Tomorrow. Friday, May 16. That's when the House budget committee will be considering the steep cuts to Medicaid that were proposed by the House Energy and Commerce committee on Sunday (after the 24-hour vigil to protect Medicaid that took place last week). The proposed cuts focus on work requirements and eligibility restrictions, which would likely result in fewer Medicaid recipients overall. For the moment though, no targeted reduction in the percentage of DC's federal Medicaid funding is included in the cuts - though this could change.
Our DC officials are working overtime to protect DC, not only with respect to Medicaid, but also to encourage the long-delayed vote in the House to permit our planned local spending in this fiscal year. Fortunately, it appears that the amount we stand to lose could now be lower than the $1.1 billion originally projected, but it's still the case that we are looking at significant cuts in our spending between now and the end of September, which also is affecting the mayor's presentation of the budget for next year. The delay also obviously affects the DDS budget briefing, which could still take place this month but is far from certain. DC council hearings on the FY2026 budget, which normally start in March, may now not happen before June.
So - Things are better than they might have been, thanks to fancy footwork by the mayor's team, but we still have a long road ahead.
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