Trading Life for Death: What the Reconciliation Bill Puts at Stake in Your State

What does the budget reconciliation vote mean for your community? Learn more about how your state and Congressional district could be impacted, including how many people are at risk of losing essential services and how many more of your district’s tax dollars may be redirected towards increasing militarization at home and abroad. The Trump administration isn’t trimming fat from the federal budget, they’re cutting the heart out of communities to further enrich billionaires and war profiteers.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

The current reconciliation bill would fund record-high spending for the Pentagon and mass deportations by cutting essential spending on Medicaid and food stamps, leaving millions of Americans vulnerable to hunger and sickness. Preserving health insurance and food aid for needy Americans is as simple as refusing to spend more on war and deportations:

• New militarized spending includes $119 billion for the Pentagon and war and $43.8 billion for mass detention and deportations for FY 2026, enough to bring the nation’s first $1 trillion Pentagon and war budget, and triple annual spending on mass detention of immigrants.
• To fund new militarized spending and tax breaks for the wealthy, Congress plans cuts to Medicaid and food stamps (SNAP) that would take health insurance from 13.7 million people, including 8.6 million people insured under Medicaid, and threaten food stamps (SNAP) for 11 million people, including four million children.
• Militarized spending increases in the reconciliation proposals total $163 billion for FY 2026. That’s more than enough to fund Medicaid for the 13.7 million people at risk of losing health care, and the 11 million people at risk of losing food stamps.

This report provides the number of people who could receive Medicaid, SNAP, and the Child Tax Credit instead of investing more in militarization, by state and congressional district.

The current reconciliation bill proposes a historic $150 billion spending increase for the Pentagon and a $151.3 billion increase for mass deportation in the next few years.   

The budget reconciliation bill currently making its way through Congress instructs the Pentagon to boost its topline spending by $150 billion and increase spending on a cruel, ineffective, and unconstitutional mass deportation strategy by $151.3 billion over the next four years. 

Of those reconciliation totals, the President’s FY 2026 budget request assumes $119.3 billion will be allocated for the Pentagon and war, and $43.8 billion to the Department of Homeland Security in FY 2026. If Congress enacts these proposals, it would bring the annual Pentagon and war budget to more than $1 trillion annually and would triple the annual budget for mass detentions of immigrants.

This massive increase in Pentagon funding is being proposed for a wide-ranging military-industrial wishlist: Trump’s dangerous and infeasible “Golden Dome”, new warships, munitions, and hefty investments in developing “killer robots.” These increases come in the context of executive orders and actions setting a dangerous new precedent allowing domestic use of the military to facilitate mass deportations and detentions. 

Funding for the administration’s mass deportation schemes will enable ongoing family separation and embolden the administration to undertake dangerous and immoral practices like deporting immigrants to foreign prisons and even deporting U.S. citizens who are swept up in indiscriminate enforcement actions.

Increased spending on the militarized MAGA agenda will be paid for with cuts to programs that help working people meet their basic needs. 

At the same time, the current reconciliation bill includes devastating cuts to the nation’s social safety net. 

New work requirements for Medicaid and a failure to extend Affordable Care Act provisions could cost health care for 13.7 million people, including Medicaid for 8.6 million people. Likewise, new work requirements for food stamps (SNAP) could cause 11 million people, including four million children, to lose some or all of their food assistance. Additional measures like cost-sharing would put additional Medicaid and food stamp recipients at risk. And new restrictions on the Child Tax Credit would put 4.5 million U.S. citizen and legal resident children at risk of losing their credits.

This is a direct transfer of resources from struggling people and families to the Pentagon, mass detention machines, and tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Every community in the country will be impacted by cuts to these critical programs, with especially devastating impacts for children, low-income people, people with disabilities, and the elderly. Polls show that Americans rank Pentagon spending ranks below other major programs in terms of importance for federal investment. Voters in every congressional district oppose cuts to Medicaid, and a strong majority of voters oppose cuts to food stamps.

Canceling militarized spending increases under reconciliation could protect millions of Americans at risk of losing Medicaid and food stamps/SNAP. 

Canceling the planned increases for the Pentagon and mass detention and deportation could fully cover the cost of Medicaid, food stamps, and the Child Tax Credit for the millions of adults and children at risk of losing services under reconciliation’s work proposals and new limits on the Child Tax Credit.

In states and congressional districts around the country, taxpayer funds are slated to be redirected to programs like President Trump’s dangerous “Golden Dome” vanity project, an ill-designed missile-defense system that will all but guarantee years of federal revenue for whichever corporation secures the contract. The package also includes billions for “killer robots” that threaten to ignite a full-blown arms race for AI-driven weapons and usher in a new era of unaccountable targeting of civilians. 

Instead of reallocating $25 billion in taxpayer funds towards Trump’s Golden Dome project, those funds could continue Medicaid coverage in every community:

• In Arizona’s 5th district, taxpayers’ funds redirected to Trump’s Golden Dome could instead provide Medicaid to 7,529 people.
• In Kentucky’s 4th district, taxpayers’ funds redirected to Trump’s Golden Dome could instead provide Medicaid to 6,228 people.
• In Maine’s 2nd district, taxpayers’ funds redirected to Trump’s Golden Dome could instead provide Medicaid to 5,641 people.
• In New Mexico’s 2nd district, taxpayers’ funds redirected to Trump’s Golden Dome could instead provide Medicaid to 4,478 people.
• In South Carolina’s 5th district, taxpayers’ funds redirected to Trump’s Golden Dome could instead provide Medicaid to 8,979 people.
• In Tennessee’s 2nd district, taxpayers’ funds redirected to Trump’s Golden Dome could instead provide Medicaid to 12,310 people.
• In Texas’ 21st district, taxpayers’ funds redirected to Trump’s Golden Dome could instead provide Medicaid to 13,589 people.

Instead of reallocating $14 billion in taxpayer funds towards killer robots, those funds could provide SNAP benefits for people in every community:

• In Arizona’s 9th congressional district, taxpayers’ redirected funds for killer robots could instead keep 6,850 people on food stamps for a year.
• In California’s 5th district, taxpayers’ redirected funds for killer robots could instead keep 13,698 people on food stamps for a year.
• In California’s 27th district, taxpayers’ redirected funds for killer robots could instead keep 8,041 people on food stamps for a year.
• In Ohio’s 8th district, taxpayers’ redirected funds for killer robots could instead keep 11,342 people on food stamps for a year.
• In North Carolina’s 1st district, taxpayers’ redirected funds for killer robots could instead keep 9,794 people on food stamps for a year.
• In Virginia’s 7th district, taxpayers’ redirected funds for killer robots could instead keep 11,582 people on food stamps for a year.
• In Wyoming’s congressional district, taxpayers’ redirected funds for killer robots could instead keep 10,793 people on food stamps for a year.

The Pentagon does NOT need any more money. 

The United States is already the world’s largest military spender, allocating more taxpayer dollars to the Pentagon than the next nine countries combined. Military spending currently accounts for more than half of all discretionary spending, and funding for border militarization alone has tripled over the last two decades. 

Pentagon spending is rife with waste and abuse. Programs like the F-35 fighter jet have become infamous for their ever-increasing sticker prices, abundant design flaws, and restrictive contracts that require the military to outsource repairs to contractors who astronomically markup maintenance costs.

Moreover, the Pentagon is the only major federal agency to never pass an audit. The Department of Defense has failed seven consecutive audits, while continuing to receive regular funding increases. After the agency’s seventh audit failure, the Department’s Chief Financial Officer conceded that the result “was not a surprise,” despite failing to account for trillions of dollars in assets.

Militarized spending will disproportionately benefit private contractors, further enrich billionaires, and exacerbate waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars. 

More than half of Pentagon spending goes to corporate contractors. In fact, if Pentagon contracts had been a standalone government agency in 2024, they would have been the largest federal agency in the discretionary budget. 

Predictably, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and other Silicon Valley contractors with close connections to the Trump administration stand to gain from new investments in programs like Golden Dome and the development of killer robots – programs that are risky both financially and as matters of security.

Meanwhile, private detention contractors are looking to cash in on the Trump administration’s indiscriminate targeting of immigrants for deportation and detention. The first few months of the Trump administration has seen for-profit detention contractors re-opening detention facilities intended for families and children. Those same contractors donated to Republican campaigns and became a landing spot for federal government officials seeking lucrative private-sector jobs.

Militarized spending does not help working people.

There are no militarized solutions to the greatest challenges plaguing American communities and workers, including the current cost-of-living crisis. In fact, data show that high levels of militarized spending has a negative impact on economic growth, worsens economic inequality (which erodes democracy), exacerbates racialized police violence, fuels the climate crisis (increasing the likelihood of extreme weather and future pandemics), and crowds out funding for public programs that effectively prevent crime and improve quality-of-life outcomes. 

On the other hand, the programs that have been proven to support everyday people are the very programs at risk of being stripped away in this legislation.

Alternative investments that build a more secure and equitable society are necessary and possible.

The reconciliation plan moving through Congress does immense damage, but we can do more than just say no to its damaging redirection of funds. Even before this reconciliation bill, in 2024, the average taxpayer paid $3,806 for the Pentagon, deportations, and border patrol, which was more than twice the average tax bill for Medicaid ($1,823) and more than eight times the average tax bill for food stamp programs (SNAP) ($445).

Looking beyond this reconciliation bill, the rampant militarization of our federal budget provides a larger opportunity to end wasteful and dangerous spending to address the most pressing needs we face: affordable food, healthcare and housing for all; quality education and childcare for our children; and clean and affordable energy and transportation for the 21st century.

State	Adults who could receive Medicaid instead of more militarization	People who could receive SNAP instead of more militarization	Children who could receive Child Tax Credit instead of more militarization
All states	31,550,029	71,042,876	78,550,000
ALABAMA	445,222	605,510	690,653
ALASKA	48,226	89,857	157,402
ARIZONA	455,156	1,257,704	1,337,814
ARKANSAS	265,975	383,274	396,071
CALIFORNIA	4,444,623	10,885,463	12,158,373
COLORADO	748,976	1,455,615	1,584,245
CONNECTICUT	537,283	1,273,902	1,423,175
DELAWARE	43,701	192,504	205,308
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA	91,302	287,830	321,565
FLORIDA	3,559,007	4,911,646	5,500,356
GEORGIA	930,588	1,779,334	1,958,533
HAWAII	112,956	128,997	272,328
IDAHO	103,729	275,380	286,001
ILLINOIS	1,926,392	2,863,567	3,241,603
INDIANA	231,477	937,773	1,074,342
IOWA	185,024	527,313	522,622
KANSAS	197,180	525,044	542,526
KENTUCKY	177,573	581,087	603,004
LOUISIANA	220,498	635,381	699,707
MAINE	107,370	227,796	230,731
MARYLAND	583,621	1,597,191	1,677,740
MASSACHUSETTS	1,054,571	2,339,785	2,701,456
MICHIGAN	894,680	1,847,299	1,866,157
MINNESOTA	467,948	1,511,691	1,375,865
MISSISSIPPI	118,226	294,100	310,486
MISSOURI	398,117	940,005	1,073,911
MONTANA	71,796	189,753	188,794
NEBRASKA	104,912	329,566	348,984
NEVADA	331,570	718,252	703,258
NEW HAMPSHIRE	129,683	403,237	396,596
NEW JERSEY	1,121,100	2,726,250	3,087,852
NEW MEXICO	98,418	283,959	294,584
NEW YORK	2,744,304	5,264,837	6,727,323
NORTH CAROLINA	799,533	1,780,156	1,886,025
NORTH DAKOTA	66,612	154,608	166,340
OHIO	700,689	1,919,887	2,099,317
OKLAHOMA	332,922	512,766	566,151
OREGON	189,019	817,611	858,258
PENNSYLVANIA	1,265,878	2,771,753	2,886,107
RHODE ISLAND	103,101	203,528	241,220
SOUTH CAROLINA	403,794	685,738	842,248
SOUTH DAKOTA	59,478	142,836	164,565
TENNESSEE	820,920	1,057,207	1,214,942
TEXAS	2,319,583	6,123,542	6,456,987
UTAH	160,835	537,302	604,415
VERMONT	58,270	112,093	125,415
VIRGINIA	492,707	2,118,868	2,218,430
WASHINGTON	880,208	2,229,211	2,391,298
WEST VIRGINIA	79,587	209,517	209,012
WISCONSIN	455,139	1,250,265	1,179,722
WYOMING	62,166	145,085	153,381

 

Data Resource: People who could receive Medicaid, SNAP, and the Child Tax Credit Instead of More Militarization, by State and Congressional District