UPDATE: Stop the Federal Funding Freeze
UPDATE – A memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget on Wednesday January 29, made public at approximately 1:15 pm, has rescinded the previous memo. Additional decisions and information are expected in the coming weeks.
Your voice is needed for survivors. Please call on Congress to stop the federal funding pause.
On January 27, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget issued a memo directing all federal agencies to pause federal grant, loan, and financial assistance programs effective 5 p.m. ET on January 28.
Minutes before the freeze would have begun, a federal judge extended the effective date by six days. This pause would have detrimental impacts on public support services across the nation, including Kentucky’s domestic violence programs, the employees who keep them operating, and the survivors they serve.
Learn more about the memo’s potential impact from this Reuters article. Read the memo itself here.
As a member program of ZeroV, the coalition of Kentucky domestic violence programs, we are urging concerned Kentuckians to contact their Members of Congress today and insist they do everything in their power to prevent the federal funding pause. Below, you will find call scripts and email templates you can use when contacting your Members of Congress.
Call Congress NOW! The Capitol Switchboard can be reached at 202-224-3121. Prefer to send an email? Follow this link to find your Members of Congress
PHONE SCRIPT
I am calling to express my concern and dismay of the Office of Management and Budget memo M-25-13, “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs.”
As a constituent and concerned member of the community, I am concerned that this memo directly threatens survivors of crime. These survivors cannot wait for a pause while a federal agency analyzes the funding that enables service providers to provide them with the life-saving shelter and support they need. They need our help now, in the immediate wake of the most traumatic and difficult moments of their lives.
I urge the Representative/Senator to do everything in their power to stop this order from affecting this core, necessary funding that victim service providers rely on so they do not experience any interruption. If they are interrupted, the safety of victims and survivors will be gravely compromised, with immediate and real harm to the most vulnerable people in our communities.
EMAIL TEMPLATE
Dear Representative/Senator X,
I’m writing to express my concern and dismay for the Office of Management and Budget memo M-25-13, “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs.”
As a constituent and concerned member of the community, I am concerned that this memo directly threatens survivors of crime. These survivors cannot wait for a pause while a federal agency analyzes the funding that enables service providers to provide them with the life-saving shelter and support they need. They need our help now, in the immediate wake of the most traumatic and difficult moments of their lives.
As your constituent, I am asking, on behalf of survivors and their families, to do everything in your power to stop this order from affecting core, necessary funding such as this. It is essential that the federal grants on which victims’ service providers depend do not experience any interruption. If they are interrupted, the safety of victims and survivors will be gravely compromised, with immediate and real harm to the people who most desperately need our help.
With regard,
X
We thank the California Partnership To End Domestic Violence for drafting these rapid response communication tools. The featured photo is from pexels.com and used with permission.