Kennedy Calls to End the Republican Shutdown as Safety Net Cliff Threatens Families

On November 1, HEAP and Nutritional Benefits Run Out, and Open Enrollment With Skyrocketing Premiums Begins

As Republicans Keep the Government Shut Down Rather Than Protect Healthcare, Americans Will Suffer

LACKAWANNA, N.Y. - Joined by elected officials, nonprofit leaders, and members of the faith community at Second Baptist Church in Lackawanna, NY, Congressman Tim Kennedy (NY-26) alerted his constituents that the safety net cliff he has long warned about is arriving. The loss of funding for the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) and nutritional benefits, coupled with the beginning of the healthcare exchange's open enrollment period and skyrocketing premiums, means working families across Western New York and the entire nation will begin to acutely feel the pain of the Republican-led government shutdown. As Democrats continue to fight to reopen the government and cancel the deadly healthcare cuts, Kennedy called on Western New Yorkers to rally around one another to help get them through this difficult time and reiterated his demand that Congressional Republicans come back to Washington and immediately enter into good-faith negotiations.

"We have warned for months of the risk of inaction in addressing the impending safety net cliff that our community is facing," said Congressman Kennedy. "Tragically, those warnings have been met with silence by Congressional Republicans. Make no mistake about what this will mean. Families will struggle to put food on the table, seniors will suffer through a cold winter, and the nearly two million New Yorkers who buy their insurance on the healthcare exchange will wake up to impossibly high premiums. This confluence is creating a perfect storm that threatens to rip the rug out from under working families and make America sick. Republicans must come to the negotiating table and stop playing games with people's lives and livelihoods."

Watch Congressman Kennedy's full remarks here.

"As we enter the holiday season, community members in Western New York should be focusing on family, on celebration, and on prayer," said Pastor Mark Blue. "Unfortunately, far too many will instead have to worry about putting food on the table, keeping warm, and finding affordable healthcare. At Second Baptist Church, we will do our part to stand up for the community, and we urge all Western New Yorkers to do the same. I urge Congress and the President to protect our healthcare and reopen the government in order to deliver for the American people and prevent further suffering."

"The Republican majority is showing us just where their priorities lie with these cruel cuts, and it's not with the American people, it's with tax cuts for billionaires. Because of the GOP thousands of Erie County residents including infants, children, seniors and veterans will be colder, hungrier and sicker as we enter this month of Thanksgiving, all to further enrich the top 1%," said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. "While the GOP ran away for a long vacation, turning their backs on their constituents, hardworking people out here in the real world have had to make difficult decisions about how to make ends meet. The Republicans have shown that they have no interest in or cares about the health and wellbeing of their constituents, so it is up to us to rise as a community, call out their cruelty for what it is, and move forward together despite them."

"The impending loss of federal program benefits and programs which provide our most vulnerable populations with access to food, heat, healthcare and other benefits will be heavily felt in the City of Lackawanna, and similar communities across the country, as nearly one-quarter of our resident population lives below the poverty level," said Mayor Annette Iafallo. "As elected officials we must come together, across the aisle, and get SNAP, HEAP and other necessary benefits funded ASAP - while continuing to make affordable healthcare options available. While politics at any level of government can be complicated, it should never result in depriving the people we serve of basic needs and dignity."

"FeedMore WNY and our network of partner agencies are preparing for a substantial increase in need in November," said Collin Bishop, Chief Communications Officer of FeedMore WNY. "The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides benefits to approximately 201,000 individuals in our service area each month. If they do not receive that benefit, many will turn to our network for help. Anyone in need of that assistance can use the Find Food button on the FeedMore WNY website for a list of all the resources that are available through our organization. Ensuring all of these community members have the necessary nutrition for the month would be a substantial increase on the work we do, and we cannot do it alone. The Western New York community has already responded by reaching out to us, organizing food drives, sending donations, and offering to volunteer. This is the help we need now, and in the weeks to come. The longer the shutdown continues, the greater the burden will be on our food bank distribution network."

"The impending pausing of HEAP and SNAP, along with healthcare open enrollment without the benefit of enhanced tax credits puts an undue burden on working families. I would ask why this is necessary, but for this administration, the cruelty is the point," said New York State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes. "I stand with Congressman Kennedy in bringing attention to this issue as we all work on solutions to mitigate this administration's assault on the working class."

"Without the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits, working families, seniors, and low- and middle-income households in Western New York will face steep premium hikes, higher out-of-pocket costs, and reduced coverage options," said Keisha A. Williams, Deputy Director of Neighborhood Legal Services. "Without access to affordable health care, health conditions worsen, financial distress grows, and families are forced to make impossible choices between medical care and other basic needs. Restoring funding for the Essential Plan and extending the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits will ensure that every member of our community can continue to access the care they need without risking financial hardship."

"The financial hardship currently facing American families is not only heartbreaking, it is unethical and truly unamerican," said First Ward Councilmember Amira Muflahi. "The inability to feed your family has to be the toughest struggle someone has to endure. Cutting benefits and services while inflation ravages the economy, is absolutely disheartening. I pray for a better tomorrow."

"The looming halt to SNAP and HEAP benefits is just the latest example of the federal government's disregard for working families and vulnerable people," said Councilwoman Zeneta Everhart. "First, they gutted Medicaid and food assistance that millions of Americans rely upon, then they refused to extend tax credits that allow millions more to afford insurance on the healthcare exchange, and now they are choosing to let some 40 million Americans go hungry. As made clear by the lawsuit filed by 25 state attorneys general, including New York's own Attorney General James, the administration not only has billions in contingency funding to maintain SNAP benefits during the shutdown, but also is legally obligated to do so. I join Congressman Kennedy in calling on Congress and the White House to stop prioritizing tax cuts for billionaires above the basic needs of working people."

"The loss of vital supports like HEAP and SNAP, combined with rising costs, will leave too many Buffalo residents and community members in the Lovejoy District struggling to choose between heat, food, and healthcare," said Councilmember Bryan Bollman. "I'm grateful to Congressman Kennedy for bringing attention to this critical issue, and I stand with him in calling for immediate action to protect our most vulnerable neighbors."

Due to the shutdown, the start of New York's HEAP program has been delayed until at least mid-November from its typical early November opening. This delay means over a million low-income New York households cannot receive federal heating aid as temperatures drop. In Western New York, this week's lowest temperatures dipped into the 30s, already putting the energy squeeze on families.

As a result of the ongoing federal government shutdown and the Trump Administration's refusal to use its legal authority to maintain benefits, millions of New Yorkers face the loss of their November SNAP benefits after already sustaining billions in cuts earlier this year. This is a choice by the Administration to play politics with food assistance, abandoning hungry seniors, veterans, and families with children by not releasing available funds.

Beginning November 1, many New Yorkers using the NY State of Health marketplace will face a sharp increase in their health insurance premiums due to the expiration of the Affordable Care Act's enhanced healthcare premium tax credits. This steep jump, which follows Republicans' refusal to extend the credits, is compounded by other federal cuts to the state's healthcare programs, including a major reduction in funding for the Essential Plan.

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