11 million

Nearly 11 million people live in households that would be at risk of losing at least some food assistance under a proposal under consideration in Congress, according to analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). Introduced by Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), it imposes harsher work requirements for beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s most effective food security program. SNAP has had work requirements for nearly 30 years, limiting benefits to just 3 months in a 3-year period for an adult aged 18-54 with no children at home unless they can prove compliance with a 20-hour-per-week work requirement or present evidence of a disability. States have had the ability to waive this requirement to respond to local labor market conditions, including job shortages, which all 50 states have utilized at some point since work requirements were instated. The proposal by Rep. Johnson would effectively eliminate this option for all but 10 counties in the nation whose unemployment rates exceed 10%. Additionally, it would remove the ability to approve a waiver for tribal areas with high unemployment, but that are not considered counties or county-equivalents.

Analysis by the CBPP indicates that in Nebraska, 28,000 Nebraskans would experience a reduction in their benefits, including 25,000 adults in households with young children. Of them, 13,000 adults would be at risk of losing their SNAP benefits entirely, with 10,000 of them living in households with young children.

$1.4 Million

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which provides hundreds of millions of dollars each year to arts advocacy organizations across the country, rescinded grants to a variety of arts organizations last week after President Donald Trump proposed eliminating the NEA entirely. This when the arts and cultural sector grew at more than twice the rate of the total economy between 2022 and 2023, according to data from the Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (ACPSA), a product of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The report outlines a $1.2 trillion contribution to the US economy in 2023, or 4.2% of the nation’s GDP. This outpaces sectors like agriculture, mining, and transportation in contribution to the country’s economy. The arts and cultural industry provided employment for 5.4 million workers in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available. In Nebraska, the ACPSA indicates that the arts contributed $4.1 billion to the state’s economy, providing 34,454 jobs and $2.2 billion in arts worker compensation in 2023.

Nebraska received nearly $1.5 million in investments from the NEA in 2024, the majority of which was granted to the Nebraska Arts Council, which re-grants the funds to promote the arts across the state, including in K-12 public schools. Direct grantees from the NEA included the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra and the Omaha Conservatory of Music, who were among dozens of organizations given short notice that granted NEA funds would not be forthcoming, with little explanation other than stating they no longer align with the priorities of the administration.

$46 Million

Congressional Republicans are considering the elimination of Medicaid provider taxes, a common practice many states, including Nebraska, use to help finance their share of Medicaid expenditures. The strategy allows states to fund increases to Medicaid payment rates without drawing down additional state general funds because the increased payment rates are supported by provider tax revenue and federal matching funds. Nebraska has had at least one provider tax since 2004 and currently levies provider taxes on hospitals, intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities and nursing homes.  According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), in federal fiscal year 2023, provider taxes helped cover about $46 million in Medicaid expenditures in the state. The legislature made moves to expand that number and draw down additional federal funds via LB 527, which was passed and signed into law by Governor Jim Pillen on April 7. The bill was widely supported by Nebraska’s medical community at its February hearing.

States are permitted to have provider taxes as long as they don’t exceed a certain percentage, which is meant to be applied across all category providers. There are 19 different types of care providers that can be taxed. If a Congressional proposal to eliminate them were to be successful, it would shift significant amounts of the Medicaid cost to the states, who would likely be forced to cut Medicaid coverage for working-age adults, reduce payments to hospitals or nursing homes, raise taxes, or find other places in the budget to absorb the reductions.

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