John.

The House Appropriations Committee is proposing a FY2025 budget that’s $75 billion less than the minimum agreed to in Congressional leaders’ previous agreement with President Biden. This will be devastating to millions of vulnerable people across the country. We’re fighting back.

• The Housing Choice Voucher Program is the country’s largest rental assistance program. In FY2024, it needed increased funding to avoid a reduction in the number of families receiving help. For FY2025 it will need another increase to keep up with rising rents so that people won’t be at risk of eviction or homelessness.

• Between 2010 and 2024, the Social Security Administration saw its customer service budget fall by 19% while the number of beneficiaries grew by 25%.¹ This underfunding has disastrous consequences, including record-long waits of nearly eight months for initial determinations of eligibility for disability benefits, an additional seven-month wait for those who appeal, and long wait times on hold for those who phone SSA for help.

• In FY2024 some of the biggest programs to help treat substance use disorder were flat-funded. But if the appropriations bill covering the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education is cut by 11-16%, it’s very likely that treatment programs would have to be cut―damaging our capacity to respond to the opioid epidemic.

These are just some of the critical programs that would see their budgets decimated by proposed funding caps.

Write to your representative today and tell them to break the funding caps to adequately fund critical human needs programs.

We need more investments in vulnerable communities, not less. And rather than arbitrary caps and cuts to spending, we can make those investments when the wealthy start paying their fair share in taxes.

Thank you for all you do,

Meredith Dodson
Senior Director of Public Policy, CHN Action

¹ SSA Budget Will Worsen Customer Service Crisis, But Investment in 2025 Could Fund Turnaround

-- DEBORAH'S EMAIL --

John,

House Republicans are attempting to go back on their word. It’s up to us to hold them accountable.

When President Biden cut a deal with congressional Republicans in 2024 to avoid a default on our country’s loans, it came with an agreement that domestic spending would increase by no less than 1% in the 2025 funding package.

But now, the House Appropriations Committee has proposed a 2025 funding plan with caps that will result in $75 billion less than the minimum previously agreed to.

The FY2024 budget just barely funded human needs programs to the point that most services didn’t have to be cut, but this proposed 2025 budget would lead to painful and substantial cuts that will cause unacceptable losses in services and programs.

The House needs to hear from you. Send a direct message telling your representative to invest in human needs rather than arbitrary and inadequate caps, and oppose drastic cuts for human needs programs in the FY2025 funding package being negotiated right now.

The number of people who are experiencing homelessness has risen back to pre-pandemic levels, rising food prices mean families are paying more for less, millions of families are struggling with rising housing costs, and high child care costs continue to force parents out of the workforce in order to care for young children.¹

Under the current proposed spending caps, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development will be cut by 10%, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education will be cut by at least 11% and possibly up to 16%, and agriculture programs will be cut by 4%.²

We cannot reach prosperity by stripping funding from programs that support the most vulnerable among us.

The House must abide by the parameters of their previous agreement with President Biden and increase funding for human needs programs by no less than 1%. Send a message to your representative now urging them to break the caps.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, CHN Action

¹ Solutions to Homelessness Within Reach Regardless of Supreme Court Ruling in Upcoming Case
² Subcommittee Allocations FY25 Fact Sheet