Fiscal Fridays: Budget Bandaids Could Send Idaho Over the Cliff

Last week, Idaho’s Democratic Party Chair came up with a plan to address the $15.5 million deficit from the IDHW this year alone. Was it to cut back welfare programs? Spend more responsibly? No, instead she called for using a one-time $50 million collection of funds to fill the gap.

On this week’s Fiscal Fridays, we dive into how using these one-time funds as a budget patch will lead to a budget cliff while ignoring real solutions to the problem.

You can read more below!

Idaho Child Care Program Faces $16 Million Deficit:
https://reason.com/2024/08/28/idaho-child-care-program-faces-16-million-deficit-as-bureaucrats-overextend-benefits/

A Message from Idaho's Democratic Chair:
https://idahodems.org/a-message-from-the-chair-republican-policy-changes-betray-working-families/

From the IDHW:
https://idahofreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/June-24-Daycare-Child-Staff-Ratio-Waiver.pdf

Regulation and the Cost of Child Care:
https://www.mercatus.org/students/research/working-papers/regulation-and-cost-child-care

How the COVID-19 Pandemic Highlighted the Problems in Childcare:
https://thefga.org/research/covid19-highlighted-problems-in-childcare/