Dear Schuyler Center friends,
I write today with a heavy heart, and a fierce resolve to look and move forward. The passage of the Federal budget and tax bill, H.R. 1, strips away programs and services that New York families rely on in times of need. The law is projected to lead to loss of health coverage for nearly 1.5 million New Yorkers and reduce access to care in our most under-resourced communities; cause more than 1.7 million New York families to lose some or all of their nutrition assistance (SNAP); and deny an estimated 226,000 U.S. citizen and legal permanent resident children in New York the federal child tax credit. The new law tramples on our families and communities.
As the leader of an organization dedicated to advancing data-driven policy to improve the wellbeing, health, and economic security of marginalized New Yorkers, especially children and families, this law is a gut punch. It will harm New Yorkers already struggling and undo decades of policy progress.
If ever there was a time for New York leaders and the advocacy community to step up and act boldly, guided by values and data, this is that moment. Schuyler Center is committed to giving it our all.
For 153 years, Schuyler Center has fought for – and helped achieve – policies that reduce poverty and increase family economic security; reduce communicable diseases and preventable deaths; expand access to high quality early education; reduce income inequality; and reform child welfare to prioritize keeping families safely together. The policies Schuyler Center champions are free from punishing, degrading, intrusive administrative barriers. They are policies proven to be equitable and effective at setting up New Yorkers to thrive.
Among Schuyler Center’s proudest achievements in recent years has been helping to secure passage of the Child Poverty Reduction Act, committing New York’s policy leaders to cut child poverty in half by 2031. We have already taken big steps toward meeting this commitment. This year alone, the state budget included a stronger child tax credit, universal school meals, and additional funding for child care assistance.
Implementation of H.R. 1 threatens to not only derail New York from achieving its child poverty reduction goals, but to undo the progress we have made. Schuyler Center’s team is working hard to ensure that doesn’t happen. We are angry, but we aren’t without hope.
In the coming weeks and months, we will share data and stories that illuminate the harm H.R. 1 will cause New Yorkers. We will urge our federal delegation to right this wrong. We will work with state lawmakers, agency leaders, and fellow advocates to ensure New York State takes all steps possible to protect New Yorkers most likely to be harmed by this law, including people with low-incomes, immigrant families, and New Yorkers with disabilities and chronic conditions.
All of us at Schuyler Center are working to fully comprehend the expansive impact this bill will have on basic services for low-income New Yorkers. The scope and size of the cuts are simply too much for any state – even one as wealthy and well-resourced as New York – to fully backfill. However, we will not back down or give up.
Schuyler Center will remain at the forefront of conversations about how to protect New York’s children from the harms handed down by the federal government.
New York’s children are depending on us to show up. Sign up for our email list, connect with us on social media, and join us in tenacious advocacy for and with New York’s children and families, especially those experiencing poverty.
Yours in solidarity,
Kate Breslin
President and CEO
Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy
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