07/03/2025 | Press release | Archived content
Washington, D.C.-Today, Representative Wesley Bell (D-Mo.) released the following statement after voting NO on the Republicans' "Big Beautiful Bill".
"What happened on the House floor today will go down as one of the darkest votes in modern American history. This bill wasn't about cutting waste, balancing budgets, or fiscal responsibility. It was about taking from the poor to give even more to the rich.
This is the result of a political movement that has spent decades pushing one message: gut programs like Medicaid and Medicare, slash food assistance, and strip basic dignity from working people, just to hand billionaires and big corporations another tax break.
In Missouri alone, over 260,000 people will lose their health care. Nationwide, 17 million Americans will be cut off. Children will fall through the cracks. Seniors will lose the care they rely on. Families already stretched to the limit will be left to fend for themselves. And what do we get in return? A bill that adds trillions to the national debt, hands more power to the already powerful, and tells struggling families to keep waiting their turn.
The truth is, most people still don't realize how devastating this will be. But they will. And by then, the damage will already be done. So shame on every Republican who voted for this bill. You have failed your constituents and you have failed the American people.
I didn't run for Congress to help the powerful get more power. I came here to fight for the people I grew up with. For working folks. For St. Louis families who are always asked to sacrifice while the rich keep taking. I will keep fighting, because they matter. And this country ought to act like it."
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