Top CT officials pledge to try to fill gaps from Trump budget: ‘It’s a real devil’s bargain’

Hartford Courant – Monday, July 7, 2025
By Christopher Keating

Top Connecticut officials pledged Monday to do what they can to fill the upcoming gaps from cuts in Medicaid and food stamps as they rallied to counterattack President Donald Trump’s new tax-and-spending law.

Since the 940-page bill was signed in recent days, top officials said it is still too early to calculate the exact numbers on the impact in Connecticut. But they said they will continue planning for a special legislative session in September in Hartford in advance of the federal fiscal year that starts on Oct. 1.

“The Trump budget is cutting the hell out of services that our most vulnerable depend upon, our working families depend upon, our middle class depend upon all so they can have a trillion-dollar tax cut for the very richest people,” Gov. Ned Lamont told reporters Monday. “Can I make up for that entire shortfall? I don’t think so. Let’s see what other alternatives there are, but it’s a real devil’s bargain they’ve given us.”

Known for opposing tax increases during more than six years as governor, Lamont declined to say whether additional revenue would be needed to cover shortfalls in various accounts.

“It’s worth noting that it’s incredibly cynical because all the tax-cut goodies happen immediately – just exploding the deficit,” said Lamont, a fiscally moderate Democrat. “Most of the spending cuts happen after the midterms [in 2026] and even beyond that. So I don’t think there’s any need for revenue now, but we’ll see what happens over the next few years.”

Lamont gathered at the Charter Oak Health Center in Hartford, a federally qualified health center that serves numerous Medicaid patients, with some of the state’s top officials, including U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, state comptroller Sean Scanlon, and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, among others.

Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney and others have said repeatedly that the uncertainty makes it difficult to make any predictions about how much the state might need to dip into its rainy day fund, now at about $5 billion, to plug holes from the federal government.

State officials are concerned that as many as 169,000 people could lose Medicaid coverage in Connecticut, depending on the implementation of work requirements. In addition, cuts will be made in the food stamp program, now known as SNAP, which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. In Connecticut, 355,000 families receive $880 million in food benefits per year, which is currently funded entirely by the federal government. The state also spends an additional $155 million in administrative costs to run the program.

The cuts have raised major concerns because more than 900,000 Connecticut residents in all 169 municipalities depend on Medicaid, including 300,000 children, officials said.

Trump view

While Democrats said that the record-breaking debt of $36 trillion will only grow larger over the next 10 years because of the deficit spending, Trump counters that the 940-page bill will lead to economic growth.

“Nobody wants to talk about growth, which will be the primary reason that the Big, Beautiful Bill will be one of the most successful pieces of legislation ever passed,” Trump said on social media. “This growth has already begun at levels never seen before. Trillions of dollars are now being invested into the USA, more than ever before. Likewise, hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs are filling up the coffers of Treasury. The tariff money has already arrived and is setting new records!”

Trump added, “The biggest winner of them all will be the American people, who will have permanently lower taxes, higher wages, and take-home pay, secure borders, and a stronger and more powerful military.”

Connecticut House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford has been saying for months that Democrats were over-reacting to the bill as it was being negotiated, and he continued that theme after the bill’s passage.

“Connecticut Democrats are quick to attack congressional Republicans for a federal budget that delivers real tax relief, but their own idea of fiscal responsibility is built on gimmicks,” Candelora said Monday. “Just look at the state budget they passed— propped up by hospital tax revenue they admitted was unworkable almost immediately.”

He added, “Instead of spinning partisan narratives and rooting for failure, Democrats should work with the Trump Administration to align state and federal policies—for the good of Connecticut and the country.”

Battle for the Truth

Top officials predicted that Republican and Democratic spin doctors will be battling over the details from now until the Congressional elections in November 2026 that will determine which party will control the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

“There is going to be a race out there for the truth,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, who has represented eastern Connecticut since defeating three-term Republican incumbent Rob Simmons in 2006.

The battle will continue as Trump has blasted the mainstream media for years and signed an executive order to cut federal funding for National Public Radio and PBS, said U.S. Rep. John B. Larson of East Hartford.

“They didn’t want a voice or voices that are critical of the king,” Larson said. “That was the King of England. Today, it’s King Trump. … To see our colleagues surrender – in co-equal branches of government – their responsibility to let 17 million fellow Americans lose their health insurance coverage. That’s an abomination.”

Larson added, “What’s the truth? Who will tell the truth? We will. But the media will fact-check and follow through and help the public understand exactly what’s going on here. … Rise up, America! Rise up and speak up!”

Blumenthal said it was stunning that Republicans cheered the passage of the “Big, Beautiful Bill” that Democrats deride as a Big, Ugly Bill.

“The exultant celebration of this massive rollback in public responsibility is absolutely disgraceful,” Blumenthal told reporters. “You’re going to see it in the mom who discovers a lump in her breast, the kid who breaks his arm on the playground, and seniors in a nursing home. They are all at risk, and it will fall to Charter Oak and other federally supported health clinics like this one to fill that gap. Not just for the people who come here now, but for working families who are going to lose their premium subsidies for health care.”

He added, “This measure is cruel, and it’s stupid.”

Another program subject to cuts is food stamps, now known as SNAP. On a per family basis, the program offers $380 per month in food benefits for a family of four, which officials said purchases less than in the past as inflation increases, particularly at the supermarket.

Hospitals

Besides individuals, some of the biggest impact will be on hospitals that are reliant on Medicaid.

“They’re nervous as can be,” Lamont said of hospitals on Monday. “All you’re doing is cost-shifting onto the backs of uncompensated care, which is paid for by the hospitals or paid by private insurance. These guys are not saving any money by pushing people off Medicaid. All they’re doing is cost-shifting.”

The Connecticut Hospital Association, which represents hospitals across the state, said the new law will have “a significant negative impact on hospitals” when fully implemented.

“The repercussions of Medicaid cuts will reverberate throughout the nation’s healthcare delivery system, including here in Connecticut, and will be felt by all patients and communities, not just individuals enrolled in the program,” the hospitals said in a statement after the bill passed. “Those costs will be borne not only by caregivers, but also by employers, their employees, the insured, and all Connecticut taxpayers. If the uninsured forgo preventive care that could keep them healthy or address chronic conditions, they are more likely to need acute care in hospitals, which treat all patients regardless of their ability to pay for those services, further straining our care delivery system.”

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