Category Archives: Government Funding

Lent Week 2: Tax Billionaires and Feed Our People

Lent 2025: Giving Up Billionaires


Welcome to week 2 of our Lenten series, “Giving Up Billionaires,” as we call on Congress to give up billionaires so our communities can have what we need to thrive. Click here for the rest of our Lenten reflections and actions.

Congress: Tax Billionaires and Feed Our People

 

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP
March 12, 2025

 

As a child, I remember receiving the Catholic Relief Services Rice Bowl at church just before Lent. I was urged to donate my spare change or the money I saved from not buying a bag of chips after school so that hungry children in other countries could eat.

In 2021, David Beasley of the United Nations’ World Food Programme presented Elon Musk with a plan to address critical world hunger for $6.6 billion, about two percent of Musk’s wealth at the time. Musk had issued a challenge offering to pay that amount of money if someone presented a plan, but then refused to follow through. Two percent of my wealth is probably close to what I gave CRS as a child. It didn’t make much of a dent in world hunger, but Elon Musk could have fully ended critical world hunger at that moment.

It is a policy failure that the whims of one person can determine whether the world’s 8 billion people have access to food, or not.

In 2021, no billionaire stepped up to fund the UN World Food Programme’s proposal. Today, Congress is trying to cut our communities’ access to food to pay for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthiest among us. Families who are already struggling to put food on the table will be even hungrier.

Take action

Call your House Member and tell them to reject cuts to SNAP and tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. 

Join us as we continue promoting our Lenten campaign, “Giving Up Billionaires for Lent.” Save the image that I’ve placed below to your computer or phone and share it on social media and in emails to friends and family. And check out our Lent toolkit for more ways to share our campaign on social media and write letters to the editor (LTEs).

We must reject these cuts and act to ensure that the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share, so our communities can have what we need.

With just a two percent tax on all wealth over $1 billion, we could end hunger and homelessness, provide universal paid family and medical leave, and offer tuition-free community college in our country. We could also end hunger around the world—and still have money left over!

Take action with us today by calling your Member of Congress and asking them to reject cuts to SNAP and protect our access to food.

NETWORK has more shareable content, sample social media posts, and LTE guidance for you in our Lent Toolkit.

 

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP is NETWORK’s Grassroots Mobilization Coordinator. To read more, check out her column in Global Sisters Report, “The existence of billionaires is immoral.”

Lent Week 3: Congress: Prioritize Our Health, not Private Profits

Lent 2025: Giving Up Billionaires


Welcome to week 3 of our Lenten series, “Giving Up Billionaires,” as we call on Congress to give up billionaires so our communities can have what we need to thrive. Click here for the rest of our Lenten reflections and actions.

Congress: Protect Our Health, Not Private Profits

 

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP
March 19, 2025

 

A friend of mine is a primary care doctor who regularly shares stories about insurance executives blocking her ability to care for her patients. For example, they delay her patients’ access to life-saving medications, which puts their health, and perhaps even their lives, at risk. Meanwhile, these insurance executives rake in record-breaking profits for themselves and their wealthy investors.

Catholic Social Teaching affirms that ensuring access to quality health care is essential to respecting the dignity of each person. No matter our race, country of origin, or size of our bank account, we value our health and want affordable health care–for ourselves and our families.

But insurance executives are lining their pockets at the expense of our health and using their profits to fund politicians who will protect their money grabs. It’s no wonder that some members of Congress are working on a bill to slash Medicaid funds–because by gutting government-supported health care, they can force more of us onto private plans and turn a bigger profit. Meanwhile, too many of us are left with huge medical bills and denials of needed medical treatment.

Take action
  • Call your House Member at 1-888-897-9753 to ensure that Congress does not cut our Medicaid to give tax-breaks to the ultra-wealthy and to pay for deporting our neighbors in the budget reconciliation bill.
  • Spread the word. Save the image that I’ve placed below to your computer or phone and share it on social media and in emails to friends and family.
  • Write a letter to the editor (LTE) calling Congress to reject the budget proposal–make sure to include your Members of Congress (Representative and two Senators) by name!

Find more LTE and social media guidance in our Lent toolkit.

There is a lasting solution: end the private profit motive and ensure that everyone has quality, affordable health care–for less than we’re paying now. This solution is sometimes known as Medicare for All. With Medicare for All, billionaires wouldn’t be able to continue profiting at our expense through the private insurance industry (which is why they pay to put people in office who will block it).

Until we achieve a common-sense program like Medicare for All, our society fills the gaps with Medicaid, which covers more than 71 million people. Right now, a few millionaires in Congress, backed by billionaire donors and the insurance industry, are working to kick people off Medicaid to fund massive tax cuts for themselves and their ultra-wealthy backers.

We are coming together to insist that a handful of billionaires stop profiting off our health care while families struggle to afford the care they need.

Call your Representative today at 1-888-897-9753 to ensure that Congress does not cut our Medicaid to give tax-breaks to the ultra-wealthy and to pay for deporting our neighbors.

NETWORK has more shareable content, sample social media posts, and LTE guidance for you in our Lent Toolkit.

Emily TeKolste_2025_Spring

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP is NETWORK’s Grassroots Mobilization Coordinator. To read more, check out her column in Global Sisters Report, “The existence of billionaires is immoral.”

Lent Week 4: Congress: Keep Our Homes in Our Hands

Lent 2025: Giving Up Billionaires


Welcome to week 4 of our Lenten series, “Giving Up Billionaires,” as we call on Congress to give up billionaires so our communities can have what we need to thrive. Click here for the rest of our Lenten reflections and actions.

Congress: Keep Our Homes in Our Hands

 

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP
March 26, 2025

 

We could end homelessness in the U.S. for ten years for a cost of $200 billion. Over those same ten years, we could generate $1.4 trillion with a 2% tax on wealth over $1 billion.

Here’s the math: With that simple 2% tax on all wealth over $1 billion, we could provide housing for every single person in the United States – and we would still have $1.2 trillion left to invest in our communities!

Yet, homelessness is at a record high, and one in three households are “housing cost burdened” — forced to spend disproportionate parts of our income on rent or mortgage payments. This is because some members of Congress choose tax cuts for their ultra-wealthy backers instead of funding programs that would make housing more affordable for all of us.

Take action
  • Call your House Member at 1-888-897-9753 to ensure that Congress does not cut our Medicaid and SNAP to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and to pay for deporting our neighbors in the budget reconciliation bill.
  • Spread the word. Save the image that I’ve placed below to your computer or phone and share it on social media and in emails to friends and family.
  • Write a letter to the editor (LTE) calling Congress to reject the budget proposal. LTEs are one of the most effective tactics for advocacy we have. Join us on Thursday, April 10 at 7:00 PM Eastern / 4:00 PM Pacific at our LTE training to learn some LTE best practices.

Find more LTE and social media guidance in our Lent toolkit.

The ultra-wealthy and the politicians they fund aren’t just blocking housing solutions, they are also actively making housing more unaffordable by allowing investors to buy up houses in our neighborhoods for their own profit, not to inhabit. In the first three months of 2024, investors bought up to 20% of homes in some markets. These investors drive first-time homebuyers out of the market, forcing them to rent from the investor-owners who hike up the cost of rent.

While those wealthy investors buy up our homes and line their pockets with our money, many of our neighbors are left out in the cold. Currently, there are 28 vacant homes for every one person facing homelessness.

Catholic teaching affirms that stable housing is a basic human right for everyone. Together, we will elect leaders who will prevent the ultra-wealthy from controlling our neighborhoods and hoarding our resources, and instead make housing security a reality for all of us.

TAKE ACTION: Call your House member today at 1-888-897-9753 and tell them to protect SNAP and Medicaid and reject tax cuts for billionaires in the budget proposal! Then, use our Lent toolkit to write a letter to the editor (LTE) calling Congress to reject the budget proposal.

NETWORK has more shareable content, sample social media posts, and LTE guidance for you in our Lent Toolkit.

Emily TeKolste_2025_Spring

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP is NETWORK’s Grassroots Mobilization Coordinator. To read more, check out her column in Global Sisters Report, “The existence of billionaires is immoral.”

Lent Week 5: Congress: Keep Families Together, End Private Prison Profits

Lent 2025: Giving Up Billionaires


Welcome to week 5 of our Lenten series, “Giving Up Billionaires,” as we call on Congress to give up billionaires so our communities can have what we need to thrive. Click here for the rest of our Lenten reflections and actions.

Congress: Keep Families Together, End Private Prison Profits

 

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP
April 2, 2025

 

On a recent call with investors, Damon Hininger, CEO of private detention company CoreCivic, called this “one of the most exciting periods in my career.” He was referring to President Trump’s executive orders targeting immigrants–and Congress’s passage of a bill that would force the detention of some of our immigrant neighbors without due process.

It is reprehensible that President Trump’s actions to militarize our neighborhoods, tear families apart, and devastate our communities is an “exciting” career moment for an ultra-wealthy CEO.

The budget reconciliation bill that is moving through Congress includes more than $300 billion in funding for the Trump administration to detain and deport our immigrant neighbors, and to fund tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy. Republicans in Congress plan to pay for all of that by cutting our Medicaid and SNAP.

Take action
  • Call your House Member at 1-888-897-9753 to ensure that Congress does not pay for more tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and more funding to detain and deport our immigrant neighbors by cutting Medicaid and SNAP in the budget reconciliation bill.
  • Spread the word. Save the image that I’ve placed below to your computer or phone, then share it on social media or email it to friends and family.
  • Write a letter to the editor (LTE) calling Congress to reject the budget proposal. LTEs are one of the most effective advocacy tactics. If you’d like to receive LTE training, join us on Thursday, April 10 at 7:00 PM Eastern / 4:00 PM Pacific at our LTE training at our upcoming LTE workshop to learn some LTE best practices.

Find more LTE and social media guidance in our Lent toolkit.

Nearly all people in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention are held in private prisons operated by companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group. In 2022, GEO Group made $1.05 billion from ICE contracts, or 43% of its total revenue. And following Trump’s electoral victory in November, stock prices for private prison companies soared.

That’s why these private corporations are funding politicians who drum up anti-immigrant narratives.

In total, the American Immigration Council estimates that the mass deportations promised by the Trump campaign would cost $1 trillion and take ten years to carry out. With a significant portion of that money going to private contractors who celebrate this as “wins,” it’s no wonder the ultra-wealthy want us to think that immigrants are the problem. They simply deflect blame from where it belongs – among some lawmakers and their ultra-wealthy backers who hoard wealth and power, making life worse for all of us.

While some lawmakers and their ultra-wealthy backers try to divide us with hate and fear, we aren’t falling for it. Immigrants are our family members, neighbors, coworkers, and friends. No matter where we come from, we all work hard and dream of a good life for ourselves and our families. Together, we can reject scapegoating and demand that our elected officials stop caging families and invest in our communities in ways that benefit all of us.

TAKE ACTION: Call your House member today at 1-888-897-9753 and tell them to protect SNAP and Medicaid and reject funding for detention and deportation and tax cuts for billionaires in the budget proposal! Then, use our Lent toolkit to write an LTE calling Congress to reject the budget proposal.

NETWORK has more shareable content, sample social media posts, and LTE guidance for you in our Lent Toolkit.

Emily TeKolste_2025_Spring

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP is NETWORK’s Grassroots Mobilization Coordinator. To read more, check out her column in Global Sisters Report, “The existence of billionaires is immoral.”

Lent Week 6: We Aren’t Falling for Division

Lent 2025: Giving Up Billionaires


Welcome to week 6 of our Lenten series, “Giving Up Billionaires,” as we call on Congress to give up billionaires so our communities can have what we need to thrive. Click here for the rest of our Lenten reflections and actions.

We Aren’t Falling for Division

 

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP
April 9, 2025

 

In the U.S., only one percent of the population earns a million dollars or more per year, and there are just 800 billionaires. Yet this small group of the wealthiest individuals has spent millions to persuade everyday Americans to vote in favor of their interests instead of our own. How have they done that? One answer: by stoking racial fear.

In the 1950s and ’60s, some politicians and their ultra-wealthy backers seized on the discomfort of the Civil Rights Movement to stoke racist resentment. They tried to weaken support for a government that works for the people, so they could instead build a government that works only for the ultra-wealthy.

Some lawmakers and their ultra-wealthy backers today still stoke racial fears by scapegoating our neighbors. The ultra-wealthy try to distract us from the economic problems that their wealth-hoarding creates by pointing the finger at immigrants, transgender people, or working people.

We see this in the Trump administration as they spin lies about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to pit white, Black, and Brown workers against each other. And, we see it this week as Republicans in Congress seek $350 billion in the budget reconciliation bill to detain and deport our immigrant neighbors.

Take action
  • Call your House Member at 1-888-897-9753 to ensure that Congress does not pay for more tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and more funding to detain and deport our immigrant neighbors by cutting Medicaid and SNAP in the budget reconciliation bill.
  • Spread the word. Save the image that I’ve placed below to your computer or phone, then share it on social media or email it to friends and family.
  • Write a letter to the editor (LTE) calling Congress to reject the budget proposal. LTEs are one of the most effective advocacy tactics. Please join us TOMORROW, Thursday, April 10 at 7:00 PM Eastern / 4:00 PM Pacific at our LTE training at our LTE workshop to learn some LTE best practices.

Find more LTE and social media guidance in our Lent toolkit.

The result of these divide-and-conquer tactics has been devastating for most of us, no matter our race or gender. As the ultra-wealthy have amassed power, they have weakened regulations that protect us and our communities and let billionaires off the hook from paying their fair share and contributing to the common good.

These lawmakers and their ultra-wealthy backers hope that we will become too divided and distracted to recognize the real culprits. But we aren’t falling for it! We refuse to fear our neighbors or to fall for attempts to divide us. We know the way through this: to come together across our differences and work to build a world that truly works for all of us–not just the ultra-wealthy. We must demand that our elected officials make the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share instead of giving them tax breaks and taking away our health care, food, and even our immigrant neighbors, to do it.

TAKE ACTION: Call your House member today at 1-888-897-9753 and tell them to protect SNAP and Medicaid and reject funding for detention and deportation and tax cuts for billionaires in the budget proposal! Then, use our Lent toolkit to write an LTE calling Congress to reject the budget proposal.

NETWORK has more shareable content, sample social media posts, and LTE guidance for you in our Lent Toolkit.

Emily TeKolste_2025_Spring

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP is NETWORK’s Grassroots Mobilization Coordinator. To read more, check out her column in Global Sisters Report, “The existence of billionaires is immoral.”

Lent Week 7: Politics by the people, Not the money

Lent 2025: Giving Up Billionaires


Welcome to week 7 of our Lenten series, “Giving Up Billionaires,” as we call on Congress to give up billionaires so our communities can have what we need to thrive. Click here for the rest of our Lenten reflections and actions.

Politics by the People, Not the Money

 

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP
April 16, 2025

 

Most of us, no matter our race, gender, or language, want to be able to shape our own futures and join in making our communities better.

But billionaires, and the lawmakers who enable them, don’t want us to have a say in the decisions that govern our lives. In my reflection on the second week of Lent, you read how Elon Musk had the opportunity to end world hunger for just 2% of his total wealth and refused to do it. But he was more than willing to spend more than $250 million to fund Donald Trump’s election and buy a place in his Administration.

Today, certain Republican lawmakers and their ultra-wealthy backers are trying to amass even more power in our political system, with a bill called the SAVE Act (S.128). The “SAVE” Act endangers the ability of ordinary people like you and me to exercise our freedom to vote. It particularly targets anyone who has legally changed their name, like millions of married women.

Take action
  • Call your Senators at 1-888-422-4555 and ask them to protect our freedom to vote by voting NO on the dangerous “SAVE” Act.
  • Spread the word. Save the image that I’ve placed below to your computer or phone, then share it on social media or email it to friends and family.

Find more LTE and social media guidance in our Lent toolkit.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC (2010) opened the floodgates to unlimited spending in elections. Since the decision, the share of contributions over $10 million to Republican campaigns rose from 4% to 56% of all contributions.

Elon Musk and his billionaire buddies invest in politicians like President Trump knowing they’ll reap many rewards, one of which is the luxury of dodging their taxes. The wealthiest Americans account for a disproportionately high share of tax cheating. Since January, the Trump administration has cut 38% of employees in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) unit that audits billionaires. This has weakened our ability to ensure that the ultra-wealthy pay what they owe our country in taxes and contribute to our shared national interests.

The Trump administration is a government of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires.

But we believe in government by We the People. We know that the many will overcome the money, and when we act together—across races, faiths, and places—we will build a world where all of us can thrive, no exceptions!

Join us in calling our Senators today at 1-888-422-4555 and telling them to vote NO on the “SAVE” Act!

NETWORK has more shareable content, sample social media posts, and LTE guidance for you in our Lent Toolkit.

Emily TeKolste_2025_Spring

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP is NETWORK’s Grassroots Mobilization Coordinator. To read more, check out her column in Global Sisters Report, “The existence of billionaires is immoral.”

Introducing NETWORK’s 2025 Climate Portfolio

Building An Economy for All Means Protecting Our Common Home

Drake Palmer Starling
April 22, 2025, Earth Day

Today is Earth Day! As we celebrate Earth Day and look to the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’ on May 24, join NETWORK’s Senior Advocate for Energy and Environmental Policy Drake Starling with reflections on our work for a healthy environment. We know that An Economy for All is a sustainable economy—one that ensures clean air and safe water, clean energy jobs, and healthy communities for all of us.

Earth Day time now for clean airFor decades, NETWORK has advocated for an economy that allows all of us, no matter our background, to thrive. But thriving doesn’t just mean fair wages, good jobs, or affordable housing. It also means clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, and land that sustains life, not poisons it.

The same ultra-wealthy actors who exploit workers and rig our economy are the same ones who pollute our air, water, and land. Big Oil and mining corporations exploit our common home for profit, and then use those profits to back politicians who will allow them to keep extracting profits and passing the costs of their destruction onto the rest of us. They poison our communities—especially low-income neighborhoods, communities of color, rural towns, and Indigenous lands—leaving us with a legacy of illness, environmental devastation, and economic hardship.

As people of faith, we know this is immoral. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis reminds us that “the environment is on loan to each generation, which must then hand it on to the next.” We have a sacred duty to protect creation, to act in solidarity with the workers and families most affected by environmental harm, and to ensure clean air, water, and land for all of us. That’s why NETWORK has joined communities across the country in the work for a healthy climate, clean energy, and environmental justice.

Coming Together for Clean Air, Safe Water, and Healthy Land

This year, our advocacy will focus on three policy areas that intersect with ecological and economic justice. Our climate portfolio for the 119th Congress covers three key priorities:

    1. Clean Air and Safe Water. From oil refineries to industrial waste, pollution doesn’t fall evenly on all communities. Historically, corporations have intentionally built polluting factories and toxic waste facilities in low-income and Black and Brown neighborhoods, often leaving them with toxic air, undrinkable water, and higher rates of asthma and cancer. We’re pushing for stronger Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations to curb pollution, hold corporate polluters accountable, and ensure clean air and water for all of us.
    2. Healthy Land and Creating New Clean Energy Jobs No matter where we live, we all want safe, clean, and well-paying jobs, and we all value being able to choose to power our homes with clean energy. The time is now to make the U.S. clean energy dominant, and in a way that is just. Mining reform, responsible public land use, and protections for communities impacted by polluting and dirty industries must be at the heart of becoming clean energy dominant. We are advocating for investment in clean energy, so that we can all enjoy fresh air and healthy land and create a sustainable economy with hundreds of thousands of good, clean energy union jobs.
    3. Investing in People, Not Polluters The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) created historic investments in clean energy jobs, tax credits for families, and communities across the country — from funding new solar panel manufacturing plants in Georgia and wind energy projects in Texas, to providing up to $7,500 in tax credits for families buying electric vehicles, and delivering grants to low-income communities to replace lead pipes and improve energy efficiency in public housing. Since its passage in 2022, the IRA has spurred over 330,000 new clean energy jobs across the United States, with projections estimating the creation of more than 1.5 million additional jobs by 2030. But fossil fuel corporate executives and their paid lobbyists are trying to weaken these investments so they can cash in on taxpayer money instead. We are working to ensure these investments benefit us ordinary people and our communities—not ultra-wealthy polluters.

 

Our Shared Values Define Our Advocacy

Fossil fuel executives and the lawmakers they fund want us to believe we have no say in our future—but we know better. Faith-filled justice-seekers have always been at the heart of movements for the healthy environment we deserve. We won landmark protections like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, we set national water quality standards, and we passed the Inflation Reduction Act—the largest climate investment in U.S. history.

An economy that works for all of us can only be a sustainable, clean energy economy. The same faith that calls us to build An Economy for All calls us to be stewards of creation and ensure a livable planet for all. We are answering that call—together.

To find out more about NETWORK’s full climate portfolio and the issues we are working on to create a more sustainable planet, please visit our sister site, NETWORK Advocates.

Lent Week 8: Easter’s Promise of Thriving for All

Lent 2025: Giving Up Billionaires


Welcome to the eighth and final week of our Lenten series, “Giving Up Billionaires,” as we call on Congress to give up billionaires so our communities can have what we need to thrive. Click here for the rest of our Lenten reflections and actions.

We Can Give Up Billionaires and Enjoy Abundance!

 

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP
April 23, 2025

We are an Easter people!

Together, over the course of Lent, we explored how all of us suffer when some lawmakers allow their billionaire backers to evade taxes and hoard wealth. We also examined how all of us will thrive, with affordable health care, stable housing, nourishing food, and inclusive politics, when we ensure that the ultra-wealthy pay what they owe our society in taxes.

We are Black, Brown, and white. Young and old. Gay, straight, and anything in between. We all want to live in safety, to have enough food to eat and a roof over our heads, and to be able to provide for our families and loved ones. We believe in a world where everyone has what they need. That’s why we’re taking action throughout the U.S.–forming advocacy groups, protesting cuts to the programs our communities rely on, taking care of each other with mutual aid, and more.

And it is precisely in this sharing that we generate abundance.

Sharing creates abundance. That’s what billionaires fail to recognize. That’s what capitalism prevents many of us from seeing. 

But we know that when we share resources, when everyone pays their fair share in taxes, we can all thrive. We can all enjoy having enough healthy food to eat, a safe neighborhood to live in, access to quality healthcare, and a good education. Grounded in the resurrection, we dare to hope and work together to make this future a reality.

We’ve done it before. In the 1950s and early 1960s, the highest top marginal tax rate was above 90%. Almost nobody paid that tax rate, and nobody paid that rate on their whole income. But it generated a thriving middle class for white families. Just imagine our shared prosperity when we reject billionaires’ attempts to divide us by race, faith, or class, and come together so all of us can thrive, no exceptions!

Thank you for joining us throughout Lent as we reflected and took action for a country where resources are for sharing, not hoarding, and as we told Congress: Give Up Billionaires for Lent, and forever!  

With all of us here at NETWORK, I wish you a joyful Easter!

 

NETWORK has more shareable content, sample social media posts, and LTE guidance for you in our Lent Toolkit.

Emily TeKolste_2025_Spring

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP is NETWORK’s Grassroots Mobilization Coordinator. To read more, check out her column in Global Sisters Report, “The existence of billionaires is immoral.”

Giving Up Billionaires for Lent

Lent 2025: Giving Up Billionaires


Welcome to week 1 of our Lenten series, “Giving Up Billionaires,” as we call on Congress to give up billionaires so our communities can have what we need to thrive. Click here for the rest of our Lenten reflections and actions.

Why Catholicism Calls Us to Give Up Billionaires

 

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP
March 5, 2025

 

This year, we’re giving up billionaires for Lent. It’s not like giving up a sweet indulgence like chocolate. When we say we’re giving up billionaires, we mean we are working toward a future where no one is allowed to hoard excessive wealth and power–so that we can live in a world that looks more like the Kingdom of God.

This Lent, we are urging Congress to reject tax cuts for billionaires and to protect programs that provide critical services like access to food and health care in our communities. We’ll be doing this by calling Congress, writing letters to the editor, posting on social media, and sharing about the campaign with others in our lives. 

Let’s put “billionaire-ism” into perspective

Billionaires in the United States hold nearly $7 trillion in total wealth. If you earned $100,000 per year, paid no taxes, and had no living expenses, it would take you 10 years to save $1 million. In 10,000 years you could save $1 billion. It would take you 10,000,000 years to save $1 trillion.

It’s not just that it is wrong that billionaires exist while so many of their fellow Americans face homelessness or don’t know where their next meal is coming from: the existence of billionaires is why so many of us don’t have stable housing or food. Our economic system concentrates resources that should be for everyone into the hands of a tiny group of people. This is a policy failure and a moral failure.

Take action

Join us in spreading the word about giving up billionaires for Lent! Save the “imagine where we can go” image I’ve placed below to your computer or phone and share it on social media and in emails to friends and family. And, consider writing a letter to the editor (LTE) of your local newspaper about why Congress must give up billionaires.

NETWORK has more shareable content, sample social media posts, and LTE guidance for you in our Lent Toolkit.

Catholicism teaches: tax billionaires! 

Catholic Social Teaching offers a principle called the “Universal Destination of Goods.” The Catholic Church has long taught that the fruit of creation was given to us by God, and that private property exists to protect access to the fruits of creation for all people. When private ownership fails to do that, “Political authority has the right and duty to regulate the legitimate exercise of the right to ownership for the sake of the common good” (Catechism, 2406). It is long past time that Congress makes billionaires pay their fair share in taxes.

Giving up billionaires this Lent and beyond 

So this year, we’re giving up billionaires for Lent. Beyond Lent, we’re committed to coming together to elect leaders who will make the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share of taxes so that we can live in a world that looks more like the Kingdom of God: where everyone has clean water to drink, healthy food to eat, a safe place to live, and time to spend with our loved ones.

Over the next few weeks of Lent, look out for weekly emails from me about our “Giving Up Billionaires” campaign, which culminate with our Easter call to tax billionaires out of existence, so that all of us can share in the fruits of creation!

 

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP is NETWORK’s Grassroots Mobilization Coordinator. To read more, check out her column in Global Sisters Report, “The existence of billionaires is immoral.”

Legislative Review of 2023

Legislative Review of 2023

One of the Most Dysfunctional, Unproductive Congresses of Modern Times

Laura Peralta-Schulte
February 19, 2024

Laura Peralta-Schulte is NETWORK’s Senior Director of Public Policy and Government Relations.

Following the 2022 midterm elections, 2023 brought “divided government” to Washington, DC as Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives, while the Presidency and U.S. Senate remained under Democratic control.

Policymaking is always more difficult with a divided government because only compromise allows success. The federal system, by design, encourages deal-making and compromise, half-measures, and rare bipartisan achievements. The reactive nature of the federal system often frustrates those seeking revolutionary change.

The first session of the 118th Congress stands out as a year of abject legislative failure. It was a year of squandered opportunity, petty infighting, and deep frustration. The blame for this lack of progress lies directly at the feet of the House Republican Caucus and, by extension, former President Trump.

It is no secret the two major parties have competing visions on key policy issues. The key distinction between the parties is generally informed by what they believe to be the federal government’s proper role. These differences profoundly impact the lives of vulnerable people and the earth, our common home.

NETWORK’s Build Anew agenda requires an active federal government to address the social sins of the day: a broken, inhumane immigration and asylum system, shocking levels of wealth inequality and an ever-growing wage gap, increasing levels of child poverty, destruction of our planet, and more. NETWORK, in Washington and through the actions of our members back home, plays a critical role in bridging the divides to build support for core policy initiatives informed by Catholic Social teaching.

Why does this session stand out as being particularly troublesome? The design of the federal system remains the same; however, the norms of the system — civility and goodwill at minimum to a member’s party — have vanished. The problem did not start this year; institutional norms have slowly eroded, dating back to the speakership of Newt Gingrich and the government shutdowns of 1995 and 1996. The Trump administration accelerated this decay in Washington leading directly to the insurrection of January 6 and an attempted overthrow of the 2020 election.

The schism in the Republican party is most apparent in the House of Representatives and exists between two distinct factions: institutionalists, a quickly shrinking number of Members who respect traditional norms and recognize the need to compromise, and radicals, those who view compromise as capitulation and weakness and act with little regard for the institution or their fellow Republicans.

Tension between the two factions has been displayed in the House since the beginning of the term. This first became apparent during the nomination of Rep. Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House. A group of hardline House Republicans blocked McCarthy from securing the speakership to extract policy concessions to their radical agenda. McCarthy won the speakership after 15 humiliating votes. The nomination debate foreshadowed the tumult that was McCarthy’s short tenure as Speaker.

It is critical to note that Senate Republicans, led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have largely rejected chaos, instead opting to collaborate with Senate Democrats to achieve mutual policy objectives. As 2023 came to a close, it was sadly apparent that a core issue that intersects both House and Senate Republicans’ agenda is a strong desire to end the U.S. asylum system and “build the wall.”

The radical nature of House Republican conservatives — in policy and political norms — is nothing less than shocking. Action on key policy initiatives stopped except for must-pass legislation — lifting the debt ceiling and passing two continuing resolutions to keep our government operational. Each bill moved forward only after House Republicans attempted to use the deadlines to alter core human needs programs for struggling families significantly. Then, after failing to develop a consensus among their caucus, the government was kept afloat due to the support of House Democrats under the leadership of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Cuts to poverty programs are being heralded by House conservatives as necessary austerity measures. The great irony is that the same House conservatives proposing to take food from babies are poised to spend billions of dollars for more tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations on top of the $2 trillion spent under President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in 2017.

Then-Speaker McCarthy lost his speakership due to passing a bipartisan continuing resolution with the support of Democrats in September. Compromise is the enemy of House conservatives, regardless of the chaos resulting from policy failure. Chaos is a key tactic and desired outcome.

It is worth noting that these radical members are working very closely with former President Trump in the lead-up to the 2024 election. Many are on record as election deniers and supporters of the insurrection. The former president urged these House Republicans to replace McCarthy in September. He rejected several candidates for Speaker to replace McCarthy, ultimately praising the nomination of ally Rep. Mike Johnson. It bears remembering that now-Speaker Johnson led the effort in the House to reverse Trump’s 2020 election loss.

The first session of a new Congress is typically a time when work gets done before the election cycle begins. Unlike previous congressional terms, the 2024 elections have been front and center in the House from day one. House legislative efforts have relentlessly attacked immigrants and U.S. asylum laws, voting rights, and the LGBTQ+ community.

There have been calls for book bans and ending diversity initiatives, attacks on the Internal Revenue Service as they actively work to ensure wealthy taxpayers pay their taxes, and drastic cuts on all key anti-poverty programs, including WIC, SNAP, healthcare, Social Security, Title One school funding, housing vouchers, and so much more. House Republicans also started formal impeachment processes for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and President Biden.

The House Agriculture bill provides a great example of the harsh austerity measures radical House members are seeking. After successfully making it harder for older Americans to receive SNAP in the new debt ceiling law, key provisions of the Agriculture bill were nothing less than a frontal attack on communities living with high rates of poverty. The bill had cruel cuts in funding to prevent hunger and food insecurity, including hallowing out key programs for fresh fruits and vegetables for children.

Shockingly, the bill would eviscerate long-standing bipartisan support for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) at a time of great need. A lack of funding means waiting lists, poorer health outcomes, and other hardships for new families and their babies.

House conservatives are heralding cuts to poverty programs as necessary austerity measures. The great irony is that the same House conservatives proposing to take food from babies are poised to spend billions of dollars for more tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations on top of the $2 trillion spent under President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in 2017.

As the year ends, Congress, due to inaction in the House, has pushed all decisions on major legislation into 2024, making this the most non-productive, dysfunctional Congress in the modern era. The House of Representatives completely failed in their responsibility to the American people. As always, the high cost of inaction falls hardest on the most vulnerable.

This story was published in the Quarter 1 2024 issue of Connection.