Category: Blog post

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on April 10, 2025. As we predicted a few days ago, the US House of Representatives passed a budget resolution this morning after Speaker Johnson convinced enough right-wing Republican members of the Freedom Caucus to put aside their misgivings and vote for it.  However, the vote does not make any hard decisions about either cuts to Medicaid and SNAP or about tax cuts for the rich. Instead, it kicks the can down the road to a later date when Republicans in Congress will have to reach a budget plan that can pass both the House and Senate. Given the division between more moderate and more extreme members, it is not clear they will reach such an agreement.  The budget resolution sets up legislative committees in the House and Senate to devise specific proposals to meet the goals of the budget resolution. Their work will… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on April 8, 2025. April 8, 2025 By Marc Stier I want to give you an update on the Trump–Republican budget process. I’m going to start with an overview of the political situation surrounding this process and talk about our prospects for making the budget less harmful or even killing the whole Republican effort. Then I’m going to review what we expect to happen in the House this week. Finally, for those who want them, I’ll discuss some of the gory details of this process. Two months ago, we thought the critical moment in the budget process would be right now, when the House and Senate have to agree on a budget resolution. But the Senate has now passed a budget resolution that essentially puts off the difficult decisions to the next two stages of the process, when the legislative committees in the House… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on April 8, 2025. April 8, 2025 By Marc Stier [vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text] The federal budget process was created by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to accomplish three things. The first was to force Congress to make decisions that take into account both revenues and expenditures with the hope that this would lead to lower deficits. The second was to enable the Senate to make decisions about budget issues by majority rule without the threat of filibuster. And the third was to re-assert Congress’s budget authority by prohibiting the president from not spending—that is, impounding—funds already appropriated by Congress without approval… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on April 8, 2025. The budget resolution passed by the House and Senate, which gives instructions to House and Senate committees to produce legislation that is combined into a reconciliation bill, calls on the House Agriculture Committee to reduce expenditures of $230 billion over nine years. While SNAP is not mentioned in budget resolution, Republican have made it very clear that they do not intend to make cuts to programs taht benefit farmers. So the $230 million will have to come from SNAP. Following through on this proposal, would cost Pennsylvania $10.46 billion over that period or roughly $1.16 billion per year. That is a reduction of roughly 20% in the $4.26 billion spent on SNAP each year in Pennsylvania. Here I want to describe the impact of these cuts on Pennsylvanians who rely on SNAP, reminding you that SNAP does not just benefit… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on April 5, 2025. By Marc Stier This week, the Trump–Republican assault on the working people of the United States continued moving full-steam ahead on three tracks. On track one is the Senate budget resolution, which would advance the effort to take health care and food assistance away from tens of millions of Americans (and three million–four million Pennsylvanians) in order to extend and expand the 2017 Trump tax cuts that go overwhelmingly to the top 5% of people. The total cost of these tax cuts would be over $5 billion over ten years. Meanwhile, Medicaid would be cut by $880 billion and SNAP by $230 billion, potentially knocking three quarters of a million people off Medicaid and reducing already low SNAP benefits by 20%. The Senate is debating the resolution today and we expect it will pass after Republicans reject a Democratic amendment… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on February 28, 2025. February 28, 2025 By Marc Stier All ten Pennsylvania Republicans in the House of Representatives voted for the budget resolution, which is designed to create deep cuts in Medicaid and SNAP to pay for the extension and expansion of the Trump tax credits of 2017, the vast majority of which will benefit the richest Americans and wealthy corporations And most people on Medicaid are on it for only a short period of time. People go on Medicaid when, usually due to bad economic times, they lose their job or health insurance and are typically on it for two or three years. And when the economy recovers, they get a new job or a better job with health insurance. While more than three million people are on Medicaid in Pennsylvania at any one time, experts estimate that about two-thirds of us… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on February 15, 2025. February 15, 2025 By Marc Stier I’m sure many of you have been following the news over the last few weeks from Washington, DC, with anguish, worry, and despair. We have seen President Trump and his factotum, Elon Musk (or is it the other way around?), engage in a series of illegal and unconstitutional acts. We have seen a cut-off of foreign aid that is already leading to deaths abroad. And we have seen an attack on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs that aim to roll back the all-too-little progress we have made in reducing the barriers that stand in the way of women and Black people. As I wrote last week in a short blog post, Connecting the Dots, as bad as these actions are, they don’t stand alone. They are meant to push forward the Republican plan to… Continue reading