LAS VEGAS, NV – Today, FWD.us released new polling and a new report, “Cutting Health Care, Supercharging ICE,” detailing how federal budget decisions cut hundreds of billions of dollars from health care, food assistance and other programs while dramatically increasing spending on immigration enforcement are impacting families and communities across Nevada.

One year ago, Republicans in Congress passed President Trump’s signature budget legislation, cutting nearly $1 trillion from health care. Between that bill and the spending bills since, they have funneled a quarter trillion dollars to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to terrorize communities. The new FWD.us report shows that Nevada is among the states facing significant consequences of these decisions, with an estimated $1.2 billion in federal funding projected to be lost by 2029 as a result of changes to Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, even after offset funds from the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). 

Among the report’s key findings for Nevada: 

• 22,000 more Nevadans are projected to become uninsured because of the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies. 
• Over 48,000 fewer Nevadans are enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP compared with 2025. 
• Nevada is projected to lose 4,300 health care jobs as a result of changes to the ACA and Medicaid, even after the creation of the RHTP.
• The Trump Administration has terminated $12.8 million in Department of Justice grant funding for juvenile justice and child protection in Nevada. 
• At the same time, the state had 10 ICE detention facilities as of July, holding an average of 575 people each day, and 4,869 immigrants have been arrested across the state since January 20, 2025. 

Read the Nevada fact sheet here. 

The new polling commissioned by FWD.us shows voters strongly question these spending priorities. In a July national survey of likely voters, 60 percent said spending hundreds of billions of dollars on immigration enforcement while cutting funding for health care is unacceptable, compared with 28 percent who said immigration enforcement should be funded even if it requires cuts elsewhere.

U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), said: “Nevada families are struggling with skyrocketing costs thanks to President Trump and congressional Republicans cutting funding for health care and food assistance in their One Big Beautiful Bill. Instead of working to fix the destruction this law caused, Trump and Republicans funded a blank check for the administration’s reckless and dangerous immigration enforcement agenda, which is terrorizing communities across the country. It’s shameful. The American people deserve better than this backwards economic agenda that is making our country sicker, hungrier, and less safe.”

Todd Schulte, President of FWD.us, said: “Nevada families are already feeling pressure from rising costs and reduced access to critical services, and these federal funding decisions threaten to make that burden even greater. Thousands of health care jobs are at risk, while $12.8 million for juvenile justice and child protection has been eliminated, even as the federal government dramatically expands immigration enforcement. Nevadans deserve investments that help families afford health care, protect children, and strengthen communities.”

Felicity Rose, Vice President of Research and Policy at FWD.us and author of the report, said: “Nevada is projected to lose $1.2 billion in federal funding, with 22,000 more people projected to become uninsured and 4,300 health care jobs at risk. At the same time, nearly 5,000 immigrants have been arrested across the state since January 20, 2025. And with many of the largest Medicaid and SNAP cuts still ahead, Nevada families have yet to feel the full impact of these funding decisions.”

The Nevada findings are part of a broader national shift in federal spending priorities. The reconciliation bills directed $113 billion to ICE alone, including funding for nearly 100,000 detention beds, roughly 14,600 additional officers and staff, and expanded deportation operations. It also created a $27 billion fund within the Department of Homeland Security without specific line-item allocations or regular reporting requirements.

Read the full report from FWD.us here.