This was in my update yesterday. Recommend that NCL sign on, and other organizations subscribed to this list may want to do the same. I know there was an NDD United letter on the caps last spring, but nothing new from NDDU appears to be forthcoming at this time and in light of the current situation in the Senate I wrote about yesterday, I think it’s a good time for NDD groups to voice their concerns. Jeff > Begin forwarded message: > > From: info <info@chn.org> > Subject: FW: Nat’l Orgs: Please sign letter to lift budget caps > Date: June 18, 2019 at 9:55:18 AM EDT > > Hello Human Needs Allies, > > I’m bumping this sign-on letter up to the top of your inbox. If you have already signed, thank you and please share it with your national allies. If you haven’t yet signed on, please consider joining over 120 national organizations in urging Congress to raise the budget caps. > > Thank you, > > CHN > > > Dear Human Needs Allies: > The House of Representatives has begun the work of approving FY 2020 appropriations bills, and there has been some real progress so far: for example, a $2.4 billion increase in child care funding (up 45 percent from this year); enough funding to fully renew rent subsidies for the 3.4 million households now served plus 9,000 new rental vouchers for homeless veterans and very poor families with children; and 7-8 percent increases for K-12 education for poor children and for special education funding. These advances have been approved in committee and are likely to be enacted by the full House. But instead of steps forward, human needs programs will face severe cuts if Congress does not change the law that sets harsh limits on appropriations for the next two years. > > To protect vital services and meet needs, we need your organization's help. Please sign a letter from national groups urging Congress to raise the budget caps. The deadline for signing is Monday, June 24. > > To read and sign the letter, click here <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScmMu5IdW34JW7vpa9rJmc-oUTJNRoNDdH0KIIACRMGmm2Cqw/viewform>. > > A failure to raise the caps will result in sharply reduced funding for domestic and international discretionary programs (together known as “non-defense” or NDD) from $597 billion in FY 2019 to $543 billion in FY 2020, a $54 billion drop, or 9 percent, not counting inflation. That, however, understates the impact, because certain programs must receive increases, including the 2020 Census and veterans’ health care services, meaning other programs will be cut even more deeply. > > The House has set its total for domestic/international appropriations at $631 billion. President Trump has proposed keeping the $543 billion cap in place; the Senate has not yet set a total. We need a united front in calling for at least the House level. That’s what this letter does. > > Since FY 2010, NDD programs were cut 4.7 percent, counting inflation. Over the last two years, because Congress agreed to lift the caps, we’ve started to do better. > > We must not go backwards. > > With your help, we can show that organizations representing millions of people nationwide want Congress to lift the caps and invest in the programs people need. > > You can read and sign the letter here <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScmMu5IdW34JW7vpa9rJmc-oUTJNRoNDdH0KIIACRMGmm2Cqw/viewform?usp=sf_link>. > > And here’s another important way to help: please also share this letter with your national partners. > > Many thanks, > > > Deborah Weinstein > Executive Director > Coalition on Human Needs > dweinstein@chn.org <mailto:dweinstein@chn.org>