Idaho Gang of Eight: A Budget Idahoans Can Afford

January 20, 2026

A Budget Idahoans Can Afford
The G8 Budget Pledge to Restore Affordability and Budget Stability in Idaho

By: Idaho Gang of Eight

The federal government is more than $38 trillion in debt, roughly $112,000 for every American. That debt is real. It shows up in higher prices at the grocery store, in bigger mortgage and car payments, and in the rising cost of housing, fuel, and basic necessities.

Idaho is not immune. Nearly 40% of Idaho’s budget comes from federal money, and that percent is growing. Those dollars are borrowed dollars — borrowed against the future of our children and grandchildren — from a federal government already buried in debt. As we have said before, a state cannot remain affordable, stable, or truly sovereign when its budget increasingly depends on Washington.

Idaho cannot fix Washington’s spending problem, but it can refuse to replicate it. The Gang of Eight Budget Pledge draws that line clearly.

2026 Gang of Eight Budget Pledge

The Gang of Eight sounded the alarm last year that unchecked spending would put Idaho on an unsustainable path. We voted for fiscal responsibility. Those warnings were ignored, and now Idaho is facing a budget shortfall. The G8 remains committed to fiscal responsibility and to enforcing Idaho’s constitutional requirement for a balanced budget.

Over the past six years, Idaho’s state government has grown a whopping 60%. That pace is not sustainable, and Idaho cannot continue on this trajectory without repeated budget shortfalls and pressure for higher taxes. Idaho has a spending problem, and the solution is structural budget reform, not the Governor’s patchwork of short-term fixes that merely kick the can to the next year.

The G8 is making a clear pledge to slow the growth of government, put lasting limits on spending, and restore long-term stability to the state budget. These reforms are necessary to provide meaningful tax relief for Idaho families and businesses, including tax cuts tied to the “Big Beautiful Bill.”

If the legislature follows this pledge we can cut spending by more than 5% from last year’s budget, or approximately $729 million. In addition, we support the recommendations of the DOGE Committee to repeal Medicaid expansion and eliminate funding for Idaho Launch and other nonessential programs, bringing total spending reductions to nearly $2.0 billion (a 14% reduction).

We pledge to vote only for budgets that meet the following requirements:

1. No new federal funding
2. No new state employees
3. No increases/enhancements to existing budgets
4. Maintenance budgets must include meaningful spending cuts

How the 5% reduction is calculated

This fiscal year’s state budget, appropriated last year, totals $14.1 billion. Under this pledge, spending next year (FY27) would be reduced to about $13.37 billion by holding budgets flat and making targeted cuts. That is roughly $729 million less than last year, a 5 percent reduction.

These reforms will put Idaho back on a sustainable path and deliver a budget Idahoans can afford.