Urging Congress to Protect Safety Net Programs from Reconciliation Cuts
Adopted at the 93rd Annual Meeting in 2025
WHEREAS, while mayor's understand and appreciate the need for fiscal discipline, the proposed cuts in the OBBB's of at least $715 billion over 10 years from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as well as the $300 billion in cuts over 10 years to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/CalFresh) would have dire consequences for cities and their residents across the nation; and
WHEREAS, in the face of this unprecedented loss of federal funding, state governments will need to backfill billions of dollars to maintain services, potentially jeopardizing these programs, limiting their impact, and likely passing new, untenable costs along to local governments; and
WHEREAS, while the full state-by-state impact of OBBB's proposed Medicaid and ACA cuts is unknown, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that an estimated 10.3 million individuals nationwide would lose Medicaid or Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage by 2034, with 7.6 million going uninsured altogether; and
WHEREAS, SNAP is a strong and effective program in the fight against hunger and poverty, and the proposed cuts to SNAP would upend a longstanding intergovernmental partnership by shifting a significant portion of the program's costs to state and local governments; and
WHEREAS, these new costs would only compound OBBB's proposal to reduce the federal match for SNAP administration from 50 to 25 percent, which will place millions of dollars in increased costs on state and local governments; and
WHEREAS, the OBBB's combined proposed cuts to Medicaid and SNAP would have significant ripple effects, leading to increased uncompensated healthcare costs, the risk of hospital closures and attendant unemployment of health care providers, more acute care episodes for uninsured individuals, increased hunger, and less business for our famers and grocers.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors urges Congress to reject the cuts to vital programs like Medicaid and SNAP in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and to work with local government leaders to craft a better solution that does not unnecessarily harm the residents and economies of our nation's cities.