Churches push hard on last-minute legislation

WASHINGTON (RNS) With three weeks left before the 111th Congress
adjourns, faith groups are mounting a full court press on Capitol Hill
on a number of bills, including a nuclear treaty with Russia and an
immigration bill.


Advocates are pressing for action on The DREAM Act, which would
allow illegal immigrants to gain citizenship through military service or
a college education, and the START nuclear treat with Russia.


Churches and other religious groups scored an early victory on
Thursday (Dec. 2) when the House passed the Child Nutrition
Reauthorization bill, which devotes $4.5 billion to child nutrition
programs over 10 years, following Senate passage in August.


More than 10,000 people from Christian, Jewish and Muslim
organizations have enlisted supporters to call senators to pass the
DREAM Act, which has already passed the House.


"People from across the faith communities would agree that we've
waited too long already to pass the DREAM Act," said Kristin Ford, a
spokeswoman at the Washington-based group Faith in Public Life.


Groups are rallying around Bernard Pastor, an 18-year-old Ohio high
school graduate who came with his family from Guatemala at age 3 and
faces possible deportation without the path to citizenship outlined in
the DREAM Act.


"Every year, 65,000 Bernards graduate from high school and face the
threat of being deported," said the Rev. Troy Jackson, a Cincinnati
pastor who is rallying supporters behind Pastor's case. "If the Senate
wants to talk about tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, and not
address the DREAM act for people like Bernard, then their priorities are
not in line with the vast majority of Americans."


Meanwhile, the conservative Family Research Council is lobbying for
an extension of Bush-era tax cuts that are scheduled to expire on Dec.
31. The Washington-based group supports a plan by Senate Republicans to
hold up all other legislation, including the DREAM Act, until the tax
cuts are extended.


"The days of kicking Senate Republicans around are over," the FRC
said. "Without 60 votes the Democrats are powerless to move anything on
their social agenda."


The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Religious Action
Center of Reform Judaism are pushing the Senate to approve a new START
Treaty with Russia to limit U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles. Senate
Republicans, led by Arizona's Jon Kyle, say the treaty needs more
debate.


"The church's concern for nuclear weapons grows out of its
commitment to the sanctity of human life," said Bishop Howard J. Hubbard
of Albany, N.Y., in a Nov. 29 letter to the Senate.


Stephen M. Colecchi, director of bishops' Office of International
Justice and Peace, said the U.S. and Russia have been in limbo for more
than a year since the last START Treaty expired.


"It will make our world and nation safer the sooner a verification
process is back in place," said Colecchi.


Colecchi said action needs to happen before a new Senate takes
office in early January.


"This is the Senate to which the treaty was submitted, and they are
the ones who have had the hearings concerning the treaty," said
Colecchi. "If they wait until next year, there will be a new Senate, and
the new Senate would have toa go through the same process."