Hundreds of thousand of people in Massachusetts could lose their health care benefits because of the deal to end the shutdown.

Holding umbrellas outside the State House on Thursday, Raise Up Massachusetts urged state leaders to spend part of the $8.6 billion rainy day fund to make up for federal budget cuts.

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"It's what it's for. It's for helping us when times are hard. It's explicit, the law says, that it should be used when there is a loss of federal funds," said Phineas Baxandall of The Massachusetts Budget Policy Center.

Proponents say the reserves could be used to pay for things like education and SNAP food aid benefits. Plus: more than 330,000 people are set to lose health care subsidies, a proposal Democrats

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