“At the outset of this session, the priorities of Idahoans were clear: funding of public education, addressing healthcare and our housing shortage,” said Rep. Rubel. “Instead, Republicans siphoned money needed for public education to subsidize private school tuition for the wealthy, they eliminated affordable housing funds, and actually managed to make our physician shortage worse, all while leaving us facing future revenue shortfalls. They have abandoned the values they once claimed to stand for: fiscal responsibility, local control, and limited government. It is Idaho Democrats who champion these values.”

Despite holding only 15 seats out of 105, Idaho Democratic lawmakers played a crucial role in protecting fundamental freedoms, defending public services, and enacting meaningful legislation.

“We want to ask the people of Idaho if they are better off now than they were at the beginning of this session?” said Sen. Wintrow. “We started off this session with a memorial to prosecute Anthony Fauci and ended with a bill for over-the-counter Ivermectin – every step of the way, we’ve seen our GOP colleagues borrow Elon Musk’s chainsaw to annihilate our state budget to the detriment of Idaho citizens.

“We are up against all odds, but we know how to govern, and we’re laser-focused on solving the real problems Idahoans face,” Wintrow said.

Despite numbers, Democrats delivered in key areas, including:

• Protecting public health and safety: Created more consistency among coroners regarding death investigations, improved early cancer detection by expanding access to MRI screenings, ultrasounds, and contrast mammograms for individuals with genetic predispositions, family history of breast cancer, or dense breast tissue, improved crisis response for people with dementia; and protected Idaho’s blood supply from discriminatory bans based on vaccination status.
• Defending vulnerable children and youth: Improved processes for congregate care for kids with complex needs and extended foster support to age 23 for greater stability.
• Stopping dangerous extremism in its tracks: Blocked forced Bible reading in public schools, preserved citizen-led ballot initiatives, stopped a full Medicaid repeal, and kept guns out of classrooms.

“These aren’t just policy wins—they’re proof that responsible, people-centered governance is still possible in Idaho,” said Senator Wintrow.

GOP extremism leaves Idaho behind

While Democrats fought for working families, Republicans are taking their orders from Elon Musk, Sen. Wintrow and Rep. Rubel said. According to Democrats, the Idaho Republicans’ marquee income tax cut—a massive windfall for the top 1%—came at the cost of:

• $15 million from affordable housing
• $22 million from road and bridge repair
• $25 million from home energy rebates
• Over $68 million from K-12 education, including $3 million from special education and another $2.5 million to prevent kids from smoking and vaping
• $19 million from university and colleges for in-demand careers and diversity punishment
• $500,000 from incentive programs for rural physicians
• A complete failure to address $2.7 billion in needed school facility repair, leaving property taxpayers holding the bag

“The GOP supermajority is going on vacation while the roof is caving in,” said Sen. Wintrow. “They walked away from Idaho’s public schools, its healthcare system, and from basic rules of governance.”
Meanwhile, Republican infighting brought chaos to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee and stalled urgently needed budget solutions.

“The majority party has left the majority of Idahoans behind,” said Rep. Rubel. “Our caucus fought to protect your schools, your healthcare, and your democracy. With more Democratic seats in the future, we could bring Idahoans a far more responsible government that truly serves the people’s needs.”

A call for leadership
Idaho Democrats reaffirmed their commitment to responsible, transparent, and compassionate governance.
“This session made it clear: we are the fiscally conservative party,” said Sen. Wintrow. “We’re the ones defending public education, keeping the government out of your private decisions, and protecting your tax dollars from being funneled to political cronies and wealthy donors.”

As the Legislature adjourned, Democratic leaders called on voters to demand more from those in power.

“The chaos and gridlock we’re seeing this session is the natural result of extreme ideology, driven by deep-pocketed special interests overtaking the values Idahoans share in common,” said Sen. Wintrow. “Idahoans deserve better. It’s time to balance the legislature’s makeup in order to balance our budgets and protect Idahoans young and old.”

“At the outset of this session, the priorities of Idahoans were clear: funding of public education, addressing healthcare and our housing shortage. Instead, Republicans siphoned money needed for public education to subsidize private school tuition for the wealthy, they eliminated affordable housing funds, and actually managed to make our physician shortage worse, all while leaving us facing future revenue shortfalls” said Rep. Rubel. “They have abandoned the values they once claimed to stand for: fiscal responsibility, local control, and limited government. It is now Idaho Democrats who champion these values.”

“After this session, it should be clear to every Idahoan that only Democrats vote for policies that advance public education, access to healthcare, protect public lands, and fiscally conservative budget policies that support hardworking everyday Idahoans,” added Sen. Wintrow.

What:
Democratic Caucus press conference marking the close of the 2025 legislative session. Leadership will address the GOP’s abandonment of fiscal conservatism and local control in Idaho and the growing inability of the Republican supermajority to govern. They will also highlight key Democratic victories that served working families, protected civil rights, and blocked dangerous legislation.

Who:
Rep. Ilana Rubel, House Minority Leader
Sen. Melissa Wintrow, Senate Minority Leader
Additional Democratic lawmakers will be available for questions

When:
Friday, April 4 at 2:30 p.m. Mountain Time or upon completion of the House Republican press conference.

Where:
4th floor lounge on the House of Representatives side of the rotunda
Idaho Capitol

Today’s walkout follows media coverage about JFAC’s open feuding among the supermajority Republican members.
Speaking on behalf of Senator Ward-Engelking, Sen. Wintrow said, “We left the floor because we felt the most prudent thing for Idaho voters would be to deny a quorum. JFAC is operating outside of all precedent and common sense voting rules, counting the hypothetical votes of absent members as ‘no’ votes. Rules provide predictability, transparency and fairness. To echo the words of Sen. Cook: the body owns the rules, and we have not voted on a set of rules as a body. Instead, a few people ‘in leadership’ are making up rules as we go at the expense of Idaho voters.”

Sen. Wintrow is available for interviews. Schedule directly with her at 208-949-0279.

Pregnant women in Idaho facing medical emergencies are being placed at serious risk. The Trump administration plans to drop the federal lawsuit that has been the only legal safeguard ensuring pregnant women can receive necessary abortion care in health emergencies.

House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel says, “The safety of women in Idaho just took a dark turn. The only lifeline we have had to protect us from a total abortion ban that lacks any health exception is a court injunction secured through the Biden Administration’s lawsuit against Idaho. But the Trump Administration is cutting that lifeline, dropping the lawsuit and seeking to end all the protections for women that came with it.”

In the absence of moral leadership from GOP politicians to protect pregnant patients in Idaho facing dire health emergencies, St. Luke’s Health System brought a lawsuit of its own in January 2025 to mirror the DOJ lawsuit that the Trump administration is abandoning this week. We are hopeful this will succeed in protecting essential emergency abortion care.

Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow says, “It is unconscionable that GOP politicians at both the state and federal level have made this necessary. It remains to be seen if St. Luke’s lawsuit will succeed in sustaining the injunction that has provided at least a modicum of safety for pregnant women in our state, but we should not have to rely on a private entity to defend our safety from reckless Republican elected officials.”

In the brief period of time when Idaho did not have an injunction in place, we had a window into the dystopian future that awaits us should the injunction be permanently lost. Pregnant women suffering health emergencies had to be regularly airlifted out of Idaho in order to receive the full spectrum of medically necessary care that is readily available in neighboring states.

The U.S. District Court for Idaho granted a temporary restraining order today in favor of St. Luke’s and its patients, to ensure access to emergency rooms under EMTALA. This is not an assurance of long-term safety, but it is at least a brief reprieve from some of the most dangerous repercussions of Idaho’s total abortion ban.

“Today, Gov. Brad Little betrayed his promise to Idahoans that he would stand up for public education and would veto any voucher bill that does not meet standards of fairness, accountability, responsibility, and transparency. HB93 meets none of these criteria, but, like so many Republicans, he bowed to out-of-state billionaires instead of prioritizing the needs of real Idahoans.

“The governor has sacrificed his legacy as a pro-public schools governor and a fiscal conservative by signing a bill that siphons public dollars to subsidize private school tuition for the wealthy. The people of Idaho can now expect what has happened in other voucher states: starved public schools, higher property taxes as local districts will be forced to run bonds and levies, and exploding state budgets that threaten infrastructure and public safety.”

“We remain firmly in support of the WWAMI program, which has been training Idaho’s doctors for more than 50 years in partnership with the University of Washington School of Medicine—the #1 ranked primary care medical school in the country. At a time when Idaho ranks last in the nation’s doctor shortage, severing ties with WWAMI through House Bill 176 would be a disaster for our healthcare system and would certainly discourage more physicians from practicing medicine here.

“WWAMI is more than just a public medical school—it’s a fiscally conservative way to create a pipeline to keep doctors in Idaho. More than half of WWAMI graduates stay to practice in our state, compared to a national average of just 39%. Students get top-tier training through a curriculum co-developed by U of I and UW, hands-on experience in Idaho communities from St. Maries to Rexburg to Montpelier, and unique opportunities like wilderness medicine electives.

“If we want to fix Idaho’s doctor shortage, we should be strengthening what works, not tearing it down. We urge our colleagues to support WWAMI and stand with the healthcare professionals who care for our communities.”

More than 250 people registered testimony in opposition to HB176 in committee, with only four in support of the bill.

“This bill would allow anyone to accuse your son of not being a boy or your daughter of not being a girl, and subject to having their genitals examined. It creates problems where none exist.

“The words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt were never more true: ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ This bill is rooted, raised and nurtured on pure fear. It is one of a dozen bills aimed at the LGBT community and aims to replace the values of faith, family and freedom with fear, hate and anger.

“Idahoans value the personal liberty of being who they are and do not want the legislature criminalizing and harassing people whose lives may be different than their own.

“If you stand next to the statue of Gov. Frank Stunenberg and look up at the Capitol Dome, you won’t see a cross, the angel Moroni, Star of David, or a crescent moon, you will see an eagle, the symbol of our nation. Under that eagle’s wings are the protections of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for everyone, all Idahoans, not just those of a particular religious belief or who belong to one political party. This includes you, your children, your friends, family, and loved ones. The last thing we need in Idaho are self-appointed genital inspectors standing outside public bathrooms looking for someone to harass and persecute.

“What happened to community, the value of treating others with the same respect you want others to give to you? If we write laws based on what makes us uncomfortable, none of us will be able to be comfortable, let alone free. We don’t need more laws telling people what they can’t do, think, read, see or be. Idahoans do not want fanatical Christian Nationalists telling them how to live their lives.

“Today marks a new low for Idaho’s GOP supermajority. Two of the most dangerous and damaging bills of the past decade were passed by Idaho’s Republican legislators in the House and Senate. H138 would effectively repeal Medicaid Expansion, and H93 would create a voucher program to subsidize private and religious school tuition for wealthy families.

“Every Democrat voted no on H138 because we recall the dark days before Idahoans voted overwhelmingly to establish Medicaid Expansion in 2018. If the GOP has its way, we’ll soon return to tens of thousands of working families being one accident away from medical bankruptcy, rural hospitals shuttering, and too many Idahoans routinely dying of preventable deaths because they could not afford basic care.

“Almost simultaneously, across the rotunda, Republican senators passed H93 on a 20-15 vote. This is a voucher bill without any meaningful sideboards that will siphon badly needed funds away from our public schools and instead subsidize wealthy families’ private and religious school tuition. It will bust Idaho’s future state budget, just like similar bills have in other states.”

“Ninety-four percent of public comments on H93 were opposed – with a stunning tally of 960 against and only 62 in favor of this dangerous bill. This is consistent with polling, which shows that Idahoans want their tax dollars to stay in accountable public schools.

“It’s no coincidence that another out-of-state billionaire, President Trump, announced he favors siphoning public dollars to subsidize private school tuition for the wealthy. Ultimately, it is the people of Idaho who will have to live with the fallout of H93: starved public schools, higher property taxes as local districts will be forced to run bonds and levies, and exploding state budgets that threaten infrastructure and public safety. It is the will of Idahoans that should be heeded, not out-of-state special interests.

“Taxpayers need to take a hard look at the data in Arizona, Indiana, Florida, Texas, Georgia. In Arizona, vouchers were expected to cost $65 million, but have exploded past $800 million per year, forcing deep cuts to vital state programs and projects. There’s no reason to believe Idaho’s future will be any different should we go down this road. We urge our colleagues across the aisle to listen to actual Idahoans and prioritize students over special interests.”

“Don’t be fooled, H138 gambles with the health and lives of nearly 100,000 Idahoans. This bill would enact a full repeal of Medicaid expansion because its requirements for retention could never be met.

“This bill, like the other Republican-sponsored Medicaid repeal bill, H58, illustrates the total disconnect between the GOP supermajority politicians’ agenda and the actual wishes and needs of Idahoans. H138 may be in service to extremist ideology, but it does not benefit the people of Idaho, whose support for Medicaid Expansion has only grown since 2018. Polls show it is supported by 73% of voters, including 61% of registered Republicans. Medicaid has saved countless lives and has protected thousands of Idaho families from financial ruin and health disaster.

“Under the guise of ‘reform,’ H138 would end Medicaid coverage for those who desperately need it. It would cause thousands of jobs and over $1 billion of economic benefit to leave the state, shifting enormous costs to Idaho taxpayers, and forcing the closure of rural hospitals. Two-hundred sixty-five people signed up to oppose this bill with only eight supporting it, yet a majority of GOP committee members chose to squarely ignore the clear will of the people.

“This bill is another example of the hazards of one-party rule that prioritizes out-of-state interests over what’s working well for everyday Idahoans.”

H138 now goes to the House floor, and Democratic lawmakers encourage Idahoans to contact House leadership and their legislators to oppose the bill.

House Minority Leader Rep. Ilana Rubel is available for interviews on this matter. Text her directly to set it up at (208) 866.4776.