Ahead of December Vote, Shaheen Hosts Roundtable on Extending ACA Tax Credits in Derry, Discusses WIC Funding in Concord

(Concord, NH) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), author of bicameral legislation that would permanently extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits, continued her “Affordability Action Tour” with a roundtable discussion at the Center for Life Management on the importance of extending the ACA enhanced premium tax credits that have lowered health care costs for tens of millions of Americans. Alongside health care professionals and advocacy organizations, Shaheen discussed the risk of significantly higher premiums and strain on the health and mental health care systems if Republicans allow the enhanced premium tax credits to expire at the end of this year. Photos from today’s events can be found here.

“The fight to address the cost-of-living crisis for the American people and to keep health care premiums from skyrocketing is far from over,” said Senator Shaheen. “There is no one in Congress who understands the importance of these tax credits or wants to get this done more than I do. With the government reopened, I’m working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find a way to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits that Granite Staters rely on to afford health insurance.”

Shaheen is leading efforts in Congress to make health care more affordable through the preservation and extension of the enhanced premium tax credits. Through negotiations to reopen government, Shaheen secured a guaranteed vote by mid-December on legislation to address skyrocketing health care costs. Shaheen’s first bill introduction this Congress was her landmark Health Care Affordability Act—bicameral legislation to permanently extend the tax credits for Marketplace coverage that lower health care costs for millions of Americans.

Later in Concord, Shaheen visited the Community Action Partnership Belknap-Merrimack Counties (CAPBM) to discuss the impacts that they experienced during the shutdown and the importance of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) which supports more than 12,000 mothers and children in New Hampshire.

“Families who rely on food assistance programs were feeling real pain because of the prolonged government shutdown and President Trump’s weaponization of programs like SNAP. The folks at CAPBM worked around the clock despite the uncertainty to ensure mothers and children in our state were able to access the food assistance they needed, and I thank them for their hard work,” said Senator Shaheen. “In addition to ensuring funding flows to food assistance programs, the deal I helped negotiate to reopen the government fully funds WIC benefits that President Trump and House Republicans sought to cut that helps mothers and children buy fresh fruit and vegetables.”

As Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies (Ag-FDA) which funds SNAP and WIC, Shaheen helped secure full funding for both programs through the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 funding legislation signed into law by President Trump this week.

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