SACRAMENTO, CA — Following the passage of the House’s budget reconciliation package, the California Budget & Policy Center (Budget Center), a nonpartisan research and analysis nonprofit, weighed in with the following statement from its executive director, Chris Hoene.
“Budgets are a reflection of our collective values. At their best, they are a tool to create economic security and opportunity, ensure access to safe and healthy communities, and invest in the public good. At their worst, they devote scarce public resources to enriching the most fortunate few while threatening the well-being of everyone else.
“Last night, Congressional leaders worked through the night, not to support communities, but to advance harmful cuts that threaten the health and well-being of millions of people across the country.
“Every Republican in the California delegation supported today’s vote, a deliberate choice to take away health care, food assistance, and other basic needs from millions of Californians, all to expand tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations and spend billions of dollars to detain and deport people who call this place home.
“The support from Representatives LaMalfa (CA-1), Kiley (CA-3), McClintock (CA-5), Fong (CA-20), Valadao (CA-22), Obernolte (CA-23), Kim (CA-40), Calvert (CA-41), and Issa (CA-48) will cause real and lasting harm — including to their own communities.
“Cuts to health care and food assistance would disproportionately impact districts like CA-22 (Valadao), where 67% of residents rely on Medi-Cal. Neighboring districts such as CA-21 (Costa) and CA-13 (Gray) also have a large number of Medi-Cal enrollees, with around 60% of residents depending on this vital program.
“Additionally, communities in CA-21 and CA-22 would be especially affected by cuts to CalFresh (SNAP), with more than 1 in 4 residents relying on food assistance to meet basic needs.
“We should all be clear that behind each of these numbers is a human life — a child going to bed hungry, a parent skipping cancer treatment, a grandparent unable to afford both medication and food. All so Congress can gift a trillion-dollar tax break to the wealthiest 1%. In California alone, millions of everyday people stand to lose coverage and support: over 14 million people rely on Medi-Cal for health care, and more than 5 million rely on SNAP/CalFresh for food assistance.
“We should also be clear that this is not fiscal responsibility — this is fiscal sabotage. California will face an impossible task: absorbing more than $30 billion in new costs to preserve health, food assistance, and other vital public supports. This bill shifts the greatest burdens onto those with the least, all while padding the bank accounts of the ultra-wealthy.
“While today’s vote does not make the cuts inevitable — and the proposals now move to the Senate for deliberation — the threat is real, and it is clear that the priority is a massive wealth transfer that creates cruelty and harm for the most vulnerable. If approved by the Senate, the House’s budget reconciliation package would cause significant harm to people with low incomes, immigrants and mixed-status families, women, seniors, and communities of color. It would also threaten the fiscal and economic health of our state and nation.
“At the state level, Governor Newsom and the Legislature have an obligation to protect all Californians by strengthening the state’s revenues to help blunt the harm as federal leaders prioritize policies that would deepen poverty and inequality.”
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Additional Information About the Reconciliation Bill
- What’s at risk in California: How Republican-Led Budget Cuts Could Impact Californians in Every Congressional District
- More than $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces over 10 years, resulting in about 15 million people losing health care coverage.
- Nearly $300 billion in cuts to SNAP, which would take away or cut food assistance for millions of people, including 2 million or more children — and could end the program entirely in some states.
- An average tax cut of roughly $90,000 to households earning more than $1 million a year in 2027, while low-income households receive an average of just $90 from the tax cuts, and bear the brunt of cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
- Millions of children in working families with low incomes were left out of even the temporary increase in the Child Tax Credit.
About the California Budget & Policy Center:
The California Budget & Policy Center (Budget Center) is a nonpartisan research and analysis nonprofit advancing public policies that expand opportunities and promote well-being for all Californians.
