#572 - Legislation Coming Up - July 30, 2021
For our U.S. readers who’d like to contact national legislators and need contact info, here’s the site for U.S. Representatives and the site for U.S. Senators. While the advice is normally to stick to one topic, you can use some discernment with your own legislator as to whether offering another based on the same non-killing principle might make the case more credible to them.
See also our recent blog post on nuclear weapons federal spending.
Peace Tax fund Bill introduced
On July 19, Rep. Jim McGovern reintroduced the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act as H.R. 4529. This bill would allow taxpayers conscientiously opposed to war to direct their federal income taxes be used entirely for nonmilitary purposes. It would not change the amount of taxes owed. CLN has endorsed this bill. The chief sponsor for a number of years was the late Rep. John Lewis. Now we need to recruit co-sponsors for the bill. The National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund has a petition to ask Representatives to co-sponsor. You also can find more information about the bill at that site.
Care for Her
Marilyn Kopp, former president of Feminists for Life of Ohio, has written an opinion piece called Landmark ‘Care for Her’ bill will provide the supports a new mother needs. This bill is to be introduced soon by U.S. Representative Jeff Fortenberry, and is intended to offer life-affirming support to pregnant women.
SSI Restoration Act
Though the purpose of Social Security was to keep people out of poverty, the eligibility rules have some people with disabilities and the elderly (in other words, the prime targets for euthanasia) required to stay in poverty in order to keep getting benefits. People have to go through contortions to keep the rules about staying in poverty. The SSI Restoration Act would ease the rules considerably and improve the lives of millions of people.
Negative: Dropping the Hyde Amendment
There’s a very real danger for the prohibition on Medicaid funding of abortions: Democrats in the U.S. House on July 28 voted to drop the Hyde amendment from the pertinent appropriations bill. If Medicaid funds abortion nationwide, we make the case that racism and male domination in sexual relationships are bolstered, and the government participates in pressure and coercion. Because of these and other reasons more abortions happen, and those abortions may well help cause more poverty. The Senate has yet to act.
Good News on Death Penalty Abolition
Sierra Leone has just abolished the death penalty. It’s the 23rd nation in Africa and 110th in the world to do so.
International Friendship Day - July 30
This day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly, on the idea that being grateful for relationships encourages peace, reconciliation, and bridging understanding.
Our Latest Blog Post
A consistent-life activist of many decades, Father Jim Hewes offers some of his personal journey and thoughts in The Consistent Life Ethic: My Christian Perspective.
Quotation of the Week
Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey
The Dog Shogun: The Personality and Policies of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (2006)
page 128
She’s referring to laws of a ruler in Japan, who lived 1646-1709.
The Laws of Compassion have been called . . . “the worst laws in the feudal history of mankind” . . . Since their inception they have spurred the imagination of writers and given rise to a large body of colorful, but frequently misleading, material. The fact that they also comprised laws much advanced for their times, such as those protecting the weakest members of society, down to the unborn child, has often been overlooked.
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