The clock is tick…tick…ticking!

And we are still fighting for families in our nation. The GOP just pushed through a destructive tax plan while ignoring some important work that has to be done before 2018—and we are doubling down. The U.S. Congress is on the clock to pass a funding bill by 11:59 pm ET on Friday, December 22nd to avoid a shut down— let's talk about all that is at stake for families, from funding essential health care programs such as CHIP, to protecting immigrant youth. Let's make sure the GOP doesn't let our nation down again.

***Sign our URGENT letter to the U.S. Congress telling them to pass the children’s health insurance program (CHIP) and the DREAM Act by the end of the year and keep the government funded!

Just this morning, the Republican majority in Congress pushed through the GOP tax scam, a giant transfer of wealth to the already wealthy paid for by working families. It’s bad for women, families, and our economy. The tax plan was written by and for millionaires, billionaires, and mega-corporations, while we are left footing the bill. While this bill is wildly unpopular among both voters and small business owners, most Republicans ignored the wishes of their constituents and passed it anyway. 

It’s now time for the GOP, which holds the majority in Congress, to do something that helps struggling families and the economy, not just line the pockets of the already rich.

We are in the final days of the year and Congress still has a number of critical pieces of legislation to pass before taking off to celebrate the holidays with their families—including the DREAM Act, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and of course the funding bill.

Congress can’t put this off any longer.  

***Sign our letter NOW and tell Congress to protect our families, immigrants, and our health care before the end of the year!

We’ve been hearing from all of you throughout the year. You’ve been speaking out! Resisting! Telling your stories and it's been making a real difference. Thank you. Now we need to do it one last time because this is a big one! A lot is at stake with this end-of-the-year deal.

Here is our list of policies our members of Congress MUST pass before they leave for the year:

• Pass a 5 year reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)—This vital bi-partisan-supported health insurance program expired on September 30th and since then the health care of nearly 9 million children who rely on the program is at risk. If it’s not passed by the time Congress leaves for their holiday break, many states have reported that they will start running out of money for the program by mid-January, and children will start losing health coverage.
• Pass the DREAM Act now—DREAMers are young people in our communities who were brought to this country as children and have grown up in the U.S. Under the Obama administration, nearly 800,000 DREAMers applied for and received legal status that has enabled them to work and pursue their educations under the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Earlier this year President Trump rescinded DACA, putting at risk the legal status of nearly a million young people in our workplaces, colleges, and military services. The DREAM Act is a strong bipartisan legislative solution that would allow young immigrants to continue to work and go to school with a path to citizenship. Inaction on DREAM legislation has resulted in families being torn apart as an estimated 7,900 DREAMers have lost their legal status, with 122 more DREAMers losing their status with each day that passes. 
• Pass funding to keep our government open and functioning—Since Congress once again has failed to pass a full funding bill, our government will run out of money at 11:59pm on Friday. They must pass a budget to keep the government open. No gimmicks. Just pass the funding we need to continue to keep our country safe, the programs our families rely on functioning, and employ the millions of people that work for the federal government.

***Sign our letter NOW and let Congress know you expect them to do their job and protect our families, immigrants, and our health care before the end of the year!

None of these pieces are negotiable to the families of America. We expect our elected leaders—including the GOP leadership—to do their job, pass legislation that improves the lives of their constituents, protects our health, education, nutrition, and safety, and do right by the promising young DREAMers who have already contributed so much to our nation.

If 2017 has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. We’ve also learned again and again about the power of our voices. Right now we need to use that power to let our members of Congress know we are still paying attention as we head into the holidays and that they must pass these three priorities before it is too late.

Don’t forget to sign our letter to Congress.

And after you take action please forward this email to your friends and family and post the action link to Facebook so we can get as many people to sign our letter before we deliver it on Friday morning. The more people who raise their voices, the bigger the impact we’ll have together.

Thank you for continuing to speak up for our families and our economy! We couldn’t have done all that we have done this year without you!

P.S. On December 20, MomsRising/MamásConPoder is delivering a book of your stories to EVERY member of Congress to make sure they hear from us that immigrants and diversity are at the core of our country's strength, innovation, and prosperity; NOT the opposite!