Sunrise Movement Executed Series of Senate Disruptions to Stop Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’
Washington, DC — Through a mass mobilization effort by the Sunrise Movement, activists gathered in the U.S. Capitol on June 3, 2025, to execute a series of Senate disruptions. Multiple groups stormed the halls of the Philip A. Hart Senate Office Building, with actions focusing on senators who support President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” including Senator Thom Tillis. Multiple arrests were made.
The day started with several speakers who came from as far away as Alaska, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. Speakers opposed the bill due to several controversial changes. The general premise many voiced was that millions of people would be unable to afford basic meals if food assistance programs were cut. Some also spoke of the potential harms to the environment.
Erin Jackson-Hill, CEO of Alaskans Take a Stand, expressed concern for Alaska’s rainforest ecosystem and the state’s multiple biomes. This concern stems from the repeal of the $7,500 tax credit for electric cars, as well as other rules that encourage Americans to adopt electric vehicles.
According to Daniel Cohan, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, “The 1,100-page bill would slash incentives for green technologies such as solar, wind, batteries, electric cars and heat pumps while subsidizing existing nuclear power plants and biofuels. That would leave the country and its people burning more fossil fuels despite strong popular and scientific support for a rapid shift to renewable energy.”
U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) spoke at the rally and summarized where money is getting funneled from. “There is no hiding their agenda, it is to loot Medicaid, it is to loot SNAP, it is to loot the Affordable Care Act, and it is to loot the clean energy future of the United States in order to have tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires.”
Sen. Markey also stated that the energy and biotech industry will be “gift wrapped” and given to China.
Stevie O’Hanlon, co-founder of the environmental political action organization Sunrise Movement, expressed how as a young person, their generation doesn’t have access to good, stable jobs like generations before, and what Donald Trump is doing is only making matters worse.
“They’re trying to gut our health care, kick millions of people off of their health insurance, kick millions of kids off of food stamps and food assistance, and kill nearly a million green jobs so that they can give their tax breaks to billionaires and oil and gas CEOs. And we’re not going to stand for that.”
Stevie O’Hanlon, co-founder of the environmental political action organization Sunrise Movement
Arrests were made outside several senators’ offices during actions that involved people lying down with corpse shrouds or white sheets covering them with flowers while someone held a sign that read, “CAUSE OF DEATH: MEDICAID CUTS.”
“Which side are you on now, which side are you on?” was sung repetitively to illustrate that people will die if they lose their health care, according to activists.
The bill is a continuation of the 2017 Trump-era tax cuts (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) — which would otherwise expire — and could cost the federal government $3.7 trillion over the next ten years. The bill has a provision of $46.5 billion to go toward immigration enforcement and building the border wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
An estimated $1.3 trillion will be cut from federal programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid.
The bill allows taxpayers to deduct $10,000 of auto loan interest for U.S.-made vehicles and reduces state and local taxes (SALT), which benefits high-tax states like California and New York. The bill proposes an increase of the annual child tax credit to $2,200 permanently, provides tax relief for workers, and eliminates federal taxes on tips and overtime wages.
On June 26, 2025, the Senate’s parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, ruled that several proposed changes to Medicaid could not be included in the bill and were subject to a filibuster. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said, “Democrats fought and won, striking health care cuts from this bill that would hurt Americans’ walking on an economic tightrope. This bill is rotten to its core, and I’ll keep fighting the cuts in this morally bankrupt bill until the end.”
On June 30, 38 people were arrested at the U.S. Capitol for protesting the bill. A group called Repairers of the Breach started “moral Mondays” in D.C. “to condemn lawmakers’ plans to harm poor and vulnerable communities.”
On July 1, 2025, the U.S. Senate passed the bill narrowly with a 50-50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. It will head back to the House with a final vote before potentially landing on Trump’s desk by the July 4 deadline.
Follow us on X (aka Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, BlueSky and Patreon.
Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help sustain our horizontally-organized, non-profit media organization:
