As the federal government shutdown approaches its 31st day, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) is providing resources for Asian American communities that may be struggling.
On Oct. 1, the U.S. government shut down for the first time in nearly seven years, according to the BBC, because Republicans and Democrats could not agree on the spending bill.
Democrats pushed to make health insurance cheaper for millions of Americans and reverse Trump’s cuts to Medicaid; however, Republicans refused to go along and accused the Democrats of forcing the shutdown.
CAPAC responded on Wednesday, saying, “This is unacceptable. The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus is fighting to reopen the government, lower health care costs, and fund essential programs that our communities depend on.”
Health care services are one of CAPAC’s main concerns in the dispute over the spending bill.
According to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, roughly 1 in 5 Asian Americans and 1 in 3 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (NHPIs) rely on Medicaid. This is equivalent to 4.5 million Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (AANHIPIs).
CAPAC also stresses the livelihoods of communities that rely on federal food assistance and small business loans amid the shutdown.
Many Asian Americans receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, which help their household buy food; however, those benefits are being delayed.
Additionally, the Small Business Administration, which offers loan programs that make capital available to small businesses that might otherwise have difficulty accessing credit, estimates that roughly $170 million in loans will be halted daily, Forbes said.
This would affect the over 3 million AANHIPI-owned businesses, employing 5.2 million people.
CAPAC offers a fact sheet bulleting all of this information in Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Vietnamese, Korean, Hmong, Tagalog and Laotian, which can be found here. They also published answers to frequently asked questions about the shutdown in multiple languages, which can be found here.
Registration is closed for Common Ground: Building Together conference and gala award banquet in San Francisco on January 24. A shoutout to our planning committee: Jane Chin, Frank Mah, Jeannie Young, Akemi Tamanaha, Nathan Soohoo, Mark Young, Dave Liu, and Yiming Fu.
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