California
After party rift on shutdown, California Democrats try to refocus budget fight on Medicaid
After a bruising Washington battle that averted a government shutdown but broke their party in two last week, leading California Democrats are trying to project a unified front on a central issue in the next big budget fight: Medicaid.
Republicans have already signaled their intention to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from the healthcare program for low-income residents, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich, the Democrats said — and must be stopped.
“Our budget should be a statement of our national values. What is important to us should be reflected in that budget. But what we see now is an assault on our values as they make this assault on our budget,” Rep. Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday at a UC San Francisco medical facility in her district, flanked by several other members of Congress, local doctors, community advocates and Medicaid recipients.
The event was part of a broader nationwide effort among Democrats to align on a clear message about Republican budget priorities that they say are threatening the well-being of average Americans — and before the frantic final days of negotiations or any vote in Washington.
They do not want to repeat the mistakes of last week, when Democrats split over the GOP’s stopgap measure to avoid a federal government shutdown.
Party leaders were accused of putting out muddled messaging about what was at stake, capitulating to Republicans in a rare moment when they had leverage, and handing President Trump and his party an important win at a time when they are running roughshod over the federal government and normal, bipartisan processes for funding it.
The episode exposed deep fissures in Democratic Party strategy, with former House Speaker Pelosi even making a rare and unsuccessful plea to Democratic senators to break with their leader, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, and oppose the stopgap measure.
But on Tuesday, Pelosi and Schumer appeared aligned once more, if not on last week than at least on how to move forward. Pelosi’s event was part of a “Medicaid Day of Action” that Schumer had touted hours earlier on ABC’s “The View.”
“We have senators and congressmen going to all different parts of their states and districts talking about how bad the Medicaid cut would be,” Schumer said.
“We don’t agonize, we organize, and this day, today, we have scores of events across the country, starting in New York,” Pelosi echoed hours later. “And we’ll have them tomorrow and the next day and the next day.”
A host of Democrats held smaller events and roundtable discussions with healthcare providers in their own districts, including Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove in Los Angeles and Rep. Ted Lieu in Redondo Beach. Protesters also decried Medicaid cuts outside the Anaheim Hills office of Republican Rep. Young Kim.
The Democrats say their hyper-focus on Medicaid is not just bluster — though Republicans have framed it as such.
Trump has repeatedly said that his party is not going after people’s Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security benefits, and the White House has acted exasperated by claims otherwise, saying the administration supports only the elimination of fraud and abuse in such programs.
“What kind of a person doesn’t support eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in government spending that ultimately costs taxpayers more?” it said.
Republican members of Congress have made similar arguments, accusing Democrats of lying about Medicaid cuts just to rile up their base and win political points.
A protester holds a sign outside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office last week after he said he would vote to advance a GOP-written funding patch to avert a government shutdown, saying it was the better of two bad options.
(Michel Nigro / Pacific Press / LightRocket via Getty Images)
However, Republicans brought on the concern themselves by passing a budget resolution last month aimed at extending 2017 tax cuts, including by finding trillions of dollars in spending cuts to pay for them.
That resolution does not explicitly require Medicaid cuts, but it instructs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, to cut spending by $880 billion over the next decade.
Democrats say simple math makes clear that the only way the committee will be able to find that level of cuts is by cutting Medicaid, unless they want to cut Medicare, the health program for seniors, which Republicans have also said is off the table. The committee could cut everything else in its budget — completely — and still wouldn’t reach the savings Republicans have called for, an independent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office concluded.
At Pelosi’s event, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means subcommittee on tax policy, said Republicans who are denying that their budget resolution calls for cuts to Medicaid aren’t telling the truth.
“We’re here because this president and the Republicans in Congress want to decimate Medicaid. They say no, they’re not going to touch Medicaid. That is a bald-faced lie,” Thompson said.
Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, covers nearly 15 million Californians, or more than a third of the state’s population, according to recent estimates from state health officials. Many of those patients are children.
But, as Thompson and others at the event noted, many others in the state would be affected by Medicaid cuts as well, because they would kneecap health systems and hospitals — particularly in rural and other poor communities where Medicaid patients make up a larger percentage of patients.
“We need to make sure our colleagues in red districts across the state understand this and they speak out,” Thompson said.
Sen. Adam Schiff agreed, calling such cuts “absolutely devastating to healthcare around the country, and most particularly to states like California that have so many of our residents who utilize Medicaid.”
Schiff said that healthcare systems throughout the state, especially in rural areas, are already in a “precarious position” financially, and that cutting Medicaid funding would set into motion a “cascading set of closures of hospitals and clinics.”
Dr. Josh Adler, executive vice president and chief clinical officer at UCSF Health, said more than 70% of the system’s in-patient care is roughly split between Medicare and Medicaid patients. Last year, he said, 58% of emergency department patients and 35% of the system’s in-patient population relied on Medicaid.
The cuts envisioned in Congress would “severely weaken the healthcare system that millions of Californians rely on for high-quality primary care and secondary care, while increasing the uncompensated care costs for hospitals that are already financially stressed,” he said.
Dr. Amy Herold, an OB-GYN and chief administrative and chief medical officer for Providence Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, said her region is known for its tourism but is really a rural farming and service community — which is reflected in her system’s users.
Herold said 75% of the hospital’s patients are on Medicare or Medicaid, with more than 30% on Medicaid, and “that goes up to over 50% when you look at our pregnant ladies having their babies, including the one I delivered two days ago.”
The proposed cuts would make it difficult for her hospital to stay open, she said, despite the fact that it is the only one in her county with a trauma center and a labor and delivery center.
“There will be a healthcare desert, so not only do the people that are on Medi-Cal/Medicaid not have access to care, anyone — regardless of your insurance status — will not have access to care,” she said. “This is what keeps me up at night.”
Sascha Bittner, who serves on San Francisco’s Disability and Aging Services Commission and who is quadriplegic and has a speech disability and a vision disability from cerebral palsy, credited Medicaid with saving her life by providing her with home and community-based support and an array of healthcare services. In 2013, she said, she spent five months in the hospital with lymphoma, which would have cost her life or bankrupted her family without Medicaid.
“There are disabled children, elderly and other vulnerable people like me who depend on Medicaid,” Bittner said, “and the Republican plan to gut this crucial support is an attack on our very lives.”
California
125 New California Highway Patrol Officers Sworn In, Including Officer Assigned to Barstow – Victor Valley News
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (VVNG.com) — In a significant milestone for law enforcement in California, 125 cadets graduated today from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) Academy in West Sacramento, marking the largest graduating class since June 2022, when 128 officers were sworn in.
This ceremony highlights the successful completion of a 26-week, intensive training program that prepares the officers for their duties across the state.
The new officers will be assigned to various CHP offices throughout California, with one of the notable officers, Damian Alvarez of Desert Hot Springs, being assigned to the Barstow Area office.
According to CHP, Alvarez, who previously worked as a Lead Valet at Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, is among the diverse group of graduates now beginning their law enforcement careers.
“Today, we celebrate the dedication and perseverance of our newly promoted officers,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee in a statement. “Their commitment to integrity, service, and the safety of our communities embodies the core values of the CHP. As these officers begin their new role, they will carry the trust of those they serve — and with that, the ability to make a lasting impact.”
Cadets, including Alvarez, underwent comprehensive training during their time at the CHP Academy. This training focused on critical areas such as traffic enforcement, collision investigation, defensive tactics, firearms proficiency, emergency vehicle operations, and community policing.
They also received instruction on legal responsibilities, communication skills, ethical conduct, and cultural diversity awareness to ensure they are prepared to serve all California communities effectively.
The graduation of 125 new officers is part of a broader recruitment and hiring effort by the CHP. According to the CHP, nearly 300 cadets remain in training, with an additional 160 cadets scheduled to start their training on April 7.
This ongoing recruitment campaign was launched in response to the state’s need to fill 1,000 officer positions by hiring qualified individuals, a goal that was surpassed in November 2024.
“The CHP is actively recruiting dedicated individuals to make a difference in communities throughout California. As a CHP officer, you can make a meaningful impact by enhancing road safety, enforcing traffic laws, and responding to emergencies,” said the CHP in a press release. “With comprehensive training, competitive benefits, and opportunities for career advancement, the CHP offers a rewarding and fulfilling career path for individuals committed to upholding the highest standards of service and professionalism.”
Alvarez and his fellow graduates are now ready to step into their new roles, joining the ranks of the CHP officers tasked with ensuring the safety and security of the state’s roads and communities.
The CHP’s mission is to provide the highest level of Safety, Service, and Security, and the new officers are poised to carry on this vital work.
To learn more about joining the CHP, please visit our website to take the first step towards a rewarding career in law enforcement.
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Several states consider price requirements
While the California proposal will face opposition from ISPs and is not guaranteed to become law, the amended bill has higher speed requirements for the $15 plan than the existing New York law that inspired it. The New York law lets ISPs comply either by offering $15 broadband plans with download speeds of at least 25Mbps, or $20-per-month service with 200Mbps speeds. The New York law doesn’t specify minimum upload speeds.
AT&T stopped offering its 5G home Internet service in New York entirely instead of complying with the law. But AT&T wouldn’t be able to pull home Internet service out of California so easily because it offers DSL and fiber Internet in the state, and it is still classified as a carrier of last resort for landline phone service.
The California bill says ISPs must file annual reports starting January 1, 2027, to describe their affordable plans and specify the number of households that purchased the service and the number of households that were rejected based on eligibility verification. The bill seems to assume that ISPs will offer the plans before 2027 but doesn’t specify an earlier date. Boerner’s office told us the rule would take effect on January 1, 2026. Boerner’s office is also working on an exemption for small ISPs, but hasn’t settled on final details.
Meanwhile, a Massachusetts bill proposes requiring that ISPs provide at least 100Mbps speeds for $15 a month or 200Mbps for $20 a month. A Vermont bill would require 25Mbps speeds for $15 a month or 200Mbps for $20 a month.
Telco groups told the Supreme Court last year that the New York law “will likely lead to more rate regulation absent the Court’s intervention” as other states will copy New York. They subsequently claimed that AT&T’s New York exit proves the law is having a negative effect. But the Supreme Court twice declined to hear the industry challenge, allowing New York to enforce the law.
After making gains in almost every state in the 2024 elections, Republicans are now setting their sights on a new battleground: California.
Why It Matters
California has historically been a heavily Democratic state, selecting a Democrat in every presidential election since 1992. But recent polls have indicated the tide could be turning on the Democrats in the Golden State. It comes after the state shifted toward the GOP by 12 points in 2024 compared to 2020, with Donald Trump increasing his vote share in nearly every county in the state. The Republicans also flipped three seats in the state Legislature last year.
If the Democratic Party loses ground in California, it could reshape the state’s leadership as early as 2026, when the next governor will be elected and most of California’s state Legislature will be up for election.
Juliana Yamada/AP
What To Know
Amid the GOP’s recent success in the state, the California Republican Party is now seeking to capitalize on that momentum and break the Democratic supermajority.
A supermajority means holding at least two-thirds of the seats in a legislative body. The Democrats currently hold 90 seats across California’s state Assembly and Senate, amounting to 75 percent of the 120 seats. That means that the Republicans need to pick up seven seats in the Assembly and four in the Senate to break the Democratic supermajority.
Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher of Yuba City told CalMatters that Republicans could target as many as eight Assembly districts in the Central Valley and Southern California to flip next year.
To do that, newly elected California Republican Party Chair Corrin Rankin said at a party convention in Sacramento last weekend that the party will be “going on the offense” and expanding efforts to convert voters in Democratic strongholds like Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.
That will involve a stream of messaging that blames Democrats for violent crime, which data from California’s Department of Justice shows increased by 3.3 percent in 2023, as well as the cost-of-living crisis. The party will also seek to campaign on ballot initiatives where voters have at times been willing to side with Republicans, including raising criminal penalties for some drug and theft offenses.
But the most important part of the strategy will be disassociating the deep-blue state’s Republican Party from Trump. A recent poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) between February 4 and 11 among 1,589 respondents in the state showed that only one in three Californians approve of the president’s job performance. Among them, 84 percent of Republicans, 7 percent of Democrats and 28 percent of independent voters approve. But that still makes Trump less popular among Californians than any other president since before 2005.
For GOP consultant Mike Madrid, it is important that California Republicans do not associate with Trump because doing so could be especially damaging amid economic uncertainty in the country, he told CalMatters. It comes after Trump this month proceeded with plans to impose additional tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China, which some experts say could increase inflation.
Goldman Sachs previously estimated that the tariffs could push inflation by 1 percent while squeezing U.S. company profits and provoking retaliatory measures from other countries. Canada, for example, has announced billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs. At the same time, inflation is already affecting the economy, as a Labor Department report for January saw the largest consumer price increase in nearly 18 months.
Recent polls have shown that Trump’s handling of the economy is a key factor in his declining popularity on a national level. And that has also been apparent in California. PPIC’s recent poll showed that when respondents were asked if they thought during the next 12 months the United States will have good times financially or bad times, only 27 percent said good times, while 72 percent said they think the U.S. will see bad times.
Nonetheless, outgoing California Republican Party Chair Jessica Millan Patterson told CalMatters that it is important the party is able to motivate Trump supporters if they want to break the Democratic supermajority.
“We need to make sure we are motivating those Trump voters and I don’t know that anyone has found that secret sauce yet,” she said. “We welcome all voices. We’re focused on California and Californians….People are desperately looking for options.”
It comes as polls have indicated that Californians may be turning on the Democratic Party. According to polling by Capitol Weekly, published on February 6, when asked “Do you think the Democratic Party has shown an ability to present an effective case against the Trump administration?” only 11 percent said yes, with 79 percent of voters saying that the party has not shown this ability. Among Democrats, the numbers didn’t improve much—with 19 percent expressing confidence in their party, and 68 percent saying “no.” The poll surveyed 1,198 voters in California.
Voters were also asked to give one word to describe the Democratic Party, and the responses were bleak. The most common words voters chose were “lost,” “ineffective” and “weak.” Other words included “toothless,” “ineffectual” and “floundering.” Some voters were more positive, describing the party as “determined,” “optimistic” and “caring.”
Meanwhile, Republican registration in California has ticked back up slightly to 25 percent of registered voters in 2024 but is still far behind the 46 percent who support the Democratic Party. About 22 percent are registered as independents, according to the PPIC.
As California Republicans head into a future under Trump, they are optimistic about their prospects.
“Change is coming to California. It’s time to end the Democrats’ one-party rule and make California great again,” Rankin told delegates after winning the leadership post.
What People Are Saying
California Republican Party Chair Corrin Rankin: “Change is coming to California. It’s time to end the Democrats’ one-party rule and make California great again. We’re going on the offense. We need to expand the battlefield and to take the fight to every corner of our state.”
What Happens Next
The next California State Legislature elections will be held on November 3, 2026, during the midterms. All 80 seats in the California State Assembly (which has two-year terms) will be up for election. And 20 of the 40 seats in the California State Senate (which has four-year terms) will also be contested, as Senate seats are staggered with half up for election every two years.
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