DES MOINES, Iowa – AFSCME members led a press conference over the weekend to hold three members of Ohio's congressional delegation accountable for their votes to pass the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.”
They called out Sen. Joni Ernst and Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks for supporting a cruel bill that will gut Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to cut taxes even more for billionaires and the ultra-rich.
The event was part of the AFL-CIO’s national “It’s Better in a Union” bus tour. The tour is bringing together working people across the country to defend their jobs, freedoms and local community services in the face of attacks from anti-worker politicians.
Lyle Crone, a Des Moines school bus driver and a member of AFSCME Local 2048 (Council 61), described how anti-worker lawmakers in his home state sold out the students that he serves.
“The cuts to Medicaid and SNAP will take lifesaving access to health care and food away from those who need it most, like the students in my district who rely on school as the one place they’ll find a meal because they don’t have food at home,” said Crone.
Crone said it will also harm “the students in crisis who we still show up for even if it means picking them up from a homeless shelter. Or students who live with health conditions so severe, a nurse rides the bus with them.”
More than 86,000 people in Iowa could lose health care because Ernst, Nunn and Miller-Meeks voted to gut Medicaid, while hospitals, nursing homes and clinics are already moving to cut services and staff. A total of 259,300 Iowans are at risk of losing food assistance.
Crone also warned how the Big, Beautiful Bill may undercut public services.
“I fear the school district will privatize the transportation department,” he said. “You know what we have, as public employees, that these private bus companies don’t? Safety and security regulations. Requirements for certified mechanics. And the power of a union.”
AFSCME Council 61 President Todd Copley spotlighted how the Big Beautiful Bill is already hitting Americans’ pocketbooks — all to pay for billionaire tax breaks.
“Families are now facing higher health care bills, higher grocery prices and higher energy costs,” Copley said. “And at the same time, the ultra-wealthy walk away with more tax breaks than they ever needed in the first place. That is not responsible governing. That is betrayal. And we will hold the politicians who voted for this disaster accountable.”
Iowa attorney general candidate Nate Willems and Iowa Federation of Labor President Charlie Wishman also spoke at the press conference.