ELCA Advocacy

Earlier this week, President Obama gave his final State of the Union address to Congress. As lawmakers across the political spectrum prepare their 2016 legislative agendas, we urge our elected officials to ensure that our nation’s public policies embody biblical values of peacemaking, hospitality to our neighbors, care for creation, and concern for our brothers and sisters facing poverty and struggling with hunger. Among other advocacy priorities, we urge Congress to: 

REFORM OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: In early 2015, the ELCA, alongside our faith community partners, demanded criminal justice sentencing reform to restore a common-sense approach to nonviolent drug sentencing. We know that excessively high mandatory minimum sentences over-crowd federal prisons, unfairly punish our brothers and sisters living in poverty, and do little to reduce crime. We are pleased that Congress responded! The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 (S.2123) is bipartisan legislation that makes modest reforms to the federal criminal justice system by restoring the ability of federal judges to determine fairer and more realistic sentences and by reducing mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenses. This call is shared by both sides of the isle in Congress, and now the president has joined. We are pleased by the momentum this important legislation is gaining, and we will continue our advocacy efforts until common-sense reforms are made.

COMMIT TO REDUCING EXTREME POVERTY: Millions of people around the world continue to suffer from extreme poverty. Food insecurity, lack of medical services, gender-based violence, and humanitarian crises are some of the issues we will continue to focus on this year. The U.S. government plays a critical role in improving the lives of our brothers and sisters in need. It is imperative that we hold our government accountable to its commitments to reducing extreme poverty. A big part of this work is to ensure that Congress allocates funds for existing relief and development programs, as well as to advocate for systemic reforms so that these programs are more efficient.

PROTECT THOSE WHO SEEK SAFETY: ELCA Advocacy will continue to focus on ensuring that U.S. policies protect those who must leave their homes in search of safety. In 2015, we joined with faith leaders across the country to speak out against religious discrimination in our refugee system and asked for a compassionate investment in Central America to address the displacement of unaccompanied children and families. This year, we will continue to urge the U.S. government to ensure that funding recently allocated for Central America is spent in ways that protect those fleeing violence and persecution. In addition, we will work to make sure that refugees coming through Europe receive appropriate humanitarian protections. Refaai Hamo, a Syrian refugee present at the State of the Union, was fortunate to find safety in the United States and a new home through Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, but thousands continue to risk their lives to find safety or live in refugee camps.

FULFILL OUR PROMISE TO CARE FOR GOD’S CREATION: In 2015 the Obama administration issued two final rules under the Clean Air Act that restrict carbon dioxide emissions from new and existing power plants. Coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the primary causes of climate change. The carbon rules are the centerpiece of the administration’s strategy to carry out pledges made in Paris toward a new global climate change agreement that will go into effect in 2020. Although the carbon rules are now final, Congress has the ability to challenge them under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The House and Senate held a CRA vote on the rules last fall but failed to get enough votes to override a presidential veto. This spring, ELCA Advocacy will take action as Congress again considers use of the CRA to block these rules and will continue to build upon last year’s legislative successes, such as protecting U.S. contributions to the Green Climate Fund.

A DISCUSSION ON ‘FORCED DISPLACEMENT, REFUGEES, AND MIGRATION’: On Dec. 16, Dennis Frado and Nicholas Jaech with the Lutheran Office for World Community participated in a public consultation on the discussion paper “Forced Displacement, Refugees, and Migration” produced by the Independent Commission on Multilateralism (ICM). This paper highlighted the current migration crisis, citing 230 million current migrants, which includes 59.5 million displaced persons. ICM, which is affiliated with the International Peace Institute, writes that this is the “biggest humanitarian crisis in the history of the United Nations.” This paper also offers recommendations for “an improved multilateral response” including convening a global summit on the issue, strengthening international coordination among key agencies, organizations and U.N. member states, and strengthening the 1951 Refugees Convention. During a question and answer period, Dennis inquired about the negative impacts of climate change on migration and displacement, citing the current and future crises of island nations facing rising ocean levels. He asked about the probably inevitable need to resettle the populations of these island states and its implications for national sovereignty and preservation of cultures.

Two days later, on Dec. 18, International Migrants Day was recognized at the United Nations. During an event held by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), William Lacy Swing, director general of IOM, stressed the need to recover from the “amnesia” about historic patterns of migration, citing the migration patterns in and out of the United States. At this event, the Population Division of the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs reminded the audience of the connection between migration and the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals, referencing goal 10.7, which calls on countries to “facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies.”

A U.N. BRIEFING ON EL NIÑO: On Jan. 7, the Lutheran Office for World Community attended a briefing on “The Humanitarian Consequences of El Niño and the Need for Urgent Action,” organized by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). This event informed member states and U.N. organizations about the current and potential effects of this season’s El Niño weather pattern. Consistently reinforced was El Niño’s connection to climate change – El Niño is not a product of climate change, but occurring in a world with a changing climate makes El Niño’s effects more extreme and unpredictable. The 2015-2016 El Niño pattern is already one of the three strongest since 1950, with models predicting that it could become the strongest on record. Various reports were made on the already damaging effects of the 2015-2016 El Niño – major droughts in Eastern and Central Africa, Central America, and the Pacific region, among others. As the rainy seasons return, the risk of flooding, landslides, and waterborne diseases significantly increase in these drought-ridden regions. Key messages issued by OCHA and other speakers centered on two actions: 1) an urgent response by the international community to address the current humanitarian needs caused by El Niño, and 2) investing in long-term risk and vulnerability reduction, which is critical and needs to be increased. For further analysis of El Niño’s effects by region, please click here.

STATE LEGISLATURE: California’s legislators reconvened Jan. 4 for the final year of its two-year session, and nearly one-sixth of them gathered that afternoon at Mercy Commons (see photo), a newer permanent supportive housing site in the block next to the county jail and Matsui Federal Building, to launch a bi-partisan effort to generate new resources and redirect existing resources to address our state’s homelessness crisis. The focus will be on “housing first” and mental health services, and the proposal becomes part of budget priority debates that are underway following Gov. Jerry Brown’s Jan. 7 release of his fiscal year 2016-17 budget proposal. With healthy growth in revenue, the governor is still wary of future recessions, the expiration of temporary recession-era sales and income taxes, the need to invest in deteriorating infrastructure, and the challenge of paying for MedicAid/Cal, which now covers one-third of Californians and half its children. California’s first Earned Income Tax Credit is funded into its second year, and there is a small cost of living allowance for elderly and disabled assistance, but an LOPP-CA priority, eliminating the CalWORKS/TANF maximum family grant rule that contributes to child poverty, was not in the proposal.

CLIMATE CHANGE PRIORITIES: Defending California’s climate change laws and advocating for equitable investment of cap-and-trade funds, now growing into the billions, will continue to be a LOPP priority. We joined a letter initiated by the Trust for Public Land calling for a Community Greening Fund focused on green infrastructure and forestry in urban communities. LOPP also participated in an interfaith post-Paris briefing.