In the News

For the local advocacy groups whose mission it is to provide public benefits to Western Massachusetts residents, President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” looms large.

The nearly-900 page megabill was passed by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

It now awaits a rule vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, which sets up the specifications to debate the bill, according to U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield.

“The Republicans themselves are divided (on the rule) at this point,” he said Wednesday afternoon.

The Senate bill includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts nationwide, according to the latest Congressional Budget Office analysis, making permanent Trump’s 2017 rates, which will expire at the end of the year if Congress fails to act, while adding the new ones he campaigned on, including no taxes on tips.

The tax cuts would largely benefit the wealthy, said Neal.

“This is an ill-considered policy that is going to harm decent people,” he said.

The Senate package would roll back billions of dollars in green energy tax credits, which Democrats warn will wipe out wind and solar investments nationwide.

There would be deep cuts to welfare benefits, mostly Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps), and would impose work requirements on able-bodied people who receive benefits, including some parents and older Americans, making sign-up eligibility more stringent and changing federal reimbursements to states.

Additionally, the bill would provide a $350 billion infusion for border and national security, including for deportations, some of it paid for with new fees charged to immigrants.

“Employers are distraught,” said Laurie Millman, executive director of the Center for New Americans in Northampton. “Businesses have full workforces that will be decimated if this bill is passed.”

Her organization works to help immigrants and newcomers integrate into Western Massachusetts communities by teaching them English and helping them get jobs.

“These are tough and uncertain times,” Millman said, explaining that the employer-partners the organization works with are looking for alternate ways they can support people who would be hit by the legislation.

It’s a similar concern for Andrew Morehouse, executive director of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.

The cost of living in Massachusetts is already high, and the Food Bank again is seeing an uptick in the number of people seeking food assistance, he said on Wednesday afternoon.

The Food Bank serves 124,000 people per month, he said. It hit an all-time high last November.

“There is no way we could replace the impact of SNAP,” said Morehouse. “For every one meal we provide, the federal program provides nine meals, and we just don’t have the resources to match that.”

According to data provided by Neal’s office, nearly 30% of households in the 1st Congressional District, which includes Hampden County and parts of the Worcester, Hampshire and Berkshire counties, rely on SNAP for nutritional foods.

About half of the food the Food Bank receives is from a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program, and the other half comes from private donations, Morehouse said.

“We’re bracing again for some SNAP cuts and other food assistance programs,” Morehouse said. “We’re relying on the support and investment from the community at-large.”

In March, federal funding cuts prevented the U.S. Department of Agriculture from delivering food to the Food Bank, it announced in a statement, resulting in a loss of about $440,000 in food.

He encourages area residents to volunteer, consider phone-banking and taking action, so they can see and understand food insecurity for themselves.

Just under 30% of Neal’s district relies on Medicaid for insurance, according to his office.

Baystate Health executives said Wednesday they are monitoring what the effects of Trump’s bill would be on the hospital.

“The changes to the Medicaid program — the most vulnerable in our communities — will have significant impacts to coverage, access and affordability," Laurie Martin, chief financial officer of Baystate Health, said in an emailed statement.

Hospitals, physicians and providers also will “face the direct impact of the cuts,” she said, which could result in the loss of programs, services and jobs.

“From what we have interpreted, it is projected to have between a $30 million to $50 million annual negative ‘bottom line’ impact on Baystate,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.