Today, as the 2026 legislative session nears its halfway point and ahead of critical Joint Finance-Appropriation Committee votes, Idaho House and Senate Democrats outlined budget solutions that protect life-saving services and public safety while delivering for working families.
To view video from the press conference, click here.
As Republican leaders move ahead with cuts that shift more costs onto communities and households while keeping costly tax giveaways in place, Democrats underscored that Idaho has a better way. They pointed to budget fixes like using rainy day funds as intended, reexamining expensive giveaways, and pursuing targeted tax conformity reforms. They also highlighted proposals to strengthen family budgets, including reinstating a child tax credit, boosting support through the Idaho Child Care Program, and reindexing the homeowner’s exemption so property tax relief keeps pace with rising home values.
“The last time we faced empty coffers like this was in 2009 during the Great Recession. But that was a national crisis. We did this one to ourselves. So why is the majority party saying it’s not that big of a deal? Because if they acknowledge it is a big deal, they have to acknowledge something bad is about to happen. If they acknowledge something bad is about to happen, they have to admit their role in it. And if they admit their role in it, they have to admit they screwed up. They have to admit $4 billion in income tax cuts over the last five years was a mistake. That a $450 million tax cut last year was a bad idea. And the $50 million into the voucher program? That was just bad policy. And they don’t want to do that. Well, we believe you deserve better. And Idaho can do better. The solution is not that complicated. Democrats have a plan that will get us through this budget crisis and save Idaho families from the pain,” said Assistant Senate Democratic Leader James Ruchti.
“The majority party will tell you that we have no choice at this point. We’re broke. We’re in a deficit. That the only choice we have is to make excruciatingly deep cuts to everything, to care for the disabled, to public schools, to universities, to road and water projects, but it is simply not true. There is a better way. In fact, there are a number of better ways. … We can address the loss of revenue. We can get rid of the voucher bill. … One of the things you don’t hear much about is that big ‘tax cut’ they gave last year actually raised taxes on most families earning below the median level of income because they paid for it by terminating the child tax credit. … There are simple and obvious solutions to this crisis that we are simply not being allowed to talk about and not being allowed to vote on. We are being presented only with the worst possible option, deep, deep cuts that the governor’s own staff acknowledges will cause long-term structural damage to this state. This is a terrible path for us to be going down. It is a completely unnecessary path to be going down. And I assure you that if we were controlling the policy in this building, it is not the path we would be going down,” said House Democratic Leader Ilana Rubel.
“One week ago, we hosted a forum for people to talk about how Medicaid is impacting their lives, and saving their lives. Because behind me in this room, when I asked the committee chairs to provide people an opportunity to give testimony before they made all these cuts, there was precedent to do it. In the Great Recession, this committee opened its doors to the public to hear from them personally about how these cuts would impact their lives. Unfortunately, we’re not doing it this time. … This legislature is failing, and it’s failing the people. And I hope you hear me today, everyone that is listening: You deserve better, and I want you to go to the polls and think about who you are electing because we don’t have to cut everything to the bone,” said Senate Democratic Leader Melissa Wintrow.
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