Texas’ $57.3 billion in health care funding is on the chopping block so lawmakers can gift tax cuts for corporations and billionaires

On March 20, Ascension Seton Medical Center (ASMCA) nurses will gather at the district office of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in Austin, Texas to protest proposed Medicaid cuts that would deteriorate health care services in the region, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU). Along with community organizations and Texas Medicaid and CHIP patients, nurses will present a check made out to the "Billionaire Class” paid for by “Working People” totaling $57,284,033,548 – the amount of Medicaid funding in Texas at risk if Sen. Cornyn votes to gut Medicaid to fund tax cuts for billionaires.

“It is the moral choice to ensure that all Texans have access to the care they so desperately need, which is why we are calling on Sen. Cornyn to preserve health care funding,” says Monica Gonzalez, RN at ASMCA. “This check represents the obscene losses our communities would face if Sen. Cornyn prioritizes funding tax cuts for billionaires over patient care. As nurses, we know the devastating consequences of losing this funding. His constituents deserve care and compassion far more than the billionaires deserve another cent in tax cuts!”

Sen. Cornyn has more than 4.1 million constituents – nearly 14 percent of Texas’ population – who receive life-saving health care access provided by Texas Medicaid and CHIP, the state’s health care programs for the elderly, disabled, and the young that are paid for primarily by federal Medicaid funding. 

What: Nurses protest Medicaid cuts and deliver $57.3B check paid for by “working people” to the“billionaire class” – representing the amount of health care funding that could be diverted to fund tax breaks for the wealthy if Sen. Cornyn votes for GOP budget 
Where: Sen. Cornyn’s district office at 221 West Sixth Street, Suite 1350, Austin, TX 
When: Thursday, March 20 from 1:30–2:00 p.m. CT

“Our patients who would face the worst impacts from the proposed reckless cuts are the elderly, the disabled, the young,” said Vanessa Villarreal, RN at ASMCA. “It is shameful that our Texan representatives in D.C. would even consider taking one cent from our communities’ health care. Our patients deserve dignity and care regardless of social status or wealth.”

According to 2023 data, more than one in five people in the U.S. had health care coverage funded by Medicaid that year. In states like California, New York, West Virginia, and Louisiana, more than one in four people were covered under Medicaid in 2023.

In addition to the tens of millions of people covered under Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies – including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and National Institutes of Health (NIH) – provide essential research, guidance, and regulation that nurses and health care workers rely on for both patient care and their own health and safety. Moreover, tens of thousands of nurses are employed by the Veterans Health Administration (VA), the nation’s largest public sector health care system, which is also facing federal defunding.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.