Citizen Portal
Sign In

State leaders tell Prince George's County: budget squeeze, federal job losses and health funding top concerns

Prince George's County Council · January 16, 2026
Article hero
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Maryland legislative leaders and the state comptroller told the county council that the state faces a roughly $1.4 billion shortfall, federal job losses are reducing county revenues, and priorities this session include affordability, Medicaid protections, energy costs and targeted supports such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and behavioral‑health investments.

At a working lunch during the council retreat, Maryland legislative leaders and state officials briefed the county council on the state's fiscal and policy priorities for the 2026 session and offered county‑level support.

Speaker of the Maryland House (remote) told the council the General Assembly must address a projected $1.4 billion deficit and the budget will require difficult choices. She flagged recent federal job losses and reduced federal funding as drivers of local stress and said the state will consider the county’s FY27 capital and health‑infrastructure requests. The speaker also highlighted recent federal policy changes that could affect Medicaid eligibility and SNAP, and said delegation leaders will work with the county on priorities.

Comptroller Brooke Lierman summarized economic research and tools her office offers county officials and cited the scale of federal economic flows into Maryland: about $150 billion annually across wages, contracting and program dollars. She said Maryland has seen roughly 24,900 federal‑sector job losses recently and that the state’s revenue growth has slowed (a “k‑shaped” recovery), which increases pressure on state and local budgets. Lierman emphasized programs and analyses the state can share with Prince George’s County — including EITC outreach (the Earned It campaign), reports on federal research facilities such as BARC, and studies of housing and school construction — and invited county staff to use state data tools.

County leaders raised local concerns about utility affordability, foreclosures, behavioral‑health bed capacity and whether state policy changes will shift costs to local governments. Delegation chairs and Comptroller Lierman encouraged the council to submit formal letters identifying county priorities, and offered targeted follow‑up (for example, referrals to the state insurance commissioner on local insurance claim delays and to housing committee chairs concerning foreclosure assistance).