Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in PA
_______________________________________________________ACTIONET November 17, 2008

 

Action Alert!

Urge Congress to Act On Behalf of Struggling Families

 

Last week, the ELCA Washington Office sent out an alert containing the following message: 

 

“The nation's need for economic recovery is urgent, and we believe Congress should act as quickly as possible.”

 

The U.S. Congress is in session right now.  If they fail to act soon, people in need will be forced to wait until January.

 

What You Can Do:  Call Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey and urge them to pass a Shared Economic Recovery Package that will help low and moderate-income families.

 

Call this Toll Free number 800-473-6711 and when connected to the capitol switchboard ask to be connected to Senator Specter (and then call again and ask for Casey).  Your call could follow this script:

“Hi, my name is _________.  I'm a constituent, and as a person of faith I want Senator Specter to know that our state desperately needs an economic recovery package that includes help for people being hurt now, such as:  unemployment benefits, food stamps, state aid to prevent health care and other cuts, job creation measures, and help for people in danger of losing their homes.  We need your vote for recovery that works - for our people and for the economy.”

 

Background:

 

Your Senator needs to hear that this is not the time for partisanship.  Conservative and liberal economists alike are saying that the federal government must spend money to overcome the dangerous cycle of job losses and drastically reduced consumer spending.  They also tell us that the most effective way to break that cycle targets aid to low-income people - such as unemployment benefits and food stamps (now called SNAP – Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)

 

For more details about the components of an effective recovery package see this report from the Coalition on Human Needs.  But remember. . . you don’t need to be an expert!

 

 

ELCA Policy Base:  Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All (1999)