Wesley Tharpe

With a huge unfunded mandate for #SNAP food benefits one step closer to becoming law, don't lose sight of the painful tradeoffs states will be facing: Do they raise taxes? Cut state funding for other vital services? Slash the number of eligible low-income people receiving food assistance?

States Would Face New Costs, Likely Enact Harmful Cuts Under Senate Reconciliation Plan | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Like its House counterpart, the Senate Republican leaders’ reconciliation plan would shift...

And for more details on how both Senate & House Republican plans would further shift costs & force hard choices in states generally, we’ve got you here: www.cbpp.org/blog/trackin...

Research Note: Senate Republican Leaders’ Proposal Risks Deep Cuts to Food Assistance, Some States Ending SNAP Entirely | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities States, which must balance their budgets every year, would struggle to absorb these substantial new costs.

These are just a few examples, but they’re not unique: under the Republican reconciliation plan, *all* states will face serious new costs & painful tradeoffs. More state-specific SNAP cost-shift examples are available here: www.cbpp.org/research/foo...

And #NewYork’s annual #SNAP benefits’ bill could swell to nearly $1.1 billion, or about 3X annual state spending on the Department of Environmental Conservation, which protects the state's natural resources and prevents and abates water and air pollution.

#NewJersey could be on the hook for an estimated $287M, or nearly their annual state spending on county colleges, which serve more than 168,000 students.

#Colorado, meanwhile, could owe about $194M, equal to two-thirds their Department of Public Safety’s annual budget, which funds the state highway patrol, Bureau of Investigation, and fire prevention and code enforcement.

In #California, annual #SNAP benefit costs could surpass $1.8 billion, roughly equal to state spending on the Department of Public Health, whose responsibilities include health emergency response, food safety, & infectious disease control.

#Arizona would owe about $300M, or close to their yearly state spending on their Department of Forestry and Fire Management and the Department of Public Safety combined.

States still stand to lose big under the now-passed Senate R reconciliation plan, w/ major new costs forcing likely cuts to health care, food benefits, & other S&L priorities. Just the #SNAP cost-shift alone will force painful choices. At the 15% maximum state rate, for ex⬇️

Based on new USDA data released today, 44 states would have to pay tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars under Senate Republicans' #SNAP cost-shift plan. If a state can't fully pay, they would have to cut many low-income families off SNAP or end their program altogether.

It shocks the conscience.

The truth is clear — the Senate Republican reconciliation bill will hurt people in every state if enacted. Senators who vote for it are responsible for its impact ⬇️

"We fear that if this bill passes, a village in rural Alaska might lose its one-and-only grocery store because of a drastic decline in SNAP dollars. It might also lose its sole health care clinic or hospital because it cannot sustain its services with decreased Medicaid reimbursements."

The national school voucher proposal in the Senate GOP reconciliation plan would threaten students’ access to quality public schools, give tax breaks to the wealthy, & override states that have rejected these harmful policies. Lawmakers who care about our kids’ futures should reject it.

Roundup: State Budgets Increasingly Strained as House, Senate Republican Plans Would Impose Major Costs | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Senate and House Republican leaders are advancing a massive tax and budget package — a process technically known as reconciliation — that features extreme cuts to food assistance and health care...

Senate & House Rs are rushing a massive reconciliation plan that promises widespread harm to people & communities in *every state*, partly thru shifting major costs states simply can't afford. Fresh out from us today is more state-by-state context on the potential pinch. www.cbpp.org/research/sta...

There is confusion about whether the Parliamentarian has indicated that a slightly revised version of the #SNAP cost-shift to states in the Senate Republican bill complies with the Byrd rule. But what’s clear is: the provision’s harmful impact is unchanged.

This suggests that Republicans may add yet another deeply harmful health care cut to the Senate bill – a cut that would take health coverage away from even more people, shift massive, unaffordable costs to states, & could even lead some states to end their #Medicaid expansion.

By the Numbers: Senate Republican Leadership’s Health Agenda Takes Health Coverage Away From Millions of People and Raises Families’ Costs | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities The Senate Republican leadership’s reconciliation proposal would take health coverage away from millions of people and dramatically raise health care costs for millions more.

The Senate Republican leadership’s reconciliation proposal would take health coverage away from millions of people and dramatically raise health care costs for millions more. Here's our recap, including an overview of the damaging #Medicaid cuts: www.cbpp.org/research/hea...

It shocks the conscience that Senate Republican leaders saw the impacts of the House bill — 16 million more people uninsured and millions losing help buying groceries, including families with children — and chose to double down.

Questions to ask about the House R plan:
Is my state raising taxes to make up for these huge federal cuts?
Is my state cutting other services (schools, child care, etc.) to fill that funding gap?
If my state can't make up the federal cuts, whose food assistance or health care is getting taken away?

House Republican Reconciliation Bill Would Force States to Cut Food Assistance, Health Care, and Other Vital Services | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities The House Republican reconciliation bill features major cuts to food assistance and health care for millions of people, as reports have long indicated it would.The House Republican reconciliation...

For the full details, here’s the new (@centeronbudget.bsky.social‬) report from me, @katiebergh.bsky.social & @aorris.bsky.social: www.cbpp.org/research/sta...

Tldr: the enormous cuts passed by House Republicans, which not-for-nothing coincide with massive new tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, would force states to pick up billions in new costs & make a series of excruciating tradeoffs. It’s a bad deal the Senate should reject.

Public education would be at especially high risk, given that it makes up the largest share of state budgets. For context: just the potential cost of the proposed 5% minimum SNAP match is the equivalent of average salary costs for about 65K public school teachers nationwide.

That means states would almost surely impose significant spending cuts – *both* to health care & food assistance but also by shifting funds from other parts of the budget, such as schools, child care, housing, or infrastructure. bsky.app/profile/wesl...

Three: states are not in a position to absorb these major new cuts, either in good times or bad. For one, they have to balance their budgets. And also: their finances are already increasingly strained, a trend that would worsen if the economy tips further toward recession.

Over time, the bill’s health cuts would also lead to sizable new *indirect* costs for states & localities too, as more people lose access to coverage, let treatable conditions go untreated, & become likelier to show up at local emergency rooms & clinics w/out the ability to pay.

The House bill’s severe new anti-immigrant penalty, in particular, would take away coverage from millions of people living lawfully in the U.S. & shoulder states w/ enormous new costs in the process: incl. an estimated $145B (over 9 yrs) for #Medicaid expansion states. bsky.app/profile/shel...

A pair of major new costs for states are sharp limits on “provider taxes,” which virtually all states use to help finance #Medicaid, & harsh penalties for states that provide health coverage to certain immigrants outside a very narrowly defined group (incl. many w/ lawful status).

Two: the House plan also includes deeply harmful changes to #Medicaid & the #ACA, which would undermine health coverage for millions of people – about 15M(!) according to CBO – & layer on additional costs for states & localities as a result. bsky.app/profile/sara...

That means states would likely wind up cutting #SNAP benefits, sharply limiting eligibility, or potentially even *leaving the program entirely*. In effect, the House Republican plan calls for the largest cut to #SNAP in history. bsky.app/profile/kati...