The White House just spent six months jamming a massive legislative package through Congress with almost no margin for error. Now comes the real challenge.

Medicaid cuts in spending bill spark alarm for millions of nursing home residents 03:18. Jason Barrett visits his 94-year-old grandmother, Ruth Raney, at the Martinsburg Healthcare Center in West ...

The 900-page federal bill is expected to promote private schools at the expense of public ones, reduce student loan options and food assistance, cut into school budgets and heavily tax private university endowments.

These reductions will create real challenges for all health systems, including ours,” said Mary Mannix, President and CEO of Augusta Health.

House members in the San Joaquin Valley who voted for the bill defended their decisions, despite projections that some of their constituents will lose coverage.

Experts warn that cuts to Medicaid could further erode protections for contraception access. “State policies are really shaping the reality of contraceptive access on the ground, especially because the federal protections are crumbling." - Cathryn Streifel, senior program director at the Population Reference Bureau

Cuts to SNAP and Medicaid benefits could hurt low-income workers, while tax breaks in the same bill will disproportionately benefit wealth business owners, adding to the gap between rich and poor.

From the Central Valley of California to Midwestern battlegrounds and suburban districts of the northeast, the new law already is shaping the 2026 midterm battle for control of the House of Representatives.