‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ is a betrayal of the Kansas way of life
April Holman
June 22, 2025
Last week, Kansas Rep. Tracey Mann defended his vote in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. While I strongly disagree with many of the points he made, there is one thing we can both agree on: Kansans believe in hard work — and the laws passed by Congress should honor and uphold that core value.
We Kansans believe in doing whatever it takes to provide for our families, even if it means working two or three jobs. We put in the effort today so that our children and the next generation can have more opportunities than we did. And we support our neighbors when they need an extra hand, knowing that when our communities thrive, we all reap the benefits. That’s why the One Big Beautiful Bill is not just bad policy — it’s a betrayal of the Kansas way of life.
This bill includes sweeping cuts to Medicaid and private insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. It would wreak havoc on our communities, make it harder for our doctors and hospitals to do their jobs and increase costs for all of us.
And while some in Congress claim these cuts are about fiscal responsibility, this bill adds trillions of dollars to the federal deficit, while removing vital resources for Kansas families.
Let’s be clear about something: There are no “able-bodied,” childless people who refuse to work receiving Medicaid in our state. Those people aren’t eligible to receive KanCare, the Medicaid program in Kansas. The people who do qualify for Medicaid are low-income children and their parents, aging adults, people with chronic or permanent disabilities and pregnant women. If Congress makes these cuts, those are the people who will be harmed.
This bill doesn’t help Kansas families — it hurts us. Waiting lists for children with autism to receive early intervention therapies could grow even longer. Older Kansans may have to go without assistance from a home health aide. Young moms would be forced to forgo prenatal care. None of these situations reflect who we are as Kansans.
If members of Congress are concerned about fiscal responsibility, they should prioritize policies to address what Kansans experience every day: rising costs at the grocery store and gas pump, health insurance premiums increasing exponentially each year and a lack of affordable housing.
Kansans know how to stretch a dollar when we need to make it to the next payday. And we know when Congress is trying to sell us a bill of goods. We shouldn’t accept policies in Washington that terminate our health care, take food out of our kitchens and increase our national debt, all while insisting that it will be good for us.
The heart of the debate about the One Big Beautiful Bill is a fundamental question: What kind of country do we want to be?
Kansans have always known the answer to that. We show up for each other. We support hardworking families, not roadblocks that keep them from getting ahead. If our neighbors fall, we help them back up. And if they fail, we do not kick them while they are down.
This bill does not support families, and it does not represent the Kansas way of life. We can work to achieve fiscal responsibility in Washington, but we can’t do it in a rushed, haphazard way that takes a hatchet to critical programs, as Congress is doing now.
The U.S. Senate is currently considering the One Big Beautiful Bill, and it’s time to remind our senators of their most important job: standing up for Kansas values in Washington. The decisions they make, and the laws they pass, should reflect the priorities, struggles and values of the people they were elected to serve.