July 24, 2020

Inside this issue

• CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly

  CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly  
  All eyes were locked on the Senate this week to review their much anticipated COVID-19 aid package, while new unemployment claims remained inexorably high.

Washington insiders predicted that the Senate would release their COVID-19 recovery package this week and vote on Thursday, but Thursday came and went with no vote. At the last moment, the introduction of the proposal was paused. The Senate proposal had not yet been fully approved by the White House, causing the package to be pushed into next week. Late on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated that the administration is reviewing the "agreement in principle." The primary sticking point concerns addressing unemployment benefits.
 
The clock is ticking on passage of a package because increased unemployment benefits are scheduled to expire at the end of the month, and the federal eviction moratorium expires tonight at midnight. In the previous aid package, the CARES Act, lawmakers agreed on $600 per person in weekly unemployment benefits.  In May the House passed the HEROES Act and proposed continuing the $600 per person unemployment benefit boost and continued eviction moratorium. Once the Senate bill is introduced it will require negotiations with the House.
 
Catholic Charities USA is calling on Congress to pass measures that support people who are poor and vulnerable, and to provide support for the agencies serving them. You can tell your members of Congress that you stand with Catholic Charities USA.

As Congress continues negotiations regarding the next aid package, the Labor Department reported this week that 1.4 million workers filed new claims for unemployment benefits. Last week 1.3 million people filed claims, which marks the first time that weekly claims have increased in more than three months. Overall, the total number of people claiming ongoing unemployment assistance is 31.8 million. This startling number means that around 1 in 5 workers needed unemployment benefits. 
 
Faith and the Common Good
This weekend is the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne.  As a couple, they are recognized as the patron saints of grandparents. St. Anne is also the patron saint of mothers and women in labor. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is inviting parishes, through the support of their bishop and pastor, to join a nationwide effort to support pregnant women and moms. Learn more about Walking with Moms in Need: A Year of Service here.  As many families may be separated from the elders in the family in order to protect them from the coronavirus, we offer this prayer for grandparents.

Look with Love
Look with love on grandparents the world over.
Protect them!
They are a source of enrichment
for families and for all of society.
Support them!
As they grow older,
may they continue to be for their families
strong pillars of Gospel faith,
guardian of noble domestic ideals,
living treasuries of sound religious traditions.

Make them teachers of wisdom and courage,
that they may pass on to future generations the fruits
of their mature human and spiritual experience.
Help families and society
to value the presence and roles of grandparents.

May they never be ignored or excluded,
but always encounter respect and love.
Help them to live serenely and to feel welcomed
in all the years of life which you give them.
Keep them constantly in your care,
accompany them on their earthly pilgrimage,
and by your prayers, grant that all families
may one day be reunited in our heavenly homeland,
where you await all humanity
for the great embrace of life without end.

U.S. Census
This weekend, we celebrate the Faith Communities Census Weekend of Action (July 24-26, 2020).  As we enter this weekend, let's work together with our leaders and parishes to encourage participation in the 2020 Census.  Click here for the Faith Communities 2020 Census Action guide.

Trivia "Who was the only former American president to serve in the United States Senate?" 

Please send your answers to [email protected]
 
On July 17, the trivia question was, When did the first food stamp program begin?
 
Beverly Earl of Catholic Charities San Bernardino/Riverside was the first to correctly answer 1939.  Now called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the original Food Stamp Program of 1939 and the pilot programs of the early 1960s were initiated to align growing food surpluses with a concern for the needs of the poor as the country emerged from the Great Depression.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) includes among its goals to increase food security and reduce hunger by increasing access to food, a healthful diet, and nutrition education for low-income Americans.
 
Studies over the years have shown that generally SNAP reduces food insecurity.  A broader metric of the effect of SNAP on the well-being of individuals and households is the antipoverty effectiveness of the program. According to the National Research Council, while the provision of food assistance has a modest effect on household work effort, it increases household resources for the purchase of food and thus should reduce the incidence and severity of poverty by freeing up income for the purchase of other goods and services.  Additional reports in 2012, found that SNAP participation had an even larger impact on reducing the depth and severity of poverty.
 
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