‘This is just mean’. Casten discusses impact of ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ during town hall

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, D-Downers Grove, expressed anger and disappointment Thursday during a telephone town hall he hosted to discuss how passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will impact Illinois residents.

The bill “makes me sad and makes me angry. It is going to set our country back decades,” Casten said during the event, which attracted about 15,000 people.

Casten said he has been touching base with local entities such as food pantries and nursing homes, which will be negatively impacted by the bill, and “just trying to grapple with where this [bill] is at.”

Earlier Thursday, Casten joined fellow Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, at a roundtable hosted by the Northern Illinois Food Bank, to discuss the impact of nearly $200 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the recently passed budget bill.

“The big headline from this bill is that it is the biggest tax cut for billionaires in our nation’s history, it is the biggest cut in food assistance in our nation’s history and the biggest cut in health insurance in our nation’s history,” Casten said.

He estimated that about 15 million individuals will lose their health insurance, which will be “primarily but not exclusively folks on Medicaid.”

There also will be reductions in health insurance provided through the Affordable Care Act, he said.

“Everyone’s health care is going to see a diminution of the quality of care,” Casten said.

He said that taking away early access and health screenings will create an extra burden on hospital emergency rooms.

About 750,000 people live in Casten’s 6th District, which Casten described as “a wealthier-than-average district.”

It has “fewer people who are Medicaid eligible, fewer people who are SNAP eligible, but we certainly have those issues,” he said.

Casten said about 13,000 people in his district are going to lose their health insurance, and 20,000 will lose their food assistance.

Individuals who receive health insurance through the Affordable Care Act can expect to see their premiums increase by about $1,000 per year, he added.

The new bill also will slash Pell Grants, which will result in less money for about 155,000 Illinois students, making college more expensive, he added.

“This is just mean,” Casten said.

To give some sense as to why all the cuts were made, Casten said that under the new law, “if you are making $50,000 a year or less you can expect your taxes to go down $247 a year.”