Call to Action » Fiscal Cliff

Will TRIO and GEAR UP be at the Table or on the Table?!

Your actions will determine our future.

On March 1, 2013, the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration went into effect. According to the Office of Management and Budget, the sequester amounts to a 5.2% cut to discretionary programs funded within the U.S. Department of Education (as opposed to 5.0% as reported earlier). For TRIO, this translates into a $43.7 million funding cut, which will impact your funding for program year 2013-2014. (These cuts will be piled on top of the cuts received in years past.)

In mid-March, Congress passed an FY 2013 continuing resolution that ratified the sequester cuts. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) provided a brief glimmer of hope when he offered an amendment that would have increased TRIO funding by $14 million and, thereby, reduced the base from which the final cuts were drawn. However, the Senate Republicans rejected the amendment.

As a result of these events, the first evidence of the sequestration cuts will be seen in the Grant Award Notifications for Upward Bound, which will be released in April or May of 2013.

As we move into FY 2014, the TRIO community must take decisive action to get Congress to reverse the funding cuts to TRIO! We must speak in a single, unified voice with a simple message — REVERSE THE CUTS & INCREASE FUNDING FOR TRIO!

You can do this in several ways.

  • TWEET CONGRESS — We encourage all TRIO supporters — particularly students, alumni, and program staff, to tweet messages to their legislators, such as the following:

    1. Under #Sequestration 40,000 students across the country will lose access to TRIO services this year. #SaveTRIO #TRIOWorks
    2. Did you know that 88,000 students have already lost access to TRIO? Under #Sequestration 40,000 more will lose out. Tell Congress to reverse the cuts! #SaveTRIO
    3. Invest in education and programs that work. Help us #SaveTRIO [ insert Member Twitter handle ]. Support balance and reverse #Sequestration! #TRIOWorks
    4. Remember [ insert Member Twitter handle ] nearly 40,000 low-income students are counting on you to support a balanced approach to reverse #Sequestration! #SaveTRIO
    5. #Sequestration cut $43.7 million more to TRIO & now 40,000 fewer TRIO students will be served! [ insert Member Twitter handle ] fight to increase funding! #SaveTRIO

You can find Twitter handles for your Members of Congress (as well as their full contact information) at (http://www.contactingthecongress.org/).

  • E-MAIL CONGRESS — You can also click here to send a message like the following to your legislators (and the President):

    1. “My name is __________ and I’m with the __________, a TRIO program at __________. I know that the President and Members of Congress are working to reduce the federal deficit. But, 70% of all of the deficit reduction so far has come through cuts to TRIO and other programs. In total, discretionary programs have sustained nearly $1.5 billion in cuts already! In fact, TRIO programs have seen almost $114 million in cuts in just the last three years. I need [ Senator/Representative ] __________ to fight to increase TRIO funding to restore services to the 125,000 students who have been kicked out of the programs since FY 2010!”

  • CALL CONGRESS — Finally, you can also reach any of your legislators’ offices to leave a message like the one above by calling the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 225-3121.

This will be a long and arduous battle. But, if we do not act, we could face even greater cuts in months to come. Advocates across the nation representing every industry — from defense to transportation, from housing to healthcare — are weighing in on the funding debate. Do not let TRIO get left behind!

Please share any details about your efforts to stop these dangerous cuts and increase TRIO funding. The Government Relations team is always available to work with you on these outreach efforts and provide sample letters, op-eds, etc. Please contact Heather Valentine (heather.valentine@coenet.us) or Kimberly Jones (kimberly.jones@coenet.us) by e-mail or phone at (202) 347-7430.

Thank you for your continued support of TRIO programs and students.

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