1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

I am writing to you as a parent in the Capital district, and as a VA employee to ask you to please stand up for your constituents and to do what is within your power to block Elon Musk's unregulated and highly illegal power grab -- which he is using to disassemble groups like mine. I know I have reached out to you in the past -- and I know we are in a solidly blue area where you've heard a lot from people like me. But I'd like to reach out specifically as a fellow federal employee to let you know that it's okay to shut this whole thing down. The Republicans cannot pass a budget without Democrat support. And they have chosen to attempt to pass bills with no Democrat support under the assumption that Democrats would never actually allow them to shut down the government and that they will cave. If you do so, you will have given them permission to continue gutting the government with no checks or balances. And they will do it. I work at the VA as a probationary nurse. While I am in-clinic I have less than a year's experience in this position and I am very, very aware that if they start downsizing on clinics that I will be the first person to go on my unit. But more than that -- I am a parent of two children under five; one with autism who will see her support for special education gutted when the department of education is dismantled. I am a nurse who worked first wave of the pandemic who is watching in horror as RFK waves aside suggestions of vaccines for measles and encourages parents to 'have a conversation with their provider about vaccine options'. I am a daughter-in-law to a woman in her seventies and the wife of a nonbinary spouse with a complex medical history. There are so many people in my life who will be hurt by reckless government cuts. I have a stocked pantry and a full freezer. I can go a few weeks without pay -- not that the VA is likely to hit that point. But my point is that now is the time to stand up for what is right. Please do not acquiesce and let Republicans know that they can continue to threaten to shut down the government. Because they will do it again and again until they've achieved what they want to. And we, the people, deserve better than that. Please be brave. Please stand up even if it's difficult. Please do not make peace with people who are seeking to destroy everything that makes America worth living in. Be on the right side of history.