Congress cannot give up– they must find a solution to ensure everyone has access to affordable health care. www.clasp.org/press-room/p...

And finally, Congress failed to extend the enhanced premium tax credits for the Affordable Care Act which will result in millions of individuals across the country having their health care costs more than double starting in January.

The Trump Administration must rehire the federal workers they illegally tried to fire in the cover of the government shutdown and provide all federal workers backpay as is already required by the law.

Any further delay by the government will prolong the stress and instability that staff and families have been experiencing.

On top of the many challenges that come with reopening a completely closed program, they will have to rehire staff that had to find other jobs to make ends meet and ensure they still have access to their classrooms.

While this funding goes out, programs that had to close their doors due to this lapse in funding may face challenges in reopening.

Programs should stay alert as processing these payments will likely take longer than expected due to the reduced government staff and additional burdensome review processes established under this administration.

The government must quickly process all grant renewals and payments to the 140 Head Start programs across the country that had October 1st and November 1st renewal dates to allow programs that closed to reopen without delay.

Now it is time for the Trump Administration to make it right and ensure SNAP, WIC, and Head Start are funded expeditiously and that states that stepped up to support families when the federal government failed are reimbursed.

The Trump Administration went out of their way, time and time again, to prevent SNAP benefits from reaching the 42 million people who rely on it, all while renovating the White House.

As result of deliberate decisions from the Trump Admin, millions of individuals could not access their full SNAP benefits this month and thousands of children had their Head Start programs shuttered.

It should go without saying that these violent attacks on immigrant communities are deeply traumatizing for immigrant children. @wendydcervantes.bsky.social, Rebecca Ullrich, and Hannah Matthews wrote about this for @clasp.org in 2018. www.clasp.org/wp-content/u...

[3] We condemn the actions of today. As @wendydcervantes.bsky.social of @clasp.org said in a statement,“We urge policymakers to hold ICE accountable to these harms and ensure places like child care centers, schools, and hospitals remain safe and accessible to all families.”

Congress must reopen the government, extend ACA premium tax credits, and restore benefits families depend on.

This shutdown didn’t have to happen—but lawmakers can still choose people over politics. www.clasp.org/press-room/p...