Washington D.C. may feel a world away, but the craven budget cuts to safety net programs that federal lawmakers have proposed will hit hard in Colorado, leaving state legislators with only a few unsavory cards to play if they reconvene for a special session this summer. 

The federal strategy is to cut safety net spending to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest, shifting responsibility to the states. But in Colorado, a state that has already trimmed services to the bone, the outlook is daunting.

Members of Congress voted under the cover of darkness Thursday on a bill that slashes Medicaid. We’re still working on gauging the exact impacts on Colorado, but a recent Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) analysis projected that as a result of this bill, 140,000 Coloradans would become uninsured. 

And that’s just Medicaid. Congress is working on cuts that would slash funding for housing vouchers, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF),_, and low income energy assistance.

Here are some of the analyses we’ve seen so far:

• Harsh work requirements would force tens of thousands of people off Medicaid. An analysis by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) published earlier this month estimated between 185,000 to 289,000 Coloradans are at risk of losing Medicaid due to changing work requirements. The problem is more acute in Colorado, which has struggled for years with sub-par computer systems and assuredly would have difficulty applying such requirements.
• A move to shift the costs of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to states would slam Colorado with an estimated additional cost of $65 million to $324 million, according to figures published by CBPP. The shift would begin in 2028. Furthermore, according to CBPP, proposed expanded work requirements would put 159,000 Coloradans at risk of losing some level of SNAP.

For a state like Colorado, already hamstrung by TABOR and other restraints, the alternatives are grim:

• Cut other programs like education, child care, and public safety to make room in the state budget for more spending on Medicaid.
• Decide not to cover Medicaid cuts and allow tens of thousands of Coloradans to go without healthcare.
• Close tax loopholes, few of which are substantial, to partially backfill federal Medicaid cuts.
• Pursue big structural reforms through a vote of the people to increase tax revenue from the wealthy to pay for Medicaid cuts

We will be keeping tabs on the actions of this Congress and are hoping that the Senate rejects this harmful budget package.