With the multi-trillion dollar tax break bill having cleared the House but not the US Senate, states like Kentucky that are prepping for a budget season next year have to be ready to pivot.
One area Deputy State Budget Director Janice Tomas said her department is keeping a close eye on is federal food assistance, also known as SNAP.
"One thing that's clear that we know at the federal level that passed through the House is that the push in the SNAP program for the states to start picking up some of that cost. And that could be a large number. But we're still reviewing the changes. It's still in the process," she said. "I think it's still too early to have those in the budget request. But that's certainly something that we're reviewing and we're try we're staying on top of."
State lawmakers will return to the subject in more meetings during the interim over the summer.
Opponents of the cuts worry it could mean reductions in food assistance or create a domino effect in the state budget.
"That is actually of a huge concern, not only in our state's ability to maintain the SNAP program here in Kentucky, but also in what it might mean for crowding out other state costs," Kentucky Center for Economic Policy analyst Dustin Pugel said last week.
But the scale of the proposed cuts remains an open question with the omnibus bill yet to go through the US Senate, where lawmakers are promising changes.