Contact: Lexi Koren, lexi@powerhouse-strategic.com
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Without new revenue, Washingtonians will face drastic cuts to health care, long-term care, child care, higher education, and more

Watch February 25 Press Conference

Olympia, WA – In response to the outline of an all-cuts budget released by the Washington State House Democrats, representatives from impacted communities are sounding the alarm on how a budget with no new revenue will impact Washingtonians. At a press conference today, speakers highlighted the impacts of $12 billion in cuts to health care, long-term care, child care, higher education, and more.

Cuts would include:

• $3.5 billion from health care for children, low income people, people with disabilities, aging adults
• $1.5 billion from long-term care from people with disabilities, aging adults
• $1.3 billion from human services and early learning low income families
• $1.1 billion from higher education, including from workforce training and community colleges

Health Care and Long-Term Care

Carma Matti-Jackson, CEO of the Washington Health Care Association, spoke to the impacts of $3.5 billion cuts to health care including elimination of CHIP and Medicaid prescription drug benefits.

“Should this $3.5 billion in health care cuts go into effect, we would see access to critical and life sustaining medications shut off overnight, immunizations and preventive medical care for about 80,000 children discontinue, and health care services would stop for many impoverished people including pregnant women.”

Lynn Kimball, Executive Director of Aging & Long-Term Care of Eastern Washington, highlighted the impacts of an all-cuts budget on aging adults and others who depend on long-term care.

“An all cuts budget would also worsen the shortage of care providers for our older adults and adults with disabilities by cutting $937 million rate increases for thousands of nursing homes, adult family homes, assisted living facilities and 46,000 independent care providers who are already struggling to fill high demands. This is particularly true for the rural areas we serve, where long-term care facilities and caregivers are hard to find.”

Gwen Goodfellow, a caregiver from Longview, spoke about how cuts to Medicaid would impact her ability to care for her mother and her son.

“I care for my mother, who has a heart murmur and persistent lymphedema, and my adult son, who has schizoaffective disorder. They both rely on Medicaid. And because of Medicaid, I can get paid for the hours I spend caring for them. That being said, I work significantly more hours than I get paid for. There are over 63,000 people who rely on in-home Medicaid services in Washington. Cutting people off services means people going without the care they need to live healthy lives,”

Childcare and Early Learning

Maggie Humphreys, Senior Director at MomsRising, highlighted the impacts that cuts to existing child care programs along with delayed implementation of the Fair Start for Kids Act would have on kids, families, providers, and Washington’s economy.

These cuts harm all of us. First: this is time kids and our society won’t get back: Without affordable early learning opportunities, kids will miss out on critical early childhood development, which studies show has significant impacts on the outcomes of kids later in life.

Parents, but especially Moms, will not be able to fully participate in the workforce, financially support their families, and advance their careers. And we know that lack of access to child care costs our state’s economy six billion dollars per year from losses in earnings, productivity for employers, and tax revenue. That’s revenue that will just make this budget gap worse.”

Sandra Sanchez, a child care provider in Pasco, spoke about the impacts budget cuts would have on her and the kids and families she serves.

“100% of the families that I serve rely on subsidies to be able to afford child care. Just last month, I lost a kid because their family no longer qualified for subsidy. And I had to lay off my assistant because of this lost revenue.

I worry about what will happen to these kids and families who can no longer access high quality child care programs like mine. Parents will be forced to quit their jobs or leave their kids in unsafe child care situations.”

Alternatives to Cuts

Treasure Mackley, Executive Director of Invest in Washington Now, emphasized the need for new taxes on the wealthy few to fix the state’s unfair tax, code which is the second most-regressive in the country.

“The fact is that we can’t cut our way out of this budget crisis – and it doesn’t have to be this way. There are plenty of resources here in Washington – all we need to do is ask the wealthy few to do their part just like the rest of us have been doing all along.

Washington’s richest 1% contribute a smaller share of their wealth to our state’s education, housing, and health care than the top 1% do in Idaho, Montana, and even Texas. In Idaho this year they are talking about increasing funding for public schools, providing raises for teachers and bolstering state savings accounts, while our state is considering drastic cuts.

Groups funded by extremely wealthy corporations are misleading people about Washington’s spending over time. As a percentage of our state’s economy we are spending less than we did in the 1990s. If we brought our 2025 budget up to 1995 levels, we would be investing $3.5 billion more, not making deep cuts in what Washingtonians need most.”

More information about how Washington’s budget has declined as a percentage of GDP since the 1990s and taxes the wealthy few far less than other states is available on Washington State Budget and Policy Center’s Website.

About Invest in Washington Now

Invest In Washington Now is a network of over 120,00 Washingtonians from across the state united for a just and equitable tax code. We led efforts to pass the state’s capital gains tax on extraordinary profits and defended it at the ballot last year by defeating Initiative 2109 with over 64% of the vote.

Learn more at investwanow.org.

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