Oppose These Cuts in FY 2026 Budget Reconciliation Bill - Vote NO

Today I take pen in hand to write and urge you, in the strongest possible terms to oppose and vote no on these provisions that the House and Senate will take up in the next Congress, which is coming soon. The proposal calls for $163 billion in cuts—a 23% reduction—in non-defense domestic spending. Behind those clinical, detached from reality numbers are real people that will be further affected, now after the passage of the Big Ugly Bill this summer. Families, seniors, children, students, and workers who will pay the price. If enacted as-is, the President’s budget would represent a sweeping betrayal of working people. It would raise costs, gut access to education, push families out of housing, undermine community safety and public health, and abandon rural Americans. Specifically, among other draconian cuts, the budget threatens to turn its back on everyday Americans by calling for: ⁃ Further cuts to education by stripping $4.5 billion in grants for public elementary and secondary schools and slashing Pell Grant funding, reducing access to higher education for millions of students ⁃ Cutting over $1 billion from DOJ grants that support restorative justice, community-based violence intervention, hate crime prevention, and protections for victims of domestic violence. ⁃ Cutting more than $26 billion—a 43% reduction—in federal rental assistance during a nationwide housing affordability crisis ⁃ Eliminating the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps over 6 million Americans afford to heat and cool their homes. ⁃ Ending the Minority Business Development Agency, which supports small businesses and entrepreneurs—especially in underserved communities— in growing their companies. ⁃ Gutting $710 million from Rural Development programs and rescinding $550 million in funding to expand broadband internet access in rural communities. ⁃ Eliminating Job Corps and cutting by one-third funding for workforce training programs, slashing pathways to good-paying jobs for workers nationwide. ⁃ Stripping millions in funding to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, weakening efforts to combat discrimination and protect communities at a time when civil rights protections are more vital than ever. ⁃ Eliminating election security grants that have been a lifeline to state and local election administrators in recent years, and slashing the budget and staffing of the Election Assistance Commission. ⁃ Gutting the Legal Services Corporation by cutting its funding from $560 million in 2025 to $12 million, effectively shutting down these offices. Government was created to tackle problems too big for communities, counties or even states to tackle. The U.S. must invest in its people and its push for civil rights. Oppose every one of these drastic cuts. Thank you.