Congressional Republicans have passed the Trump administration’s federal budget into law, setting in motion sweeping changes that will affect Connecticut residents, from tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy to deep reductions in federally funded services like Medicaid and food assistance.
Lower Taxes For Businesses, The Wealthy
NBC News reported after the bill won passage in the U.S. Senate that corporations will strongly benefit from the Republican budget, as it makes corporate tax cuts permanent. Those cuts reduced corporate tax rates from 35% to 21% in 2017. Meanwhile, the bill contains more than $120 billion in new tax cuts for households already making at least half a million dollars a year, according to TIME.
Cutting SNAP, Medicaid For Millions
Axios found that while the top 1% of earners in the country will see their earnings increase by an average of nearly 2%, the bottom 20% of earners would see their income decline by about $700 after changes to Medicaid and SNAP coverage. As of July 1, the budget will cut SNAP benefits for more than two million people, while Medicaid cuts could remove health care coverage from nearly 12 million people. Those reductions could include about 138,000 Connecticut residents receiving Medicaid, though up to 172,000 in total have care at risk under the most recent version, the Connecticut Mirror reported.
Health Care System Damages
Just half a decade after the pandemic exposed flaws with America’s health care system, NBC News noted the reductions in Medicaid funding and overall reductions in health insurance coverage would reduce the numbers of people seeking medical treatment, which could shrink the health care industry by half a million jobs in the next ten years through lowered demand.
The budget would also bar Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funding, which would further remove and reduce health care access for millions of women. The overall cuts would have a snowball effect on the health care system – fewer patients being able to access preventative care would lead to more patients waiting until they need acute care in emergency rooms, further overloading already-cramped hospitals.
Higher Education Takes Big Hit
Colleges, universities and those pursuing higher education will see significant changes that could harm operations in the future, according to CNN. Students and families would have caps on the amount of federal student loans they can access, as well as caps for graduate school loans, with more students driven toward private loans as a result. Loan forgiveness programs enacted during the Biden presidency would no longer be viable, with significant limits on lending and only a few repayment resources available.
