$3.8 Trillion Federal Deficit: What Indiana Medicaid and SNAP Cuts Mean for Hoosiers

Indiana families are bracing for the consequences of a supposedly beautiful federal budget that fundamentally misunderstands America. The latest Republican budget proposal is an ethically unconscionable transfer of wealth from those struggling to make ends meet to those who already have more than they could spend in a lifetime. This is a debt bomb. As Ezra Klein puts it a big budget bomb.

A $3.8 Trillion Deficit Disaster

The Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) analysis reveals a staggering truth: this budget will increase the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion. Not $3.8 million. Not $3.8 billion. $3.8 trillion. To put this in perspective, that's roughly equivalent to the entire annual economic output of Germany, the world's fourth-largest economy. We will not pay this debt, but our children will. This astronomical figure raises an obvious question: where is all this money going?

Tax Cuts for the Super-Rich While Hoosier Families Suffer

The answer is as predictable as it is infuriating. Much of these deficit-exploding tax cuts profit the highest income decile—America's super-rich. According to the CBO's distributional analysis, those who need tax relief the least will receive the most generous benefits while working families across Indiana will see their support systems dismantled.
This wealth transfer represents a fundamental inversion of priorities. While wealthy Americans enjoy reduced tax burdens, Hoosier children, seniors, and working families will bear the cost through devastating cuts to programs they depend on for necessities. Who Pays the Price? Indiana's Most Vulnerable

Medicaid Under Attack

To pay for these tax cuts, this bill slashes Medicaid. Indiana's Medicaid programs serves over 1.6 million Hoosiers, according to state data. The proposed cuts to Medicaid will hit rural communities particularly hard, where hospitals are already struggling to stay afloat. For many Indiana families, Medicaid isn't just health insurance—it's the difference between getting necessary medical care and going without.

These cuts are personal. As an active member of the sandwich generation, I have family members relying on a Medicaid waiver. All while trying to support our two children. My family member's health should not be sacrificed to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy.  

Hoosiers across the state are sounding the alarm. Local advocates describe what these cuts will mean for real people. Emergency rooms will see increased traffic as people lose access to preventive care. Chronic conditions will go untreated, leading to more expensive emergency interventions. This bill will impose unrealistic work requirements on those too sick to work.

SNAP Benefits Slashed

The Indiana Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program faces significant reductions under this budget. In a state where food insecurity affects hundreds of thousands of residents, cutting SNAP benefits means Hoosier children will go to bed hungry so that millionaires can pay less in taxes.

The irony is particularly bitter given that many SNAP recipients in Indiana work full-time jobs but still struggle to afford groceries due to wage stagnation and rising costs of living.

Child Tax Credit Restrictions: Punishing Immigrant Families

Perhaps most cruel is the restriction of the Child Tax Credit to only those children with Social Security numbers. This change targets immigrant families, including many who work essential jobs across Indiana's educational, agricultural, and manufacturing sectors. These are families who pay taxes, contribute to their communities, and whose children attend Indiana schools alongside their neighbors' kids.

The message is clear: some children matter more than others in the eyes of this budget. What Else Lurks in This Bill?

Detention Center Expansion

While cutting programs that feed children and provide healthcare to families, the budget finds plenty of money for expanding ICE detention facilities. So, how are they going to pay for this?

Clean Energy Credits Eliminated

The funding for detention expansion comes partially from eliminating clean energy tax credits. This double blow hits Indiana's growing renewable energy sector while simultaneously harming the environment. Indiana has been making strides in wind and solar energy development, creating good-paying jobs across the state. These cuts will stall that progress and cost Hoosiers jobs in a growing sector.

A Budget That Betrays Indiana Values

Indiana has always prided itself on Hoosier hospitality, hard work, and caring for neighbors. This federal budget violates every one of those values. It takes from those who have the least to give to those who have the most. It punishes children for their parents' immigration status. It prioritizes detention over education, tax cuts over healthcare, and wealthy donors over working families. On May 22, Erin Houchin, IN-09, voted for this bill, betraying working Hoosiers! Don't for a second believe that the Republican party benefits anyone but the wealthy!

The Path Forward

So much is still not known. The US Senate still needs to vote. Now is the time to call Senators Jim Banks and Todd Young asking them to be fiscally responsible!

Indiana's households are watching, and next November, we will remember who stood with us when it mattered most.