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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Early this morning, after nearly 30 hours of continuous debate and resistance, House Republicans passed their “Bad Billionaire’s Budget”—a sweeping, multi-trillion-dollar proposal that rips health care and food assistance from millions of Americans in order to fund tax breaks for billionaires and mega-corporations. Every single House Democrat, including Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03), voted NO on the legislation.

“This so-called budget is not just morally bankrupt—it’s downright cruel,” said Congresswoman Leger Fernández. “It throws families off their health care, takes food away from hungry children, attacks women’s rights, repeals clean energy investments, and will force rural clinics to close across states like New Mexico—just to give billionaires another tax break.”

“I didn’t leave the Capitol—didn’t sleep—for two days straight to fight back because the American people deserve to know what’s in this bill. And I will keep calling out their lies every step of the way,” she continued. “Republicans say that this won’t increase the deficit, but they know it adds trillions to the debt.  They say it supports low-income Americans–but in reality it’s the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in American history. The American people deserve to know the truth. I will continue to fight every step of the way to stop it.”

To pass the bill, in the dead of night, House Republicans made 40 pages of last-minute changes that made the proposal even more extreme. The Republican bill:

• Kicks nearly 14 million Americans off their health care by slashing Medicaid and sabotaging the ACA.
• Triggers a $500 billion Medicare cut that will hurt seniors across the country.
• Takes food assistance away from hungry kids with a $300 Billion cut to SNAP.
• Raises premiums for millions on the ACA and piles on paperwork for Medicaid, making it harder to access coverage.
• Blocks insurance from covering abortion care and tries to sneak in yet another national abortion ban.
• Cuts funding rural hospitals and clinics depend on, putting nearly 200 hospitals at risk of closure across states like New Mexico.
• Repeals clean energy incentives that lower costs and fight climate change.
• Let Republicans raise Americans' taxes without the required 3/5ths vote while cutting them for billionaires like Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
• Included a tax break for tanning salons—until Congresswoman Leger Fernández exposed it as a subsidy for Donald Trump’s spray tan.

Democrats filed more than 520 amendments to block the cuts and call out the hidden attacks on health care, food security, and reproductive freedom. The Republican majority rejected every single one.

The bill now moves to the Senate, where its future remains uncertain.

Next Steps:

While the House vote is over, Congresswoman Leger Fernández emphasized that the fight continues in the Senate and across the country. “Budgets reflect our morals,” she said.“And this one has none. But the American people are paying attention—and we will keep fighting to protect their health care, their rights, and their dignity.”

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