The Senate is expected to vote on its version of the Big Brutal Bill this week and—like its House counterpart—it’s devastating for nutrition and health care programs for vulnerable communities.
The Senate proposal includes the largest cut to SNAP in history, as part of a budget package that guts basic needs programs.
The bill also contains the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, and will result in 16 million people losing their health insurance. A recent analysis of the House-passed bill found that because of the cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and reduced staffing requirements at nursing homes, 51,000 people will die each year.
Additionally, according to the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as many as 330 rural hospitals nationwide could close or reduce services as a result of this bill. And, new research shows that cuts to Medicaid along with SNAP will reduce jobs by 1.2 million nationwide, equivalent to about a 0.8% increase in the unemployment rate.
Cutting the heart out of basic needs programs including SNAP and Medicaid doesn’t save states or the federal government money—it denies care and creates bigger problems down the road, shifting the burden to service providers, local governments, and taxpayers. This will lead to higher costs and more strain on budgets—household and state budgets alike. And it will cost lives.
It’s not too late to change course. Now more than ever, it’s critical that the Senate act to protect health care, nutrition, and other essential services that help millions of families meet their basic needs. We should strengthen support for these programs—not take them away
The 61.2 million children get coal edition. This week, the U.S. marked two sad milestones. More than 50 million COVID-19 cases have now been confirmed since the pandemic began, and more than 800,000 people have died. The highly contagious omicron variant is here in the U.S. and is ricocheting through Britain and parts of Europe; on Thursday alone, Britain reported 88,376 new infections – the highest number since the pandemic began. “Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news briefing.
With time expiring in 2021, leaders in the U.S. Senate joined faith leaders this week for a Capitol Hill news conference to urge passage of the Build Back Better Act. Within a day, their quest grew more challenging, as President Biden and congressional leaders acknowledged they were not ready to enact this historic legislation before Christmas. The Senate will return on January 3, a week earlier than originally planned, to resume work on the bill.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The final round of the federal government’s Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments ends today, unless Congress votes to extend them before the year is up. Holly Bradley, a farmer in Pocahontas County, said the extra money she has received this year through the CTC has helped keep her family afloat, and losing it would be a setback. “I feel like that’s going to leave a lot of folks having to choose between what bills they pay,” Bradley asserted. “And what food they’re able to put on the table, and if they can make rent or not.”
More than 167,000 children – roughly one out of every 450 in the U.S. — have lost a parent or other primary caregiver to COVID-19, according to a new, bipartisan report released last week by COVID Collaborative and Social Policy Analytics. The report, Hidden Pain: Children Who Lost a Parent or Caregiver to COVID-19 and What the Nation Can Do to Help Them, offers a roadmap to support and provide for these children, roughly half of whom are in elementary or junior high school.
The care economy – including child care, home and community-based care, and paid family and medical leave – is intricately linked to the economic well-being of not just families in the U.S. but the country overall. And the provisions in President Biden’s Build Back Better plan that support care infrastructure are critically needed, right now and in years to come. Those are some of the conclusions offered by a trio of experts who testified before the House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth last week in support of both the Build Back Better plan and a stronger domestic work force.
The “variant of interest” edition. Omicron has arrived. But we don’t yet know how infectious it is, how deadly, or how well current vaccines protect us against it. We don’t even know how it will fare on a COVID-19 playing field that has been thoroughly dominated by the delta variant for roughly the past five months. What we do know is this: until all parts of the world are largely vaccinated, variants will continue to emerge, some harmless, others deadly.
For proponents of President Biden’s Build Back Better plan, a challenging obstacle recently has emerged. That obstacle is not Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), although McConnell certainly is challenging. It’s not even Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), although Manchin definitely represents an obstacle. No; the most recent and perhaps the greatest impediment to Build Back Better’s passage in the Senate is the fear of inflation – and fears stoked by opponents that more government investment will simply make things worse.
CHN just released another edition of the Human Needs Report. Read on for the latest on the Build Back Better Act, the infrastructure bill, FY22 spending bills, a blocked effort to protect voting rights, and more.
Giving Thanks Edition. Thanksgiving is coming. So instead of our usual statfest, we’ve listed out ten things/people we’re thankful for. Really, our thankfulness for the House vote to pass Build Back Better is overflowing. We are grateful for President Biden’s and Speaker Pelosi’s vision and leadership. And we are unendingly grateful to all the advocates whose tireless work has gotten us this far – and grateful for what we’ll all being doing together next. Some items didn’t make the big 10 – but we remain grateful for caffeine and chocolate. We hope you can enjoy what and who you’re most grateful for this holiday – Happy Thanksgiving!
Editor’s note: Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director of the Coalition on Human Needs, released the following statement on Friday, November 19th: “The House of Representatives made history this morning, and every Representative who voted YES on the Build Back Better Act can be proud of his or her action. “The House Members…
Editor’s note: The following story was published by Florida Public News Service on Monday, Nov. 15. Cross-posted with permission. Advocates Call Build Back Better Essential For Environmental Justice ORLANDO, Fla. – Advocates are calling on Florida’s leaders to keep the momentum going after the U.N. Climate Change Summit by thinking…
Editor’s note: The following story was published by Soundbite Services on Wednesday, Nov. 17. Cross-posted with permission. Build Back Better Would Help Buoy HI Families, Advocates Say HONOLULU – The U.S. House could take up a vote on the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan as early as this week. In…
