Act now to protect vital lung health programs

A series of actions taken by the White House and Congress over the last few weeks are jeopardizing lung health.

All across the federal government, there are efforts to freeze funding for programs, including cutting research at the National Institutes of Health. States, cities, community groups, schools and nonprofit organizations that serve the public good have all been impacted. Some have been blocked from getting promised federal dollars for work they’ve already done; others have halted projects, worried they won’t be paid back.

Meanwhile, Congress is planning severe cuts to the Medicaid program, which is an important source of health coverage for people who could not otherwise afford healthcare, including the elderly, children, people with disabilities, and workers who do not get insurance from their jobs. Congress is also considering cutting programs that invest in air pollution cleanup in communities, which would mean more people have asthma attacks and develop lifelong lung damage from pollution caused by vehicles and power plants.

All of these add up to major harms to lung health, including:

Delaying or halting research and new clinical trials for lifesaving lung disease and lung cancer treatments;

Freezing programs that work with schools to clean up indoor air pollution so that kids, especially those with asthma, can breathe safely while at school;

Threatening communities’ efforts to clean up local air pollution, delaying clean energy projects and EV charging stations;

Risking CDC’s efforts to protect kids from vaping and tobacco use and help people who smoke get help quitting;

Endangering the lives of tens of millions of people

Congress must act to ensure that our nation’s health is not further jeopardized by these actions. Your voice matters – now more than ever. Contact your members of Congress today and urge them to protect lung health and reject any effort to halt, cut or freeze these critical programs.

Subject

Message

Dear {{legislator_title_last_name}}:

As your constituent, I’m writing to ask that you stand in strong opposition to the current efforts to freeze federal funding and slash lifesaving programs.

Current White House efforts to freeze and block funds appropriated by Congress violate federal law and are actively harming lung health. States, cities, community groups, schools and nonprofit organizations that serve the public good have all been impacted. Some have been blocked from getting promised federal dollars for work they’ve already done; others have halted projects, worried they won’t be paid for their work. These efforts put public health funding at risk, threatening essential programs that protect our health. The current efforts even include threatening to cut investments in research at the National Institutes of Health.

Meanwhile, Congress is considering cuts to programs that invest in air pollution cleanup in communities that will lead to more people suffering from asthma attacks and developing lifelong lung damage and other harms from pollution caused by vehicles and power plants.

I am also very troubled that Congress is planning severe cuts to the Medicaid program, which is an important source of health coverage for people who could not otherwise afford healthcare, including the elderly, children, people with disabilities, and workers who do not get insurance from their jobs.

I am asking you to fight to protect federal programs, including Medicaid. Continued threats and confusion jeopardize critical lung health programs, public health efforts and protections. My family, neighbors and loved ones are counting on you to step up and stop this from happening. Please protect the laws Congress passed to fund our nation’s health and other programs.

Thank you,