CHN Urges Members of the House of Representatives to Vote NO on the Reconciliation Proposal
May 21, 2025
CHN’s Human Needs Watch: Tracking Hardship, May 19, 2023
CHN Staff,
May 19, 2023
The twin threats edition. We could be less than two weeks away from defaulting on our national debt. By now, you’ve probably heard what happens if we default – read on for more details. But there is more than one threat to our nation. Even as you read this, the White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are negotiating what some in the human needs community fear will be cuts to programs Americans rely on for their very survival. Already, the House GOP has passed legislation that would cut trillions in domestic spending over the next decade.
The U.S. Must Honor its Obligations to Protect Refugees Seeking Protection from Violence and Abuse
CHN Staff,
May 12, 2023
It is the law in the United States to provide opportunities for people fleeing from desperate and violent conditions to seek asylum. U.S. law is grounded in international law and the basic moral values of human rights. The Coalition on Human Needs strongly opposes all efforts to deny these basic rights to asylum-seekers.
The Urgent Need to Invest, Not Cut: Cuts in Two-Thirds of Human Needs Programs Must Be Reversed, Not Worsened
CHN Staff,
May 10, 2023
Human needs programs have lost ground for more than a decade, and the high inflation rates of the past two years have continued this harm. In the 178 programs tracked annually by the Coalition on Human Needs, 123 (more than two-thirds, or 69 percent) saw cuts from FY 2010 through FY 2023, adjusted for inflation. More than two-fifths (74 programs; 42 percent) lost 20 percent or more over this period. These losses were caused by a decade of capped spending.
Expert witness: House debt, default, cut bill could lead to recession as early as this fall
David Elliot,
May 4, 2023
The House GOP proposal to slash domestic spending in exchange for raising the debt ceiling would cost the economy 790,000 jobs and $141 billion over the next year and a half, the Senate Budget Committee heard this week. That prognosis came from Mark Zandi, Chief Economist for Moody’s Analytics. Zandi testified about the probable effects of either defaulting on the national debt or not defaulting on the debt, but passing severe cuts. His testimony came after the House last week passed the “Limit, Save, and Grow Act,” largely along a party-line vote.
The public wants gun safety. So why isn’t Congress acting?
Fadima Tall,
May 4, 2023
On June 12, 2016, the city of Orlando experienced one of the worst tragedies in recent memory when a gunman entered a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community and took the lives of 49 people. This was the second deadliest mass shooting in the United States but obviously not the last. It is not up for debate that guns have made this country increasingly unsafe. But right-wing leaders take every opportunity to allow weapons of mass destruction to proliferate. Just last month in the state of Florida, where the Pulse, Parkland, and countless other tragedies have taken place, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill that would allow for permitless carry in the state.
