To: The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Donald Trump
Tell Congress To Pass A Budget That Fights Opioids, Permanently Funds CHIP, and Fixes DACA
Congress must pass a budget that fights opioids, permanently funds children's healthcare (CHIP), and fixes DACA for Dreamers!
Why is this important?
Our communities are facing life and death issues on a daily basis and the dysfunction in the Republican controlled Federal Government is only making these situations worse.
The Federal Government's fiscal year started over a hundred days ago but we still don't have a budget from the Republican controlled Congress. This means our communities are running out of funding for critical programs to fight the opioid epidemic, fund healthcare for children (CHIP) and fix DACA for Dreamers.
Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US and opioid addiction is driving this epidemic. Every year, 20,000 people die from overdose related to prescription pain relievers.
Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national emergency late last year but aside from a press conference his actions have had almost no impact to help real people. The small amount of money he set aside to combat the crisis is set to expire on January 23.
If that’s not bad enough, nine million children and 370,000 pregnant women receive health care because of CHIP, a healthcare program for families who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance. But funding for CHIP expired in September and yet Congress hasn’t acted to permanently fund the program despite the fact that money for CHIP is starting to run out.
And in September, Donald Trump ended the DACA program putting the lives of 800,000 young people at risk. These are young Americans who grew up in America. They put their faith in our government, came forward, passed background checks, and were given a shot at the American dream. Nearly 15,000 of these young people have already lost their status and can no longer legally work or drive in the United States. Every single day, another 122 young Americans lose their DACA status. And unless Congress acts soon, the number of people losing their DACA will increase to over 1,000 a day. That’s absolutely unthinkable.
Enough is enough. We need a budget to fund the Government. Please join with us and demand that Congress must pass a budget that fights opioids, permanently funds children's healthcare (CHIP), and fixes DACA for Dreamers!