Gabe Evans sold out working Coloradans to ultra-wealthy donors and Republican Party bosses – potentially to the tune of billions of dollars a year, economists warn.
Evans continues to lie about the GOP Tax Scam – probably because recent polling shows nearly 2 in 3 registered voters in his district would not support a candidate who voted to cut Medicaid (awkward!).
Economists… expect economic growth… to dip into the negative next quarter as consumers and companies feel the brunt of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Mark Ferrandino, director of the executive branch Office of State Planning and Budgeting, warned the legislative Joint Budget Committee of a dual whammy of the Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act and an overall economic recession. The two together “could really wreak havoc.”
The federal budget bill would cost the state between $900 million and $2.5 billion per year, depending on how some of the proposed provisions are implemented.
Bridges, the budget committee chair, called the federal bill’s cuts to Medicaid in particular “immoral,” and called on Colorado Republican Congressmen Jeff Hurd and Gabe Evans to vote against it.
A narrow Republican majority in Congress could mean their votes are decisive on the bill.
The Republican tax bill could push food assistance in Colorado into a vicious cycle of funding cuts, increasing mistakes in determining eligibility and further funding cuts to punish those mistakes.
Colorado would have to come up with an additional $47 million to fund the workers at county human services departments who determine SNAP eligibility.
The bill, backed by President Donald Trump, would also require states to start paying a share of the food benefits themselves. The state estimates it could have to come up with anywhere from $130 million to $259 million annually to pay its share, depending on the language in the final bill.
Colorado can’t come up with that amount of cash, particularly given the state’s constitutional limits on raising taxes.
Since the bill includes a provision punishing states with higher error rates with more funding cuts, the damage could spiral, particularly since the bill doesn’t include any time for the states to prepare, the letter said.
The state’s share of the benefits could rise as high as $324 million.
Colorado previously lost about $13.1 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help schools and food banks purchase locally grown produce.
In an average month, 617,000 people in Colorado receive a combined $120 million in food assistance. Typically, about half are children.
The state expects to see an increase in theft and domestic violence as families face more financial challenges, and a loss to businesses as the public has less money to spend on food.
Cutting SNAP will mean more children go hungry. It also sucks millions of dollars away from grocery stores, with ripple effects that will impact Colorado ranches and farms, the trucking industry, and our entire food supply chain. As a result, people will lose their jobs.
Medicaid is on the chopping block as well. First, new administrative rules would mean many eligible families will lose coverage simply due to new, onerous paperwork requirements.
Second, federal contributions to state Medicaid programs will shrink, meaning states like Colorado will need to cut other programs to maintain Medicaid coverage, or will have to increase the number of uninsured people in the state.
The loss of federal matching funds will cause rural hospitals and nursing homes to close, leaving these communities with less access to essential services and increasing their unemployment.
The bill is designed to hurt those who have the least while giving handouts to wealthy households.
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