U.S. House Passes Trump’s Cruel Budget Bill that Ignores Voters’ Priorities and Devastates American Families

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U.S. Senate must reject sweeping cuts to health care, food assistance and education 

WASHINGTON, DC — Despite strong opposition from Latino voters and the broader public, today the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that imposes devastating cuts to healthcare, food assistance, education and other essential programs for American families while extending tax cuts for the wealthiest and increasing wasteful spending at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Bill H.R. 1 passed 215-214, with 1 ‘present’ vote and two Republicans voting ‘no,’ and now moves to the U.S. Senate. 

UnidosUS President and CEO Janet Murguía issued the following statement in response:  

“The ‘big, beautiful bill’ passed by the U.S. House of Representatives today is in fact an ugly, cruel and senseless piece of legislation that does absolutely nothing to help our economy or the millions of working families — including Latino families — who make up the vast majority of our country. In stark contrast to what the president promised, this bill will make life much harder for most Americans — slashing funding for health care, food and education through some of the largest cuts in U.S. history, while even raising taxes on many low-income families. It rewards the top 10% of earners with gains, while the bottom 10% are left worse off paying more and losing critical support. All this so that the wealthiest of Americans get their tax breaks and the administration can turbocharge their chaotic, malicious and law-breaking deportation machine. This is the epitome of bad policymaking, and we will call on U.S. Senators from both sides of the aisle to have the courage to stop it.”    

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 BACKGROUND ON H.R. 1 

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget reconciliation bill that will devastate Latino families and working people across our country. At a time when voters are calling for relief from rising costs, House leadership chose to gut the very programs that provide stability — Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and education aid — while funneling billions into deportation and detention efforts and extending massive tax cuts for the wealthy.  

This bill delivers the largest cuts in history to vital federal programs, slashes education support and targets American children with immigrant parents — all while pouring billions into immigration enforcement. It’s a clear sign that House leadership is out of step with the priorities of the American people. 

Our recent polling shows that Latino voters are deeply concerned about health care and food costs, housing affordability and job security. This bill ignores those concerns — and instead doubles down on a political agenda that punishes low-income families, immigrant communities and children.   

  • Medicaid — which over 20 million Latinos rely on — ensures healthy births, supports children with special needs and helps seniors access care. Slashing this program will mean more preventable illness, suffering and deaths. 
  • SNAP helps 10 million Latinos — half of them children — put food on the table with just $6.20 a day. This bill imposes the largest cuts in the program’s history and, for the first time, shifts costs to the states — forcing them to raise taxes, gut school and public safety budgets, or take food away from families. No Congress should balance the budget by making children go hungry. 

The bill goes even further by eliminating the Child Tax Credit for 4.5 million U.S. citizen children in mixed-status families — punishing them simply because one parent is undocumented. These are kids who sit in our classrooms, play on our sports teams and dream of brighter futures. Many already live in poverty; taking away this support strips them of one of the most effective tools to help children succeed. 

Additionally, the House bill restricts access to Pell Grants that help low-income and working Latino and first-generation students afford college. It taxes the hard-earned money that undocumented workers send home so their families can afford food and medicine. It guts funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, leaving all U.S. consumers more vulnerable to financial predators.  

While cutting support for families, students and seniors, this bill funnels billions into the Department of Homeland Security to expand detention, deportation and surveillance — without real solutions for public safety. It hands a blank check to agencies with a history of waste and abuse, with no meaningful oversight. Deporting long-time workers will deepen labor shortages, raise food and housing costs, and strain families already facing high living expenses.  This House bill will harm communities without any meaningful checks or guardrails, further empowering federal agencies to trample our civil liberties and due process — while doing nothing to make our communities safer.