The federal government fiscal year ends on September 30th, and the government will shut down without congressional action to appropriate funds after that date.

The Republicans are planning to pass a continuing resolution (CR) by the end of this week which would extend the current year budget through November 21st. That bill must be approved by a majority of the House and, because of the filibuster, 60 votes in the Senate. To get to 60 votes, the Republicans need 7 Democrats to vote for the CR.

Because some Republicans in the House seek cuts to the budget, some the votes of Democrats may be necessary to pass the bill there as well.

The need for Democratic votes means that this is a unique moment at which Democrats—and perhaps even a few Republicans who have concerns about recent policy changes—have some leverage over the budget.

Please use this online tool to ask your representative and Senators Fetterman and McCormick today to use this leverage to attain two important goals:

• Help millions of Americans to secure health insurance by rolling back the cuts to Medicaid in the huge, ugly reconciliation bill and permanently extending the expanded tax credits for people who get insurance through the ACA exchanges.
• Take steps to stop President Trump from ignoring the will of the people and Congress by unilaterally freezing spending that has been lawfully enacted.

Click here for more information about the current budget fight and what we are encouraging our representatives and senators to do.

We understand that these demands may lead to a temporary shutdown of the federal government. We think, however, that most of us are willing to bear the costs of a government shutdown to fight for health insurance for our fellow citizens and for the rights of the people and Congress, not President Trump, to determine our spending priorities.

In addition, we believe this effort will both educate the public about what's at stake in the budget and mobilize people to oppose the Trump / Republican attacks on health care and democracy.