Peggy Bailey discusses her group’s views on the major issues and possible solutions to end the ongoing government shutdown, i.e.: extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies and addressing the impending cutoff of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
SCOTT HARRIS: Right now, I’m very happy to welcome to our program Peggy Bailey, executive vice president for policy and program development with the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Glad you could make time for our program this evening, Peggy. I know you’re dealing with a lot of issues with the government shut down, all sorts of very dire issues. So thanks for being here. And I wonder if you just briefly tell our listeners about the work you and others do at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
PEGGY BAILEY: Sure, Scott, and thanks for having me on tonight. So the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a D.C.-based policy thinktank that works on federal and state policy in a lot of areas. We work on budget and tax policy, housing policy, health, food, immigration and helping immigrants have access to benefits. And we do all of that work at both the federal and state level. We really believe that it’s important to make sure that what happens in D.C. gets translated well to the states and that our support is needed to help states implement the policies to the best degree possible, especially in times like these where we’re really hoping that states take actions that mitigate as much harm as possible, given all of the chaos that’s flowing down out of the federal government right now.
SCOTT HARRIS: Yeah, absolutely. So with the government shutdown now in Day 34, I think it is, what’s the status of the SNAP food and nutrition benefits upon which some 42 million Americans rely? There’s been a recent court decision, I think it was even earlier today. That means a partial amount of these benefits may soon be restored, and there’s been a lot of back and forth in court and it can be quite confusing. But Peggy, maybe you could give us sort of an update on where things are at for all these millions of people. I think it breaks down to one out of every eight Americans relies on SNAP benefits.
PEGGY BAILEY: Yes, that’s right. And those benefits are about $6 per person per day. So we’re not talking about a huge amount of money, but it does make a huge difference in families’ lives to be able to have those resources and to be able to afford groceries for their families. So as you said, the latest news is there’s a lot happening in this space. The latest news is that, so courts in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, both today, we’re waiting to hear from the federal government because while the administration has been saying that they don’t have a way to pay SNAP benefits in November, that is not true. Actually, there’s a contingency fund that’s available for their use for instances just like this. And not only is it available, but they’re legally required to use these funds in the case of an emergency such as during the government shutdown. Now the administration has said, okay, since the courts are telling us we have to use these dollars, we will.
One of the key problems though is that there’s only about $6 billion in the contingency fund and we know that SNAP benefits in November will cost about $9 billion. So there’s a gap there. So right now the administration is saying, “Yes, we will adhere to what the court is telling us and we will use these SNAP contingency funds. It’s going to take us a second because we’ve got to help states understand how much money they’re going to receive given that they’re not going to receive the full $9 billion, but we’re going to do it.”
Unfortunately, the administration isn’t taking the next step, which would be to use other resources at their disposal to fill in that gap. Just because the contingency fund doesn’t fill the gap doesn’t mean the administration doesn’t have other ways to be able to meet the whole $9 billion that’s needed and make sure families stay whole with their food assistance benefits.
And I want to make really clear that this is the first time this has ever happened. There hasn’t been another time where we haven’t met the challenge and filled and paid full benefits to families for SNAP and made sure that families were able to afford groceries. So this is historic and we’re hoping that even though the administration will pay this partial benefit, they’ll reconsider and fill in the gap so that families will receive their whole month of November benefits.
SCOTT HARRIS: Thank you for that. We’re speaking with Peggy Bailey, executive vice president for policy and program development with a Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, and we’re talking about the government shutdown and the ripple effects for SNAP. And I did want to ask you about sort of the overall picture, Peggy, the ongoing government shutdown was triggered by Senate Democrats’ refusal to vote for a temporary funding bill for the federal government. Unless President Trump and the Republicans make a deal to restore important subsidies for the Affordable Care Act health insurance plans and without these subsidies, individual and family monthly health insurance premiums will skyrocket. They’ll rise anywhere I’ve read between 75 percent and 114 percent, meaning millions won’t be able to pay for their health insurance anymore. A lot of people without health insurance and these people, if they get sick, they’re going to go to the emergency room. It’s going to cost either way, but it’s a complicated situation. But on the other hand, it’s kind of simple.
PEGGY BAILEY: Exactly.
SCOTT HARRIS: Peggy, how should this shutdown be resolved in your opinion?
PEGGY BAILEY: Well, I think, Scott, you hit on the point that this is actually quite simple. It wouldn’t take much for Congress to agree that we should extend the enhanced premium tax credits that people have been receiving for the last few years to help them afford their health insurance. And so I think hopefully Congress will realize that we can do all of the things. We can keep the government open, we can extend these premium tax credits, the enhanced premium tax credits. So some people, the people who have been getting their tax credits since the beginning of the Affordable Care Act will still continue to get them. During the pandemic, Congress and the president expanded eligibility and deepened the premium tax credits for people. And it’s that piece that we’re debating right now.
And, another key part of keeping the government open is putting in guardrails—Congress, putting in guardrails that say to the administration that a deal is a deal that when we decide to appropriate dollars, the administration is required to spend them. And that refers to what has also been happening since January where the administration has illegally either not spent money, illegally let go of federal employees. Illegally stopped entire government programs and has threatened to move rescission packages through Congress in ways that are at least legally suspect if not, some of them are also illegal themselves.
And so in this shutdown, Congress needs to do all of the things: protect against those illegal actions that the administration has been taking to not spend money that Congress has appropriated; extend the premium tax credit enhancements and that all of that can help keep the government open in this country.
We can do multiple things at once and we shouldn’t pit people against each other, whether it’s people who need food assistance, people who are eligible for these premium tax credit enhancements, or all those that are being hurt by government funding being illegally taken back. We need to be able to do all these things at once.
SCOTT HARRIS: Thanks, Peggy. Just a quick final question. And certainly, the millions of people that depend on these programs, they’re not just numbers. They’re real people with families. They go through a lot of dire issues as we all do in our families. But added to that, of course, is the burden of not knowing what’s up with these programs that people rely on. Tell our audience about the stress and anxiety millions of Americans are experiencing with their access to vital and basic food for sustenance being used as leverage in a political battle on Capitol Hill by the president and congressional politicians.
PEGGY BAILEY: Absolutely. So, as you started with about one in eight Americans depend on food assistance, those folks are veterans. They’re people with disabilities. They’re people that are caring for family members and the majority of them are working. So these are folks that are all of our neighbors who all they just need a little extra help in order to afford groceries. I mean, oftentimes people who need help from government programs are demonized. We have to remember that people are working hard. They’re just not making enough money to make ends meet. And in times like these, when costs are increasing, everyone’s grocery bills are increasing, that becomes even harder. And so at a moment like this to take away food assistance from people really could have dire consequences. And it’s not just consequences about whether they can afford groceries. Having to choose between food and medicine or food and being able to pay all of the rent or food and electricity for families that are barely getting by. One small crisis can mean things like eviction happening, people not taking their medications and therefore chronic illnesses getting worse. Or kids not being able to learn in school because they’re hungry that day.
These programs, we talk about them as programs, but as you said, there are people that depend on these, that rely on these. And this is the first time in history that we haven’t met the call to help people afford food and we’ve got to be able to do better. And so we hope that we’re glad that the administration has been forced basically to pay for the partial benefits and we’re hoping that they’ll reconsider and use the resources that they have at hand to fill in all of the food benefits that people need.
SCOTT HARRIS: All right. Well said. Peggy, thank you so much for spending time with us tonight and leave our listeners with the web address for your group, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
PEGGY BAILEY: Sure. Our web address is centeronbudget.org.
SCOTT HARRIS: Got it. Alright, Peggy, good luck. I know it’s a busy time. So thanks for being here and we’ll stay in touch. Love to have you back to talk more about these issues that aren’t going away anytime soon.
PEGGY BAILEY: Right, absolutely. And thanks again for having me.
SCOTT HARRIS: Take care. Thank you. Goodnight. That’s Peggy Bailey, executive vice president for policy and program development with the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
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