Sens. Looney, Duff and Lesser react to a new report that details millions of Connecticut residents will lose healthcare and food assistance, while the state economy loses billions in economic activity and thousands of jobs.
HARTFORD – A new report from The Commonwealth Fund paints a devastating picture of the effects of the proposed budget plan led by the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans. The budget plan would take away millions of Connecticut residents’ healthcare and food assistance, and this latest report also predicts over a billion dollars in reduced economic activity, over a hundred million less in state revenue and nearly ten thousand jobs lost – just in fiscal year 2026.
The Congressional budget plan requires cuts of $880 billion over the next 10 years, which would necessitate sweeping cuts to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that provides healthcare to people with disabilities, those below a certain income line, children and seniors. SNAP is a food assistance program that helps supplement grocery budgets for lower income families, seniors and those with disabilities.
The budget plan Republicans are moving through Congress requires broad cuts to direct healthcare and food assistance programs, but these programs also have significant impacts to the national and state economies. In fiscal year 2026 alone, Medicaid and SNAP cuts are predicted to bring on $1.16 billion in GDP loss for Connecticut’s economy, 9,400 Connecticut residents are expected to lose their jobs and local and state tax loss will exceed $120 million.
The nationwide impacts are severe: over $112 billion in GDP loss, over one million American jobs lost, and nearly $9 billion in local and state tax loss.
“At a time when Americans are struggling to pay for groceries, rent, healthcare and are bracing themselves for the effects of Trump’s tariffs, it is unconscionable that this administration is pursuing cuts to programs that offer food and healthcare to our most vulnerable,” said Senate President Martin Looney. “The numbers in this report are staggering and each one represents a Connecticut resident who will forgo necessary treatments, ration their meals or lose their job These policies will also undermine and destabilize Connecticut’s economy after years of careful management.”
“While Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans take a chainsaw to the federal budget, they are cutting programs that meet Americans’ basic needs,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff. “These are not just numbers on a spreadsheet, there is real and significant human cost to these cuts. Connecticut residents and Americans across the country will lose their healthcare, children, seniors and those with disabilities will lose food assistance and go hungry, thousands will lose jobs and local and state economies will be devastated. Republicans in Congress need to find their backbone and stand up for the very people who sent them to Washington D.C.”
“This report confirmed what we feared, we are staring down the barrel of a devastating federal budget,” said State Senator Matt Lesser, Chair of the Human Services Committee. “SNAP and Medicaid help millions of Connecticut residents stay healthy and fed, and without these programs Connecticut residents will skip meals, lose healthcare coverage and forgo care, rural hospitals will close and to put it bluntly – people will die.”
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