Women and families will be significantly harmed by a full extension of the expiring parts of the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law. That’s because a full extension (and related measures) will cost $5.5 trillion and mostly benefit the rich and big corporations, yet be paid for with trillions of dollars in cuts to services women and families rely on, such as Medicaid, food assistance, and student loans. Families are already struggling to find and afford care for their loved ones, access healthcare and stable housing, and meet their basic needs as costs rise.  Instead of wasting trillions of dollars further enriching the already wealthy by extending all the expiring Trump tax cuts, Congress should use that money to strengthen, improve and expand key public services like healthcare, housing and education that help women and families survive and thrive. 

Background on the Expiring Trump Tax Cuts

During Donald Trump’s first presidency in 2017 he and a Republican Congress enacted a tax law that mostly benefitted the wealthy and big businesses, added almost $2 trillion to the national debt, and delivered none of the economic payoffs promised. In order to hide the true long-term cost of their tax handout, the GOP made most of it temporary, set to expire at the end of 2025. 

Now Trump and his fellow Republicans want to permanently extend those expiring provisions (and restore related business breaks) at an estimated cost of $5.5 trillion over 10 years. In the first year of extension, the highest-income 1% of households would get an average tax cut of almost $46,000. Middle-income families would on average get less than three dollars a day, with low income families getting even less.  

Republicans Plan to Pay for Their Billionaire Tax Breaks by Slashing Family Services

The GOP has decided to pay for a lot of these tax giveaways by cutting public services vital to families, such as Medicaid; the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), which brings down grocery prices; and student-loan relief. These program cuts will lead to higher costs for families. We should not give huge tax breaks to wealthy individuals and corporations that exploit loopholes while families are struggling with high costs and are forced to solve the care crisis on their own.

Women and Families Rely on Services Targeted for Cuts

• Nine million more women than men were covered by Medicaid in 2021.
• Medicaid pays for almost half of all maternity care. It is the largest provider of long-term care for aging and disabled people and pays for over half of all nursing-home care.
• About half of all American children (40 million) are insured by Medicaid or the related Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
• Women made up well over half (55.4%) of non-elderly adult SNAP recipients in 2022. 
• Roughly 40% of SNAP recipients are children. 
• Women owe almost two-thirds (64%) of student loan debt. 

Proposed program cuts would eliminate child care assistance for 40,000 children and disrupt care for millions more.