Working Families Will Suffer Under the MAGA Default Plan

At a time when “food at home” prices have risen by nearly 12% year over year, and the country is trailing behind others when it comes to pro-family policies, American working families are struggling to keep a roof over their heads, put food on the table, and afford childcare.

Yet, instead of working to ease the squeeze on working families’ budgets, House Republicans are using the debt default crisis to make raising a family even more unaffordable and unsustainable for millions of Americans. 

This spring, the MAGA Majority in the House passed Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s Default On America Act (MAGA Debt Default Plan) to raise the debt limit at the expense of our nation’s most vulnerable families by cutting child care, threatening food assistance for millions of Americans, and eliminating housing funding for 350,000 families. 

If they don’t get these demands, House Republicans have threatened to let the nation default on its debt instead – gambling with our economic stability and putting millions of working-class jobs at risk.

What sacrifices are the MAGA House majority demanding from millions of America’s working parents and their children? Here’s a look at all the cuts Republicans piled into their new bill, all while not asking their billionaire donors or profiteering corporations to contribute a single dime. 

CHILD CARE

Raising a child in the United States is a tremendous financial commitment; guardians can expect to spend an average of $10,000 a year on childcare alone.

Yet, thanks to the House Republicans’’s opposition to pro-family policies over the years, we are still the only OECD country that does not offer paid parental leave, despite the average annual childcare cost, forcing many parents to choose between taking care of their child and employment. 

And it could get even worse. The MAGA Majority’s Debt Default plan threatens to return funding for childcare aid to FY 2022 levels – eliminating nearly 105,000 childcare slots that allow parents to attend school or work.  Additionally, 200,000 children would lose access to Head Start, a program that provides early childhood education, health, and nutrition services to low-income families. 

FOOD 

Repeatedly, House Republicans have chosen to ignore the corporate greed that’s keeping prices of pantry staples out of reach for many American families, who are skipping meals to cut costs. 

Now, Speaker McCarthy and his MAGA members are coming for food assistance programs that keep millions of families from going hungry.  

Under the MAGA Debt Default plan, 10 million people – or about 1 in 4 SNAP participants – would be at risk of losing their benefits, including 4 million children. Their budget also threatens access to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) for an average of 1,800,000 monthly participants.

HOUSING

As the price of housing swelled by a “striking” 8.6% over the previous year, the MAGA Majority’s budget proves that they would rather protect their wealthy donors’ Trump tax breaks than ensure working families in their districts keep roofs over their heads. 

The MAGA Majority’s proposed cuts would result in 926,000 households losing their housing choice vouchers — cutting the program nearly in half and leaving nearly a million people without needed rental assistance. 

The House MAGA majority’s Default On America Act is not only a heartless threat to a lifeline for many working families, but a reckless choice to slow economic growth by forcing Americans to abandon their careers and jobs. 

Follow us on Twitter as we track the cost of the MAGA Default to working families, seniors, veterans, and more.