Residents, small business owners and community leaders share heartbreaking stories of the harm caused by Rep. Miller Meeks and Republicans in Congress’ choice to vote for the Big Ugly Law.

DAVENPORT, Iowa. (July 11, 2026) – One year after President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law, Iowa residents, small business owners and community leaders gathered Saturday to describe the real-life consequences of the law that took from working families to pay for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for billionaires and large corporations.

Families Over Billionaires, together with Iowa Citizen Action Network, Alliance for Retired Americans, and Main Street Alliance, brought the nationwide Who Pays? Bus Tour to Davenport, where speakers detailed how cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, higher health care costs, and growing pressure on Iowa’s budget are already hurting families and local communities.

• Nearly 100,000 Iowans are expected to lose Medicaid coverage.
• More than 24,000 people in Iowa have already lost SNAP benefits.
• At least 3 rural hospitals are on the verge of closing.
• More than 7,700 jobs will be lost in Iowa due to the elimination of the clean energy credits alone.
• The expiration of enhanced ACA premium tax credits has increased insurance premiums for thousands of Iowa families.

Last summer, many of the same organizations rallied in Davenport urging Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks to oppose the bill. Saturday’s event marked a return to the district one year later to assess the law’s impact—and to hold elected officials accountable for supporting it.

EXERPTS

Kristen Crowell, Executive Director of Families Over Billionaires

• “We are currently living in the richest country in the history of the globe, and this administration has kicked off nearly a million children from food assistance. Nearly 5 million Americans right now have lost health insurance because of cuts to the ACA and how much premiums have gone up. These are choices that Washington politicians have made. It does not at all have to be like this.

• “This is not about party politics. This is not about Democrats or Republicans. This is about who is willing to stand up to the moneyed interests that are rampant on both sides of the aisle. And right here we have Congresswoman Miller Meeks who has shown time and time again whose side she is on: the billionaires’.”

Sue Disdale, Executive Director, Iowa Citizen Action Network (ICAN)

• “Our governor, our president, Iowa’s Republican-controlled legislature, and every single one of our members of Congress seem hell-bent on a race to the bottom. I was crossing the bridge here the other day, and I saw the welcome sign ‘Freedom to Flourish’, and it made me laugh out loud. I’m not sure who’s flourishing, but it certainly isn’t everyday Iowans.

• “Tax cuts for the wealthy have contributed not just to our nation’s tepid economy, but to our state’s failure to rise to the moment. Our response to high and rising cancer rates is inadequate. Schools across the state are cutting programs. Rural hospitals and clinics are cutting services or closing altogether. And we can’t swim or drink safely from our own water.”

• “They say the sound of healthcare in Ottumwa is the Life-Flight helicopter coming in, because they do not have medical facilities that can help take care of people without flying them to one.”

Erica Brewer, owner of a small business boutique in Dubuque

• “Today, I am struggling with tariffs, inventory, and choosing whether to actually put money in my gas tank to drive to go get inventory rather than wait a month after I’ve already paid $150 for shipping. It’s mind blowing.

• “They’ve shut three schools down in my city just to build big architectural buildings. Kids are being cut off SNAP just because their parents aren’t working the full 40 hours a week. But where are the jobs for them to work the full 40 hours a week? And then for the small business owners, who’s paying us to have some employees come in and work so that we can go out and do what we need to do?”

Kay Pence, Alliance for Retired Americans

• “In Iowa, thousands of seniors exhaust their life savings before qualifying for Medicaid because long-term care costs thousands of dollars each month. … These [OBBBA] cuts impact everyone, even those with great insurance. Insurance doesn’t help if you’re hours away from treatment or facing a congested emergency room. As healthcare costs continue to rise, we should be strengthening these programs, not weakening them. … Retirement should be defined by dignity, not fear of losing health care.

Adam Peters, lifelong Iowan and outgoing community center director

• “Every single member of Iowa’s federal delegation voted for [the OBBBA]. They all chose tax cuts for billionaires over working families. They all chose to make life harder for the very people they were elected to represent. They do not live the same reality as people like me and Erica.

• “Iowans are deciding whether they can afford groceries, their next prescription, their electric bill. Our Representatives are more concerned about lining their own pockets and delivering tax breaks for their millionaire friends and their billionaire wannabe friends. They call that leadership. I call that betrayal.

• “We hosted a dance for our high school students, and afterwards … one of the students raised their hands and said that their favorite part of the dance was how much food there was. … They told us that the food that we sent home with them lasted their family for four days until the next month of SNAP benefits arrived. I will never forget that moment. Not because it’s shocking, because it’s heartbreaking. No child should have to worry about where their next meal is coming from, let alone four days’ worth for their family. And yet, while kids like that are stretching every single meal, politicians in Washington are cutting food assistance so they can hand out another tax break to someone who has more money than they will know what to do with for 10 lifetimes.”

Davenport was the 13th stop on the 17-city Who Pays? Bus Tour, which began June 30th in Portland, Maine, and concludes July 16th in Tucson, Arizona.

Who Pays? bus tour national partners include: GenZ For Change, Protect Our Care, Committee to Protect Health Care, National Women’s Law Center, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, DemCast USA, National Nurses United, Oxfam, Unrig Our Economy, Americans for Tax Fairness and State Revenue Alliance.

Also see the latest op-ed from Kristen Crowell on Heartland Signal: “OP-ED: Billionaires got a break. The rest of us got the bill.”