The Association of the U.S. Army has joined with 25 other military and veterans groups to urge Congress to pass the fiscal 2025 defense appropriations “as soon as possible.”

Representing more than 5.5 million service members, veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors, The Military Coalition’s letter to the four top leaders in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives calls for lawmakers to act swiftly to provide timely and adequate funding.

“Our nation faces many threats, and our uniformed services operate in a very challenging environment,” the letter says. “From responding to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the current crisis in the Middle East, China’s aggression in the Indo-Pacific, as well as countering the malign activities of North Korea—the uniformed services continue to answer our nation’s call around the globe.”

Here at home, “without fail or delay,” the military has provided “essential support to civilian authorities during natural disasters of historical scales,” the letter says.

Signed by retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jack du Teil, president of The Military Coalition, the letter represents groups including AUSA, Air and Space Force Association, Army Aviation Association of America, Association of the United States Navy, Blue Star Families, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Marine Corps League, Military Officers Association of America, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, U.S. Army Warrant Officers Association and Vietnam Veterans of America.

The letter follows a similar missive sent Aug. 29 by AUSA and five like-minded military associations urging key lawmakers to pass adequate and timely budgets to support the Army.

That letter is available here.

In this latest letter, dated Sept. 9, the groups also ask that if stopgap funding is required to avert a “harmful and counterproductive government shutdown, it should be a short one.”

“Funding the government at last year’s rate diminishes national security and the capabilities of the uniformed services (both Regular and Reserve Components) by hurting readiness, modernization, and quality-of-life programs,” the letter says.

Stopgap funding, or a continuing resolution, also doesn’t allow new program starts, hampering the services’ modernization priorities and delays construction on family housing and barracks, the letter states.

Continuing resolutions also impact the industrial base. “[Continuing resolutions] damage the joint force’s ability to prepare to fight and win in the future and impede readiness to counter threats today,” the letter says.

Swift passage of all 12 fiscal 2025 appropriations bills as soon as possible would “provide the predictability and resources commensurate with the demonstrated need and the urgency that our national security challenges require, and our service members, veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors have earned,” the letter says.

Read the letter here.