A few days ago, I looked in a bag of food packed at the Tukwila Pantry, the food bank hosted by our church. There was a jar of chili sauce, two onions, and some coffee creamer. How do you make a meal out of that? And yet that’s what we’re expecting the families who rely on food banks to do.

“Every month, I receive my basic food package, which includes eggs, milk, fruit, and bread – enough to last a week. I have already seen reductions in the program. Just last month, we were provided fewer groceries than before.”  That’s what Julia Perez, a mother in Yakima, shared at our recent press conference about how her family is feeling the effects of the federal cuts to SNAP. She’s not the only one.

When big businesses and billionaires wanted tax cuts, the federal government delivered. But now, when every day people like you and me need Congress to act so our healthcare premiums don’t skyrocket, they’ve shut down. Make no mistake, this government shutdown won’t harm the wealthiest of Americans, but it will add strain to workers and families that are just trying to get by.

While parents across America navigate a childcare crisis, New Mexico is working on a solution: They’re making childcare free. 

New Mexico Governor Lujan Grisham wrote, “By investing in universal childcare, we are giving families financial relief, supporting our economy, and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow and thrive.” 

Yet another study confirms that the super rich pay less in taxes than the rest of us. Meanwhile, food banks in Washington state are forecasting a pandemic-like crisis due to budget cuts from Congress – a crisis that was completely avoidable. 

In this week’s headlines, a Seattle tech worker is calling on their colleagues to hold their ultra wealthy bosses accountable, new data shows just how destructive Trump’s Big Ugly Bill will be, and Washington food banks are bracing for higher demand due to cuts from the White House and Congress.

“We are here today and we are saying loud and clear: Families come first. Not billionaires, not sell-out politicians, certainly not ICE.” -Sterling Harders, President, SEIU 775

A new survey showed that 81% of parents think expanding access to quality childcare should be a high priority for state and national lawmakers. And yet, what did we just get from Congress? More budget cuts, and more pressure on Washington families that are already stretched thin.

Federal lawmakers are in final deliberations over massive cuts to Medicaid and other programs families rely on. Make no mistake, when they make these cuts, thousands of Washingtonians will lose access to vital medications and medical procedures, putting at least 3 Washington nursing homes at high risk of closure. In the same bill, lawmakers are flipping our tax code even further upside down, doling out tax cuts to the super rich, worsening the already alarming wealth inequality in our country and stripping funding from programs like SNAP and Medicaid.

We believe our families are worth fighting for and so is our future. That’s why our organizations came together this legislative session to insist that state lawmakers invest in all of us — the people of Washington state.

It seems like every day there’s a new shocking headline from across the country. Just in the last week, Elon Musk and President Donald Trump had an explosive falling out over the disastrous “One Big Beautiful Bill” that the GOP is trying to push through Congress.

“One Big Beautiful Bill.” That’s the name of the disastrous tax policy lawmakers are considering in Washington D.C.. If passed, the damage it would do to our federal  tax system is so egregious, the St Louis Post Dispatch called it “a classic reverse-Robin Hood scheme that would steal from the poor to give to the rich.” 

As the leader of a statewide organization fighting for a fairer tax code, I’m proud of the progress we made this legislative session. Washington lawmakers took significant steps toward progressive revenue, ones that reflect the will of voters and are important wins in our fight for a tax system that works for all of us.

$9.4 BILLION! That’s how much funding we protected for education, health care, housing, and other services that Washington families rely on. Together, we helped pass SB 5813, which will increase the capital gains tax on mega-millionaires and billionaires, SB 5294, which will close tax loopholes for special interests, and HB 2081, which will boost taxes on big businesses with taxable income over $250 million.

As lawmakers in Olympia debate how to handle our state’s $12 billion budget gap, one thing is clear: We can’t cut our way out of this hole. Luckily, there are plenty of resources here in Washington to fund the programs that we rely on. All we need to do is ask the wealthy to pay what they owe in taxes – just like the rest of us do.