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Legislative Update

Senate Climate Bill Delayed; Renewed Opportunity To Focus On The Poor

Even though the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee recently passed a climate change bill (S. 1733), reports suggest that it will not progress. A bipartisan group of Senators is currently negotiating another climate bill that they hope will be considered by all relevant committees. The target for consideration of such a bill by the full Senate has now been pushed back to spring 2010.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) are primarily concerned that the life, dignity and needs of poor and vulnerable people are placed at the center of this legislation. Poor people who have had the least to do with creating the climate change problem should not bear an undue burden of the impacts of climate change or the global adjustments needed to address it. Through the Catholics Confront Global Poverty initiative, USCCB and CRS are mobilizing one million Catholics to learn, pray and act in support of policies that will help address the effects of climate change on poor people worldwide.

Please stay tuned for new action alerts on this issue in the near future.

Help Ensure That the Potential Benefits of Natural Resources Extractions are Realized

The revenues from the production of oil and natural gas and the mining of metals and gemstones can bring about progress and human development. When poorly managed, however, they can fuel conflict, feed corruption, and actually keep people mired in poverty. You can help address this problem by voicing your support for legislation currently under consideration in Congress.

Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) introduced S.891, the Congo Conflict Minerals Act of 2009. This bill is a good first step towards addressing the causes of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that has forced more than 1.25 million people from their homes and subjected an estimated 400,000 women and girls to horrific sexual violence. This bill would require companies whose products contain metals from the DRC to make the source of those metals public. This would help determine whether armed groups that commit human rights violations have profited from metals’ production.

A separate bill in the Senate would help people in developing countries hold their governments accountable for how revenues from oil, gas and mining are spent. The Energy Security through Transparency Act of 2009 (S.1700) was introduced by Senators Dick Lugar (R-IN), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Russ Feingold (D-WI), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

We expect companion bills for both of these initiatives to be introduced soon in the House of Representatives and we will be asking for you to take action on them soon. In the meantime, you can learn more about this issue by reading the Catholics Confront Global Poverty backgrounder – Natural Resources and Our Catholic Response and by responding to our current Action Alerts on this issue.

Trade Nuclear Weapons for Child Nutrition

Is it possible to reduce nuclear weapons and hunger at the same time? The Global Security Priorities Resolution, H. Res. 278 attempts to do just that. The bill would do this in two ways:

1. Address the threat of international terrorism and protect the security of the United States by reducing the number of and access to nuclear weapons and preventing their proliferation. H. Res. 278 urges the President to continue negotiations to further reduce nuclear arms to minimal levels, to have the United States and Russia agree to cut the number of deployed nuclear weapons, to assist other countries in reducing and eliminating nuclear weapons throughout the world, and to expand efforts to prevent terrorists from gaining access to nuclear materials.
2. Direct a portion of the resulting $13 billion saved annually towards child survival, food security and universal education. H. Res. 278 requests $5 billion over five years to enhance global child survival through new high-impact and low-cost health and nutrition interventions at the community level, and an additional $1.5 billion annually over five years for existing programs that reduce child hunger and increase child nutrition and educational opportunities.

The U.S. bishops have long supported the dismantling of nuclear weapons systems, the effective securing of nuclear materials from terrorists, and a reduction in the overall number of nuclear armaments. USCCB and CRS recognize that if we want peace, we must work for justice.

Take Action Now! Urge your members of Congress, especially those on the Foreign Affairs Committee, to co-sponsor the “Global Security Priorities” Resolution.

World AIDS Day

Leading up to World AIDS Day on December 1st, Catholic Relief Services is recognizing the lives and amazing efforts of people with HIV around the world. Resources are available on the global impact of the pandemic, ways to get involved and bring awareness to your community, engaging the media, as well as stories about the lives of the people we serve. Read more here.

Webcast Summary

The Church in Africa: A Force for Peace

Two CRS Peacebuilding experts, John Katunga and Jean-Baptiste Talla, who are representing CRS at the African Synod, joined our recent webcast directly from Rome. They discussed the significance of this assembly of Bishops, the Church’s role in African peacebuilding and provided suggestions for how Catholics in the United States can promote peace in Africa.

Here’s some of what the participants had to say about it afterwards:

• It concisely gave me information about what is happening on the continent and how the church interfaces with the people and governments.
• It was innovative to have presentation coming from the Synod on Africa but where is the plan for action? The combination of strong accent and poor sound quality made it a little difficult but overall Thank you for offering this.
• Content-wise, the best webinar I have attended from any group. The presenters did a phenomenal job with deep, complex material.

Recordings of this webcast and previous ones along with a schedule of upcoming webcasts are available on the CRS Public Policy page: http://crs.org/public-policy/webcast-schedule.cfm.

Upcoming Webcast

Join us for our next webcast on December 9, 2009, 2-3 PM EST
Agricultural Trade and the Global Food Crisis

Join Catholics Confront Global Poverty to receive automatic invitations to these events.

For questions, please contact Brendan Cavanagh at bcavanag@crs.org or 443-955-7118.

Alternative Gift Giving for the Holidays

Christmas is just around the corner and what better way to share your many blessings than by purchasing gifts through CRS that support our work overseas.

At your leisure, browse through the CRS Gift Catalog which is a simple way to honor the ones you love most by giving hope to people in tremendous need. With your support, CRS can continue to alleviate human suffering and protect the sanctity of life.

Another option is to purchase fair trade gifts from the Work of Human Hands catalog. CRS partners with SERRV to bring you this catalog filled with ideas and beautiful handcrafts from many different countries and individuals overseas, such as artisans and farmers who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Your purchasing power packs a powerful punch as SERRV will donate a percentage of your purchase back to the Fair Trade Fund, so your gift goes a long way.

Please consider these alternative gift buying options as we approach the holiday season. Let the birth of our savior inspire you to support those most vulnerable overseas.

We wish you a happy Thanksgiving, and we thank you for your continued advocacy efforts in support of those less fortunate overseas.