Tell Your Senators: Don't Cancel International Conservation Funding
Year after year, we have successfully protected funding for international conservation programs in the federal budget. But these programs are facing an unprecedented threat right now. The Administration is calling on Congress to immediately cut more than $8 billion of international assistance funding that Congress has already approved. This includes most US government funding for conservation globally.
The House of Representatives already approved these destructive funding cuts last month, and the Senate is expected to vote on them soon. We need your Senators to say NO to these retroactive cuts.
Dear Senator,
As your constituent, I am writing to thank you for Congress' longstanding and bipartisan support of foreign assistance funding, including for international conservation and programs to prevent wildlife trafficking and illegal trade in timber and fish. I'm asking that you now reaffirm that support by opposing any rescissions package that would cancel funding that Congress has already approved for these programs.
I believe strategic and effective international assistance promotes our national and economic security and helps America win on the global stage. This includes support for global efforts to conserve wildlife, forests, fisheries, freshwater, and other essential natural resources. When it is spent wisely, funding for these programs brings security and stability, secures markets and supply chains for US businesses and their products, and prevents conflict and diseases from spilling over and reaching our borders.
I am deeply concerned by the Administration's proposals to zero out many of these programs in its budget for the coming year, and I strongly oppose its proposal to cancel funding that Congress has already appropriated for these programs. America needs to be demonstrating its leadership in the world, not retreating from it, including through continued support for smart foreign assistance investments that both sides have long agreed upon. Defunding these programs would harm America's influence and credibility on the world stage at the worst time, when global competition is increasing, including over natural resources.
I believe the US government should continue to make smart and strategic foreign assistance investments, including in international conservation, and that by doing so we make America safer, more secure, and more prosperous. I also believe that Congress should not undo its previous good work by cancelling funding it has already appropriated for these programs. Doing so would undermine not only the significant successes that these prior investments have helped achieve, but also the ability to make bipartisan progress on these issues in the future.
I urge you to oppose rescissions legislation that would cancel critical international affairs funding that Congress has already approved, including for programs that support international conservation and efforts to combat wildlife trafficking and illegal trade in timber, fish, and other natural resources. And I ask that you support continued investment in these programs as part of FY26 appropriations.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
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