The newest shutdown’s penalties are hitting California exhausting.
When Washington shuts down, California has to step up.
The newest shutdown could also be unfolding 1000’s of miles away in Washington DC, however its penalties hit us exhausting right here in California.
A mother in Fresno waits for her SNAP advantages. A park ranger in Yosemite misses a paycheck. A veteran in Los Angeles can’t attain the VA. And numerous households all through the state fear they gained’t be capable to go to their physician or pay for his or her drugs as a result of Medicaid continues to be on the chopping block.
This isn’t an summary price range battle. It’s a disaster that hits residence—and as soon as once more, California is being pressured to choose up the items of Washington’s dysfunction. We’ve seen this story earlier than: political brinkmanship in Washington and gridlock in Congress, leaving working households to bear the price. However this shutdown isn’t simply one other episode of bureaucratic dysfunction. It’s a transparent and vivid warning of what’s to come back.
President Trump and his allies have made it clear. They intend to make use of California for instance of what occurs when a state refuses to fall according to their agenda. We’ve seen the assaults on our local weather insurance policies, threats to healthcare and schooling funding, and the hazard that follows: troops being forcibly deployed on the streets of main cities like Los Angeles and Portland. Washington’s chaos is being weaponized to punish Californians merely for arguing with Trump’s twisted agenda.
For too lengthy, California has despatched billions of our taxpayer {dollars} extra to Washington than we get again. In simply the previous few years, Californians have contributed tens of billions greater than we acquired—$55 billion in 2021, $101 billion in 2022, and $17 billion in 2023. Our taxpayers fund applications that maintain all the nation, however when Washington stalls, we’re left holding the invoice—and bearing the hurt.
Present Challenge
We will’t afford to manipulate like Washington may come save us. We should plan prefer it gained’t. These subsequent three years underneath a Trump administration will check California’s power and our battle like by no means earlier than. California have to be prepared—able to defend our folks, shield our progress, and supply the direct companies Washington tries to tear away.
Which means constructing a California security internet sturdy sufficient to face up to federal neglect—making certain that important applications, healthcare protection, and financial stability don’t rely upon who’s within the White Home.
Within the months forward, it’s going to be extra necessary than ever to assist income options that make that security internet attainable—options that ask the wealthiest and largest firms to pay their fair proportion, shut outdated loopholes, and reinvest again within the folks.
The California Legislative Progressive Caucus is making it clear that the firms and billionaires who’re getting richer off of President Trump’s unprecedented tax cuts is not going to get that subservience right here in California. Our state is residence to extra billionaires and international corporations than anyplace else in America. The progressive caucus can be on the forefront of taxing the wealthy to reinvest within the folks. California should steadiness our personal price range whereas additionally balancing the duty to substitute the companies the federal authorities is abandoning.
That is about greater than coverage, the identical manner the federal government shutdown is about extra than simply the price range. It’s about values. It’s about standing up for the concept authorities ought to work for the folks—not towards them. That our tax {dollars} ought to assist households, not fund political retribution. And that in California, we maintain one another, it doesn’t matter what occurs in Washington.
For many years, California has led the place the federal authorities has failed—on local weather, on healthcare, on defending employees and immigrants. Our progress hasn’t been and won’t be partisan. It’s sensible, revolutionary, and all the time for the betterment of the folks. Within the years forward, the identical braveness and creativity can be important to guard Californians from the chaos in Washington.
Standard
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When federal energy is used to divide and punish as an alternative of to serve, California should do what it all the time has: lead with compassion, braveness, and conviction. The California Legislative Progressive Caucus believes we’re—and that our state can as soon as once more be a mannequin for the nation.
California have to be prepared—and we can be.
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