The NC Justice Center rejects federal safety net cuts fueled by billionaire agenda

RALEIGH (May 6, 2025) – Regardless of race, place, or background, all people deserve fair treatment and access to the resources they need to achieve economic security. Yet, in the coming weeks, Congressional committees — backed by the Trump administration and billionaire interests — will consider budget proposals that make devastating cuts to essential services through the reconciliation process. The NC Justice Center rejects any potential cuts entirely.

By pitting critical safety net programs against each other, these proposals perpetuate a false scarcity narrative, forcing communities into cruel competition for basic needs like health care, food, housing, and education. They defy common sense and will increase the federal deficit by $5.7 trillion — all in service to corporate greed.

These harmful decisions will have real, immediate consequences for people across the country. Medicaid cuts threaten health care access for 36 million people, including children, people with disabilities, and seniors who need long-term care, while cuts to SNAP would drastically increase food insecurity.

The budget proposals also embed racial and xenophobic scapegoating into policy by excluding immigrant children and U.S. citizens with immigrant parents from the Child Tax Credit and restricting lawfully present immigrants from accessing affordable health coverage. Child Tax Credits, in particular, reduce poverty, lessen food and housing insecurity, increase educational attainment, and potentially strengthen the community’s economy as a whole. Keeping both U.S. citizen and lawfully present immigrants from accessing health care hurts us all, burdening hospitals with uninsured patients and raising health care costs for all Americans.

The impacts to North Carolina will be devastating. Over three million North Carolinians rely on Medicaid for health coverage, and cuts could imperil coverage for over 650,000 people newly enrolled in Medicaid expansion. Our state will also suffer heavy economic losses from SNAP and Medicaid cuts, as we are forced to absorb the costs. One estimate shows North Carolina could lose a combined 35,000 jobs and hundreds of millions in GDP as a result. Additionally, proposed cuts to Head Start could eliminate child care, health screenings, and healthy food for 19,500 children and force the closure of up to 500 child care programs across the state.

We believe in a nation that supports people at all stages of their lives: children in need of a hot meal, working parents striving to make ends meet, and seniors needing long-term care. We reject any proposals that cut these programs in service to the wealthiest Americans.