John,

While our country continues to find the funding and bombs for a genocide, here at home families across the country can't afford water. In the richest country in the world, millions of our neighbors have their water shut off as the cost continues to rise.

Access to clean water is a fundamental human right, and cutting off water anywhere is a form of violence—in Michigan, throughout the U.S., in Palestine, and beyond. Our government keeps finding billions of dollars to support war and genocide, but not clean drinking water for U.S. residents, which families need in order to survive and to stay in their homes.

Back in 2021, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell and I established a $1.1 billion Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program to save lives and keep people’s water flowing during the pandemic. That first-ever emergency program has expired and families urgently need assistance to access drinking water.

So Rep. Dingell and I just introduced the H2O UP Act (Half-Century Update for Water Access and Affordability Act) to establish the first-ever permanent federal low-income water affordability program.

Can you add your name as a grassroots co-sponsor of our new legislation to support our communities’ access to safe, reliable drinking water?

Amidst Detroit’s ongoing waves of water shutoffs for unpaid water bills, a community-based grassroots organization We the People of Detroit has been distributing water to families in my community, doing critical research about water shutoffs’ risks to public health, and advocating for equitable water access locally and around the world.

We the People of Detroit is among the 40 regional and national organizations endorsing the H2O UP Act, and CEO and co-founder Monica Lewis-Patrick said:

“This legislation tackles the water affordability crisis from multiple angles, ensuring households receive a water bill they can afford while also supporting water systems with the technical assistance and funding necessary to maintain safe, reliable service. Integral to the Act’s success is the establishment of Community Advisory Committees, which provide local residents, nonprofits, and stakeholders a seat at the table to guide program implementation in each region.”

This policy would be a step toward involving more people in co-governance as well as ending dehumanizing water shutoffs. The U.S. federal government sent more than $20 billion taxpayer dollars to Israel’s military this past year and keeps growing the U.S. military budget by tens of billions every year, so it should be able to afford billions of dollars annually to ensure universal access to clean drinking water.

Will you sign on to demand water as a human right and support our new H2O UP Act to ensure safe, affordable water for all low-income U.S. households?

Together, we’re going to keep fighting for our human rights, including everyone’s right to access the utility services they need to survive.

In solidarity and service,

Rashida