By Robin Miller

While Republicans celebrated President Trump’s signing of his signature domestic policy at the White House Fourth of July picnic on Friday, Democrats continued to lament the legislation and highlight its most controversial elements.

Yolo and Solano County’s congressional representatives were no exception.

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, ranking member of the House Ways & Means Subcommittee on Tax, who represents parts of Yolo, Sonoma, Lake, Napa and Solano counties, called it a “bad deal for the American people,” in a media release.

“In one bill, my Republican colleagues have managed to rip health care away from 17 million people, take food away from 11 million people, gut my green energy investments responsible for our manufacturing boom, and drive up our national debt by a whopping $5 trillion dollars,” he said. “All of this just to give tax breaks to their billionaire donors who don’t need the help.”

In his district, he said there are 22,000 people who stand to lose health care coverage. “Another 14,000 could go hungry. Twenty-eight rural hospitals in California and one in four nursing homes across our state will close. This isn’t just bad policy — it’s cruelty,” he said.

U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, whose district includes portions of Solano County, took to social media immediately after Thursday’s vote, posting on X (formerly Twitter): “House Republicans just passed the Big Ugly Bill. This is the worst piece of legislation I’ve seen in 5 decades of public service.”

In a video also posted on X he called the bill “the biggest transfer of wealth in recent history. Working men and women in America are going to be a whole lot poorer. The poorer going to be even poorer.”

He accused Republicans of passing a “tax cut for the billionaire class” and said, “interest rates are going to be higher, we’re going to see the ability of the U.S. government to provide services significantly reduced.”

Both representatives expressed their concern for the future.

“Let me be clear: People will die because Republicans are ripping healthcare and food away from Americans,” Garamendi posted on X.

“We have a responsibility as members of Congress to work for everyone, not just the well-off and well connected,” Thompson said in his statement. “This bill will saddle our future generations with debilitating debt in order to give handouts to people who don’t need the help. Every hard-working American, regardless of party stripe, ought to be outraged. And my colleagues on the other side of the aisle ought to be ashamed.”