Shutdown Averters Seek Gov’t Funding Fix

If the federal government shuts down, state agencies and local organizations can only do so much to stop children from going hungry, seniors from shivering in the winter, and healthcare centers from shuttering.

Local and state leaders sent that message to House Republicans on Monday, imploring them to fund the federal government beyond the 45-day stopgap measure that passed this weekend.

Though the country has temporarily averted a federal shutdown through Nov. 17, a host of Connecticut politicians decried the lingering uncertainty over whether essential and in some cases life-saving services will be able to operate past that deadline — spotlighting, in particular, the numerous poverty and healthcare lifelines that rely on federal funding.

U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal joined local advocates and politicians including Mayor Justin Elicker, Gov. Ned Lamont, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, state Department of Social Services (DSS) Commissioner Andrea Barton Reeves, state Department of Public Health (DPH) Commissioner Manisha Juthani, and New Haven State Rep. Pat Dillon outside Cornell Scott Hill Health Center’s 428 Columbus Ave. location on Monday morning to call attention to the potential crisis. 

“Families don’t shut down,” said Elicker. ​“Workers don’t shut down.”

"Taking Food From Babies"

Hundreds of thousands of Connecticut families rely on public benefits to fulfill their basic needs, according to Bysiewicz. Across the state, over 270,000 people depend on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food stamps to eat; 11,700 families use Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF) to pay for essentials; over 116,000 pay for heating with the help of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP); and 48,000 families utilize WIC to feed babies and young children under 5 years old.

Additionally, between 23 and 25 percent of Connecticut residents depend on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program for access to medical care.

Should federal funding for these programs lapse, DSS Commissioner Barton Reeves said that the state is able to fund SNAP and LIHEAP for a couple of weeks, and Medicaid will be funded through the beginning of 2024. ​“The food banks will see some disruption,” she added.

Meanwhile, the need for these programs could grow if the state’s 10,000 federal employees (and 6,000 active duty personnel) lose their paychecks.

If a permanent budget is not passed, End Hunger CT Policy Director Lucy Nolan warned that the House Republicans responsible for holding up federal operations will be ​“quite literally taking food from babies.”

Nolan pointed out that the temporary funding bill passed by the U.S. House and Senate on Saturday expires shortly before Thanksgiving.

Milford-based parent Robin Icatar relied on WIC (Women and Infant Children) to feed her son up until he recently turned 5 and aged out of the program. 

She said on Monday the benefit helped her afford food after surviving a stroke, and losing work, in the midst of her pregnancy. It helped her pay for nutritious food for her son, who has cerebral palsy and eats by way of a gastrointestinal tube.

“They did a great job,” she said of the WIC staff she worked with, including nutrition manager Melissa DeChello. She noted that the program helped her save about $300 per month.

Icatar called on politicians opposed to funding the program to ​“pull it together.”

Hill Health Warns Of 95% Cuts

Monday’s press conference took place at Cornell Scott Hill Health Center, a community health organization that provides essential medical services to more than 50,000 residents of the New Haven area each year.

Most patients at Cornell Scott are either uninsured (in which case they pay sliding-scale fees) or insured by Medicaid or Medicare. The organization’s CEO, Michael Taylor, estimated that 95 percent of the organization’s funding originates from the federal government, whether through patients’ public healthcare or separate federal programs. 

As a federally-qualified community health center, Cornell Scott uses federal funding to provide primary medical and dental care to adults and children, along with numerous specialties, mental health services, addiction treatment, HIV/AIDS prevention, and school-based healthcare.

Taylor expressed concern that a shutdown would imperil the salaries of his organization’s employees — and that temporary funding measures will not assuage anxieties of current and prospective healthcare workers that Cornell Scott hopes to hire. He said that operations would significantly falter if the government ceases to fund the organization after Nov. 17.

“We are still in jeopardy,” Taylor said.

"The Stakes Are Life & Death"

Blumenthal referred to recent months working in Congress as ​“one of the most frustrating moments of my life” on Monday.

He and Murphy stressed the importance of aiding Ukraine’s defense efforts against what Blumenthal called ​“Putin’s murderous invasion.” The bill approved by the House and Senate on Saturday did not include more money for Ukraine.

“It is very possible that Ukraine can get by in the next month or month and a half. It cannot get by any longer,” Murphy said, boiling the matter of U.S. funding for the war down to the question: ​“Do you want Kiev to be a Ukrainian city or a Russian one?” 

He noted that the very goal of a substantial number of House Republicans is to severely cut benefits like SNAP, LIHEAP, and WIC. He took a firm stance on protecting these programs, noting that he would not legislate ​“at the expense of forcing seniors to freeze in their homes.”

He offered a message to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy: ​“The only way to keep families in neighborhoods like this whole is to reach across the aisle.”

“The stakes are life and death,” he noted, gesturing at the healthcare center behind them.