Letters: Republican spending cuts threaten my son David and other people who need Medicaid

Chicago Tribune

16-04-2025

Robin Hood took from the rich and gave to the poor. Congressional Republicans are now poised to play Reverse Robin Hood. Their budget committees are in the process of cutting $880 billion in spending, mostly from Medicaid, in order to offset tax cuts for billionaires and profitable corporations.
Medicaid cuts would be devastating for some of the most vulnerable people in Illinois — individuals with intellectual disabilities. Because of a pre-birth brain injury, my adult son David requires 24/7 care. He lives in a Medicaid-funded group home and receives Medicaid-funded day training, both in Elgin. The federal government pays 51% of his service costs and Illinois, 49%. Any reduction in federal funding would strip away access to vital services David needs to live a full life in the community.
Why are Republicans determined to hurt people who don't deserve it? So the richest Americans can own even more. There are 900 billionaires in the U.S., with a combined wealth of more than $5 trillion. Their riches have almost doubled in the last four years. You don't have to be a moral genius to know that it's just plain wrong to shred safety net programs that David relies on in order to give massive tax cuts to Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
David isn't a number — he's a real person. Who will be hurt? Congressional legislators are in their home offices right now. Tell them to reject harmful cuts to Medicaid.
— James B. Gould, Carpentersville
Americans oppose cuts
An overwhelming majority of Americans oppose cuts to critical programs including Medicaid, Social Security, Medicare, food assistance and K-12 education. That opposition extends across party lines, with more than 60% of Donald Trump voters opposing cuts to Medicaid.
I have worked in health care as a crisis therapist for 20-plus years. I'm married to a union firefighter and am a mother of two teen boys. Education is the foundation of a healthy, successful society. Health care is a human right, and families struggling with an illness or disability need support — not worry over costs for care.
— Heather Namors, Chicago
Trickle-down failure
So the House has voted to cut Medicaid and nutritional programs to make budget room for tax cuts for those with higher incomes. This is blatantly taking from the poor to give to the rich, denying those who need help in favor of those who don't.
If you're thinking 'trickle-down,' think about whether it's ever worked in the 50 years or more the GOP has been pushing it. Here's a hint: No, it hasn't.
One clear demonstration: In a highly visible test, the Kansas experiment of the previous decade nearly bankrupted the state and drove the governor out of office. Look it up.
Whether it's driven by clueless detachment, simple selfishness, a 'because we can' power grab or cruelty for its own sake, this is simply wrong.
And it's being done by government officials who are working to disenfranchise voters and support the kidnapping, deportation and incarceration of legal residents without due process.
If you're not appalled, please explain.
— Bill Page, Morton Grove
Trump's tariff victory
An April 10 headline in the Tribune print edition reads, 'Trump retreats on some tariffs.' Why can't the Tribune call it what it is — an evolving great victory on the part of President Donald Trump?
Nearly 100 countries were hit with tariffs by Trump because of their tariffs against American products, often high and occasionally extreme. The intent was in part payback for the high tariffs imposed on us, but also to force trade negotiations that are more fair to and for America.
According to the Trump administration, more than 75 countries came running to America wanting to negotiate fair or no tariffs with America. That is a major win for Trump and not retreating.
Common sense. Trump is holding back on the tariffs for those countries to give them time to seek negotiations on a fair trade deal.
That so far appears to be a major victory, not a retreat.
— E L Foertsch, Chicago
American manufacturing
During the summer of 1964, I worked on the frying pan cover assembly line at the sprawling Sunbeam Corp. plant on Chicago's West Side where the majority of the inventory of Sunbeam products was produced and sent all over the country.
My job involved taking a frying pan cover off a conveyor belt, using a press to punch a hole, attaching a fly wheel and returning the finished product to the conveyor belt. My fellow workers were good, hardworking neighbors including African Americans, refugees from Eastern Europe escaping the tyranny of the Soviet Union and workers from the mid-South (Kentucky and Tennessee) looking for better jobs in Chicago.
Needless to say, today, those types of jobs would be performed by automation and robotics. Only 8% of our workforce is now employed in manufacturing; if my fellow workers from Sunbeam and I were looking for work this summer, we would probably look to the service industry (maybe hospitality careers), which now employs 80% of our workforce and especially those with limited job skills.
No amount of tariffs, legislation and incentives from state and federal governments, and pressure on American industry, will bring back my job making frying pan covers. American manufacturing will look very different in the future and require new skills. And we need to raise salaries and benefits significantly for those in the service industry to provide fair compensation and dignity to today's employees like those I worked with at Sunbeam.
— Alan Bergeson, Winfield
Trump's reassurance
I know I should feel good and not worry about our retirement funds because our president tells me these market conditions are temporary and soon I'll be rich. I would feel better if the president's resume didn't include six business bankruptcies and several fraud cases.
If I were searching for a financial manager to handle my retirement savings, I don't think the president would get consideration.
— Richard Schultz, Crete
Judgment at the polls
I am only 95 years old, but in my lifetime, I have never seen any presidential term of office where those in charge were not working for the betterment of our people and those we could help around the world. What we have seen since Jan. 20 is not only unprecedented; it is also despicable, unfortunate and illegal.
Let us work toward a clean sweep. Get the rascals out and let us put people in office who care more about human needs than filling their coffers.
— Ruth Rose, Glenview
People have the power
So the Republicans in the House and Senate are afraid of Elon Musk and his threats to primary them so they lose their seats. Perhaps they should fear the American people who have the power to vote them out. The protests indicate that we are well on our way to doing just that. Power to the people!
— Kathye Boyle, Chicago