Electeds decry deep cuts to healthcare, food assistance, and education that will hurt families to give the wealthy $4 trillion in tax breaks

SAN DIEGO — On the heels of a preliminary vote on a federal budget that uses a fast-track reconciliation process and slashes safety net programs including Medicaid, 114 local elected leaders across San Diego County are uniting in a call to the entire Congressional delegation to protect close to 1 million people in their districts who depend on Medicaid in the San Diego region, half of which are children, young adults, and seniors.

The letter, sent Tuesday, reads, “We, the undersigned local elected officials, are concerned about the proposed reconciliation package that would decimate programs and services in the county, and hobble state and local budgets, while at the same time giving $4 trillion in tax breaks to wealthy individuals and corporations. The House proposal would offset these tax breaks with deep cuts to the safety net that helps families provide healthcare for their children, put food on the table, and pursue their education.” 

Signed by elected officials who represent the region—including state legislators, county supervisors, city council members, community college and school board trustees, elected officials from fire, water, and health districts, as well as elected student leaders—the letter also points to the fact that more than 170,000 people relying on health insurance under the Affordable Care Act in their Congressional districts would see their premiums increase “by over $2,000, according to the House Committee on the Budget.” They also decry the deep cuts in the proposed budget to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) food aid, which more than 400,000 people in San Diego County depend on. 

“All of these cuts,” the letter continues, “would offset an alarming expansion of a harsh and unaccountable immigration and border enforcement regime that undermines constitutional rights, rips communities apart, and does nothing to solve a broken immigration system.” One in every four people in California–and San Diego County–is an immigrant, and over half of all workers are immigrants or children of immigrants.” The letter states that immigrants are “part of the fabric of San Diego and need an immigration solution grounded in human rights, not family separation.” 

The Congressional delegation has a responsibility to protect the interests of San Diego County residents in the federal budget reconciliation process, and local leaders are calling on representatives to ‘Vote No’ on the current proposal that rescinds critical safety net funding to line the pockets of billionaires and rip families apart. If the proposed reconciliation passes, local leaders say it could not only lead to mass deportation, but also mass poverty, and dismantle long-standing programs that support San Diegans in need. The vote is anticipated to take place in Congress in early April. 

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