Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! The
Ecumenical Advocacy Days were wonderful: the session about Human Trafficking was overflowing and Sr Helene’s presentation
was absolutely tremendous!
Now for
the legislative buzz!
IMMIGRATION
We have been keeping you updated on the SAVE Act, a very destructive piece of bipartisan legislation which tries to
handle the immigration issue with an enforcement-only response. This is extremely destructive to our communities
both practically and morally. Unfortunately this piece of legislation has 147 cosponsors, which is an enormous amount relative
to other bills, and last week a discharge petition was filed to move the bill immediately to the House floor for a vote.
The discharge petition will force the SAVE Act out of the committees who have been working on it and cause a vote if
it is signed by 218 members of the House of Representatives. As of this morning, 181 members of Congress
have signed the petition. NAC has faxed a letter to 43 offices encouraging Representatives not to sign
the petition and not to support the SAVE Act.
ACTION ALERT
Please call your Representative and urge her or him to reject the SAVE Act! Call
202-225-3121 to ask for your Representative or use our Take Action Now feature to find the information about your Representative.
Let your Representative know that the SAVE Act is NOT the solution to our broken immigration system and that you demand
the individual worth of every person be respected. There is also a letter posted on our website for you to print out and fax to your Member of Congress in the House
of Representatives. This is the point when your input really counts! They will count
every letter and phone call in making their decision about whether or not to support the SAVE Act. Let’s
make sure they DON’T support it!!
PRISON REFORM
Good news!! The Second Chance Act (HR. 1593) has made it through both the House and the Senate and
has been sent to the White House! This piece of legislation will improve inmate treatment and help people
reenter the community once they have completed their sentence.
NUTRITION
The Farm Bill, which has been an extremely difficult topic in Washington as it
brings to the table farm reform and a strong nutrition title, has been extended once again. The feeling
is that this is the final short-term extension, at the end of these 30 days if the Farm Bill isn’t ready for a vote,
it will be extended for a year and all the hard work that has been done by the folks fighting for nutrition programs such
as Food Stamps will fall to waste.
MENTAL HEALTH
Progress has been made on the front of mental health! The Senate passed a mental
health parity bill last September, and last week the House passed its own mental health parity bill. People
remain optimistic that Congress will be able to reconcile one piece of legislation to send to the White House that will be
signed into law.
BUDGET
More
budget fun this week! The House and the Senate have put forth their Fiscal Year 2009 Budgets.
Congratulations to all the advocates who fought for a higher domestic discretionary number and asked Congress not to
give any weight to the President’s Budget- we had some success! We were successful in getting more
funds for the domestic human needs programs, and will continue to advocate on behalf of these programs during the next month
as Congress tries to reconcile the two budgets by April 15th.
Today Congress begins its two week recess, but this does not mean nothing will be happening here
in Washington. The staffers do not get this break, so they will be in the offices compiling the letters,
calls and visits for the Members of Congress when they return. There is also thought that the Members themselves
will be talking amongst themselves specifically about the budget throughout the break.
ACTION ALERT
Please call your Members of Congress- Senators
as well as your Representative in the House. Ask them to fund women’s programs in the Budget process
for the Fiscal Year 2009: fully fund the Violence against Women Act and the Family Violence Prevention Services and protect
the Victims of Crime Act Fund. Another important issue this year, especially considering the housing crisis
we are currently experiencing, is to ask Congress to fully fund Housing Programs such as Section 8 Housing
Vouchers, Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly, Section 811 Supportive Housing for People with Disabilities, The
Public Housing Operating Fund, The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, Housing Opportunities for People with
AIDS (HOPWA) and HUD (Housing and Urban Development) Homeless Assistance Grants.
REMINDERS
Two quick reminders: this Wednesday the 19th
is the 5th year anniversary of the war in Iraq. I hope you will commemorate this day in your
own way, be it by attending one of the many vigils happening nationwide,
see this website to find one near you or by praying individually for all those lives lost over the past 5 years. The
murder of Chaldean Archbishop Faraj Rahho less than one week ago reminds us of the brutality and persecution still happening
on a daily basis in Iraq. Second, surely everyone has been inundated with the Eliot Spitzer debacle and I would just remind
all Good Shepherd People that prostitution is NOT a victimless crime. As we all work every day for the
promotion of women and girls, we recall that prostitutes are often enslaved and we bring this knowledge to conversations about
how Spitzer’s actions were not a private, personal matter but a small piece of the enormous issue of the treatment of
women and girls in our society.
