Why do they want to cut Medicaid, SNAP and other public services? To give themselves $4 to $5 trillion dollars in tax cuts,” Neal said. “Think about what that money could do if we invested in public services instead of giving it to Elon Musk and his billionaire friends.”
Neal said anti-union extremists won’t stop there. They want to roll back laws that protect the freedom to join a union – something straight out of the Project 2025 playbook.
“We’re not going to let that happen. We’re getting organized, and we’re fighting back,” Neal said. “The more people we have coming together to protect our freedoms, Medicaid and SNAP the better chance we’ll win.”
Neal was referring to AFSCME’s Get Organized campaign. Get Organized, or AFSCME GO, is all about making sure every AFSCME member knows what’s at stake and joins the fight to protect the services we provide.
The bigger we are, the more power we have to say working people shouldn’t just get by – we demand to thrive.