Some congressional critics, ultra-conservative think tanks, and certain media vehemently dispute the need for domestic funds and services. Not real emergencies, they say. For those of us committed to social justice and providing essential human services that these funds support, it’s disheartening to hear the bogus, self-righteous arguments made in opposition to our advocacy efforts.
Archives: Voices
Voices for Human Needs: A quick look at 2023 in review
A special note to our readers: In 2023, we avoided a number of disasters on the human needs front. There was no government shutdown. There was no default on the national debt. In most instances, we avoided debilitating cuts in government funding to the programs that so many people depend on. Right-wingers in Congress threatened massive cuts and default, but their efforts were turned back, for this year, at least.
Celebrating the resilience of low-income women
It’s been a difficult few years for poor people in this country. Just a year after the pandemic era safety net expansion saw poverty fall to its lowest level on record, we saw a historic 60 percent increase as those programs expired. Women and children have been among the hardest hit. In 2022, the last year we have data for, at least 32 million women and children were living in poverty. Despite that hardship, I feel some hope.
Advocates warn of the cost of cutting IRS funding
The Coalition on Human Needs and more than 50 groups sent a letter to House and Senate leaders warning of proposed cuts to the IRS – cuts that would harm the agency’s ability to provide customer service and pursue wealthy tax cheats while actually increasing the nation’s deficit.
Advocates sound alarm on negotiations that could alter border policy, harm immigrants
Immigrant advocacy groups and other human rights activists are sounding the alarm as policymakers seek ways to push through permanent and substantial changes to immigration policy in a supplemental funding measure that would provide billions in international aid. Republicans are holding up the measure unless President Biden agrees to restrictions relating to what they call “border security.”
353 Groups tell Congress: Expand the Child Tax Credit to lift children out of poverty
This week, 353 groups, including the Coalition on Human Needs, signed a letter, delivered to every member of Congress, urging members to expand the Child Tax Credit and to do so in a way that particularly helps children in families with the lowest incomes. You can view the letter in its entirety and see who signed here.
Bipartisan legislation could elevate SSI into the 21st century, encourage savings, and make life easier for people with disabilities
Eddie felt he had met the love of his life after meeting Jen, becoming her boyfriend, and eventually proposing marriage – she said yes. But then reality – in the form of America’s antiquated SSI system – intruded. Eddie, who lives in an adult foster home, has an Intellectual and Developmental Disorder. Jen has a spinal condition that requires 24-hour medical assistance. Both receive Supplemental Security Income benefits. Both say they could lose benefits, including SSI, if they got married because of punitive rules that disqualify single people or married couples if they earn too much or save too much.
To count all kids, Census Bureau should improve the count of adults with low literacy
Ensuring a fair and accurate Census is important for a variety of reasons. First, political entities from school boards and city councils to state legislatures use the decennial Census count to draw political districts, all the way up to Congress. Second, Census numbers drive funding decisions – if a particular community or neighborhood is undercounted, that geographic entity can miss out on funding, not just for a year or two but for an entire decade until the next count occurs.
It takes strength to survive poverty — and a safety net to escape it
As a 32 year-old mother, I understand the extreme challenges my single mom faced better than ever. But I’ve also seen the life-changing difference a strong social safety net can make. Above all, I’ve learned that poverty is a policy choice, not a personal one. We can reverse it — if we choose.
CHN to Congress: Vote no on bill that bans shelter for migrants on public lands
Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director of the Coalition on Human Needs, sent the following letter opposing the ban on use of federal land to house migrants to every member of the House on Thursday, November 30.
Ten Things We’re Thankful for This Thanksgiving
Higher costs for basic needs continue to make life difficult for many Americans – so does the end of many pandemic-era programs that helped people access health care, put food on the table, afford child care, and so much more. Wars rage in Ukraine, in the Middle East, and elsewhere. It seems as if more refugees are displaced every day, and sometimes it feels like climate change might make refugees of us all. And yet: there are things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Here are ten things that come to mind to those of us at CHN:
Just before Thanksgiving, 13.2 million people with children in the U.S. did not have enough to eat
Thanksgiving will not be a time of plenty in millions of American households with children this year. The number of people with children who reported that in the previous week their households sometimes or often did not have enough to eat rose by 2 million, from 11.2 million to 13.2 million over the past year. In survey periods covering September 20 – October 30 of 2023, close to 16 percent of people with children said they did not have enough food, up from nearly 14 percent who responded during the periods covering October 5 through November 14, 2022.