RESULTS Weekly Update November 12, 2025
Quote of the Week
“In DC, two parties blame each other for holding critical funding hostage. Meanwhile, millions of Americans face hunger, lost pay, and the looming loss of medical care.”
– RESULTS South Carolina advocate Mary Lash in November 9 letter to the editor in the Greenville (SC) News
(Is this newsletter too long; didn’t read (TL;DR) the whole thing? Scroll to the bottom for the most important points or the “TL;DR”)
Keep communicating with Congress until the shutdown is over
We await a potential House vote today that could lead to the government finally reopening. Assuming the House passes the Senate bill, we can take both good and bad from this outcome.
The good. The new continuing resolution (CR) combined with some full-year funding will immediately resume SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits. And both SNAP and WIC (Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) will be funded through next September. This means that if there is another shutdown in January (when this new CR expires), benefits will not be disrupted like they were this time. In addition, federal workers will resume their jobs and get paid and further disruptions from the shutdown (e.g., air travel, etc.) will ease.
The bad. No movement on health care. The Medicaid cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) are unchanged and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies are still set to expire at the end of the year. This puts access to quality health care at risk for tens of millions of people. Also, the deal does not include any accountability protections on spending, meaning there are no safeguards to ensure that the Trump Administration spends monies directed to domestic and global anti-poverty programs as intended. These protections must be a top priority in any final budget for FY26.
With Congress seemingly back in business, our priorities remain the same. Congress must invest in critical health, nutrition, and poverty programs, both domestically and globally. With the transitions this week, please continue to call and email members of Congress about these priorities. Use our online action alerts and our Shutdown Action Guide for action-taking support.
Your media also remains crucial. Congress is now in a race to finish the FY26 budget by the end of January. And with the holidays coming up, the most consistent way to get your message to them is in local media. If we want Congress to fund the Global Fund, Gavi, and our other global poverty priorities, they need to hear it from you. If we want Congress to protect people’s health care and reverse budget cuts that will increase poverty, they need to hear from you. Use the media to send that message. So far this year, you have published at least 478 media pieces on our priorities. We are on our way to meeting our 600-piece goal for year’s end. To keep our priorities front and center, can you submit a letter to the editor each week until the end of the year? Submitting a letter or op-ed is already a win, even if you don’t get published. Our Action Center has regularly-updated templates and our media hooks tracker offers great ideas for letters, dovetailing off articles about our issues that are hot off the press. Reach out to Jos Linn for any media questions.
Until the shutdown is behind us, see our new Shutdown Resource Guide for connections with local resources to help with covering basic needs. And stay tuned for more updates as our policy team continues to monitor this dynamic situation.
Inspiration and News
45 years of RESULTS: A celebration of your power. Are there days when you feel advocacy doesn’t make an impact? It does. Take a look at our brand new impact report, “45 years of RESULTS.” Complete with images from RESULTS’ earliest days, this report outlines the steady successes we have helped achieve together. As the report itself says, more than $200 billion dollars has been directed toward poverty alleviating policy and initiatives since RESULTS’ inception, and RESULTS helped make that happen. It’s nothing short of astonishing. Please read the report and share the inspiration!
Hold a Friends and Family fundraiser. During this month when we often focus on gratitude, invite your community to support your advocacy via a Friends and Family fundraiser. Donors themselves get the opportunity to join you in making a difference and, in return, you get to express gratitude for the advocacy they help empower. If you would like to create your own fundraiser, visit www.results.org/fundraise. Contact Melissa Strobel at [email protected] for questions and support.
Join a special Global Allies webinar this week. Join our next Global Allies Program webinar on Thursday, November 13 at 1 p.m. ET with Christopher Wurst, producer of the newly launched “SoftPower/FulStories” podcast. Christopher relies on first-person stories to highlight the personal side of U.S. soft power, foreign assistance, and cultural diplomacy. These are stories that show the importance and lasting impact (overseas and here at home) of constructive U.S. engagement. Register today!
Anti-Oppression Learning Community this Friday. Join us for our next Anti-Oppression Learning Community gathering this Friday, November 14 at 12 p.m. ET. Our host is 2024 RESULTS Fellow Nadia Hasan. This session will explore the intersection of disability and poverty, highlighting how systemic barriers push and keep people with disabilities in poverty. We’ll discuss the disproportionate rates of poverty in the disability community, the role of anti-poverty programs, and how policies like asset limits lock people out of long-term security. Together, we’ll reflect on the importance of accessibility and how advocates can help dismantle barriers to achieving it. Register today.
TL;DR (too long; didn’t read): Call and email Congress about our priorities until the shutdown is accomplished. Build on our 478 published media pieces as part of our ”600 Voices” media campaign by writing and submitting a new letter. Be inspired by the “45 years of RESULTS” impact report. Consider attending the upcoming Global Allies and Anti-Oppression Learning Community webinars. And perhaps even hold a Friends and Family fundraiser.
Quick Links: Action Center, Events Calendar, National Webinar recordings