Statement from County Executive James R. Williams on the Passage of H.R. 1

“The Republican-led U.S. Congress has passed H.R. 1, incurring massive debt and imposing draconian cuts to fund a multi-trillion-dollar tax cut to the richest Americans at the expense of working families and the most vulnerable. This bill includes the most significant cuts in our nation’s history to Medicaid and food assistance — jeopardizing health care and food for millions of Americans.

“In no uncertain terms, this bill cuts a seismic tear into the social safety net of our country and poses a grave fiscal threat to the County of Santa Clara and Santa Clara Valley Healthcare.

“At a time when more Americans than ever have access to quality health care, this bill will kick nearly 12 million people off Medicaid, with an estimated 3.4 million Californians expected to lose their health care coverage.

“Medicaid is not a line item. It is a lifeline. It supports critical health care services that benefit everyone in our community. This bill will make it harder for those most in need to access quality care, and it will create extraordinary challenges for our public hospital and health care system to continue to deliver the critical, life-saving care that everyone in our community depends on. Medicaid is the single largest source of revenue for Santa Clara Valley Healthcare.

“H.R. 1 also makes unprecedented cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), effectively paving the way for basic food assistance to be taken away from millions of families in need. This is unconscionable at a time when so many families are struggling to put food on the table, most food pantries are at capacity, and food insecurity is on the rise in every state.

“It should go without saying that food and health care are essential to survival. Yet more than 133,000 residents in Santa Clara County rely on federal assistance to put food on the table, and one in four residents rely on Medicaid for access to health care. This bill will make it harder for families in our community to access benefits while also shifting a significant portion of costs to states — costs that are simply untenable for state and local governments to absorb.

“As a County organization, we will do everything in our power to preserve and protect social safety net services for those who need them most, but there is no doubt that we will be faced with very difficult decisions in the years ahead. With the passage of H.R. 1, we anticipate more than $1 billion in lost revenue to the County in the next few years alone. This will create an unprecedented fiscal situation for the County, and potentially dire consequences for families in our community.

“Under the strong leadership of the Board of Supervisors, I am committed to working closely with our State elected leaders and regional and local partners to seek every opportunity to mitigate these impacts on our community to the greatest extent possible. In this moment of extreme challenge, we must come together as a community to chart a path forward that ensures the dignity, health, and well-being of every one of our residents, especially those most in need.”