CT has to act now on federal budget cuts

SNAP, HUSKY, and more are at risk

There are ugly cuts coming in the latest federal budget, including many that will most hurt working class people. While the state still crunches the numbers on how many residents will be hurt and when, one thing is very clear: Connecticut has to act now to give our state the flexibility to respond.

Nobody should have to choose between buying groceries and seeing a doctor when they’re sick, for instance, but federal cuts threaten to put even more people in that impossible situation. Federal cuts and eligibility changes to HUSKY will put between 100,000 and 200,000 Connecticut residents – including babies, children, seniors, and people with disabilities – at risk of losing their healthcare. Meanwhile, cuts and changes to SNAP are also putting thousands of residents – including babies, children, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities – at risk of going hungry.

The potential human toll of these cuts is bad enough, but the economic impact on our state will also be staggering. Unless our state acts soon, SNAP cuts alone are anticipated to cost Connecticut 1,200 jobs and weaken our state’s GDP by more than $100 million each year.

The Connecticut legislature and Governor took one step toward preparing for federal budget harms earlier this year, when they created an emergency safeguard account around public health funding. But, they did not fund it, and the account is not set up to prepare for cuts around things like SNAP.  

Connecticut has extra money to help. As of June, Connecticut has around $1.7 billion in surplus money for the 2025 fiscal year. Unless the Governor and legislature act very soon, all of that surplus money will go to pay down pension debt, with none set aside to protect people from federal budget cuts. 

So now, the Governor and legislature have to take the next steps. That means doing two things: call a special session, and broaden and fund the safeguard account. 

The legislature should broaden the definition of the safeguard account, so it can help in each of the places where people are most vulnerable – including, but not limited to, public health. And that account needs to have money in it, so our state can plan for how, when, and where it will spend it.

If the state waits to act until 2026, when many cuts go into effect, it will be too late for a lot of people, especially our most vulnerable neighbors. Doing so would mean unnecessarily putting people’s lives at risk as they lose healthcare and food – while the state might have had the money to help them. 

Instead, the Governor needs to call for a special legislative session, so our state has the time and flexibility to prepare a thoughtful, helpful, and funded plan to save people’s lives.

The federal government has created a crisis for Connecticut as a state and for working class people. No one envies elected officials who are now stuck trying to hold back the tidal wave of harm. But our Governor and legislature need to recognize that the emergency is here, and that we need to use this shortening window of time to act for vulnerable people.