When Washington shuts down, California has to step up.

The latest shutdown may be unfolding thousands of miles away in Washington DC, but its consequences hit us hard here in California.

A mom in Fresno waits for her SNAP benefits. A park ranger in Yosemite misses a paycheck. A veteran in Los Angeles can’t reach the VA. And countless families throughout the state worry they won’t be able to visit their doctor or pay for their medications because Medicaid continues to be on the chopping block.

This isn’t an abstract budget fight. It’s a crisis that hits home—and once again, California is being forced to pick up the pieces of Washington’s dysfunction. We’ve seen this story before: political brinkmanship in Washington and gridlock in Congress, leaving working families to bear the cost. But this shutdown isn’t just another episode of bureaucratic dysfunction. It’s a clear and vivid warning of what’s to come.

President Trump and his allies have made it clear. They intend to use California as an example of what happens when a state refuses to fall in line with their agenda. We’ve seen the attacks on our climate policies, threats to healthcare and education funding, and the danger that follows: troops being forcibly deployed on the streets of major cities like Los Angeles and Portland. Washington’s chaos is being weaponized to punish Californians simply for disagreeing with Trump’s twisted agenda.

For too long, California has sent billions of our taxpayer dollars more to Washington than we get back. In just the past few years, Californians have contributed tens of billions more than we received—$55 billion in 2021, $101 billion in 2022, and $17 billion in 2023. Our taxpayers fund programs that sustain the entire nation, but when Washington stalls, we’re left holding the bill—and bearing the harm.

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February 2026 Issue

We can’t afford to govern like Washington might come save us. We must plan like it won’t. These next three years under a Trump administration will test California’s strength and our fight like never before. California must be ready—ready to defend our people, protect our progress, and provide the direct services Washington tries to rip away.

That means building a California safety net strong enough to withstand federal neglect—ensuring that vital programs, healthcare coverage, and economic stability don’t depend on who’s in the White House.

In the months ahead, it’s going to be more important than ever to support revenue solutions that make that safety net possible—solutions that ask the wealthiest and biggest corporations to pay their fair share, close outdated loopholes, and reinvest back in the people.

The California Legislative Progressive Caucus is making it clear that the corporations and billionaires who are getting richer off of President Trump’s unprecedented tax cuts will not get that subservience here in California. Our state is home to more billionaires and global companies than anywhere else in America. The progressive caucus will be at the forefront of taxing the rich to reinvest in the people. California must balance our own budget while also balancing the responsibility to substitute the services the federal government is abandoning.

This is about more than policy, the same way the government shutdown is about more than just the budget. It’s about values. It’s about standing up for the idea that government should work for the people—not against them. That our tax dollars should support families, not fund political retribution. And that in California, we take care of each other, no matter what happens in Washington.

For decades, California has led where the federal government has failed—on climate, on healthcare, on protecting workers and immigrants. Our progress hasn’t been and will not be partisan. It’s practical, innovative, and always for the betterment of the people. In the years ahead, the same courage and creativity will be essential to protect Californians from the chaos in Washington.

When federal power is used to divide and punish instead of to serve, California must do what it always has: lead with compassion, courage, and conviction. The California Legislative Progressive Caucus believes we are—and that our state can once again be a model for the nation.

California must be ready—and we will be.