New Dems Push for Affordable Housing, Public Safety, Border, and Rural Development Funding in Appropriations Requests
New Dem Members penned letters to House Appropriations Committee leadership to advocate for critical funding in key areas as part of government funding legislation for Fiscal Year 2026
Today, New Democrat Coalition Vice Chair for Policy Nikki Budzinski (IL-13) announced that New Democrat Coalition Members sent five letters to House Appropriations Committee leadership to request government funding for several key initiatives in the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations process.
The five letters, which all together received more than 110 New Dem signatures, included requests to streamline affordable housing development, enhance public safety in our communities, surge resources to the southern border, reduce red tape in the permitting process, and support rural communities.
“In the ongoing government funding process, New Dems are laser focused on working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to help lower costs for hardworking Americans and make our communities safer and stronger,” said Vice Chair Nikki Budzinski. “Together, these letters offer concrete, common sense solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing the country, solutions that can and should gain the bipartisan support necessary to pass into law. I look forward to collaborating with New Dem Members to continue our advocacy efforts and deliver on these funding requests.”
Read more about each of the funding request letters below:
Border Resources
New Dems are advocating for making strategic investments in programs and personnel along the border to help make strides towards a more efficient and humane operating status both at and between our ports of entry.
This includes hiring more CBP officers at ports of entry to address shortages, investing in cutting-edge technology to help stop the flow of deadly and illicit substances, and hiring more judges to address the major backlogs in our immigration courts.
Affordable Housing
New Dems lay out a case for increased funding to address the growing housing shortage and affordability crisis in communities across the country.
This includes funding initiatives that boost housing supply like the HOME Investment Partnerships Program and Tribal housing supply programs, as well as the national Housing Trust Fund, Neighborhood Housing Tax Credit, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and the PRICE housing program for manufactured housing. New Dems are also requesting language to improve data collection to better understand the scope of residential displacement.
Public Safety
New Dems are requesting additional resources for law enforcement as departments across the country struggle with recruitment, retention, and training under strained budgets.
This letter advocates for fully funding public safety programs, including: the Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG), the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, the Drug Free Communities (DFC) program, and Capacity Enhancement for Backlog Reduction (CEBR) grants.
Rural Development
New Dems are working to ensure the final government funding package provides a strong framework to support American agricultural producers, enhance sustainable land-use practices, protect Americans from hunger, and invest in our rural economy.
This letter includes a series of funding requests to address the multifaceted needs of rural communities, including funding to increase housing supply, improve rural utilities and expand broadband access, support rural economic development through grant programs, and promote environmental conservation.
“Dig Once”
“Dig Once” refers to the streamlining of federal, state, and local governments along with private sector entities to prevent repeated excavations during the development of construction or infrastructure projects. This streamlining speeds up building processes, reduces waste of taxpayer dollars, diminishes environmental impacts, and more.
In this letter, New Dems are requesting appropriations language that directs the Department of Transportation, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and other relevant agencies to establish a Dig Once policy to coordinate the installation of additional utilities—such as broadband, electrical cables, and water lines—during the initial phases of construction.
Previous Article