Federal Issues, 10/17/17 update

USCCB's Action Center

• Tell Congress to support disaster relief for houses of worship
• Tell the White House that it's time to drop the HHS mandate
  [???: "Today's decision to expand the HHS mandate exemption is a 'return to common sense, long-standing federal practice, and peaceful coexistence between church and state,' according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and President of the USCCB, and Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, Chairman of the USCCB's Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, are hailing the Trump Administration's announcement to provide a broad religious and moral exemption from the mandate requiring health insurance coverage of sterilization, contraception, and drugs and devices that may cause abortions" (USCCB, 10/6/17)
  As per Robert George, "we need to hold off cheering until we see how the guidance is actually interpreted and applied by public officials" (10/11/17)]
• Support the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act: Contact your Representative and Senators today!

USCCB's and CRS' Catholics Confront Global Poverty / Action Center 

[We can ensure safety for refugees, as well as their host communities.  As our noble efforts at assistance must not be hijacked, this blogger believes that our communications MUST specifically state that contraceptives/abortifacients MUST be excluded from "assistance."]
• Speak up for the 1% that does a world of good.
• Use Your Voice to Combat Human Trafficking
• Speak Out to Protect DREAMers 
• Urge Our Nation to Care for our Common Home

USCCB's Justice for Immigrants' Action Alerts 

• Migration Campaign Action Alert: DACA
• Support for Refugees and the U.S. Resettlement Program
• Action Alert to Support DREAM Act of 2017
• Action Alert: Urge Congress to Continue to Protect Trafficking Victims
• Stand with Refugees Action Alert
• Action Alert to DHS: Extend TPS for Haitians
  [PLEASE NOTE: "The Trump administration’s decision to allow 50,000 Haitian earthquake victims to remain in the United States prompted gratitude from the U.S. bishops’ conference, which stressed the need for continued work to aid Haitians here and in their home country.  'While this extension is helpful, it still leaves many Haitian families in the United States in an insecure and vulnerable position, particularly with respect to ensuring legal work authorization,' Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ migration committee, said May 23.  The Department of Homeland Security’s decision extended the Obama administration’s protections for Haitians who had arrived in the U.S. within a year of the massive 2010 earthquake. They may remain with work authorizations until January 2018....Temporary protected status may be provided to citizens of countries that are suffering from severe violence, disease and natural disasters. At present countries designated for that status include Sudan, Somalia, Syria, El Salvador, Nepal, and Yemen, Reuters reports" (CNA/EWTN, 5/23/17)]
• Voice Your Support for Vulnerable Immigrants and Refugees
• Easter Recess In-District Meetings: JFI Asks
• Phone-in Fridays
• Please Support the BRIDGE ACT and DACA Youth
• In Solidarity with Refugees
• Creating a Culture of Encounter

USCCB's Marriage Unique for a Reason

• "The USCCB continues to support the First Amendment Defense Act and the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act in Congress....In September, Archbishop Chaput, Chairman of the Bishops' Committee for Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, sent a letter of support to Representative Randy Hultgren for the Healthy Relationships Act of 2017. The act would authorize the federal government to award grants on a competitive basis to public and private entities providing education in sexual risk avoidance (voluntarily refraining from nonmarital sexual activity)" (USCCB, 10/2/17).

Pa Catholic Conference's Current Alerts
(two federal)

• Reauthorize CHIP
• No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion
  "Urge our Senators to support H.R. 7 to permanently protect our tax dollars from paying for or promoting elective abortions."

National Center on Sexual Exploitation

• On EWTN News Nightly (9/20/17), the National Center on Sexual Exploitation's Haley Halverson explained why Congress must amend Communications Decency Act, Section 230.
  
  Kudos to Brian Fitzpatrick is joined by fellow U.S. Representatives from Pennsylvania Brady, Evans, Kelly, Rothus, Shuster, and Smucker as co-sponsors of HR 1865 (Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017), while Senator Casey (but NOT Senator Toomey) is a co-sponsor of S 1693 (Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act)
• "'Expeditious passage of H.R. 1865 Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 (FOSTA) and S. 1693 Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) will move the country closer to striking a blow against the online havens that facilitate sex trafficking'" (National Center on Sexual Exploitation, 9/7/17). 

Human Life Action Action Alerts

Current Action Alerts

• Urge Senators to Pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act [added by blogger on 10/21/17]
• Assisted Suicide is Not Healthcare
• Urge Congress to Enact the Conscience Protection Act of 2017!
  [As per a 9/20/17 email from Human Life Action: "This is 'appropriations season' on the Hill. That means Congress must pass funding legislation for Fiscal Year 2018.... Last Thursday, the House of Representatives approved HR 3354, Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act, 2018. It includes the full text of the Conscience Protection Act (CPA) of 2017! It also includes other provisions which we have taken action on such as the nullification of the DC law that legalized assisted suicide and the DC Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act (RHNDA), a DC law....There are many other pro-life provisions (both longstanding and new) in the funding bill as well, such as a prohibition on funding elective abortions for detainees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and against funding for research involving human fetal tissue from abortions....Of the new provisions, our top priority is to ensure that the CPA is included.... rather than finalizing the FY 2018 appropriations legislation by the end of the fiscal year (September 30), both the House and the Senate passed a Continuing Resolution to fund the government at its current levels with current policies until December 8, 2017....continue contacting your members of Congress...."]

Previous Action Alerts

• Vote Expected Soon on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act
Last Updated: 09/29/2017
• Urge Senators to Protect Life and Liberty of Conscience in Health Care Reform Bill
  Last Updated: 06/23/2017
• Urge Your Senators to Disapprove Planned Parenthood Title X Funding Rule
  Last Updated: 03/13/2017
• Contact the President and Vice-President Today and Urge Them to Support Religious Liberty!
  Last Updated: 02/03/2017
• Follow Up for Vote on The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act (H.R. 7)
  Last Updated: 01/26/2017
• Urge Support for the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act
  Last Updated: 01/19/2017
• 44th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
  Last Updated: 01/04/2017
• Urgent Action Needed on Contraceptive Mandate
  Last Updated: 09/09/2016
• NIH PROPOSES TAXPAYER-FUNDED RESEARCH ON ANIMAL-HUMAN CHIMERAS
  Last Updated: 09/06/2016