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PUBLIC BENEFITS JUSTICE UPDATE
MAY 2025
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Main Feature
Medicaid Cuts Come Into Focus: Millions Stand to Lose Health Care [[link removed]]
For months, there have been rumors and speculation about how Congressional Republicans will meet their goal of cutting upwards of $880 billion from Medicaid in the next ten years. Now, recent reporting indicates that implementing so-called “work requirements,” eliminating eligibility for legal immigrants, changing Medicaid’s finance structure to per capita caps, and mandating more frequent eligibility checks are likely in the Republican plan.

Secondary Feature
The 2025 Tax Package: A Chance to Make the Tax Code Fair by Expanding Credits and Increasing Revenue
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Several provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 are scheduled to expire this year, and congressional Republicans intend to extend tax breaks for the wealthy through cuts to public benefits. This brief presents an alternative future, where legislators reform our tax code so that it serves families with low incomes instead of the wealthiest individuals and corporations. 

The Hunger Behind the Numbers: The True Cost of SNAP Cuts
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The House budget resolution proposes slashing at least $230 billion from SNAP—a staggering 20 percent reduction in total funding that would be the largest cut in the program’s history. To illustrate the human impact of these cuts, this blog tells the story of Sarah, a hypothetical mother of two and an elementary school paraprofessional in Georgia who relies on SNAP to help feed her family. Sarah could lose SNAP benefits if Congress reverses the Thrifty Food Plan, expands time limits, and pursues other dangerous changes.

In the News
March 25, 2025 | Vox
The immigration crackdown threatening to break America’s child care system
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March 18, 2025 | Grist
‘Our people are hungry’: What federal food aid cuts mean in a warming world [[link removed]]

March 11, 2025 | USA Today
These states get up to half of their revenue from the federal government
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National, State, and Local Spotlights

National Spotlight: U.S. House Passes Budget that Enriches the Wealthy by Slashing Medicaid & SNAP [www.clasp.org/press-room/press-releases/u-s-house-passes-budget-that-enriches-the-wealthy-by-slashing-medicaid-snap/]
Republicans in Congress are moving forward with their plan to pass tax breaks to billionaires and corporations by making massive cuts to public benefit programs in a reconciliation bill, including a proposal to cut Medicaid by $880 billion and SNAP by $230 billion over the next decade. If these cuts happen, people will lose health care and nutrition support. It is impossible to make cuts of these sizes without causing great harm to people and families. Latest reports indicate that congressional committees will have bill text outlining the proposed cuts to Medicaid and SNAP ready for mark-up during the first week of May, and a tax bill costing Americans trillions of dollars soon after that. The reconciliation bill must pass through the House Committees and then be voted on by the full House. If passed, the Senate will then take up the bill for consideration. A simple majority in both chambers is all that is needed to pass a reconciliation bill.

State Spotlight: Minnesota Implements Improvements to The State’s Renter’s Tax Credit [[link removed]]
Minnesota has one of the most generous state renter’s tax credits in the country. The credit refunds renters for a portion of the property taxes they pay through their rents. In 2022, over 300,000 Minnesotans received an average credit of $964. This tax season, the state made the credit easier to file for by integrating it into Minnesota’s income tax form and changing how household income is calculated. As many as 152,000 new renters are expected to claim the credit this year because of these improvements. State legislators are now considering expanding the tax credit to even more households.

Local Spotlight: National Public Housing Museum Opens in Chicago
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Chicago began to tear down its public housing in the mid-1990s. A group of activists who were public housing residents organized to save one of the buildings, in hopes that it would one day become a museum honoring public housing and its residents. The National Public Housing Museum aims to change the narrative about public housing “then and now, without resorting to exploitative images or stories of suffering”. The museum’s exhibits mourn the loss of public housing and make a powerful argument for federal reinvestment in the program.

Key Publications and Blogs
April 23, 2025 | Suzanne Wikle
Medicaid Financing: Dangers of Block Grants and Per Capita Caps
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Thirty years of lessons from block grants in TANF and CCDBG raise alarm bells for Medicaid being turned into block grants. Likewise, the untested nature of per capita caps is also an incredibly risky financial move for Medicaid. Under either scenario, federal funding is likely to erode over time, causing massive cost shifts to states. This will ultimately force states to cut people off Medicaid, reduce payments to providers, and make other hard decisions that will leave more people uninsured.

April 11, 2025 | Isha Weerasinghe
Attacks on DEI Negatively Affect Prenatal and Postpartum Mental Health
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The prenatal and postpartum periods are some of the most vulnerable times a person can experience, and the shift in roles and responsibilities can cause a great deal of stress and anxiety. These periods can bring up new concerns for parents that they may not have been prepared for, such as being unable to breastfeed or afford baby formula. The Trump Administration’s recent cuts to federal agency staff and elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs will only compound these challenges.

April 3, 2025 | Ben D’Avanzo, Gabrielle Lessard, and Jenny Rejeske (partners from the National Immigration Law Center), with Wendy Cervantes and Isha Weerasinghe from CLASP
Policy Approaches to Achieve Health Equity for Immigrant Children
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The paper aims make comprehensive policy recommendations to support children in immigrant families, including access to permanent immigration status, culturally responsive mental health care services, and expanding immigrant access to public programs. Immigrant children face unique challenges in achieving adequate health care across many conditions and circumstances, driven by policy decisions that can be changed. Those working to improve the health of children have a role in educating policymakers to demonstrate the value of these changes.

April 1, 2025 | Ashley Burnside
Proposed IRS Cuts Will Hurt Taxpayers and Our Economy
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The Internal Revenue Service is under threat, and the agency will have less bandwidth and fewer resources to process tax returns and provide support to the taxpayers who need it. The proposed layoffs and funding cuts to the agency will harm taxpayers and hurt our economy, and requests for access to payment systems by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency threaten the security and protection of Americans.

March 24, 2025 | Suzanne Wikle
It’s a Cut to Medicaid No Matter What You Call It
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Congressional Republicans are moving forward with their plan to slash $880 billion from Medicaid and implementing so-called “work requirements” are among their proposed changes, If enacted, work reporting requirements in Medicaid will cause people to lose their health insurance. This approach increases red tape and does not lead to an increase in employment.

February 26, 2025 | Suzanne Wikle
State Legislators Will Face Impossible Decisions if Congress Cuts $2 Trillion
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Congress is setting state policymakers up to face incredibly hard decisions about everything from health care cuts, deciding who should go hungry, and supporting their rural communities. If the proposed Congressional cuts are enacted, states will see a significant reduction in federal dollars. This will directly impact state budgets, and state policymakers will have to decide how to absorb the loss of federal dollars and which programs to cut.

What We’re Reading
Tax Policy Center | The New ICE-IRS Data Sharing Agreement Has Three Problems
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Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy | Millions of Citizen Children Would be Harmed by Proposal Billed as Targeting Immigrant Tax Filers
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Center of Budget and Policy Priorities | Economic Security Programs Should Support Pregnant People and Their Families, Not Promote Harmful “Fetal Personhood” Agenda [[link removed]]

Capital B | Black Renters Could Be Displaced by Historic Affordable Housing Cuts [[link removed]]


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