John,

We’re a few weeks out from the New Year and we still don’t have full-year 2024 federal spending bills.

Congress only has until January 19th and February 2nd before the two continuing resolutions (CRs) passed by Congress expire, which will lead to a federal government shutdown if another funding bill isn’t passed.

Over the next few days, before Congress adjourns for the remainder of 2023, they must agree on topline spending numbers for 2024 in order to have enough time to write their detailed spending bills. Right-wing Republicans are demanding an across the board 9.4% cut to non-defense spending—a cut of more than $70 billion to domestic spending programs.

Enough is enough. Congress must come together and agree on bipartisan appropriations that don't cut critical programs for millions of people. Send a direct message to Congress today demanding they defend low-income and working people in the fast-approaching funding bills.

House Speaker Johnson is threatening to pass a full-year CR if Senate negotiators do not agree to his demands to cut spending below the Senate’s bipartisan spending proposals. Here’s a list of some of the devastation that would be caused by a full-year CR containing $70 billion in cuts:¹

• 2.7 million fewer women, infants, and children served every month through WIC

• Leave millions of seniors without nutritious meals by severely cutting funding for the Meals on Wheels program

• Cut federal housing assistance for nearly 700,000 households—pushing many of them toward homelessness

• 23,000 rental units in rural areas will not be renewed—these primarily supported people with disabilities and single female headed households

• Halt progress and investments in critical projects addressing climate change and increasing resiliency from future droughts, which protect communities from flooding, help to restore ecosystems, maintain ports and harbors, and more

• Eliminate grants for approximately 80 communities to prevent youth substance use as the opioid crisis continues to hurt families and ravage communities

• Decimate funding for public defenders—necessitating layoffs of nearly a fifth of all staff

• Slash $235 million for services provided by Indian Health Service hospitals and clinics—hurting the 2.5 million patients they serve across Indian Country. The result would be cutting outpatient services by up to 2.3 million fewer visits, inpatient services by 6,200 fewer admissions, the number of dental services provided by over 498,000 visits, and mental health services outpatient admissions by over 121,000 visits.

• Funding for Community Health Centers where 30 million people find diagnosis and treatment, often the only health care option they have, would be cut. One in 11 people in the U.S. relies on a HRSA-funded health center for medical care.

• Slash funding for our nation’s K-12 schools, including by cutting Title I grants that reach more than 80% of school districts and IDEA special education grants that help support the education of students with disabilities

• Cut federal early childhood programs like Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant in the midst of a worsening child care crisis—meaning it will become much harder and even impossible in some areas for parents to find quality, affordable child care

• Cut funding for LIHEAP by over $2 billion—more hardship for families with the tightest budgets to heat and cool their homes

• Produce nearly 3,000 fewer units of new affordable housing

These cuts are unconscionable and they don’t need to happen. We could have had a budget months ago were it not for an extremist, right-wing faction who kept trying to force deeper cuts along with inhumane immigration policies and removing diversity and inclusion efforts from appropriations bills.

Time is of the essence, and right now we need both chambers to agree on top-line levels and come together to pass full-year, bipartisan appropriations that don't inflict unnecessary pain and suffering on vulnerable communities.

Click here to send a direct message to Congress to pass bipartisan appropriations with no cuts to critical programs.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ Senate Appropriations Committee FACT SHEET: Implications of a Date-Change, Full-Year CR