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Congressional issues |
| UCC Justice and Peace Action Network
calls for last-minute action on funding bills for education and economic
stimulus
[11-19-01]
Congressional appropriations in final phase: Your
action needed!
Congress is now in its final weeks of deciding on
appropriations for fiscal year 2002. Many of the bills related to UCC
priorities are at a critical point. Your quick action can make the
difference in passage, funding levels, and willingness to compromise. We
urge you to contact your members of Congress on two bills in particular:
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
Status: In Conference with the House and Senate
There are two principal modifications Justice and
Witness Ministries seeks for this bill. Compromises in the legislation
now allow community groups such as churches to qualify directly for
government funding for after-school 21st Century Learning Centers.
Contact your members of Congress asking for ESEA provisions which 1)
prohibit discrimination against child care workers and 2) protect
children from proselytizing and evangelism. Additionally, JWM urges that
Congress continue to provide a targeted federal funding stream to school
districts serving poor children instead of simply providing block grants
to the districts. For more information: (http://www.ucc.org/justice/education/111201.htm)
Economic Stimulus Legislation
Status: Congress may vote after the Thanksgiving
weekend.
The House, Senate and the White House are in
negotiations on an economic stimulus package to help those who have been
impacted by September 11 and the economic slowdown. The House passed a
nearly $100 billion economic stimulus package consisting mostly of
corporate tax cuts in a close 216 - 214 vote. The Senate went a
different route, seeking an economic stimulus that would provide health
insurance subsidies for laid-off workers and supplement state
unemployment systems. Most negotiators agree to offer tax rebates to
low-income workers who did not earn enough to qualify for $300 tax
rebates in the spring 2000 tax cuts. Urge your Senators or member of
Congress to support measures that help workers rather than corporations
in the economic stimulus plan. For more information:
(http://www.ucc.org/justice/weekly/w101601.htm)
(http://www.bread.org
for letter to Pres. Bush signed by Dr. Bernice Powell Jackson, Executive
Minister of Justice and Witness Ministries)
U.S. Capitol Switchboard 202-224-3121
To contact Members of Congress: Their e-mail addresses
and fax numbers may be found at www.senate.gov
and www.house.gov
Note that snail-mail is likely to be seriously delayed these days,
especially in Washington.
This Weekly Message is sent by e-mail each week for use in church
newsletters and bulletins the following Sunday. To add new names to
this weekly advocacy service, for more information, or to remove your
name from the list, reply to jpanet@ucc.org.
For additional information on the UCC Justice and Peace Action
Network, log on to the UCC website at www.ucc.org.
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Visit
our lively
new website! |
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GA actions
ratified (or not) by the presbyteries
A number of the most important actions of the 219th
General Assembly have now been acted upon by the presbyteries,
confirming most of them as amendments to the PC(USA) Book of Order.
We provided resources to help inform the
reflection and debate, along with updates on the voting.
Our three areas of primary interest have been:
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Amendment 10-A,
which removes the current ban on
lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender persons being considered as
possible candidates for ordination as elder or ministers.
Approved! |
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Amendment 10-2,
which would add the Belhar Confession to our Book of
Confessions. Disapproved, because as an amendment
to the Book of Confessions it needed a 2/3 vote, and did not
receive that. |
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Amendment
10-1, which adopts the new Form of Government
that was approved by the Assembly. Approved. |
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If you like what
you find here,
we hope you'll help us keep Voices for Justice going ... and
growing!
Please consider making a special
contribution -- large or small -- to help us continue and improve
this service.
Click here to send a
gift online, using your credit card, through PayPal.
Or send your check, made
out to "Presbyterian Voices for Justice" and marked "web site," to
our PVJ Treasurer:
Darcy Hawk
4007 Gibsonia Road
Gibsonia, PA 15044-8312 |
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Some blogs worth visiting |
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PVJ's
Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, PVJ's
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
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Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
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John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the
Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY. |
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John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up. |
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Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
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