Ranking Member Markey Slams Trump’s Cuts to Essential Programs That Support American Small Businesses, Children, and Working Families at Small Business Committee Hearing

RM Markey: Trump's cuts are kicking American families and workers down the economic ladder

Watch: RM Markey Opening Remarks

(Washington, June 3) - Ranking Member Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today slammed the Trump administration and MAGA Republicans for slashing essential nutrition and health care programs for millions of children and working families at a Small Business Committee hearing titled "Examining the Burden of Federal Benefits Cliffs on Small Businesses and Workers." Ranking Member Markey highlighted the devastating impact of Trump's cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which according to new estimates, have caused more than 3.5 million people nationwide, including 50,000 hungry children in Massachusetts, to lose their nutrition benefits.

"While MAGA Republicans slash public programs, Americans are being crushed by Trump's tariff taxes, paying more at the pump, and spending their hard-earned money on skyrocketing health care, grocery, and electricity costs," said Ranking Member Markey. "Who is the President prioritizing? It is clearly not the American children going hungry because of SNAP cuts. It is clearly not the 8 million small businesses and their workers losing out on health care coverage. And it is clearly not the families at home whose pockets have a Trump-sized hole in them. Our number one priority should be to end Trump's affordability crisis. It is clear that Trump and his loyalists have a different agenda: One that steals from the poor and gives to the rich."

During the hearing, Ranking Member Markey heard from Nick Gwyn, a Senior Fellow for Government Affairs at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, about how Trump's cuts to essential federal programs are worsening the affordability crisis that American families and small businesses are facing.

"The cuts in H.R.1 (the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill) to food assistance under SNAP and health care coverage under both Medicaid and the ACA were the largest in history. And we've already begun to see the effects," said Nick Gwyn. "We've seen 3.5 million people lose their SNAP benefits. This is during a period in which unemployment did not go down, and certainly prices for food did not go down. These are people who are losing benefits because of the changes that are occurring under the One Big Beautiful Bill. That is not a recipe for helping people up the economic ladder. It is reducing critical support for many people including working families."

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