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

Letter to Congress from 550 organizations seeking fair funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education in FY 2020
April 2, 2019

The 550 undersigned organizations—representing the full range of stakeholders supporting the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill (Labor-HHS)—urge Congress to significantly boost the fiscal year (FY) 2020 allocation for that Subcommittee to address vital and long-neglected needs. The programs and services funded by the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee have a profound impact on health and well-being, child development, educational and skills attainment, and productivity, yet they have been overlooked in the appropriations process over the last decade.

2019 Q1 SAVE for All Newsletter
March 29, 2019

The SAVE for All campaign has been working hard to make sure that Members of Congress, both new and returning, are made aware of the broad support that our priorities have.

CHN Appropriations Chart: Caps Must Be Lifted to Prevent Serious Losses in Human Needs Programs
March 26, 2019

The spending limits that have been in effect since the enactment of the Budget Control Act in 2011 have eroded funding for important programs including job training and education, home heating and cooling for low-income households, many public health programs, services for people with disabilities and elders, child welfare services, juvenile justice programs, and certain nutrition, housing and homelessness assistance. Fully 131 out of the 184 programs listed for FY 2019 have lost value since FY 2010 (71 percent), taking inflation into account. All domestic and international appropriations (NDD) in FY 2019 have been cut by about 4.6 percent below FY 2010 levels, adjusted for inflation, but for many programs specially needed by people with low incomes, the reductions have been far worse. Out of the programs tracked by CHN, 54 were cut by 25 percent or more since FY 2010 (29 percent of the programs listed).