A new Congress and administration means recalibrating what progress looks like, but it doesn’t change what we are striving to uphold and advance.
Together, our advocacy can shape what Congress does. We aren’t going to let up now.
Whatever the president proposes, most major policy changes still have to go through Congress. Together, our advocacy can shape what Congress does. FCNL has nearly 75 years of experience in congressional advocacy and an ever-growing network of committed grassroots advocates working in communities across the country. We aren’t going to let up now.
To face the challenges ahead, we need to work with focus and persistence, starting now, to make what gains we can and to prevent the threats we see coming to our government’s ability to protect the most vulnerable and promote peace and justice. We need to have the strategy to plan for change and the flexibility to act quickly when opportunities arise.
Here’s what we see coming in the first part of the year:
Health Care Access
The incoming administration’s stated goal to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could take away access to affordable health care for 22 million people. These changes are coming fast.
Using a procedural tool called budget reconciliation, Congress could repeal the ACA shortly after the new president takes office with just a majority vote in the House and Senate, without opportunity to filibuster, delay, or amend the legislation. Supporters will likely present this legislation as the first step in a two-part plan to “repeal and replace.” But it’s unacceptable to deny health insurance to millions with only the promise of a future, better health care proposal “in the works.”
Even more concerning, a second budget reconciliation bill in 2017 could fundamentally alter the Medicaid and food stamp (SNAP) programs, which since 1965 has ensured that people living on very low incomes have access to medical care and food on the table. We expect proposals to fund Medicaid and SNAP through block grants to the states rather than direct payment from the government for those who are eligible. As with welfare reform in the 1990s, this shift likely will make coverage less flexible to expand during economic downturns and cause assistance to vary widely from state to state.
We need to convince 51 senators to oppose these budget reconciliation bills. We need a majority of senators to stand up and clearly oppose any efforts to repeal the ACA without a concrete and responsible plan to replace it. And we need them to speak up in support of programs that provide low-income families access to a basic level of support and dignity.
Civil liberties and religious freedom
The demonization and dismissal of the entire Muslim religion goes against not only the policies FCNL seeks to advance but the very essence of who we are as a community and as Quakers. Yet people under discussion for appointments in the Trump White House, including Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn, have expressed just such opinions.
Oppose Creation of a Religious Registry
Urge your representative to support H.R. 489
We will speak out against any proposals that treat Muslims as an enemy group and continue to lead efforts for legislation, such as Rep. Don Beyer’s Religious Freedom Act, that prohibit denying admission to the United States based on an individual’s religion.
We are particularly concerned about efforts to cut off or restrict immigration from countries with majority Muslim populations and any attempt to create a list or registry of Muslims in the United States. We believe we have the votes to reject these proposals, but members of Congress need to hear — strongly and repeatedly — that we expect them to vigorously oppose religious tests and Islamophobia.
Immigration
Following President-elect Trump’s campaign promises to crack down on immigration enforcement, we anticipate proposals in early 2017 that will adversely affect immigrants, including a push to further militarize border communities and to widen the criteria for who will be eligible for immediate detention and deportation.
Our work will be to keep attention on the need for comprehensive, compassionate reform even as we work to block the worst proposals put forward. Our 18 Advocacy Corps members will bring community stakeholders into congressional offices to demonstrate welcoming communities. Early and often, legislators need to be encouraged to speak out against detrimental proposals or initiatives that seek to divide us.
Already since the election, we are working to support a bipartisan proposal that would continue protection for undocumented young adults who have lived most of their lives in this country. We will continue to lift up and advocate for these kinds of compassionate immigration policies that can gain support from people of many ideologies.
Climate change
In the Trump administration, we expect to see proposals to reverse environmental regulations, such as the EPA’s Clean Power Plan; to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and other international agreements; and allow the building of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Even recognizing that much of our work in the next two years will be defensive, we also see opportunities to advance positive legislation to encourage Congress to act on climate change. FCNL has developed strong relationships with House Republicans who are committed to addressing climate change, and our lobbyists are working with bipartisan caucuses in both chambers of Congress who are looking for a way forward on these issues.
Pentagon spending
The incoming administration and congressional leaders have already announced plans to increase Pentagon spending beyond the $600 billion that has been provided for the last few years. The FCNL community has worked hard to cut Pentagon spending, efforts that will be even more important in the future because any growth in military spending will effectively leave less money to invest in programs such as Head Start, low-income housing, and nutrition assistance for infants and pregnant women.
The good news is that several of President-elect Trump’s potential nominees and appointees have been skeptical of the need for more money for the Pentagon. Coming on the heels of a Washington Post report that the Pentagon covered up $125 billion in documented waste, appetites for increasing spending could wane. In addition, the bipartisan coalitions we’ve helped to build to resist increases in Pentagon spending remain in place. In the Senate, it will take just 40 votes to block legislation to increase Pentagon spending — and that’s where we will need your help to convince as many lawmakers as possible to oppose siphoning money from vital services for vulnerable communities into the Pentagon.
Diplomacy & peacebuilding
The new Congress and administration will determine whether U.S. foreign policy encompasses all the tools at its disposal, or if it relies primarily on military force. President-elect Trump inherits a range of structures and programs, including the Atrocities Prevention Board and the Complex Crises Fund, with a proven ability to prevent violence and built peace. There’s broad agreement that this apparatus should be supported and strengthened, not eliminated.
The bipartisan experts panel that FCNL gathered this year outlined an action plan to help the U.S. continue to lead in preventing violence and atrocities. We will be advocating for these recommendations to enable the U.S. to have the structures and funding to prevent future violence rather than just respond to current crises.
We will also be working with all of you to block efforts by new administration and Congress to undermine the successful international diplomatic agreement that has kept Iran from developing nuclear weapons. As in other areas, this work will take careful coordination with members of Congress where 40 votes are all we need in the Senate to preserve one of the most important diplomatic successes of this last decade.
Criminal justice
Our advocacy has played a key role in building a diverse, bipartisan coalition in favor of fixing our country’s broken criminal justice system. Although the 114th Congress ended without passing the sentencing reform legislation that was at the center of our efforts, we are already seeing strong calls from across the political spectrum for Congress to take up these issues again.
Our lobbyists do not see much potential for action on criminal justice reform in the first few months of the new Congress, but behind the scenes members are already discussing legislation that would address recidivism, restore public benefits for returning citizens who want to reintegrate into society, and begin to deal with ways that racism is embedded in our society.