BUDGET GURU CAUTIONS AGAINST USING RESERVES TO OFFSET $1.5B SHORTFALL: The General Assembly’s top budget analyst cautioned lawmakers against draining the state’s cash reserves to offset a nearly $1.5 billion deficit that has emerged in the coming fiscal year. With lawmakers unlikely to raise taxes in an election year, one potential option for covering more than half the shortfall would be to pull $815 million from the state’s $2.3 billion rainy day account. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
- In the two months since the state’s last financial update, new estimates show economic woes and extensive federal tax changes are cutting into state revenues more than expected. At the same time, costs for Medicaid, child care programs and other services are rising — squeezing the state’s budget from both sides. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
- “The outlook is a lot worse for fiscal [year] 27 than it was at the end of session,” David Romans, DLS fiscal and policy analysis coordinator, said. “It’s about a billion and a half deficit versus a projected small surplus when we ended session.” Mikenzie Frost/WBFF-TV News.
FEDERAL SHUTDOWN ENDS, BUT WOUNDS REMAIN IN MARYLAND: President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill Wednesday night, ending a record 43-day shutdown that caused financial stress for federal workers who went without paychecks, stranded scores of travelers at airports and generated long lines at some food banks. Kevin Freking, Joey Cappelletti and Matt Brown/Associated Press.
- The economic wounds heal, but they leave scars — especially in Maryland, which is more reliant than many other states on federal dollars. It has the third-most federal jobs and the fifth-most federal defense spending. Hayes Gardner/The Baltimore Banner.
- The 222-209 vote marked the first time that chamber took up a bill since mid-September, when Republican leaders recessed after members approved a stopgap spending measure they knew couldn’t advance in the Senate. Jennifer Shutt, Ariana Figueroa and Shauneen Miranda/Maryland Matters.
- Gov. Wes Moore criticized the bill, which he says is gravely lacking in its omission of funding for healthcare subsidies. “This is exactly why people hate Washington,” said Moore. Rep. Andy Harris voted in favor of the bill, which he said would continue to fund programs like SNAP and WIC. Mathew Schumer and Chevall Pryce/The Baltimore Sun.
MD DEMS VOTE AGAINST OPENING GOVERNMENT: The House of Representatives voted 222-209 Wednesday to approve a continuing resolution that funds the federal government through Jan. 30, ending the record 42-day shutdown and sending the bill to President Donald Trump, which he signed later Wednesday night. But Maryland’s seven Democratic House members remained opposed to reopening the government because their Republican colleagues have refused to commit to heading off a massive increase in Obamacare costs. Xavier Board and Peter Riccio of Capital News Service/Maryland Reporter.
COMMENTARY: CRYPTO’s THREAT TO MARYLAND’s SMALL BUSINESSES: Crypto companies are outpacing regulators, exploiting a glaring loophole: Instead of offering rewards directly, which they are prohibited from doing, they’re partnering with third-party trading platforms to do it for them. This workaround violates one of the law’s purposes and the consequences for Marylanders could be devastating. These platforms are not regulated like banks and are not FDIC insured. They’re not embedded in our local economies. And when people chase returns and exit small banks en masse, it’s not just the banks that suffer—it’s Main Street. John Astle/Maryland Reporter.
TERMS OF NEW HOSPITAL PAYMENT SYSTEM BEING FINALIZED: State and federal officials are finalizing the terms of an agreement to usher in a new hospital payment system in Maryland to replace the one set to expire at the end of the year. The state’s hospital-rate setting commission gave an overview Wednesday of some of the terms laid out in a future agreement with federal officials to transition the state into a federal program called the States Advancing All-Payer Health Equity Approaches and Development, or AHEAD, model. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
MARYLAND CONGRESSPEOPLE PART OF PUSH FOR RELEASE OF EPSTEIN INFO: Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, including Maryland Rep. Kweisi Mfume, released emails Wednesday morning in a new attempt to suggest President Donald Trump was aware of Jeffrey Epstein’s lewd conduct. Maryland lawmakers were already instrumental in propping up Democrats’ calls for the Justice Department to be more transparent about its investigation into Epstein’s dealings. Tinashe Chingarande/The Baltimore Sun.
NASA DENIES GODDARD DISMANTLING DURING SHUTDOWN: News that NASA federal employees had been called back to work at Maryland’s Goddard Space Flight Center to dismantle and move laboratories during the government shutdown drew a strong rebuke from members of Congress and a denial from NASA officials. Karl Hille/The Baltimore Sun.
A PIZZERIA OWNER CAUGHT UP IN POLITICAL SCANDAL: As the founder of the 40-year-old Tov Pizza, Ronald Rosenbluth has parlayed his pie-making prowess into political clout. His cousin, Baltimore City Council member Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer, once called the restaurant “a political clubhouse that sells pizza.” Now, Rosenbluth is caught up in political scandal. His name appears in a court filing involving Kalman Finkelstein, a suspended Baltimore Police officer who last month was federally indicted alongside state Sen. Dalya Attar and her brother, Joseph Attar. Lee O. Sanderlin and Justin Fenton/The Baltimore Banner.
B’MORE PROPOSES CLOSING THREE SCHOOLS: Baltimore school leaders are proposing to close two small traditional schools with declining enrollments and a charter school that is not meeting academic standards. Liz Bowie/The Baltimore Banner.
In regards to the Crypto loop hole, Banks need to adapt to the times and give us actual competitive interest returns on our savings. That is how those banks COMPETE for our savings instead of this system where all banks decided to lower their savings accounts to an abysmal. .01% return. Yeah that really makes me want to invest in my local bank. Let the banks compete with crypto returns, then they’ll be forced to adapt and offer us better products and better returns instead of screwing us.
It’ll be interesting to see how the state chooses to close its budget hole this year. They say no new taxes on an election year, but I still haven’t forgotten the last 2 decades of increases and arrogance from the party feeling entitled to my wallet. And cuts? well the Dems can almost never agree to cuts. The Dems are in a rock and a hard place, cuts or higher taxes, people are going to be angry either way.
The shut down NEEDED to end. Our senators are jokes that pander to the hard left, but y’all will vote for them blindly. I would be pissed if I was a federal worker or on snap programs, that these senators would be willing to make me financially suffer even longer for the manufactured healthcare subsidy crisis that they made to sunset in the first place! And it should, those subsidies were to get us through a crisis, not be given in perpetuity.