U.S. Sen. Peter Welch warns Senate Appropriations of deep federal cuts, widespread layoffs and risk to Medicaid

U.S. Sen. Peter Welch told the Vermont Senate Appropriations Committee on March 20 that federal actions this year are producing “an immense amount of uncertainty” for state residents and programs.

Welch, back in Vermont from Washington, D.C., described widespread federal personnel cuts that he said have affected agencies delivering food, agricultural and vaccination programs. "A lot of these emails will say because of your bad performance," he said, "but you can see by people who literally in that same week got a very positive performance." He called the process "wholesale destruction" and said it appeared designed to show a head count of layoffs rather than follow a planned assessment and implementation.

The senator told the committee the deeper fiscal risk is a reconciliation package that would extend and expand federal tax cuts at a projected cost of about $4.7 trillion, and that congressional directives would require committees to identify hundreds of billions in savings. "The directive to that committee is to come up with $880,000,000,000 in savings," Welch said, adding that most of those savings would have to come from Medicaid because it is where the money is. "That can't be done without getting most of it from Medicaid," he warned.

Why it matters: Welch said steep cuts to Medicaid would affect state budgets and health care providers nationwide, including Vermont’s rural hospitals and nursing homes, where Medicaid finances a large share of long-term care. He urged a bipartisan defense of programs that serve vulnerable populations and said he has been speaking with Republican colleagues to make the case.

Committee members pressed Welch on what local officials should plan for in the coming months as the state prepares spring budgets. Welch recommended prioritizing direct services to people and said his office would share information as it becomes available, warning that an unavoidable period of uncertainty remains. He also flagged related federal policy moves — including executive delegation of spending authority under the current continuing resolution — as an erosion of legislative checks and balances.

On related topics, Welch voiced concern about potential changes to U.S. Postal Service funding and actions that could affect mail-in voting, and he described outreach with Vermont businesses and farmers about tariffs and trade impacts as a way to build practical, bipartisan opposition to harmful federal choices.

Ending: Welch closed by thanking committee members for their state work and saying he and other federal lawmakers will continue to brief Vermont officials as new information arrives.