| House and Senate McKinney Letters Circulate |
Last week, Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) began asking their colleagues in the House and Senate to join a "Dear Colleague" Member sign-on letter in support of HUD's McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants. The Senate letter calls for robust funding for the program in fiscal year (FY) 2015, and the House letter calls for providing $2.405 billion for the program in FY 2015 - the same amount requested by the President in his Budget Proposal.
Both letters received a strong showing last year, so we need to work to make sure we get as many signatures as possible on both the House and Senate letters! The deadline is very rapidly approaching - both letters close next Monday!
What You Can Do:
Find out if your senator joined a similar letter last year by clicking here and if your representative joined the letter last year by clicking here.
- Contact the housing staff members in your senators' and representatives Washington, DC offices TODAY.
- We can help you find out who that person is! Or call the congressional switchboard at 202.224.3121.
- Urge them to have their boss join the Reed and Moore letters by MONDAY.
- They can join the Senate letter by contacting James Ahn in Sen. Reed's office at James_Ahn@reed.senate.gov.
- They can join the House letter by contacting Sean Gard in Rep. Moore's office at sean.gard@mail.house.gov.
- If they can't/won't join the letter, ask them to include the Administration's requested funding level of $2.405 billion for HUD's McKinney-Vento programs in their list of official funding priorities that are due April 1.
- Use the sample letters found here to help you make your case!
- Let us know which office(s) you contacted by emailing Kate Seif at cseif@naeh.org!
More Information
The Dear Colleague sign-on letters are an easy way for Members of Congress to express their support for HUD's McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants to their colleagues on the Appropriations Committees. Last year, we received a record-breaking number of signatures on the House letter, and a significant number of signatures on the Senate letter. We need to make sure we match last year's efforts to ensure that Appropriators know that providing sufficient funding for the Homeless Assistance Grants remains a top priority for many Members. In an increasingly tight budget environment, we must ensure these letters have significant support.
Please reach out to your Members' offices TODAY and TOMORROW to make sure they sign on. To see if your representative has signed on to the House letter, click here. To see if your senator has signed on to the Senate letter, click here.
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BUILDING
POLITICAL WILL |
| The Alliance works collaboratively with its local, state, and national partners to advance policies and programs that prevent and end homelessness. |
| CONTACT US |
Kate Seif
Policy Outreach Coordinator
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