This week's alert is a little longer than usual because there will be no alert next week as Congress is in recess for two weeks. If you don't have time for all the actions listed this week, please save the e-mail in your inbox and come back to them next week because they will still be relevant!

NOTE: Your Senators and Representatives are HOME for the next two weeks and may be holding town hall meetings or participating in community events/forums that you can attend.  To find out if any of your members of Congress are participating in an event near you, call the district office nearest you - to locate district offices use the "Find Your Legislators" tool on our action website (enter your zip code for a list of legislators and then click on each person's name for contact information, scrolling down to the bottom of the page for district office information.)

        GOOD NEWS FIRST - DREAM ACT REINTRODUCED IN THE HOUSE       

Last Thursday a bipartisan group of Representatives led by Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Howard Berman (D-CA), and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) introduced "The New American Dream Act,” which would help remove financial barriers to higher education for undocumented students and would provide these students a path toward citizenship. The introduction of this bill comes at a critical time as the Senate is engaged in debate on immigration reform.  A version of the DREAM Act is included in some of the bills under consideration by the Senate and a strong show of support for the new House bill could ensure that a final House-Senate agreement on immigration includes the DREAM Act.  However, this legislation also deserves consideration on its own merit and should not be held back by disagreements on broader immigration issues.  This is why we need your help to increase the number of co-sponsors for this important legislation.

          ACTION NEEDED:           

Write your Representative and urge him/her to co-sponsor the "New American Dream Act," HR 5131.  A sample letter is available on our action website for you to edit and send.

          IMMIGRATION DEBATE STALLS IN SENATE         

Despite news late last week of a potential compromise on the immigration reform in the Senate, the immigration debate fell apart because of continuing policy disagreements and Senators voted against efforts to move forward on three separate reform proposals.  There is still hope that after recess Senator Specter (R-PA) may be able to work with other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to negotiate a new compromise, but immigrant advocates remain concerned that, absent a pre-conference agreement, whatever bill comes out of the Senate will become significantly less generous and more punitive when reconciled with the House bill in a conference committee appointed by leading advocates of enforcement-only proposals.

Given these concerns, it is more important than ever for voices of comprehensive and compassionate immigration reform to be heard.  With a lot of news coverage following yesterday’s National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice, writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper in support of comprehensive immigration reform is a good way to speak out.  A media guide (PDF file), including a sample letter to the editor written by Cardinal McCarrick, is available from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops "Justice for Immigrants" website.

For more information on last week's Senate actions, please visit the National Immigration Law Center.

          HOUSE UNABLE TO PASS BUDGET RESOLUTION         

Last week House leaders were forced to pull the House budget resolution from the floor just before members left for recess.  A key factor in this breakdown was a group of Republican moderates, who after receiving phone calls and letters from you, declined to support the cuts health care, education, housing, child care, and job training that are included in the resolution.  Unfortunately, these moderates will be under a lot of pressure from their leadership to support these cuts when they return from recess.  This means that we need to make sure Representatives hear from us over the next two weeks while they're at home in their districts!

For more information about what's in the House budget resolution, please visit -

          ACTION NEEDED:           

1. If you haven't already done so, please send a letter to your Representative urging her/him to vote against any budget resolution that sacrifices investments in health care, education, and supports for working families to provide more tax breaks to the wealthy. A sample letter at our action website is available for you to edit and send.

2. STORIES NEEDED—If you have any stories about how budget cuts have impacted your agency, of needs that are going unmet in your community, or of the importance of a particular program to you, please send them to us so that we can share them with members of Congress and strengthen our advocacy against the budget cuts!

For more information about what's in the House budget resolution, please visit the Coalition on Human Needs.

Finally, as we enter into Holy Week, we leave you with a prayer by professor and pastor, Walter Brueggemann:

Easter us

You God who terrified the waters,

            who crashed your thunder,

            who shook the earth, and

            scared the wits out of chaos.

You God who with strong arm saved your people

            by miracle and wonder and majestic act.

You are the same God to whom we turn,

            we turn in our days of trouble,

                        and in our weary nights;

            we look for steadfast love and are dismayed,

            we wait for your promises, but wait in fatigue,

            we ponder your forgetfulness and lack of compassion,

            and we grow silent.

Our lives, addressed to you,

            have this bitter-sweet taste of

                        loud-clashing miracles and weak-kneed doubt.

            So we come in our bewilderment and wonderment,

                        deeply trusting, almost afraid to trust much,

                        passionately insisting, too timid to insist much,

                        fervently hoping, exhausted for hoping too much.

Look upon us in our deep need,

            mark the wounds of our brothers and sisters just here,

            notice the turmoil in our lives, and the lives of our families,

            credit the incongruity of the rich and the poor in our very city,

                        and the staggering injustices abroad in our land,

            tend to the rage out of control, rage justified by displacement,

                        rage gone crazy by absence, silence, and deprivation,

            measure the suffering,

            count the sufferers,

            number the wounds.

You tamer of chaos and mender of all tears in the canvas of creation,

            we ponder your suffering,

                        your crown of thorns,

                        your garment taken in lottery,

                        your mocked life,

            and now we throw upon your suffering humiliation,

                        the suffering of the world.

You defeater of death, whose power could not hold you,

            come in your Easter,

            come in your sweeping victory,

            come in your glorious new life.

Easter us,

            salve wounds,

            break injustice,

            bring peace,

            guarantee neighbor,

Easter us in joy and strength.

Be our God, be your true self, lord of life,

            massively turn our life toward your life

            and away from our anti-neighbor, anti-self deathliness.

Hear our thankful, grateful, unashamed Hallelujah!

Amen.

- Walter Brueggemann, March 29, 1994