Republicans immediately rejected Biden's plan, but have yet to release their own budget. They have made it clear, however, that they want to apply deep spending cuts to everything from health insurance to food assistance benefits.
Biden’s plan would increase the Medicare tax rate on Americans earning above $400,000 from 3.8% to 5% to help keep Medicare solvent into the 2050s. No one earning under $400,000 a year would pay a dime more in taxes, under Biden’s plan.
House Republicans want to apply deep cuts to everything from health insurance to food assistance benefits, an effort that would plunge millions more Americans into extreme poverty.
About 90% of the benefits from Biden's plan will go to families earning less than $75,000 according to the White House, but a group of Republican-led states have sued to block it.
The Biden administration announced recently that the U.S. will no longer be in a COVID-19 emergency as of May 11, which means that an estimated five to 14 million Americans could lose access to health insurance via Medicaid.
The bill’s signing comes as Democrats and LGBTQ advocates have expressed growing fear over the possibility that the landmark 2015 Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges—which legalized gay marriage nationwide—could be overturned following the Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade earlier this year.
Between Republicans’ economic agenda, spurious investigations, and threatened impeachments, the House is looking at a busy but unproductive year.
In a letter addressing the US Senate leader, Barber said it’s time for these lawmakers to “show the people who worked tirelessly to keep them in power that they are ready to go to work for them.”
Democratic lawmakers tried to pass a second bill that would have added paid sick days to the agreement, but were unable to reach the 60-vote threshold needed in the Senate, due to most Republican senators opposing the measure.
The Respect for Marriage Act does not require states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but it does require states that ban same-sex marriages to recognize these marriages as long as the marriage was valid in the state where it was performed.
| February 12, 2026
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| November 6, 2025
