Editor’s note: The Coalition on Human Needs sent this letter to all members of the U.S. House of Representatives on June 10, 2026.

Dear Representative: 

On behalf of the Coalition on Human Needs, I strongly urge you to vote NO on H.R. 8464, the “Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act”, which could pave the way for the Trump Administration to​ ​ freeze funding for critical basic needs programs that have been enacted by Congress at a time that many are struggling with the costs of health care, food, housing, and other human needs.  

The Coalition on Human Needs is made up of human service providers, faith groups, policy experts, and civil rights, labor, and other organizations concerned with meeting the needs of people with low incomes. Many are dealing with the aftermath of last year’s historic cuts to basic needs programs including SNAP, Medicaid and the ACA, higher education, the Child Tax Credit, and other human needs programs.  We’re already seeing the impacts – from enactment until February, more than 3.5 million people lost access to SNAP’s food assistance including more than 700,000 children, 1.4 million children have lost Medicaid/CHIP coverage with experts flagging that many more are losing coverage in 2026, and CMS’s new Medicaid work reporting rule will create confusion and chaos for states.  

At a time that many are dealing with rising costs and policy changes that make it harder to put food on the table and access health coverage, H.R. 8464 gives the Trump Administration’s Treasury Secretary or other agency heads sweeping authority to delay or block funding for basic needs programs, further disrupting the lives of low-income working families, service providers, and localities ​and​ increas​ing​ hardship for families across the country. This unprecedented authority to disrupt funding for service providers, communities, and states without cause or due process will make it even harder for families to access basic needs programs, resulting in fewer eligible families receiving assistance.  

Many in our networks of service providers have had to turn away eligible families or stop programming because the Trump Administration has withheld and cancelled funding for programs. They’ve had to navigate complicated systems after the Trump Administration fired many of the federal employees who oversee basic programs, ensure that federal funding is provided as the law intended, and safeguard citizens’ access to programs and services. As a result, over 500 organizations sent Congress a letter last month urging Congress to “insist that the Administration follow authorizing and appropriations law across all federal agencies, release the funding Congress enacted, provide the services required by statutes to all eligible entities, and maintain properly trained federal staff who are able to administer these services in an effective and timely manner.” Nationwide, community-based organizations have struggled to address increased needs in their communities, exacerbated by rising costs, and giving the Trump Administration ​additional​​ authority to disrupt based needs programs will make things worse.  

Families are facing a basic needs crisis and H.R. 8464 will only exacerbate the hardship that families, providers, and local policymakers are grappling with every day ​by making​​ ​it harder for families to pay rent, buy food, access care and health services, and more. We are concerned that ​     ​bills​ like H.R. 8464​ are part of a larger threat to basic needs programs that ​will decrease ​access to child care, home care services that enable older adults and people with disabilities to remain in their homes, ​vital food assistance, and life-saving health coverage in an inflationary environment with the greatest impacts on children, seniors, and people with disabilities​. Congress should be protecting child care, health care, food assistance, housing, and other basic needs​ programs​, not exacerbating ​families’ everyday crises. ​We urge you to reject H.R. 8464 and urge Leadership along with colleagues to instead protect and strengthen basic needs programs. 

Sincerely yours,

Deborah Weinstein,
Executive Director