Facing potentially major budget issues exacerbated by the GOP Megaville, which is being tracked quickly in Washington, the Democratic governor is considering emergency measures to ease the blow.
Policymakers from Connecticut to California, New York and Blue are elevating the illusion of calling lawmakers for special sessions to tackle what is worth hundreds of millions of dollars at additional costs as a result of President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill.” And even some deep red states like Florida are taking steps to deal with financial fallout.
The preparations show depth of concern about how the Republican package will echo in the state capital, especially given the recent vitriolic attack on the spending bill from Elon Musk, despite the lack of guaranteed passage. State officials have rushed to navigate financial challenges, already the toughest budget year, in many states, even before the pandemic.
“The bill is disruptive and risks destabilizing the entire network of support programs,” said Laura Montoya, a Democrat who guarantees that the governor will need to ensure special sessions.
The bill, which cleans up the House last month and now awaits Senate lawsuit, would cut around $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, primarily by forcing states to pay for the program for the first time. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it would also drive 7.6 million people out of Medicaid, saving $800 billion over a decade.
The threat of special sessions could be a way for Democrat governors who enjoy a massive legislative majority to respond to pressure from angry constituencies about cutting healthcare and food benefits, even if there is little they can do to combat Trump’s agenda.
Details of what the governor will ask to even ask him to act as a lawmaker are scarce given the high degree of uncertainty regarding the final bill. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned earlier this year that “nothing would ban you from returning to special sessions to address what comes from the federal government.” “We’re definitely coming back to our special session and dealing with it,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz said last month.
Regulations such as sharing the costs of the nation’s largest food aid program with the state will not be in effect until 2028. This means that the majority of the state will begin their fiscal year on July 1st. This means that civil servants are created based on current circumstances, minimizing federal legs, and based on final conditions, the majority of states will begin their budget on July 1st to minimize final legs.
“The bottom line is that the state cannot absorb all the costs and we need to make decisions,” said Brian Siglitz, director of state financial studies at the Nonpartisan National Finance Association. “All states are affected.”
Some Republicans have also expressed concern about the downstream impact of the GOP Megaville. Alabama Agriculture and Industry Chairman Rick Patty, a Republican who recently announced his bid for the lieutenant governor, told Politico that his state “will have little interest in generating the dollars needed to fund something big as a snap.”
Others are in a volatile financial situation using special session chatter as udge’s cuddles to hold Democrats in the Blue State.
“I think our priorities were on the goofy side,” California Sen. Tom Lucky, a Republican on the Budget Committee, said in an interview about his state’s poor fiscal outlook, noting in particular the massive spending to attack homeless people who failed to stop the issue. “We’re trying to provide too many people when we can’t even provide basic services.”
Still, statewide will be affected by statewide, even if only Democrats have political incentives to publicly oppose the settlement bill. That means states need to resort to unpopular choices like cutting profits and increasing taxes to fill the many gaps left by federal cuts, as well as other operations like drawing from funds on rainy days, Siglitz said.
Some lawmakers have accepted that they are likely to return to their state house for special sessions.
Democrat Connecticut Treasurer Eric Russell said in an interview that special sessions would likely be needed if the federal budget shifts significantly to the state and ensures lawmakers “have the flexibility to encourage the coordination needed to protect our state’s residents.”
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont’s office told Politico that he and his legislative leaders are considering declaring a financial emergency to raise the spending cap.
The New York state senator, a Democrat who chairs the chamber of commerce’s health committee, said he fully hopes that he will return to Albany in a special session if the settlement bill clears Congress.
In California, a spokesman for assembly speaker Robert Ribas said there was a “scenario where lawmakers returned later this year” and would address the new budget reality brought about by federal cuts.
“I’ll always be back,” said California Senator Patrick Arlens, a Silicon Valley Democrat. “This is what we do. And if we have to come back in the fall, I’m happy to come. In fact, if that means protecting some of these programs, I think we should go back in the morning, noon, weekends, holidays.”
And in Deep Red West Virginia, Mike Wehrfull, a minority leader in the state senator and one of the 11 Democrats across the Congress, said Republican Gov. Patrick Morrissey hopes to call a special session if federal cuts are adopted.
“This should trigger a special session when we enter this hell where this law places our most vulnerable citizens,” Woelfel said. “But there is a political risk to the (governor) who does that.”
Eric and Caitlyn Cordero contributed to this report.
