When one party rules, Idaho families lose

By Lauren Necochea
Reader Columnist

Our government exists to serve the people. But another legislative session ruled by the Republican supermajority showed exactly what happens when one party has unchecked power for too long: extremist policies that hurt families and kids.

While Idahoans struggle to afford housing, health care, and child care, Republican lawmakers gave hundreds of millions in tax breaks that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest 1%. And they paid for it by gutting programs that serve the rest of us.

Lauren Necochea. File photo.

Their schemes took $68 million from public schools, including $3 million for special education. They slashed $15 million from affordable housing programs. They ripped $22 million from road and bridge repairs. They took $25 million in home energy rebates that lower prices and cost the state nothing. Colleges and universities lost $19 million. They even cut rural doctor recruitment as our health care workforce shortage worsens.

While they gave the store away to the wealthy, Republicans discontinued the Idaho Child Tax Credit, which helps families afford everything from groceries to child care. The loss means families earning between $31,100 and $55,600 a year won’t see any tax benefit, and many families will pay more. Those earning $55,600 to $91,800 should expect an average tax increase of about $100.

Idaho Democrats stayed focused on real people and problems. They expanded insurance coverage for early cancer screenings, improved care for foster youth and dementia patients, created consistency in death investigations and started a fund to help resource-strapped rural schools.

Democratic legislators stopped some of the most extreme measures. They blocked Bible mandates in public schools, preserved the ballot initiative process, held back a repeal of Medicaid expansion and kept unchecked guns out of classrooms.

Still, in a state where one party holds all the power, there’s only so much Democrats can fight off. Republicans funneled public dollars into private school subsidies. They pushed work requirements for Medicaid that take care away when people need it most. They eliminated basic day care safety standards and passed cruel new restrictions on health care, inserting politicians into private decisions.

Yet again, Republicans refused to fix their extreme abortion ban. The same laws that have denied women emergency care, driven doctors out of Idaho and led to preventable deaths elsewhere are still on the books. They had chances to make it right and chose not to.

We deserve leaders who put working Idahoans first. Leaders who listen to the people, not party bosses or out-of-state billionaires. Leaders who believe everyone, no matter their zip code or paycheck, deserves a fair shot at a good life.

Change won’t come from the top. It will come from people like you, demanding better. Let’s make this session the last time Idaho families get left behind.

Lauren Necochea is chair of the Idaho Democratic Party and a former District 19 legislator. Necochea spent a decade leading nonprofit programs dedicated to research and advocacy in tax policy, health care and children’s issues.