Washington, D.C. – Last week, the GOP-controlled Senate voted to push forward a massive budget resolution that included $350 billion for immigration enforcement to kidnap and deport people, supercharging Trump and Musk’s destructive assault against the American people. The budget would pour hundreds of billions into mass detention and kidnapping people from their families and communities while slashing funding for vital resources like education, healthcare, and food assistance programs like SNAP. Instead of investing in helping to improve the lives of millions of Americans who are struggling to make ends meet, the proposal directs billions toward hiring more immigration agents, building and scaling up detention facilities –many of which privately-owned companies and billionaire CEOs profit off of– and increasing surveillance and enforcement operations across the country.
Michelle Ming, Political Director at United We Dream Action, said:
“This budget is a deliberate assault –orchestrated by Trump and his right-hand man Musk, to terrorize the lives of everyday Americans, including immigrants. Profiteering off of inflicting cruelty has long been the point of the Trump/Musk alliance, and this bill is proof that MAGA Republicans will stop at nothing to hurt workers – U.S. born and immigrants alike if it means it makes them richer. Make no mistake: slashing funding for our schools, hospitals and other vital, life-saving social programs in order to turbocharge carrying out cruel mass deportations and kidnapping will jeopardize the lives of millions of U.S. citizens and undocumented people alike.
Congress has a choice to make. They can either stand with everyday working people or hand a blank check to Trump and Elon Musk to tear families apart and eviscerate the very resources people need to live and survive. Democrats must be a true oppositional force at this moment and reject this proposal outright. We need leaders who will fight for everyday people, not ones who will bankroll Trump’s mass deportation machine and put the interests of unelected billionaires like Musk above ours. Our lives, our families, and our futures are on the line.”
Stevie O’Hanlon, Political Director of Sunrise Movement, said:
“Senate Republicans are handing massive tax cuts to billionaires greenlighting Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s destructive agenda — all while making working people foot the bill. Rather than lowering costs for working families, the GOP’s budget will line the pockets of fossil fuel CEOs, drive up energy prices, and slash essential programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The GOP promised to make life easier for the American people. Instead, they are gutting education, raising grocery costs, and hiking energy bills to funnel wealth to the ultra-rich. This is the GOP’s vision for America: an economy rigged for billionaires, where young people and working families are left to struggle. We won’t stand by while they rob our futures.”
Gen-Z for Change released the following statement:
“Donald Trump, the billionaire class, and his fascist ilk in Congress are hellbent on wreaking havoc on the lives of working-class Americans to further their insatiable pursuit of money and power. All the while, the institutional opposition to this deeply racist, haphazard government takeover has been lackluster at best and complicit at worst. The Laken Riley Act was a wake-up call that illuminated a bipartisan preference to bow timidly in the face of tyranny and bid away our rights rather than taking bold, escalated actions that meet this moment. This reconciliation bill—and all legislative pursuits to follow—underscores the need for Democratic leadership willing and able to exhaust every avenue possible to reject Republicans’ white supremacist agenda. We deserve representatives who, when sounding the alarm about an existential, unprecedented threat to our civil rights, act accordingly.”
NextGen America released the following statement:
“Trump, Elon Musk, and MAGA Republicans have created this budget with the singular purpose of providing tax cuts to billionaires. This proposal defies Republicans campaign promises and is a betrayal of working-class people. Instead of building a budget that allows young people to live, work, and thrive, Republicans are pushing an agenda that will dismantle education programs, cut funding to essential services like SNAP and Medicaid, and increase mass deportations and detention. Elon Musk is dodging his tax bill by deleting our healthcare. It’s clear that Republicans don’t care about us or our futures, they only care about handing huge new tax breaks to big corporations and their billionaire donors.
Young people call on their elected leaders to stand up and fight back against this dangerous budget. We will not stand by as Republicans steal taxpayer dollars to reward the wealthy and well-connected. We are determined to continue to organize and fight back against this authoritarian agenda and protect our freedoms.”