Being a parent is nonstop hard work, which makes following all the news happening in city, state, and U.S. decision-making circles challenging. Here are highlights of Washington political news from last week (May 19-25) and a hint at what’s up this week. I hope you will consider taking action – reaching out to those who represent you and your family in Congress and state offices — on the issues of impact to families in our state.
WA’s big biennial budget finally gets its final ‘yes’
Here in Washington state, we finally have a biennial operating budget, to the tune of $77.8 billion. It took Gov. Bob Ferguson a month of Sundays to sign the proposal, which passed out of the legislature in late April. With the governor’s signature, public schools, health care, social services, housing, colleges, and other public services that families depend on can finalize their plans on how to proceed into the 2025-27 biennium that starts July 1. How will the state pay for the services at a time when federal funding is threatened? (Currently, the Trump administration is threatening to cut funding for Washington schools due to the state’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion). The budget includes more than $4 billion in new taxes. Get the full scoop from the Washington State Standard.
Big Beastly Barbaric Bill moves forward in D.C.
And in that other Washington, President Donald Trump bullied his agenda forward with the passage of his second-term conservative agenda and government cuts bill by the Republican controlled House of Representatives. I say bullied because what else do you call an email sent to lawmakers calling them traitors if they don’t vote yes? Whatever you want to call it, it passed by a narrow vote last week. Altogether the cuts in the bill are expected to result in decreased access to healthcare and education, increased family emotional and financial stress, and worse health and development outcomes for children. Here’s what’s in the bill, now headed to the U.S. Senate for approval:
- Cuts to SNAP (food stamps): Over the next decade, the bill cuts approximately $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps low-income families buy food. Millions of children and families rely on SNAP to avoid food insecurity, including 500,000 in Washington. Proposed work requirements and eligibility restrictions would mean millions more will lose access to this vital program. At the same time, states would be required to shoulder a greater share of the administrative costs for programs like SNAP, increasing from 50% to 75%, further straining tight state budgets.
- Cuts to Medicaid: The legislation proposes approximately $700 billion in reductions to Medicaid over the next decade. In Washington, nearly 1.9 million people – children and adults – are enrolled in Apple Health, the state’s Medicaid program. According to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Bothell), 47% of children, one in six adults, three in five nursing home residents, and three in eight people with disabilities are covered by Apple Health. Estimates suggest that at least 194,000 residents may lose Medicaid coverage, and the state could lose about $2 billion in federal Medicaid funding over the next four years. Medicaid cuts are only part of a far larger attack on healthcare for lower income Americans. Consider this: Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was implemented in 2014, around 14.5% of Americans were uninsured. By 2016, after the ACA’s major provisions took effect, the uninsured rate dropped to 8.6%, according to USAFacts. As of 2023, the uninsured rate was 7.9%, says the State Health Access Data Assistance Center, according to the Census Bureau. Under Trump’s agenda, 4.5 percent of Americans would lose their health insurance.
- Cuts to Education Funding: Proposed changes to education funding have raised concerns among education advocates and institutions, who argue that the cuts could limit access to higher education for low-income and nontraditional students. At the same time, beyond the current bill, the Trump administration has talked about closing the U.S. Department of Education and cutting education funding to states like Washington, where public school leaders are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- Cuts to Refugee and Immigrant Support Programs: By reducing the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. and cutting funding to refugee resettlement programs, many families will be left without legal pathways to safety or support services. The impact? Expect more family separations, delays in reunification, and lack of integrated support (for example, language classes, job training).
- Cuts to Childcare and Family Support Programs: Trump’s agenda bill increases the child tax credit from $2,000 to $2,500 through 2028. However, it introduces stricter eligibility requirements, such as mandating that both parents possess Social Security Numbers to claim the credit. This change could exclude many immigrant families, even if their children are U.S. citizens. The legislation imposes stricter work requirements for assistance programs, which could affect Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients. While the bill does not detail direct funding cuts to TANF, the increased work requirements may lead to reduced access. At the same time, the bill shifts a greater share of administrative cost to states, potentially impacting the delivery of TANF services.
Have an opininion or a position on these cuts? Take action. The bill goes to the Senate next. Contact your senators —Sen. Patty Murray at (202) 224-2621 and Sen. Maria Cantwell at (202) 224-3441.
School panic button initiative becomes law in Washington
As of last week, Washington public school districts have some new tools for ensuring student and staff safety, including the integration of wearable “panic buttons” that connect school staff to police and other responders directly (without pulling out a phone). “Alyssa’s Law” was signed into Washington state law by the governor, allowing schools to employ the following along with the emergency alert buttons:
- Live video and audio feeds between school, district, and law enforcement
- Remote control access to doors
- Live interactive two-way communications
- Interconnection with an alert and communication system maintained by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs
The law in this state flows from the efforts of Florida mom and school safety advocate Lori Alhadeff and her national Alyssa’s Law initiative. Alhadeff’s daughter, Alyssa, was one of the 17 victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre on Valentine’s Day, 2018.
“We want to support and empower our teachers to immediately connect to help that they need,” Alhadeff said in a hearing on the bill that prefaced the new law. “This critical measure helps not only during active threat situations, but also during medical emergencies, weather events, or other essential notifications to keep our kids safe.” Read our full story about school safety inititives from the legislature.
Weigh in: Should Seattle schools return to armed police presence?
It’s been almost five years since Seattle Public Schools (SPS) program that placed armed police officers in schools was put on hiatus, but Garfield High School is considering the return of a “school engagement officer” at the start of the 2025-26 school year.
According to The Seattle Times, the Seattle Police Department and SPS are hammering out an agreement to return police presence to the school, where a year ago 17-year-old student Amarr Murphy-Paine was killed by a gunman outside the school during lunch. An officer assigned to Garfield would spend most of their time outside the school.
How do you feel about armed police officers in schools? Send us your thoughts by emailing Cheryl@seattleschild.com
Thank you to the members of Grandmother’s Against Gun Violence. (Image: GAGV)
Thank you, grannies, for your fighting spirit
These grandmothers were determined. They were a force for change in the fight to protect their families and all families. They waved signs, marched with banners, called their lawmakers, and showed up en masse to demand Washington lawmakers do something to stop gun violence in Washington. And together with other gun responsibility advocates, they helped pass some of the strongest gun control laws in the country here in Washington state.
Sadly, last week, the Seattle-based Grandmothers Against Gun Violence (GAGV) announced it will end its advocacy work in December. In a letter to members, GAGV Chair Jill McKinstry, said the organization “is honored to have played a role in collaborating with other organizations to help enact Washington state legislation. Over the past 12 years our efforts helped pass many measures, including: a ban on assault weapons and ghost guns; the creation of extreme risk protection orders; the restriction of weapons in certain locations; and this year, the requirement to obtain a permit to purchase a firearm.”
McKinstry said that despite an active membership, the group has struggled to recruit board members, making the sunsetting announcement necessary.
She stressed, however, that the Grandmothers Against Gun Violence Foundation will continue to support anti-gun violence research, education, and programs. The foundation will host an informational webinar on June 10 at 1 p.m..
Speaking of new gun laws supported by GAGV …
I received an email from the statewide Alliance for Gun Responsibility this week applauding the governor for signing House Bill 1163 into law. The new law requires that adults obtain a permit to purchase firearms in Washington state.
“This law is grounded in evidence-based practices that have been shown to reduce gun violence and save lives,” said Renée Hopkins, the alliance’s CEO. “We have taken a significant step forward in our mission to prevent firearm violence and protect our communities across the state.”
The new and dangerous COVID vaccine restrictions
I can’t help but wonder whether the whole Trump administration, and U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in particular, are just plain ignorant or simply have very short memories.
Let’s refresh their memories:
Since Febraury 2020, more than 1,100,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 — nearly 16,000 of them in Washington. As many as 8% of all adults in the country have experienced the debilitating symptoms of long-term COVID, impacting their work, their lives, their families. That’s 642,856 people in Washington state. An estimated 32.000 kids in Washington have had or still have long COVID.
Why in the world, then, would any presidential administration limit approval for seasonal COVID-19 shots to only seniors and those considered high risk (immunocompromised people, for example) “pending data” on the next COVID vaccine booster for everyone else in the country? At this point, COVID-19 vaccines are one of the most studied vaccines in our country’s and the world’s public health history. Absolutely, every new booster needs to have strong efficacy and safety data behind it. However, defunding a wide range of vaccine research, cutting funding to the National Institute of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Science Foundation by half and withholding potentially life-saving inoculation from anyone when the preponderance of evidence shows it is safe and effective is not only short-sighted, it’s cruel.
That’s one editor’s opinion, of course. Check out the push-back to the new COVID vaccine restrictions by Washington scientists in this article published last week by The Seattle Times.
