Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) got an earful from angry constituents about Republican legislation that includes major cuts to Medicaid and food assistance relied upon by millions of vulnerable Americans.
“People will die,” one woman is heard shouting at Ernst at a town hall in Parkersburg, Iowa, on Friday, according to a video of the event obtained by HuffPost.
“People are not ― well, we all are going to die. So, for heaven’s sakes, folks,” Ernst responded, prompting more jeers from the audience.
The House-passed legislation, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, combines $1 trillion in cuts to federal health and food programs as a way to offset the cost of nearly $4 trillion in tax cuts, mostly benefiting higher earners. It would result in an estimated 8 million fewer Americans having health insurance, mostly because of cuts to Medicaid, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
But Republicans argue that $880 billion in cuts to the health care program relied upon by over 70 million Americans are not really cuts since they are targeted toward nondisabled individuals. The bill would expand work requirements, limiting Medicaid benefits for unemployed adults without disabilities or dependents.
“We’re not going to cut those benefits, what we are doing is making sure that those who are not Medicaid eligible are not receiving benefits,” Ernst, who is facing reelection next year, said of the GOP bill at the town hall.
Experts, however, consider tightening Medicaid eligibility and thereby reducing its expenditures to be the same as cutting the program. One major study also found that Medicaid reduced the risk of death.
Nathan Sage, a Democratic candidate vying to unseat Ernst in 2026 who was also at the town hall on Friday, criticized her comments about Medicaid.
“She’s not even trying to hide her contempt for us. She’s mocking us to our faces, because she does not give a shit,” Sage said in a statement. “This is simple: these cuts will kill people. But Joni Ernst can’t even pretend to care. She shrugged it off. It’s disgusting and vile. Iowa deserves so much better.”
The House GOP bill also includes significant cuts to federal food assistance programs. It would result in an estimated 3.2 million Americans losing their food assistance due to stricter eligibility requirements and an additional 1.3 million losing benefits as a result of the bill forcing states to cover a significant portion of SNAP benefit costs.
“Republicans call their SNAP cuts ‘savings’ and ‘reducing waste,’” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said earlier this month. “But those are euphemisms. What it really means is increasing hunger, increasing poverty, and increasing the wealth of the ultra-rich. It is morally indefensible.”
The Senate is expected to take up the bill as early as next week. Republican senators have demanded changes to the House bill, including additional spending cuts to address the fact that it would add trillions of dollars to the deficit. Several moderate Republican senators have also expressed concerns with the legislation’s cuts to Medicaid.
Major changes to the bill in the Senate could threaten its support in the House, where it will need to be approved once more if and when Republican senators pass it under the so-called reconciliation process, which side-steps a filibuster.
“I encourage them to do their work, of course, as we all anticipate,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told CNN on Sunday. “But to make as few modifications to this package as possible, because remembering that we’ve got to pass it one more time to ratify their changes in the House. And I have a very delicate balance here, very delicate equilibrium that we’ve reached over a long period of time. And it’s best not to meddle with it too much.”