Feature: Letters to Congress

National Group Sign-On Letter Urges Congress to Quickly Enact No Less Than American Rescue Plan
February 5, 2021

On February 4th, over 100 national organizations including the Coalition on Human Needs called on the United States Congress to enact swiftly no less than what is called for in President Biden’s American Rescue Plan. Without speedy and comprehensive action, "...families that could have managed will be pushed into poverty and deaths that could have been avoided due to the pandemic will occur."

CHN letter to all U.S. Senators demands COVID-19 relief
September 25, 2020

CHN on Friday, Sept. 25 sent a letter to all 100 U.S. Senators demanding COVID-19 relief. It reads in part, "The pandemic has imperiled your constituents’ economic well-being and their health. COVID-19 cases are again rising, and as we enter the colder months, the threat will increase. The moratorium on evictions expires at the end of the year. If you leave now without acting, millions of people, unable to come up with one or more months of unpaid rent, will face eviction."

CHN’s letter to all members of the U.S. Senate urging Senators to extend U.S. Census reporting deadlines
August 10, 2020

CHN's letter to all members of the U.S. Senate urging Senators to extend statutory reporting deadlines for apportionment and redistricting data for the 2020 Census to April 30, 2021, extend the deadline to transmit state population totals to that date, prohibit the Bureau and the President from sending the relevant data to the Congress in advance of those deadlines, and to allocate $400 million to address Census Bureau operational challenges.

MOST RECENT PUBLICATIONS

FY 2021 Labor-HHS-Ed 302(b) Organization Sign on Letter
March 4, 2020

FY 2021 Labor-HHS-Ed 302(b) Organization Sign on Letter

CBPP: Deep Poverty Among Children Rose in TANF’s First Decade, Then Fell as Other Programs Strengthened
February 28, 2020

A close examination of the effectiveness of economic security programs, using more complete income figures than are widely available, reveals that policy shifts in aid for children in families with the least income have had a significant impact. In the decade after policymakers altered the public assistance system in the mid-1990s, it became much less effective at protecting children from deep poverty — that is, at lifting their incomes above half of the poverty line — and children’s deep poverty rose. But during the Great Recession, assistance policies for children in poverty and deep poverty grew stronger, bolstered by temporary recovery initiatives, and prevented what likely would have been a large surge in deep poverty among children.

HHS Programs to be Cut for Coronavirus Response
February 27, 2020

Trump’s Incompetent Coronavirus Response: - Trump says no worries, but experts seriously disagree. - Two years ago, Trump disbanded federal efforts to stay ahead of global health crises, contributing to a slower response now. - Instead of a plan to carry out work needed to prevent a serious outbreak of disease, the Trump Administration proposes too little money, and would take it from other disease research, health care, and anti-poverty programs – see the list here: