Guest column: ACA repeal Is great … if you’re a millionaire
News Intro Text
Jeanie Donovan |The Advocate |January 11, 2017
News Item Content
<p>The repeal of large pieces of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) proposed by Congress would mean trouble for most Louisianans.</p>
<p>Even if you are not one of the 544,000 low- and middle-income people in our state who would lose access to affordable health care, you are likely to be impacted by the squeeze the repeal will put on the state’s budget. Millionaires, however, would have cause to celebrate because the plan to eliminate pieces of the ACA would result in them receiving a hefty tax cut.</p>
<p>Two groups of Louisianans stand to lose access to affordable health care in Congress’ current proposal. First are the 170,000 middle-income Louisianans who receive subsidies to purchase private health insurance in the federal health care exchange. These individuals, who earn between $16,000 and $47,000 per year if they are single and between $33,000 and $97,000 with a family of four, receive an average of $362 per month in federal tax subsidies to help pay their insurance premiums. This totals nearly $742 million in federal subsidies coming to Louisiana.</p>
<p>The second group that would lose coverage is composed of the 374,000 Louisianans who recently became eligible to enroll in Medicaid under Gov. John Bel Edwards’ executive order to expand the program. The majority of these new Medicaid recipients are part of the “working poor” class, including those who work full-time minimum wage jobs but still fall below the federal poverty line. In total, nearly 20 percent of the state’s adult population stands to lose access to affordable health insurance.</p>
<p>If you don’t currently receive federal subsidies or participate in Medicaid, you will not be free from the negative impacts of the proposed ACA repeal. Louisiana could potentially lose $26.7 billion in federal funding over the next 10 years, including more than $2 billion that would be lost in the first year after the repeal is implemented. What’s more, if the number of uninsured citizens rises to pre-ACA levels, we can be sure that emergency room visits and other costly uncompensated use of health care services will rise and put increased pressure on the state’s budget.</p>
<p>State officials estimate that Medicaid expansion already has saved the state $184 million in health care spending, but the state still faces a more than $300 million shortfall in the current budget cycle. Although many, including our governor, are pushing for significant tax reform to eliminate the state’s structural budget deficit, the loss of federal funding from the ACA will create another major hole in the state budget, one that will need to be filled with new taxes or cuts to public services including education, hospitals, and transportation.</p>
<p>So who stands to gain from the repeal of the ACA? Estimates from the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center show that the households with income above $1 million per year would each receive a tax cut averaging $57,470 per year. That’s more than the total annual income of any family in the bottom two-fifths of the population. Those with incomes over $4.8 million, the top 0.1 percent, would each get an average tax cut of $260,630 annually. The cuts would be the result of eliminating two ACA-imposed Medicare taxes on the wealthiest households.</p>
<p>If you are not one of these millionaires, it’s time reach out to your elected officials in Congress and ask them to halt the repeal of the ACA until they have developed a suitable replacement: a replacement that will not result in nearly one in five adult Louisianans losing health insurance coverage, leave a gaping hole in our state’s budget, and benefit only the richest.</p>
<p>JEANIE DONOVAN IS AN ECONOMIC POLICY SPECIALIST WITH THE JESUIT SOCIAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/article_7cfd4a4a-d772-11e6-a593-2365261b45ba.html">FULL ARTICLE>></a></p>
<p>Even if you are not one of the 544,000 low- and middle-income people in our state who would lose access to affordable health care, you are likely to be impacted by the squeeze the repeal will put on the state’s budget. Millionaires, however, would have cause to celebrate because the plan to eliminate pieces of the ACA would result in them receiving a hefty tax cut.</p>
<p>Two groups of Louisianans stand to lose access to affordable health care in Congress’ current proposal. First are the 170,000 middle-income Louisianans who receive subsidies to purchase private health insurance in the federal health care exchange. These individuals, who earn between $16,000 and $47,000 per year if they are single and between $33,000 and $97,000 with a family of four, receive an average of $362 per month in federal tax subsidies to help pay their insurance premiums. This totals nearly $742 million in federal subsidies coming to Louisiana.</p>
<p>The second group that would lose coverage is composed of the 374,000 Louisianans who recently became eligible to enroll in Medicaid under Gov. John Bel Edwards’ executive order to expand the program. The majority of these new Medicaid recipients are part of the “working poor” class, including those who work full-time minimum wage jobs but still fall below the federal poverty line. In total, nearly 20 percent of the state’s adult population stands to lose access to affordable health insurance.</p>
<p>If you don’t currently receive federal subsidies or participate in Medicaid, you will not be free from the negative impacts of the proposed ACA repeal. Louisiana could potentially lose $26.7 billion in federal funding over the next 10 years, including more than $2 billion that would be lost in the first year after the repeal is implemented. What’s more, if the number of uninsured citizens rises to pre-ACA levels, we can be sure that emergency room visits and other costly uncompensated use of health care services will rise and put increased pressure on the state’s budget.</p>
<p>State officials estimate that Medicaid expansion already has saved the state $184 million in health care spending, but the state still faces a more than $300 million shortfall in the current budget cycle. Although many, including our governor, are pushing for significant tax reform to eliminate the state’s structural budget deficit, the loss of federal funding from the ACA will create another major hole in the state budget, one that will need to be filled with new taxes or cuts to public services including education, hospitals, and transportation.</p>
<p>So who stands to gain from the repeal of the ACA? Estimates from the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center show that the households with income above $1 million per year would each receive a tax cut averaging $57,470 per year. That’s more than the total annual income of any family in the bottom two-fifths of the population. Those with incomes over $4.8 million, the top 0.1 percent, would each get an average tax cut of $260,630 annually. The cuts would be the result of eliminating two ACA-imposed Medicare taxes on the wealthiest households.</p>
<p>If you are not one of these millionaires, it’s time reach out to your elected officials in Congress and ask them to halt the repeal of the ACA until they have developed a suitable replacement: a replacement that will not result in nearly one in five adult Louisianans losing health insurance coverage, leave a gaping hole in our state’s budget, and benefit only the richest.</p>
<p>JEANIE DONOVAN IS AN ECONOMIC POLICY SPECIALIST WITH THE JESUIT SOCIAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/article_7cfd4a4a-d772-11e6-a593-2365261b45ba.html">FULL ARTICLE>></a></p>
Date
Is child care in Louisiana affordable? Report says yes, but local experts disagree
News Intro Text
By Jennifer Larino, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune [January 05, 2017]
News Item Content
<p>By Jennifer Larino, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune [January 05, 2017]</p>
<p>Working parents nationwide are spending a sizeable chunk of their paychecks each year to provide child care for their kids. Louisiana, however, may be the only state where child care is actually considered affordable.</p>
<p>That's according to a new report from Child Care Aware of America, an Arlington, Va.-based group that conducts research on and advocates for policies to improve child care.</p>
<p>The report is likely to raise eyebrows among working parents in New Orleans, and child care experts here in Louisiana say there are reasons to be skeptical of the findings.</p>
<p>The report found the average cost of placing an infant in a child care center ranges wildly depending on where you live -- from as high as $17,062 a year in Massachusetts to $4,822 in Mississippi. For some parents, including those with multiple children in care, dropping a child off at daycare can cost as much as putting them through college.</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says child care can be considered "affordable" if it costs below 7 percent of the median income in an area. In 2015, the cost of infant center-based care exceeded that threshold and was considered unaffordable for married couples in 49 states and the District of Columbia, according to the report.</p>
<p>Only one state bucked the trend: Louisiana.</p>
<p>It cost about $5,754 a year on average to put an infant in center-based care in Louisiana. That accounts for 6.7 percent of earnings for married parents in Louisiana, who had a median annual income of $85,357 in 2015, according to Census Bureau data.</p>
<p>Local experts have been quick to punch holes in the report's conclusion. They say child care affordability and quality remain big problems in Louisiana and the report shows only a slice of reality.</p>
<p>"It really is not reflective of what is going on with families here in the state," said Melanie Bronfin, executive director of the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children.</p>
<p><strong>Why do child care costs appear lower in Louisiana? </strong></p>
<p>The report points to the state's School Readiness Tax Credits as one factor. Lawmakers approved the package of five tax credits in 2010 with the goal of improving the quality of child care statewide.</p>
<p>That includes a child care expense credit for families with income under $25,000 a year who place their child in a high-quality child care program.</p>
<p>Parents can qualify for credits for up to 200 percent of the cost of child care if they enroll their young child in a five-star program (the state's Quality Start program rates child care programs in Louisiana on a five-star scale). The value of the credit decreases for parents who use lower-rated child care programs.</p>
<p>Credits are also available for early childhood educators who complete additional training and certifications as well as businesses that invest in child care for employees.</p>
<p><span class="gold">Jeanie Donovan, economic policy specialist at Loyola University's Jesuit Social Research Institute</span>, said the child care expense credit is a boost for low-income parents, providing an incentive to seek out child care programs rather than leaving the baby with family or relying on other informal care.</p>
<p>"The higher the quality of child care and the lower the income of the parent, the more they get back from the credit," Donovan said.</p>
<p>But she said the credit does not drag down the cost of care for everyone. It also doesn't help parents who cannot afford to pay for child care upfront and wait for a credit.</p>
<p>"For everyone else, there's really not a lot of help available to access quality child care," Donovan said.</p>
<p>Working parents nationwide are spending a sizeable chunk of their paychecks each year to provide child care for their kids. Louisiana, however, may be the only state where child care is actually considered affordable.</p>
<p>That's according to a new report from Child Care Aware of America, an Arlington, Va.-based group that conducts research on and advocates for policies to improve child care.</p>
<p>The report is likely to raise eyebrows among working parents in New Orleans, and child care experts here in Louisiana say there are reasons to be skeptical of the findings.</p>
<p>The report found the average cost of placing an infant in a child care center ranges wildly depending on where you live -- from as high as $17,062 a year in Massachusetts to $4,822 in Mississippi. For some parents, including those with multiple children in care, dropping a child off at daycare can cost as much as putting them through college.</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says child care can be considered "affordable" if it costs below 7 percent of the median income in an area. In 2015, the cost of infant center-based care exceeded that threshold and was considered unaffordable for married couples in 49 states and the District of Columbia, according to the report.</p>
<p>Only one state bucked the trend: Louisiana.</p>
<p>It cost about $5,754 a year on average to put an infant in center-based care in Louisiana. That accounts for 6.7 percent of earnings for married parents in Louisiana, who had a median annual income of $85,357 in 2015, according to Census Bureau data.</p>
<p>Local experts have been quick to punch holes in the report's conclusion. They say child care affordability and quality remain big problems in Louisiana and the report shows only a slice of reality.</p>
<p>"It really is not reflective of what is going on with families here in the state," said Melanie Bronfin, executive director of the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children.</p>
<p><strong>Why do child care costs appear lower in Louisiana? </strong></p>
<p>The report points to the state's School Readiness Tax Credits as one factor. Lawmakers approved the package of five tax credits in 2010 with the goal of improving the quality of child care statewide.</p>
<p>That includes a child care expense credit for families with income under $25,000 a year who place their child in a high-quality child care program.</p>
<p>Parents can qualify for credits for up to 200 percent of the cost of child care if they enroll their young child in a five-star program (the state's Quality Start program rates child care programs in Louisiana on a five-star scale). The value of the credit decreases for parents who use lower-rated child care programs.</p>
<p>Credits are also available for early childhood educators who complete additional training and certifications as well as businesses that invest in child care for employees.</p>
<p><span class="gold">Jeanie Donovan, economic policy specialist at Loyola University's Jesuit Social Research Institute</span>, said the child care expense credit is a boost for low-income parents, providing an incentive to seek out child care programs rather than leaving the baby with family or relying on other informal care.</p>
<p>"The higher the quality of child care and the lower the income of the parent, the more they get back from the credit," Donovan said.</p>
<p>But she said the credit does not drag down the cost of care for everyone. It also doesn't help parents who cannot afford to pay for child care upfront and wait for a credit.</p>
<p>"For everyone else, there's really not a lot of help available to access quality child care," Donovan said.</p>
Date
Refugees and Migrants – Are they part of Our Common Good?
News Intro Text
By Msgr. Robert J. Vitillo, M.S.W., A.C.S.W., Secretary General, International Catholic Migration Commission
News Item Content
<p>By Msgr. Robert J. Vitillo, M.S.W., A.C.S.W., Secretary General, International Catholic Migration Commission</p>
<p>In my global advocacy activities, both as the secretary general of the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) and as part-time attaché at the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, I have been amazed at the positive response of diplomats and international nongovernmental organization (NGO) advocates to Pope Francis’s landmark encyclical, Laudato Si’[1]. Many who would pass by me at the United Nations when they noticed my Roman collar now greet me warmly and tell me, “I like your Pope and his encyclical!” Despite my joy upon receiving these positive echoes, I am concerned that too many still see the encyclical as focusing on climate change alone (as vital and important as that issue might be) and do not discern the deeper implications of Pope Francis’s call for “integral human ecology,” which requires a profound discernment of our relationship with God, with nature, and with ourselves and each other.</p>
<p>In the sixth chapter of the encyclical, the Holy Father issued a rather curious challenge – that is, to promote “civic and political love”: “We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it (220)…. Social love is the key to authentic development (231).” What a contrast between Pope Francis’s admonition and the demeaning political rhetoric that dominated the recent referendum vote in the United Kingdom and the political campaigns in the United States and Europe!</p>
<p>The bitter debate about admission of migrants and refugees into Western countries is literally the most glaring proof of the crying need to promote civil and political love in our world. In February 2016, while standing at the border between Mexico and the United States, Pope Francis described the current situation in this manner: “We cannot deny the humanitarian crisis which in recent years has meant migration for thousands of people, whether by train or highway or on foot, crossing hundreds of kilometers through mountains, deserts and inhospitable zones. The human tragedy that is forced migration is a global phenomenon today. This crisis, which can be measured in numbers and statistics, we want instead to measure with names, stories, families.”[2]</p>
<p>On January 15, 2017, the Catholic Church observes the 103rd World Day of Migrants and Refugees. For this occasion, Pope Francis has decided to focus on “Minor migrants, vulnerable and voiceless,”[3] who often arrive unaccompanied in their destination countries, “are unable to make their own voices heard” and “easily become victims of grave violations of human rights.” In his message for this day, the Holy Father insists on the need to strike a balance between “the right of states to control migratory movement and to protect the common good of the nation … with the duty to resolve and regularize the situation of child migrants.” He reminds us that the migration phenomenon is part of salvation history, which speaks of the providential work of God in history and in the human community, with a view to universal communion.” Echoing dominant themes of Catholic social teaching, and specifically of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis calls for far-sighted perspectives, “capable of offering adequate programmes for areas struck by the worst injustice and instability, in order that access to authentic development can be guaranteed for all,” and reminds us that “this development should promote the good of boys and girls, who are humanity’s hope.”</p>
<p>My own organization, the ICMC, received a mandate from Pope Pius XII, “…to unite and organize existing Catholic associations and committees, and to promote, reinforce and coordinate their projects and activities in behalf of migrants and refugees.[4]” I recently visited the ICMC Refugee Service Centre in Istanbul, Turkey; our staff there are deeply engaged in assisting families to apply for resettlement in the United States. These refugees cannot return home, and their current host country is unable to offer them permanent residence, employment, and long-term safety.</p>
<p>During my visit, I spent time with a group of children who were receiving instruction on life in America. As most children, they were enthusiastic and curious – they grinned from ear to ear and spoke of what they planned to do in their new homes. Each had colored a map of the United States, placed his or her destination state in a special color and spoke with confidence about heading to better and happier lives. But behind their smiling faces, I noticed pain and trauma in their eyes. They had witnessed terrible atrocities; several had lost their loved ones. I am sure that they were experiencing much anxiety and concern about how safe they would be as they boarded an airplane heading for parts of the world that would be very unfamiliar to them. What impressed me most about these children, however, was their sense of hope – they could imagine a better life for themselves and their families despite the many challenges they had experienced so early in life. They, like the Child Jesus, could still imagine the world described by the prophet Isaiah, where “… the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat. The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them (Is. 11:6).”</p>
<p>For me, the time with these child refugees was a real lesson in a way to promote “civic and political love” that seems to be so lacking in our contemporary society and living proof that refugees and migrants are part of our common good!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>[1] Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 24 May 2015, available at http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/ documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.</p>
<p>[2] Idem, Apostolic Journey to Mexico, Homily during Mass at Ciudad Juarez Fairgrounds, 17 February 2016, available at https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2016/documents/papa-francesco_20160217_omelia-messico-ciudad-jaurez.html.</p>
<p>[3] Idem, Message for The World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2017 (“Child Migrants, the Vulnerable and the Voiceless”), Vatican City, released 8 September 2016, available at https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/ messag[15 January 2017], es/migration/documents/papa-francesco_20160908_world-migrants-day-2017.html.</p>
<p>[4] Pope Pius XII, Exsul Familia Nazarethana, 1952, available at http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/ p12exsul.htm.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="https://integral-voices.com/2017/01/09/refugees-and-migrants-are-they-part-of-our-common-good/">ORIGINAL ARTICLE>></a></p>
<p>In my global advocacy activities, both as the secretary general of the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) and as part-time attaché at the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, I have been amazed at the positive response of diplomats and international nongovernmental organization (NGO) advocates to Pope Francis’s landmark encyclical, Laudato Si’[1]. Many who would pass by me at the United Nations when they noticed my Roman collar now greet me warmly and tell me, “I like your Pope and his encyclical!” Despite my joy upon receiving these positive echoes, I am concerned that too many still see the encyclical as focusing on climate change alone (as vital and important as that issue might be) and do not discern the deeper implications of Pope Francis’s call for “integral human ecology,” which requires a profound discernment of our relationship with God, with nature, and with ourselves and each other.</p>
<p>In the sixth chapter of the encyclical, the Holy Father issued a rather curious challenge – that is, to promote “civic and political love”: “We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it (220)…. Social love is the key to authentic development (231).” What a contrast between Pope Francis’s admonition and the demeaning political rhetoric that dominated the recent referendum vote in the United Kingdom and the political campaigns in the United States and Europe!</p>
<p>The bitter debate about admission of migrants and refugees into Western countries is literally the most glaring proof of the crying need to promote civil and political love in our world. In February 2016, while standing at the border between Mexico and the United States, Pope Francis described the current situation in this manner: “We cannot deny the humanitarian crisis which in recent years has meant migration for thousands of people, whether by train or highway or on foot, crossing hundreds of kilometers through mountains, deserts and inhospitable zones. The human tragedy that is forced migration is a global phenomenon today. This crisis, which can be measured in numbers and statistics, we want instead to measure with names, stories, families.”[2]</p>
<p>On January 15, 2017, the Catholic Church observes the 103rd World Day of Migrants and Refugees. For this occasion, Pope Francis has decided to focus on “Minor migrants, vulnerable and voiceless,”[3] who often arrive unaccompanied in their destination countries, “are unable to make their own voices heard” and “easily become victims of grave violations of human rights.” In his message for this day, the Holy Father insists on the need to strike a balance between “the right of states to control migratory movement and to protect the common good of the nation … with the duty to resolve and regularize the situation of child migrants.” He reminds us that the migration phenomenon is part of salvation history, which speaks of the providential work of God in history and in the human community, with a view to universal communion.” Echoing dominant themes of Catholic social teaching, and specifically of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis calls for far-sighted perspectives, “capable of offering adequate programmes for areas struck by the worst injustice and instability, in order that access to authentic development can be guaranteed for all,” and reminds us that “this development should promote the good of boys and girls, who are humanity’s hope.”</p>
<p>My own organization, the ICMC, received a mandate from Pope Pius XII, “…to unite and organize existing Catholic associations and committees, and to promote, reinforce and coordinate their projects and activities in behalf of migrants and refugees.[4]” I recently visited the ICMC Refugee Service Centre in Istanbul, Turkey; our staff there are deeply engaged in assisting families to apply for resettlement in the United States. These refugees cannot return home, and their current host country is unable to offer them permanent residence, employment, and long-term safety.</p>
<p>During my visit, I spent time with a group of children who were receiving instruction on life in America. As most children, they were enthusiastic and curious – they grinned from ear to ear and spoke of what they planned to do in their new homes. Each had colored a map of the United States, placed his or her destination state in a special color and spoke with confidence about heading to better and happier lives. But behind their smiling faces, I noticed pain and trauma in their eyes. They had witnessed terrible atrocities; several had lost their loved ones. I am sure that they were experiencing much anxiety and concern about how safe they would be as they boarded an airplane heading for parts of the world that would be very unfamiliar to them. What impressed me most about these children, however, was their sense of hope – they could imagine a better life for themselves and their families despite the many challenges they had experienced so early in life. They, like the Child Jesus, could still imagine the world described by the prophet Isaiah, where “… the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat. The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them (Is. 11:6).”</p>
<p>For me, the time with these child refugees was a real lesson in a way to promote “civic and political love” that seems to be so lacking in our contemporary society and living proof that refugees and migrants are part of our common good!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>[1] Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 24 May 2015, available at http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/ documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.</p>
<p>[2] Idem, Apostolic Journey to Mexico, Homily during Mass at Ciudad Juarez Fairgrounds, 17 February 2016, available at https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2016/documents/papa-francesco_20160217_omelia-messico-ciudad-jaurez.html.</p>
<p>[3] Idem, Message for The World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2017 (“Child Migrants, the Vulnerable and the Voiceless”), Vatican City, released 8 September 2016, available at https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/ messag[15 January 2017], es/migration/documents/papa-francesco_20160908_world-migrants-day-2017.html.</p>
<p>[4] Pope Pius XII, Exsul Familia Nazarethana, 1952, available at http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/ p12exsul.htm.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="https://integral-voices.com/2017/01/09/refugees-and-migrants-are-they-part-of-our-common-good/">ORIGINAL ARTICLE>></a></p>
Date
January is Poverty Awareness Month
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In 2017, will you resolve to address poverty?
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<p style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 8px;">During Poverty Awareness Month, join the U.S. Bishops, the <a href="http://www.usccb.org/about/catholic-campaign-for-human-development/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 128, 97); outline: none;" target="_blank">Catholic Campaign for Human Development</a> and the Catholic Community in the United States in taking up Pope Francis' challenge to live in solidarity with the poor! In addition to the <a class="CP___PAGEID_77454 icon-pdf" href="http://www.usccb.org/about/catholic-campaign-for-human-development/povertyusa/upload/poverty-awareness-month-calendar.pdf" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 128, 97); outline: none; background: url("/images/icons/acro.gif") right center no-repeat scroll transparent;" target="_blank">calendar</a>below, <a class="CP___PAGEID_123717 icon-pdf" href="http://www.usccb.org/about/catholic-campaign-for-human-development/povertyusa/upload/poverty-awareness-month-calendar-full.pdf" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 128, 97); outline: none; background: url("/images/icons/acro.gif") right center no-repeat scroll transparent;" target="_blank">longer daily reflections</a> are also available. All of these are also en Español.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 8px;">During Poverty Awareness Month, join the U.S. Bishops, the <a href="http://www.usccb.org/about/catholic-campaign-for-human-development/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 128, 97); outline: none;" target="_blank">Catholic Campaign for Human Development</a> and the Catholic Community in the United States in taking up Pope Francis' challenge to live in solidarity with the poor! In addition to the <a class="CP___PAGEID_77454 icon-pdf" href="http://www.usccb.org/about/catholic-campaign-for-human-development/povertyusa/upload/poverty-awareness-month-calendar.pdf" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 128, 97); outline: none; background: url("/images/icons/acro.gif") right center no-repeat scroll transparent;" target="_blank">calendar</a>below, <a class="CP___PAGEID_123717 icon-pdf" href="http://www.usccb.org/about/catholic-campaign-for-human-development/povertyusa/upload/poverty-awareness-month-calendar-full.pdf" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 128, 97); outline: none; background: url("/images/icons/acro.gif") right center no-repeat scroll transparent;" target="_blank">longer daily reflections</a> are also available. All of these are also en Español.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 8px;"><img alt="" src="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/page 1.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 454px;" /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 8px;"><img alt="" src="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/page 2.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 462px;" /></p>
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Date
Affordable Care Act Advocacy: New Orleans Community Forum
News Intro Text
Thursday, January 5 6-8:00 PM
2022 St Bernard Ave, New Orleans, LA 70116
2022 St Bernard Ave, New Orleans, LA 70116
News Item Content
<p><span style="color: rgb(75, 79, 86); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Community forum intended to arm community members with information about what an ACA repeal might mean for the state budget and, more personally, their families Panel members and the audience will also discuss ways to take action against the threatened repeal. All are welcome to attend.</span><br style="color: rgb(75, 79, 86); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
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<span style="color: rgb(75, 79, 86); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Invited speakers include Jan Moller from the Louisiana Budget Project, Susan Todd from 504HealthNet, and Dr. Anjali Niyogi, Clinical Assistant Professor of General Internal Medicine at Tulane University. Locals will also give testimony about the effects a repeal, without a viable replacement, will have on their lives and businesses.</span><br style="color: rgb(75, 79, 86); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
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<span style="color: rgb(75, 79, 86); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The event is sponsored by the Louisiana Budget Project, Jesuit Social Research Institute, and Voices of the Experienced (VOTE).</span><br style="color: rgb(75, 79, 86); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
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<a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/protectourcare" style="color: rgb(54, 88, 153); cursor: pointer; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">#ProtectOurCare</a></p>
<p><a href="http://evite.me/XecAx7jqUC">ATTEND THIS EVENT>></a></p>
<br style="color: rgb(75, 79, 86); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<span style="color: rgb(75, 79, 86); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Invited speakers include Jan Moller from the Louisiana Budget Project, Susan Todd from 504HealthNet, and Dr. Anjali Niyogi, Clinical Assistant Professor of General Internal Medicine at Tulane University. Locals will also give testimony about the effects a repeal, without a viable replacement, will have on their lives and businesses.</span><br style="color: rgb(75, 79, 86); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<br style="color: rgb(75, 79, 86); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<span style="color: rgb(75, 79, 86); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The event is sponsored by the Louisiana Budget Project, Jesuit Social Research Institute, and Voices of the Experienced (VOTE).</span><br style="color: rgb(75, 79, 86); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<br style="color: rgb(75, 79, 86); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/protectourcare" style="color: rgb(54, 88, 153); cursor: pointer; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">#ProtectOurCare</a></p>
<p><a href="http://evite.me/XecAx7jqUC">ATTEND THIS EVENT>></a></p>
Date
Louisiana has one of biggest gaps between its richest, poorest residents
News Intro Text
BY ELIZABETH CRISP | ECRISP@THEADVOCATE.COM DEC 15, 2016
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BY ELIZABETH CRISP | ECRISP@THEADVOCATE.COM DEC 15, 2016</div>
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A national nonpartisan research group that focuses on reducing poverty is calling on Louisiana leaders to embrace tax policies that set out to reverse a growing income inequality among the state's residents.</div>
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Louisiana has one of the largest disparities between its poorest residents and the richest, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' analysis released this week. The report found only New York, California and Connecticut have a larger gap than Louisiana between average income for the state's wealthiest and low-income households.</div>
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"State policy choices can make matters worse or they can improve them," said Center on Budget and Policy Priorities fellow Liz McNichol, the report's author. "Reducing inequality should be a priority of decision makers."</div>
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The Louisiana Legislature is expected to next year mull tax proposals as it sets out to fix the state budget, which has been caught in a cycle of deficits in recent years.</div>
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"2017 in Louisiana represents, really, the best chance we've had in almost a generation to make some structural changes in our tax code to begin to address some of these things," said Jan Moller, director of the Louisiana Budget Project, which advocates on behalf of low and moderate income households and joined CBPP for the release of the report.</div>
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<a href="http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_860b6480-c24d-11e6-98a8-17fcde65b6f8.html">FULL ARTICLE>></a></div>
BY ELIZABETH CRISP | ECRISP@THEADVOCATE.COM DEC 15, 2016</div>
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A national nonpartisan research group that focuses on reducing poverty is calling on Louisiana leaders to embrace tax policies that set out to reverse a growing income inequality among the state's residents.</div>
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Louisiana has one of the largest disparities between its poorest residents and the richest, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' analysis released this week. The report found only New York, California and Connecticut have a larger gap than Louisiana between average income for the state's wealthiest and low-income households.</div>
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"State policy choices can make matters worse or they can improve them," said Center on Budget and Policy Priorities fellow Liz McNichol, the report's author. "Reducing inequality should be a priority of decision makers."</div>
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The Louisiana Legislature is expected to next year mull tax proposals as it sets out to fix the state budget, which has been caught in a cycle of deficits in recent years.</div>
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"2017 in Louisiana represents, really, the best chance we've had in almost a generation to make some structural changes in our tax code to begin to address some of these things," said Jan Moller, director of the Louisiana Budget Project, which advocates on behalf of low and moderate income households and joined CBPP for the release of the report.</div>
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<a href="http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_860b6480-c24d-11e6-98a8-17fcde65b6f8.html">FULL ARTICLE>></a></div>
Date
Advent Reflection: Week 4
News Intro Text
The fourth of four solidarity based Advent reflections for use in catechetical settings or at home with family by Catholic Relief Services.
News Item Content
<p><img alt="" src="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/Advent week 4.jpg" /></p>
Date
I Am Your Voice
News Intro Text
Will Trump be a Voice for Working-Class Americans?
News Item Content
<p>by Jeanie Donovan, MPA, MPH</p>
<p>“I am your voice!” That is the declaration Donald Trump made to struggling Americans as he accepted the Republican nomination for President in July. Trump maintained and built upon that message throughout his unconventional campaign. He repeatedly promised working class voters that he would create an economy in which they could thrive, and it was on that message (among others) that he won the presidency. </p>
<p>When he becomes the 45th president on January 20, 2017, Trump will have many opportunities to make good on his pledge to voice the interests of working-class Americans. One of those opportunities will come in the form of defending new overtime regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor in May 2016 that, according to the Economic Policy Institute, have the potential to raise the wages of as many as 12.5 million U.S. workers. </p>
<p>The long-awaited update to federal overtime regulations represented a victory for working Americans who are putting in extra hours but not receiving adequate overtime pay. The rules, which were scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2016, would raise the salary threshold for workers who must be paid overtime from those making $455 a week to those making $913 a week. Any worker earning a salary less than $913 per week would be guaranteed time-and-a half pay for any hours worked beyond the regular 40-hour work week. The industries that employ the largest numbers of impacted workers include agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting; leisure and hospitality; and construction. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, a federal judge in Texas temporarily halted the implementation of those rules on November 22 after a group of states and dozens of business groups argued that it represented federal overreach and would be too costly to implement. Judge Amos Mazzant III put in place an injunction that blocked the implementation of the rules and now, it will be up to the federal government to fight his decision in the appeals process. That is, if President Trump makes it a priority.</p>
<p><a href="https://t.e2ma.net/webview/r4j5l/2243c696d74e681ce6912d70b5eb3378">MORE>></a></p>
<p>“I am your voice!” That is the declaration Donald Trump made to struggling Americans as he accepted the Republican nomination for President in July. Trump maintained and built upon that message throughout his unconventional campaign. He repeatedly promised working class voters that he would create an economy in which they could thrive, and it was on that message (among others) that he won the presidency. </p>
<p>When he becomes the 45th president on January 20, 2017, Trump will have many opportunities to make good on his pledge to voice the interests of working-class Americans. One of those opportunities will come in the form of defending new overtime regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor in May 2016 that, according to the Economic Policy Institute, have the potential to raise the wages of as many as 12.5 million U.S. workers. </p>
<p>The long-awaited update to federal overtime regulations represented a victory for working Americans who are putting in extra hours but not receiving adequate overtime pay. The rules, which were scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2016, would raise the salary threshold for workers who must be paid overtime from those making $455 a week to those making $913 a week. Any worker earning a salary less than $913 per week would be guaranteed time-and-a half pay for any hours worked beyond the regular 40-hour work week. The industries that employ the largest numbers of impacted workers include agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting; leisure and hospitality; and construction. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, a federal judge in Texas temporarily halted the implementation of those rules on November 22 after a group of states and dozens of business groups argued that it represented federal overreach and would be too costly to implement. Judge Amos Mazzant III put in place an injunction that blocked the implementation of the rules and now, it will be up to the federal government to fight his decision in the appeals process. That is, if President Trump makes it a priority.</p>
<p><a href="https://t.e2ma.net/webview/r4j5l/2243c696d74e681ce6912d70b5eb3378">MORE>></a></p>
Date
Advent Reflection: Week 3
News Intro Text
The third of four solidarity based Advent reflections for use in catechetical settings or at home with family by Catholic Relief Services.
News Item Content
<p><img alt="" src="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/Advent week 3.jpg" /></p>
Date
Sanctuary Movement Sees Post-Election Resurgence.
News Intro Text
Here's How to Get Involved.
News Item Content
<p>By Donna Schaper 12-05-2016, <a href="https://sojo.net/">Sojourners </a></p>
<p>During very hard times, people often shelter — provide sanctuary for each other.</p>
<p>I think of the amazing work of Raoul Wallenberg during the 1940s — who set up 31 safe houses to shelter Jews from the Nazis in and around Budapest — or the brave family in Amsterdam who hid Anne Frank during World War II.</p>
<p>I think of Jewish and German immigrants in old New York City, where I now live and work. They slept in three shifts. “Hurry up and eat, honey, we need the tablecloth for a sheet,” is a famous Yiddish expression. It would be hard to say who was providing sanctuary for whom — but surely they were mutually sheltering each other in a cost-effective way.</p>
<p>Or more recently, in the 1970s and ‘80s in this country, when political refugees poured across the border from Nicaragua and Guatemala during the U.S.-supported wars there, and churches and synagogues hid some of them to protect them from deportation, in the first so-named U.S. “Sanctuary Movement.”</p>
<p>Less dramatic situations develop now in many of our families, where a 26-year-old adult child can’t find work and comes home to live in the basement. We take each other in, especially if we have the space and others don’t.</p>
<p>“Sanctuary” in the 21st century has often been defined as larger than providing housing. In the New York City New Sanctuary Coalition, for the last 10 years of our existence, we have defined “sanctuary” as moral, spiritual, psychological, financial, legal — and sometimes physical — support for people who are about to be detained or deported. Why the broad definition? Because often the first five adjectives protect more people than the last one. Physical sanctuary often serves as a publicity attempt to raise the larger issues — but actually benefitting only the person sheltered.</p>
<p>The NYC New Sanctuary Coalition’s Accompaniment Project has trained hundreds of volunteers to accompany people facing deportation on their required periodic “check-ins” with the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. ICE doesn’t like to have citizens paying attention to what they are doing. Showing ICE that immigrants have citizens watching and supporting them helps ICE to realize that these people are not the ones that they need to deport right now. Accompaniment is as good a supportive strategy as physical sanctuary, helps more immigrants, and can be a gateway to providing physical sanctuary if it becomes necessary.</p>
<p>We also broadened the definition of sanctuary as a strategy because we in the faith community thought it more spiritual and theological in its core, than the important human, constitutional, and civil rights cores espoused by our marvelous secular partners in immigration protection.</p>
<p>When Congress failed to pass immigration reform laws for all eight years of the last administration, we found ourselves playing much more defense than offense. We surely tried to change the unjust laws and we surely failed.</p>
<p><a href="https://sojo.net/articles/sanctuary-movement-sees-post-election-resurgence-heres-how-get-involved">MORE>> </a></p>
<p>During very hard times, people often shelter — provide sanctuary for each other.</p>
<p>I think of the amazing work of Raoul Wallenberg during the 1940s — who set up 31 safe houses to shelter Jews from the Nazis in and around Budapest — or the brave family in Amsterdam who hid Anne Frank during World War II.</p>
<p>I think of Jewish and German immigrants in old New York City, where I now live and work. They slept in three shifts. “Hurry up and eat, honey, we need the tablecloth for a sheet,” is a famous Yiddish expression. It would be hard to say who was providing sanctuary for whom — but surely they were mutually sheltering each other in a cost-effective way.</p>
<p>Or more recently, in the 1970s and ‘80s in this country, when political refugees poured across the border from Nicaragua and Guatemala during the U.S.-supported wars there, and churches and synagogues hid some of them to protect them from deportation, in the first so-named U.S. “Sanctuary Movement.”</p>
<p>Less dramatic situations develop now in many of our families, where a 26-year-old adult child can’t find work and comes home to live in the basement. We take each other in, especially if we have the space and others don’t.</p>
<p>“Sanctuary” in the 21st century has often been defined as larger than providing housing. In the New York City New Sanctuary Coalition, for the last 10 years of our existence, we have defined “sanctuary” as moral, spiritual, psychological, financial, legal — and sometimes physical — support for people who are about to be detained or deported. Why the broad definition? Because often the first five adjectives protect more people than the last one. Physical sanctuary often serves as a publicity attempt to raise the larger issues — but actually benefitting only the person sheltered.</p>
<p>The NYC New Sanctuary Coalition’s Accompaniment Project has trained hundreds of volunteers to accompany people facing deportation on their required periodic “check-ins” with the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. ICE doesn’t like to have citizens paying attention to what they are doing. Showing ICE that immigrants have citizens watching and supporting them helps ICE to realize that these people are not the ones that they need to deport right now. Accompaniment is as good a supportive strategy as physical sanctuary, helps more immigrants, and can be a gateway to providing physical sanctuary if it becomes necessary.</p>
<p>We also broadened the definition of sanctuary as a strategy because we in the faith community thought it more spiritual and theological in its core, than the important human, constitutional, and civil rights cores espoused by our marvelous secular partners in immigration protection.</p>
<p>When Congress failed to pass immigration reform laws for all eight years of the last administration, we found ourselves playing much more defense than offense. We surely tried to change the unjust laws and we surely failed.</p>
<p><a href="https://sojo.net/articles/sanctuary-movement-sees-post-election-resurgence-heres-how-get-involved">MORE>> </a></p>
Date