These are urgent times.
Will Congress squander tens of billions of additional dollars for the Pentagon?
Despite the Pentagon’s own admission that it has wasted $125 billion dollars over five years, the president and congressional leaders want to give it even more money. The House’s proposed budget would increase Pentagon spending by $921 billion over the next 10 years.
How much will Congress cut from the Medicaid and SNAP (food stamps) programs?
The House budget would also cut $4.4 trillion from programs like Medicaid and the SNAP. Nearly 70 million people benefit from Medicaid, and 45 million low-income people, half of them children, receive food assistance through SNAP.
How can we stop these misguided budget decisions? It is not easy work. May we accompany one another in the faithful work ahead of us, used and as useful as God intends.
Even in a difficult, exhausting, and, at times, heartbreaking year, we know what we are able to achieve as a community when we organize, act strategically, and raise our prophetic voices for peace and justice. We just saw this AGAIN as the second serious attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act this year was thwarted in September. Again. Friends know how to lift up our collective voices for peace and justice, we know how to organize, and we know how to stay in this work for the long haul.
We are grateful for your prayerful presence in your meetings and communities around the country, and we invite you to be part of FCNL witness on Capitol Hill.
Quakers can do this.
Actions You Can Take Now - Sign up for your weekly action alert from our team on the Hill. - Ask Friends to communicate with Congress. Use our monthly letter writing templates to make calls and write letters and postcards to Congress. Contact me at cashley@fcnl.org if you have more questions. - Take the next step and start an Advocacy Team. Or join a team near you! We are starting teams around the country in the next 3 weeks to join the 74 advocacy teams and more than 1000 team members already established and lobbying Congress throughout the United States . Help members of Congress become champions for peace and justice. Together, Quakers can do this! Staff member Riley Robinson shares, “I just attended an Advocacy Team training at University Friends Meeting in Seattle with 30 Friends and I have to say, that Friends jumped into all of the exercises and left feeling ready to get work. Friends entered the room feeling hopeful and they left feeling empowered.” - Advocating for Dreamers: We are looking to identify point people to plan a recess activity for October 16-20 (House recess) to lobby in-district on the Dream Act. If you are interested in being a point person for an in-district meeting, please email Hannah (Hannah@fcnl.org) and identify your state and district!
