Nebraska Appropriations Committee advances budget amendments, cites forecasts and Medicaid costs as drivers of cuts

The Nebraska Legislature’s Appropriations Committee advanced the chamber’s main budget package and adopted multiple select-file amendments after lawmakers said state revenue forecasts and federal Medicaid matching changes forced difficult choices.

Senator John Clements, chair of the Appropriations Committee, said the committee started the session facing a roughly $432,000,000 shortfall and walked lawmakers through a series of forecast changes and policy moves that produced the current package. “We started with a shortfall of $432,000,000,” Clements said on the floor while recounting the committee’s work. He and other senators described a sequence of governor recommendations, committee changes, additional adjustments and forecast reductions that drove the final numbers.

Why it matters: Committee leaders said the April forecasting board cut state revenue projections sharply and that federal Medicaid matching changes added near-term costs,…