14.4 Million

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) estimates that as many as 14.4 million Americans nationwide could lose coverage under Medicaid should work requirements be instituted. Nearly 2 in 3 adult Medicaid enrollees aged 19-64 already work, and most of the rest would potentially be exempted from the requirement based on having a disability, caring for family members, or attending school.

The House Republican reconciliation legislation advanced by the  Energy & Commerce Committee would impose even more stringent requirements than those in Arkansas, which showed that work requirements did not increase employment over time. The Arkansas implementation applied to adults ages 19-55, but the current Congressional proposal increases the maximum age to 64. The reconciliation bill also requires that people demonstrate compliance with the requirement for at least one month prior to enrollment, but delegates requirements to the states with no guardrails, allowing states to demand compliance for months or even years prior to enrollment.

In Nebraska, up to 39,000 individuals could lose coverage under this proposal, according to modeling by the CBPP, depending on the data matching strategy implemented. For reference, this is greater than the entire population of the City of Kearney.

24%

The cost of groceries has risen nearly 24% since 2020, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, which is also tracking an additional 3% increase so far in 2025. Their analysis outlines even steeper increases in categories like beef, predicted to increase 6.3% in 2025, poultry at 1%, and pork at 1.8%. Further analysis by the Yale Budget Lab indicates that tariffs could cause even steeper increases across a broad swath of food categories if the current administration’s strategy is maintained, including a 5.4% increase in the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables. These increases are likely to hit low-income families hardest, as they typically pay a much larger share of their total household income for food.

Nebraska has seen a 5.8% increase in food costs, with increases up to 8.9% in many rural counties, many of which qualify as food deserts, or areas with limited access to grocery stores or food outlets or healthy, affordable food outlets.

As food costs increase, it becomes even more critical to maintain the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s most effective food security program. This week, Congressman Don Bacon and fellow members of the Agriculture Committee are undergoing markups on a bill to consider $290 billion in cuts to the program formerly known as food stamps.

$15 million

A former Nebraska state agency head is threatening a lawsuit over a $15 million transfer from the state lottery funds directed to the Nebraska Environmental Trust. The funds were reappropriated by the Legislature to close a significant budget shortfall, which Jon Oberg, former head of the Department of Administrative Services, and former employee of the Nebraska Legislative Fiscal Office, claims is illegal.

Oberg, who filed a suit in 2020 to protect the intention of the lottery funds allocated to the Nebraska Environmental Trust, claims that when the state lottery was established, the funds were specifically designated for projects that led to better environmental stewardship, not filling holes in the state budget.

Cash fund sweeps are being used to fill budget gaps for the third time in the last 12 months, a frequent strategy used by the Legislature in the 2024 regular and special sessions, and employed during the budget adopted by the legislature yesterday, as well. The biennium budget contained more than $200 million in cash fund sweeps, diverting funds from their original purpose to meet basic general fund obligations of the state.

$100 million

On Monday, legislators will debate a proposal to increase sales and excise taxes by  $100 million to pay for property tax cuts, just one legislative day after passing a budget balanced by substantial spending cuts and a $147 million draw-down from the rainy day fund. The proposal, AM 1318 to LB 170, would raise revenue by repealing the sales tax exemption for over a dozen currently-exempt services, increasing the cigarette tax, imposing a tax on soft drinks and energy drinks and increasing the excise tax on vaping products. The revenue generated would then be sent directly to the School District Property Tax Relief Cash Fund, passed during 2024’s special session, as a $100 million annual increase in state funding for the program.

In lieu of using the components of AM 1318 to reduce the General Fund spending cuts authorized yesterday or lessen the transfer from the state’s savings account – a vital tool for state fiscal health – legislators are poised to raise revenue after slashing numerous programs and sweeping cash funds. This is a repeat of a strategy widely rejected both in last summer’s special session and in last year’s regular session, as it increases the regressive nature of taxation in an already regressive state.