Liccardo stakes out position on federal shutdown fight

In the face of federal funding cuts, U.S. Rep. Sam Liccardo said at a press conference in Mountain View on Monday that he will refuse to vote to avert a looming government shutdown unless Congress extends health insurance subsidies so that people can afford to pay for their medical coverage.

“This administration has to stop making it harder for people to pay their bills,” Liccardo said at Mountain View’s Community Services Agency, a local provider of safety net services. 

Liccardo represents the state’s 16th congressional district, which includes Mountain View, Los Altos, Palo Alto and Menlo Park, as well as other portions of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. 

Flanked by local officials and nonprofit leaders, Liccardo highlighted the dire need for the federal government to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits before they expire. A Republican spending bill that passed in July has already made drastic cuts to Medicaid and CalFresh, both federal assistance programs. The possibility of skyrocketing health insurance premiums is another gut punch, Liccardo said.

“I am not going to vote for a continuing resolution unless those tax credits are included,” Liccardo said. “I am also not going to vote for any deal unless we know that the president can be held to the deal.”

The federal government is poised to shut down if Congress fails to pass legislation by the end of the month to keep the government funded. Democrats have threatened to oppose a short-term spending bill if Republicans don’t address soaring health insurance costs.

Dr. Fahd Khan, president of the Santa Clara County Medical Association, said at Monday’s event that more than 17 million people are expected to lose coverage if the tax credits expire, including 3.2 million Californians.

According to Khan, premiums could rise as much as 75% in the state, with a family of four that earns $64,000 paying $2,600 more a year, and a 60-year-old couple making $80,000 paying $17,500 more.

“These aren’t just numbers. They are impossible choices between rent, food and health,” Khan said. 

Local nonprofits have been trying to pick up the slack, but it has been difficult amid federal funding cuts and freezes, CSA Executive Director Tom Myers said. CSA has seen a 13% reduction in federal funding for food and a 32% reduction for homelessness prevention programs and services. The county, city and donors have stepped in to help, but Myers said that it still is not enough.

The freeze also has impacted United Way Bay Area, a nonprofit that assists people living in poverty. For more than 40 years, the organization has operated an emergency food and shelter program that distributes funds to other social service agencies, said Laura Escobar, vice president of safety net services.

But now $2.5 million in grants have been put on hold, Escobar said. This has meant that local food pantries have had to reduce their offerings to people in need. 

“How is feeding hungry people controversial?” Escobar asked.

Several CSA volunteers, who were sorting vegetables at the food pantry, similarly told the Voice after the press conference that fewer and fewer supplies were coming in while community needs were growing.

“We don’t have much food left at the end of the day,” said Susan Barber, a Mountain View resident and CSA volunteer. “It’s like putting a finger in a hole in a dike.”