By Mary Welander
State Rep., D-114
Mary Welander
First, I would like to express my gratitude for all of the support shown to me in the recent election. While I was running unopposed, I don’t take any vote for granted and am sincerely thankful for the opportunity to serve the 114th District for another term.
At the beginning of each term I look ahead to try and anticipate what issues or concerns might be a legislative priority in the coming session, what bills need to be proposed to meet the needs of my constituents. This year, however, will be different.
I won’t pretend to not be incredibly disappointed in the outcome of the presidential election on both a personal and professional level. Over the past week or so I have had to have some hard conversations and have done a lot of thinking about what a second Donald Trump presidency might mean.
From a purely analytical standpoint, two concerns I have are based on the campaign promises that were made by the president-elect which will likely be priorities of his administration.
First, if the Department of Education were to be dismantled, it is likely that the formulas currently used to allocate funding to the states would change. Currently, Connecticut receives 8 percent of its education funding from the federal government, roughly $1.064 billion. I don’t believe that it would happen immediately, but we should anticipate large gaps in federal funding in the coming years, especially in areas of special education services that are already underfunded at the federal level.
Second, if there is an overhaul or removal of the Affordable Care Act, we should prepare for a loss of at least $6.6 billion that is currently sent to Connecticut. This federal funding amounts to roughly 64 percent of the costs of Medicaid for state residents. There were 939,700 residents receiving health care through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (also known as HUSKY) as of June 2024. The state legislature has been working to improve Access Health CT, the state’s insurance exchange, but without the regulations of the ACA those plans would no longer be required to have income standards that cap how much can be charged for insurance based on how much you earn. Expanding Access Health and creating state-level regulations that cap costs may be a potential solution to provide care to some residents and children who will lose their health care coverage. This is a discussion that I suspect will be ongoing.
Legislatively, it will be incredibly difficult to adequately prepare a budget that incorporates or even prepares for losses of federal funding of that magnitude. The expiration of American Rescue Plan Act funding has already created challenges across every state agency; further cuts will not allow for investment in needed infrastructure upgrades or continuations in many programs. As we see what funding is provided, I will be sure to keep the district updated on any projected changes.
You can reach me at mary.welander@cga.ct.gov.