April 28, 2025
Booker labeled the next few days, given the circumstances, as the “most consequential weeks for seniors, kids and families in generations.”
House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) sat on the steps of Capitol Hill with hundreds of supporters to protest the Republican Party’s upcoming efforts to pass a budget reconciliation bill that may eliminate $1.5 trillion in federal spending, including Medicaid, NBC News reported.
For over nine hours, Both political leaders started the sit-in around 6 a.m. April 27 – also Booker’s 56th birthday – and slowly were joined by other Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) and religious leaders such as Rev. Dr. William Barber. “I’m sure you didn’t expect last year, when thinking about this birthday, that I would be your birthday date in this location, but this of course is the moment that we find ourselves in,” Jeffries told Booker.
“That bill, we believe, presents one of the greatest moral threats to our country that we’ve seen in terms of what it will do to providing food for the hungry, care for the elderly, services for the disabled, health care, health care for the sick and more.”
The sit-in happened the day before congressional lawmakers are scheduled to return from a two-week recess. For several months, Democratic leaders, including Booker and Jeffries, have warned about the damage the budget could inflict, leading to more than $880 billion in cuts to the federal program that provides health insurance for America’s low-income families.
In a statement, the outspoken New Jersey leader labeled the next few days, given the circumstances, as the “most consequential weeks for seniors, kids and families in generations.” “Republican leaders have made clear their intention to use the coming weeks to advance a reckless budget scheme to President Trump’s desk that seeks to gut Medicaid, food assistance and basic needs programs that help people, all to give tax breaks to billionaires,” Booker said, according to North Jersey.com.
Other high-profile progressive leaders like president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Maya Wiley, spoke out about the cuts, touching on specific ways they will affect American citizens. The [budget] cuts, when we’re talking about cuts, people bleed and we should put names behind them,” Wiley said to sit-in participants.
“You know, Sarah in South Dakota had a son who has seizures one to five times a day, had to quit her job to try to save her son. It is Medicaid that helps pay for her health care to do that. Or Jasmine in Alabama, in Tuscaloosa, with two kids, who was taking care of other people’s children when she fell and became disabled, and it’s Medicaid that was taking care of her.”
Other initiatives under attack, if the budget is approved, are programs that support health research, education, housing, and child care. Programs like Head Start, a program providing childcare and preschool education to low-income families and Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, helping struggling households pay for heating and cooling, are on the chopping block. Booker called the proposed budget cuts a reflection of “what we value, who we protect, and what we stand for” and is calling for American voters not to remain silent.
With just four Republican voters, Booker said things can change. “It’s wrong. To stop it, we all must say so — clearly, courageously, and together,” Booker, who recently stood on the Senate floor for over 25 hours speaking against the Trump administration, said.
“Speaking out and speaking up is how we will convince four Republicans in the House and Senate to do the right thing and vote no.”
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