Overview: It has been an intense week of debate in the Senate on the bipartisan infrastructure package, which could be voted on this weekend. Next, they will move to debate the $3.5 trillion Democratic budget reconciliation social spending proposal, which will likely contain many important poverty alleviation provisions. The debate is likely to stretch into the fall. The debt ceiling will also need to be raised later this year to avoid a default on U.S. debt. Jobs Numbers: Employers added 943,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. The unemployment rate declined 0.5 percent to 5.4 percent in July. The jobs number is above the 850,000 jobs added in June. Budget: The Senate will soon move to consider its $3.5 trillion budget deal that is expected to include sweeping new social programs like universal pre-kindergarten, Medicare expansion, two years of free community college, prescription drug reform, climate provisions and worker protections. They are also considering adding health care to the package, including extending Medicaid coverage to millions of low-income people. Special budget reconciliation rules will allow the measure to pass with only Democrat votes, so they are expected to 'go-big' and include as many of their spending priorities as moderate Democrats will allow. Infrastructure: The Senate has debated the bipartisan infrastructure package all week and is set to vote this weekend on the $550 million deal that would fund broadband access, public transit, electric vehicle chargers, water and more. The Congressional Budget Office says the Senate's bipartisan infrastructure bill would raise the deficit $256B over 10 years. The CBO estimate dealt a blow to hopes that the 2,702-page infrastructure package - moving its way toward a final Senate vote - would have a lighter-than-expected budgetary imprint. Appropriations: Senate appropriators posted bill text and committee reports late Wednesday night for the Senate's first round of appropriations bills, including the Agriculture-FDA, Energy-Water and MilCon-VA fiscal funding measures. These bills and others will likely be rolled into an omnibus spending package later this year. Raising the Debt Ceiling: The debt ceiling will also need to be raised later this year to avoid a default on U.S. debt. Senate Democrats could include it in the budget reconciliation, which could be passed with only Democrats voting for it. However, some Democrats indicated they did not want to do this, which would mean they would need Republican votes to pass the increase. Senate Republicans have indicated that they will not vote for a debt limit increase. Eviction Ban Extended and Resources for Filing: The administration extended the eviction ban for counties with high levels of COVID-1. Tenants in these counties now have until October 3 to get government help paying their rent. To help renters file for assistance, the CFPB has set up a "rental Assistance finder" tool and a Toolkit: Emergency Rental Assistance. Trade groups representing property owners are planning to sue to block the eviction moratorium that President Biden himself warned this week was on shaky legal ground. Child Tax Credit Resources: There is a big push by the Biden administration to include an extension of the expanded CTC, expiring soon, into the budget reconciliation spending package. CBPP has also developed resources that organizations can use to help individuals get their money. Student Debt: The Biden administration plans to begin drafting a major overhaul of federal student loan policies this fall, including student debt relief. COVID-19 Update: According to the CDC, the U.S. is averaging more than seven times as many COVID-19 cases a day as it was at the start of July as the Delta variant has spread. The vast majority of people contracting the virus and needing hospitalization are unvaccinated. On August 5, 2021, the CDC reported that there were 92,282 new COVID-19 cases and 500 deaths, with 629,838 new cases in the past week. Across the country, 193 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, including 165 million people who have been fully vaccinated. The CDC is now advising that everyone regardless of vaccine status wear a mask indoors in public. COVID-19 Community Corps (CCUSA is a member) is supporting vaccination across the country. Locate your closest vaccination site here. Please visit the CCUSA Social Policy/Advocacy page for updates and policy papers. See here.
Faith and the Common Good
Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, which commemorates the occasion in which Jesus Christ took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, up on a mountain, where Moses and Elijah appeared and Jesus was transfigured whereby his face and clothes became dazzlingly bright. The Transfiguration points to the sufferings Jesus was about to experience. It is meant to strengthen the disciples' faith, revealing to them, in a powerful way, the divine hand that is at work in the events Jesus will undergo. In these times, with another significant surge in COVID-19 infections, people must continue to strengthen their faith and live out the Corporal and Spiritual works of Mercy as we seek to build community with our sisters and brothers. Lord Jesus, you are the fulfilment of the law and the prophets of Israel and in you the hopes and fears of all people are met. Give us grace to receive from you all that we need for today and the coming week. Bring rest and refreshment when we're exhausted; hope and faith when we're despondent and doubt you; and the assurance of your love and forgiveness when we're overwhelmed by our own weaknesses and failures. Inspire your church today with a renewed vision of your glory so that we and all your people may walk as children of light and, by your grace, reveal your presence in the world. Katharine Smith
Trivia
What important event in the U.S. Catholic Church occurred on August 15, 1790? On July 30th, the trivia question was, "What tragic event happened on August 6th?" Betty Smith was the first to correctly answer that on August 6, 1945, during World War II, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world's first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. On August 9, 1945, another American B-29 dropped a plutonium bomb on the city of Nagasaki causing terrible human devastation leading to the Japanese surrender on August 15, 1945. Two popes have visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki to highlight the dangers of nuclear war and to mourn its victims. St. John Paul II made the first papal visit in 1981. In November 2019, Pope Francis made the second. Since the 1945 bombings, popes have addressed and developed the Church's teaching on nuclear weapons in consistent and increasingly urgent ways. The bishops of the United States have amplified and applied this teaching. In the Harvest of Justice is Sown in Peace (1993), the U.S. bishops asserted: "The eventual elimination of nuclear weapons is more than a moral ideal; it should be a policy goal." In 1954, Pope Pius XII argued that "every possible effort must be made to avert (atomic warfare) through international agreement." And in 2006, Pope Benedict XVI said "In a nuclear war there would be no victors, only victims," he added. In Hiroshima, Pope Francis declared: "The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral, just as the possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral." The church's teaching is clear and compelling. World leaders should work for a mutual, verifiable ban on nuclear weapons and instead invest in peace.
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