Trump and Congress rewrite the social contract

President Trump’s signature legislation rewrites the social contract as we know it by transferring trillions of dollars upwards to the wealthiest Americans at the expense of low-income and working people. It redefines what it means to be American by supercharging ICE, an agency emboldened to indiscriminately round up and detain immigrants. The Shriver Center on Poverty Law strongly condemns the law’s brazen cruelty and attacks on the social safety net, marking the most devastating rollback since 1996’s so-called “welfare reform.”

While the American dream has always been more aspirational than reality, it’s worth noting that the movement claiming to Make America Great Again has consigned our national mythology to the dustbin of history. It’s estimated that 17 million people will lose their health care, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will shrink by $300 billion. What that tells us is that Trump and his allies think it’s more important to fund a $4.5 trillion dollar tax cut for billionaires than it is for low-income Americans to see a doctor or for children living in poverty to have enough food.

For the first time, work requirements will be imposed on Medicaid recipients, adding red tape that will push many people off coverage. Republicans say it’s to reduce “waste, fraud, and abuse,” but the facts don’t bear that out. According to health news provider KFF, nearly two-thirds of Medicaid enrollees aged 19-64 have jobs. Three-tenths of recipients who don’t work for wages are either caregivers, have a disability, or are in school. If the federal government wanted to get serious about tackling welfare abuse, it would look at corporations like Walmart, where low wages force employees to rely on Medicaid and food assistance programs just to get by.

The consequences of these changes will be deadly. Millions of Americans who get booted off Medicaid will have to resort to emergency rooms for care. Hospitals will have to absorb the cost of uninsured people who can’t afford to pay their medical bills. Without government reimbursements for safety net hospitals, hundreds of rural facilities will close. For some, a longer drive to the nearest facility won’t just be inconvenient; it’ll be fatal. Hospital closures also spell the death of many rural communities, where medical facilities drive the local economy.

Suddenly, what was once a problem for the “undeserving poor” becomes a crisis for the entire health system, both for providers and the insured, who can expect skyrocketing premiums. Medicaid also pays for 63 percent of nursing facility residents. Funding cuts to nursing homes could result in staffing reductions and even closures, adding pressure to family members to fill in the gaps. Many will have to quit their jobs to become full-time caregivers.

The bill’s supposed sweetener for working people — to no longer tax tipped wages — is really a backhanded way for business owners to keep wages low. Many service workers earn very little in tips. If the Trump administration really cared about service workers, he’d eliminate subminimum wages and increase the federal minimum wage to a rate that allows working Americans to meet their basic needs.

Despite the sweeping cuts, Trump and his allies in Congress are jacking up funding to expand ICE’s illegal roundup of immigrants. $170 billion has been allocated to hire more ICE agents and build more detention camps. According to the American Immigration Council, this funding increase will make ICE the largest federal law enforcement agency in U.S. history.

It’s not just Congress and the president redefining American life and our constitutional protections: The recent rulings by the Supreme Court continue the trend toward systematically limiting who gets to be an American. The court’s decision to uphold a ban on gender-affirming care for children in Tennessee is a dangerous first step toward the goal of erasing trans people. They’ve also limited the power of lower courts to impose nationwide injunctions, which have been one of the most effective tactics to fight the Trump administration’s abuses of power. The decision has sobering ramifications for the Shriver Center and our partners seeking to protect marginalized groups and people on the frontlines of Trump’s war on immigrants.

The Shriver Center will not let Illinois be harmed without a fight. We oppose a federal government that supports socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for everyone else. We will provide the state with a blueprint to raise revenue from the wealthiest individuals and corporations to protect services for our residents. We call on the governor and General Assembly to work together thoughtfully and with a broad coalition of our advocacy partners to enact such a plan. We won’t stop until all residents can live with dignity, regardless of race, immigration status, or gender identity.