Washington Report

November/December - 2006 Wrap-Up

Congress adjourned for the year in mid-December, leaving many major issues unresolved, including the federal budget for Fiscal Year 2007, which began October 1. Any legislation not passed by Congress and signed by the President must be reintroduced in the 110th Congress if action is to be taken on it.

Africa

Congo: S 2125, The Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006, to promote relief, security, and democracy in the Congo, was introduced in the Senate in December 2005 by Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and passed in June 2006. The House passed the bill December 9. and the President signed it December 22. (WWW September 9)

Darfur: HR 3127, The Darfur Peace and Accountability Act was introduced by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) and 162 cosponsors. The legislation sought to impose sanctions against individuals responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, to support measures for the protection of civilians and humanitarian operations, and to support peace efforts in the Darfur region of Sudan, and for other purposes. It passed the House in April by a vote of 416-3, and the Senate by unanimous consent in September and was signed into law by the President in October. (Sept/Oct Report; WWW September 19)

Water: Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), with 29 co-sponsors, introduced H Con Res 120 in March 2005 expressing the sense of Congress regarding the world's water resources.

This urgent resolution called upon the government to recognize water as a global public good and fundamental human right in its trade, development and international financial policies. The bill went to the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy on Trade, where it died. (1st Quarterly)

Civil Rights and Religious Liberty

Domestic Spying and PATRIOT Act Reauthorization: The PATRIOT Act was reauthorized in 2006 without fixing its most fundamental flaws regarding civil liberties. On March 9 President Bush signed the bill into law. The Act fails to protect against warrantless searches, "sneak and peak" searches into private records, and racial and religious profiling. (1st Quarterly; Action Alert 1/13/06)

Immigration Bills: HR 4437 was passed by the House in December 2005. Named for Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), its chief sponsor, it took an enforcement-only approach, not addressing the legal status of 12 million undocumented workers living in U.S. The bill omitted any programs to legalize and regularize future migrants and would have militarized the U.S.-Mexico border. No agreements were reached in Congress on immigration issues. (1st and 2nd Quarterly; Action Alert 1/13/06)

Public Expression of Religion Act: HR 2679, introduced in May 2005, would have denied attorney fees in cases won by advocates of church/state separation. It was sponsored by Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN), with 66 co-sponsors, passed the House September 26, 2006 (244-173) and was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it died. (WWW 9/25/06).

Reauthorization of 1965 Voting Rights Act: HR 9/S 2703 passed both House and Senate and was signed by the President on July 27, 2006, becoming Public Law 109-246. This legislation reauthorized an expiring ban on racial discrimination in elections nationwide as well as its provisions on language assistance, federal oversight of elections, and Election Day monitors. (WWW 7/17/06)

Ecology and Environment

Climate Change: Little action was taken in Congress in 2006 that will mitigate climate change. (1st Quarterly)

Endangered Species Act (ESA): The House, under the prompting of Resources Committee Chair Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) passed HR 3824 in 2005, a bill that would significantly undermine the 1973 ESA. The Senate did not act on the measure in 2006. (1st Quarterly)

Katrina Relief: Fifteen months later little action has been taken on the underlying environmental problems revealed by Hurricane Katrina, but Congress did approve giving Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama 37.5 per cent of revenues from the leasing of 8.3 million acres of new offshore Gulf drilling to help with storm protection, wetlands and levee restoration. (2nd Quarterly)

Global Security Issues

Landmines: S 3768/HR 6178, The Victim Related Landmine Abolition Act of 2006, was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and in the House by Rep. James McGovern (D-MA). The bill would have prohibited the procurement of landmines and other weapons that are designed to be victim-activated. Both were referred to the Armed Service Committees of their respective houses. Neither bill came out of Committee. (WWW August 7)

Torture: On September 6, President Bush asked Congress for sweeping new authority to legalize the use of military tribunals at the Guantanamo Bay prison and protect U.S. officials from facing criminal charges for violations of certain parts of the Geneva Conventions.

Congress was urged by faith-based and human rights groups to reject any effort to revise the War Crimes Act or to remove violations of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions as war crimes punishable under U.S. law. They were also urged to insist that any legislation that codifies the rules and procedures for military commissions be based on the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

Ultimately, the Military Tribunal bill (S. 3930) narrowed the scope of conduct punishable as a war crime. This was intended to prohibit the "enhanced" and abusive interrogation techniques used by the CIA. Common Article 3 protections remain, but there are serious questions regarding other compromise provisions, including one that strips courts of the ability to hear habeas cases and civil suits alleging violations of the Geneva Conventions. (WWW September 12; Jan/Feb Report)

Nuclear Weapons: On December 8 and 9, both houses of Congress passed the final version of the U.S.-India nuclear deal. On December 18 it was signed into law. The passage of this bill undermines decades of nuclear non-proliferation efforts and allows the U.S. to provide nuclear fuel and technology to India, a country that has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Further negotiations will need to be done in the coming year by the International Atomic Energy Agency and India for a list of safeguards. If this is accomplished, the House and Senate will have the chance to approve the final deal with India. (1st Quarterly)

Health Care

Health Care Budget Cuts: The FY 2006 budget described below included big cuts in health care programs for poor families, especially Medicaid. (1st Quarterly; Action Alert 1/6/06)

Serious Mental Illness: HR 3010, making appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006 was introduced June 21, 2005. It set funding for mental illness research at the National Institutes for Mental Health at $1.418 billion, a small cut over current services. HR 3010 passed both the House and Senate and was signed by the President on December 30, 2005, as Public Law 109-149. A one percent cut in all discretionary funding enacted in early 2006 further cut funds available for mental health research. (1st Quarterly)

Stem Cell Legislation (HR 810): President Bush used his veto authority for the first time in nearly six years in office against legislation passed by Congress which would have allowed couples who had embryos frozen for use in fertility treatments to donate them for federally-funded research purposes rather than letting them be destroyed. The House failed to override the veto, its vote of 235-193, falling short of the two-thirds majority required to override a veto. (WWW 7/17/06)

Indian Health Care: Congress failed to act on S 1057/HR 5312, which would have provided community and in-home care, mental health programs, and nursing home and hospice services for the first time in some of the poorest Native American communities. The bills died in Committee. (WWW 10/16/06)

Hunger and Human Needs

Katrina Survivors: Congress appropriated $100 billion in aid following Hurricane Katrina in September 2005. Around $60 billion went to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund. In February 2006 President Bush proposed a $19.8 billion supplemental appropriation, including $9.4 billion to FEMA's disaster relief fund, $4.2 billion in Community Development Block Grants to redevelop housing in Louisiana, $1.5 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers, and $1.3 billion for the Small Business Administration. Congress did not act on this request. (1st Quarterly; Mar/Apr Report)

Truth in Lending Act: HR 1182 was introduced in March 2005 to impose restrictions and limitations on high-cost mortgages, revise permissible fees and charges on certain loans, prohibit unfair or deceptive lending practices, and provide public education and counseling about predatory lenders. Sponsored by Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) and 67 cosponsors, the bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, which took no action.

A related measure, Protect Military Families from Payday Loans, introduced in the Senate by Sens. Jim Talent (R-MO) and Bill Nelson (D-FL), passed as part of S 2766/HR 5122, the 2007 Defense Authorization bill, which was signed into law by the President as Public Law 109-364. (Sept/Oct Report)

Increase Minimum Wage: No increase in the Federal minimum wage was approved by the 109th Congress, despite repeated efforts to secure a vote on the measure. Six states — Missouri, Ohio, Montana, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada — approved increases in minimum wage as part of state-wide ballot measures. (Jul/Aug Report)

Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Severely Cut Domestic Programs: For the Fiscal Year beginning October 1, 2005, Congress belatedly (in February 2006) approved a budget that slashed $40 billion over five years from programs such as Medicaid, welfare, child support enforcement, and student loans. In addition, the budget measure imposed a one percent cut on all discretionary funding, further reducing resources for programs serving low-income people.

The margins of passage were extremely narrow — 216-214 in the House and 50-50 in the Senate, with Vice-President Cheney casting the tie-breaking vote. The President signed the budget measure on February 8. (1st Quarterly; Action Alerts1/13/06 and 1/24/06))

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Reauthorization: After stalling on the issue for over three years, Congress swept TANF reauthorization into the 2006 Budget package. The measure required the states to put greatly increased proportions of their welfare population to work without granting resources to help them do that and provided only $1 billion in additional child care funding over five years, despite the increased work requirement. (1st Quarterly)

Latin America

U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement: This Agreement stalled in Congress and has not yet been ratified. The Bush Administration will face an even more difficult ratification process, with both houses of the Congress now under Democratic control. Shortly after their November election victory, key House Democrats sent a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative requesting that deals with Colombia and Peru be re-negotiated, highlighting issues of labor rights and the environment. (WWW September 5)

Cuba and Religious Travel: As reported earlier in the year, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and other denominations and religious organizations were denied their traditional less-restricted licenses to travel to Cuba on the grounds that they do not qualify as religious organizations under a certain regulation. This ruling limits the ability of denominations to take delegations to Cuba.

The U.S. State Department has repeatedly denied visas to Cuban religious leaders for travel to the U.S. Since mid-2005, U.S. churches and ecumenical agencies have opposed these new restrictions. In March 2006, 105 members of the House and 17 Senators sent letters to Treasury Secretary John Snow questioning the reasoning behind the restrictions on religious travel. Despite these efforts, the discriminatory and restrictive policies on religious travel continue in force. (1st Quarterly)

Haiti: In June, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) introduced H Res 888, urging multilateral financial institutions to cancel Haiti's debts immediately under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative. The bill was sent to the Committee on Financial Services and never came to a vote. (July/Aug Report)

Middle East

In February 2006, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), with 295 cosponsors, introduced legislation "to promote the development of democratic institutions in areas under the administrative control of the Palestinian Authority, and for other purposes." On May 23, it was passed by the House on a 361-37 vote under suspension of the rules. It was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Senate passed a companion bill, the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act (S. 2370), by unanimous consent in June, which the House passed under suspension of the rules on December 7 and sent to the President for signature. It is now Public Law 109-446.

With existing legislation and Administration restrictions ensuring that no U.S. funding can reach foreign terrorist groups and placing pressure on Hamas to change, the Palestinian Anti-Terror bills were unnecessary. The potential for a Palestinian national unity government, a tenuous but encouraging ceasefire still in place in Gaza, and the Baker-Hamilton report's recommendation for renewed U.S. attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict pointed to the need for more, not less, flexibility for the Administration. Last fall, amid reports that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) might try to include parts of S 2370 in the FY07 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, the Administration intervened, apparently feeling the time was not right for strengthening sanctions against the Palestinians. Ultimately, however, the President signed the bill. (Mar/Apr Report; WWW December 12)

Women and Families

Focus on Family Health Worldwide Act: Introduced in November 2005 by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) and 70 bipartisan cosponsors, HR 4188 would have reauthorized and gradually increased funding to voluntary family planning programs administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development. It would have amended the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to improve voluntary family planning programs in developing countries. It was referred to the House Committee on International Relations, which took no action. (Jan/Feb Report)

In related legislation, Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT) introduced HR 4736 in February 2006 with 53 cosponsors. It would have amended the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide contraceptives in developing countries in order to prevent unintended pregnancies, abortions, and transmission of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. The legislation died in Committee.

Education Begins at Home Act: Introduced in March 2005, the bipartisan bill S 503/HR 3628 would have expanded in-home parents-as-teachers and coaching programs and other quality early childhood home visitation programs. Sponsored by Sen. Christopher Bond (R-MO) and Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL), it languished in Committees. (Jul/Aug Report).

Women's Health and the Right of Conscience: H Con Res 404, introduced by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), expressed the sense of the Congress concerning contraceptives for women. It was referred to the Subcommittee on Health, which took no significant action. A related measure (S Res 485), introduced by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) with 17 cosponsors met a similar fate. (Sept/Oct Report)

Kinship Care and Subsidized Guardianship: S 985 would have established kinship navigator programs and kinship guardianship assistance payments for children. Sponsored by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) with ten cosponsors, it was referred to the Senate Finance Committee where it died. (2nd Quarterly)

HR 3380, sponsored by Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL) and 17 cosponsors, would have amended part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to provide Federal support and assistance to children living with guardians and kinship caregivers. It was referred to the House Subcommittee on Select Education, which took no action. (2nd Quarterly)

Human Rights Violation — Shackling of Pregnant Inmates in Labor: Congress took no action on this issue, despite exposure in the media of the common practice in U.S. prisons of keeping women prisoners shackled as they give birth. (1st Quarterly)

New Washington Office Staffer Named

With great pleasure, we announce Leslie G. Woods as the new Associate for Domestic Poverty and Environmental issues in the Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She started in her new position on January 2, 2007.

Leslie comes to this post having already worked with the Washington Interreligious Staff Community (WISC) task force on Domestic Poverty and Human Needs as an intern in the United Church of Christ Washington Office, just one floor below the Presbyterian Washington Office in the United Methodist Building. Through the efforts of the interreligious task force, Leslie worked closely with her predecessor, Carolynn Race, who left the Presbyterian office in September.

Our new Associate is a May 2005 Magna cum Laude Yale Divinity School graduate with a concentration in the Hebrew Bible. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia with a double major in Religious Studies and French and a minor in Ethics. At Randolph-Macon she also graduated Magna cum Laude with honors and Phi Beta Kappa. Leslie spent some time in study abroad and received a Certificat de la Langue Francaise from the University of Paris, La Sorbonne. Leslie has said she is excited about this opportunity and that she has a passion for the issues of justice. We look forward to working with her as the newly-elected Congress begins in January.

Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington

March 9-12, 2007

Over 1,000 religious advocates from a wide array of Christian communions will gather in the Nation's Capital March 9-12 for briefings on U.S. domestic and international polices impacting all of God's children, and a day spent visiting Members of Congress to ask them to make the needs of children the center of their 2007 legislative agenda.

Conference registration costs $150 per person, including two lunches and Sunday dinner. Early registrants (pre-February 1) will receive a $20 discount, while those registering after March 1 will be charged an additional $50. Conference sessions will be held at the Doubletree Hotel Crystal City, in Arlington, Virginia. There will be a Presbyterian dinner one evening during the conference.

For information on the program, registration, and housing, visit the Ecumenical Advocacy Days Web site or send an email.

Pre-Conference Event on Public Education

Those attending Ecumenical Advocacy Days are invited to a special event hosted by the National Council of Churches Committee on Public Education and Literacy. This event will show how federal public education policy contributes to childhood injustice, and will prepare advocates during the year of the scheduled reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, to speak "for such a time as this." Several education experts will address the gathering.

For information and registration details, contact Aisha Howard at (216) 736-3714.