Eva Longoria

Actress Eva Longoria lobbied lawmakers and spoke at a rally on behalf of the mentally disabled on Tuesday. Texas lawmakers are grappling with a $27 billion shortfall. The current House bill proposes cutting the Department of Aging and Disability Services by 20 percent, or almost $1 billion.

Longoria has a sister with Down syndrome. She told the crowd that if Texans understood what these cuts would mean for people like her sister, they would oppose them. She promised to speak out against the cuts.

Longoria said her 43-year-old sister is a resident of a group home in Texas, which could close due to funding cuts in the state budget proposals under consideration.

“We’re not here to ask for more money,” she said “We want to keep what we have fought for for the last 30 years.”