Colorado officials blast Republican Senate tax bill as final passage — and Medicaid cuts — loom

Colorado s Democratic leaders blasted congressional Republicans tax bill as a complete betrayal Tuesday after the bill passed the U S Senate a big step closer to fulfilling a major piece of President Donald Trump s agenda The law is now on the precipice of full passage later this week though one Colorado Republican congressman has already signaled he may not help it While the massive bill would cut taxes primarily for the wealthy state agents have also warned that it will slash Medicaid and food assistance prompting tens of thousands of Coloradans to lose vitality insurance while further straining the state s finances as well as its already struggling rural healthcare system This bill is a massive wealth transfer from the working class to the rich U S Rep Jason Crow a Democrat from Aurora revealed on social media It would kick millions off their soundness care take away food assistance for millions and add trillions to the national debt After a daylong vote-a-rama Senate Republicans passed Trump s One Big Beautiful Bill Tuesday morning with Vice President JD Vance arriving to break a - tie in the chamber and send the bill back to the House The proposal includes trillion in tax cuts in part by making reductions permanent boosting the child tax credit and adding deductions for older Americans It would balloon federal deficits by nearly trillion over the next decade nonpartisan analysts estimate while funding Trump s mass-deportation campaign slashing Medicaid by nearly trillion and rolling back clean ability policies and funding Gov Jared Polis office indicated Tuesday that the bill would have substantial financial costs for Colorado Changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Undertaking or SNAP would require the state to take on as much as million in new costs New Medicaid work requirements would cost million to implement his office declared while Medicaid would lose more and more each year reaching as much as million by Projections from congressional Democrats indicated that six rural hospitals could close in Colorado as a conclusion of the Medicaid cuts and that nearly a quarter-million residents could lose fitness insurance In separate statements Tuesday U S Sen John Hickenlooper of Colorado called the bill pure lunacy while Sen Michael Bennet castigated it as a massive step in the wrong direction Colorado s Democratic House Speaker Julie McCluskie reported the bill was a complete betrayal of the American dream that would cruelly strip medical care from over Coloradans and increase costs for working families An analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Plan estimated Colorado taxpayers would get total tax cuts of more than billion next year with more than of those savings going to people who make or more per year The bill now heads to the House where it originated and where Republican leaders have indicated they want to vote on the bill s passage as soon as Wednesday The margins in the House are expected to be razor-thin When the bill initially cleared that chamber it did so by a - vote with only Republicans in promotion Crucial changes needed Hurd says And on Tuesday one of the Colorado Republicans who previously supported the proposal signaled opposition this time around The Big Beautiful Bill sent back to the House from the Senate is going to require vital changes in order to pass U S Rep Jeff Hurd who represents much of the Western Slope noted in a report to The Denver Post I look forward to working with leadership and my colleagues to pass a bill consistent with the promises we made on the campaign trail Sought what changes the congressman requested Nick Bayer Hurd s chief of staff revealed Hurd was reviewing the proposed changes now Hurd previously signed a letter calling for the Senate to abide by the House s Medicaid cuts which were smaller but still totaled over billion In a comment Tuesday U S Rep Lauren Boebert s spokesman Drew Sexton announced the congresswoman was still reviewing the bill to ensure it complies with President Trump s and the th District s priorities of tax relief frontier safety reforms to the Medicaid and food assistance programs and getting rid of the Green New Scam Messages sent to Colorado s other Republican representatives Jeff Crank and Gabe Evans were not right now returned Tuesday In an op-ed Evans described the bill as a vision that provides real tangible benefits which make life safer and less expensive while also being better stewards of taxpayer dollars The exterior of Delta County Memorial Hospital in Delta Colo is seen via Google Maps in this screenshot The hospital is one of six in Colorado listed in a document as at highest exposure from Medicaid cuts Screenshot via Google Maps The cost of providing the bill s tax cuts state bureaucrats have warned is extensive cuts to Medicaid and food assistance which provide fitness care and nutrition benefits to hundreds of thousands of people across the state Earlier estimates from the state s budget office projected the then-current version of the bill could cost Colorado between million and billion per year In the present day Republicans in the Senate voted to kick Americans off wellness care raise costs on insurance kill jobs increase our deficit and debt and make it harder for kids to access food This shameful vote comes at the expense of hardworking Coloradans Polis reported in a declaration Tuesday He like McCluskie called on the state s Republican members of Congress to oppose the proposal Gauging impact of Medicaid cuts KFF a nonpartisan vitality care think tank formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated last month that Colorado would lose roughly billion in federal Medicaid spending over the next decade under the bill The bill s changes would strip residents of their strength coverage by the organization announced Of the reductions billion would hit rural Colorado leading to residents losing Medicaid coverage in those areas according to KFF Related Articles Trump bill s Medicaid provision that s now in limbo could cost Colorado billion Beware federal agents hiding behind masks Letters Populace land back on and back off the chopping block requirements our continued advocacy Opinion Colorado among states to total win in funds for electric bus charging Colorado other states challenge billions of dollars in Trump administration funding cuts Those estimates were based on the House version of the bill which proposed less-severe Medicaid cuts than those adopted by the Senate on Tuesday Under the Senate version million Americans would lose robustness care according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office The state Department of Strength Care Agenda and Financing which oversees the Medicaid scheme here did not yet have fully updated estimates on the impact of the Senate version on the state a spokesman stated Tuesday morning There s nothing beautiful about this bill Lydia McCoy CEO of the Colorado Center on Law and Initiative an anti-poverty advocacy group explained in a comment Medicaid recipients will lose access to the strength care that keeps them alive and hospitals across rural Colorado will close their doors for lack of funding The cruelty of this law is exceeded only by its short-sightedness Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot