Donald Trump’s allies in Congress are pushing for budget legislation that will slash programs and services for the health and well-being of millions. Crucially, they’ve proposed cutting food assistance for children and families, as well as vital support for clean water projects. 

At the same time, they want to give $4.5 trillion in tax breaks, largely to corporations and the ultra-wealthy. In essence, this will condemn children to go hungry to pad the pockets of billionaires like Elon Musk. 

This budget reconciliation plan is inhumane and if passed, it will cost lives. It’s vital that we stop it. Our leaders must stand strong against the Musk-Trump agenda and ensure affordable food and safe water for all. Here’s what you need to know:

Congress’s Budget for Billionaires

Members of Congress are using the budget reconciliation process to ram through Trump’s budget agenda. This process, available once a fiscal year, fast-tracks certain tax, spending, and debt limit legislation. 

Usually, bills need at least 60 votes in the Senate to bypass the filibuster, which can delay or block bills. Budget reconciliation does away with this requirement, needing just a simple majority (51 votes) to pass in the Senate. This makes budget reconciliation bills especially difficult to stop when a single party controls the House, Senate, and Presidency.

The process started in February when the House of Representatives passed a resolution (H. Con. Res. 14), a framework that lays out their top-level aims for the budget reconciliation bill. 

Crucially, by extending and expanding on Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, this framework will largely benefit the United States’ wealthiest. The House resolution calls for $4.5 trillion in tax breaks mostly for corporations and billionaires. 

To make matters worse, it also requires steep cuts to basic services. These include incredibly vital (and popular) programs like Medicare and Medicaid and crucial funding for food access and school lunches.

On April 5, the Senate passed the House budget resolution with several budget gimmicks that try to mask the cuts, but these amendments are just smoke and mirrors. Most Senate Republicans approved the framework that will require massive cuts to essential public services and benefits. 

The House will vote to accept these Senate amendments this week, and then Congressional Committees will use the instructions in this resolution to draft the actual details of the budget reconciliation bill. Congress will need to vote on and approve the final bill text before it becomes law. That means we still have multiple opportunities to hold our officials accountable to stop this dirty budget. 

Plans to Take Away Food from Children and Families

The budget reconciliation resolution takes aim at federal food assistance that helps millions of families put food on the table. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) helps feed more than 40 million low-income folks in the U.S. every month. The resolution calls for $230 billion in cuts from programs under the House Agriculture Committee, which would impact SNAP. 

Many of the representatives supporting reconciliation have tens of thousands of constituents who rely on SNAP. If they move forward with it, they’ll be directly responsible for taking food access from the people they’re supposed to serve.

At the same time, the resolution threatens the National School Lunch Program by directing a chop of $330 billion from programs under the Education and Workforce Committee. This program feeds 20 million children nationwide. It’s key to ensuring that all students can learn and grow without skipping a meal or worrying about their next one. 

Notably, the budget plan would likely impact the Community Eligibility Provision, which provides funds to schools with a certain percentage of students in poverty to serve free lunch to all students. On the table is a budget proposal to take program eligibility from more than 24,000 schools serving more than 12 million children. It will literally take food out of children’s mouths.

Everyone needs and deserves safe, healthy, and affordable food. At a time of soaring food prices — in large part due to corporate greed — these cuts are cruel and inhumane.

Plans to Threaten Safe and Clean Water

The resolution also proposes cuts that endanger clean, affordable water. Among the options under consideration is a proposal to remove the tax exemption on municipal bonds, which finance state and local infrastructure from schools to roads to water treatment plants. Local governments finance about 90% of water and wastewater projects, mostly using such low-cost tax-exempt revenue and general obligation bonds.

Eliminating the tax exemption would devastate local governments’ ability to finance projects key to safe drinking water. It would dramatically increase costs, leading to higher water prices or less safe water. Water bills are already unaffordable for as many as one in three households. 

With cuts like these, Trump’s allies in Congress are sacrificing our health and our right to clean water for the sake of billionaires and corporate profits.

Join Our Fight to Stop This Budget Reconciliation Bill!

If passed, these budget cuts will be devastating for the vast majority of people nationwide. They will hamper access to food and water, threaten public health, and, in some cases, put people’s lives on the line. The budget reconciliation framework will lead to a bill that will give to the rich and take from everyone else. Low-income families and kids will bear the brunt. 

Members of Congress who support this bill will endanger their own communities by slashing basic programs and services. Instead of caving to the Musk-Trump agenda, they must stand up for their constituents.

Since we first learned of this budget reconciliation proposal, Food & Water Watch has worked relentlessly to fight it. We’re driving e-mails and calls to representatives, rallying in their districts, and meeting with them face-to-face to make our demands clear. Together, we can hold our leaders accountable and stop this horrible budget reconciliation bill.