Hakeem Jeffries Calls Big Beautiful Bill an ‘Immoral Thing’ That Will Close Hospitals, Nursing Homes

House Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) railed against President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill — now the Big Beautiful Law — calling the major budget legislation an “immoral thing” that will close hospitals and nursing homes.

Appearing on The View Monday, Jeffries said the bill, which Trump signed into law on July 4, will lead to many hospital and nursing home closures across the country.

Rural hospitals, he said, may be among the hardest-hit.

Jeffries told View panelist Sunny Hostin, “Rural hospitals in particular are at great risk. In fact, people who have private insurance, once you attack the healthcare ecosystem, premiums, copays, and deductibles for tens of millions of others are going to go up.”

He added, “And so that’s a — it’s a big — it’s an immoral thing that just took place on the floor of the House of Representatives. An immoral thing.”

Read the exchange here:

SUNNY HOSTIN: You’re calling this the one big ugly bill. And not only is it projected by the Congressional Budget Office to add $3.4 trillion to our national debt, it extends tax cuts for the rich, as you mentioned, it also includes, though, big cuts to health care programs such as Medicaid, cuts to SNAP benefits for the poor. My understanding is in New York about one million people will be affected by this. Can you talk about the implications for healthcare and how it affects people who don’t even use these programs?

HAKEEM JEFFRIES: Well, first of all, like in America health care shouldn’t simply be a privilege, it should be a right to every single American. [ Applause ] And presidents throughout the years, whether that’s, you know, Roosevelt or Truman, you know, President Johnson, President Clinton, President Obama, President Biden, have all worked to expand access to health care, but what’s so extraordinary about this bill is that more than 17 million people will lose health care as a result of the, you know, cuts to Medicaid, the attack on medicare, the attack on the Affordable Care Act, the children’s health insurance program and Planned Parenthood.

ANA NAVARRO: By the way, MAGA kept saying it was illegal aliens that are going to be kicked out. Explain to folks that there’s not 17 million illegal aliens receiving free Medicaid.

JEFFRIES: Actually, federal law, to your point, Ana, explicitly prohibits federal dollars to be used to provide health care to undocumented immigrants. That was always a lie. But we’re dealing with some folks where facts don’t matter, hypocrisy is not a constraint to their behavior and people actually have concluded that shamelessness is a superpower. And so our view is we just have to aggressively push back with righteous intensity, continue to press on as I indicated, as John Lewis would always inspire us to do: Speak up, show up, stand up so we can get the type of America that this country deserves.

HOSTIN: But don’t you then also — I think that’s right, but shouldn’t you and other Democrats be screaming from the mountain tops and tether the Republicans to this bill, tether — because there’s going to be true human loss here, right? People are going to really feel it.

JEFFRIES: Yeah, real pain and suffering. I mean, the attack on healthcare is not just going to result on millions of people losing access, but hospitals will close, nursing homes will shut down. Community-based health clinics won’t be able to provide assistance.

HOSTIN: Rural hospitals.

JEFFRIES: Rural hospitals in particular are at great risk. In fact, people who have private insurance, once you attack the healthcare ecosystem, premiums, copays, and deductibles for tens of millions of others are going to go up. And so that’s a — it’s a big — it’s an immoral thing that just took place on the floor of the House of Representatives. An immoral thing.

Watch above via ABC.