Tell Congress: protect our families and economy by passing a budget
package ASAP that includes WIC and child care emergency funding.
[ [link removed] ]Take Action Now
[ [link removed] ]SIGN NOW

Dear Friend,

The countdown has begun….again!

I know it seems like we are always up against a critical deadline, and
that’s often the case – and this critical deadline is a really, really big
one! Congress needs to take action to keep the government funded by
November 17th….and they also MUST pass emergency child care and WIC
funding at that time or millions of families, along with businesses and
our economy, will be harmed. ^1

[ [link removed] ]***SIGN OUR LETTER now calling on Congress to take action to protect
our families and economy ASAP by passing a budget package that includes
WIC and child care emergency funding. (If we already have your
information, you will be automatically signed on to our letter when you
click this link).

Here’s what’s going on: Remember back in September when the Republican
leaders in the House of Representatives almost shut down the entire United
States government? (How can one forget!🤦‍♀️) Well the deadline they
temporarily extended the government funding to will expire on November
17th. Right now key Congressional leaders are negotiating a deal that will
not only keep the government funded but will hopefully also include
emergency funding we desperately need to address the child care cliff and
the funding shortfall for WIC. Without these two key provisions, millions
of families across the country could suffer.

* The childcare situation: Critical child care stabilization funds that
saved an already broken child care industry from total collapse during
the pandemic expired in September, putting 3.2 million children at
risk of losing access to child care, increasing costs for families and
worsening the ongoing crisis of early educators being pushed out of
the workforce, further exacerbating the lack of access to the care
families need. ^2 This is why Congress must prioritize providing at
least $16 billion in emergency child care dollars in the November
package to prevent the flood of child care centers closing down which
is making it even more difficult for parents to work.  
* The WIC situation: WIC provides nutritional assistance, breastfeeding
assistance, and formula to 7 million pregnant and postpartum women,
infants, and young children. Unless immediate action by Congress is
taken in November, WIC will experience a funding shortfall early next
year which will lead to many women and children being waitlisted for
the program and/or their benefits being cut. This hasn’t happened
since the 1990s! So far both the House and Senate have failed to
provide enough funding for WIC to protect eligible women and children
who apply for WIC. ^3

There are other things in the mix too. Congress might try to attach a tax
package that could include an expansion of the Child Tax Credit (good!!)
and some Republican Members of Congress are attempting to misuse the
negotiations process to make cruel, ineffective, and radical changes to
our immigration and asylum system (really bad!!).

As you can see, really important things are happening on Capitol Hill in
DC right now and we need your help making sure the priorities of moms,
parents, children, families, and workers are included in this November
funding package. [ [link removed] ]**SIGN our letter now and then share our action page
with all your friends and family! (If we already have your information,
you will be automatically signed on to our letter when you click this
link).

The letter to Congress that you will sign on to will state the following:

“Dear Member of Congress,

Congress must pass a bipartisan, bicameral continuing resolution (CR) that
keeps the U.S. government funded and addresses pressing emergency needs of
moms, families, businesses, and our economy, including: stabilizing the
child care industry by passing at least $16 billion in child care funding;
and including a downpayment on emergency WIC funds in November, with the
end goal being to fully fund this vital nutrition assistance program so it
can serve all pregnant women, postpartum moms, babies, and toddlers. It is
imperative that these emergencies receive the aid needed without being
subject to any caps or offsets.

Any CR package passed in the coming days should be free of poison pill
policy riders that are harmful and/or irrelevant to the functions of
government, including: anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-IRS, and
anti-women riders. We also oppose cruel, ineffective changes to our
immigration and asylum system. Instead, Congress should advance bipartisan
solutions to provide smart resources at the border that make the existing
process work better while keeping communities safe. Congress should
increase funding to improve asylum processing, reduce backlogs and work
permit waiting times, resource states, localities and community shelter
and support services, and access to legal counsel.

We also greatly welcome the inclusion of any expansion of the highly
successful Child Tax Credit.

Overall, we are calling on you to step up to the plate at this critical
time and pass funding and policies that lift up our families, children,
and economy and do no harm.”

[ [link removed] ]***Don’t forget to sign on to our letter NOW because we are sending it
up to your U.S. Senators and Representative in the coming days before the
November 17th deadline. (If we already have your information, you will be
automatically signed on to our letter when you click this link).

Thank you so much for all you are doing to raise your voice and protect
our families! It’s so important right now that we continue to speak out.

-Elyssa, Donna, Kristin, Hanna, Claudia, Nina, Lauren, Nadia and the whole
MomsRising.org & MamásConPoder Team

 

References:

[1] [ [link removed] ]“Shutdown deadline poses test for US Congress: Is compromise
possible?” Reuters, November 6, 2023.
[2] [ [link removed] ]“Child Care Cliff: 3.2 Million Children Likely to Lose Spots with
End of Federal Funds.” The Century Foundation, June 21, 2023.
[3] [ [link removed] ]Looming WIC Funding Shortfall Would Jeopardize Access to WIC’s
Proven Benefits And Disproportionately Harm Black and Hispanic Families.”
CBPP, October 26, 2023.


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