FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 31, 2025
WASHINGTON, DC—In response to Congress’s likely failure to meet the November 1 deadline to keep healthcare within reach for more than 20 million Americans, at the same time that the administration is willing to let 42 million people go hungry, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice Executive Director Laurie Carafone issued the following statement :
“This is a moral failure from our elected leaders. Catholics and people of faith and goodwill across the country agree that taking health care and food from seniors, children, disabled veterans, and working families is just plain wrong,” Carafone said. “These reckless and callous decisions mean that millions of our neighbors and loved ones will lose their health care and go hungry. Congressional Republicans and the Trump administration have chosen not to fix the healthcare crisis before enrollment begins tomorrow. To add to the pain, they are now illegally blocking over $5 billion in contingency funding to feed hungry children.
“An estimated 4.8 million people will lose their health coverage entirely, because they can no longer afford their payments without the enhanced premium tax credits under the ACA. And 42 million people will lose their SNAP food assistance, even though the Administration is required by law to release emergency funds already set aside by Congress. This comes after the GOP Congress passed the Administration’s cruel budget law which cuts health and food programs from working families so the ultra-wealthy and large corporations could benefit from $5 trillion dollars in tax cuts. Time and again, the Trump administration says it is working for the American public, but instead they are making billionaires richer as they take food from the mouths of children, seniors, veterans and working families.”
Founded by Catholic Sisters in 1971, NETWORK is an inclusive, national, Catholic advocacy organization open to all who share our values, working for justice and equity for everyone. For 53 years, NETWORK has educated, organized, and lobbied for federal policies that serve the common good and honor the dignity of all people.
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