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DENVER, CO – JBC Vice Chair Shannon Bird, Rep. Emily Sirota, Speaker Julie McCluskie and House Majority Leader Monica Duran today sent a letter to Republican members of Colorado’s Congressional Delegation to raise concern about the state budget impacts of the GOP’s megabill and to urge them to vote no.
In the letter, the members wrote, “Colorado simply cannot absorb the financial blow your bill will strike to our budget. We are deeply concerned that as a result of your votes, Colorado will be forced to consider:
Limiting the senior and veteran homestead exemption, thereby increasing property taxes on seniors and veterans
Increasing tuition for higher education
Further reducing the Earned Income Tax Credit and Family Affordability Tax Credit, which will increase taxes on working families.
Reducing funding for corrections, impacting public safety
Cutting funding for services that support children and people with disabilities
Scaling back the reinsurance program, which would increase health care premiums for people who buy their own insurance.
While there has been a lot of focus on the Medicaid, SNAP and energy provisions of your bill, we want to make sure that you are aware of the other consequences of your bill should it pass. None of these choices are good for Colorado, and every single one will be the result of Congress passing this bill.”
The full text of the letter is below:
Representatives Gabe Evans, Lauren Boebert, Jeff Hurd and Jeff Crank:
We write to you once again to urge you to vote against the GOP budget reconciliation bill. Time and time again, Coloradans across the state from health care providers in rural areas to business and utility owners and utilities have shared the devastating impacts this bill will have:
Hundreds of thousands of Coloradans could lose their health insurance
Rural health clinics and facilities will struggle to stay open
Energy costs will increase
Children and veterans will lose food assistance
As the lawmakers responsible for writing our state budget, we want to bring to your attention additional consequences this bill will force on our state.
If you pass this bill, the Colorado Office of State Planning and Budgeting expects state General Fund revenues to decline by almost $600 million per year, and costs to the General Fund will increase by as much as $650 million per year, creating a billion dollar hole in our budget. In order to maintain SNAP benefits for children, seniors and veterans who depend on them, we would have to replace $180 million each year in lost funding that we simply do not have. This is just not possible—your votes will force deep cuts to nutrition assistance that keeps children and veterans from going hungry.
The changes you propose to Medicaid could result in Colorado losing as much as $1 billion in health care funding that we will not be able to backfill, putting health coverage at risk for nearly 150,000 Coloradans. The impact on rural areas, people of color, veterans and people with disabilities will be staggering. The $25 billion fund to support rural clinics is simply a drop in the bucket when compared to the over $1 trillion in cuts you are making to Medicaid.
Colorado simply cannot absorb the financial blow your bill will strike to our budget. We are deeply concerned that as a result of your votes, Colorado will be forced to consider:
Limiting the senior and veteran homestead exemption, thereby increasing property taxes on seniors and veterans
Increasing tuition for higher education
Further reducing the Earned Income Tax Credit and Family Affordability Tax Credit, which will increase taxes on working families.
Reducing funding for corrections, impacting public safety
Cutting funding for services that support children and people with disabilities
Scaling back the reinsurance program, which would increase health care premiums for people who buy their own insurance.
While there has been a lot of focus on the Medicaid, SNAP and energy provisions of your bill, we want to make sure that you are aware of the other consequences of your bill should it pass. None of these choices are good for Colorado, and every single one will be the result of Congress passing this bill.
While we understand that you do not need to balance the federal budget—as demonstrated by your votes for this bill that will increase the deficit by trillions of dollars—we do balance our budgets in Colorado. We have had to make hard choices in the last year to protect core services for hardworking families, and we will have to make many more in the year ahead. However, the choices this bill will force us to make are far worse and will be devastating for our state.
Vote no.
Sincerely,
Representative Shannon Bird, Vice Chair of the Joint Budget Committee
Representative Emily Sirota, Joint Budget Committee Member
Speaker Julie McCluskie
House Majority Leader Monica Duran