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Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Senate plows forward, but budget reckoning appears nearer
BOSTON (SHNS) – Hours after U.S. House Republicans passed a landmark bill featuring deep tax cuts and spending reductions, Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues signaled his branch will continue debating its fiscal 2026 budget that does not account for any federal funding losses. On a 215-214 vote early Thursday morning, the U.S. House passed a bill that would extend President Donald Trump's tax cuts from his first term, slash SNAP benefits funding by about $267 billion over the next decade, and reduce Medicaid spending by nearly $700 billion, according to the Associated Press. The vote came just before the Massachusetts Senate dove into the third day of annual budget deliberations. Rodrigues told reporters he had yet to scrutinize the action out of Congress when the Senate got going around 10 a.m. 'We have not had a chance to analyze it, deep analyze it,' Rodrigues said when asked how that U.S. House package may affect his thinking about the state's spending plans for the fiscal year that starts July 1. Beacon Hill budget-writers have baked nearly $16 billion in federal dollars into their packages. Rodrigues said that 'as the days go on' his committee staff will take a 'close look' at the sweeping federal policy proposal. Debate on the federal bill is moving to the U.S. Senate. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday his goal is to get a bill to Trump's desk by July 4, and said senators should be mindful of a 'delicate equilibrium.' 'I encourage them to remember that we have a very delicate equilibrium that we reached on here,' Johnson said. 'A lot of work went into this to find exactly the right balance. You all saw how perilous that was over the last week, as it developed. And I encourage our Senate colleagues to think of this as a one-team effort as we have, and to modify this as little as possible, because it will make it easier for us to get it over the line ultimately and finished, and get it to the president's desk by July 4.' The timetable is important, he said, due to the need to deliver tax relief to people 'as soon as possible.' The federal bill, should it come together in the way that Republicans hope, would force Rodrigues and House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz to reevaluate state revenue and spending assumptions. 'I don't know if we'll pause,' Rodrigues said. 'We will deal with the facts once we know the facts. Chair Michlewitz and I are ready to adjust if needed to adjust. But we have to assess that once we know the facts.' On rare occasions, state budget writers have changed revenue assumptions and made other adjustments in conference committee, after the branches have approved their respective budgets. 'Right now there's so much speculation and rumor,' the Westport Democrat said. 'We see what the House did in Congress. The Senate has yet to act — that has to go through their reconciliation process. So we will deal with the facts once we know the facts, and we're prepared to deal with them in a responsible manner.' Increasingly, public officials are putting their analysis on the public record. MassHealth officials said last week that Massachusetts is in jeopardy of losing more than $1 billion annually, with hundreds of thousands of residents at risk of losing coverage. U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan said the GOP reconciliation bill will cause 14 million Americans to lose health insurance coverage, including 270,000 people in Massachusetts. She said it 'slashes $3.7 billion from MassHealth, threatening health care for children, seniors, and working families.' An aide said $3.7 billion represents the amount Massachusetts could lose over 10 years based on a 10% cut to a federal matching rate to states that provide coverage to migrants. 'The way things are playing out between Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill, there aren't great choices for lawmakers here right now because of the uncertainty,' Evan Horowitz, executive director of the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University, told the News Service on Thursday. Horowitz said Massachusetts may dodge Medicaid funding formula changes, but work requirements for able-bodied MassHealth enrollees may create a de facto eligibility change that would trim program enrollment. The biggest factor for lawmakers, he said, is the macroeconomic situation and impacts of tariffs on tax revenue. Negative impacts, he said, could make it likely that Gov. Maura Healey might have to cut next year's budget. Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Doug Howgate said Massachusetts is adjusting to dealing with the uncertainty that comes with the Trump administration and will know more about federal tax and spending policies in the fall, but should stick to its plan to aim for a new budget by July. 'Having a budget on the books for the start of the fiscal year is absolutely the right way to go,' he said. Howgate said that as the overseer of the executive branch, Healey would be in a position to manage spending and perhaps make unilateral adjustments next fiscal year. But the former top Beacon Hill budget aide also said a 'coordinated partnership' between Healey's fiscal team and the House and Senate Ways and Means committees is important since some adjustments may require the passage of legislation. The debate on the U.S. House bill showed just how differently it is viewed by Republicans and Democrats. 'The left doesn't like this bill. That tells you it's a good bill,' Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan said. 'This bill is about fundamental conservative principles, regular things that the American people appreciate. This bill cuts taxes. This bill requires work for able-bodied adults in our welfare system. This bill gives school choice to parents. This bill secures the border. We're the party that believes in letting moms and dads keep more of their money to spend on their goals and their dreams.' Congressman Richard Neal of Springfield warned the bill would require $4 trillion in borrowing for tax cuts that will 'overwhelmingly go to people at the very top, including the billionaire class.' 'The American people don't buy this because they know where these tax cuts are going and intended to help people at the top, when it is really the people at the bottom and then the middle who need help,' Neal said in floor remarks delivered at around 5:10 a.m. 'So hospitals are going to close, children are going to go hungry. Health care is going to be denied, but the billionaire class is going to pick up a considerable number of dollars. And again, the number that I cited earlier, if you make a million dollars, you pick up 90,000 additional dollars. It's almost 10%. And if you make under $50,000, Mr. Speaker, you're getting a buck a day? That's what this tax package means?' State senators on Tuesday and Wednesday processed most of the 1,058 annual budget amendments, adding about $74 million to the $61.32 billion bottom line. The Senate is likely to finalize its budget bill Thursday. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
22-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
In potential sea change, Mass. Senate votes to give local officials, not Legislature, power to set liquor license caps
Senate leaders questioned why the Legislature remains involved in approving most liquor licenses, which state Senator Michael Rodrigues, the chamber's budget chair, likened to a 'routine rubber stamping.' Advertisement 'I don't even remember us saying 'no,'' said Rodrigues, a Westport Democrat. 'To eliminate that level of bureaucracy, I think is helpful.' State Senator Jacob Oliveira, a Ludlow Democrat who sponsored the proposal to hand that power to municipalities, said the proposal would allow cities and towns to avoid the 'lag time' they often face on Beacon Hill. The Democrat-led Legislature routinely Advertisement 'We all know that the legislative process can be cumbersome,' Oliveira told reporters. 'We want to make sure that we empower our 351 cities and towns, as well as provide some flexibility to our businesses.' The proposal, however, faced immediate resistance in the House, where Democratic leaders say they see no reason to change a model giving lawmakers a say in policy that can affect their neighborhoods. 'In our community, liquor licenses can be great or they can be problematic, and for me to give my community's voice away would be political recklessness on my behalf,' said House Majority Leader Michael Moran, a Brighton Democrat who last year negotiated a bill 'My residents, the people that I represent, deserve a voice in that process,' he said Thursday, 'and I have no intention of giving up their voice.' The Senate embraced the measure just days after it became a touchpoint in simmering tension between House and Senate Democrats. A House chair last week Advertisement Still, the move drew a 'I'm glad to see that my voice is being heard now' on this bill, Oliveira told reporters Wednesday. Under the proposal, local officials would have to create a plan — and have it approved by the mayor and city council or select board — laying out a process for granting licenses. Oliveira said the state would retain some role in the liquor license process through the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission. The agency would still have to approve new retail license applications after they're cleared at the local level, a responsibility the ABCC currently has. The current liquor licensing approval process has roots in the post-Prohibition 1930s when it was built largely to restrict the flow of alcohol after the 21st Amendment made booze legal again. The Yankees who ran the state Legislature did not trust the Irish who ruled the city, That squeeze has been felt particularly in Boston, where even an effort in 2014 to expand the number of licenses did not remake the system as many hoped, instead applying a first-come, first-serve approach that benefited veteran operators. The Legislature last year Advertisement That new law was billed as potential boon particularly for communities of color and small business owners, who have not always had the luxury of affording a liquor license. A full unrestricted license can sell on the secondary market Actually shifting the power over license caps, however, has been a Governor Maura Healey said last year that she would after Moran, the House majority leader, said he had concerns about giving too much power over liquor licenses to the mayor of a city, particularly one as large as Boston. 'The current mayor [Michelle Wu] lives in Roslindale. The previous mayor [Martin J. Walsh] lived in Dorchester, and the previous mayor to that [Tom Menino] lived in Hyde Park,' Moran said. 'None of them wake up every morning and go to bed every night in my neighborhood.' Other House leaders said they've yet to review the Senate proposal, but questioned that towns and cities are facing roadblocks in the State House in getting extra licenses approved. 'We don't have issues in the city of Lawrence,' said state Representative Frank Moran, the chamber's second assistant majority leader. (He is not related to the House majority leader.) Advertisement Healey's office said last year that despite shelving the idea of local control in her own municipal-focused legislation, she still supported the concept but needed more time to get the 'language right.' She didn't include the measure in a similar package of municipal reforms Dave Koffman, legislative director for the Massachusetts Municipal Association, said town and cities back the Senate measure as a way to 'right-size' a process on liquor license proposals that often aren't controversial. 'Local communities know what their local downtowns need best,' he said. Matt Stout can be reached at
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mass. budget debate points to a subtle but seismic shift on Beacon Hill
People talk a lot about inflection points — and it's always in the past tense. You rarely recognize them as they're happening. But if you were paying attention to Beacon Hill this week, you saw one in real-time and in the most unexpected and resolutely anodyne of places: The start of the Massachusetts Senate's annual budget debate. Ready? Here it is, courtesy of Senate Committee on Ways and Means Chairperson Michael Rodrigues, D-1st Bristol/Plymouth. 'Over the course of the last few months, we have witnessed firsthand how our federal partners have unleashed unprecedented amounts of uncertainty, unpredictability and volatility,' the South Coast lawmaker said Monday as the majority-Democrat chamber started debate on a $61.3 billion spending plan for the new fiscal year that starts July 1. 'In past turbulent times, the question we asked ourselves was, 'How much help can we expect from our friends in D.C.?' Yet today, we find ourselves in the unique position of asking, 'How much is D.C. going to hurt us today?'' Rodriques mused, according to State House News Service. The sentiment isn't a new one. Elected and community leaders across the Bay State have been sounding the alarm for months about the impact that diminished federal funding will have on the state's bottom line. And a word about process: The Senate is expected to spend most of the week wading through more than 1,000 amendments to the budget proposal. Senators have been advised of a 'potential' formal session on Thursday as well, the wire service reported As a refresher, Massachusetts gets nearly $23 billion in funding from Washington every year, with around $16 billion of it pumped into the state's operating budget, data show. But spending cuts across the federal government that already have taken place, and those being eyed by Republicans on Capitol Hill — including Medicaid and hunger assistance — are expected to throw states' economies into disarray. And that doesn't even count the hit that nonprofits and colleges and universities, all of them economic players, are taking this year. Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, who will have a big say in the final shape of the spending plan that hits her desk, already has announced an executive branch hiring freeze because of the shaky funding picture. Read More: These key public services won't be hit by the state's hiring freeze, Mass. Gov. Healey says One more big tell about the changed political and economic topography? While there's not exactly emphatic Republican agreement about the Democrats' spending priorities, there's a clear-eyed recognition that the state is facing seismic forces this year that it has not seen before. Here's Senate Minority Leader Bruce E. Tarr, R-1st Essex/Middlesex: 'I dare say that while every budget is important and while every budget is a challenge, the consequences of our decisions with this budget are perhaps more intense than some of the recent budgets that we've dealt with,' Tarr said Monday during the customary GOP response. The Gloucester lawmaker noted that he and his colleagues had faced uncertain times before, notably during the COVID-19 pandemic, State House News Service reported. But, he allowed, 'we always found a way to move forward to address the uncertainty and those difficult economic times.' That makes it 'imperative that we do so once again,' and while Rodriques pointed to one 'element of uncertainty, there is another element. And that other element deals with the issue of what could be an economic downturn that could have significant consequences for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.' Tarr isn't the only one thinking that way. Jim Rooney, the president and CEO of the influential Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, had the same issues on his mind recently. Massachusetts already was struggling with economic competitiveness and job creation issues before Trump returned to office in January, Rooney told WBZ-TV's 'Keller @Large' program last weekend. 'Now you layer on job-impacting types of federal policies like tariffs, like research funding, like immigration and that was going to be tough anyway,' Rooney said. 'And ... if you look at where our jobs are, [with] high concentrations in life sciences and medicine ... this is right in the gut of the Massachusetts economy,' he continued. Those concerns are further underlined by new research by Mark Williams, a master lecturer in finance at Boston University, concluding that the Republican White House's policies could result in billions of dollars in lost revenue and tens of thousands of job losses as early as next year. That's because, compared to other states, the Bay State's economy 'disproportionately' depends on such sectors as life sciences, higher education, trade and tourism, Williams said. All of those already have been — or will be hit — by Trump's economic policies. Which brings us back to Rodriques and the admittedly limited palette that he and his fellow lawmakers, along with Healey, have to work with this budget season. The Senate's top budget-writer has ruled out dipping into the state's Rainy Day Fund to backfill any lost federal money. Healey has repeatedly said the state doesn't have the cash to do it on its own. And over in the House, which passed its $61.4 billion budget proposal earlier this month, House Committee on Ways and Means Chairperson Aaron Michlewitz, D-3rd Suffolk, has been similarly circumspect. The fiscal picture could be clarified as the June 30 deadline to approve a new spending plan approaches — and as the two chambers reconcile the differences between the $62 billion budget plan backed by Healey and their respective proposals. Spending cuts appear to be decidedly off the table. Right now, the only certain thing is the budget deadline, and lawmakers routinely blow through that. So it's good to know we can count on at least one thing. From Baker to Ballot: Republican Mike Kennealy makes his pitch for governor | Bay State Briefing Rümeysa Öztürk chose grace over bitterness. What we can learn | John L. Micek 'What About Us?': Native leaders say time's up on broken promises | John L. Micek Read the original article on MassLive.
Boston Globe
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
As emergency shelter population dips, Mass. Governor Healey directs all hotel shelters to close ‘ahead of schedule'
Starting in 2022, mounting numbers of migrant families arriving in Massachusetts forced the state Since Healey took office in January 2023, officials drastically expanded its emergency shelter system to house thousands of homeless and migrant families Advertisement In August 2023, Healey declared the shelter system to be in a According to recent tallies, the total number of families in shelter The shelter population decline is partially a response to the slew of requirements Healey's administration implemented on the system, including rules that require homeless families prove lawful immigration status, show they have lived in the state for at least six months, and undergo Advertisement The changes have dramatically reshaped the state's unique and Senate budget chief Michael Rodrigues, who led the charge to fund the shelter system while imposing Healey-recommended restrictions, applauded the administration Monday. 'Kudos to the administration,' the Westport Democrat said. 'We were expecting to stop using hotels for shelter sometime by the end of the calendar year, not by the end of summer. That's good' But there is still a need for shelter, data shows. According to numbers released by the state housing office Monday, 570 families applied for shelter in the last two weeks; 97 of those families were placed in the system. The average time a family spends in shelter remains long, at more than a year. Advocates say that while the numbers in shelters have decreased, the needs of homeless families still 'remain high' amid the high costs of stable housing. 'We certainly haven't tackled the causes of homelessness,' said Kelly Turley, associate director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless. 'As the state takes down infrastructure, we want to make sure that we're in a position to add units as they're needed, and hopefully as we undo some of the draconian restrictions . . . that are keeping many children and parents in places not meant for human habitation.' Advertisement Samantha J. Gross can be reached at
Boston Globe
06-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
In Beacon Hill budget debate, how much to give MBTA emerges as sticking point
The dueling proposals also land at a high-stakes time for the transit agency. Officials said the MBTA is burning through its reserve funds, and could face a The circumstances have prompted state lawmakers to commit substantial — in some cases, record — amounts of new money. They just Advertisement 'We believe this is enough money. It's very, very significant investments in the MBTA,' state Senator Michael Rodrigues, the chamber's budget chief, said Tuesday of the Senate's budget proposal. In all, the Senate is proposing to dedicate at least $820 million to the T's operating budget. That includes a $500 million infusion in the primary budget proposal, which it will add to and debate later this month, plus another $320 million in a separate bill backed by a Advertisement Rodrigues, a Westport Democrat whose district isn't serviced by the T's core subway system, said the Senate also wants to ensure there is 'regional equity' in how it spreads tax dollars. The chamber's budget proposal would commit $214 million to the state's other regional transit agencies, $10 million more than the House. 'We want to ensure that they have resources to provide transportation services for [those residents] also,' Rodrigues said. The funding for the T, however, would fall far short of what passed the House, where its speaker, Quincy's Ron Mariano, and budget chief, the North End's Aaron Michlewitz, directly represent those who use the MBTA's subway system every day. The House passed legislation in recent weeks dedicating at least $1.35 billion that could go toward operating costs at the T. That includes $637 million in its Taken together, the chambers are offering visions for the T that are $530 million apart. There's no shortage of other challenges. The Senate's proposed bottom line hews closely to that of the House, hiking spending 6.3 percent over the budget the Legislature passed last year and funneling billions of more dollars into the state's Medicaid program. Advertisement Rodrigues said the Senate is proposing to dedicate $120 million to fund the Like the House, Rodrigues said the Senate's initial version isn't building automatic contingencies into its plan amid the uncertainty in federal help. President Trump's administration has already withheld or cut 'If they make significant reductions in Medicaid reimbursements, all bets are off,' said Rodrigues, who conceded that this year's budget cycle is 'probably the most challenging one' he's handled in the six years as the chamber's ways and means chair. 'The drama is going to be in and around the fiscal [debate], in the numbers.' Senate President Karen E. Spilka said that challenge is rooted directly in the uncertainty about how much financial pain a Republican-run Washington could inflict on traditionally blue Massachusetts. 'The federal government might decide to punish this state financially for being who we are,' the Ashland Democrat said. 'That, to me, is among the worst punishments possible.' This is a developing story and will be updated. Matt Stout can be reached at
