One cartoon stood out during the remembrances of economist Uwe Reinhardt, who passed away last week. The cartoon was striking to me because it also describes the difference between California’s progressive economic vision, and the vision behind the Republican tax plan passed this week by the House.

Between 2011 and 2016, California enacted a set of 51 policy measures addressing workers’ rights, environmental issues, safety net programs, taxation, and infrastructure and housing. Critics predicted that these policies would reduce employment and slow economic growth, while supporters argued that they would raise wages for low-wage workers, increase access to health insurance, lower wage inequality, and reduce carbon emissions. This paper assesses some of these claims and prognoses.

While this proposal may seem simply technical in nature, the harm in California would be very real. Over time, millions of Californians would lose eligibility for benefits or receive reduced benefits, and that reduced assistance would translate to hundreds of millions of fewer federal dollars flowing into the state’s economy.

Chartbook analyzing who would be affected by a $15 minimum wage in California.

The federal funding and subsequent coverage losses California would experience under the Graham-Cassidy bill would be even more devastating to the state than the destructive ACA repeal bills that were voted down by the Senate in July.

This data brief estimates the public cost to Georgia and the federal government from the use of safety net programs by low-wage working families who would be directly affected by an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. We find that just over half of these Georgia families (51%) are enrolled in at least one safety net program, at an annual cost of $4.7 billion.

This morning, Senate Republicans put forth a third version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released an analysis of it. Like previous versions, today’s bill would decimate Medicaid.

California’s economy would also be disproportionately and severely damaged should this bill become law. We project that in 2027 the state would have 550,000 fewer jobs, $60.4 billion less in state GDP, and $4.4 billion less in state and local tax revenue, compared to under current law.