• • CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly

This week in Washington, Congress finalized the end-of-the-year FY 2020 spending deal, and it now goes to the president for his signature. The repeal of the Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) on parking and other benefits for churches and charities was included in the funding agreement. The president also intends to sign the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which includes paid family leave for federal workers.

Spending Deal

A bipartisan deal on FY 2020 funding legislation has been reached, preventing a government shutdown. President Trump is expected to sign the minibus/funding packages by midnight, December 20. The deal, presented via two funding packages, covers many of the programs important to the work of  Catholic Charities agencies, including nutrition, housing, disaster aid and others that serve clients in need.

The funding deal appropriates $1.4.trillion in federal spending through next September. It provides $1.375 billion for southern border wall construction, which is significantly less than the nearly $9 billion the president originally requested. The administration also failed to secure the $3.6 billion in backfill funding for military construction to cover the transfer of funds used earlier this year for the border wall. The administration, nonetheless, retains the ability to divert funds for wall construction in the future.

A tax package was also included as part of the funding deal. Congress repealed a section of the 2017 tax law that required associations and other tax-exempt organizations, such as churches and charities, to pay a 21 percent unrelated business income tax (UBIT) on employee benefits, such as parking and transportation. This onerous provision would have forced many agencies, regardless of budget size, to divert resources away from serving millions of people in poverty to pay the estimated average annual tax of $12,000 per organization.

Paid Family Leave for Federal Workers

The president is expected to sign into law the NDAA legislation which includes a provision providing all federal employees 12 weeks of paid family leave. Congress considered several paid family leave bills that if adopted, would provide broader, national family leave policy. This issue will continue to be debated in the remainder of the 116th Congress.     

Faith and the Common Good

Congrats to Padraic McGrath of Catholic Charities of St. Louis who was the first to identify that according to a Roman Catholic symbolic interpretation in the Christmas carol, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," the Partridge in the Pear Tree represents Jesus Christ.

The partridge is Jesus Christ. He is aptly represented as a partridge, a bird which will pretend to be injured in order to draw predators to itself and away from its young. By offering Himself on the Cross, "He will shelter you with his pinions, and under his wings you may take refuge; his faithfulness is a protecting shield." (Psalms 91:4)  Click here to read more about the elements of the song here.  

As we celebrate the fourth Sunday of Advent, we will light the last purple candle in the wreath for peace.  This season, we have patiently waited to celebrate the birth of Christ.  As we celebrate the promise of joy, we pray and serve our communities as a sign of the love of our God.

I will light Candles this Christmas;

Candles of joy despite all sadness,

Candles of hope where despair keeps watch,

Candles of courage for fears ever present,

Candles of peace for tempest-tossed days,

Candles of grace to ease heavy burdens,

Candles of love to inspire all my living,

Candles that will burn all the year long.

~Howard Thurman

Trivia

Who founded the U.S. branch of the Sisters of Charity and in what year?

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