In speech to Boston biz leaders, Mass. House Speaker Mariano slams Trump cuts (2025)

President Donald Trump, abetted by tech billionaire Elon Musk, has “decimated” government institutions, leaving states such as Massachusetts scrambling to make up the difference, the top Democrat in the state House said Thursday.

With the assistance of the Musk-helmed Department of Government Efficiency, Trump is “wreaking havoc on programs that millions of vulnerable Americans rely on, cutting funding for cancer and Alzheimer’s research, and slashing veterans benefits,” state House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano, D-3rd Norfolk, told business leaders during an appearance before the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce in Boston’s Back Bay.

Cuts to [National Institutes of Health] “research funding would be particularly devastating for Massachusetts, as the commonwealth’s institutions have been among the top recipients of that funding in this country in previous years,” the Quincy Democrat said in remarks as prepared for delivery.

As much as $15 billion in federal support to Massachusetts is on the line, Mariano said in his prepared remarks, reflecting that the state once had a predictable partner in former President Joe Biden — but no more.

“Musk himself has actually said that he thinks the cuts haven’t gone far enough, and the next step will be to consider significant cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” Mariano told business leaders.

During a question-and-answer session with chamber president and CEO James E. Rooney after his speech, Mariano was asked how policymakers on Beacon Hill could deal with the shifting funding winds in Washington.

“Buy lottery tickets,” he joked, before sketching out the chamber’s broader approach to spending and funding under the second Trump administration, acknowledging that lawmakers could not “know what’s happening in the future.”

“We could be back in September and October making changes,” he continued. “We’ll just have to see.”

Fighting off a cold, Mariano quipped that he was following the advice of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to “attend as many crowded public events as possible.”

“We’re trying to reach herd immunity,” he joked, to laughter from the crowd.

Mariano, in remarks that stretched to 27 minutes, also touted the work of a newly formed House committee tasked with understanding the state-level impact of Trump’s federal funding cuts. A similar effort is underway in the state Senate.

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The senior leader’s Thursday appearance at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Boston came the day after the majority-Democrat chamber approved a plan to spend $1.3 billion in “Millionaire’s Tax” money,” pumping new funding into schools and hundreds of millions of dollars more into the MBTA.

It also came days before the chamber rolls out its own budget plan for the new fiscal year that starts July 1.

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The House’s companion to the $62 billion fiscal blueprint that Democratic Gov. Maura Healey rolled out earlier this year does not raise broad-based taxes or include fee hikes, Mariano said.

That appears to put a stake through Healey’s proposals to lift a sales tax exemption on candy sales and other small fee increases included in the administration’s spending plan.

Legislative leaders have already said they oppose Healey’s proposed “assessment” on prescription drugs.

The House’s budget also continues funding for free school meals for all public school students. And it provides another year of funding for “meeting our commitment towards the full implementation of the Student Opportunity Act,” which helps districts close achievement gaps between students.

The document also will include more than $1 billion for early education and care programs, Mariano said, according to his prepared remarks.

Speaking to reporters after the event, Mariano declined to put a number to the House’s spending plan. But he did say it likely would be lower than Healey’s proposal. Asked if he could say how much lower it might be, he quipped, “I don’t have a calculator.”

As Healey did the day before, Mariano slammed Trump’s “reckless trade war” that “has caused the stock market to plummet, with huge price increases — I don’t have to tell you all that. You know it. And Trump has magnanimously said he ‘couldn’t care less’ about.”

Flanked by business leaders on Wednesday, Healey denounced the “chaos” caused by Trump’s trade war — even with the 90-day pause the Republican White House had announced, which caused markets to surge after days of record losses.

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The pause “doesn’t matter,” the Arlington Democrat said, “because we are still left in a state of chaos and uncertainty.”

“This is why people cannot deploy capital. They can’t invest in their workforce,” Healey continued.

On Thursday, Mariano told business leaders that the White House’s tariffs could cost state residents " hundreds of millions of dollars in additional energy costs, a challenge that will be further exacerbated by his executive order that put a pause on all new offshore wind development."

Worse, “Trump is attempting to do much of this unilaterally, in defiance of the separation of powers principle that is outlined in the Constitution, and with seemingly no regard for the damage that he’s doing in the process,” Mariano said.

And while his supporters may think it’s necessary and justified, the White House’s actions, it’s little more than “more than a political strategy designed to take advantage of the anger that so many voters often feel towards government,” he said.