In Case You Missed It . . .

| By CBPP

This week at CBPP, we focused on the federal budget, health, and food assistance.

On the federal budget, Sonali Master, Sam Berger, and Devin O’Connor called for robust government-wide guardrails in 2027 appropriations bills to halt the Trump Administration’s unprecedented interference with federal funding. Nick Gwyn raised concerns about House legislation that would make blocking federal funds easier, given the Trump Administration’s attempts to block federal funds for a variety of basic needs programs.
On health, Jennifer Sullivan and Elizabeth Zhang highlighted how enrollment in marketplace plans has plummeted in many states, as enrollees face higher premiums after Congress failed to extend premium tax credit enhancements at the end of last year. Allie Gardner summarized actions the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has taken targeting federal Medicaid funding to states, risking health care access for millions of people. Claire Heyison pointed out that the new CMS rule changes are expected to reduce marketplace enrollment and increase enrollees’ out-of-pocket costs. Allison Orris noted how a rule CMS recently proposed would cap Medicaid payment rates beyond what the megabill requires.
On food assistance, we updated our resource tracking SNAP participation losses in light of the harmful Republican megabill.

The Center was active on social media this week. Here are some of our posts:

Anna Bailey posted a thread to X and Bluesky on a proposed rule from Housing and Urban Development that could weaken protections for transgender and nonbinary people experiencing homelessness and make it harder to access shelter and housing assistance.
Katie Bergh posted a thread to X and Bluesky on the recent SNAP caseload decline, highlighting February data that shows SNAP participation fell by more than 3.5 million people nationwide.
Will Fischer posted a thread to X and Bluesky on how a House subcommittee passed a housing funding bill for fiscal year 2027 that could increase evictions and homelessness by cutting rental assistance and housing programs.

A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and experts recently. Here are some highlights:

Trump Is Wasting Our Time
May 16, 2026
New York Times

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