Maryland senators are debating which budget items are on the chopping block as anxiety regarding federal funding under President Trump continues to loom large during an already fraught fiscal season. The Maryland General Assembly walked into the 2025 legislative session aware that it would have to contend with a nearly $3 billion budget deficit. Governor Moore in early January proposed about $2 billion in cuts. Since then, state lawmakers have also been grappling with a looming $3 billion in potential Child Victims Act settlements and executive orders from the Trump administration that disproportionately impact Maryland.
Date of clarity: In December, Congress passed a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown through March 14. Senate President Bill Ferguson sees the day before the money runs out as a forthcoming moment of clarity for the state of the legislature’s budget negotiations. “Increasingly, March 13 is becoming an important date to know what the world will look like for Maryland,” he said.
