• • CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly

The House continued to press forward with budget reconciliation to pass President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan, while the economy continues to remain stymied by record high unemployment claims.

This week, while the Senate was conducting the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, House committees began marking up the next COVID relief package. It is expected the entire package will pass through budget reconciliation, rather than breaking it up into smaller portions and passing portions through regular order. The House bill is also expected to include a $15 per hour minimum wage increase, despite doubts that the provision could make it through a Senate vote due to violating what is known as the "Byrd Rule." The House is expected to pass the bill by the end of February.

On Thursday, President Biden formally terminated a two-year-old declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. The president rescinded the national emergency declaration which allowed for President Trump to divert $600 million from the Treasury Department and $6.1 from the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense for construction of the border wall.

Unemployment claims remain historically high as 793,000 first-time unemployment claims were made last week, and continuing claims were at 4.5 million for the week ended January 30th. Another 334,524 people filed jobless benefit claims under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. Presently, more than 20.4 million Americans are claiming some form of benefits. The PUA and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program are scheduled to lapse in April unless Congress acts. Inaction could lead to nearly 11 million Americans losing unemployment benefits without additional relief. President Biden's proposal would extend the program through August 2021.

The number of coronavirus cases and deaths has begun to decline. On February 10, the U.S. had at least 94,893 new coronavirus cases and 3,255 new coronavirus deaths. The number of cases is down 36 percent from the average two weeks prior, and deaths are down 22 percent from two weeks ago. Last week 1.54 million doses of vaccine were administered, up 9 percent over the prior week. More than 35 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, including more than 11.7 million people who have been fully vaccinated. There have been 68.3 million doses of the vaccine distributed, and on Thursday President Biden announced his administration had secured deals for another 200 million doses, bringing the U.S. total to 600 million doses. Please contact your state health department for more information on its plan for COVID-19 vaccination.

During the month of February, while the United States honors Black History month, the Catholic Church commemorates the life of St. Josephine Bakhita who is the patron saint for trafficking.   While trafficking is still a significant crisis issue across the world, we must still not forget the long-term effects on individuals and communities. 

Click here to learn more about the impact of enslavement here in the United States.

We cannot forget that St. Josephine Bakhita was a Sudanese-Italian Canossian religious sister who lived in Italy for 45 years, after having been enslaved in Sudan. In 2000, she was declared a saint by the Catholic Church.  In 1877, when she was 7-8 years old, she was seized by Arab slave traders, who had abducted her elder sister two years earlier. She was forced to walk barefoot about 600 miles to El-Obeid and was sold and bought twice before she arrived there. Over the course of twelve years (1877-1889) she was sold three more times and then given away.  To learn more about St. Josephine Bakhita visit, here. 

Prayer to St. Josephine Bakhita
St. Josephine Bakhita, you were sold into slavery as a child and endured untold hardship and suffering. Once liberated from your physical enslavement, you found true redemption in your encounter with Christ and his Church. O St. Bakhita, assist all those who are trapped in a state of slavery; Intercede with God on their behalf so that they will be released from their chains of captivity. Those whom man enslaves, let God set free. Provide comfort to survivors of slavery and let them look to you as an example of hope and faith. Help all survivors find healing from their wounds. We ask for your prayers and intercessions for those enslaved among us.
Amen.

On February 5, the trivia question was, " Who was the youngest inaugural poet?"

Dana Sebastian-Duncan was the first to correctly identify Amanda Gorman as the youngest inaugural poet. Gorman, 22, became the youngest known inaugural poet when she performed at the 59th Presidential Inauguration of President Joe Biden on January 21, 2021. 

Gorman is a Catholic, a member of St. Brigid Catholic Church in her hometown of Los Angeles. Her work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora.

Gorman was the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate. She published the poetry book The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough in 2015. In 2021, she delivered her poem "The Hill We Climb" at the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden. Her inauguration poem generated international acclaim, and shortly thereafter, two of her books achieved best-seller status.

Amanda Gorman represents the long line of poets in the African American community who continue to contribute to the richness of American poetry.  Many have compared her to the poet, writer and civil rights activist Maya Angelou.

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