Food and health care should not be competing priorities
Yesterday, Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order that will provide $25 million in emergency food assistance to cover a funding gap caused by the Trump administration’s decision to leave SNAP unfunded during the federal government shutdown. Policy Matters Ohio Executive Director Hannah Halbert issued the following statement:
“Nearly 1.5 million Ohioans face food insecurity as federal SNAP funding halts due to the Trump Administration’s failure to deploy contingency funds. Gov. DeWine’s executive order is a welcome step. We thank him for acting swiftly.
“The order directs $7 million to Ohio food banks and $18 million in emergency relief to 63,000 low-income Ohioans, including 57,000 children through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). These families have incomes at or below 50% of the federal poverty level: just $13,325 for a family of three. This is real help for real people.
“To be clear: This crisis was avoidable. The Trump administration has tools to fund SNAP during shutdowns. Past administrations used them. This one chose not to, creating an avoidable crisis for political gain.
“Similarly, Congress refuses to use the tools they have to help families with skyrocketing health care premiums: Enhanced ACA premium tax credits are set to expire unless Congress acts.
“Both federal failures are hurting Ohio families. Food and health care are not competing priorities—they are basic needs and essential to economic security. Ohioans shouldn’t have to choose. The state’s billionaires didn’t have to choose between football stadiums and an income tax cut; the legislature used our state budget to give them both.
“People who could use a little help to cover the costs of food and health insurance are our neighbors, coworkers, and family. They are not bargaining chips to be pitted against one another for partisan points.
“By deploying emergency SNAP funds, Gov. DeWine took a step in the right direction. But Ohioans need him and our D.C. delegation to do more, by calling for solutions that don’t pit hungry families against those with skyrocketing health insurance premiums. And we need Senators Husted and Moreno, and all our congressmembers, to stop trying to break the health insurance marketplace with sky-high premiums, and pass premium tax credit reforms.”
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