COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – The 11 Alert Weather team has been saying, Mother’s Day weekend is the time people in Southern Colorado can begin to plant their gardens for the summer. At Phelan Gardens, this weekend was busier than ever, both for flower sales and fruit and vegetable plants.

“We’ve had a record breaking weekend and this has been the busiest Mother’s Day we’ve ever seen, and we’re seeing a combination of flowers walking out of here and also vegetables,” Kyle Katsos, facility manager, said, “this is like the Super Bowl of the green industry.”

In fact, Katsos told 11 News he noticed more people buying produce plants than in years past, which he believes is because of increased prices at the grocery store.

“Growing a vegetable garden is like taking your fate in your own hands, every time,” Katsos said, “you don’t have to go buy a $5 package of tomatoes, you save money.”

As customers are taking action, Katsos believes it’s one way people can save money during a time where the cost of living is up, and he said he appreciates people taking advantage of home-grown produce.

“Cherish the resources that we do have in this state,” Katsos said, “we don’t have a lot of water, but we can spend that water on things that give back like vegetables and food plants.”

Phelan Gardens sources a majority of their plants locally, so Katsos told 11 News they haven’t seen a major price fluctuation in their flowers and other plants.

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Mother’s Day is this Sunday, and U.S. Representative Brittany Pettersen from Colorado’s 7th congressional district is using the day to send a message.

She said for many Colorado moms, the day might be filled with some angst over cuts to federal spending. At Jeffco Head Start on Friday, Pettersen met with community advocates and mothers who rely on federal programs like Medicaid, Head Start and SNAP; programs that may be at risk due to proposed budget cuts.

“I know that this is some of the most irresponsible proposals that you could bring for our kids, for our families, (with) devastating consequences,” Pettersen said.

Medicaid, Head Start and SNAP might be on the chopping block next week as Republicans look to cut $1.5 trillion in federal spending over a 10 year period. The Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid and Medicare, plans to meet on Tuesday. It’s been tasked with finding about $880 billion in savings over 10 years.

One in five Coloradans is on Medicaid, including many moms who said cuts to the program would be devastating.

“I can’t imagine what it would be like. One of my husband’s medications, he’s on seven, one is $16,000 a month. We would have to choose between feeding my family or my husband backsliding and starting to have seizures and memory loss again,” said one participant. “And that doesn’t even touch on the therapies my son’s receiving that are, in my opinion, life changing.”

In a release, Pettersen said, “In April, a leaked FY26 HHS budget proposal included eliminating the Head Start program, which promotes school readiness for infants, toddlers, and pre-school aged children. In Colorado, over 11,600 children and 5,000 jobs would be impacted by that proposal. While the administration has since rolled back their previous statements on Head Start funding, the program remains in limbo.”

President Trump has repeatedly said he will not sign any bill that cuts Medicaid.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the Energy and Commerce Committee cannot save $880 billion without making some cuts to Medicaid. Medicaid accounts for 93% of all remaining non-Medicare mandatory spending under the jurisdiction of the committee.

Two Colorado representatives sit on that committee, Republican Gabe Evans and Democrat Diana DeGette.

In March, Evans co-introduced a bill with Democratic Rep. Scott Peters of California to address fraud concerns in the Medicare and Medicaid system. An audit by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that Colorado Medicaid made $7.3 million in unallowable payments for deceased enrollees between 2018-2020.

“The bill requires states to regularly check the Social Security Administration’s death file for deceased physicians. If deceased physicians remain in the program, their National Provider Identifier can be used by hackers to bill Medicaid or Medicare under the guise of the deceased physician. This is a commonsense bill that addresses a major problem in providing quality healthcare to Coloradans,” said Evans.

Although this measure could potentially help the program save millions, further action would be needed to reach the committee’s $880 billion goal.