Category Archives: Policy Update

NETWORK Urges Representatives to vote YES on the Build Back Better Act

NETWORK Urges all Members of Congress to vote YES on the Build Back Better Act

Julia Morris
November 4, 2021

Ahead of a vote on the Build Back Better Act (H.R.5376), NETWORK Executive Director Mary J. Novak sent a vote recommendation to the Hill urging Representatives to vote yes. This historic legislation reflects values inherent in Catholic Social Teaching as it embodies love of neighbor, care for vulnerable communities, and care for the earth. As importantly, this transformative bill requires those who have the most to contribute their fair share to advancing the common good.

The Build Back Better Act takes critical and necessary steps toward addressing long-standing injustices by:

Cutting childhood poverty in half by providing a permanently refundable Child Tax Credit and ensuring no worker is taxed into poverty by extending the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit.
Expanding life-saving health care by closing the Medicaid coverage gap, investing in programs to end the Black maternal health crisis, extending premium tax credits to improve affordability for low-income workers and families, making the Childrens Health Insurance Program permanent, ensuring returning citizens have access to Medicaid, and making medicine more affordable.
Expanding Medicaid home care to keep older Americans and people with disabilities in their homes while paying care workers a fair wage.
Supporting working families navigate the challenges of raising children and taking care of loved ones when they are sick without risking their economic security by implementing a national paid family and medical leave program.
Providing protections to some of our immigrant sisters and brothers.
Ensuring improved access to stable housing by expanding housing choice vouchers and invest in building new affordable housing; at the same time remediating years of deferred maintenance at public housing properties.
Closing the digital divide and expanding opportunity by making high-speed internet accessible and affordable for low-income urban and rural communities.

The time to act is now. NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice urges all elected officials to seize this moment as a critical opportunity to act faithfully and make a once-in-a-generation investment in our families and all communities.

Read NETWORK’s Vote Recommendation on Build Back Better Act (H.R.5376).

$150 Billion for Housing Explained

$150 Billion for Housing Explained – Build Back Better

Jarrett Smith and Chiquita Jackson
November 1, 2021

What is housing infrastructure and why/how are we spending $150 billion on it? NETWORK policy experts, Chiquita Jackson and Jarrett Smith break it down. Watch a new NETWORK update on our housing infrastructure:

Call Your Representative Now: 888-738-3058
Tell them to vote Yes on the Build Back Better plan!

With your help, Congress will vote to shape our federal policies to align more closely with our values.

The Child Tax Credit is an Important Investment in American Families

Julia Morris
October 28, 2021

The expanded Child Tax Credit is one of the most significant expansions of the social safety net the U.S. has had in decades and provides necessary assistance to millions of middle class families, and families living at or below the poverty line. This safety net expansion is essential. Nine in ten families qualify for the Child Tax Credit, supplementing up to $300 for each child, which played a major role in bolstering families struggling to afford food, clothes, and childcare in the pandemic.

This universally beneficial tax credit is in jeopardy, with Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Krysten Sinema (AZ) posing major threats to getting these essential funds to children in need despite the major success they’ve seen in their home states.

In September, 86% of West Virginians said the expanded Child Tax Credit made a “huge difference.” In Arizona, poverty rates would decrease by 45% if the Child Tax Credit was expanded.

As it stands now, the credit will only be expanded for one year, and it is not likely to be renewed in Congress again. Our economy is going to need longer than one year to recover — which will leave millions of families without the support they need.

In addition, Senator Manchin wants to impose strict work requirements for this bill. This ignores that wages are as low as they’ve ever been in American history. Putting in a hard days work in the United States is no longer a guarantee that you won’t live in poverty, leaving many parents to work two jobs — meaning they will have to pay for child care, which many can no longer afford. Let’s face it: raising children is work and strong families are the building block of our society.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are hoping to pass the Build Back Better plan by October 31. These next few days in Congress are critical.

NETWORK needs your support to pass one of the significant investments in our country to date.

Here are a few highlights of this bill:

Expansion of the Child Tax Credit
Lowering Child Care Costs – necessary as 120,000 children have lost caregivers in the pandemic
Lowering Higher Education Costs

All of these bold provisions are necessary to ensure a full economic recovery.  As Pope Francis said, recovery needs to be: “capable of generating new, more inclusive and sustainable solutions to support the real economy… and the universal common good, not a return to an unequal and unsustainable model of economic and social life, where a tiny minority of the world’s population owns half of its wealth.”

A budget is a reflection of our values, but past budgets have too often caused harm by underinvesting in our people and our communities. We at NETWORK know this from meeting and listening to families across the country who struggle to make ends meet every month or face impossible choices between paying for rent or paying for medicine.

Now is the time to show Congress your support; this is the final push we will need to get this passed.

You can write an email to tell your Senator to support Build Back Better here.

Or if you are a constituent of Sen. Sinema or Sen. Manchin, you can call them at 1-888-436-6478, to show your support for the bill.

Legislative Update: Housing is Infrastructure

Housing is Infrastructure

Jarrett Smith

October 18, 2021

On Tuesday, October 12, I extended my support to Representative Maxine Waters (CA-43) Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee by attending their press conference on housing investments in the Build Back Better plan. During her remarks, Rep. Waters stated: “For decades we have put off making the [housing] investments we needed and just like a bridge that crumbles without maintenance our housing safety net is at its breaking point.”

https://t.co/LAyq2zAJ9u pic.twitter.com/4tGtpp49we

— Jarrett K. Smith (@JarrettSmith) October 12, 2021

Of the original $3.5 trillion dollar package, $327 billion is allotted for housing. This transformative housing investment would connect millions of families with the housing assistance they need. Investing in housing is our once-in-a-generation chance to help close the widening racial wealth gap.

With only one in four families eligible for housing assistance actually receives it, homelessness and housing insecurity are becoming a reality for more families in the United States every day. We have a moral call to ensure that every person has stable, affordable housing. As Pope Francis said when he visited the United States in 2015, “we can find no social or moral justification, no justification whatsoever, for lack of housing.”

Rep. Johnson listed a few of the programs that the Build Back Better Act could fund, including:

• $90 billion for rental assistance (Housing Choice Voucher and Project-Based Rental Assistance)
• $80 billion for public housing repairs
• $40+ billion for Community Development Block Grants and the HOME Investment Partnership Program

With the Build Back Better plan approaching the October 31 deadline Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer have set for its passage, congressional leadership is considering cuts to the plan to bring the final cost down, but it is unclear which programs’ funding will be impacted.

This week, Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY-15) led 125 lawmakers in sending a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The letter urged them to keep $90 billion for rental assistance, $80 billion for public housing repairs and $37 billion for the National Housing Trust Fund in the final version of the bill.

It is critical to maintain these transformative housing investments in this final Build Back Better package.

Take Action

There is no time to lose. Urge your legislators to keep the proposed housing and community development funds in the final bill.

Call your Representative at 888-738-3058 and tell them to support a bold Build Back Better plan

EQUAL Act Passes House

EQUAL Act Passes House!

Julia Morris
September 30, 2021

On September 28, the House overwhelmingly voted to pass the EQUAL Act 361 to 66! While there are many issues leading to racial disparities in the criminal legal system, passing the EQUAL (Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law) Act is a huge step forward to ending mass incarceration in the United States. The EQUAL Act (H.R.1693/S.79) is faithful, bipartisan legislation introduced by Representatives Kelly Armstrong (R-ND-AL), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-08), Bobby Scott (D-VA-03), and Don Bacon (R-NE-02). It seeks to eliminate the disparity in sentencing for cocaine offenses, a major contributor to mass incarceration, and apply retroactively to those already convicted or sentenced.

According to FAMM, in 2019 alone, 81% of those convicted of crack cocaine offenses were Black, even though historically, 66% of crack cocaine users have been white or Hispanic. It is time to end this racist policy and restore proportionality in sentencing.

This May, more than 100 justice-seekers participated in NETWORK’s first virtual lobby day, conducting 50 lobby visits with their Representatives to push for the passing of the EQUAL Act, it is always rewarding to see our hard work pay off.

Before the House vote, NETWORK sent a letter urging all Representatives to support this legislation, saying: “We call on all Representatives to take a firm stance against institutional racism embedded within the criminal legal system by voting yes on the EQUAL Act so that it can swiftly make its way to the Senate floor. ”

Read NETWORK’S Vote Recommendation on the EQUAL Act here.

Now it’s time for the Senate to pass this legislation. Sign up for our action alerts to join our team to put pressure on the Senate to pass this legislation. Text JUSTICE to 877-877 to sign up for text alerts or sign up for emails here.

Update: House Negotiations on Build Back Better

Laura Peralta-Schulte
September 27, 2021

Over the weekend, the House Budget Committee voted to advance the Build Back Better plan, a $3.5 trillion comprehensive infrastructure and economic recovery package, to the House Rules Committee in preparation for a full vote on the House floor. The full vote in the House could take place as soon as this week.

Watch a new NETWORK update on the budget process:

This week, the House is negotiating — and with your help, passing — the Build Back Better plan through the budget reconciliation process. This is a critical time to pray and make your voice heard.

By un-rigging our tax code so that the ultra-wealthy and tax-dodging corporations pay their fair share, the Build Back Better plan will begin to reverse the persistent evil of the racial wealth gap and extreme economic inequality. It’s time to pass a budget that is truly equitable and inclusive for all, regardless of background or birthplace. It’s time for We the People to truly include all of us.

Call Your Representative Now: 888-738-3058
Tell them to vote Yes on the Build Back Better plan!

The House of Representatives has a choice this week: they can make childcare, health care, and housing more affordable and establish a national paid leave program OR protect tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy. Extending the Child Tax Credit alone would reduce child poverty in by almost half. With your help, Congress will vote to shape our federal policies to align more closely with our values.

Last week, NETWORK’s Sr. Emily TeKolste joined national faith leaders calling on Congress to pass a bold recovery package. Read the event’s coverage in National Catholic Reporter.

Thank you for acting to support a more just and equitable future!

Arizona ‘Ballot Review’ Demonstrates Why We Must Protect the Freedom to Vote

Sister Quincy Howard, OP
September 24, 2021

Today we saw the end of a costly, partisan, and unreliable review of Arizona’s Maricopa Country ballots. Shortly after the 2020 election, this nearly $6 million ballot review was initiated by a small number of partisan extremists over the objections of the Republican-led county leadership. Repercussions and anti-voter initiatives like this one might be the single most insidious tactic to undermine voter confidence growing out of the 2020 election.

According to the Washington Post, “the Florida-based firm that led the review, Cyber Ninjas, had never before been involved in administering an election or recount” and “by May, all of Maricopa’s seven elected officials — including five Republicans — joined to demand the Senate put an end to the review, calling it a ‘con’ and a ‘sham.’”

We know that states often serve as laboratories to innovate and improve our democratic systems. For example, Colorado’s experience with vote-by-mail systems provided tips and best practices for states across the nation conducting elections last winter in the midst of a deadly pandemic. Sadly, states can also serve as laboratories for sabotage, which is what we’re seeing in Arizona—and other states like Georgia and Wisconsin are watching closely to see if this shameless power-grab will work.

This was a partisan attempt to cast doubt on our elections. Proper election reviews are 1) fully transparent and fully observable; 2) have proper procedures in advance; 3) conducted by bipartisan teams; maintain the integrity of voting machines and ballots; and maintain chain of custody of ballots throughout. It has been widely documented that none of these critical procedures and guidelines are being followed in the sham election reviews.

This is another example of the GOP dividing and distracting the people while undermining trust in our elections. The entire endeavor was birthed and conducted based on the “Big Lie” (that the Arizona and the presidential election was stolen). The operation conducted by Cyber Ninjas has been illegitimate from its original rationale rooted in the lie of voter fraud to its financing by mysterious dark money sources to the contractor, an obscure Florida tech company with hard partisan leanings and no prior elections experience.

Some politicians want to pick and choose which votes to count to decide the results of elections for themselves. The Arizona operation has made clear that our democracy needs additional protections to ensure that trusted local election officials count every vote—that the results of elections are held sacred and protected from partisan manipulation. The Freedom to Vote Act—the newly-introduced bill that would ensure fair representation and make the promise of democracy real for us all—has adds needed protections to the transformative reforms included in S.1 the For the People Act.

Whatever our color, background or zip code, in the United States we value our freedom and the right to vote. The freedom to have a say in decisions that impact our lives—from curbing the pandemic to creating jobs to making health care affordable. But right now, the same faction that spread lies about COVID and election, and fueled the deadly attack on our Capitol are trying to block the Freedom to Vote Act, which U.S. voters support by huge margins across race, place, and political ideology.

NETWORK and our advocates are demanding that our leaders exercise their majority and pass the Freedom To Vote Act. It would set national standards for safely and freely casting our ballots, ensure that trusted local election officials count every vote, and prevent state lawmakers from sabotaging our elections in order to take and hold power. The Freedom to Vote Act is a critical step to ensure that, in our elections, the will of the people prevails.

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Take Action: Call Your Senator Now! Tell Them to Vote YES on S.2747, the Freedom to Vote Act

The Freedom to Vote Act is an important step to protect the sacred right to vote after months of delay and obstruction. The Freedom to Vote Act contains the main pillars of the For the People Act, including protecting the right to vote, ending partisan gerrymandering, and decreasing the power of big moneyed special interests. Call 888-885-1748 to be connected to your Senators. (Call twice to be connected to both Senate offices.)

164 Catholic Organizations Call on President Biden to End Title 42 on Vatican World Day for Migrants and Refugee

Ronnate Asirwatham
September 23, 2021

164 Catholic organizations joined together to send a letter to President Biden ahead of the World Day for Migrants and Refugees demanding he end the misuse of Title 42. Title 42, first invoked by the Trump administration and affirmatively continued by the Biden administration, has been used to expel an unknown number of asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, putting them in harm’s way and denying them the opportunity to seek life-saving protection.

After a federal district court ordered the Biden administration to stop using Title 42 to expel migrant families with children on September 16, giving the Administration two weeks to comply, the Biden administration doubled down on its support for this unjust policy by immediately appealing the decision. President Biden can and must take action to stop the misuse of the policy once and for all.

The letter calls on the President to listen to and act on Pope Francis’ message to the world for this Sunday’s 107^th World Day for Migrants and Refugees, to make, “no distinction between natives and foreigners, between residents and guests, since it is a matter of a treasure we hold in common, from whose care and benefits no one should be excluded.”

The letter was co-lead by the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., or CLINIC and NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. Notable signatories include: Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, National Black Sisters’ Conference, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Pax Christi USA, Kino Border Initiative, Hope Border Institute, the Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame, Catholic Charities Atlanta, Catholic Charities of North Louisiana, and many more. See the letter and full list of 164 signers here.

Still Advocating a Pathway to Citizenship

Virginia Schilder
September 22, 2021

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee approved the inclusion of a pathway to citizenship in the upcoming budget reconciliation bill. This pathway would allow an estimated 8 million undocumented neighbors — including Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, farmworkers, and other essential workers — to apply for permanent residency in the U.S. Without this pathway, there is no way for those 8 million people, who already live and work in the U.S. under threat of deportation, to change their immigration status.

In order to pass through the budget reconciliation process, the Senate parliamentarian must agree that the immigration provisions have a direct fiscal effect. On Sunday September 19, the parliamentarian rejected Democratic leadership’s initial proposal to include the pathway to citizenship, on the grounds that its impact goes beyond the budget — even though that’s true of everything in the bill! This news is frustrating, but not the end of the line for establishing the pathway to citizenship. As we hope the parliamentarian will realize in the forthcoming meetings, the status of immigrant workers and families is acutely relevant to the budget. Moreover, the Senate (even when it has been Republican-controlled!) has included immigration provisions in the budget reconciliation before.

The COVID-19 public health crisis has made our nation’s reliance on immigrants and their labor even more visible than before. More than 5 million undocumented immigrants have been risking their lives as “essential workers” throughout the pandemic. To call immigrant workers in front-line jobs “essential” to the functioning of the U.S., while failing to provide them with the basic safety and dignity of a secure immigration status, is hypocritical, exploitative, and unjust.

Yet the necessity of creating a pathway to citizenship is about more than labor: it is about human dignity. The millions of undocumented immigrants in our communities have a right to protection not because of their valuable economic contributions, but because of their invaluable humanity. Pope Francis (himself the son of an immigrant) affirmed this in his message for the 2014 World Day of Migrants and Refugees:

“Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity. They are children, women, and men who leave or are forced to leave their homes for various reasons, who share a legitimate desire for knowing and having, but above all for being more.”

Catholic teachings have long affirmed the rights of immigrants and refugees and the responsibility of nations like the U.S. to welcome and support them. Pope Francis and the U.S. Bishops, alongside Catholic Sisters and laity in the U.S., have made responding to unjust immigration policies a priority of the 21st century. Our call to protect immigrants and their families draws not only from Church teaching and lived tradition, but also from the myriad scriptural references to the treatment of migrants:

“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born” (Leviticus 19:33-34, NIV).

At the core of our faith is the command to love our neighbors as ourselves — and immigrants are our neighbors, integral to the fabric of our communities. Immigrants and their families are made in the image of God, with loves, hopes, and rights, and deserve according treatment. No one should have to live in constant fear of being ripped away from their family, home, job, and community. As human beings, we all have a right to safety, and those with security have a particular obligation to ensure the security of others.

Creating a path to citizenship is a moral imperative, full stop. But passing a budget reconciliation bill that offers a way to citizenship for many immigrants will also boost economic growth, create jobs, and increase wages for all people in the U.S. This makes clear that promoting the good of our immigrant neighbors promotes the good of everyone. Catholic Social Justice, especially the principle of the common good, teaches us that we live in an interconnected society in which individual and communal flourishing are inseparable. Pope Francis expressed this idea directly to U.S. lawmakers during a joint session of Congress in 2015:

“Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves. In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us.”

When we treat our immigrant neighbors as human beings with intrinsic and immeasurable dignity — which includes taking structural action to ensure their care and protection — our society becomes more humane for everyone.

After the recent federal district court ruling in Texas threatening DACA, the need to create a path to citizenship is increasingly urgent. Luckily, an overwhelming bipartisan majority of voters — including Independents and Republicans — support Congress creating a pathway to citizenship. What’s more, the budget reconciliation process only requires 50 Senate votes to pass.

NETWORK calls on all Senators to support including a pathway to citizenship in the recovery package. If we are truly committed to protecting workers, families, and those who are most marginalized by our systems and structures, then we must pursue just immigration policies. Including a pathway to citizenship in the budget reconciliation will help ensure that our recovery is equitable and humane. Now is the time to align our policies with our values and enact a path to citizenship.

Read NETWORK’s press release following the release of the Senate Parliamentarian’s initial guidance.

Increasing Access to Health Care for Millions in Build Back Better

Julia Morris
September 22, 2021

This week, Congress is negotiating increasingly urgent policies to extend access to health care as part of the Build Back Better plan. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care is a growing concern for many living in the United States, especially the tens of millions of people who are uninsured. In communities already facing long-standing health disparities: low-income, elderly, Black, Brown, and Native American – increasing access to healthcare will save lives.

Access to health care is a moral issue; with some moderate Democrats and most Republicans looking to cut large portions of this bill it could result in adding to the toll of needless lives lost in the pandemic. Congress must include all of the healthcare provisions in the Build Back Better plan to ensure all people living in our nation have access to quality, affordable, and equitable health care.

Here are key policies to keep your eye on:

Extending Healthcare Subsidies in the American Rescue Plan

Coverage under the Affordable Care Act is too expensive for many families, especially with many in the U.S. seeing lower earnings in 2020. By extending the American Rescue Plan’s cost savings, we can lower health care costs for those getting coverage through ACA.

Medicaid Expansion in Four Key Areas

Millions of Americans, especially low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults and people with disabilities rely on Medicaid. Expanding Medicaid in these four areas is key to addressing long-standing racial and economic disparities in coverage and access to care.

Non-Expansion States

A large portion of those who rely on Medicaid are spread throughout 12 states who have refused to expand Medicaid. This leaves two million people without insurance, in spite of support from a majority of states’ residents and overwhelming evidence that expansion will create significant improvements in coverage, health outcomes, and financial security.

Providing Medicaid Coverage for Incarcerated Individuals

Giving states the ability to expand Medicaid programs to cover incarcerated individuals 30 days before their release would tackle the disproportionately high rates of mental illness, substance abuse disorders, and chronic physical health conditions seen in people who have experienced incarceration. Closing care gaps would provide stability during this important transitional period.

Closing the Gap in Medicaid Funding to the U.S. Territories

Territories do not receive Medicaid funding, instead they are given a fixed block grant that often does not cover their healthcare needs. Congress needs to renew Medicaid funding in territories to ensure that everyone in the United States can access quality, affordable care no matter where they live.

End the Waiting Period for Immigrants to Access Medicaid and CHIP

Lawfully present immigrants must live in the U.S. for five years before being able to access Medicaid and CHIP. This harmful waiting period prevents millions of people and families from having access to quality, affordable care. We should not put limits on who is or is not deserving of health care.

Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act Investments

Historic investments from the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act will save lives, build healthy families, end racial and ethnic maternal health disparities, and further birth equity in the United States. The Momnibus Act aims to do this by strengthening federal maternal health programs, will make federal funds permanently available for states to spend on expanded postpartum Medicaid and CHIP coverage to one year in every state, with full state plan benefits throughout pregnancy and the yearlong postpartum period.

Expanding home-based care options

Providing funding for home-based care options impacts the elderly community and people with disabilities. Expanding home-based care options also aims to address our nation’s growth in its elderly population — failing to invest in care will strain an already understaffed workforce of caregivers; stress children trying to care for their loved ones; and complicate retirement for millions.

As Pope Francis said: “A health service that is free and guarantees good service accessible to all … This precious good should not be lost. It must be maintained and everyone should be committed to this. Because everyone needs it … ” Failing to ensure that these healthcare measures make it through Congress would be detrimental to the lives of millions. Building back better after the incredible loss of the last two years is going to push us to reject thinking that encourages us to ignore the suffering of others.