WASHINGTON, D.C. – Armando Vias, a disability rights advocate and representing as the Chair of the Houston County Democratic Committee – Disability Caucus and the Chair of the Young Democrats of Georgia’s Disability Caucus has released the following statement after the United States House of Representatives voted to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The House of Representatives voted along party-lines, allowing the bill to be sent to the President’s desk, where he’s expected to sign it into law sometime today.
As Chairman of Houston County and YDG’s Disability Caucuses, I’m extremely disappointed that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was passed in the United States House of Representatives. This is a sad day for all of us who were fighting to prevent this bill from becoming law.
This bill will have major consequences, especially for people living with disabilities. It’ll gut Medicaid an Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP). Furthermore, this bill will cause rural hospitals to close, making our citizens having to travel to hospitals that’s farther away to get reliable medical care.
As for people living with disabilities, access to assistive technology will be affected. Also, this increases institutionalization, hunger, and preventable death due to the high out-of-pocket medical costs for medical appointments and even transportation to and from medical offices on top of that. These costs will also affect families, our senior citizens, our veterans, and even children.
I’d like to thank the disability community for doing their best to fight against the passage of this bill, either by contacting Congress or visiting their offices in Washington, D.C., including me. The only thing that we can do now is to show up at the ballot box, where we have the power to shape our communities on the local, state, and the Federal levels. Let’s keep fighting for a better country and the world!