President Donald Trump signed the “big, beautiful bill” into law on the Fourth of July.
The bill cuts funding for health care and nutrition programs, including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and it includes billions of dollars for increased immigration detention capacity.
It also ends tax credits for new and used electric vehicles.
Aspen local and military veteran John Heger attended Friday’s parade and said he just wanted to stay in bed on the Fourth of July.
“I know so many people that are going to be cut off of Medicaid and Medicare,” he said. “It just does not make sense to me.”
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that reductions in federal support for Medicaid and Affordable Care Act marketplaces will cause nearly 12 million more people to lose insurance by 2034.
However, he was motivated to attend on Friday by the hundreds of diverse people celebrating the Fourth of July, despite a growing political divide.
“People walk around — other ethnicities — and get along, and it's great, and I wish the rest of the country would just be able to get it,” he said. “This country is born on bringing other people into this country — making everyone feel safe.”
The bill also includes $46.5 billion for border wall construction, $45 billion to expand immigration detention capacity and $30 billion for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Heger’s wife, Sarah Ormsby-Heger, was opposed to the bill and said that everything is grown on the backbone of immigrants.
“You see immigrants trying to make their way, which is what America is,” she said. “It’s coming to another country and making your way and making your prosperity.”
New Castle resident Alex Rocha immigrated to Colorado from Mexico City four decades ago and frequently brought his kids to Fourth of July celebrations in Aspen.
He said that while he’s lived in the U.S., he’s seen many changes, including the “big, beautiful bill,” and he continues to celebrate the Fourth of July.
“I've been here in the country for almost 40 years, and it’s part of my tradition too to celebrate.”
Though disappointed, decade-long Aspen resident Shawn Harden said the Fourth of July is a time to bring the country together — even just for a day.
“We should be able to put everything behind us and just enjoy where we’re at in the moment,” he said. “We should be able to just accept everyone with the situation that we're in.”
