WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) released the following statement after voting against the MAGA Republican budget:

“These extreme MAGA Republicans need to stop holding the livelihoods of families and our economy hostage. It’s time for Congress to pay our bills and prevent a devastating default on our debt. The Republican majority in the House voted three times to raise the debt limit under the former twice-impeached president. Now, they’re using the debt ceiling to try to negotiate an extreme pro-starvation agenda.

“Speaker McCarthy and his fellow far-right Republicans are threatening to wreck our economy by refusing to raise the debt ceiling unless they can force cruel cuts to food assistance programs like SNAP that will devastate our families, especially children and seniors. The lives and livelihoods of the American people are not bargaining chips.

“We will not allow MAGA Republicans to bargain cuts to vital public programs that our residents rely on. We need a clean raise of the debt ceiling. These extreme MAGA Republicans need to stop playing political games with people’s lives.”

House Republicans are threatening an economic disaster that will devastate working families across the country. In Michigan’s 12th District, a default on our debt would:

• Put Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans Affairs health benefits at risk for 399,000 people;
• Jeopardize Social Security payments for 102,000 seniors;
• Threaten the retirement savings of 98,200 people near retirement; and
• Eliminate 6,700 jobs for our residents.

In Michigan, this extreme MAGA Republican budget would:

• Threaten access to food assistance for 34,000 people between the ages of 50-55 who rely on SNAP benefits;
• Put 464,000 people at risk of losing Medicaid coverage;
• Eliminate preschool and child care for at least 9,700 children;
• Increase housing costs for at least 13,500 people;
• Make college more expensive for at least 165,300 students; and
• Repeal investments in clean energy — threatening at least 10,022 clean energy and manufacturing jobs announced in Michigan since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.

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