Copyright Hartford Courant
If you’re talking to hardworking people in Connecticut every day, it’s clear that many are already struggling – and it is about to get worse. A Southington widower recently told The Connecticut Project Action Fund, “If it weren’t for HUSKY D, I would honestly be dead.” A Tolland County mother told us that SNAP “helped put food on the table for myself and my kids – something I couldn’t do being a single mother with a minimum wage job.” But because of federal cuts and changes to Medicaid and SNAP, thousands of Connecticut residents who are already one paycheck away from disaster could be at risk of losing their health care and food. If Connecticut doesn’t step in now to prepare, the consequences will be devastating for people and our economy. This crisis isn’t Connecticut’s fault, but it is our lawmakers’ responsibility to respond now, so our effort is thoughtful, coordinated, and well-planned. Connecticut must prepare as much as we can during a special session this fall, when lawmakers must move $700 million of the state surplus into a safeguard account to prevent people from losing their services, clarify the definition of the safeguard account to include things like SNAP, and launch a dedicated cross-government planning effort to protect Connecticut residents from federal HUSKY and SNAP chaos. This is what our budget surplus was built for. The “rainy day” our lawmakers have responsibly prepared for is here, and the clock is ticking. Lawmakers created the fiscal rules to give the state the ability to act. Now is the time to do so. Unless lawmakers step in this fall, our entire remaining surplus for 2025 will go to paying off pension debt – right now, that’s estimated to be more than $1 billion. Under our fiscal rules, they have the power to use $700 million of that money to preserve services, which would mean still putting hundreds of millions of dollars toward our clear responsibility to pay pension debt. As a state, we’re responsible for our pension debt, and we’re responsible for ensuring Connecticut residents don’t go without medical care or food. It is uncertain when exactly the cuts will hit, but that is all the more reason for Connecticut to get prepared now. “Wait and see” doesn’t cut it when people’s lives and our state’s economy are in the balance. These cuts are clearly coming, and they are big enough, and the administrative changes complicated enough, that our state has an obligation to get coordinated now. If Connecticut doesn’t act, federal cuts and changes to HUSKY and SNAP mean moms, babies, children, people with disabilities, veterans, and seniors will go hungry and avoid going to the doctor. Last year, more than 400,000 Connecticut residents used SNAP to help pay for groceries, and 900,000 used HUSKY for medical care. It’s estimated that up to 200,000 people in our state could lose access to HUSKY alone. Report: 40% of Connecticut struggles to make ends meet. ‘A wake-up call.’ Even before federal cuts, parents are skipping meals so their children can eat, seniors are cutting their medications in half, and people are having to choose between groceries and the doctor. Applying for HUSKY and SNAP is already complicated, and it will be worse if Connecticut doesn’t have a clear way to help state agencies prepare for the chaotic administrative changes caused by the federal budget. Moreover, acting now is the economically responsible choice. HUSKY and SNAP help to keep our hospitals, doctors’ offices, farms, and grocery stores open. Cuts to HUSKY and SNAP are expected to cost Connecticut more than 9,000 jobs and weaken our economy by more than $1.5 billion. They are also preventive care, keeping families and our state from incurring even bigger, avoidable costs. “If Connecticut doesn’t act, the costs – both human and financial – will be far greater than the investment it takes to keep SNAP and HUSKY strong,” one Meriden mom, who used SNAP to feed her child when her husband lost his job, told us. What will new Medicaid, SNAP work requirements look like in CT? The federal government has brought the crisis to our front door, but we know what’s best for us in Connecticut. We need a fed, healthy state and a clear-eyed plan. Lamont must convene lawmakers for a special session to clarify the safeguard account to include SNAP, invest $700 million of this year’s surplus in that safeguard account, and create a working group to coordinate state agencies to address federal cuts. Our state’s choice is clear: act responsibly and thoughtfully now, or scramble with avoidable fallout that will hurt hundreds of thousands of residents. Garth Harries is president and CEO of The Connecticut Project Action Fund, a nonprofit that advocates to make Connecticut work for working class people.
