06/20/2025
Letter sent to Sen. John Curtis regarding the "Budget Reconciliation Bill"
June 12,2025
Dear Senator Curtis:
We are writing on behalf of the Central Utah Federation of Labor and its members in central Utah. We have a number of significant concerns regarding the “big, beautiful” reconciliation bill which the House has passed and is now under consideration in the Senate. We ask you to read and consider our thoughts.
The bill expects, as details and implications in the policy, that Americans will sacrifice health care, food, pensions, income, and their jobs and agree with the wealthiest corporations and individuals’ receipt of the largest share of tax benefits outlined in the legislation. In order to finance these tax breaks, the bill makes significant changes to crucial programs, such as Medicaid and SNAP, that will hamper safety, health, and economic stability. We know and value how these programs create jobs in our communities, support economic growth and opportunity, and protect vulnerable populations in our state – including children, veterans, and the elderly. Despite policymakers’ ongoing descriptions of efforts to reign in government spending, this legislation dramatically increases the deficit by several trillion dollars at working people’s expense.
At a time when many Americans, like those in our central Utah neighborhoods, are already struggling with rising costs, our working families cannot afford to lose these important protections and lifelines to services. Below, we note provisions that prompt significant concern from our membership:
More Costly Health Care For All
The legislation cuts more than $1 trillion in health care funding, including more than $716 billion from Medicaid and $385 billion in Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits expiring. These cuts threaten the 337,000 Utahns relying on this program, and disproportionately impacts dependent children in the program. Current estimates indicate that 180,270 people in Utah will lose coverage and more than 6,900 jobs will be lost here as a result of these cuts to Medicaid and the ACA, with as many as 16 million people nationally losing their healthcare.
One of the central pillars of this proposal is the addition of red tape work requirements to this program. Medicaid is already a proven means to keep people in the workforce. Two-thirds of the enrollees subject to this policy are working now, and health coverage helps them stay employed. Experience shows that instituting burdensome reporting requirements simply prevents eligible people from accessing the program.
We are also highly concerned about the potential impacts to nurses and care providers, especially those serving rural and underserved areas. Our members are highly aware of the harm that will result from how this bill strips away important job protections for nursing home workers and minimum staffing standards for facilities participating in Medicaid – leading to less care and less safe working conditions. The budget proposal will also lead to closures of hospitals and nursing homes which will hit underserved and rural communities the hardest. Senator, with your familiarity of rural Utah, you must see that waiting longer or driving farther during a medical emergency could be the difference between life or death for Utahns affected by closures of medical facilities. Nearly 500,000 health professionals will lose their jobs, as providers downsize or close. Finally, cuts to coverage will cause providers to increase prices to compensate for lost revenue, leading to higher costs and premiums for everyone that uses health care.
Overall, this bill makes health care less affordable, less accessible, and is the opposite of what working people need at this time. Page 1
