By newsfirstusa 
A gaggle of 51 bipartisan lawmakers is urging Space negotiators to accumulation up the stream of greenbacks to a visa program for Afghans getaway the Taliban takeover in their nation.
Reps. Jason Crow, D-Colo., and Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, wrote to the Space of Representatives’ govern appropriators as they proceed to barter federal investment for the left-overs of fiscal generation (FY) 2025.
“We write to urge you to maintain critical provisions for the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program1 in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 appropriations package. Authorizing new Afghan SIVs is critical to vetting and relocating qualified Afghan principal applicants currently in the processing pipeline,” they wrote to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., and others.
It comes as President-elect Trump promised to paintings towards steep spending cuts within the coming federal investment fights. He wrote on Fact Social terminating age, “The United States will cut Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in spending next year through Reconciliation!”
Lawmakers are calling for the preservation of an Afghan visa program as President-elect Trump vows steep spending cuts. (Getty Photographs)
Nation in Trump’s orbit, together with some Space Republicans, are pushing for him to have better keep an eye on over how congressionally appropriated budget are spent.
In the meantime, Trump tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy terminating pace to top an advisory panel on cost-cutting dubbed the Area of Executive Potency (DOGE).
The duo have already situated themselves as influential avid gamers in Congress’ spending discussions as neatly, having led the revolt towards a 1,547-page govt investment invoice that was once a made of bipartisan negotiations. They have got no longer, alternatively, stated the place they need to see Congress jerk again on spending.
Reps. Jason Crow and Zach Nunn, each army veterans, led the bipartisan letter. (Getty Photographs)
The 51 lawmakers pushing for the Afghan SIV program to be guarded argue it’s “a life-saving path to safety for Afghan nationals who face serious danger as a result of their work alongside U.S. troops, diplomats, and contractors.”
“Congress must continue this work so that the State Department is able to issue visas to eligible Afghans who face imminent threats from the Taliban, Islamic State, and other hostile groups because of their service to the U.S. and our allies,” they wrote.
The Afghan SIV program was once first enacted in 2009, however noticed fresh usefulness next the Taliban’s lightening-fast takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 – which caused the U.S.’s withdrawal next many years within the Heart Japanese nation.
Congress licensed backup visas beneath this system each generation since FY 2019, in step with the letter.
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Congressional negotiators have up to now failed to return to an contract on FY 2025 spending, forcing lawmakers to go two extensions of terminating generation’s investment ranges to block a partiality government shutdown.
The latest extension, referred to as a seamless solution (CR), provides lawmakers till March 14 to form a do business in.