Horsford Fights GOP Budget for Over 17 Hours

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steven Horsford (NV-04), the Silver State’s sole lawmaker serving on the House Ways and Means Committee with jurisdiction over healthcare and taxes, today voted to protect his constituents – and all Nevadans – from a dangerous budget proposal that cuts deeply from programs working Americans rely on to fund tax giveaways to the billionaires.

While Horsford and every Ways and Means Democrat voted against moving the budget proposal out of committee, the proposal passed and now goes to the Congressional Budget Committee, where it will be combined with budget proposals from ten other committees before a vote by the full House.

Horsford offered five amendments during the marathon markup session that lasted seventeen-and-a-half hours:

Advanced Premium Tax Credit (APTC): A provision to make permanent the Advanced Premium Tax Credit. First introduced in the Affordable Care Act, expanded by the American Rescue Act, and extended through the end of 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act, the APTC is a federal premium tax credit which has helped nearly 20 million Americans gain access to affordable health care coverage through the ACA marketplaces.

Veterans Housing Fund: A one percent surtax on the largest corporations to provide essential mental health services and housing opportunities for at-risk veterans.

Restoring Employment for Veterans: An amendment to ensure veterans who were recently laid off because of DOGE-led cuts to the federal workforce are included in the Workers Opportunity Tax Credit.

Tax Relief for New Businesses: An amendment to increase the startup tax deduction from $5,000 to $50,000 to help new businesses get off the ground and drive economic activity across the country.

Credit for Domestic Travel: With international travel down 20 percent since January, and consumer confidence at a 50-year low, this tax credit would incentivize domestic travel to support local economies that rely on tourism.

Each amendment was defeated by party line votes. Rep. Horsford released the following statement:

“The only reason to ram a bill through committee in the dead of night is to hide its impact from Nevadans and people across the country,” Rep. Horsford said. “This budget is a butcher’s block for the programs and benefits working Americans depend on, and a giveaway for the wealthiest among us. Nevadans are right to be warry of a plan that cuts Medicaid, Social Security, SNAP, education funding and much more, but this plan is still a long way from becoming law. I fought for more than seventeen hours today, and I’m just getting started.”

Nevada will be hit particularly hard if the Republican budget becomes law. Medicaid cuts alone could impact 811,000 residents in the Silver State, which will have to either add $6.7 billion to the state budget, or kick hundreds of thousands of people off their coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, nearly 100,000 in Nevada’s 4^th Congressional District alone received medical coverage through Medicaid expansion, which is the funding being targeted for cuts. Additionally, approximately 33,000 people in the 4^th Congressional District, and 109,000 people statewide would be at risk of losing SNAP food assistance benefits.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, if the APTC is not made permanent, residents in Nevada’s 4^th Congressional District could see an average premium increase between 150-200 percent. A 40-year-old making $31,000 per year would experience a $95 increase, from $58 to $153. And a 60-year-old couple making $82,000 per year would experience a $1,045 increase, from $581 to $1,626.

Key Budget Stats & Facts

• $5 trillion: Cost of Republican tax plan, mostly benefiting the wealthy.
• $1.8 trillion: Cost to extend 2017 law to 98% of Americans.
• 13.7 million: Estimated number of Americans losing coverage due to GOP health care cuts.
• $278,000/year: Average annual gain for the top 0.1% under GOP plan.
• $.75/day: Relief for families earning under $50K/year.
• Trump’s Tariff Tax: Costing American households an average of $2,800/year in higher prices.
  • Americans for Tax Fairness has reported that Trump’s tariff tax has already cost American households $14 billion

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