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

CHN calls on House to pass Raise the Wage Act
July 16, 2019

CHN urged members of the U.S. House to support the Raise the Wage Act (H.R. 582). By gradually increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2024 and indexing it after that, the Raise the Wage Act will lift the pay of tens of millions of workers. The bill would also phase out the outdated subminimum wage for tipped workers, which has been frozen at $2.13 since 1991, and sunset the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities and workers under age 20.

CHN’s comments in opposition to HUD’s “mixed-status” housing proposal
July 10, 2019

The Coalition on Human Needs is particularly concerned about the very harmful impact if this proposed rule is adopted because we have for decades tracked the individual, family, and societal costs of poverty and homelessness or unstable housing. These costs affect health, child development and education, and economic success across generations. Our members understand that children are among the most vulnerable to poverty and housing instability, and also have seen the positive impact of stable, subsidized housing on the health and future success of children.

CHN calls on Congress to approve funding and to demand better living conditions for immigrants in custody
June 26, 2019

In a letter to Congress, CHN conveys our dismay over the disgraceful failure of the Trump Administration to safeguard the immigrant children and adults in its care, and to urge in the strongest possible terms that the border supplemental funding legislation it enacts will provide both the resources needed to provide for humane treatment and rigorous restrictions and oversight by Congress to prevent the misuse of the funds Congress appropriates.