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A bipartisan group of 51 lawmakers urged House negotiators to continue funding a visa program for Afghans fleeing the Taliban’s takeover of the country.
Reps. Jason Crow, D-Colo., and Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, sent a letter to top House appropriators as they continue to discuss the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2025. Negotiate federal funding.
“We write to urge you to retain key provisions of the Afghanistan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Program 1 in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 appropriations program. Authorize the new Afghanistan SIV for the review and resettlement of eligible Afghan primary applicants currently in the process People matter,” they wrote to house appropriations committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and others.
President-elect Trump has pledged to work on deep spending cuts in the upcoming fight over federal funding. He wrote on Truth Social last week, “The U.S. will cut hundreds of billions of dollars in spending next year through reconciliation!”
Lawmakers are calling for the Afghanistan visa program to be preserved as President-elect Trump vows deep spending cuts. (Getty Images)
People around Trump, including some House Republicans, are pushing for him to have greater control over how congressional appropriations are spent.
Meanwhile, Trump last month appointed Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a cost-cutting advisory group called the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE).
The pair have also positioned themselves as influential players in congressional spending discussions, lead a rebellion Opposed a 1,547-page government funding bill that was the product of bipartisan negotiations. However, they have not said where they want Congress to cut spending.
Representatives Jason Crow and Zach Nunn, both veterans, led the bipartisan letter. (Getty Images)
The 51 lawmakers pushing to retain the Afghan SIV program argue it is “a life-saving path to safety for Afghan nationals who face grave dangers from working alongside U.S. troops, diplomats and contractors.”
“Congress must continue this work so that the State Department can issue visas to eligible Afghans who face imminent threats from the Taliban, ISIS, and other hostile groups because of their service to the United States and our allies,” they wrote.
The Afghan SIV program was first enacted in 2009 but has taken on added importance after the Taliban’s lightning-quick takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, prompting the United States to withdraw troops from the Middle Eastern country after decades in Afghanistan.
The letter states that Congress has approved additional visas under the program each year since fiscal year 2019.
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Congressional negotiators have so far been unable to agree on spending for fiscal 2025, forcing lawmakers to pass bills that twice extended last year’s funding levels to prevent some funding from being cut. government shutdown.
The latest extension, known as a continuing resolution (CR), gives lawmakers until March 14 to reach an agreement.
