Letter to the editor: Rouzer betrays district, backs Trump's budget bomb, Brunswick Beacon

Brunswick Beacon, 06.19.25

On May 22, Trump’s “Bonanza for Billionaires” passed the House of Representatives 215-214. Every Democrat and five Republicans refused to support its cruel cuts to Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps). It wouldn’t have passed without the vote of our representative David Rouzer, whose District 7 includes those North Carolinians who will suffer most.

Trump’s “Windfall for the Wealthy” makes permanent the ruinous tax cuts he gave them in 2017. It adds $4 trillion in debt just to give the richest 0.1% a tax cut of $314,000 each! Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said, “These will be GOP spending bills, GOP deficits. There’s nothing conservative about this.” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) called it a “debt bomb ticking.”

As part of Trump’s “Present for the Privileged,” his “Big Bad Butcher’s Bill” cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid and SNAP: the largest cuts in the programs’ histories. Fourteen million people will lose healthcare; three million households will lose food assistance in the largest upward transfer of wealth in American history.

Three million North Carolinians receive healthcare through Medicaid. Trump’s cuts will cost NC $6 billion and pull the plug on healthcare for 640,000 North Carolinians. SNAP helps 1.4 million North Carolinians put food on the table. Trump’s cuts will force them to go hungry and cost NC $700 million. 

Rural counties will be hardest hit, our district worst of all. Rouzer represents Robeson County, where 31.6% of residents and 56.1% of children depend on Medicaid and CHIP for health coverage, and Bladen County, where 29.4% of households depend on SNAP. 

Each percentage is the highest rate of dependency for those programs in the state.

Every NC Republican betrayed their constituents by caving to Trump’s bullying and backing his cruel cuts. Because he represents those North Carolinians most dependent on Medicaid, CHIP and SNAP, Rouzer’s betrayal was the cruelest cut of all. 

Michael Maisel

Sunset Beach