On October 31, 2025, the same day two federal judges ordered the Trump Administration to stop withholding Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Payments (SNAP), formerly food stamps, from the 42 million Americans who rely on it,^[1] the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) sent out a “REMINDER” to grocery stores: do not offer shutdown discounts to customers who use SNAP to feed their families.^[2] The Trump Administration’s refusal to disburse November 2025 SNAP has turned the last year’s never-ending trickle of cuts to the social safety net into an immediate humanitarian crisis. The emergency for American families in poverty did not begin with the shutdown, nor will it end when a budget is passed. But the dangerous, cruel, and likely illegal choice first to withhold SNAP, and then to disburse only partial payments so that many families will receive nothing for weeks, has created an unprecedented emergency.

Philanthropy cannot fill the gap created by the billions currently being withheld from vulnerable American families, but every dollar helps. Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy has partnered with the Georgetown Health Justice Alliance (HJA) Law Clinic to raise funds for low-income clinic client families facing emergencies. If you have even $6 to spare, please donate— $6.16 can cover a person’s SNAP for an entire day.^[3] Every dollar raised will be disbursed by Georgetown’s HJA Law Clinic directly to families facing emergencies related to food, rent, utility or medical bills, or other crises.

The HJA Law Clinic is a medical-legal partnership supporting low-income DC families with children. Clients are referred to HJA by MedStar Georgetown Division of Community Pediatrics healthcare partners who identify unmet legal needs that are harming patients’ health, including housing discrimination, inhabitable living conditions, food, utility and housing insecurity, barriers to education, and lack of disability accommodations. Law students working together with medical students advocate to remove these legal barriers to health.

However, over the last few months, clinic staff have seen a sharp increase in need for basic necessities: for food on the dinner table, cash to prevent a heat or hot water shut-off, and safe places to spend the night when, for example, a family discovers toxic mold in their home. Legal and medical assistance cannot stand in for these material needs, especially since the level of urgency can make it difficult for parents and caregivers to engage in the litigation and other advocacy that may be necessary to improve their long-term financial, housing, and food insecurity—all of which are critical to health.

“These needs are rapidly growing, and the safety net is critical to the health and wellbeing of children and families,” HJA Law Clinic Professor Yael Cannon explained.[4] “While we try to ensure justice through our legal advocacy for individual families and our systemic policy advocacy, the emergency needs are there and growing every week.”[5] Seeing the safety net weakening and gaps growing where the clinic had previously been able to coordinate help, HJA Law Clinic made the decision to start an emergency fund to help families in crisis.

“We launched this fund a few months ago in memory of a Health Justice Alliance alumna, Nicole Carroll, who passed away last year after a brief and valiant battle with colon cancer,” Cannon said. “She was really passionate about working with children living in poverty and took a holistic approach to the needs of her clinic client families in a really inspiring way.”[6] With support from the clinic and Carroll’s family, Cannon created the fund to respond to a rise in need resulting from the events of late-2024 and early-2025: cuts to the federal safety net, the District’s budget and safety net, and mass federal layoffs that left tens of thousands of people relying on food banks and nonprofits for the first time, draining already limited resources.

“It’s not just food banks,” Cannon said. “All kinds of financial and food resources are running out. For example, [there are usually] cancer-related and other medically-focused financial and food resources, and those are extremely limited right now because of how many people are in need, including families who had higher incomes but are out of work right now.”[7]

Then came the shutdown.

Safety Net Shutdowns

The federal shutdown is only one in a series of cuts to the safety net, but it has created an immediate crisis. Across the country, 42 million people (1 in 8 Americans, and 1 in 5 D.C. residents) rely on $8 billion per month in SNAP food assistance.[8] SNAP is a mandatory entitlement that has never before been paused in its 60-year history.

“SNAP is not discretionary. It’s a legal guarantee. When the federal government withholds food assistance, it violates the very purpose of the program and the law itself,” said Cori Racela, Executive Director of Western Center on Law & Poverty, which filed a nationwide class action suit challenging the withholding of SNAP benefits.[9] Two federal judges and an appeals court agreed that SNAP could not be paused, but the USDA has yet to release full SNAP funds.^[10] The Administration eventually agreed to release 65% of November 2025 funds, but state governments are not prepared to disburse partial benefits. Weeks of delays are expected, and under new rules, some families may be cut off entirely.^[11] D.C. and several other states decided to provide full benefits.[12] However, on November 9, 2025, after winning a temporary stay from the Supreme Court, the Trump Administration ordered them to “undo” those payments and has not commented on a First Circuit ruling that since declined to stay a district court order enforcing full payment.[13] Even before the shutdown, SNAP was already facing $200 billion in cuts over the next ten years due to the recently passed law H.R.1 (also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act).[14] Over the next two years, H.R.1 will impose stringent work-reporting demands, restrictions on refugee and asylee SNAP access, and pure funding cuts “shifting” federal costs to states.^[15]

SNAP is not the only essential federal benefit affected. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) provides $4.1 billion per year in emergency individual grants to prevent winter heating and summer cooling shutoffs, and has not yet been disbursed this year.^[16] Most states therefore cannot provide the grants to families who depend on the money to prevent energy shutoffs. Even once the government shutdown ends, it is unclear how or if the funds will be distributed because the entire LIHEAP staff was laid off on April 1, 2025, the day after the winter LIHEAP grant season ended for most states.^[17] LIHEAP also relies on annual discretionary funding which varies widely year-to-year at Congress’s discretion.^[18]

Head Start, which provides $12 billion to fund preschools and daycares for 716,000 low-income kids, is also cut off.[19] As of November 1, 2025, 140 of 1,600 programs across the country missed disbursements. Many Head Start Programs have been forced to close temporarily, leaving 65,000 toddlers without education, free meals, and wraparound services.^[20]

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) supplies $7.7 billion per year in supplemental nutrition assistance for pregnant and nursing mothers and children under 5 years of age, and has so far been funded through the end of November 2025 by discretionary transfers of $750 in tariff revenue.[21] The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has also funded the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV) and public housing through December 2025 by tapping $4 billion in advance congressional appropriations.^[22]

Additionally, Continuum of Care programs for chronically homeless individuals are funded through the end of the calendar year. However, when the shutdown ends, HUD plans to cap funding for permanent housing at 30% of current funds. ^[23] Other housing and nutrition services—such as WIC and Section 8—will face multi-billion dollar cuts under President Trump’s proposed budget.^[24]

Washington D.C.’s Budget Challenges

Washington, D.C. also faces unique threats to its safety net because of congressional actions over the last year, and HJA clients are suffering as a result. “Because of our unique status, D.C. hasn’t had access to its full local budget because of congressional constraints,” Cannon explained.[25] D.C.’s budget is subject to congressional approval and to congressional changes at any time. Congress cut an unexpected $1.1 billion from D.C.’s budget in March 2025, and federal government layoffs have reduced D.C.’s projected revenue by another $1 billion.^[26]

D.C.’s 2026 budget will cut the Emergency Rental Assistance Program for renters in danger of eviction or utility shutoffs to $8.6 million, down from $26 million in 2024; low income adults will be pushed from robust Medicaid healthcare coverage to a limited “basic health plan,” covering less and adding or raising premiums, which will then dramatically increase unless Congress votes to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits; and, zero new housing vouchers will be issued to currently homeless individuals.^[27] With all these cuts, “the D.C. budget has been balanced on the backs of low-income families of color.”[28]

Federal Layoffs

“There are also people relying on food banks and mutual aid that have never before needed to rely on those, and not just because of the government shutdown,” Cannon said.[29] “Because of the tremendous downsizing of government agencies, a lot of people have been out of work already for months, and then the shutdown furloughed a lot of people. The need has just exploded.”[30]

Since President Trump took office in January 2025 for his second term, the Administration has laid off 211,000 federal employees,^[31] including 5% of D.C. area federal workers.^[32] 670,000 federal staff were then furloughed by the shutdown, and 750,000 essential federal staff are “excepted” and currently working, but neither group has received a paycheck since September 30, 2025.^[33] More than 160,000 federal staff live and work in D.C.^[34] Furloughed staff are eligible for unemployment benefits, but some federal agencies have failed to provide verification necessary to receive these benefits.^[35] Unemployment benefits are also not available to “excepted” staff.^[36] All of these staff are legally entitled to back-pay as soon as the shutdown ends,^[37] but the Trump Administration has threatened to ignore this obligation.^[38]

Additionally, in early October 2025, the Trump Administration issued “reduction in force” (RIF) notices laying off approximately 4,200 federal employees, and apparently plans to lay off  thousands more.^[39] Several unions have brought suit challenging the Administration’s actions and a federal judge temporarily blocked all RIFs, but those employees’ futures are unclear, as is the status of their back-pay.^[40]

Food banks and safety net programs in D.C. have opened their doors to federal workers during the shutdown, and many restaurants are running deals to try to allay costs, but the city is not equipped to handle the outpouring of need. Clinic clients who already depended on limited nonprofit food assistance are suffering as a result, Cannon warned: “It’s hard to be first in line at a food bank when you’re parenting and dealing with so many other challenges.”[41]

Healthcare

Rising healthcare costs are also threatening clinic clients and families across the country, Cannon said. “Low-income families are also really worried about how to cover rising medical costs, especially as cuts are imminent. What we’re seeing right now is a threat to every core fundamental need that families have—to their health, to their housing, to their health care, to their food security.”[42]

Medicaid, which currently insures 71 million low-income adults, children, and disabled people in need of long-term care, is expected to lose $911 billion over the next ten years because of H.R.1.[43] The law requires that states partially cover costs that were previously covered by the federal government, demands stringent work documentation, and simultaneously limits how states can gather revenue. Many hospitals and community health centers serving mostly Medicaid patients are expected to close, creating larger medical deserts like the one currently served by HJA’s medical partners.

The open enrollment period for the ACA’s individual health insurance began November 1, 2025. Enrollees are currently seeing an average premium increase of 26%.^[44] However, if Congress passes the Republican budget in its current form, most ACA enrollees will see their premiums increase an average of 114% because enhanced tax credits created during the pandemic will expire.^[45] In other words, the average family will see their monthly premium more than double, and more than a million American families will likely be forced off insurance by the higher costs. Democratic senators filibustered the budget for forty days in order to hold out for an extension of ACA premium tax credits into 2026.^[46] However, after eight Senators struck a deal on November 9 to break the filibuster, ACA costs are expected to skyrocket in 2026.[47]

HJA Law Clinic

“This program is really powered by our students,” Cannon emphasized.[48] “Our law and medical students are doing incredible holistic advocacy every day in clinic to remove barriers to health and wellbeing and make it possible for kids and their families to thrive.”[49]

Law and medical students at the clinic provide not just individual aid, Cannon explained, but also work to elevate client voices through systemic policy advocacy. This month, clinic students will testify before the D.C. Council about how fundamental affordable housing is to D.C. residents’ health and safety.[50]

In the meantime, the Georgetown Law community raised nearly $7,000 for the HJA Law Clinic Fund in one week. The fund makes families’ day-to-day lives safer, healthier and more secure, and it also makes it easier for them to fight alongside clinic students for individual justice and systemic change. It is much harder to sit down with your lawyer, Cannon explained, if you do not know how you are going to put dinner on the table for your kids tonight.[51]

A few months ago, a mother brought her asthmatic son to the HJA’s partnered Kids Mobile Medical Clinic while she herself was in end-stage renal failure. A wellbeing check revealed mold in the home that the landlord had refused to inspect or remediate. With HJA Law Clinic’s help, she sued her landlord and was able to get a mold inspection, revealing that some of the mold spores in the home were toxic—life-threatening to someone with an immune condition like renal failure and likely to exacerbate a child’s asthma—which can lead to emergency room visits and serious illness.

“We filed in court for an emergency relocation order and expedited mold remediation, but even emergency relief in the court system takes time,” Cannon explained.[52] “In the meantime, the family had emergency needs. They needed help getting put up in an Airbnb while we sought court relief to get the landlord to pay for relocation, and they needed food and transportation costs. They were basically put out on the street.”[53] Without emergency cash on hand, the clinic students desperately scoured for resources for a safe place for the family to spend the night. This need also made it harder for the family to engage with the court system in order to vindicate their rights as tenants.

Now that HJA has an emergency fund, Cannon said, the clinic faculty and students can be better legal advocates. “When we know that families don’t have to worry about where they’ll sleep tonight or where their next meal will come from, we can focus our efforts on negotiating with landlords and pursuing court orders to get mold and other dangerous housing hazards remediated.” [54] Removing these legal barriers is “critical to the legal work we do and to the capacity of our client families to partner with us.”[55]

This month, another client—a mother who had to cut back her work hours because she was diagnosed with cancer—is being threatened with eviction. The clinic is advocating to address this family’s legal needs related to housing and public benefits. In the meantime, after receiving a call from this mother saying, “I don’t know how I’m going to put food on the table,” the clinic was able to use the fund to provide a grocery gift card.[56]

“A lot of families are having to make really difficult choices about whether they pay the rent, put food on the table for their kids, [or] pay utilities to keep the lights, the heat, and the water on,” Cannon said.[57]

Conclusion

As of November 11, 2025, the Senate agreed to a deal after eight Democratic senators voted to advance a continuing resolution that would fund the government through January but would not extend ACA premium tax credits.[58] If the shutdown ends this week, federal workers and SNAP recipients are entitled to immediate back-payments, but whether and how quickly those payments will come is unknown. The $1.6 billion shortfalls in D.C.’s 2025 and 2026 budgets, the hundreds of billions cut from SNAP and Medicaid, and the more than 200,000 federal employees left jobless over the past year will continue to devastate families across D.C. after the shutdown ends. If the deal passes in its current form, the average D.C. family enrolled in Marketplace coverage will see their premium go from $581 to $2,489 in 2026, an increase of 329%.[59]

Over and over again this year, federal policy choices have made it harder for American families to keep food on the table, a roof over their children’s heads, and access to medicine when they need it. The federal shutdown created a crisis and crippled this city’s emergency resources just as winter hits—along with flu season, higher heating bills, and holiday expenses. HJA Law Clinic’s clients have always been low-income D.C. families facing medical and legal crises, but now, many are struggling to even make time for their doctors or lawyers when they may not know where they will sleep tonight or how they will put food on the table. If you can give today to  HJA’s emergency fund, every dollar helps.

[1] Tony Romm, Trump Administration Must Pay SNAP Benefits During Shutdown, Court Rules, N.Y. Times (Oct. 31, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/us/politics/federal-judge-food-stamps.html [https://perma.cc/3VP7-L2J6].

[2] SNAP-EBT Authorized Retailers Must Comply with the SNAP Equal Treatment Rule, U.S.D.A. (Oct. 31, 2025), https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/ebt/retailer/retailer-notice/reminder-snap-equal-treatment [https://perma.cc/QDA4-N9QX].

[3] The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Ctr. for Budget and Pol’y Priorities (Nov. 25, 2024), https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/the-supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap [https://perma.cc/77LQ-T9UQ].

[4] Telephone Interview with Yael Cannon, Professor, Health Justice Alliance Law Clinic, Georgetown University Law Center (Nov. 7, 2025).

[5] Id.

[6] Id.

[7] Id.

[8] Ctr. for Budget and Pol’y Priorities, District of Columbia: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Jan. 21, 2025), https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/snap_factsheet_district_of_columbia.pdf [https://perma.cc/X4TX-U5N3].

[9] Media Alert: Western Center on Law & Poverty Partners With Impact Fund To File A Nationwide Class Action Lawsuit To Protect SNAP Recipients, W. Ctr. on L. & Poverty (Nov. 4, 2025), https://wclp.org/snap-2025-filing/ [https://perma.cc/78SB-XFNP].

[10] The Administration was ordered to release full SNAP benefits, but after a rapid court battle, the Supreme Court temporarily stayed that order. The Administration is still bound to release $5 billion in emergency funds. See Isabela Espadas Barros Leal & Tony Romm, A Timeline of the Legal Saga Surrounding SNAP Payments, N.Y. Times (Nov. 8, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/us/politics/snap-payments-timeline.html [https://perma.cc/D6X9-YSWC].

[11] Sam Roberts, White House Delays Full SNAP Payments Amid Shutdown, N.Y. Times (Nov. 5, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/us/politics/snap-payments-white-house.html [https://perma.cc/5XDV-54TP].

[12] Makea Luzader, Bowser Announces that DC Residents Will Receive SNAP, WIC Benefits in November, D.C. News Now (Oct. 31, 2025), https://www.dcnewsnow.com/news/local-news/washington-dc/bowser-announces-that-dc-residents-will-receive-snap-wic-benefits-in-november/ [https://perma.cc/GC72-94PJ].

[13] Scott Bauer & Nicholas Riccardi, Trump Administration Demands States ‘Undo’ Full SNAP Payments for November amid Legal Battle, PBS (Nov. 10, 2025), https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-administration-demands-states-undo-full-snap-payments-for-november-amid-legal-battle [https://perma.cc/7T9A-3739]; see also Rhode Island State Council of Churches v. Rollins, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 29431 (1st Cir. 2025) (No. 25-2089) (order declining to stay TRO enforcing payment of SNAP benefits pending appeal).

[14] Anna Mudumala, Maiss Mohamed, Jennifer Tolbert, & Alice Burns, The impact of H.R. 1 on Two Medicaid Eligibility Rules, KFF (Sept. 22, 2025) https://www.kff.org/medicaid/the-impact-of-h-r-1-on-two-medicaid-eligibility-rules/ [https://perma.cc/N548-U8WB].

[15] Share Our Strength, Summary of Changes to SNAP in Reconciliation (H.R. 1) (2025), https://bestpractices.nokidhungry.org/sites/default/files/2025-10/2025%20Reconciliation_SNAP%20Provision%20Summary_External%20Final%20SOS_1.pdf [https://perma.cc/9ZLE-3DPB].

[16] U.S. Dep’t of Health & Hum. Serv., Admin. for Child. & Fam., Off. of Cmty. Ser., LIHEAP Fact Sheet (2025), https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ocs/fact-sheet/liheap-fact-sheet [https://perma.cc/6ELX-2UBK] [hereinafter LIHEAP Fact Sheet].

[17] Rachel Frazin, HHS Fires Entire Staff of Program That Helps Low-Income People Afford Heat and Air Conditioning, The Hill (Apr. 2, 2025), https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5228186-hhs-fires-entire-staff-of-program-that-helps-low-income-people-afford-heat-and-air-conditioning/ [https://perma.cc/E477-P566].

[18] See LIHEAP Fact Sheet, supra note 4.

[19] Head Start Program Facts: Fiscal Year 2024, HeadStart.gov https://headstart.gov/program-data/article/head-start-program-facts-fiscal-year-2024 [https://perma.cc/9FEA-FXWU] (last visited Nov. 12, 2025).

[20] Michael Kinnard, Trump Moves to withhold Nov. SNAP Payments Amid Shutdown, N.Y. Times (Oct. 27, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/us/politics/trump-shutdown-snap-food-stamps-aid.html [https://perma.cc/3KKX-EVUG]; see also Troy Aidan Sambajon, As Shutdown Sets Record, Head Start Preschools Start Closing, Christian Sci. Monitor (Nov. 6, 2025), https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2025/1106/head-start-trump-government-shutdown [https://perma.cc/BF32-GZKP].

[21] Linda Qiu, Food Aid Program for Low-Income Women and Children Gets More Temporary Funding, N.Y. Times (Nov. 3, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/us/politics/wic-snap-food-aid.html [https://perma.cc/7US8-XBGJ].

[22] Public Housing Operating Fund Will Be Available in December, Council of Large Pub. Hous. Auth. (Oct. 31, 2025), https://clpha.org/news/2025/public-housing-operating-fund-will-be-available-december [https://perma.cc/K5ZQ-VTK2].

[23] Sahil Kapar, Trump Admin Looks at Deep Cuts to Homeless Housing Program, Politico (Sept. 29, 2025), https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/29/trump-admin-looks-at-deep-cuts-to-homeless-housing-program-00585770 [https://perma.cc/D4QW-YW4U].

[24] Id.

[25] Interview with Yael Cannon, supra note 4.

[26] DC Budget Crisis: 2025 & Beyond, Housing Up (Jun. 2, 2025), https://housingup.org/2025/06/02/dc-budget-crisis-2025-beyond/ [https://perma.cc/758B-HXME].

[27] Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, D.C. Fiscal Pol’y Inst. (Mar. 25, 2025), https://www.dcfpi.org/all/dc-fiscal-year-2026-budget/ [https://perma.cc/MDQ7-BB8E].

[28] Interview with Yael Cannon, supra note 4.

[29] Id.

[30] Id.

[31] Alison Stroud, Trump Has Forced Out An Alarming Number Of Federal Workers—And Now We Have An Exact Number, HuffPost (Nov. 12, 2025), https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-federal-employees-forced-out_n_690240fce4b0f553c4350aff [https://perma.cc/VR3D-Y9YQ].

[32] Daniel Burge, Chart of the Week: Federal Government Employment in the D.C. Region Has Fallen by 5 Percent Since the Start of the Year (Sept. 5, 2025), D.C. Pol’y Ctr., https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/chart-of-the-week-federal-government-employment-in-the-d-c-region-has-fallen-by-5-percent-since-the-start-of-the-year/ [https://perma.cc/2SP5-MFCD].

[33]Aaron Till & Fredrick Hernandez, Who Is Missing Paychecks in the 2025 Shutdown—When and Where? (Nov. 4. 2025), Bipartisan Pol’y Ctr., https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/who-is-missing-paychecks-in-the-2025-shutdown-when-and-where/ (last visited Nov. 12, 2025). But hundreds of military families have reported under- or nonpayment. See Drew Friedman, Jason Miller & Jory Heckman, Service Members Report Major Pay Discrepancies as Shutdown Continues, Fed.  News Network (Oct. 27, 2025), https://federalnewsnetwork.com/pay-benefits/2025/10/service-members-report-major-pay-discrepancies-as-shutdown-continues/?readmore=1 [https://perma.cc/AH7M-7PU2].

[34] Ben Leubsdorf & Carol Wilson, Current Federal Civilian Employment by State and Congressional District, CRS Rep. No. R 47716 (Sept. 12, 2025).

[35] Michael S. Schultz, Furloughed Federal Workers File for Jobless Benefits, but Aid Isn’t Easy to Get, CNN (Oct. 25, 2025), https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/25/politics/furloughed-federal-workers-unemployment-claims [https://perma.cc/SGV2-SM8F].

[36] Id.

[37] Government Employee Fair Treatment Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1341 (2019).

[38] Theodore Meyer, Administration Hints Furloughed Federal Workers May Not Be Paid After Shutdown, Wash. Post (Nov. 4, 2025), https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/11/04/shutdown-back-pay-federal-workers/ [https://perma.cc/U3FY-MSWQ].

[39] Andrea Hsu, Fight over Government Layoffs Continues as Shutdown Drags On, NPR (Oct. 28, 2025), https://www.wjsu.org/top-stories-from-npr/2025-10-28/judge-indefinitely-halts-shutdown-layoffs-noting-human-toll [https://perma.cc/M49E-THT9]; see Theodore Meyer, Interior Department Halts Layoff Plans Amid Shutdown, Wash. Post (Nov. 5, 2025), https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/11/04/shutdown-back-pay-federal-workers/ [https://perma.cc/ZPF6-638E].

[40] Michael Kinnard, Government Shutdown: Trump Plans Layoffs, Unions Warn of Fight, N.Y. Times (Oct. 15, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/us/politics/government‑shutdown‑trump‑layoffs‑unions.html [https://perma.cc/KE6V-NJLH].

[41] Interview with Yael Cannon, supra note 4.

[42] Id.

[43] Mudumala et al., supra note 14.

[44] Cynthia Cox, ACA Insurers Are Raising Premiums by an Estimated 26 %, but Most Enrollees Could See Sharper Increases in What They Pay, KFF (Oct. 28, 2025), https://www.kff.org/quick-take/aca-insurers-are-raising-premiums-by-an-estimated-26-but-most-enrollees-could-see-sharper-increases-in-what-they-pay/ [https://perma.cc/HX2H-WQ8E].

[45] Id.

[46] Sam Gringlas, How an Enduring Debate over Health Care Sparked a Now Record-Long Shutdown, NPR (Nov. 5, 2025), https://www.npr.org/2025/11/05/nx-s1-5596472/government‑shutdown‑record‑health‑care‑subsidies [https://perma.cc/6SXT-BXDH].

[47] As part of the deal to break the shutdown, Senate Majority Leader John Thune promised a vote in mid-December on an extension bill for ACA subsidies, but the bill is expected to fail to get the support of 50 Senators, and Johnson has not promised a vote in the House even if it passed. Rebecca Schneid, What the End of Obamacare Subsidies Could Mean for Your Health Coverage, Time (Nov. 10, 2025), https://time.com/7332658/government-shutdown-over-aca-subsidies/ [https://perma.cc/A8TH-5RGM].

[48] Interview with Yael Cannon, supra note 4.

[49] Id.

[50] Id.

[51] Id.

[52] Id.

[53] Id.

[54] Id.

[55] Id.

[56] Id.

[57] Id.

[58] Donald Judd, The Senate is a step closer to ending shutdown as impacts to air travel and SNAP benefits continue, CNN (Nov. 10, 2025), https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/government-shutdown-snap-flights-senate-11-10-25 [https://perma.cc/T664-ZY4D].

[59] Jared Ortaliza, Justin Lo & Cynthia Cox, Congressional District Interactive Map: How Much Will ACA Premium Payments Rise if Enhanced Subsidies Expire?, KFF (Feb. 3, 2025) https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/congressional-district-interactive-map-how-much-will-aca-premium-payments-rise-if-enhanced-subsidies-expire/ [https://perma.cc/59V3-CTQG].