Blue-state leaders weigh new laws to deal with financial fallout from Trump's big bill

NBC News -  State lawmakers are scrambling to deal with the expected financial fallout from President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with many in blue states demanding special legislative sessions they say are necessary to shore up funding for health care and food assistance programs affected by the new law. 

Democratic governors in at least five states are weighing such special sessions, and Democratic lawmakers in several more are urging their governors to convene them to address expected funding shortfalls.

In Colorado, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis’ Office of State Planning and Budgeting has projected that the state would receive about $500 million less in revenue yearly — and could see about the same amount in additional costs — because of the new law’s impact on Medicaid and food assistance.

 Democratic state Sen. Iman Jodeh said a special session is “absolutely necessary” to deal with the state’s new financial landscape, predicting that it was “imminent” that Polis convenes one.

“We have to do it,” said Jodeh, a member of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. “Our budget just cannot absorb the backfill, the shortfall, the cuts."

Polis spokesperson Shelby Wieman said in email that Polis “has previously indicated we may need to reconvene the General Assembly to deal with the terrible impacts from the bill — and we are still reviewing the impacts of this new law to evaluate next steps, including a potential special session.”

 Jodeh said that because of Colorado’s unique Taxpayer Bill of Rights — a 1992 measure that effectively limits how much the state can raise taxes — it will be exceedingly difficult for Democrats, despite their control of the governorship and both legislative chambers, to avoid mostly cutting and freezing social programs to address the expected shortfalls.

“We’re all incredibly scared about how we can possibly navigate this,” she said. “What are those programs that we’re going to have to freeze or defund or do away with altogether? Those will be the questions that we’re going to have to answer during the special session.”
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