AFSCME retirees and working members gathered across the country last week to hold lawmakers accountable for supporting the so-called Big Beautiful Bill and oppose further cuts to child care, Medicare, Medicaid and public schools.
At events held during the congressional recess, when House members were back in their districts,child care, Medicare, Medicaid and other services that President Donald Trump has called for.
“This isn’t politics to people like me — it’s survival,” said Mary Cannon-James, president of AFSCME Iowa Retiree Chapter 61. “I worked my whole life, paid into Social Security and Medicare every single paycheck, and now politicians in Washington want to gut the very programs we earned while costs keep rising on everything from prescriptions to groceries.”
Those comments were directed at Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who supported the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. Cannon-James, like her fellow AFSCME working members and AFSCME retirees, demanded to know if lawmakers like Miller-Meeks will reverse course and stand against Trump’s most recent budget proposal, which sells out working people to benefit billionaires.
Already, 3 million people have been dropped from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since Trump signed the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act. More than 1 million fewer people have signed up for health care through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces since subsidies expired. The bill also cut Medicaid by $1 trillion over 10 years. Trump and his cronies in Congress slashed programs working people and retirees rely on to dole out massive tax breaks for their billionaire buddies.
Sue Conard, president of AFSCME Wisconsin Retiree Chapter 32, said: “In communities across Wisconsin, people are doing everything right and still struggling to get by. We are all stretched thin,” said Conard, “so cutting Medicare and Medicaid in the middle of an affordability crisis is cruel.”
Arlene Muniz, a member of AFSCME Retiree Chapter 97, expressed similar sentiments in Arizona.
“While working Americans are stressed from trying to hold it all together, Donald Trump is saying that the federal government ‘can’t be funding day care, Medicare, Medicaid,’” Muniz said. “And his latest budget follows through on those threats.”
These AFSCME members are Getting Organized, and you should too. Join the fight.