Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ is ugly for Wisconsin. Republicans voted for it anyway.

After vowing not to cut “a nickel” from benefits Wisconsin GOP House members vote for punishing cuts to food benefits and health care.

All of Wisconsin’s Republican delegation voted yes Friday as the US House passed a budget bill that President Donald Trump calls big and beautiful—certainly true for billionaires, but most anyone else in Wisconsin struggling with a weakened US economy will see impacts that, while large, aren’t exactly pretty.

By the narrowest of margins, 215-214, House Republicans wrapped an all-night session with a Thursday morning vote for a budget plan, which the Congressional Budget office says will offer a massive tax cut for high income earners, paid for with $1 trillion in spending cuts while adding $3.8 trillion to the federal deficit, the Associated Press reported. 

In Wisconsin, the cuts to Medicaid coverage and to benefits in the Affordable Care Act could strip health insurance from 82,000 people, while another 235,000 would see their premiums rise, leading some of them to become uninsured. An estimated 144,000 Wisconsinites would be at risk of losing food benefits through SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that covers 12% of the state’s population.

Republicans claim the measure is about attacking wasteful spending.

“As the Democrats spent time fearmongering with lies that this bill will cut benefits, Republicans got the job done by delivering tax savings and benefit protections for the American people,” said US Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Prairie du Chien), who last month screamed in a committee hearing that cutting $230 billion in nutrition assistance would not reduce “a nickel” of benefits from those who were “lawfully” receiving them—a mathematically impossible claim based on any reputable data on fraudulently received benefits.

Critics pointed out the cuts to food assistance and healthcare for struggling families won’t bring any fiscal benefit because the so-called savings are being plowed right into tax cuts skewed toward the wealthy.

“Donald Trump came into office promising to lower costs for families,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin. “Instead, Republicans are about to jack up the cost of health care for hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites, all so the wealthiest Americans can get richer.”

Congress is facing the need to address a replacement for the 2017 Republican tax plan, written in such a way that taxes would have risen significantly after this year when the original cuts expired. But instead of working with Democrats, GOP lawmakers chose to go it alone and use legislative loopholes to pass budget measures that couldn’t be delayed by Senate Democrats threatening a filibuster. Unlike most federal budgets that are made up of multiple packages for easier passage, the loophole —a process known as reconciliation— can only be done in a single bill, which is why Trump pushed hard for what he called “a big beautiful bill,” but one that was repeatedly at risk of dying until enough Republicans could be convinced to put their political eggs into a single basket.

Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, represented by Van Orden, is a microcosm for how the bill will hurt Americans everywhere.

About 153,000 people in the 3rd District rely on Medicaid in order to have stable, affordable healthcare coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation—including 21,000 seniors, an estimated 50,000 children, and 20,000 people with disabilities. 

An estimated 16,000 people could lose some or all of their SNAP benefits in that single district. And SNAP cuts would also hurt the businesses that accept SNAP payments and the farmers who provide food for struggling families. There are an estimated 12,000 people in the 3rd District working in agricultural, forestry, fishing, hunting and mining fields, based on a category used by the US Census Bureau.

The Republican measure attracted droves of citizen lobbyists to Washington, DC, including Oliver Winn of Eau Claire, who met with Van Orden last month.

“He gave me his commitment that he would not make cuts to these critical programs,” Winn told Opportunity Wisconsin. “With his vote today, he has once again broken that promise. As a Medicaid beneficiary who also relies on SNAP, I’m deeply concerned about how these cuts are going to affect my ability to access the care and services I need. Giving tax breaks to billionaires with money taken from programs that make healthcare and food accessible is wrong and it’s not what we deserve from our Congressman.”

Three Democrats have announced plans to challenge Van Orden for his seat in 2026— another candidate in the 1st Congressional District is also trying to retire US Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Janesville). 

“What Steil did today is EXACTLY why I’ve entered this race,” said a statement from  Randy Bryce, who lost a 1st District challenge to former Speaker Paul Ryan in 2018. “Wisconsin WILL remember this total betrayal of the Middle Class in 2026.”

Nationally, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates 8.6 million fewer people would have health care coverage and 3 million would see reduced SNAP food stamps benefits under the House GOP measure.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where Republicans expressed support for large cuts but to not nearly the level sent to them by their House colleagues.