More than 100 House Democrats urged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to spare a crisis service for LGBTQ youth from federal funding cuts, calling the plan, part of a leaked budget proposal, “ill-advised” and dangerous in a letter addressed Tuesday to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

An internal budget document first reported last month by The Washington Post would eliminate specialized services for LGBTQ youth who contact 988, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, as part of a broader Trump administration effort to slash funding and programs it says are bloating the federal government.

The proposed cuts, which need approval from Congress, would not take effect until October.

The service for LGBTQ youth has received nearly 1.3 million calls, texts and online chat messages since its launch in 2022, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. In February, the program received an average of 2,100 crisis contacts daily.

“Ending this mental health support for youth in distress would devastate a vital resource for some of our nation’s most vulnerable young people,” Democrats, led by Reps. Seth Moulton (Mass.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill.), wrote in

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