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December 12, 2025
 
Overview: Congress remains divided on how to handle the expiring tax credits from the Affordable Care Act. Some House Republicans and Democrats want to bypass House leadership and force a vote on the floor, but they need a majority of the House to agree. Their plan is to extend the tax credits but require new eligibility requirements. Senate Republicans proposed expanding health savings accounts rather than extending the ACA's tax credits, whereas Senate Democrats proposed extending the tax credits for three years. Neither plan received the 60 votes needed to advance.
Economy: In the week ending December 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims ([link removed]) was 236,000, an increase of 44,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 191,000 to 192,000. The 4-week moving average was 216,750, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 214,750. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending November 29, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week's unrevised rate.
Work requirements: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released guidelines regarding states' implementation of work requirements ([link removed]) created by the Working Families Tax Cut legislation. According to the guidance, states must implement these requirements by January 1, 2027.
Housing: This week, the ROAD to Housing Act was excluded from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). However, the House Financial Services Committee held a comprehensive hearing on housing, so there may be a chance later to include some ROAD Act elements in another legislative vehicle. Also, some members of Congress want to propose a legislative fix for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's suggested policy change that would cut permanent housing funding for people experiencing homelessness. HUD has withdrawn the suggestion at this time, but may include similar changes in the future.
Please consider reaching out to your members of Congress ([link removed]) to tell them that both housing issues are a priority for you and your community.
Immigration: CCUSA joined the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security ([link removed]) opposing the Trump administration's decision to end the automatic extension of employment authorization for migrants.
 
...many current anthropological views promise imminent immortality, theorize the prolongation of earthly life through technology. This is the transhuman scenario, which is making its way into the horizon of the challenges of our time. Could death really be defeated by science? But then, could science itself guarantee us that a life without death is also a happy life?
The event of the Resurrection of Christ reveals to us that death is not opposed to life, but rather is a constitutive part of it, as the passage to eternal life. The Pasch of Jesus gives us a foretaste, in this time still full of suffering and trials, of the fullness of what will happen after death.
The Risen One has gone before us in the great trial of death, emerging victorious thanks to the power of divine Love. Thus, he has prepared for us the place of eternal rest, the home where we are awaited...
Pope Leo XIV, General Audience ([link removed]), St Peter's Square, 10 December 2025
 
Q. Today, Dec. 12, is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In the famous image of Mary associated with the feast, what kind of clothing is the Blessed Mother wearing?
Please send your answers to Our Lady of Lourdes ([link removed]).
 
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