CD-3 House Rep. Jeff Hurd votes in favor of massive cuts to Medicaid and SNAP (food) benefits

CD-3 House Rep. Jeff Hurd, who represents western Colorado (Photo: X/Twitter)

Colorado CD-3 House Rep. Jeff Hurd voted for a budget resolution that, if approved in the Senate, will leave Congress no other choice than to slash hundreds of billions of dollars from programs the neediest Americans depend on, including Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/food assistance benefits), housing assistance and energy programs.

About 25% of Coloradans get health care through Medicaid, and about 600,000, or 10% of Coloradans get SNAP benefits (pdf).

The budget resolution directs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to cut $880 billion over the next 10 years from programs under its jurisdiction that assist over 72 million poor and disabled Americans to get heath care, food and housing.

The resolution won’t lower the overall deficit because Republicans plan to use the budget savings to finance a $4.5 trillion tax cut for the wealthiest Americans over the next 10 years by extending Trump’s 2017 “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” which is set to expire this year. The 2017 tax cuts brought federal revenue down to the lowest level it has ever been outside of a recession. More than 45% of the benefits of the renewed tax cuts will go to the wealthiest Americans, while poorer Americans would have their health care, food and federal housing benefits slashed. Trump’s 2017 tax cuts already increased the wealth of America’s 748 billionaires by 77%, or $2.2 trillion.

The vote in favor of the budget cuts was extremely close, 217-215. All House Democrats voting against it because of how it will hurt the poorest and most vulnerable Americans. The only Republican who voted against the budget resolution was Rep. Tom Massie of Kentucky, who said it didn’t go far enough to cut spending and would add $20 trillion to the federal debt over the next 10 years:

Chart showing how Rep. Hurd voted on budget resolution that would slash Medicaid and SNAP benefits

Because the vote in the House was so close, Hurd alone wielded tremendous power to save poor and disabled Americans from disastrous cuts to the critical programs that help keep them alive, fed and housed. If Hurd had joined Massie in voting against the budget resolution, it wouldn’t have passed.

Instead, he chose to vote for the budget cuts.