Trump's "big, beautiful bill" could leave estimated $1.6B hole in Minnesota budget, state officials say
The Senate narrowly passed President Trump's massive spending bill Tuesday, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.
The bill could leave an estimated $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion hole in the Minnesota state budget, according to the Office of Management and Budget.
The House will need to approve the Senate's changes to the bill before it heads to Mr. Trump's desk for signature.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar recently voiced opposition to the bill on the Senate floor.
"The largest unfunded mandate is on the backs of kids and veterans and seniors and kids with disabilities," Klobuchar said.
One in five Minnesotans rely on Medicaid, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.
Fellow Democratic Sen. Tina Smith says the state would be hard hit.
"Nursing homes are going to have a very, very hard time balancing the books. I suspect that there will be closures as a result of these Medicaid cuts," Smith said. "And then families that rely on SNAP food assistance are going to find it much, much more difficult to feed their families."
The non-partisan says more than 458,000 Minnesotans rely on the federal , benefits to put food on the table.
The bill extends the Trump 2017 tax cuts, eliminates taxes on tips and overtime and cuts federal spending by $1 trillion over 10 years.
And according to the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office, the bill will add $3.3 trillion to the federal deficit. Senate passage proved difficult with a marathon vote that lasted more than 24 hours. Some Republican holdouts were concerned with the bill's impact to the deficit and its cuts to Medicaid.
The GOP has a 53-seat majority in the Senate, and the measure passed 51 to 50.
Minnesota's four Republican House members voted for it, including Majority Whip Tom Emmer.
"Our one big beautiful bill includes the largest reduction in mandatory spending in history and brings out-of-control spending programs to account," Emmer said in a statement.
But not all Minnesota Republicans are loving it. In February, 14 GOP state legislators sent Minnesota's four GOP U.S. House members a letter saying, "Drastic reductions to Medicaid funding have the potential to impact the 1.4 million people we serve and place incredible pressure on our overall state budget."
The proposed Medicaid cuts would disrupt the two-year budget Minnesota legislators just recently approved. If the cuts in Medicaid do exceed the estimated $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion as state Democratic leaders have projected, the Minnesota Legislature would have to go into special session and redo the entire state budget process.
Note: The video above was published on June 30, 2025, before the bill passed in the Senate.
