The Weekly Political Potato: January 19–26, 2025

This week in Idaho politics, lawmakers debated bills to repeal Medicaid Expansion, redirect public funds to private schools, and pass a divisive memorial to ban same-sex marriage.

Political Hot Potatoes: Divisive Bills on the Table

Repeal Medicaid Expansion (HB 58)
The far-right’s obsession with repealing Medicaid Expansion shows no signs of abating. HB 58 aims to eliminate coverage for 90,000 Idahoans despite the program’s overwhelming voter support in 2018 by voters across the state. Supporters argue that the repeal would save $110 million, but opponents highlight that Medicaid Expansion has already replaced costly county indigent and state catastrophic funds, bringing over $1 billion in federal funding into Idaho’s healthcare system.

This bill would disproportionately harm rural hospitals, which depend on Medicaid funding to stay afloat, and the working poor, who fall into the coverage gap. Repealing Medicaid would also increase property taxes, as local counties would be forced to pay unpaid hospital bills from residents who can’t afford healthcare.

The Idaho Freedom Foundation’s political machine played a key role in electing Rep. Tanya Burgoyne of Pocatello. Thus, it is unlikely that she will seek guidance from anyone other than Ron and Maria Nate when voting in the House Health & Welfare Committee. This highlights why out-of-state-funded special interest groups like the IFF seriously threaten the health and safety of Idahoans statewide.

School Choice Funding: Two Bills, One Agenda
Two school choice bills surfaced this week, both aiming to appease conservative factions who received considerable out-of-state funding to push for public funds to pay for private school education.

• HB 39 (Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Ammon) offers refundable tax credits for private school tuition and related expenses, capped at $50 million in the first year. Critics argue that the bill will benefit families already in private schools while further underfunding public education.

• SB 1025 (Sen. Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls) expands the Empowering Parents grant program to include private school tuition and adds $30 million for special education in public schools. While SB 1025 includes some accountability measures, many worry it still prioritizes private schools over the majority of Idaho’s students.

While Lent’s bill aims to be a compromise to end the dark money siege that’s taking out good Republican legislators, both bills are in response to the far-right’s push to privatize education while expanding government and engaging in wealth redistribution.

HR1 – A Memorial to Ban Same-Sex Marriage
Rep. Heather Scott (R-Blanchard) and her allies are back at it with HR1, a symbolic memorial aimed at banning same-sex marriage. The bill cannot become law but serves as a rallying cry for the far-right’s exclusionary agenda.

Scott and her far-right supporters appear determined to make Idaho an unwelcome place for anyone who doesn’t fit their narrow vision of who should live in Idaho. Many struggle with the idea that a growing majority of recently installed far-right legislators who recently moved to Idaho from California, like Clint Hostetler, are focused on using performative culture war legislation to drive away anyone who is not a straight white Christian nationalist.

---

What Were They Thinking? Idaho Freedom Foundation Loses Ground

The Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) and its allies, including the rebranded Young Americans for Liberty (now calling themselves American Action Fund), tried to bully legislators into blocking a small pay raise for lawmakers. The raise, recommended by a citizens committee, reflected Idaho’s growing cost of living and modestly acknowledged legislators’ time and effort.

This fight revealed cracks within the far-right ecosystem. The newly formed Idaho Freedom Caucus, which split from the States Freedom Caucus Network run by Maria Nate (wife of IFF president Ron Nate), muscled in and successfully resisted the IFF’s tactics. The split stems from Nate's being caught in a secretly recorded conversation last year, in which she insulted Rep. Heather Scott and admitted to directing legislators who IFF backed on how they should vote.

Despite the efforts of IFF-aligned legislators like Clint Hostetler, Glenneda Zuiderveld, Lucas Cayler, David Leavitt, and Christi Zito, their confrontational tactics failed to stop the pay raise. This power struggle signals the IFF's waning influence as the Freedom Caucus begins to assert itself. Voters should note that the IFF’s collapse is happening in real-time, with its former allies turning against it.

---

Rotten Potatoes of the Week: Performative Politics on Steriods

This week, we saw no shortage of bizarre bills that do little to address Idahoans’ real concerns. Among them:

• Making firing squads Idaho’s primary method of execution.

• Banning health districts from advertising COVID-19 vaccines or requiring vaccinations.

• Attempting to prosecute Dr. Fauci after his pardon to milk their conspiratorial outrage to make their ravenous base happy.

These performative proposals may grab headlines, but they distract from the urgent work Idaho’s legislature should be doing.

---

What’s Next?

Next week will bring more debates on Medicaid Expansion, school vouchers, and culture war legislation. The question remains: Will Idaho’s leaders prioritize solving real problems or continue the culture war nonsense? Watch closely to see who is more interested in their Freedom Index score than representing their constituents.