Category Archives: Voting and Democracy

Progress from Congress on Appropriations

Progress from Congress on Appropriations

Tralonne Shorter
September 12, 2018

This summer, Congress made extraordinary progress toward completing the requisite 12 spending measures for upcoming fiscal year (FY) 2019. To date, the Senate has passed nine spending bills, while the House has passed six. Lawmakers have until September 30 to finalize spending bills or extend funding at current levels through a continuing resolution (CR).  Efforts are underway to bundle nine* out of 12 spending measures into three packages by September 30 and put the remaining three** bills into a CR, averting a government shutdown.

One reason for the Senate’s remarkable pace on appropriations is President Trump’s vow to not sign another omnibus spending bill.  To achieve this progress, the Senate uncharacteristically spent part of August in session.  Another reason is a bipartisan agreement between Appropriations committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) not to pack spending bills with controversial provisions that would weaken bipartisan support.

NETWORK continues to lead lobby efforts supporting our Mend the Gap priorities.  These include:  humane border enforcement that promotes family unity and funding increases for affordable housing, workforce development, job training, child welfare and health care.  In addition, NETWORK will continue to oppose efforts to defund the Affordable Care Act.

Immigration

Unsurprisingly, the Trump Administration’s “Zero Tolerance” immigration policy dominated the appropriations debate and faced strong opposition across party lines in both chambers.  NETWORK joined pro-immigration advocates in garnering support for more than 12 amendments to the Homeland Security bill that adds report language that clamps down on family separation with better oversight and accountability standards for ICE detention centers.  Additionally, we successfully lobbied for more funding to support alternatives to detention, family case management services, and mental health screening of unaccompanied minor children crossing the Southern border. However, a major disappointment by House Appropriators includes the reversal of the Flores Settlement, a 1997 agreement drafted by the ACLU which set a 20-day limit for family detention and governs the conditions of detention for children, including that facilities be safe, sanitary, and age appropriate.    If enacted this would allow immigrant families to be indefinitely detained in facilities with harsh conditions not supported by Flores.  Thankfully, the Senate approved LHHSED Appropriations bill leaves the Flores settlement agreement intact and the House language is not likely to be part of the final bill.

As for immigration enforcement spending contained in the Homeland Security Appropriations bill, the House Appropriations Committee approved $7 billion more than the Senate for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and the Southwest Border Wall.  Other areas of concern include, a 10 percent increase in detention beds, as well as funding to hire almost 800 more border and customs agents/officers.

NETWORK will continue to push back on efforts to separate families or that would undermine humane border enforcement as negotiations gain momentum post the mid-term elections.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

The current Farm Bill is set to expire on September 30, unless Congress passes the next Farm Bill before then or extends the current reauthorization.  Regardless of when Congress finalizes the next Farm Bill, funding for SNAP will not lapse as the government is statutorily required to continue funding the program subject to participation demands.  Since 2015, SNAP enrollment has declined by more than 4.7 million people resulting in a $73 billion automatic appropriation for FY 2019.  This is $794 million less than FY 2018 and a 10 percent reduction since FY 2015.

Census

House appropriators gave a big boost to the Census Bureau in the FY 2019 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations (CJS) bill, approving nearly $1 billion more for the agency than the Senate. However, it is unclear how much of the $4.8 billion for the agency will be allocated for the 2020 Decennial.  Conversely, the Senate appropriators (under new leadership) appears to have taken a more conservative approach and adopted the President’s FY 2019 budget request to fund the 2020 Decennial at $3.015 billion.  This is drastically different from NETWORK’s request of $3.928 billion minimum baseline.

Besides census activities, the CJS bill also funds immigration related law enforcement and adjudication efforts within the Department of Justice.  Regrettably, the House Committee bill, fails to fully protect immigrant families and includes increased funding for immigrant-related law enforcement efforts.  Congress is not expected to finalize the CJS bill until sometime after the mid-term elections.  NETWORK will continue to call on our supporters to push for the higher number for the 2020 Census contained in the House bill.

Housing

Funding for housing programs fared better in the Senate.  The Senate approved a $12 billion increase above the President’s FY 2019 budget request−and is $1 billion above the House bill.  Housing programs help nearly 5 million vulnerable families and individuals.  This includes:  $22.8 billion for tenant-based Section 8 vouchers; $7.5 billion for public housing; $11.7 billion for project-based Section 8; $678 million for Housing for the Elderly; and $154 million for Housing for Persons with Disabilities.  Both committee bills reject the Administration’s rent reform proposal, and reinstate funding for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships programs, which were eliminated in the President’s FY 2019 budget request.  However, the House reduces spending for the HOME program by 12 percent.

NETWORK will continue to advocate for increased funding for affordable housing programs.

Children and Human Needs

The LHHSEd Appropriations bill funds popular safety net programs, like Medicare and Medicaid operations, home energy assistance, Head Start and the Child Care Development Block Grant.  It is the 2nd largest spending bill, after defense and comprises about 63 percent of total discretionary spending.  The House and Senate bills are slightly different—overall the Senate bill is better because it has a higher spending allocation and contains no poison pill riders unlike the House.

Unfortunately, the Affordable Care Act continues to be attacked by Republican lawmakers.  Both the House and Senate bills reduce access to affordable health care by cutting funding for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) operating budget by nearly half a billion dollars.  According to the House Committee report, Democrats view defunding CMS as “a misguided attempt to sabotage the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplace.” If enacted this cut would significantly impact Medicare as it subject to mandatory 2 percent sequestration cut pursuant to the Balance Control Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-25).

NETWORK will continue to call on our supporters to push back against efforts to defund the Affordable Care Act.

* Agriculture; Defense; Energy and Water; Financial Services; Interior; Labor-Health and Human Services-Education; Legislative Branch; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.

**Commerce, Justice, Science; Foreign Operations; and Homeland Security.

Blog: The Danger of Losing the Middle Class

Blog: The Danger of Losing the Middle Class

Samuel Fubara, NETWORK Intern
Jul 15, 2011

The American middle class is fast being relegated to the political background by big businesses. The relegation in question is two-fold, economic and political, both of which are inextricable. We know that a middle class is the most essential feature of a functioning democracy because civil society, the part of society that discuses the nation’s direction, exists in the middle class. Hence, the effects of the aforementioned relegation leave our democracy on a very tenuous foundation.

From the political point of view, big businesses are able to push a conservative agenda and finance conservative candidates. The Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission exacerbated this problem. In that decision, the Supreme Court held that corporate funding for political candidates is protected under the first amendment and as such cannot be limited. The day the Supreme Court made its decision in Citizens United, President Obama called it a major victory for health insurance companies and other major corporations that drown out the voices of everyday Americans. At the time, Lainie Rutkow, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins’s School of Public Health, remarked that with the recent efforts at healthcare reform, insurance companies can now select candidates who support their interests and devote unlimited funds to their campaigns to secure their elections or reelections. This has been deleterious to the interests of people who are poor, most of whom depend on programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

The president’s statement portended the situation we are facing today with a majority of the Republican members of Congress fighting to ensure that the benefits of the rich remain intact while Medicare, Medicaid, TANF and other social safety net programs are cut. These programs provide more than a social safety net, they provide a political safety net because they prevent people from falling out of the middle class, the very essence of democracy. Hence, other than the moral obligation we have to people in poverty, given every human being’s dignity, we have a practical interest in ensuring that their lot is bettered so that the ranks of the middle class are increased.

We face a situation worse than the relegation of the middle class. The United States is at a crossroads where its policies are rapidly leading to the complete erosion of the middle class. With the loss of the middle class, capitalism and democracy, as we know them, are likely to devolve into a modern feudalism where people at the economic margins, a group consisting of most Americans, will be left at the mercy of big businesses, in an arrangement of permanent economic subjugation.

Blog: Act Now! Sign Our Petition to President Obama

Blog: Act Now! Sign Our Petition to President Obama

Page May
Jun 29, 2011

Please sign our petition to President Obama, calling for a White House Summit on the wealth gap. We want to deliver this petition to the White House in July, with at least 10,000 signatures.

We believe the growing wealth gap is a crisis that needs White House attention.

Click here to return to main Blog page

Click here to check out, learn more, and join the Mind the Gap! campaign

Blog: So, What Is “Perfect,” Mr. Speaker?

Blog: So, What Is “Perfect,” Mr. Speaker?

Marge Clark, BVM
Feb 10, 2011

“We have been in the majority four weeks,” Mr. Boehner said. “We are not going to be perfect every day.” (New York Times, 2/10/11) In this statement, the Speaker was referring to the Republican members of the House having NOT BEEN IN LOCKSTEP on 2 votes. I’m quite bothered by the notion that “perfection” in Congress is having all members vote along party lines – no matter what they may think is best for the nation, or for their district.

“I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

Members swear (or affirm) support of the Constitution, not to support of their respective party. I expect persons for whom I vote to work with integrity, studying issues and listening to experts, to the party and to the people of the district. However, if the informed conscience of the member does not agree with what is heard from the most vocal members of the district and with the party, I expect “perfection” to be each member’s vote based on informed conscience.

Blog: Hitting the “Reset” Button on the Budget

Blog: Hitting the “Reset” Button on the Budget

Casey Schoeneberger
Mar 11, 2011

Senator Chuck Schumer called on Congress to press the “reset button” on budget negotiations during a speech this week at the Center for American Progress. Responding to the Republicans’ desire for draconian cuts, Sen. Schumer pointed out the absurdity of trying to fix the gaping deficit hole by solely cutting spending for programs that make up just 14% of the budget. Sen. Schumer called for all options to be on the table—including oil, gas and agricultural subsidies, along with the necessity to reform Medicaid and Medicare programs.

A vote for the House Republican spending proposal, H.R 1, along with a vote on the Senate Democratic continuing resolution, failed in the Senate late Wednesday. With the failure of this legislation, Congress can now get to work on a realistic, responsible plan to fund the government for the remainder of FY 2011. The current resolution funding the government expires March 18. This short timeframe leaves Congress with less than eight days to come to a practical compromise that takes a hard look at revenue, tax expenditures, and inefficient subsidies—without jeopardizing the safety and security of low-income people or our economic recovery.

When even young children are threatened with cuts that eliminate 218,000 spots in Head Start, or when veterans stand to lose 10,000 housing vouchers that prevent homelessness, my eyes are wide open for a sign that there are better days ahead. With any luck, the failure of both parties’ respective bills will force Congress to press the “reset” button on deficit reduction negotiations, and we will begin to see the tide turning towards responsible investment for the future of America.

Blog: A Crack in America’s Foundation

Blog: A Crack in America’s Foundation

Stephanie Niedringhaus
May 12, 2011

Most of us know that the huge wealth gap between a tiny fringe of super-rich Americans and most of the rest of us has grown to historic proportions. But do we understand that this gap robs all of us? By that, I don’t mean just financially. Enormous wealth concentrated in the hands of the elite few is cracking the democratic foundation of our nation. It is long past time to ring the alarm bells.

Today, I attended a panel discussion entitled “Reclaiming Our Democracy; Money, Politics, and the Fall of the Middle Class.” It was sponsored by Common Cause and Faith Advocates for Jobs. The crowd was large, and the discussion was sobering.

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, one of the key speakers, told a chilling tale of how decades of improved prosperity for our nation’s “middle class” (most of us) have been reversed in the last thirty years. This has come at a time when unions have lost much of their power (and have come under vicious political attack in recent months), when there is increasing disinvestment in education and infrastructure (e.g., cutting teachers), and when our tax system has grown far less progressive.

Meanwhile, our super-rich have seen their share of the nation’s wealth skyrocket! The statistics are shocking, as can be seen here.

Why did today’s discussion include “reclaiming our democracy” in the title? Because the current extreme concentration of wealth translates into political power, which is helping to shape our government’s policies and laws. The elite few can afford armies of lobbyists and legal expertise to influence the political process, and they can funnel enormous amounts of money into elections. This allows them to maintain and grow their wealth and power – at the expense of most of us, especially people struggling at the economic margins.

In short, our democracy is being chipped away, day by day.

Do you want to learn more? If so, watch for our upcoming campaign on the wealth gap – Mind the Gap!

It is time to reclaim our democracy. More to come…

Civic responsibility

Civic responsibility

By Eric Gibble
November 07, 2011

Tuesday Nov. 8, polls will open for special elections in the United States Congress as well as local elections. While it is imperative to vote, it is equally as imperative to be cognizant of our other civic responsibilities.

The ability to change our laws in order to achieve the common good is one of the greatest aspects of our nation. We changed our laws to allow women to vote. We changed our laws to expand civil rights to all people. And in 2008, we elected a leader to bring change to the unethical trends that have plagued, corrupted and broken Washington.

We saw some change with that election. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed, which when fully implemented, aims to end the 45,000 deaths that occur every year due to Americans being uninsured.

Yet just two years later, Americans found themselves shifting towards a different change. This change was the polar opposite of what the American public asked for in 2008. A group of conservative leaders and big business owners began a movement so they could secure their corporate subsidies and lucrative tax breaks on the backs of working families.

Now we are outraged, but should we be? In the 2010 midterm elections, we elected representatives to the House that openly opposed the funding of the vital services that provide health and service to seniors, single mothers, children, and minority communities.

In the aftermath of that election, 1 in 15 people now ranks among the nation’s poorest of the poor, living on less than $11,000 a year. The wealth gap continues to expand at the expense of working families. Now, more than ever, we must raise our voices. Instead of focusing on the wealth gap, politicians on Capitol Hill are focused on slashing funding to various programs.

The reality is that a smaller government will not meet the needs of the poor or put millions back to work. A smaller government will not be able to meet our needs during a disaster like Hurricane Katrina. A smaller, deregulated government will not protect us from contamination in our water and food. But neither will a disorganized, fraudulent government lacking oversight. What we need is a smart government, one that protects our well-being. However, this is not possible if we keep dismantling our federal programs with devastating cuts.

Apathy has, unfortunately, become a disease in our society. Besides voting on Election Day, we seem to regress back into our daily routine of observing and complaining about the injustice in our world. Fortunately, signs have shown that there is change occurring. People are taking action, and it’s beginning with holding big banks accountable for their actions.

The Occupy Movement spread like wildfire despite ridicule and a blackout from the mainstream media. But unlike most social movements, this one is spurring change outside of the polls. In this past month, 650,000 Americans cashed out of big banks that caused the 2008 economic meltdown and put their money into credit unions. That amount of people totals more than joined credit unions in 2010 combined. Last week, America’s 5th busiest port in Oakland, California was shut down in a general strike in response to violent tactics used by police on Occupy protesters there.  The national conversation is now focused on how Wall Street has occupied America.

Politicians must realize that change is not just a word they can throw around to save their own corrupt careers. It is an action the American people are demanding from them. We must keep the momentum of accountability present not only in the coming 2012 election, but also in our daily lives as well. Anyone can press a button or pull a lever when voting, but it takes Americans willing to participate in civic action to bring truly meaningful change.

Election 2012 Matters!

Election 2012 Matters!

By Eric Gibble
November 28, 2011

Over the past three years, tremendous achievements have been made on multiple fronts. Attempts to completely dismantle the security of the most vulnerable in our society have been averted. Unemployment benefits have been extended. The Iraq occupation is ending. But this is all at stake.

Your voice is just as important as your vote. We the people must engage in a national conversation for the common good.

After many months of gridlock on Capitol Hill, many now feel detached, frustrated and upset with Democrats and Republicans alike. But as NETWORK’s Executive Director Sr. Simone Campbell, SSS, explains in this video, this election may be the most important of our lifetime.

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Blog: Will the State of the Union Speech be a Winner?

Blog: Will the State of the Union Speech be a Winner?

Jean Sammon
Jan 09, 2012

President Obama gives the State of the Union speech on Tuesday January 24.

NETWORK will be watching to see if the President talks about things we support.

Please join us.  You can use our handy bingo-like chart as you watch the speech. And then let us know what you think.

 

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Blog: Post-election analysis by NETWORK Staff

Post-election analysis by NETWORK Staff

By Jean Sammon
November 08, 2012

The day after the election, NETWORK staff held a conference call for our members to discuss what we see going forward.

You can hear a recording of that call here:  http://youtu.be/ZR3KBJrfmEI

These are some of the things we talked about:

  • What changed in Congress, and what didn’t
  • How to use the state platforms that were created as part of the Election2012: Catholics vote for the Common Good project
  • Power shifting in the electorate — from white men to women, people of color, and low-income people
  • What will happen in the Lame Duck session of Congress
  • Three projects that NETWORK is now focused on: Faithful Budget, Mend the Gap, and Medicaid expansion
  • The “Catholic vote” and Catholic values