Wesley Tharpe
@wesleytharpe.bsky.social
600 followers 820 following 110 posts
Senior Advisor for State Tax Policy @centeronbudget.bsky.social. Formerly @gabudget.bsky.social. I've been called the emerging tax cut conscience of a nation. Mostly music, memes, West Wing, and the open road beyond that.
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wesleytharpe.bsky.social
NEW REPORT: House Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill, now in the Senate, would shift major new costs to the state- & local-level, paving the way for harmful cuts to food assistance, health care, & other services like education. Here’s the 3 top things to know:🧵
Reposted by Wesley Tharpe
katiebergh.bsky.social
With a huge unfunded mandate for #SNAP food benefits one step closer to becoming law, don't lose sight of the painful tradeoffs states will be facing: Do they raise taxes? Cut state funding for other vital services? Slash the number of eligible low-income people receiving food assistance?
wesleytharpe.bsky.social
States still stand to lose big under the now-passed Senate R reconciliation plan, w/ major new costs forcing likely cuts to health care, food benefits, & other S&L priorities. Just the #SNAP cost-shift alone will force painful choices. At the 15% maximum state rate, for ex⬇️
sharonparrott.bsky.social
Senate Rs voted to pass a bill that wld raise food & health care costs on families, increase hunger & take health coverage away from millions of ppl while doubling down on tax cuts for the wealthy. House Rs must stand up for their communities & reject it. www.cbpp.org/press/statem...
wesleytharpe.bsky.social
And #NewYork’s annual #SNAP benefits’ bill could swell to nearly $1.1 billion, or about 3X annual state spending on the Department of Environmental Conservation, which protects the state's natural resources and prevents and abates water and air pollution.
wesleytharpe.bsky.social
#NewJersey could be on the hook for an estimated $287M, or nearly their annual state spending on county colleges, which serve more than 168,000 students.
wesleytharpe.bsky.social
#Colorado, meanwhile, could owe about $194M, equal to two-thirds their Department of Public Safety’s annual budget, which funds the state highway patrol, Bureau of Investigation, and fire prevention and code enforcement.
wesleytharpe.bsky.social
In #California, annual #SNAP benefit costs could surpass $1.8 billion, roughly equal to state spending on the Department of Public Health, whose responsibilities include health emergency response, food safety, & infectious disease control.
wesleytharpe.bsky.social
#Arizona would owe about $300M, or close to their yearly state spending on their Department of Forestry and Fire Management and the Department of Public Safety combined.
wesleytharpe.bsky.social
States still stand to lose big under the now-passed Senate R reconciliation plan, w/ major new costs forcing likely cuts to health care, food benefits, & other S&L priorities. Just the #SNAP cost-shift alone will force painful choices. At the 15% maximum state rate, for ex⬇️
Reposted by Wesley Tharpe
katiebergh.bsky.social
Based on new USDA data released today, 44 states would have to pay tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars under Senate Republicans' #SNAP cost-shift plan. If a state can't fully pay, they would have to cut many low-income families off SNAP or end their program altogether.
wesleytharpe.bsky.social
It shocks the conscience.
centeronbudget.bsky.social
"It shocks the conscience that Senate Republican leaders saw the impacts of the House bill — 16 million more people uninsured and millions losing help buying groceries, including families with children — and chose to double down." -
@sharonparrott.bsky.social www.cbpp.org/press/statem...
Reposted by Wesley Tharpe
centeronbudget.bsky.social
The truth is clear — the Senate Republican reconciliation bill will hurt people in every state if enacted. Senators who vote for it are responsible for its impact ⬇️
Reposted by Wesley Tharpe
katiebergh.bsky.social
"We fear that if this bill passes, a village in rural Alaska might lose its one-and-only grocery store because of a drastic decline in SNAP dollars. It might also lose its sole health care clinic or hospital because it cannot sustain its services with decreased Medicaid reimbursements."
nytopinion.nytimes.com
“The likely impacts from the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ are particularly ugly for our home state, Alaska,” write Bryce Edgmon and Cathy Giessel, two state lawmakers. “The bill being rushed through Congress is based on a one-size-fits-all approach that does not reflect these realities on the ground.”
Opinion | The Big Beautiful Bill Will Be Ugly for Alaska
Congress’s one-size-fits-all bill doesn’t take into account the realities of life in Alaska.
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Wesley Tharpe
joannalefebvre.bsky.social
The national school voucher proposal in the Senate GOP reconciliation plan would threaten students’ access to quality public schools, give tax breaks to the wealthy, & override states that have rejected these harmful policies. Lawmakers who care about our kids’ futures should reject it.
Reposted by Wesley Tharpe
tyjonescox.bsky.social
There is confusion about whether the Parliamentarian has indicated that a slightly revised version of the #SNAP cost-shift to states in the Senate Republican bill complies with the Byrd rule. But what’s clear is: the provision’s harmful impact is unchanged.
Reposted by Wesley Tharpe
aorris.bsky.social
This suggests that Republicans may add yet another deeply harmful health care cut to the Senate bill – a cut that would take health coverage away from even more people, shift massive, unaffordable costs to states, & could even lead some states to end their #Medicaid expansion.
Reposted by Wesley Tharpe
sharonparrott.bsky.social
It shocks the conscience that Senate Republican leaders saw the impacts of the House bill — 16 million more people uninsured and millions losing help buying groceries, including families with children — and chose to double down.
Reposted by Wesley Tharpe
katiebergh.bsky.social
Questions to ask about the House R plan:
Is my state raising taxes to make up for these huge federal cuts?
Is my state cutting other services (schools, child care, etc.) to fill that funding gap?
If my state can't make up the federal cuts, whose food assistance or health care is getting taken away?
wesleytharpe.bsky.social
Tldr: the enormous cuts passed by House Republicans, which not-for-nothing coincide with massive new tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, would force states to pick up billions in new costs & make a series of excruciating tradeoffs. It’s a bad deal the Senate should reject.
wesleytharpe.bsky.social
Tldr: the enormous cuts passed by House Republicans, which not-for-nothing coincide with massive new tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, would force states to pick up billions in new costs & make a series of excruciating tradeoffs. It’s a bad deal the Senate should reject.
wesleytharpe.bsky.social
Public education would be at especially high risk, given that it makes up the largest share of state budgets. For context: just the potential cost of the proposed 5% minimum SNAP match is the equivalent of average salary costs for about 65K public school teachers nationwide.
wesleytharpe.bsky.social
That means states would almost surely impose significant spending cuts – *both* to health care & food assistance but also by shifting funds from other parts of the budget, such as schools, child care, housing, or infrastructure. bsky.app/profile/wesl...
wesleytharpe.bsky.social
Three: states are not in a position to absorb these major new cuts, either in good times or bad. For one, they have to balance their budgets. And also: their finances are already increasingly strained, a trend that would worsen if the economy tips further toward recession.