Special Alerts-Federal 2013

Supreme Court Rules in Arizona Immigration Case On June 25, the Supreme Court released its opinion in Arizona v. US, which considered the 9th Circuit’s ruling on the notorious Arizona immigration law, SB 1070. The Court found most of the law in question to be unconstitutional, but upheld the section that allows local law enforcement to use discretion to request the immigration status of anyone they stop or detain.

Supreme Court Rules on Health Care Legislation On June 29, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (5-4) to uphold most of the Affordable Care Act, ruling that Congress did not overstep its power by requiring nearly all Americans to buy health insurance. However, the court did rule that the states can reject the law’s Medicaid expansion. In his decision, Chief Justice Roberts wrote, “The federal government does not have the power to order people to buy health insurance. Section 5000A would therefore be unconstitutional if read as a command. The federal government does have the power to impose a tax on those without health insurance. Section 5000A is constitutional because it can reasonably be read as tax.”

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The Senate is about to start votes on the Farm Bill! Urge your Senators to support a Farm Bill that feeds hungry people, promotes stewardship of creation, supports small family farmers, and helps rural America thrive.

Take Action Now! ACTION: The Senate is expected to vote on its version of the 2012 Farm Bill with debate starting as early as this Thursday, June 7, 2012. E-mail or call your Senators and urge them to support a fair Farm Bill and related amendments that will help feed hungry people here at home and abroad, support international development, promote growth in U.S. rural communities and encourage stewardship of creation. Tell your Senators to oppose cuts to these critical programs that help people and communities in need.  

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Federal Budget 2013:  As expected, on March 29, the House voted to pass the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Resolution. The measure passed by a vote of 228-191. This plan for federal spending and revenue would be very harmful for low-income vulnerable people as mandatory programs that people  rely on (Medicaid, Medicare) would be significantly cut and/or restructured, funding for critical discretionary programs (such as housing, education, employment, and transportation) would be slashed, and the health care reform law would be repealed.

Specifically: Medicaid would be cut by $810 billion over 10 years (a 33% cut by 2021), converted to a block grant, and all "dual eligibles" would be placed entirely in the Medicare program.

Medicare would be converted to a “premium support program” by offering vouchers to purchase private insurance or the traditional Medicare program starting in FY 2023 for new beneficiaries. This would end the Medicare guarantee and raise health care costs for people with disabilities and seniors.

Non-defense discretionary programs would be cut by $800 billion below the amount of the automatic spending cuts from the Budget Control Act (an approximate cut of 9%).

Social Security reforms to provide solvency over the next 75 years would be considered under an expedited Congressional process, as opposed to normal deliberation.

Several alternatives to the FY 2013 House Budget Resolution introduced as amendments were defeated. These included the more austere plan developed by the Republican Study Committee that contained even steeper cuts in spending and a plan developed by the House Progressive Caucus which called for more investments in spending and raising revenue to help reduce the deficit.

The Senate, however, is not likely to vote on a FY 2013 Budget Resolution because the Budget Control Act already set spending caps for FY 2012 to 2021. Therefore, with different target levels set for spending, House and Senate differences may not be resolved until after a post-election “lame duck” session of Congress is convened.

Tell Your Representative to Vote No on Devastating Budget Cuts: Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed the budget blueprint introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). The Ryan budget calls for drastic cuts in programs that low-income women and their families depend on to meet their basic needs — and trillions of dollars in additional tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and corporations. The House again voted on a bill to implement the Ryan budget by slashing Medicaid, Food Stamps (SNAP), child care, and more, and dismantling the Affordable Care Act. These cuts are serious, and they're dangerous. The well-being of millions of American women and their families is at risk, and we need your help today. Tell your Representative to vote against these unfair and irresponsible measures!

FY 2013 Budget: The Federal Spending Plan is Devastating for People and Will NOT Reduce the Deficit. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) released his Fiscal Year 2012 spending plan (known as a budget resolution). This plan pulls the plug on people with disabilities, seniors, students, and the middle class to pay for tax cuts for millionaires by targeting: 1) Medicaid Cuts $1.4 trillion over 10 years, reducing federal support by about 33%. Converts it to a block grant program.  2) Replaces Medicare with a voucher program.  3)   Discretionary Programs Eliminates most federal government programs outside of health care, Social Security, and defense over time as the cuts are so deep. 4)  Health Care Reform Repeals and defunds the Affordable Care Act. 5)  The $4.3 trillion from all of those cuts will be used to provide $4.2 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years. Very little money will go towards deficit reduction.

      Call Senator Warner, 1-888-907-1485 toll-free NOW.  Tell him to please show your support for RESPONSIBLE long-term deficit reduction, through a combination of revenue increases and spending cuts that do not harm the poor and vulnerable, and that do not prevent investments in our people and economy.

     Fairnessin Taxation Act:  Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced H.R. 1124, the Fairness in Taxation Act, which would restore tax fairness by increasing tax rates for people with incomes of $1 million or more annually. We encourage state and national organizations to sign this letter to House Members, asking them to co-sponsor the legislation. The letter details the changed rates.

      Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): The program was scheduled to be reauthorized before September 30, 2010. Congress did not advance a comprehensive proposal to reauthorize TANF, but instead extended the program for one year. SALT supports TANF policies that strengthen families and promote access to education and training.

     Mind the Gap NETWORK believes that the growing wealth gap in our country is a crisis that needs White House attention. If you haven’t already done so, please sign our petition to President Obama, calling for a White House Summit on the wealth gap: www.networklobby.org/petition-white-house-summit.

      Budget Cuts:  Write to your Congressman & Senators---The burden of deficit reduction should not fall on programs that provide critical support for our most vulnerable families and communities. Please do not single out these programs for cuts, while exempting the huge amount of defense spending. Responsible deficit reduction must consider cuts to military spending, and new ways to raise needed tax revenue from those who can afford to pay. Please make sure that deficit reduction is responsible, fair, and not harmful to our economy or our people.

     Please take some time and contact your elected officials at the federal and state local and demand that they stop cutting the budget on the backs of all ordinary citizens while continuing tax cuts for the wealthy, corporate welfare and funding our country’s war making capabilities at records levels. There are literally thousands of cuts made at the expense of peace and justice by the House of Representatives. Please contact your Senators and Congress person and demand that any steps they take to reduce the deficit be done by having corporations and rich individuals pay their share of the tax burden commensurate with all the benefits they receive and not have the middle class and those who are the most vulnerable bear the burden as the House bill passed did. Also, please watch for other alerts coming out documenting the literally thousands of important programs that were cut by the House

     Join your voice with SALT by contacting your senators and representative with this message: · Do not make disproportionate cuts in programs that serve the most vulnerable. It is morally unacceptable for our nation to balance its budget on the backs of the poor at home and abroad.  In a time of economic crisis, the poor and vulnerable in our nation are in greater need of assistance, not less. Preserving the national security of the country is without doubt imperative, but we cannot secure the nation while at the same time furthering the insecurity of the poor and vulnerable in our midst.

      Under the Affordable Care Act, children: do not have to live with the enrolled parent, be financially dependent on the enrolled parent, or be students to remain covered until age 26. Are covered under the enrolled parent’s self and family enrollment even if they are eligible for and have their own employer-provided health insurance coverage. Are not required to have any form of continuous health insurance, such as Temporary Continuation of Coverage (TCC), leading up to the effective date of their eligibility. 

     By 2014, they will be able to purchase affordable policies through state run exchanges, much like members of Congress.  While not perfect, these health insurance reforms were sorely needed. To those who have vowed repeal, SALT has one message. Don’t mess our family’s health care benefits!  

      The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Even though a repeal,  passed by the House, would likely not be successful in the Senate nor signed by the President, objections to repeal need to be communicated to Virginia House members.  Repealing the Affordable Care Act would have many negative effects: · According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) repeal would increase the federal deficit by $230 billion over the next 10 years, and by about $1 trillion more in the decade thereafter. · It would take away the promise of coverage for 32 million nonelderly people who would otherwise be insured by 2019. · Repeal would mean that plans offered by companies in the individual market would cover fewer medical costs and offer fewer benefits. · Repeal would allow insurance companies to continue discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions. As a result, anyone with a health condition is likely to be charged more for premiums (if they can get coverage at all).  Repeal would eliminate other insurance protections such as

     o allowing children up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ policies,

      o ending annual and lifetime limits on coverage,

     o requiring plans to use 80%-85% of premiums on actual medical services instead of administrative costs and profits;    

     o requiring reviews and possible rebates of unreasonable premium increases; o providing preventive care services and tests to Medicare beneficiaries without co-pays; and

     o closing the Medicare do-nut hole for prescription drug coverage.

     For more information on “Debunking False Claims About Health Reform, Jobs, and the Deficit” see http://www.cbpp.org/files/1-7-11health.pdf   Please contact your Senator and Congressmen’s offices. You can call directly to express your support for the ACA or you can use a Families USA toll-free number to call the capital switchboard: 1-866-922-4970.

         Economists are generally agreed that the human needs programs we care about are needed now to strengthen the economy, and that cuts in services will cost jobs and threaten the tenuous economic progress we've made. Despite this, there is a very real threat that vital assistance will be allowed to expire.

     If this happens, it will be in part because Congress does not hear enough constituents pressing them to boost the economy by helping families escape the worst consequences of the Great Recession. 

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    Take Action Now to Support the Second Chance Act

In February Congress will begin working on the Appropriations bills for fiscal year 2010 which begins October 1, 2009. Now is the time to contact members of approriations subcommittee on the Department of Justice  to ensure funds are allocated to Second Chance Programs.

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Hungry people are going without food stamps, poor children are going without healthcare, elderly are going without medicine, and schoolchildren are going without textbooks because of war, tax cuts, and a lack of both attention and compassion from our political leaders.... The deepening injustice of America's domestic priorities is increasingly impossible to justify. It's becoming a religious issue.

- Jim Wallis, author of God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It Call to Renewal has been leading a national effort at the grassroots and on Capitol Hill about our nation's budget. We believe budgets are moral documents that reflect the values and priorities of a city, state, or nation. They tell us what is most important and valued to those making the budget. Our joint campaign with Sourners prompted 64,000 emails to Senators and Representatives about the budget. What is truly significant is that these numbers far exceeded those of any other advocacy groups who have taken similar action (according to the tallies done by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Fair Taxes for All coalition, key coordinators of reporting). The success we have had on behalf of poor kids and families didn't happen just because Call to Renewal has been saying that budgets are moral documents. It happened because you said it too.

We need you to keep speaking prophetically to Washington, as well as to your neighbors, and help us build the movement's momentum. Thank you for your support. Together we can build the political commitment to seriously address poverty in America.

Blessings,
Jim Wallis
Convener, Call to Renewal