In Lansing, Democrats warn Medicaid and SNAP cuts would be a “perfect storm” for the poor

Members of the Michigan Democratic Party laid out the impacts of congressional Republicans’ “big beautiful bill” at a town hall on Friday, calling on residents of Michigan’s 7th Congressional District to help educate their friends and family as well. 

A few hundred supporters packed into the gym of Everett High School in Lansing as U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly), U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City) and Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel detailed how the Trump administration’s policies would impact everyone, particularly individuals with limited income.

The Michigan Democratic Party has hosted several similar events in Republican districts throughout the state, Hertel said, noting House Republicans had been instructed to avoid town halls with their constituents. 

“The most basic thing for a public servant is to be able to sit and answer questions. … The least someone can do is sit down with people and explain their votes” Hertel said. 

And the 7th Congressional District’s current representative, Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte) has a lot of explaining to do, Hertel said, slamming Barrett for supporting Republican’s spending plan, and arguing the representative failed to stand up to the President and make himself available to his constituents

A Barrett spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. 

Prior to taking questions, McDonald Rivet slammed the Republican spending effort, telling audience members that it would take away healthcare and raise the cost of medicine, education and energy in order to deliver a tax break to the wealthy. 

“Oh, and by the way, it’s going to increase the deficit by several trillion dollars,” She said. 

Slotkin looked back on the president’s first term, when Trump was looking to overturn the Affordable Care Act, which expanded access to Medicaid and barred insurance providers from denying people coverage or charging them due to preexisting health conditions.

“It was the first thing he talked about when he got sworn in, he even had the House of Representatives vote to repeal Obamacare. And now we not only still have it, we expanded it, and how? Because we educated people,” Slotkin said. 

However, rather than cutting people’s healthcare outright, Slotkin argued Trump is aiming to hide those cuts by requiring individuals to reregister for Medicaid every six months, making it harder to qualify and more difficult to sign up.

While the current proposal would implement work requirements for Medicaid recipients, Slotkin noted it also raises the age limit for those requirements to 64. 

According to KFF, an independent health policy organization, 92% of medicaid recipients under 65 are already working full or part time. 

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that Republican’s budget plan would result in 10.9 million additional people being uninsured in 2034, with 7.8 million fewer individuals on Medicaid due to the policy’s proposed work requirements. 

Even individuals who are not on Medicaid will feel the impacts of cuts to the program, Slotkin said, noting that nursing homes, hospitals and mental health facilities all rely on Medicaid funding.

“I would just say this bill is designed to really be a perfect storm for poor people. If you are living at or below the poverty line, you’re getting hit in every direction. Medicaid, your health care; SNAP your food; a bunch of programs, right, that you depend on. … They are paying for those tax benefits for the most wealthy by really the perfect storm of cuts for  the poorest among us,” Slotkin said. 

On top of cutting SNAP benefits by $300 billion, the Department of Government Efficiency had canceled $1 billion in funding to programs supporting school meals and food banks, McDonald Rivet said. 

“So you’re that hungry kid and you have lost access to a food bank. You have lost access to food at school, and now you don’t have SNAP benefits. This is the America that this bill creates,” McDonald Rivet said. 

Alongside questions on cuts to SNAP and Medicaid, audience members asked the lawmakers about the legal challenges levied against the Trump administration, and Democrats’ plans to counter Republicans heading into the 2026 mid-term election. 

On Friday, the Trump Administration backed down in its resistance of a Supreme Court order demanding that the administration facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador three months ago. 

However, the fight goes beyond Abrego Gracia, into whether the executive branch needs to obey orders from the Supreme Court, Slotkin said. 

“Now, we haven’t had to deal with this issue in the years past because Democrats and Republicans have largely said, ‘Huh, if the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court issues a court order, we’re going to follow it.’ Trump is pushing the boundaries on all the democratic values and principles most of us grew up with,” Slotkin said. 

Should an individual defy a federal court order, U.S. marshals would eventually be sent to enforce that order, Slotkin said. However, the U.S. marshals are controlled by the United States attorney general. 

Should the U.S. marshals receive a request to enforce a Supreme Court order against the president, Slotkin raised the question on whether Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Trump loyalist, would approve it. 

“We’ve needed to have this fight. We need to have it out. We need a court order that he needs to obey, and we need to precipitate this conversation on the U.S. marshals. But today was an important sign that they don’t want to get to that point. They don’t want to wait until the U.S. marshals are potentially getting an order to activate,” Slotkin said. 

In preparing to take on the Trump Administration, Slotkin said she’d gone back to her roots in national security and crafted a war plan in the form of a 17-page powerpoint, with plans to lay out her vision of the nation’s future under Democratic leadership. 

“It’s about facing our problems head on and saying the only way we do well as a country, the only way that we have a strong middle class going forward, the American Dream going forward, is if we face these issues and have a vision. And it’s economic, it’s about national security, and it’s about our democracy,” Slotkin said.