Senator Tammy Baldwin

Under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

last year, tens of thousands of staff quit or were fired, grants were canceled with no notice, and congressionally required programs were hollowed out.

Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, says she helped write the new health budget with this goal.

The new bipartisan law includes detailed instructions to fund specific centers, to fully staff them, to pay grantees promptly, and more.

HHS did not respond to a request for comment about the new budget.

Selina Simmons-Duffin, NPR News, Washington.

Yeah, well, as we speak, people are getting those notices in the mail or online about what their premiums are going to be next year.

And then when you take away this premium tax credit that's going to expire, there are so many millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites who will

lose health care because they simply cannot afford it.

And I've been hearing from my constituents, meeting with them, lifting their stories.

Just earlier today, I talked with Kara, who runs a small business.

It's a nonprofit child care center.

And she and her family, as well as her employees, rely on the Affordable Care Act.

but she feels as though she's not going to be able to pay for her own health insurance in the future if the tax credits expire.

She's also worried about her workers leaving if she can't provide some help with health care benefits.

And these are small businesses, these are farmers, these are the backbones of our communities.

And they are disproportionately, by the way, in states and congressional districts that voted for Donald Trump.

I think we started to see a little bit of kinks in the armor, if you will, with some of Trump's statements and some of Speaker Johnson's statements.

And they are beginning to understand just how critical this healthcare issue is.

They created this crisis in their big, ugly bill.