Trump policy bill could bring $160 million hit to state budget
Changes outlined in President Donald Trump's sweeping domestic policy bill impacting Medicaid expansion, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and taxes could be a $160 million hit to Montana's state budget, according to an estimate this week from the Legislative Fiscal Division.
Legislative Finance Committee members met this week and, among numerous topics, heard a report from the Legislative Fiscal Division on impacts of federal legislation. A couple of Democrats described the potential reductions as 'staggering' and 'frightening.'
Trump's tax cuts would reduce revenue from the taxable income of Montana by $122 million, said Josh Poulette, with the state's fiscal division.
The changes could mean 'either less general fund coming in or more general fund that needs to go out,' Poulette said during the finance committee meeting.
Additionally, if the federal bill was signed into law in its current form, the state would be on the hook for more than $26 million in SNAP benefits if it was to keep the program running as it is now.
Legislators heard the report Tuesday, and at the meeting, the committee discussed potential dates for a special session of the Legislature to address the reductions should one be needed.
Trump's bill could be signed into law soon. While speaking with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Thursday, U.S. Senator Steve Daines said lawmakers in the Senate are trying to get it on the president's desk by July 4.
Daines also said the Congressional Budget Office is wrong in its forecast of revenue projections and that the bill will 'make some of the largest cuts, true spending cuts, to this runaway spending from the federal government in American history.'
The biggest direct hit to the state's budget would be the reduction in taxable income. It means the state would have more than $120 million less in its general fund because the law changes deductions.
SNAP would become more expensive because the state would be required to provide a match. The federal government currently pays for the cost of all SNAP benefits.
'This would be tied to the payment error rate of the state. So essentially, the feds do a backward looking error rate calculation for SNAP, and they've got historical data on that,' Poulette said during the meeting. 'Montana's error rate has hovered in that 78% range over the years. That would equate to Montana having a 15% match requirement that would come out to a cost of about $26 million additional state funds per year.'
Medicaid expansion, meanwhile, could see 27,000 people dropped. Medicaid covers about 13% of all workers in the state. The Montana Legislature this session approved an extension removing the Medicaid expansion sunset date.
One of the big changes the federal bill makes is increased work requirements to be eligible for benefits. Montana already has this law on the books, but it's never been enforced, and the Biden Administration did not approve the state's request to add the stipulation.
Most people on Medicaid expansion already work, and in Montana, the number of people who are enrolled in the program and work is 72%. Another 7% are caretaking, 2% are retired and 10% are acutely ill or disabled and have serious barriers to employment.
Poulette also said there is 'essentially a ban' on new taxes on medical providers. Those taxes are often pumped into the Medicaid program, he added.
Rep. Connie Keogh, a Missoula Democrat and a member of the committee, called the impact to the budget 'frightening' during Tuesday's meeting, while Rep. Paul Tuss, D-Havre, said during the meeting the numbers were 'staggering.'
Gov. Greg Gianforte's office did not respond to a request for comment. However in a recent 'Leave Us Alone' podcast episode, the Republican governor did speak on the topic.
'If you believe in limited government, the best way to produce that is to limit the amount of money government collects,' Gianforte said. 'Let's leave it in the people's pockets.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Snap Stock Plunged After Earnings. Buy the Dip?
Key Points Sponsored Snaps are showing strong engagement and conversion gains. Subscription revenue from Snapchat+ is growing quickly from a small base. Heavy stock-based compensation and dilution keep valuation concerns high. 10 stocks we like better than Snap › Snap (NYSE: SNAP), the parent company of social media platform Snapchat, took a hard hit following its second‑quarter earnings release earlier this month. Shares tumbled, driven by worries about slowing growth, execution missteps, and a worsening net loss. But dig deeper, and the underlying narrative is more nuanced; there were a lot of positives in the report, too. Revenue and users continue to grow at a robust rate, free cash flow has turned positive year over year, and new ad formats, such as sponsored Snaps, are demonstrating real engagement traction. Given the mix of good and bad in its underlying business and the stock's recent sell-off, it makes sense to check whether the shares have been pushed into oversold territory. Let's look at what changed in the business and what it might mean for investors today. Momentum in key areas Snap reported second-quarter revenue of $1.345 billion, marking a 9% gain from a year earlier. Further, the lifeblood of the company -- user activity -- performed exceptionally well. Daily active users (DAUs) rose 9% to 469 million, while monthly active users (MAUs) climbed 7% to 932 million. Operating cash flow reached $88 million, and free cash flow came in positive at $24 million, a notable reversal from the previous year, when the company burned cash. Still, Snap posted a net loss of $263 million (wider than a net loss of $249 million in the year-ago quarter), and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) slid lower on a year-over-year basis to $41 million, underscoring that profitability remains out of reach. An ad platform glitch -- where auction settings pushed some campaigns to clear at unusually low prices -- weighed on performance early in the quarter. Snap reversed the change mid-period, and management said that advertiser activity is of my favorite data points to support the bull case: On the diversification front, "other revenue" -- primarily from subscriptions like Snapchat+ -- grew 64% year over year, and Snapchat+ subscribers rose roughly 42%, nearing 16 million. One of the quarter's most promising developments was sponsored Snaps -- video ads delivered directly into users' inboxes. Snap co-founder Evan Spiegel said in the company's second-quarter earnings call that after a user opens a sponsored Snap from their chat feed, they "exhibit significantly higher engagement per full-screen ad view, driving a 2x increase in conversion, a 5x increase in click-to-convert ratios and a 2x increase in website dwell times compared to other inventories. That signals a powerful new lever for monetizing deeply engaged the company's fast-growing subscription business, advertising revenue growth trends after the glitch was addressed, and momentum in sponsored Snaps, management guided for continued top-line growth in Q3. Valuation remains a concern Despite a handful of promising trends at Snap, valuation remains troubling. The company has long leaned on equity dilution and stock-based compensation to fund growth. While Q2 did include a $243 million share repurchase (30 million shares), its stock-based compensation burden remains high. Full-year stock-based comp is still pegged north of $1.1 billion, even after recent downward revisions. Keep in mind that we're talking about a company with only a $12 billion market cap. Dilution continues to erode per-share value, even as Snap shows cash generation. So while the sell-off may feel overdone, the stock hasn't quite yet fallen low enough to make it a bargain. Of course, I could be wrong. A potential bull case lies not in near-term profits but in optionality -- whether Snap can scale newer revenue streams, stabilize pricing, and get to a point where it doesn't need to regularly materially dilute shareholders. Overall, Snap trades at a valuation that remains questionable given its history of dilution and heavy reliance on noncash compensation. But the emergence of fast-growing subscription revenue, sponsored Snaps, better cash flow, and an engaged user base make it extremely interesting -- worthy of a high spot on any investor's watchlist. Should you buy stock in Snap right now? Before you buy stock in Snap, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Snap wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $668,155!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,106,071!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,070% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 184% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 13, 2025 Daniel Sparks and his clients have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Snap Stock Plunged After Earnings. Buy the Dip? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
USA Today
29 minutes ago
- USA Today
Meeting locations, a statue for Putin: Details of Alaska summit were left on hotel printer
Government documents with details about meeting schedules and seating charts − as well as an extravagant menu and reminder to pronounce President Vladimir Putin's name "POO-tihn," were accidentally left in a hotel printer in Alaska amid President Donald Trump's meeting with the Russian leader. The documents with State Department markings, reported by NPR, were discovered in the printer in an Anchorage hotel around 9 a.m., hours before Trump's summit with Putin at a nearby military base. Hotel guests shared the pages with NPR. The documents laid out the precise locations and meeting times of the summit at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, as well as phone numbers of government employees and the menu for a planned three course lunch that did not occur, including which chairs the presidents would use. The documents appear to have been produced by federal government staff and were left behind. Some of the information, including plans for a lunch and a news conference, was made public before the meeting took place. But much of it was the type of information the White House wouldn't usually share until after an event, such as whether a gift was exchanged. Some of the details verged into sensitive information that wouldn't typically be made public at all, such as what times Trump would be in what room. Security incidents Planned movements of the president and meetings with world leaders, such as which seat they will take during a meeting, are often kept secret until they take place for security reasons. When such security breaches have happened before they are normally considered international incidents and are investigated. In 2023, a police document detailing President Joe Biden's movements, including which streets would be closed and other security measures, were found on a Belfast street while the president was in Ireland. The White House did not immediately return a USA TODAY request for comment Aug. 17. But Deputy White House Press Secretary Anna Kelly told NPR Aug. 16 that the papers were a "multi-page lunch menu" and suggested leaving the information on a public printer was not a security breach. Kelly also dismissed the article in a statement to NewsNation. 'It's hilarious that NPR is publishing a multi-page lunch menu and calling it a 'security breach,'' Kelly said. 'This type of self-proclaimed 'investigative journalism' is why no one takes them seriously and they are no longer taxpayer-funded thanks to President Trump.' Lunch menu Two of the pages seen by NPR included a menu for the canceled lunch, which was to include filet mignon with brandy peppercorn sauce and halibut olympia, a green salad and crème brûlée. The other pages included which seats Trump, Putin and their aides would take during the lunch and which rooms they would be in at what time. The remaining pages include contact information for staff members as well as the names of the 13 U.S. and Russian state leaders who attended, including phonetic pronounciation of the Russian names. Among the details was a gift from Trump to Putin, an "American Bald Eagle Desk Statue." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders of several European countries are scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House August 18.
Los Angeles Times
29 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
European leaders to join Ukraine's Zelensky for meeting with Trump
KYIV, Ukraine — European and NATO leaders announced Sunday they will join President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington for talks with President Trump on ending Russia's war in Ukraine, with the possibility of U.S. security guarantees now on the negotiating table. European leaders, including heavyweights France, Britain and Germany, are rallying around the Ukrainian leader after his exclusion from Trump's summit on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their pledge to be at Zelensky's side at the White House on Monday is an apparent effort to ensure the meeting goes better than the Ukrainian leader's last one in February, when Trump berated him in a heated Oval Office encounter. 'The Europeans are very afraid of the Oval Office scene being repeated, and so they want to support Mr. Zelensky to the hilt,' said retired French Gen. Dominique Trinquand, a former head of France's military mission at the United Nations. 'It's a power struggle and a position of strength that might work with Trump,' he said. Special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Putin agreed at the meeting in Alaska with Trump to allow the U.S. and European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO's collective defense mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3½-year war. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference in Brussels with Zelensky, said, 'We welcome President Trump's willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine. And the 'coalition of the willing' — including the European Union -- is ready to do its share.' Von der Leyen was joined Sunday by French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Finnish President Alexander Stubb in saying they will take part in Monday's talks at the White House, as will the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Mark Rutte. The European leaders' demonstration of support could help ease concerns in Kyiv and other European capitals that Ukraine risks being railroaded into a peace deal that Trump says he wants to broker with Russia. Neil Melvin, director of international security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said European leaders are trying to 'shape this fast-evolving agenda.' After the Alaska summit, the idea of a ceasefire appears all but abandoned, with the narrative shifting toward Putin's agenda of ensuring Ukraine does not join NATO or even the EU. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on NBC's 'Meet the Press' on Sunday that a possible ceasefire is 'not off the table' but that the best way to end the war would be through a 'full peace deal.' Putin has implied that he sees Europe as a hindrance to negotiations. He has also resisted meeting Zelensky in person, saying that such a meeting can only take place once the groundwork for a peace deal has been laid. Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Trump, the Russian leader raised the idea that Kyiv and other European capitals could 'create obstacles' to derail potential progress with 'behind-the-scenes intrigue.' For now, the Zelensky meeting offers the Europeans the 'only way' to get into the discussions about the future of Ukraine and European security, Melvin said. But the sheer number of European leaders potentially in attendance means the group will have to be 'mindful' not to give 'contradictory' messages, he said. 'The risk is they look heavy-handed and are ganging up on Trump,' he added. 'Trump won't want to be put in a corner.' Although details remain hazy on what Article 5-like security guarantees from the U.S. and Europe would entail for Ukraine, it could mirror NATO membership terms, in which an attack on one member of the alliance is seen as an attack on all. In remarks made on CNN's 'State of the Union,' Witkoff said Friday's meeting with Trump was the first time Putin has been had heard to agree to such an arrangement. Zelensky continues to stress the importance of both U.S. and European involvement in any negotiations. 'A security guarantee is a strong army. Only Ukraine can provide that. Only Europe can finance this army, and weapons for this army can be provided by our domestic production and European production. But there are certain things that are in short supply and are only available in the United States,' he said at the news conference Sunday alongside Von der Leyen. Zelensky also countered Trump's assertion — which aligned with Putin's preference — that the two sides should negotiate a complete end to the war rather than first securing a ceasefire. Zelensky said a ceasefire would provide breathing room to review Putin's demands. 'It's impossible to do this under the pressure of weapons,' he said. 'Putin does not want to stop the killing, but he must do it.' Kullab and Leicester write for the Associated Press and reported from Kyiv and Le Pecq, France, respectively. AP writers Pan Pylas in London and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.
