Lawmakers raise concerns with Republican health care and food security cuts
Washington (June 26, 2025) - Small Business Committee Ranking Member Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today wrote to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) with concerns that the proposed cuts in the Republican budget reconciliation bill to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or allowing the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits to expire for 3 million small businesses, including more than 34,000 Massachusetts small businesses, would be a disaster for families and small businesses across the country.
More than 40 percent of small business owners surveyed by Small Business For America’s Future (SBAF) are concerned that health care cuts would make it harder to compete with large companies, hurt local economies, and result in higher employee turnover and lower productivity. Small business owners are working entrepreneurs who fuel local economies and create jobs. Gutting these lifelines to give more tax breaks to billionaires is an insult to the workers and business owners who keep our communities going.
The lawmakers write, “It is no surprise that small business owners across the country do not support Republicans’ health care and nutrition cuts: 7 in 10 small business owners oppose cutting healthcare programs while extending tax breaks for the wealthy. As a small business owner in Pennsylvania stated, ‘These cuts don’t solve problems – they shift costs from government programs onto the businesses least able to absorb them, all while extending tax breaks for corporations that already pay lower effective rates than the corner store.’ Small businesses succeed when their owners and employees are healthy, secure, and financially stable. Policies that strip away basic support systems in favor of giveaways for the ultra-wealthy don’t just hurt families, they stifle entrepreneurship and economic growth. The Senate reconciliation bill should recognize this and support America’s small business owners and employees. If this bill is enacted, small businesses would lose while big corporations and the ultra-wealthy win.”
“Small businesses cannot afford to be shut out of access to affordable healthcare. Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP, and enhanced ACA premium tax credits are lifelines for small business owners, their families, and their workers. If Republicans gut these programs or allow them to expire, health care costs for small businesses and their families will skyrocket, employees will lose coverage, and entrepreneurs will be stifled,” said Senator Markey. “We must expand access to health coverage for all, especially small businesses.”
“The GOP plan will destroy Main Street just to give more tax cuts to Wall Street. Republicans’ healthcare cuts will cripple the ability of small businesses to provide affordable health insurance for their employees and raise costs to make it even harder for small businesses to stay afloat, especially when so many are already being crushed by the higher prices of Trump’s tariffs,” said Leader Schumer. “Small businesses are the lifeblood of this country and the staggering healthcare cuts could cause Main Street businesses to shutter in every corner of the country. Republicans are dead set on continuing their billionaire tax giveaway, but Senate Democrats will not stop fighting to expose the cruelty at the heart of this legislation.”
“The Republican prescription to cut lifeline health care programs will clobber small businesses making every ounce of effort to keep their lights on,” said Senator Wyden. “I’ve heard firsthand from Oregonians in red and blue communities alike that losing health care coverage will mean one more extra cost that’s hard to afford. As ranking member of the Finance Committee, I am fighting tooth and nail so working families in Oregon and across our country have the coverage they need to put food on the table and care for their loved ones.”
“We can't compete with the benefits that large companies offer, and losing good employees because they need healthcare elsewhere would crush us. Small businesses are the heart of our communities—we deserve better than being forced to choose between our workers and our survival,” said Shaundell Newsome, Co-chair of Small Business for America's Future and owner of Sumnu Marketing, Las Vegas, Nevada.
“The only reason my three sons have healthcare is Medicaid. It's literally our lifeline. Now Congress wants to gut these programs to pay for tax cuts for wealthy corporations. The proposed work requirements? They're a disaster waiting to happen for businesses like mine,” said Dr. Alexia McClerkin, Owner of The Wellness Doc, Houston, Texas.
“Instead of cutting programs that Main Street depends on, we need policies that help small businesses provide health plan options, support expanding the ACA premium tax credits or quite simply protect Medicaid. Taking away Medicaid will create a snowball effect of other resources such as affordable housing and most recently, the snatching of grant funding opportunities that supported my Tutoring School with a Clean ‘INNERGY’ Program,” said Dr. Latoya Parker, Owner of INNERGY Educational Consulting Company, Fayetteville, North Carolina.
“What's particularly frustrating is that we're talking about cutting programs that work to fund tax breaks for large corporations that are already our competitors for talent and contracts. These big companies have advantages we simply can't match. Cutting healthcare programs just widens that gap,” said Doug Scheffel, President of ETM Manufacturing, Littleton, Massachusetts.
“The enhanced premium tax credits are an essential tool that helps my employees afford coverage. Without these credits, many of my 35 workers would face an impossible financial situation. But those enhanced premium tax credits expire this year, and HR 1 fails to extend them while cutting other healthcare programs to fund tax breaks for large corporations,” said Walt Rowen, Small Business for America’s Future Co-chair, President of Susquehanna Glass Company, Columbia, Pennsylvania.
Small businesses owners surveyed by SBAF expressed fears that the Republican tax scam will impact their ability to compete and retain employees, squeeze their bottom lines, and ultimately threaten the survival of their businesses and their access to essential health care. The SBAF survey also found that:
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