A progressive non-profit in Alabama is lobbying hard against President Donald Trump’s tax and spending package that is currently making its way through the U.S. Senate.
Alabama Arise, which according to their website is a “member-led organization advancing public policies to improve the lives of Alabamians who are marginalized by poverty,” held a press conference in Montgomery last week detailing their opposition to Trump’s “Big, Beautiful, Bill.”
The bill extends the 2017 tax cuts while adding no tax on tips and no tax on overtime pay. The legislation also adds work requirements for Medicaid benefits, increases spending for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and brings back the State and Local Income Tax (SALT) deduction.
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“It’s wrong to hurt people who are struggling just to help people who are already far ahead. That’s exactly what the Senate is debating right now,” Alabama Arise executive director Robyn Hyden said during the news conference. “The budget moving through Congress is not only a moral failure. It’s bad policy, and it is a really bad deal for our state.”
The group is claiming that budget bill that would reduce or remove food assistance, health coverage and other vital services for hundreds of thousands of Alabamians who struggle to afford basic needs.
Alabama Arise’s comments on the bill are misleading.
For example, on the issue of food assistance, the bill introduces a modest state cost-share incentive within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to improve program efficiency and accuracy.
Under the Senate’s proposal, states that keep their SNAP payment error rates below 6% will continue to receive full federal funding for benefits. States exceeding that threshold would begin sharing a portion of the cost, but not until fiscal year 2028 – giving states ample time to adjust and improve administration.
Alabama already maintains one of the best SNAP error rates in the nation. Supporters of the legislation argue that the policy encourages sound stewardship of taxpayer dollars without jeopardizing access to benefits for those who qualify.
Alabama Arise has also raised alarms about potential health care impacts, including claims that up to 200,000 Alabamians could lose marketplace coverage.
This appears to reference the scheduled expiration of the Enhanced Premium Tax Credit (EPTC), a temporary COVID-era provision originally passed in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and extended through 2025 under the Inflation Reduction Act.
The EPTC was always intended to be temporary, and its sunset was never under serious consideration for extension by the current Republican-controlled Congress.
Senate lawmakers have pushed back against the 200,000 figure, calling it a significant exaggeration that misleads the public. In reality, the EPTC expansion was based on pandemic-related emergency declarations that are no longer in effect, and its expiration is not a surprise to policymakers or analysts on either side of the aisle.
When it comes to Medicaid, Alabama would not lose funding because of the bill. The Senate version of the legislation protects Alabama’s current Medicaid provider tax rate of 6%, while adding a provision that would invest at least $250 million in Alabama rural hospitals over five years.
The bill’s Medicaid work requirements contain several commonsense exceptions for individuals under 18 and over 65; pregnant women; individuals with mental or physical disabilities; and parents with dependents under age 14. Individuals who do not meet one of the exceptions would need to be working, training, volunteering, or going to school at least 20 hours per week in order to receive Medicaid benefits.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
