Post-Election Webinar: Looking Ahead

Looking Ahead: What do the 2014 elections mean for those still waiting for poverty relief?

Join faith leaders for an analysis of the 2014 midterm elections and hear the key takeaways for anti-poverty advocacy. With featured speakers:

Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson; Director; Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness

Barbara Weinstein; Associate Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

Eric Mitchell; Director of Government Relations; Bread for the World

Thursday, November 20^th

4:00 – 5:00 p.m. EST

Register at www.rac.org/calls

Who won, who lost, and other key takeaways from the 2014 mid-term elections.

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Are there new potential anti-poverty champions?

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What are the top priorities for the new Congress starting in January?

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What are the threats and opportunities for the programs that lift people out of poverty?

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How can the faith community shape their anti-poverty agenda to respond to a changing Congress?

Urge Congress to Extend Children's Health Insurance

Congress will be back in Washington for their “lame duck” session soon and they have a LOT to do before the end of the year. First things first, let's ask them to attend to the needs of our children!

Join other faith leaders and advocates who are coming together to urge Congress to pass for a four-year extension to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) during the Lame Duck session. This extension will stabilize the program and ensure that states can continue to operate their programs without interruption.

What is CHIP?

Since its inception in the 1990s, The Children's Health Insurance Program has provided health coverage to nearly eight million children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid, but too low to afford private coverage. This vital legislation has cut the uninsured rate for children in half. Funding for this program is set to expire next year on the assumption that most beneficiaries will be able to get subsidized private coverage through the insurance marketplaces, which some speculate may not be possible.  We need to allow more time for the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) to fill in the coverage gaps and ensure that all these kids have coverage before cutting off the program.

Why do we need such a long extension right now?

States are currently in the process of developing their 2015 budgets and negotiating contracts with insurers and providers. They need to know that the federal support for CHIP will exist beyond 2015.  If funding is not stabilized, states will have to make drastic program cuts through enrollment caps, benefit reductions, reductions in eligibility, or provider payments. The millions of children enrolled in CHIP would be at risk and many will have no other coverage option available to them.

Speak out on behalf of vulnerable children everywhere. Ask Congress to protect CHIP this year!

What does the PC(USA) say?

In 2002, the 214^th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) advocated for adequate funding for CHIP so that health coverage would be available for all children, urged the expansion of CHIP to cover parents and caregivers (because we know kids are more like to see a doctor if their caregivers also have coverage), and finally urged Congress to “recognize the importance of universal health care – that is, equal, accessible, affordable, and high-quality health care for all persons residing in our nation.”

Learn more about CHIP from the Children’s Defense Fund.

The PC(USA) recently joined a broad-spectrum of 1,200 organizations in making this request to Congress. Join us as we move into the lame duck session.

Celebrate the Birthday of the Minimum Wage: Send a Letter to the Editor!

“Before those days there were no wages... But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, says the LORD of hosts. For there shall be a sowing of peace.” 

Zechariah 8:10-12

This Friday, we sing a joyous ‘Happy 76^th Birthday’ to the U.S. federal minimum wage! As we [1]

celebrate how God has blessed us through the fulfillment of vocation and the dignity of work, we also know that many people labor in jobs that do not pay a just wage. The federal minimum wage for the
past 76 years has been instrumental in providing a wage floor, a guide to help employers treat workers fairly and offer a just wage. But even as we celebrate the minimum wage’s birthday, we also pray for a raise in the wage to $10.10 per hour. The current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour traps workers and their families in cycles of poverty. As Christians, we are compelled to advocate for justice for the lowest-earners in our society and raising the wage would lift just under one million people out of poverty.

Will you send a letter to the editor of your local paper asking Congress to raise the wage?

At the beginning of the Great Depression, there was no minimum wage. Just like today, the disparity between the rich and poor had grown in the Roaring 20’s.  The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

established the minimum wage not only to mitigate this injustice, but also to spur economic growth by increasing low wage-earners’ purchasing power. The minimum wage was first set at 25 cents an hour, to be raised to 40 cents the following year.

Many of the arguments against the institution of a minimum wage are still being used today. In the Congressional debate on the Fair Labor Standards Act, Rep. John McClellan of Arkansas inquired what difference a minimum wage law would make “if [a worker] then lose the opportunity to work.” Similarly today, many of our legislators oppose a raise in the wage, saying it would kill jobs.

McClellan’s concerns fell flat. After the institution of the minimum wage, along with other social programs of the New Deal, unemployment decreased from 19% in 1938 to 1.2% in 1944. It helped bring the nation out of the Great Depression.

Be a voice in your community for raising the wage!

Since 1968, the minimum wage has not kept up with inflation as the gap between rich and poor has continued to grow. The 1968 minimum wage of $1.60 would be worth $10.86 in today’s dollars.

It’s time to raise the wage. Take local action today.

We have found much hope in state legislative efforts to raise the wage. States that raised their minimum wage in 2014 saw faster job growth than those that didn’t. [2] Moreover, raising the wage would allow 1.7 million Americans to transition off of government assistance programs. [3]

As God has blessed us with work and vocation, let us rejoice in the dignity of all those who labor. We celebrate the great gains that the worker has made with the help of the minimum wage over the past 76 years and we pray for a raise in the federal minimum wage to $10.10. It would be a great blessing of justice and peace to workers, to our government’s budget, to businesses, and to our economy as a whole.

Many thanks to Rev. Brian Adams for the original piece on which this blog is based.

  

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[1] Congressional Budget Office. The Effect of a Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment and Income. http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44995. 18 Feb, 2014.

[2] Wolcott, Ben. 2014 Job Creation Faster in States that Raised the Minimum Wage. http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/2014-job-creation-in-states-that-raised-the-minimum-wage/. Center for Economic and Policy Research. 30 June 2014.

[3] Cooper, David. Report: Raising the Federal Minimum Wage to $10.10 would Save Safety Net Programs Billions and Help Ensure Businesses Are Doing Their Fair Share. http://www.epi.org/press/raising-minimum-wage-1-7-million-workers/. Economic Policy Institute. 16 Oct, 2014.