John,

Thank you.

Together, we sent more than 775,000 letters to Congress, urging them to protect the most vulnerable and reject the cruel cuts to essential nutritional, housing, and health care programs that serve millions of people each day.

The end result didn’t turn out the way we wanted, thanks to extreme budgetary hostage-taking by House Republicans who falsely believe that we can cut our way to prosperity on the backs of the poor and marginalized. Their bullying tactics were directed at people with low incomes who rely on Medicaid, SNAP, and TANF for access to health care, food, and help making ends meet. But, thanks to you, the bill being voted on in the House this week is not nearly as bad as it could have been.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act now being considered by Congress makes some important improvements over the original bill passed by the House. It does not cut domestic appropriations as deeply, and does not set binding caps for 10 years. It does not subject Medicaid beneficiaries to red tape barriers supposedly about encouraging work but more intended to terminate assistance.  

Your tenacity, support, and advocacy played a significant role in reducing the amount of funding cuts and restrictions.

We know we will not be freed from the threat of even further loss if this bill becomes law. There are those in Congress who will seek to further restrict SNAP in farm bill negotiations; we pledge to fight any such harmful efforts and instead push to strengthen food assistance.

We also know that there are plans in the House of Representatives to make the entire Trump tax scam permanent, which would add an additional $3.5 trillion to our national debt. This would more than wipe out any deficit reduction caused by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, leaving us with a wider gap between the rich and everyone else, and diminished resources to narrow that gap. We’re fighting back against further tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations and fighting to make our tax code more fair -- building on the vision laid out in President Biden’s budget.

Our sense of urgency is heightened by the hardships being experienced by many of us right now. Some states are snarling people in red tape to deny them Medicaid, as redeterminations of eligibility resume.  The number of people reporting that in the previous 7 days that they sometimes/often did not have enough to eat has risen from 18.2 million people in 2021 to more than 25 million in just the last few weeks. It is absolutely unconscionable to apply SNAP’s time limits so that more people go without food.

We know that default will cause millions of people to see benefits and salaries delayed and potentially millions of jobs lost. Those hit hardest will be those with the lowest incomes, disproportionately people of color. The competing hardships of default versus this bill should never have been the only choices before us. We pledge to keep up the fight for something better.

Thank you for everything you have done, and will continue to do, on behalf of vulnerable and marginalized communities. We have a long fight ahead of us, and you know how important it is. I ask for your support with a donation of $5 to help us continue that fight.

A very deep thanks for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs