Despite bipartisan support for at-risk Afghans, the administration has wound down an office in the State Department to resettle Afghan refugees and Special Immigrant Visa recipients. 

Now, a bill to support Afghan relocation efforts is gaining support in the U.S. House of Representatives. Contact your House member today to urge them to join this Global Refuge-endorsed bill or to ensure its passage. 

Thousands of at-risk Afghans were left behind in the aftermath of the 2021 withdrawal and evacuation from Afghanistan.

In the years following the withdrawal, an office in the State Department called the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) made tremendous strides to streamline Afghan refugee and Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) processing for Afghans, to relocate eligible Afghans out of Afghanistan, to process and vet them in third countries like Qatar and Albania, and to coordinate resettlement efforts in the United States.

Recognizing those strides, Congress voted in December 2024 to authorize this office to continue its work for three more years.

Yet, the CARE office’s operations have wound down this year due to policy decisions by the administration– lapsing contracts, laying off staff, suspending refugee resettlement, and freezing relocation assistance out of Afghanistan.

In August, Rep. Kamlager-Dove of California, Rep. McCaul of Texas, Rep. Titus of Nevada, and Rep. Lawler of New York introduced the bipartisan Enduring Welcome Act. This bill would further reinforce CARE’s statutory mandate and further clarify the scope of its work. It would also codify the office for five years, past the current Congressional authorization through the end of 2027.

Parts of the Enduring Welcome Act were included in the larger State Department Reauthorization Act effort in the House, reflecting a bipartisan willingness to build momentum for the Enduring Welcome Act and to ensure that the work of CARE continues.

As Afghan SIVs continue to travel to the United States and the administration weighs the future of the U.S. refugee program, the Enduring Welcome Act is a timely piece of legislation to strengthen and protect Afghan resettlement in the months and years ahead.

Reach out to your House member today to urge them to co-sponsor HR 4995 or support its inclusion in a larger piece of legislation like State Reauthorization or the National Defense Authorization Act process.

ELCA advocacy staff sent a statement to members of Congress and the White House Faith Office on Sep. 24 which “strongly urges the members of Congress and President Trump to return to the negotiating table now and work in a bipartisan manner to fund the government.” The U.S. government could run out of funding on Oct. 1 if Congress does not pass new legislation.

Read Here.

The fight over next year’s federal education budget has begun. Congress and the White House have released competing proposals for funding the nation’s K–12 schools in fiscal year 2026.

Education advocates warn that these plans would impose steep cuts on the nation’s most vulnerable students and disadvantaged school communities.

Under the House Appropriations Committee’s plan, the U.S. Department of Education would face a 15% cut, reducing its budget to about $67 billion. Within that, Title I funding — the largest federal program supporting schools that serve children from low-income families — would be cut by about 26–27%. This threatens critical services such as reading and math intervention, tutoring, and other supports for students.

The House plan also eliminates Title II funding (which supports professional development for educators) and Title III funding (which provides dedicated support for English learners).

The White House has proposed a different approach: consolidating 18 existing K–12 funding streams into a single $2 billion block grant. While this is not a direct cut to Title I, it would significantly reduce dedicated funding for programs such as rural schools, civics education, and support for students experiencing homelessness.

Together, these proposals would reshape how federal education dollars reach communities — and leave schools serving high-need students with far fewer resources.

Dr. Mary Streufert (she/her) will be speaking on Sept. 30th for Part 1 of our webinar series! Dr. Streufert serves as the director for Gender Justice and Women’s Empowerment in the Office of the Presiding Bishop in the ELCA. The description of her talk is in the attached posters, which are in English and in Spanish. Register at www.tinyurl.com/LutherWedding500.

Part 3 is on October 2, 2025 with the Rev. Dr. Elaine Neuenfeldt and Dr. Elyssa Salinas-Lazarski speaking about faith and sexuality. The webinar series is free and open to all. Register now at www.tinyurl.com/LutherWedding500