Bishops’ Conference Approves Legislative Agenda for 109th Congress
WASHINGTON (March 22, 2005)—The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has identified more than one hundred issues of major importance in the 109th Congress. Those issues that are likely to be given serious attention by Congress will command the most attention and the USCCB will devote all appropriate lobbying efforts, nationally and locally, to help enact or defeat related legislation.
The USCCB legislative program for the 109th Congress was prepared by the Conference’s Office of Government Liaison in collaboration with the relevant USCCB policy offices and approved by their respective Committees and/or Chairs.
The agenda is derived from the moral and social teachings of the Church. Key elements include the commitment of the Church in advancing respect for all human life including the provision of alternatives to abortion; providing health, welfare, and education services; immigration, refugee and international relief and development services at home and around the world; and ensuring a religious presence in mass communications while supporting constitutional efforts to reduce children’s exposure to violent, indecent and/or obscene radio and television programming.
The legislative program was approved March 15 at a meeting of the USCCB Administrative Committee.
All of the issues in the legislative program flow from Church teaching as expressed in encyclicals and other documents from the Holy See as well as policies established by the bishops over the course of many years.
NOTE: The list of legislative issues is available on request by contacting the USCCB Office of Government Liaison, 202-541-3140; OGL@USCCB.org (See below)
To view the complete list of legislative issues now, click here. You may also use the side-bar menu on the left side of the screen to browse this list by issue-area.