By Whylie Cook, ELCA Advocacy 2018 Summer Intern

 

Last month, we had the incredible opportunity to present about our advocacy work to a group of 50 high school youth from Wisconsin. Having spent nearly my entire life in Wisconsin, it was refreshing to connect with engaged youth that were energized to work for change in their communities.

While our presentation primarily focused on the farm bill and touched a bit on immigration and ELCA AMMPARO, I was extremely overjoyed when we turned to action by writing letters to our congressional leaders. These young people asked intelligent and passionate questions about what it means to live out our faith and love our neighbor. They took advocacy seriously and saw that they can make their voices heard in world that often speaks for them.

A couple of days later while attending a World Refugee Day event in the Senate building, we just so happened to run into the same group again. We decided to take a couple of minutes to help them unpack and debrief about their meetings with their legislators. The group had a successful meeting as well as one that was challenging. I was overjoyed when they were able to name hurtful rhetoric and realize that they were not being heard or taken seriously. They countered the “myths of poverty” with facts and spoke truth to power in love, ushering a compassionate response to poverty based on their faith which calls them to care for their neighbor. Although they felt put down, they were not defeated. In our debrief, I emphasized perseverance in holding our elected officials accountable. Calling state offices, calling national offices, and telling other constituents about their experience is an important part of holding elected officials to the people they serve.

This whole experience reminded me of the greeting among the Masai tribe in Africa, “Kasserian Ingera,” meaning “And how are the children?” These young people reminded me of how all to often, we dismiss the voices of our youth. We tell them that they can’t vote so they should not speak on issues of public policy or we dismiss them because of their age. We tell them that they have no place in our national debates which at the end of the day, immensely affect them. Our youth cry out for the longing to feel safe from gun and police violence in schools and their communities, and are instead met with not only silence, but also those who invalidate their violence and pain. How are the children? 15 million children live in poverty the United States. Instead caring for them, we cut social services, we cut affordable housing, and we debate whether or not poor children should have a right to live through health insurance. How are the children? Children are separated from their families and portrayed as criminal through our rhetoric. How are the children?

While adults often clamor about public policy, we sometimes forget to listen to the children. But the call of the Gospel is clear: ¹⁴ but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs” (Matthew 19:14). Our faith calls us to listen to the children because they are chosen and loved by God, vulnerable, and are our future. We must listen to Jesus who speaks through the children at our border. We must listen to Jesus who speaks to elected officials through young adults who call for us to feed the hungry, provide for the poor, and care for our neighbor. We must listen to our children who work toward justice and peace, refusing to let the darkness consume the light and love of God. We must listen to our children who fear violence when going to school or walking down the street. We must listen to our children who don’t have clean water to drink and clean air to breath.

In the Gospel according to Matthew Jesus commits us to “take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:10). It is through these vulnerable children whom God reveals God’s intending for a world where justice, love, and grace abide. May we always ask “how are the children”, listen to our children, and advocate for our children. May it be so.

 

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America  joined 144 Faith organizations in sending the following letter to Chairman Pete Sessions and Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee Representative James McGovern asking them to support amendments in the Appropriations bill that protect the Johnson Amendment.

 

                                                                                                                                              July 16, 2018

Mr. Pete Sessions                                                                               Mr. James McGovern
Chairman                                                                                             Ranking Member
House Rules Committee                                                                   House Rules Committee
Washington, D.C. 20515                                                                   Washington, D.C. 20515

 

Dear Chairman Sessions and Ranking Member McGovern:

 

The 145 undersigned organizations write to urge you to rule in order Wasserman Schultz Amendment #8 and Lewis Amendment #48 to strike the language in Section 112 of the House 2019 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill. This provision would make it effectively impossible for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to enforce a long-standing federal law, sometimes referred to as the Johnson Amendment, insofar as it applies to houses of worship.

The Johnson Amendment protects the integrity of 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations, including houses of worship, by ensuring they do not endorse or oppose candidates. Weakening current law would allow politicians and others seeking political power to pressure churches for endorsements, dividing congregations, and opening them up to the flow of secret money. Americans do not want our charitable nonprofits, houses of worship, and foundations to be torn apart by partisan campaign politics. We must keep this valuable safeguard that protects our houses of worship, our charitable and philanthropic organizations, and our political process.

Under the current law, which has been in place for the last six decades, houses of worship have maintained robust free speech rights and can speak out on any political and social issues that they see as important. They currently can engage in public debate on any issue, host candidate forums, hold voter registration drives, encourage people to vote, help transport people to the polls and even, with a few boundaries, lobby on specific legislation and invite candidates to speak. They simply cannot endorse or oppose candidates for public office and maintain their special tax-exempt status.

Section 112 would make it very difficult for the IRS to investigate claims that churches have violated the law by requiring consent from the IRS Commissioner for each investigation and notification to two committees in Congress before such investigations commence. The first requirement would slow down, if not functionally halt, the pursuit of 501(c)(3) violations, while the second would only further politicize these law-enforcement investigations.

Additionally, although the current law applies to all 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, Section 112 in the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill would apply only to houses of worship. By giving houses of worship special treatment in the enforcement of IRS restrictions on intervention in political campaigns, the amendment raises serious concerns under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and undermines religious freedom.

Opposition to the repeal or weakening of the Johnson Amendment is overwhelming: 106 religious and denominational organizations, more than 5,800 charitable nonprofit organizations, more than 4,500 faith leaders,and state charities officials have all written to Congress to urge it to protect the Johnson Amendment.We firmly urge you to rule in order the Wasserman Schultz Amendment #8 and Lewis Amendment #48 to remove Section 112 because it would weaken the law that protects houses of worship and other charitable nonprofits.

 

Sincerely,

Action on Smoking and Health
The Afiya Center
African American Ministers In Action
African Methodist Episcopal Church
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
Agricultural-Natural Resources Trust
Alliance for Strong Families and Communities
Alliance of Baptists
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
American Atheists
American Baptist Churches USA
American Baptist Home Mission Societies
American Conference of Academic Deans
American Conference of Cantors
American Council on Education
American Family Voices
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
American Humanist Association
American Jewish Committee (AJC)
American Society of Association Executives
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Anti-Defamation League
The Arc of the United States
The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc.
Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists (AWAB)
The Atlantic Foundation
Autism Society of America
Baptist Center for Ethics
Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty
Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America
Baptist Women in Ministry
Bend the Arc Jewish Action
B’nai B’rith International
BoardSource
The Bright Lines Project
Burlesque Hall of Fame
Catholics for Choice
Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Effective Philanthropy
Center for Faith and Giving
Center for Inquiry
CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
Center on Conscience & War
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Christian Board of Publication/Chalice Press
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, US Provinces
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
Council for Global Equality
Council on Foundations
Democracy 21
Disciples Center for Public Witness
Disciples Justice Action Network
The Episcopal Church
End Citizens United
Equal Partners in Faith
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Every Voice
Forum for Youth Investment
Freedom From Religion Foundation
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Friends of the Earth
Friends of Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge
Girls Inc.
Greenpeace USA
Habitat for Humanity International
Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc.
The Henry Ford
Hindu American Foundation
Hindu Mandirs Executives’ Conference
Hip Hop Caucus
Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings
Hope Partnership for Missional Transformation
Human Rights Campaign
Impact Fund
Independent Sector
Interfaith Alliance
Institute for Science and Human Values
Islamic Networks Group
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
The Jewish Federations of North America
JWI
Keshet
Land Trust Alliance
Lymphoma Foundation of America
Management Assistance Group
Medical Students for Choice
Men of Reform Judaism
MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership
Methodist Federation for Social Action
Morino Institute
Music Medicine Institute
Muslim Public Affairs Council
NARAL Pro-Choice America
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
National African American Clergy Network
National Association of Charitable Gift Planners
National Benevolent Association
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
National Council of Churches
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of Nonprofits
National Employment Law Project
National Human Services Assembly
National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies
New Baptist Covenant
New Ways Ministry
Nonprofit Leadership Alliance
North American Bramble Growers Research Foundation
North Side Action & Resistance (Indivisible)
Nursing Students for Sexual & Reproductive Health
Partnership for America’s Children
Pension Fund of the Christian Church
People For the American Way
Phillips Theological Seminary
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Public Citizen
Rachel Carson Council
The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
Religious Institute
Rootstrikers Project at Demand Progress
Secular Coalition for America
Senior Executives Association (SEA)
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS)
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society
Union for Reform Judaism
Unitarian Universalist Association
United Church of Christ, Justice & Witness Ministry
United Philanthropy Forum
U.S. PIRG
Vibrant America, Inc.
Voices for Progress
Volunteers of America
WasteWater Education
Women of Reform Judaism
Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER)
Youth Advocate Programs
YWCA USA

By Elena Robles,Hunger Advocacy Fellow

 

The House of Representatives and Senate have returned from the July 4^th Recess, and ELCA Advocacy and the Advocacy network look forward to their next movements to complete the 2018 Farm Bill. The 2018 Farm Bill funds the food system, ensuring farmers get access to the support and resources needed to produce food in sustainable ways, and guaranteeing hungry people domestically and internationally are supported through the various food programs that the bill funds.

 

 

House of Representatives

In April the House of Representatives released their version of the Farm Bill, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act (HR.2), which provided strong supports for farmers and international food assistance programs. HR.2 failed to pass the first time it was voted on and passed by only two votes the second time. Hunger Advocates have expressed concern for how HR.2 would impact the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps). The proposed reforms would create additional work requirements, shift funding from the programs into the creation of short-term job trainings and would ultimately negatively impact millions of low-income seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, unemployed adults and families with children who rely on the program. Learn more about the Agriculture and Nutrition Act here.

Senate

The Senate, through the bipartisan leadership of Chairman Roberts and Ranking Member Stabenow, were able to draft and pass the Agriculture and Improvement Act (S. 3042) with 85 senators voting in favor. This is the highest vote count of approval in Farm Bill history and an excellent example of bipartisanship. The Agriculture and Improvement Act was lauded for its continued support of farmers, generous funding for international food assistance and protection of structure and funding for SNAP. Learn more about the Senate Farm Bill through the Food Research and Action Center.

 

 

Next Steps?

Senators and Representatives from both parties will need to come together to pass a final  2018 Farm Bill that establishes a strong foundation for our food systems. House and Senate leaders will appoint Conferees to serve on a conference committee tasked with negotiating a Farm Bill that can be passed by both chambers.There is hard work ahead for the Conferees as they work towards navigating major differences in SNAP funding and structure, issues around conservation, and the upcoming midterm elections which could impose serious time limits on getting a bill through both chambers. The ELCA network will be mobilized to take action on contacting Conferees for a Farm Bill that reflects the needs of all of our communities. Lutherans have a powerful faith voice to share as we continue to urge legislators to support both the needs of farmers and families who rely on nutrition assistance. 

 

 

ELCA Advocacy Office, Washington, D.C.

The Rev. Amy Reumann, director               ELCA.org/advocacy

July 21, PRAY.FAST.ACT.: On Saturday, July 21, we join with The Episcopal Church in our monthly commitment to #PrayFastAct. This month, our focus is on protecting Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security for the future. Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security are the core of our nation’s medical and income safety net for the elderly, unemployed, underemployed and disabled. In recent decades, investments in programs that spur the economic potential of individuals has declined, which has led to an increase in the number of people needing the support of these programs. Together, these programs and other safety net measures represent a significant amount of annual federal spending. Recently, proposals have been made to change the programs by manipulating eligibility or coverage to reduce spending. Difficult, but responsible, changes require Congress and the nation to invest in programs that reduce the long-term need for these programs and minimize the individual impact of the economic cycle so that these programs can cost less because they are needed less.

FARM BILL: The Senate passed a bipartisan 2018 farm bill last month that ELCA Advocacy supported. The bill will now go to a conference between the House and Senate. ELCA Advocacy plans to work to ensure that the Senate bill prevails over the House bill, which would make cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Learn more about the Senate and House versions of the farm bill by reading “The Senate Farm Bill: What a Difference Bipartisanship Makes” on the ELCA Advocacy blog.

MIGRATION and AMMPARO: In June, the House rejected a hardline immigration bill introduced by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. Securing America’s Future Act (H.R. 4760) would have drastically cut the nation’s legal immigration levels and provided funding for building a border wall, while also offering temporary status for “Dreamers.” ELCA Advocacy opposed the bill. The House has yet to vote on a proposed compromise immigration bill. You can take action on this issue by visiting the ELCA Advocacy Action Center. 

President Trump signed an executive order to address family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border. The executive order fails to end the zero-tolerance policy that criminalizes parents and expands family detention. ELCA Advocacy will continue to stand against family detention, advocating instead for community-based alternatives to detentions. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service has piloted alternatives for families.

INTERNATIONAL FOOD ASSISTANCE: On June 20, the Senate passed the Global Food Security Reauthorization Act. The legislation calls on Congress to extend the authority of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 for a few more years. The act established a comprehensive U.S. global food-security strategy that has enabled the U.S. government to improve the way food and nutrition programs are implemented and accounted for. As a result, some developing countries have been able to increase agricultural productivity and education opportunities. These programs help farmers feed their families and communities and contribute to their countries’ economic growth. The House has yet to pass its version of the bill.

 

Lutheran Office for World Community, United Nations, New York, N.Y. 

Dennis Frado, director

 

CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES: U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres spoke marking the start of this year’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on June 12 to a conference of signatories to the convention, which he described as one of the most widely ratified international human rights treaties. The convention reaffirms that people with disabilities are entitled to the same treatment as everyone else.

People with disabilities still often face overt discrimination, stereotyping and lack of respect for their basic human rights – with women and girls disproportionately affected. The secretary-general said that “every minute, more than 30 women are seriously injured or disabled during childbirth,” and that women and girls with disabilities face multiple barriers to accessing education, health services and jobs.

“Without women’s empowerment and gender equality, millions of women will continue to suffer from double discrimination based on both their gender and their disability,” he added. The secretary-general also spelled out the need for new approaches for and with people with disabilities, including mainstreaming disability in national legislation and development strategies.

Catalina Devandas Aguilar, U.N. special rapporteur on the rights of people with disabilities, noted that while progress has been made, it is not reaching everyone in the same way. “There is a great demand for public interventions of better and higher quality,” she said. “Only by working together will we fulfil our common goal of leaving no one behind.”

PILGRIMAGE TO PEACE PANEL FEATURES LUTHERAN EDUCATOR: On June 22 the Church Center at the United Nations was the site of Churches for Middle East Peace’s  Pilgrimage2Peace panel discussion hosted by the U.N. NGO Working Group on Israel-Palestine, of which Lutheran Office for World Community is a member. “Peacebuilding and Constructive Conflict in Israel, Palestine, and the broader Middle East” featured Georgette Hazboun Rabadi, principal of the Evangelical Lutheran School in Beit Sahour, Palestine, and Mara Lee, global executive director of the OneVoice Movement. Kyle Cristofalo, director of advocacy and government relations with churches for Middle East Peace, was the moderator.

Rabadi works to empower students and families in the region from all religious, economic and social backgrounds. She educates children and young people about global issues, connecting them with their peers locally and internationally, and inspiring them to make a difference. Her school offers student exchange programs in Europe and a local school-to-career program with guest speakers offering Palestinian narratives along with the opportunity to work on projects. She reports that when Palestinians are asked what they want, the response is: “We want the right to live with dignity.”

Lee works with the OneVoice Movement, an initiative supporting grassroots activists in Israel, Palestine and globally who are working to build human infrastructure to create the necessary conditions for a just and negotiated resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In conversation about conflict resolution, the initiative’s goal is to be pro-solution, pro-peace, and pro-humanity.

 

California

Mark Carlson, Lutheran Office of Public Policy                            loppca.org

BUDGET UPDATE: With no line-item vetoes, Gov. Jerry Brown approved a General Fund budget of about $140 billion that includes items supported by LOPP-CA to increase the CalWORKS/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families assistance grants intended to relieve childhood poverty, increase spending for child care, expand census outreach and make the state Earned Income Tax Credit available for more low-income taxpayers. Proposals to provide Medi-Cal (Medicaid) coverage for low-income young adults and seniors, regardless of immigration status, did not make it into the final budget. LOPP-CA Director Mark Carlson mixed with some of the Poor People’s Campaign participants and tried to connect some of the “outside” protestors with actual budget and legislative decisions being made “inside.”

 

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: LOPP-CA was site host for a California Interfaith Power & Light Advocacy Day, supporting bills to set stronger goals for renewable electrical energy (SB 100), protect California’s coastline should the federal government seek to expand offshore oil drilling, and establish goals for carbon reduction from ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft. LOPP-CA also offered brief testimony in the Senate Elections Committee supporting stronger sponsor and funding disclosure in social media ads for ballot measures.

NOVEMBER BALLOT: California voters will decide on 12 measures, three placed on the ballot by the Legislature and nine that reached via the initiative petition process. Our priority continues to be the housing bond, cahahousing.org (Programs and Initiative). Carlson hosted the June conference of ELCA rostered leaders gathering at a permanent supportive housing site where Lutheran Social Services of Northern California provides services (photo).

 

North Carolina 

Georene Jones, North Carolina Synod Social Justice & Advocacy Ministries

THE NORTH CAROLINA SYNOD ASSEMBLY PASSED A RESOLUTION ON IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEES: The first included provisions to demand a halt to detention and deportation of people not found guilty of a felony until comprehensive immigration policy reform is passed by Congress, permanent legislation providing full citizenship to “Dreamers,” and pathways to citizenship for non-felon resident immigrants without documentation, and for maintaining family unity.

Additionally, the document demanded compassionate treatment of all who seek safety and hope in the U.S., as well as encourage increased individual and congregational support of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Lutheran Services Carolinas, and participation in the ELCA’s Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunities (AMMPARO).

A second resolution regarding refugees states that in the face of the largest displacement crisis since World War II, the U.S. must honor its commitment to accept no fewer than 45,000 refugees for resettlement through fiscal year 2018 and to increase the number admitted in 2019 to 75,000.

Full-text of the resolutions as adopted are available at:

18-03 Advocacy & Action for Immigration and 18-04 Acceptance & Resettlement of Refugees.

 

 

New Mexico

Ruth Hoffman, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry – New Mexico  lutheranadvocacynm.org

LAM-NM WORKS WITH COMMUNITY PARTNERS: We recently attended an advocacy training for the Dental Therapy Coalition, which is working to enact a statute creating the mid-level profession of dental therapist. Having dental therapists would increase the number of dental providers particularly in underserved areas of our large state. We also attended the 2108 Kids Count Conference sponsored by New Mexico Voices for Children. Over 200 people networked and heard presentations about ways to improve the lives of New Mexico’s children. Our state ranks at or near the bottom in child well-being.

 

Ohio

Nick Bates, Hunger Network Ohio                                                            Nick@HungerNetOhio.org

A great synod assembly season! Hunger Network Ohio attended the Northeastern Ohio Synod and the Southern Ohio Synod assemblies this year. Between the two, we collected over 65 postcards for our congressional representatives to protect nutrition assistance in the farm bill. Both assemblies had a feature of justice.

The Northeastern Ohio Synod heard Amanda Silcox share her experience as an ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission participant and a Hunger Advocacy Fellow serving this year in the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, but originally from the Northeastern Ohio Synod. The assembly was moved by her passion and commitment to justice in our community. Likewise, the Southern Ohio Synod featured workshops on advocacy, hunger, immigration and racial inequality, including a powerful liturgy prepared by the synod’s race relations task force. Our synod assemblies are a great opportunity not only to accomplish the business of our synods but also a chance to come together to learn and grow in relationship and our understanding of the gospel.

We would also like to mention First English Lutheran Church, which is now the second congregation in Columbus hosting a family in sanctuary. Bishop Dillahunt and many congregational leaders, fresh off the busses and planes from Houston, attended a news conference to support Miriam Vargas on July 2. We will continue to live into our synod resolutions, the ELCA AMMPARO initiative and our gospel calling to welcome and love the neighbor.

                                        

 

 

Pennsylvania

Tracey DePasquale, Lutheran Advocacy – Pennsylvania                             lutheranadvocacypa.org

LAMPa AT SYNOD ASSEMBLIES: LAMPa staff shared displays, information and workshops at the Lower Susquehanna, Allegheny and Upper Susquehanna synod assemblies.

SYNODS PASS SOCIAL JUSTICE RESOLUTION AT ASSEMBLIES: The Lower Susquehanna Synod adopted a resolution regarding homelessness. The Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod adopted a resolution on migrant minors and family separation at the U.S. borders. The Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod adopted a resolution of concern for migrant minors separated from family. The Upper Susquehanna Synod passed a resolution regarding migrant children calling for humane, compassionate treatment of those designated as undocumented minors.

 

LAMPa PARTICIPATES IN ELCA YOUTH GATHERING : LAMPa partnered with ELCA Advocacy and Lutheran Outdoor Ministries sharing an interactive exhibit, “Be the Change: Means of Grace, Scenes of Grace.” Visitors entered a space set apart to connect with God’s good creation. They discovered the fun and profound ways faith is nurtured in nature and left transformed, prepared to be the change.  

CONNECTING LUTHERANS WITH ISSUES: June was a busy month for LAMPa staff as they issued advocacy alerts to constituents for federal and state issues. Federal action on the House farm bill, two immigration bills and family separation at the border. State alerts were shared regarding the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits and “Safe Harbor.”

BUDGET AND CLEAN-SLATE LAWS SIGNED: Gov. Tom Wolf signed the 2018-2019 budget and clean-slate bill into law making it easier for people who have committed crimes to move on with their lives. LAMPa has advocated for this bill for several years.

 

 

Virginia

Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy                                              virginiainterfaithcenter.org/

WHAT’S NEXT?: After late May’s Medicaid expansion victory at the Virginia General Assembly, everyone has been asking “what’s next?” Although the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy will be looking at overall policy priorities in upcoming weeks, it does plan to follow through on other priorities that need work, such as strengthening enforcement against wage theft and encouraging living wages, and making Virginia more welcoming to immigrants and others. We are also exploring what we should be doing in terms of making sure that people eligible for Medicaid expansion actually sign-up. There is no shortage of work to do.

Our staff has met with many chapters and affiliates in the last few weeks across the commonwealth. Although everyone is excited about Medicaid expansion, groups are ready and eager to continue their good work. Our chapters and affiliates are:

• making plans for how the faith community can assist with Medicaid enrollment;
• meeting with legislators about priority issues for the 2019 General Assembly;
• building Living Wage Certification programs (The Richmond program has launched and Alexandria    should launch soon; Charlottesville is in the planning phase and a new planning group has formed in Harrisonburg); and
• talking with sheriffs about how best to work with immigrant communities.

 

 

Washington 

Paul Benz, Faith Action Network                      fanwa.org

SUMMITS: FAN finished the last of four annual spring summits on June 10. Every year, we convene these regional gatherings across the state to hear our advocates’ policy priorities and share what FAN is doing. This is an important way to maintain and deepen relationships with our members. This year, we convened more than 175 advocates from many  denominations and faiths at our Puget Sound Summit.

POLICY ISSUES: This time of year, FAN is focused on Congress, advocating on the farm bill, the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, immigration bills, and the related Public Charge rule. We are staying in touch with our Washington, D.C., faith-based lobbyists while educating and activating our network of almost 7,000 advocates organized in our 10 congressional districts.

CANDIDATES FORUMS AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: FAN will be sponsoring, planning and conducting several candidate forums at faith communities in critical races in our state. Our state’s primary is in August, so most of these forums are in September and October. This is a great public witness for FAN and faith communities to play in the electoral process.

 

 

Wisconsin

Cindy Crane, Lutheran Office for Public Policy in Wisconsin                      loppw.org

SUMMER PLANNING FOR UPCOMING EVENTS: 

• July 17: “Hunger, the Farm Bill, Immigration and the ELCA”: LOPPW is working with two hunger volunteers, Cindy Dobberke and Molly Riehle, who attended the ELCA World Hunger gathering in January, to organize an advocacy event in Milwaukee. Register today online.
• Oct. 6: Care for God’s Creation Conference:  LOPPW and the South-Central Synod Care for God’s Creation team are planning to lift up the cutting-edge work on renewable energy in Dane County and a few other places in Wisconsin. We’ll make what’s working known and encourage grass-roots organizing to duplicate these efforts.
• Nov. 3-4 or 5: Overnight Lutheran Campus Ministry Retreat: LOPPW is working with campus pastors from Milwaukee and Madison to organize the event. We’ll encourage campus ministries from around the state and the UP and possibly beyond to attend. We’re grateful for a grant from First Lutheran Church Foundation in Gladstone, Mich.

CONSULTATION: LOPPW has been gathering information on Wisconsin ICE detention centers to offer to interested pastors and help them discern efforts they can take.

SYNOD ASSEMBLIES: LOPPW had a table and led a workshop at the La Crosse Area Synod Assembly. LOPPW was present at the Greater Milwaukee and the Northwest synod assemblies. Congratulations to the Rev. Laurie Skow-Anderson elected the Northwest Synod bishop!

HUNGER FELLOW: Candidates for the Hunger Fellow position were interviewed and LOPPW looks forward to introducing Kelsey Johnson next month!

By Barbara Kufiadan, ELCA Advocacy 2018 Summer Intern 

At a time of much political discourse, it is easy to lose faith in the process of civic engagement. As Christians, we are taught to have faith in each and every situation. Situations that are good, situations that could possibly go wrong, and even situations that will go wrong. It seems like such an easy principle to follow until you’re civically engaged. Faith-based advocacy requires you to keep the faith no matter the current policy issues and/or legislation are.

I’m Barbara Kufiadan, an ELCA Summer Advocacy Intern. As a Utah native, my journey to the ELCA Advocacy office in D.C. was a step out of my comfort zone. Faith-based advocacy organizations aren’t something that I was used to. Coming from a state where there’s only one major Christian denomination, there wasn’t much advocacy from other denominations. With little to no experience in faith-based advocacy, I have learned a lot in the two weeks that I have been here. Most importantly, I have learned how God’s word not only serves as a reminder of our faith in our personal lives but how it serves as a reminder of why we should advocate.

 

In my time here, I have attended the Poor People’s Campaign rally, made a visit to the House to regarding the Farm Bill, stood outside of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) three times waiting for Trump v. Hawaii, celebrated World Refugee Day by engaging in Refugee Road with Oxfam, taught High School Lutherans how to advocate and send letters to their representatives, as well as having a front row seat in the day- to- day decisions regarding child separation and immigration. Are most of the things I listed positive? Yes! But a lot of these issues also require a lot of faith.

It takes faith when standing in front of the SCOTUS hoping that there will be a decision made on the Travel ban. It takes faith hoping that my brothers and sisters have the opportunity to seek asylum from their war-ridden countries. It takes faith hoping that high school students get a great response from their representatives. It takes faith in hoping that there is a just, reasonable solution to ending family separation and finding a pathway to citizenship.

Each thing that we advocate for allows us to step out on faith. God reminds us that we should “bare one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2), and in doing so that means advocating for racial and gender justice, accessibility to food, adequate housing accommodations, immigration policy, environmental sustainability, and much more. At the end of a lot of these days, I had to make a choice. The choice to leave the end of the work day feeling discouraged or the choice to tap into faith and hope that justice would be served. I made a huge leap of faith coming across the country to intern for ELCA Advocacy and it has already been such a rewarding and fulfilling experience.

 

At a state of political discourse, I leave you with a word of faith: “I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your ordinances before me.”(Psalms 119:30). Christians have a place in advocacy. During the times of distress, it is our faith-based advocacy that allows us to preserve and step out on what we know – faith.

 

By Rev. Dustin G. Wright, Messiah Lutheran Church in Schenectady, New York

 

About a month back during the Week One action of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, I sat with a diverse group of justice-minded folks from across New York State blocking the doors to the Capitol Building in Albany. Wearing my collar and favorite stole, I was trying to accompany children, women and people living disabilities in saying how unnecessarily hard it is for so many in a state that puts itself out there as one of the most progressive places in the country. I was simply doing what I thought people on the Way of Jesus should be focusing on, and in the midst of all the singing and chanting, I got into a conversation with a young woman from Brooklyn sitting next to me.

Seeing my collar, she said something like, “Wow, there’s a lot of religious leaders here.” A little surprised, I responded with something like, “Of course there is, this Poor People’s Campaign is just picking up where MLK left off after all fifty years ago!” And then, she said something that struck me to the core after four years of ordained ministry… “Wow, I didn’t know religious people cared about important things.”

It was in that moment that I really began to realize how truly important the Poor People’s Campaign is. A lifelong Lutheran, I was born in 1986, and despite my childhood pastor preaching against the 2003 Iraq War and teaching about issues like hunger and poverty, I also spent my entire life in a context where many Americans, for a bunch of different reasons, seem to think following Jesus is more about making LGBTQIA folks feel unwelcome; telling women what to do with their bodies; and saving souls from eternal torment in the next life rather than saying much of anything good at all about how we ought to live both individually and collectively in this life.

Jesus was a refugee, a day laborer, after all, lynched in the manner of a political revolutionary by one of the most powerful empires the world has ever known specifically because he sought to challenge and change that system. While he talked about getting into heaven, for sure, this world, not the next, was the focus of his ministry. As it says on the stoles of two leaders of the Poor People’s Campaign, Rev. Liz Theoharis and Rev. William Barber, Jesus was a poor man. How then could followers of the Way of this poor revolutionary become identified with policing folks’ bedrooms but not saying much of anything about the systemic sins of poverty, racism, militarism and ecological devastation?

The “moral narrative” of this country, influenced in part by a false, ahistoric and heretical brand of Christian Nationalism that has almost nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus, has quite simply become distorted.

“A New and Unsettling Force: Confronting the Distorted Moral Narrative” is the theme for this week of the Poor People’s Campaign, and I pray you will join me, people of faith and others of good will across this country in doing just that.

In Christ,

Rev. Dustin G. Wright

Pastor, Messiah Lutheran Church in Schenectady, New York

President, New York State Council of Churches

By  the Rev. Amy Reumann, Director of ELCA Advocacy

 

   When the Attorney General and the White House Press Secretary invoked St. Paul’s instruction “be subject to the governing authorities” to quell criticism of the Administration policy of separating families seeking asylum at the border, faith leaders reacted swiftly to the misuse of Scripture. The ensuing uproar focused on a narrow interpretation of Romans 13 that ignored the larger meaning of the passage, which holds all persons and structures to God’s higher standard of love. It can in no way be used justify the horrific practice of tearing children away from their parents or any unjust law. Many have weighed in on the misapplication of the text to falling in line behind this new interpretation of immigration policy.  But it also raises a larger question. Just what is our relationship to government, as Lutherans? When do we submit, and when is resistance called for? 

Luther had a lot to say about this. He bequeathed us with a unique take on the role of the church in society. As branches of the emerging Protestant movement wrestled with how to relate to the ruling powers – full separation from the irredeemably sinful affairs of state and society, or fully combining royal and church leadership – the Lutheran movement forged its own path. Luther’s reading of the Gospel and understanding of God’s ordering of the world led him to believe that Christians can make use of the governing structures, because they are gifts from God for order, for peace and for providence for those who have little.  

In the Large Catechism, Luther stresses the place of government three times, with an emphasis on the ways it is a means by which God cares for the most vulnerable:

• Fourth Commandment:civil government is an extension of the parental role, responsibility and authority, and is to serve so that children can live full and productive lives.
• 1st Article of the Apostles’Creed:“good governments” is lifted up as a gift of God,  alongside necessities like body, soul, life, food, drink, spouse, child, air, water, peace and security.
• 4th Petition of the Lord’s Prayer:daily bread includes all the necessities we need for our daily life and the role of the rulers was to ensure daily bread for all.

Luther drew on the poetry of the Psalms to speak further regarding governmental care for the poor. In his commentary on Psalm 82 he addresses the duties of a prince and their virtues that include furthering the Word of God by ensuring “justice for those who fear God,” and just laws to prevent the oppression of the poor, wretched, widows and orphans. The government itself is a “divine hospital” to care for those in need, to ensure no one will become a beggar.  

Luther is very clear on what makes a good government. Cooperation, participation and submission to the just laws of a benevolent government are in line with these emphases. But submission to the governing authorities is never blind nor automatic. We are to evaluate laws, discuss policies as a faith community and discern a faithful response. As the ELCA, we do so within the framework and guidance of our social teaching documents.

The ELCA Social Statement “Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective” sums up this up when it states that:

This church must participate in social structures critically, for sin also is at work in the world. Social structures and processes combine life-giving and life-destroying dynamics in complex mixtures and in varying degrees. This church, therefore, must unite realism and vision, wisdom and courage, in its social responsibility. It needs constantly to discern when to support and when to confront society’s cultural patterns, values and powers. (Church in Society, p. 3)

Lutherans are called to careful discernment on social issues and, rooted in our understanding of the Gospel, to affirm laws that align with it, oppose those that are contrary to it and to speak up in all cases. Laws and policies that do harm to the most vulnerable are to be strenuously opposed. The social statement continues:

As a prophetic presence, this church has the obligation to name and denounce the idols before which people bow, to identify the power of sin present in social structures, and to advocate in hope with poor and powerless people. When religious or secular structures, ideologies or authorities claim to be absolute, this church says, “We must obey God rather than any human authority” (Acts 5:29). With Martin Luther, this church understands that “to rebuke” those in authority “through God’s Word spoken publicly, boldly and honestly” is “not seditious” but “a praiseworthy, noble and … particularly great service to God.” (Church in Society, p. 4)

Lutherans have some wonderful theology here that we need to dust off and put it back in use. Now. When rhetoric dehumanizes or demonizes people of different races, nationalities or religious traditions the church is called to name and denounce idols of white supremacy, ethnic nationalism or religious intolerance, inside itself and in public life. When public policies perpetuate the poverty or oppression of our neighbor, we are to work tirelessly to change them. Family separation spectacularly fails the test of our faith values and has earned our rebuke and resistance. Should all the children be reunited with their parents, there are still families torn apart by our nation’s policies, caught in our broken immigration system, separated by this Administration’s travel ban, or locked up in our system of mass incarceration. If children at the border horrifies us, so should these other cases.

Faith community leaders, including Presiding Bishop Eaton, have spoken resoundingly in opposition to family separation. When the Presiding Bishop speaks, it is a call to action for the church to join in confronting not only the policies but the values and powers behind them. We must speak God’s powerful Word publicly, boldly and honestly in these days. ELCA Advocacy is here to help you with that.

 

Be sure to join the ELCA e-Advocacy Network.

By John Johnson,Program Director for Domestic Policy

 

Not everything is broken in Washington DC. Last Friday, Senate leaders released their long-awaited version of the farm bill and there is good news for farmers, hungry people, people of faith and frankly the whole country. The Senate’s version of the farm bill renewal is a good bill that addresses many ELCA priorities by maintaining strong support for anti-hunger programs.  It is a model of how legislation in Washington with bi-partisan leadership ought to move in Congress.

Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)—the chair and ranking member respectively of the Senate Agriculture Committee—are fulfilling their early commitment to work together on the farm bill. Their press-release statements quote each other positively, a relief in this fiercely partisan climate. A bill that affects every person and every community in the United States and beyond deserves no less.

Hunger advocates, farmers, environmentalists, international aid stakeholders, businesses and law makers now begin pouring over the 1000-page bill in preparation for a planned “mark-up” of the bill on June 13. At this time committee members will amend and tweak the legislation before voting to move it to the Senate floor. That’s the easy part. What lies ahead gets complicated very quickly.

The House bill (H.R. 2) contains language that would restructure the program in ways that would increase food insecurity. The Senate bill contrasts starkly with the House version by making technological investments in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) and making it easier for states to manage the complex requirements for work and job training while receiving benefits. It also includes restored funding for conservation programs, maintains our commitment to international food aid, includes funding for research and development and protects the farm “safety net.”

The House bill passed out of the House Agriculture Committee on a party-line vote with no cooperation between Democrats and Republicans last month. It failed on the floor to get enough support to pass out of the House and was dramatically pulled and tabled. It is expected to return to the House floor around June 22. That bill’s fate is uncertain, and it is unknown now if leaders in the House will be able to muster the votes needed to send it to a conference with the Senate.

The Senate draft now puts pressure on the House, but as of this writing, several scenarios exist.  Ideally, both chambers should pass their respective bills, meet in conference to iron out differences, vote again on the compromise of the two versions, and send it to the President to sign into law. It all must happen before the current farm bill expires at the end of September. If the School House Rock episode of, “I’m Just A Bill” comes to mind, that’s the way the legislative process is supposed work.

The differences in the bill, however, could become a mountain too steep to climb for some members. If managed poorly, ideological gridlock could create a stalemate in both chambers as the deadline looms closer and stakeholders become more impatient. If the deadline is not met, it’s very likely that lawmakers could toss up their hands and let the outcome of the 2018 mid-term elections drive what happens in a lame-duck session after the November 6 elections. This outcome leaves farmers in the lurch and states with more uncertainty that neither can afford. While unlikely, some have floated the idea of a short-term extension, but this also creates uncertainty and chaos.

As Lutherans, we are reminded of the holy commitment we have to each other in our common life when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” As we find in the Large Catechism, “When you say and ask for daily bread, you ask for everything that is necessary in order to have and enjoy daily bread and, on the contrary, against everything that interferes with enjoying it. You must therefore expand and extend your thoughts to include not just the oven or the flour bin, but also the broad fields and the whole land that produce and provide our daily bread and all kinds of sustenance for us.”

Now Lutherans need to get to work. We need to call our lawmakers at 202-224-3121 with a simple message: work together, do no harm, don’t put farmers and hungry people in peril and do it sooner than later. Our voices will be critical in the coming weeks and they make a difference. Time and again when we lift our voices in the thoughtful ways that Lutherans approach issues like the farm bill, we become a catalyst that lawmakers can’t ignore. It is time do that Gospel work of advocacy now more than ever.

Interested advocates can follow the Senate’s hearing on the farm bill on Wednesday, June 13 starting at 9:30 a.m. EST by clicking on this link.

By The Rev. Dr. Clint Schnekloth of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church  in Fayetteville, Arkansas 

 

Prescott, Helena, Conway, Yellville, Ponca, Bull Shoals, Benton, Springdale, Beebe, Monticello, Little Rock, and Fayetteville.

That’s just a few of the communities represented this weekend at the Arkansas Citizens First Congress (CFC) Legislative Convention. This convention gathers representatives from dozens of organizations across the state. It is intentionally racially and economically diverse, and centers the progressive Southern voice.

The Congress follows a very democratic process. Organizations participate in caucuses and vote up issues they believe CFC should advocate for at the state level. Once the priorities are selected, the whole organization votes, and then those become the priorities staff members advocate for at the state house during the next legislative session.

A researcher with the Institute for Southern Studies is interviewing here all weekend, because the Institute, among many others, sees the new Southern progressive community exposing injustice, strengthening democracy and building community for change in the South.

This isn’t necessarily the story the rest of the country tells about the South, but it is our story. This is the new South, and the South you never knew, but should have. There are emerging populations in our state, and all across the South, who are strengthening the progressive perspective. For example, 40,000 Latino youth will turn 18 this year in Arkansas, and we hope they will vote.

The Arkansas Poor People’s Campaign (APPC) is another organization, pursuing a shorter-term and focused campaign strategy to effect change in many of the directions CFC pursues as well. Where CFC takes the long and lobbying approach, the APPC is attempting to re-center the moral narrative in our nation, lifting up the voices of the poor and especially the voices of those affected by racism, poverty, militarism and ecological degradation.

Through all of this, one slowly emerging voice is that of the progressive faith community. Because the noise of voices of faith on the right has been so very loud, it seems Southern progressive people of faith have had to walk slowly, disambiguating themselves from misunderstandings and misuses of the faith in order to clearly proclaim the way they see their progressive moral commitments as aligned with the way of Jesus.

But it is happening, more and more, and it is beautiful. I believe we are seeing through the Poor People’s Campaign, and many other initiatives in our state and in the South, what the PPC is calling “a new unsettling force.” A different story is going to be told about the South than has been told. It’s a new civic imagination, a world in which many women are elected to public office, young Latinos increasingly gain voice and votes, rural and urban progressives work across the geographical lines that frequently divide us, and we all grow spirituality as our increasing awareness of intersectionality contributes not to fracture or division, but maturity and moral vision.

But it is happening, more and more, and it is beautiful. I believe we are seeing through the Poor People’s Campaign, and many other initiatives in our state and in the South, what the PPC is calling “a new unsettling force.” A different story is going to be told about the South than has been told. It’s a new civic imagination, a world in which many women are elected to public office, young Latinos increasingly gain voice and votes, rural and urban progressives work across the geographical lines that frequently divide us, and we all grow spirituality as our increasing awareness of intersectionality contributes not to fracture or division, but maturity and moral vision.

 

 

ELCA Advocacy Office, Washington, D.C.

The Rev. Amy Reumann, director                                                              ELCA.org/advocacy

June 21, PRAY.FAST.ACT.: On Thursday, June 21, we join with The Episcopal Church in our monthly commitment to #PrayFastAct. This month our focus is on disaster preparedness. The United States and its territories are facing extreme weather patterns more frequently. In the past year, fires, floods and hurricanes have displaced millions of people, destroyed homes and other structures and led to deaths. Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands continues to face many challenges in the wake of Hurricane Maria, including infrastructure damage, a plummeting economy, loss of jobs, closure of schools, cuts in peoples’ pensions and other factors that have contributed to a mental health crisis. ELCA congregations and organizations are among many groups that work tirelessly to help Americans when disaster strikes, but their efforts are often hampered by bureaucracy, which delays getting valuable assistance to those who most need it. The federal government must work to streamline the process for getting aid to those who need it and invest in disaster preparedness to minimize the effects of emergencies and major disasters.

HUMAN RIGHTS: The House of Representatives has passed the National Defense Authorization Act. The bill includes an amendment that imposes new financial and visa sanctions on Myanmar military officials. The amendment also limits U.S. military-to-military assistance to the Myanmar military until it makes progress on human rights and perpetrators of the current crisis are held accountable.

MIGRATION AND AMMPARO: A Health and Human Services (HHS) official testified that the department does not know the whereabouts of approximately 1,400 children who had been in their custody. The children were released to sponsors and the HHS could not contact them in follow-up calls. HHS has the child-welfare expertise to screen children for trafficking. It is important to provide the department the resources needed to follow up with sponsors. Interested advocates can learn more by reading “Explaining policies separating children and families” on the ELCA Advocacy blog.

CREATION CARE: ELCA Advocacy participated in the international meeting to prepare for the December U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP24). This meeting, held in Bonn, Germany, May 1-May 10 was designed to produce a strong foundation for the development of a robust rulebook for implementation of the Paris Agreement at COP24. An additional meeting to build on this work will be held in September in Bangkok. Critical issues discussed included climate finance and raising the commitments of parties to the Paris Agreement in reducing greenhouse gases to minimize the global temperature increase to less than two degrees Celsius. The first Talanoa Dialogue was successfully held at this meeting. The dialogue is a means of facilitating the negotiations and involves sharing ideas, skills and experiences through storytelling in which participants build trust and advance knowledge through empathy and understanding. Interested advocates can learn more about the Bonn meeting and the Talanoa Dialogue process on the ELCA Advocacy blog.

ELCA Advocacy and The Lutheran World Federation are organizing concurrent Talanoa Dialogue sessions to be held as an affiliate event during the Global Climate Action Summit in September in California. Session 1 covers just transition (transitioning to energy sources derived from renewable energy in a manner that creates resilient communities while leaving no one behind). Session 2 addresses the livelihood of people dealing with disasters caused by the increased intensity and frequency of severe weather patterns and storms. Invited participants include representatives from vulnerable regions in the world that are most endangered by climate change.

 

Lutheran Office for World Community, United Nations, New York, N.Y.

Dennis Frado, director

CHALLENGES FACING MIGRANTS: Marking the start of the May negotiations toward a U.N. Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, the ELCA and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) offered an event on May 14, “Grassroots Perspectives on Migrants’ Lived Realities in Different Contexts.” The presenters discussed the challenges migrants face during their journey, as well as when they return to their home countries.

Silvia Raquec Cum (photo, third from right) is program director of Asociación Pop No’j (“weaving knowledge and wisdom” in the Mayan K’iche’ language), a non-profit Guatemalan organization. She reported on the causes of migration from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and the politics of detention and deportation. Asociación Pop No’j works on the return and reintegration of child and adolescent migrants back to their communities of origin.

Katrine Ringhus (far right), advocacy director with LWF–World Service in Colombia, reported on work on the nation’s border with Venezuela and on the Pacific coast. LWF offers risk management and human rights assistance to people contending with illegal access routes, inadequate shelter, malnutrition, endemic disease, trafficking, extortion and violence.

Rados Djurović (second from left) is executive director of the Asylum Protection Center in Belgrade, Serbia, a non-profit serving asylum seekers, refugees and migrants. He outlined the legal, psychological and integration and inclusion support offered to migrants while advocating for improving the system and fighting prejudice and xenophobia.

The panel was made possible by a grant from ELCA Global Mission. Also participating were the Rev. Cindy Halmarson (far left), ELCA Global Mission area director for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa;  and Alaide Vilchis Ibarra (second from the right), ELCA Advocacy program director for migration policy, who also provided interpretation. The compact under negotiation is expected to be adopted at a U.N. conference in December.

California

Mark Carlson, Lutheran Office of Public Policy                                                                  loppca.org

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: May 31 concluded consideration of legislation, and activity has intensified on the 2018-19 state budget, due on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk June 15. The bill process cycles again until final adjournment of the two-year session at the end of August. Faith advocates, who had worked together to support increasing the CalWORKS/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families support to 50 percent of the federal poverty level, part of an effort to tackle child poverty, were amazed to see diverse senators speaking in support with an unexpected final vote of 39-0! Perhaps a more challenging task is continuing work to reach the two-thirds threshold to enact a very small fee on water bills to support safe and affordable water in disadvantaged communities.

STATE UPDATE: California has been blessed with a revenue surplus of about $9 billion, much of that a result of volatile personal income taxes on capital gains. Besides the CalWORKS proposal, Gov. Brown, a fiscal moderate, will be challenged by legislative proposals, supported by LOPP-CA, for income-eligible Medicaid coverage of 19- to 25-year-olds and people 65 and older, regardless of immigration status (#Health4All),  expansion of census outreach efforts, and continued rebuilding of deep cuts to child care during the recession (#SpringforKids #BillionforBabies).

SYNOD ASSEMBLIES: LOPP-CA Director Mark Carlson participated in the Pacifica Synod Assembly in Palm Desert, and the Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly in Sacramento. Mark was blessed to take Bishop Medardo Gomez and his wife, Abelina, of El Salvador to the Capitol for lunch during the final hectic deadline day, meeting staff, a state senator and the Spanish-speaking advocate for the California Environmental Justice Alliance. They participated in the LOPP-CA synod breakfast with guest speaker Eric Guerra, a Sacramento City Council member brought to the U.S. without documents at preschool-age.

Colorado

Peter Severson, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry–Colorado                                                  lam-co.org

LEGISLATIVE ADJORN: The Colorado General Assembly adjourned on May 9, having acted on 721 bills during the session. Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-Colorado took a “support” position on 12 bills, of which six were passed and sent to the governor. We also took an “oppose” position on three bills, all of which were defeated.

HUNGER: We supported SB 13, which would expand an existing program that subsidizes children on reduced-price lunch from grades K-5. This bill would expand the subsidy through middle school and passed with bipartisan support.

FAMILY-SUSTAINING INCOME AND LABOR: Our flagship bill was HB 1001, to create a paid family and medical leave program in Colorado. It passed the House but failed in the Senate. We also supported a bill to provide federal disability benefit application assistance (failed) and one to support economic resilience in rural areas (passed).

HOUSING: We supported a successful bill, SB 10, to require landlords to provide a lease copy to tenants and receipts for rent paid in cash or money order. We also supported several bills that did not pass: SB 120, to give tenants time to cure unpaid rent, and HB 1432, to prohibit source-of-income discrimination in housing.

HEALTH CARE: We opposed a bill to put up roadblocks to health care access for Medicaid recipients, SB 214. The bill was defeated on a bipartisan vote.

CIVIL RIGHTSWe supported the successful reauthorization of the Colorado Civil Rights Division, as well as a referred measure that would ask voters to abolish an exception to the ban on slavery in the Colorado Constitution.

Minnesota

Tammy Walhof, Lutheran Advocacy–Minnesota                                                tammy@lcppm.org

SYNOD ASSEMBLIES: Kendrick Hall represented Lutheran Advocacy-MN at the Minneapolis Area Synod Assembly. He was also one of three young adult keynote speakers for almost 500 voting members and guests at the Saint Paul Area Synod Assembly. After his keynote, traffic at our display picked up considerably! 

Director Tammy Walhof had the opportunity to speak individually to almost 200 people at the Northeastern Minnesota Synod Assembly and spoke briefly at one of the plenary sessions.

LEGISLATIVE SESSION: Bills presented with little time for consideration made for a chaotic end to the session. “Trust me” from House leaders was met with skepticism, given tricks after negotiations last year.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING: HUGE WIN! With our champion lawmakers, hardworking team and advocates like you, Homes for All secured $90 million in affordable housing! Additionally, coalition partners secured $30 million for mental health crisis centers. We could not have done it without you! Thanks for acting on the alerts shared (by the hundreds) at synod assemblies and on Facebook – and for sharing them broadly in your networks!

CLEAN ENERGY: Clean energy policy was largely protected. (See details from partner Fresh Energy: fresh-energy.org/2018legislativeupdate/.)

Improving Minnesota’s renewable energy was not passed. Your efforts with us in the Faith & Clean Energy Campaign have helped move the issue forward. The Faith & Clean Energy letter with many of you among 1,200 signers was delivered (with prayer) to the office of Sen. Osmek (Energy chair) the morning after the session ended. That work needs to continue through the fall and into next session, when we intend to win that change!

 

 

 

 

New Mexico

Ruth Hoffman, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry–New Mexico                                         lutheranadvocacynm.org

2018 LEGISLATIVE INTERIM BEGINS: Since the Legislature meets for relatively short sessions, a good deal of legislative work is done during the “interim,” which occurs between May and December. At the first meeting of the Legislative Health & Human Services Committee, LAM-NM Director Ruth Hoffman urged the committee to study public-benefit programs to facilitate understanding and alleviate misunderstandings regarding the programs. LAM-NM will be monitoring, attending, and providing testimony to several interim committees that deal with issues relating to the LAM-NM Advocacy Agenda.

 

Ohio

Nick Bates, Hunger Network Ohio                                                            Nick@HungerNetOhio.com

Faith Leaders across Ohio continue to speak out on the federal farm bill. Pastor Bob Swanson of First Lutheran in Dayton, Ohio, spoke at a news conference (see photo at left) on proposed cuts to SNAP. First Lutheran is an inner-city congregation that serves breakfast every Sunday. “But that is one meal. SNAP ensures more than one meal. It ensures sustenance,” said Swanson. We were very pleased to work collaboratively with the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, ecumenical partners in the United Church of Christ and United Methodist Church, along with Faith in Public Life.

UPDATED GUIDEBOOKS!: The Hunger Network has ordered additional copies of our Advocacy Guidebook for the faith community. The last guidebooks were distributed during the United Methodist Women’s conference held in Columbus in mid-May where the Hunger Network was honored to speak during the advocacy workshop alongside our Texas partner, Texas Impact.

STATEHOUSE UPDATE: As of May 31, the Ohio House of Representatives remains without a speaker and unable to do the work of the people. The former House speaker, Cliff Rosenberger, R-Wilmington, resigned in April as a result of an FBI investigation raising legal and ethical concerns around his behavior and gifts from lobbyists. Legislation on the environment, payday lending and funding bills remains stalled as a result. We pray that ego and hubris may be put aside, and the work of the people may move forward again. We remind the Legislature that they are servants of the community, and the servant must be willing to humble themselves at the feet of their neighbor and wash their feet.

 

Pennsylvania

Tracey DePasquale, Lutheran Advocacy – Pennsylvania                             lutheranadvocacypa.org

LUTHERAN DAY AT THE CAPITOL More than 120 people attended Lutheran Day at the Capitol on May 21. Highlights included worship, workshops, recognition of Advocacy Honorees from Pennsylvania synods, an inspiring address by keynote speaker Dr. Richard Alley and legislative visits.

CHILD NUTRITION SUMMIT: Several LAMPa advocates joined Tracey DePasquale at the first statewide child nutrition summit, held in State College. In addition to learning about best practices in addressing child hunger, we were able to share the work of ELCA World Hunger and connect Lutheran hunger ministries and school staff – including some Lutheran teachers who are now going to seek hunger grants for  programs they are starting.

SCHOOL BREAKFAST MINI-GRANTS ANNOUNCED: Gov. Tom Wolf recently announced $900,000 in grants to help 200 schools make breakfast available to all students and expand options for the children.

Child nutrition advocates joined First Lady Frances Wolf  (fourth from the left in the photo at right) as she announced the awarding of mini-grants to improve school breakfast participation in 200 schools. LAMPa has been working for years to expand school breakfast participation in Pennsylvania. Improving education from preschool through higher education has been a priority for the governor and first lady since day one.

SYNOD ASSEMBLIES: LAMPa provided a display and information at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod Assembly, May 4-5. The Rev. Patricia A. Davenport was elected bishop. Davenport is the first African-descent woman to be elected a bishop in the ELCA.

 

Virginia

Neil Caldwell, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy

The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy’s more than four-year struggle to expand health care access finally came to a successful conclusion on May 30 as the General Assembly approved a state budget that includes Medicaid expansion. After much wrangling, the Legislature agreed to accept the federal money available to cover nearly 400,000 low-income Virginians who do not qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford to buy insurance. Congress’ failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, as well as large gains by Democrats in last year’s election, helped spur several state Republican lawmakers to change their positions after years of opposition. This has been the Virginia Interfaith Center’s top legislative priority since 2014. “I am so proud of the work the faith community has done to support expanding health care in Virginia,” said Executive Director Kim Bobo. “Although we recognize the economic benefits, we have focused on the moral dimensions of helping our neighbors.” Virginia becomes the 33^rd state, plus the District of Columbia, to expand Medicaid. On another key issue that the center has advocated for at least three years, on May 21 Gov. Ralph Northam signed into law an increase in the state’s felony threshold level from a national low of $200 to $500. It was the first increase since 1982. While the Virginia Interfaith Center wants the threshold raised to $1,000 or more, it agrees that this is a long overdue first step in that process.

 

Washington

Paul Benz, Faith Action Network                                                                                             fanwa.org

REGIONAL SPRING SUMMITS: Each year, FAN holds our four regional summits in Seattle, Spokane, Yakima, and Vancouver, where we gather advocates to hear about the good social-justice work they are doing, share what FAN did this past legislative session and what we’re working on in D.C. and for state initiatives. The last summit will be on June 10 in the Seattle area. Click here to download a flyer.

Last year at the Seattle Summit, advocates gathered into issue working groups to discuss priorities and strategize for the legislative session ahead.

STATE INITIATIVES: Advocates have until July 1 to gather the signatures required to put statewide initiatives on the ballot. This year, FAN is supporting:

• 1631 – which would establish a price on our state’s highest emitters of CO2’s and a board to implement, monitor, and govern this new and innovative approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced in our state. Click here for more information.
• 1639 – which involves gun responsibility. It would raise the age to purchase assault-style weapons, enhance background checks, extend wait times for those purchases, and establish a formal and confidential school-safety system. Click here for more information.
• 1644 – which would amend state law to allow the government to remedy discrimination against historically disadvantaged groups, including military veterans, in the areas of employment, education and contracting. A governor’s commission on diversity, equity and inclusion would be established as well.

CONGRESSIONAL ISSUES: FAN is working with the ELCA Washington Office, other D.C. faith groups and our in-state partners on three congressional issues:

• The farm bill: specifically trying to move three Republican delegation members to oppose it.
• Sentencing reform: FAN is opposing the House First Step Act and supporting the Senate Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act.
• Immigration: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and immigration reform.

STAFF CHANGES: Sadly, next month FAN will be saying goodbye to our ELCA seminary intern organizer, Sarah Derick, and our wonderful communications and development specialist, Erin Parks. Sarah is going back to Chicago to finish up her Master of Divinity degree, and Erin is going to Vanderbilt Divinity School to work on her master’s degree. We are now in the interview process for an ELCA Hunger Fellow and a new administration and development coordinator.

Wisconsin

Cindy Crane, Lutheran Office for Public Policy in Wisconsin                                              loppw.org

SYNOD ASSEMBLIES:

(Photo at left) The Rev. Eleanor Russey and Mary Lou Blomquist of the Northern Great Lakes Synod ELCA World Hunger Committee with a resolution they initiated on the farm bill. Their committee will offer resources with assistance from LOPPW.

Advisory Council Member Deb Martin managed a table in the East Central Synod Assembly. She surprised LOPPW by telling us afterward that she got a resolution passed encouraging people to sign up for LOPPW’s and ELCA Advocacy’s action alerts and becoming more aware of advocacy.

The director managed a table and led a workshop on the draft of the women and justice social statement at the South-Central Synod Assembly after meeting with the Rev. Viviane Thomas-Breitfeld, who was a co-author of the draft and is now bishop elect.

MORE ON THE FARM BILL: LOPPW sent out two action alerts that mirrored our D.C. office’s alerts on the bill. LOPPW was also part of a webinar on the farm bill organized by the Wisconsin Council of Churches.

STRATEGIZING FOR FUTURE LOPPW met with Lutheran Social Services to discuss ways of working together on issues related to children and refugees.

HUNGER FELLOW: The director worked with Nancy Sifuentes on the interview process.

CHURCHWIDE ORGANIZATION: The director was part of a conference call of relators to directors for evangelical mission and is assigned one director to relate to.  The director also was part of a conference call with Lutheran Social Services (LSS) and Lutheran Disaster Relief (LDR) to discuss LOPPW supporting efforts of an LSS representative working with LDR in Wisconsin.