Quentin Ocama, a kindergarten teacher at Maxfield Elementary and member of the St. Paul Federation of Educators, spoke during the “Stop the Billionaire Giveaway” bus tour stop.
President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans slashed funding for health care, nutrition programs and public schools, repealed tax incentives that create union construction jobs and authorized adding $3.5 trillion to the national debt – all to pay for a tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits corporations and the wealthy.
The tax and spending legislation, signed by the president July 4, did not garner a single Democratic vote, as unions and other progressive groups slammed the bill – arguably the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in U.S. history – as it advanced through the House and Senate.
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, head of the nation’s largest labor federation, vowed to continue holding supporters accountable as the so-called big, beautiful bill’s ugly consequences become clearer.
“The AFL-CIO promises to put thousands of people to work canvassing colleagues, friends and families, reminding all, every day, of the Trump-GOP law’s harms,” Shuler said. “Campaigners will beat the drum from now through November 2026, and beyond.”
Union members in the Twin Cities wasted little time in doing just that. Several local unions rallied July 2 in a Minneapolis park, site of a nationwide “Stop the Billionaire Giveaway” bus tour stop.
The tour, sponsored by Fair Share America, aimed to raise awareness of the tax bill and its impact on families, communities and the economy. Health care workers, state employees, public educators and local lawmakers took turns describing the importance of federal funding to their communities and constituents.
“Without Medicaid, I would not be able to survive,” said Ace Taylor, a home care worker whose job caring for her disabled aunt is funded through Medicaid.
Claudia Hochstein, a state employee and member of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, said Medicaid’s burdensome new eligibility requirements serve a “dual goal” of frustrating people into giving up on their benefits – and giving political opponents of Medicaid fodder “to complain about government red tape.”
“They’re trying to break our public systems so they can make money off of privatizing them,” she added.
Accountability was on every speaker’s mind.
Taylor, a member of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, traveled with other Medicaid advocates to Washington D.C. in June to urge representatives not to cut the program. Taylor recalled being told by one Republican congressperson, “You’ll be alright.”
“I guess we’ll just have to be louder,” she said.
– Michael Moore, UA editor
Union Advocate 
[…] bargaining session that ended July 3, as Republicans in Congress were falling in line behind a bill expected to slash over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, both critical sources of revenue for […]