House and Senate budgets are being reconciled this week. Your voice is needed in this negotiation! Please send the letter linked at the right to let your senator and representatives know what you want them to prioritize in the final budget. If you want to know more details about FAN's budget priorities, read the information below.

BUDGET ADVOCACY FOR THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET
FAN signed a letter with our anti-poverty coalition partners advocating for the House Budget proposal for human services. As organizations that advocate for the well-being of Washington's low-income families, we want the legislature to prioritize investments that will increase equity and help community members meet their basic needs. We are concerned about the trend of underfunding human services in the Senate budget proposal. We urge you to call upon our leaders to interrupt the cycle of poverty and inequality in our state by investing in community-based human services. The House budget proposal has increased investments in cash assistance programs, hunger, housing, behavioral health, child welfare, and other important anti-poverty measures. As federal supports decrease, low-income families will rely even more heavily on these services. We implore our leaders to prioritize the needs of our most vulnerable communities by retaining these vital investments in the budget reconciliation process. Below are highlights of some of the safety-net differences in the House and Senate budgets.

BUDGET ADVOCACY FOR HOUSING

Please ask your representatives to ensure that the Senate Housing Trust Fund budget funding levels for affordable home ownership are included. The Senate’s budget includes $40 million for competitively awarded grants for home ownership, which is $15 million more than the House budget. By urging our elected officials to increase home-ownership funding, we can address the pressing issue of the "missing middle" and provide more opportunities for middle-income families to become homeowners. Please take action today and demand that affordable home ownership receives an equitable share of affordable housing investments in the final budget.

BUDGET ADVOCACY FOR HEALTH EQUITY FOR IMMIGRANTS

Please also urge your legislators to adopt the House’s budget proposal that prioritizes health equity by providing essential funding ($95.3m) for a Medicaid-like program for immigrant communities. This program structure reflects community input and will improve health outcomes, strengthen state economies and hospitals, and lower uncompensated care costs. In contrast, the Senate’s budget proposal fails to provide sufficient funding for meaningful health care access for immigrant communities. Expanding Medicaid coverage has been demonstrated to be successful in saving lives and improving health outcomes, which is why it is so important that the final budget include the House’s approach at no less than the proposed funding levels. Lack of health equity for immigrants in Washington State is a pressing issue that we must not ignore. More than 100,000 immigrants in the state are uninsured, which leads to poorer health outcomes and mounting medical debt for them.

Take action today to help get our priorities funded. Write to your senators and representatives, using the template linked here, to let them know what you’d like to see included in the final budget.