Let's call it what it is — the billionaire’s dream bill

Sen. Steve Daines and Sen. Tim Sheehy just voted to gut healthcare and food assistance for tens of thousands of Montanans, thanks to the historic cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and SNAP in Trump’s big, ugly bill.

You might be thinking, “Hey, that sounds tough for folks who rely on social safety net programs, but surely that won’t affect me.”

It will. Here’s how.

A recent report from the Montana Healthcare Foundation estimates 31,000 Montanans risk losing their health insurance if Trump’s dumpster fire, billionaire-first bill continues to make its way through Congress. Some reports estimate that as many as 16 million Americans could lose coverage nationwide.

When uninsured folks in Montana and beyond inevitably end up at the hospital or doctor’s office for one reason or another, the cost doesn’t just disappear into thin air. We’ll see higher premiums and medical costs as a result and more strain on our already stretched healthcare system.

Taxpayers will also help foot the bill.

Even if you don’t personally rely on Medicaid for health insurance, these cuts will have major impacts across the state. Hospitals, clinics and assisted living facilities risk closure and reduced services thanks to this bill, which could throw hundreds, if not thousands of people out of work, forcing rural Montanans to drive even farther to have a baby, go to the doctor’s office, or visit a grandparent.

This bill also threatens families struggling to put food on the table across the state. Thanks to Daines and Sheehy, Montanans are at high risk of losing food assistance, forcing working families and children to go hungry. The impacts of folks in our communities going hungry will have ripple effects dragging down local economies, student performance in schools, and beyond.

As if it weren’t enough, Daines and Sheehy also voted to:

• Increase energy costs (as if we needed that now with NorthWestern Energy increasing our rates, again).

• Potentially cut millions of clean energy and construction jobs.

• Blow up the national deficit despite their preaching about the importance of “fiscal responsibility”.

You might be wondering, who benefits from all of this? The answer is simple: The ultra-wealthy billionaires and the folks who own second and third mansions in our home state.

Trump and Republicans like Daines and Sheehy will go down in history for pushing forward one of the most disastrous pieces of legislation our country has ever seen.

Now it’s up to folks in the House to save working families in America.