Californians react to the Reconciliation Bill and plan next steps

Californians feel betrayed by elected officials who supported the 2025 Reconciliation Bill aiming to cut federal funds that will affect healthcare and public services.   

On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed H.R.1, also known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” on a 215-214 vote. The vote now goes to the Senate. 

One of the people that stands to be affected if the bill becomes law as currently written is Ana Lety, who participated in a five-day hunger strike in front of Congresswoman Young Kim’s office in Anaheim. On a video posted in social media Lety said she found out Thursday that Kim voted in favor of the bill. 

Kim is a Republican who represents parts of Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. 

“Millions of people will be affected, among them it’s me, because I’m asthmatic,” said Lety on the video posted by We Are California, the organization leading the hunger strike.

Another member of We Are California  identified as Vero said Kim chose profit over people, saying there are consequences for these actions.

“We have elections coming up in 2026 and so with that, we will have to focus on what's going to be the betterment for our communities, what’s going to be the benefit for our children and what’s going to be the benefit for the next seven generations with this decision that she made,” she said. 

The bill calls to make cuts to various programs, including Medicaid, by at least $600 billion. Several organizations, including the ACLU, stated that this vote is threatening the lives of millions of people, including more than 70 million who receive Medicaid and 15 million with disabilities.

Medicaid also pays for mental health services, treatment for opioid use disorder and the care workers that allow disabled and aging neighbors to live in and work in their homes and communities instead of dehumanizing institutions.

Support across the state

Oscar Zarate, organizer with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), said he and a group of CHIRLA activists visited the Anaheim hunger strikers, traveling from Los Angeles to offer support. 

Zarate said the bill will cause people's lives to change dramatically without the necessary resources that the budget funds. 

In California, immigrants are likely to be doubly affected, Zarate indicated, because of the potential federal cuts and the recent proposal by California Governor Gavin Newsom to remove undocumented immigrants from Medi-Cal. 

“Immigrant communities, working class communities depend on these services and programs, and they're getting cut left and right and being drawn back and that's going to cause real harm in the community,” he said. 

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Chief Political and Advocacy Officer, Deirdre Schifeling said the bill takes healthcare away from millions and blocks access to reproductive health care in order to allocate $45 billion taxpayer dollars to detain and deport millions of people, thereby tearing families apart, imprisoning children, harming workplaces and throwing people into foreign gulags without any evidence and in violation of laws and the Constitution. 

“This bill puts millions of people in every single state and congressional district closer to rationing medications, missing essential treatments and unable to access the care they need when they need it or the home care workers and aides they need – who are disproportionately women of color – in order to stay healthy and safe,” he said. “This is ‘Making America Healthy Again?’”

California Assemblyman Isaac Bryan (D-55) said the Golden State is the donor state to this nation and something has to change.

“There are many poorly run states that should pick themselves up by their own bootstraps instead of relying on the taxpayers of California who are making up for the deficits that are being created for the actions happening in D.C.,” he said.

The other eight California Congress members who voted for the bill are Kevin Kiley of Roseville, David Valadao of Hanford, Ken Calvert of the Inland Empire, Vince Fong of Central Valley, Darrell Issa of Escondido, Doug LaMalfa of Chico and Redding, Tom McClintock of the northern San Joaquin Valley and the central Sierra Nevada, and Jay Obernolte of the High Desert and Inland Empire.