After more than two decades, Deborah Weinstein, the Coalition on Human Needs’ (CHN) executive director, plans to step down from this role at the end of June, 2026. Founded in 1981, CHN is an alliance of national organizations working together to promote public policies that address the needs of low-income…

If the House of Representatives enacts a continuing appropriations bill that takes no action to prevent unaffordable increases in health insurance costs, it will be an immense failure to respond to their constituents’ urgent needs.  Millions of people will be forced to discontinue their health coverage.  Millions more will have to pay huge increases in premiums, threatening their ability to pay for their other basic needs.  With open enrollment in place around the country, more than 20 million people who depend on Affordable Care Act’s marketplace coverage are deciding right now, and millions are seeing that their premiums will at least double.  Failing to protect them is unacceptable. 

CHN urges Representatives to vote NO on the spending package (H.R. 5371) expected on the House floor this week given that it does not rein in skyrocketing health costs by including provisions to extend the enhanced ACA premium tax credits and protect vital health programs. The need to prevent the ACA enhanced credits from expiring is urgent and every day Congress delays action means more people will become uninsured as they despair over unaffordable premium increases. Congress must also protect Congressionally approved funds from being frozen or rescinded by the administration, and calls of Congress to come together on a bipartisan basis to end the shutdown by addressing these issues.

In addition to this immediate pain to those whose families are being torn apart, the Trump administration’s immigration agenda directly harms our collective economy, health, and safety as a nation. This commentary reviews the harm thus far to our country, as the administration pursues its mindless ambitions.