Last week, our member Victoria Fuller spoke at a Democratic Women's Caucus Roundtable called The Faces of Trump's Betrayal. Here is her story:

I am a mom, a veteran, and a proud member of MomsRising from Sierra Vista, Arizona. 

I want to start by thanking the members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus for fighting for working families, and for the chance to share my story. I know firsthand that moms can't afford the chaos and harm President Trump has been causing over his first 100 days.

My husband and I are patriots. We are both Army veterans who were disabled as a result of our service. We have five children and run a small electrical contracting business. We live on a fixed income and, like most families, have struggled with rising costs. In the past several years, our rent has skyrocketed by about $1,000. Money is tight and it’s a real challenge to cover the basics.

We rely on government health programs. We have ChampVA for our four biological children, which shares the cost of certain health services and supplies with children of disabled veterans. My husband and I get our health care through the VA.

One of our sons is adopted. He is a wonderful, loving 7-year-old who has autism and ADHD. He’s been with us since he was a baby, and he qualifies for Medicaid because he was adopted. Medicaid has been the saving grace for his health and well-being, giving him a brighter future. Medicaid is the reason we were able to get his formal diagnosis of his autism and ADHD. It also covers his regular doctor's visits and dental care. We used Medicaid to access in-home therapy for him, and it was a huge help.

But for the past 100 days, we’ve been terrified for the future of the government programs our family needs.

We’ve watched with horror as DOGE has decimated VA health care staffing. Despite being the largest health care system in the country, the Veterans Health Administration faces critical staffing shortages. That puts the health of veterans like my husband and me at risk.

At the same time, Republicans in Congress are preparing to gut Medicaid, which provides essential health care to our son. Slashing Medicaid will have especially dire consequences for rural communities like ours, forcing hospitals to close. Health resources are already slim in our area. It’s especially difficult to find mental health providers. Gutting Medicaid will make that even worse.

Knowing that all this is happening so Republicans can give enormous tax cuts to billionaires is infuriating. We expect to make about $60,000 this year before taxes. We are 100% disabled veterans, and my husband cannot work in any substantive capacity. He has been denied Social Security Disability Insurance, and his appeal was recently denied because the Social Security Administration has been unable to get his medical records from the VA.

The average wait time for an initial SSDI application is now seven months and the reconsideration process takes another seven months – and that was before the cuts to Social Security we are now seeing. This broken system leaves families like ours struggling while waiting for essential benefits.

Meanwhile, the cost of living continues to rise and Trump’s tariffs threaten to drive costs even higher. We have no 401(k), no savings, no Roth IRA—nothing to fall back on.

President Trump is causing enormous stress and hardship for families like mine. He and his billionaire friends don't need more tax breaks. It's outrageous. The last thing we should even be considering is cutting Medicaid, or school lunches, or SNAP, and other essential programs that help families get by. These programs are lifelines. As a mom and a veteran, I can hardly believe what is happening. Our government should be reliable. Lawmakers should be accountable to the vast majority of citizens, not just the wealthy few. Thank you for standing up for us.

Do you have a Medicaid story? We want to hear from you! Tell us your experience here.