Last week, President Bush released his budget for fiscal year 2007 – a $2.7 trillion proposal indicating his priorities for the coming year.  Once again these priorities include substantial increases in military spending, additional tax cuts, and painful cuts to human services programs across the board. The National Advocacy Center is currently working on a more detailed analysis of his proposals in relation to Good Shepherd values, but the early reports show this budget to be even worse than last year’s – proposing the elimination of over 100 programs, cutting discretionary spending on education, health, environmental protection, housing, and other social services by nearly $200 billion over the next 5 years, and doing nothing to address increasing deficits and economic inequality. The good news is that we have built a strong coalition over the past year and have many allies on Capitol Hill and in communities around the country who are already speaking out against these priorities.  Also, since this is an election year, there will be even more opportunities for us to get the message out about the impact of budget decisions and make it more difficult for members of Congress to vote for policies that will hurt their constituents!

          ACTION NEEDED         

We need your stories – about budget cuts at the state and local level, about needs in your community going unmet, about individuals who have lost access to services, about the overall impact you see resulting from the budget decisions that are coming out of Washington. Do you know a program that has closed down because of lack of funding? Is it more difficult for you to get services for your clients? What are you hearing from the state and local coalitions that you work with? 

We want to make sure elected leaders in Washington know that the current budget priorities have a real and personal impact.  You can submit your stories, comments, or links to local info through our website. We hope to compile these in a document to send to Congress. 

For More Info – Coalition on Human Needs

          IMMIGRATION REFORM?         

The Senate is expected to move forward with immigration legislation in early March.  It is unclear whether the Senate bill will incorporate measures of comprehensive immigration reform or whether it will mirror the harmful enforcement-only bill (HR 4437, sponsored by James Sensenbrenner) passed by the House in December.  Senators need to know that an enforcement-only bill will not be effective and that what is needed is comprehensive immigration reform legislation. 

          ACTION NEEDED           

Write and call your Senators to urge them to support comprehensive immigration reform.  Sample letters are available on our action website.

For more information about immigration, please visit the immigration update on our website.  

+++++UPDATES+++++         

          FINAL CALL FOR ECUMENICAL ADVOCACY DAYS         

Just a final reminder about Ecumenical Advocacy Days, which will be taking place March 10-13th in DC. So far 2 Good Shepherd Volunteers have expressed an interest in attending and our Education Coordinator, Anne Montesano, (also a GSV) is working with them to try to get scholarships.  We would love to have a few more Good Shepherd advocates participate.  More details about the conference are available at the Advocacy Days website.  I am currently working with the planning for the domestic issues track and the quality and variety of workshops that will be offered is amazing!  Please let us know as soon as possible if you are interested in attending.

          SURVEY REMINDER         

Please take our "action alert" and website survey. There are a number of spaces for comments and suggestions.  If you have any questions or problems with it, please let us know. 

          SAVE THE DATE – RALLY TO END GENOCIDE IN DARFUR         

On April 30, 2006 a broad coalition of organizations working to end the genocide in Darfur will be sponsoring a rally on the National Mall in DC. Speakers will include faith leaders, human rights activists, political leaders, and many other key figures working to protect the civilians of Darfur.  We hope you will consider joining us for this important event – hospitality is available on a first come, first serve basis. Please contact Sr. Gayle at info@gsadvocacy.org if you are interested in participating.  More details about the event will be posted at the Save Darfur Coalition website as they become available.