On January 8, 2024, NAVAPD, along with nearly 1,100 other organizations, signed a letter to Senators Schumer and McConnell and Representatives Johnson and Jeffries asking them to reject cuts to funding for non-defense programs, including cuts to funding for veterans’ healthcare and healthcare research. These non-defense programs (often referred to as non-defense discretionary appropriations or simply “NDD” for fiscal year 24 (FY24) are slated to be cut if a full-year continuing resolution were to pass.

NAVAPD and the other signatory organizations strongly urged Congressional leadership to finish the FY24 appropriations process, and to adopt the bipartisan Senate funding framework as a starting point for their negotiations on the budget.

The letter sent to Congress pointed out that non-defense discretionary funding is a very small part of the overall federal budget. The NDD funding represents less than one sixth of the current federal budget, yet these funds provide programs and services that benefit most Americans.

This NDD funding supports: scientific and medical research, medical care for veterans, environmental protections; home energy assistance; assistance with housing and child care for low-income families; rural development; K-12 education and skills training; nutrition assistance for young children, families, and older people; financial aid for college students; infrastructure investments in things like transportation choices, sewage treatment, safe drinking water, flood control and navigation improvements; diplomacy, humanitarian aid and development; services for victims of gender-based violence; courts and reentry programs; assistance for small businesses; public safety and other programs for older people and veterans,  public health; among others. 

In the letter sent to Congress, NAVAPD and the signatories stipulated that enacting the FY24 NDD cap of $704 billion included in the Fiscal Responsibility Act by passing a full-year CR for all 12 spending bills would mean reducing NDD spending by as much as 9 percent according to the Congressional Budget Office. The cuts would be enacted over the course of nine months or less instead of a full year, making them even more devastating to the programs and services dependent on that funding.

The letter calls Congress to finish the FY24 appropriations process moving funding packages with the necessary funds and without including dangerous policy riders.  The letter also urges Congressional leadership to adopt the bipartisan appropriations approach the Senate pursued in July as an example of the type of across-the-aisle collaboration to ensure programs that rely on the NDD funding are supported in a manner that allows them to provide the services Americans need.  The letter urged Congressional leadership to come to an agreement quickly so that they may turn their attention to the FY25 federal budget. 

NAVAPD asks you to contact your Congressional leader, urging them to reject the cut to NDD funding . You can contact your leaders here: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member   and  https://www.senate.gov/senators/