FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 3, 2025
FARGO – Today, the House passed the Senate version of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
The North Dakota Legislative Council estimates that the House Republican version of the bill would result in North Dakota losing $1.42 billion in Medicaid funding over the next 10 years, and around 19,000 North Dakotans losing their health care coverage. The Senate Republican version has even steeper cuts to Medicaid.
North Dakota Democratic-NPL chair Adam Goldwyn said, “This is a scheme to steal from working North Dakotans, struggling families, and even from nursing homes to pay for a massive tax giveaway to the megawealthy like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. Fedorchak, Cramer, and Hoeven just voted to rip health care away from thousands of North Dakotans, take food from hungry children, and kill jobs across the country. This bill is as cruel as it is unpopular—even Republican voters do not like this bill. Our Republican lawmakers may have abandoned North Dakota, but we will continue to fight this and the many other cuts our state has been forced to suffer under Trump.”
We’re not alone in our concern for North Dakota:
Republican North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread sent a letter on behalf of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to Congressional Leadership saying, “Policy changes embedded in the House-passed reconciliation legislation would have a significant
and ongoing negative impact on the health insurance markets we regulate and the health care
system as a whole. These changes will lead to fewer individuals covered and disruptions to markets as soon as 2026.” He later noted on KFGOthat their concerns “weren’t really well received.”
Brad Gibbens, a board member of the North Dakota Rural Health Association, said that cuts to the Affordable Healthcare Act and SNAP are a “real step backwards” and “there’s going to be a profound effect in rural areas.”
Across the state, North Dakotans sent letters to the editor about this terrible bill:
Barry Batcheller of Fargo wrote, “As of June 13, there are more than 185 judicial rulings against the blizzard of executive orders penned by this president. In numerous instances, the administration shows no intent to comply with these rulings. Our Republican Congress is asleep at the wheel and has ceded extraordinary overreach permission to this president while they nap. The citizens of North Dakota should not be OK with this.”
Per Ostmo of Grand Forks wrote, “A 15% loss in Medicaid revenue is equivalent to more than 21,000 full-time hospital employees across the country. In rural America, the loss of a single primary care provider can result in hospital closure, because that hospital may no longer meet minimum staffing requirements to remain operational. Make no mistake, cuts to Medicaid will result in loss of service, increase preventable deaths, and destroy rural economies.”
Dexter Perkins of Grand Forks, “North Dakota Rep. Julie Fedorchak is either ignorant or lying to North Dakotans. In her recent op-ed, she says that government spending has been out of control and needs fixing. But she supports the One Big Budget Bill that, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), will make things much worse. We here in North Dakota know that you should not spend money you do not have. But, if the bill passes, the CBO says it will be the largest deficit spending bill since World War II and will add trillions of dollars to the federal debt.”
Aunnah Shaw of Minot wrote, “I urge lawmakers to increase — not reduce — SNAP funding. Policy must reflect real-life complexity, not dehumanized or incomplete data. Cuts harm children, destabilize families, and punish those working to rise. We need data with context, funding with integrity, and leadership that applies social empathy and fully considers lived realities before making political decisions that directly affect whether families, children, and taxpaying citizens can eat, stabilize, or survive.”
Dr. Steven L. Johnson of Valley City wrote, “The bill’s name may be “beautiful,” but there is nothing beautiful about shifting the cost of essential services onto families and communities who can least afford it.”
Landis Larson the former president of North Dakota AFL-CIO wrote, “Cuts to Medicaid and other health care programs will strip health care away from 13.7 million workers. Not only that, but we will lose nearly half a million health care jobs across the country, mostly in rural areas, next year. This will be devastating to our rural communities as health care facilities dry up from lack of funding and providers. When people don’t have health insurance, we all pay for it anyway in higher health care costs for those with insurance.”
The Interfaith Alliance of North Dakota wrote, “‘The Big Beautiful Bill,’ however, is cruel and immoral. It would have us turn our back on the teachings that guide us. We hope our elected officials can build a budget that reflects our values of decency and compassion — a budget that is indeed a moral document for all of us.
Mark Watne of North Dakota Farmers Union wrote, “This approach of reconciliation rather than the regular order of drafting a farm bill, where the merits and challenges of programs are debated, misses the point of a government of and for the people. It risks everything we have built as a nation – from leading the world in food production to the U.S. becoming a residual supplier of food for the world. It takes the U.S. further down the path of becoming a food importer rather than having a surplus in agricultural trade. This is a poor choice when it comes to logical food policy for our nation, for farmers and consumers.”
Hoeven, Cramer, Fedorchak, and other Congressional Republicans are putting North Dakotans’ health care, food assistance, and jobs on the chopping block:
- At least 1 in 4 nursing homes will have to close their doors, and over half of nursing homes will be forced to cut staff
- Unions are warning this is the “biggest job-killing bill in the history of the country.”
- If this bill is signed into law, it will threaten 1.75 million construction jobs and 2 million energy jobs
- This bill cuts $1.3 trillion in food assistance and health coverage while giving the wealthy that exact amount in tax breaks
- 45,000 North Dakotans on the ACA marketplace will face higher premiums
Around 27,000 in rural areas
- 48,700 North Dakotans are at risk of losing food assistance, forcing working families and children to go hungry
- This will increase North Dakotans energy bills by hundreds of dollars
- It will add $3.25 trillion to the national debt, while revenues fall by $4.47 trillion
