For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the House passed a minibus that would ban funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for the next year and cut over $130 million of funding from our public schools, while increasing spending for the Department of Defense by over $25 billion and for ICE by nearly $800 million.

“Today’s minibus would ban funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) until next year, preventing millions of Palestinian civilians from getting the humanitarian aid they desperately need as Netanyahu’s war on the people of Gaza continues,” said Congressman Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. (NY-16). “We cannot stand by and allow children to be bombed, to die of starvation, or to see their entire families wiped out. Congress must do everything in our power to end the ongoing violence, secure a ceasefire, and save civilian lives – and this minibus takes us in the wrong direction.”

“I am also deeply concerned about the decision to cut over $130 million of funding from our public schools while increasing spending for the Department of Defense by over $25 billion and for ICE by nearly $800 million. Continuing to pour billions in extra funding into our already bloated military is not what our kids and families need. We should be spending in ways that support Americans across the country by providing universal childcare, affordable housing, Medicare for All, human-first immigration approaches, and more. Time and time again, I am disappointed to see my colleagues choose to fund violence, weapons, and war rather than policy solutions – like the expanded Child Tax Credit – that we know work to uplift our kids and families. But I will not stop fighting for a federal budget that actually carries out democratic values and centers our shared humanity.”

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