FACT SHEET: Republicans’ Extreme Continuing Resolution
Children, Families, Farmers Among the Most Impacted by Reckless Cuts
House Republicans are still more focused on introducing extreme funding bills than working on a bipartisan solution that could be enacted. Their funding bill would only keep the government open until October 31, 2023. This deadline guarantees Congress will need to pass another Continuing Resolution (CR) and means that either House Republicans will slash critical resources again at the end of October or the dangerous cuts in this extreme bill will be in place until Congress is able to pass all 12 full-year bills.
In exchange for keeping the government open, House Republicans are:
Slashing investments in the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Medical research into treatments and cures for diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease would be cut with the reduction of 2,000 research grants.
Furthering their goal of eliminating public education by cutting funding for Title I, IDEA, and Head Start. Cuts to Title I and IDEA would be the equivalent of removing more than 40,000 teachers and service providers from classrooms serving low-income students and students with disabilities. And approximately 100,000 children would lose access to Head Start, undermining early education for children in low-income communities and parents’ ability to go to work.
Decimating the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) as temperatures begin to drop. In an unprecedented move, House Republicans have cut LIHEAP funding by roughly 65 percent. More than 5 million low-income households would lose their home heating or cooling benefits or have their benefits cut by hundreds of dollars — threatening their ability to heat their homes in winter or cool their homes in summer.
Failing to support communities recovering from natural disasters. In the midst of hurricane season and with several response and recovery efforts to major disasters underway, this bill harms FEMA’s readiness by failing to address the urgent need for additional Disaster Relief Funds to address existing shortfalls and respond to future unknown disasters.
Undercutting our critical allies like Israel and Ukraine. Cuts to Foreign Military Financing (FMF) threaten critical support for allies like Israel and Jordan. This extreme funding bill not only fails to include requested additional resources for Ukraine and surrounding partners, but it also cuts Assistance to Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia (AEECA) by 46 percent.
Defunding law enforcement. This extreme Republican funding bill would effectively reduce the numbers of FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration agents and other Federal law enforcement officers. This will make our communities less safe, as fewer law enforcement officers will be apprehending violent fugitives, fighting fentanyl and other opioid trafficking, countering cybersecurity threats, and fighting domestic and international terrorism.
Cutting border security funding. Despite claims that this bill prioritizes border security, it does the opposite by cutting funding critical to those operations. The bill would ensure disruption and chaos at the border, harm our economy, empower transnational criminal organizations, endanger communities, and put our agents’ and officers’ lives at risk.
Halting Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operations including air traffic controllers. FAA operations would come to a standstill, as hiring and training of new air traffic controllers and safety inspectors would freeze, causing delays in certifying pilots, drone operators, and aircrafts and adding to the chaos of getting in and out of airports nationwide.
Neglecting our water infrastructure by cutting funds to the Army Corps of Engineers. House Republicans are cutting funds to the Army Corps of Engineers Construction activities by 21 percent. With $444 million slashed from the Corps of Engineers’ Construction activities, projects critical to waterway navigation of supply chains, reducing flood and storm damage, or providing ecosystem restoration would freeze.
Taking food out of the mouths of children, families, and seniors. House Republicans are threatening food safety, raising the costs of food, and killing jobs in rural communities by slashing the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) by 11 percent (or $124 million).
Implementing unfair trade practices to boost China. Republicans’ dangerous CR weakens the United States’ efforts to fight the unfair trade practices of the People’s Republic of China and other competitors, by reducing trade enforcement personnel at the Commerce Department, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and U.S. International Trade Commission.
Hindering wildfire suppression efforts. As communities continue to fear the next deadly wildfire, House Republicans are cutting Wildfire Suppression by 44 percent, a $1.8 billion cut.
Turning their backs on America’s small businesses. The Small Business Administration (SBA), Entrepreneurial Development Programs would be cut by 8.1 percent. This means approximately 107,000 fewer small businesses would be assisted. This would have a significant impact on underserved communities such as Veterans, Women, and Native American entrepreneurs.
Slashing resources for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and Opioid Use Disorder treatment. The Republican CR cuts funding for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by 18 percent. Nearly 1 million people facing a suicidal or mental health crisis would be unable to access support services through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and thousands of individuals would be denied admission to opioid use disorder treatment, denying them a potentially life-saving path to recovery.
Upending public safety, education, and other investments in Tribal communities. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) serves 574 federally recognized Tribes in areas such as social services and Indian child welfare, reservation roads, energy development, Tribal public safety, justice, law enforcement, and other fundamental services that have been historically underfunded. In this bill, House Republicans are cutting the BIA by 8.1 percent, slashing resources for education programs, school repairs, and facility construction projects. Professional staff, principals, and school administrators would all be at risk of losing their jobs.
Cutting loans and grants for farmers and rural communities. House Republicans are making it harder for farmers to access loans and grants making farm ownership more difficult. They are also cutting Rural Housing Service and Rural Utility Service programs that support single family home loans, rental assistance, water and waste programs, electric resources, and access to broadband.
Additional Information on Overall Cuts in the House Republican Bill
Some Members of the House Republican Conference will claim that the bill cuts funding by only 1 percent. That claim is simply misleading, as not a single program in this bill is cut by 1 percent. The bill freezes defense funding, and specifies an 8.1285 percent cut for almost all other domestic investments, as it says on page 6, line 10 of the bill they posted last night:
(b) The rate for operations provided by subsection (a) is hereby reduced by 8.1285 percent, so that the total amount of annualized discretionary budget authority for fiscal year 2024 is equal to $1,590,000,000,000: Provided, That the reduction in this subsection will not apply to the rate for operations provided for the national defense budget function (050), the Department of Veterans Affairs, or amounts designated as being for disaster relief pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(D) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.
On its face, that should be enough to make clear that cuts of over 8 percent are the starting point for the damage caused by this legislation. The House Republican bill goes further by gutting more than $12.5 billion in other domestic investments included in last year’s appropriations legislation, including from LIHEAP, wildland fire suppression programs, Section 8 housing funds, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, critical international assistance, and dozens more vital programs.
Combining those cuts with an across-the-board cut of over 8 percent will wreak havoc on the ability of the Federal government to function and support State and Local communities.
Cuts like these make clear that no tough choices were made, and this is not serious legislation.
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