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Defend SNAP and Medicaid

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

Click here to send a message to Congress telling them to reject draconian cuts and to strengthen human needs programs.

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The New Congress: How It Plans to Cut And How to Fight Back

December 16, 2016 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

An archive of this webinar is available here.

The Affordable Care Act. Medicaid. Medicare. SNAP. SSI.  Tax rates for the wealthy and corporations. The new Congress wants to repeal, restrict and/or cut all of these.  How will they use their rules to try to carry all this out?  And how will Senators who oppose these goals try to stop the cuts?

Presenters:

Ellen Nissenbaum, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Deborah Weinstein, Coalition on Human Needs

Representative Jim McGovern

Moderator:  Ellen Teller, Food Research and Action Center

What you’ll learn:

The new Congress will try to repeal the Affordable Care Act in January, so President Trump can sign it soon after his inauguration, and enact some kind of replacement later.  They will use budget rules to try to get the repeal done with a simple majority.  Ellen Nissenbaum, a renowned expert on the congressional budget rules, will explain how the rules work, and what leverage points may exist for opponents.  Some actions can pass with only 51 Senators; many others require 60 votes to pass.  These rules affect the strategies over plans to cut/restrict critically important human needs programs, as well as gigantic tax cut proposals.  Advocates need to understand the rules, to work effectively with congressional allies to hold off extreme proposals.  Deborah Weinstein will talk about advocacy strategies we can use together.

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Details

Date:
December 16, 2016
Time:
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Event Category: