January 15, 2021

Inside this issue

• CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly

  CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly  
 
This week, Washington prepares for the inauguration of President-elect Biden, while the coronavirus and its economic effects remain a top policy priority.

Next Wednesday, President-elect Joe Biden will become America's 46th president of the United States. Once he takes the oath of office, Biden intends to hit the ground running to begin pushing for his policy priorities. On Thursday, Biden unveiled his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package to combat the pandemic.

 The proposal is split into three parts:

-$400 billion to address the virus

-$1 trillion in direct relief to families and individuals

-$440 billion in assistance to communities and business hardest hit by the pandemic

Some of the highlights within each of those parts include:

-$1,400 in stimulus checks to families

-increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour

-extend the eviction moratorium through September

-$5 billion in homelessness emergency assistance

-Extend the 15% Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit increase

-$3 billion for enrollment outreach to help women, infants, and children access the food they need

-$1 billion in additional nutrition assistance for U.S Territories

-increase unemployment insurance from $300 to $400 per week through September

-Temporarily expand the Child Care Tax Credit

-Provide $4 billion for the expansion of access to behavioral health services

-$140 billion for testing and other additional public health investments

-$20 billion for a national vaccination program

-Fourteen weeks of paid leave for caregivers coping with school closures and caring for people with COVID-19 symptoms.

The proposal is broken into different parts allowing the less contentious parts to pass using "regular order" in the Senate, requiring 60 votes. The more contentious parts will be passed using the "budget reconciliation" process, requiring just a majority vote in the Senate. When Democrats won both run-off elections in Georgia on January 4, they took control of the Senate, allowing for the possibility of "budget reconciliation." 

Biden's proposal comes on the heels of poor economic news. Unemployment claims sharply rose last week with 1.15 million people filing for assistance. Initial unemployment claims exceeded one million for the first time since July. The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program saw 284,000 claims filed last week.  Additionally, it was reported that the economy lost 140,000 jobs in December, marking the first decline in employment since last spring. The disappointing economic data underscores the continued impact the coronavirus is having on the economy.

On January 14, the U.S. had at least 238,390 new coronavirus cases and 3,973 new coronavirus deaths. The number of cases is up 27% from the average two weeks earlier, and deaths are up a staggering 39% from two weeks ago. The vaccination effort continues to roll out across America more slowly than anticipated, with only an estimated 3.4% of people receiving the vaccine. Please contact your state health department for more information on its plan for COVID-19 vaccination.

Faith and the Common Good
"Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one's whole being into the being of another."
Martin Luther King, Jr., 1957

January 15th is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.  This year it will be commemorated by the U.S. on January 18th.  Observed each year on the third Monday in January as "a day on, not a day off," Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities. In honor of his life work, to build the beloved community, we pray for peace around the world.

A Prayer for World Peace, 1978

We pray for the power to be gentle;
the strength to be forgiving;
the patience to be understanding;
and the endurance to accept the consequences
of holding on to what we believe to be right.
May we put our trust in the power of good to overcome evil
and the power of love to overcome hatred.
We pray for the vision to see and the faith to believe
in a world emancipated from violence,
a new world where fear shall no longer lead men or women to commit injustice,
nor selfishness make them bring suffering to others.
Help us to devote our whole life and thought and energy
to the task of making peace,
praying always for the inspiration and the power
to fulfill the destiny for which we and all men and women were created.
- Author Unknown, Offered by Beth Amyot

Trivia
Which important amendment was ratified in 1964 and allowed more individuals to vote in elections?
Please send your answers to [email protected]

On January 8th, the trivia question was: "In which document, did Martin Luther King, Jr. defend his strategy of nonviolent resistance?"

Tom Tuttle was the first to correctly answer, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from a Birmingham Jail.  One well known quote from the letter is, "We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed." 

In Birmingham, Alabama, in the spring of 1963, King's campaign to end segregation at lunch counters and in hiring practices drew nationwide attention when police turned dogs and fire hoses on the demonstrators. King was jailed along with large numbers of his supporters, including hundreds of schoolchildren. His supporters did not, however, include all the Black clergy of Birmingham, and he was strongly opposed by some of the white clergy who had issued a statement urging African Americans not to support the demonstrations. From the Birmingham jail, King wrote a letter of great eloquence in which he spelled out his philosophy of nonviolence.  You can read a copy of the letter and find an audio recording here. 
Please share the weekly with your friends, family and networks so that we can build a movement of solidarity for those most in need!

You can also access advocacy opportunities through our advocacy and policy page.

Stay connected with our work to end poverty, follow us on Twitter at @CCharitiesUSA.

If you would like to help further Catholic Charities' commitment to alleviating, reducing, and preventing poverty you can contribute here.
 
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