A group of state treasurers are warning that the plan offered by Republicans in Congress to cover the cost of renewing President Donald Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans will have dire consequences for the poorest U.S. families.
According to the fiscal overseers, the $4.5 trillion in tax cuts contained in the federal budget bill moving through Congress is partially covered by cutting Medicaid and slashing funding for programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
If the proposal goes from being “a big beautiful bill,” as Trump calls it, to the land, the maneuver will hit their low income constituents hard, while only benefiting the people least in need of a break, the treasurers said Monday.
“Its really hard to articulate the breadth of what this budget, specifically as it goes in hand with the other things that are going on through executive action and the like, has on a state like Massachusetts,” Treasurer Deb Goldberg said.
“When Washington scales back its commitments it limits, not only our state’s potential, but the country’s,” she added. “Cutting all of this has direct implications on our state’s economy and our ability to invest in our communities and our people.”
The budget bill in question would make permanent the tax cuts that Trump passed during his first stint as commander-in-chief. Those cuts are due to expire at the end of this year, keeping them will mean trillions fewer dollars in the federal coffers.
According to a plan released by House Republicans on Monday, the budget calls for the tax cuts to be paid for, in part, by cutting $912 billion from Medicaid over the coming decade. The budget also tasks the House’s Agriculture Committee with identifying $230 billion in spending to cut over ten years, with SNAP, the nation’s largest food assistance program, likely first on the chopping block.
Goldberg, joined by Colorado Treasurer Dave Young, Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs, Controller for the City of Houston, Texas, Chris Hollins, Washington Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti, and Vermont Treasurer Mike Pieciak, said its simply not possible for states to make up the difference if those funds are cut.
“I really feel strongly that we need Congress to reconsider this and to start to think proactively about what makes America tick and what the individual states have to add to a vibrant economy. They’re going to affect people from the very poorest families — working families — who are going to suffer the most,” she said.
“Our state is going to see very negative impacts. These are not abstract. They are personal, and they are going to affect every single family in the state. And what happens here is going to affect the rest of the country,” she added.
Not everyone is in agreement on the bill’s potential impacts. According to an op-ed published by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, the bill will instead “launch a generation of growth, health and prosperity.”
“Today, our country faces numerous threats to that goal. Medicaid waste and abuse threatens the well-being of America’s most vulnerable as the looming expiration of important 2017 tax reforms throws a shadow over U.S. industry. Republicans’ best chance to secure the president’s inaugural promise is this year’s reconciliation bill,” he wrote.