The Looming Crisis: How the Trump Budget Bill Hurts Your Community's Health & Nutrition

The passage of Donald Trump’s funding bill, H.R. 1, marks the culmination of efforts by the far right and corporate interests to weaken a multiracial working-class democracy by dismantling its safety net. 

Building on Reagan-era policies that defunded public institutions and enriched the wealthy, Trump’s budget expands trickle-down economics and racially charged measures that undermine effective governance. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the top 1% will receive an average tax cut of $64,700, while the bottom 20% get just $90. 

Cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, known as Medi-Cal and CalFresh in California, will shift major costs to counties, which must absorb higher health care and food aid costs, as well as new administrative requirements. Cities will also feel the strain of a sicker and hungrier population without federal help. Already tight county budgets will now face impossible choices between cutting other services or raising taxes, stalling progress on childcare, housing, and infrastructure. 

Movement organizations and policymakers should prepare for the drastic impacts H.R. 1 will have on their communities and begin advocating measures to mitigate its worst impacts. Read this report for recommendations for where to get started.