Die-ins Target Trump’s $4.5 Trillion ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

About 75 protesters lay down in a bus lane opposite Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan on Independence Day, staging a "die-in" to denounce President Donald Trump’s newly passed $4.5 trillion budget, which he has branded the "Big Beautiful Bill." Demonstrators held upside-down American flags and placards such as “Trump Did This,” arguing that the spending plan would slash Medicaid, cut clean-energy programs and increase funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The New York action, organised by Rise and Resist NYC, Indivisible and Physicians for a National Health Program NY Metro, coincided with a similar die-in outside Senator John Cornyn’s office in downtown Austin, Texas. Participants said the protests symbolised deaths they believe could result from reduced healthcare funding. Congress approved the sweeping budget earlier in the week, clearing the Senate by a narrow margin before passing the House. Trump signed the legislation on 4 July, emphasising tax relief and heightened border enforcement, while critics label it the "Murder Budget" for its anticipated impact on social services.