Sponsored by Jubilee USA Network

WHAT: During the negotiations for a new "NAFTA," religious organizations issued a statement encouraging that trade agreements ensure access to medicine for vulnerable communities around the world and in the United States. Signers of the statement included the heads of the Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Catholic, Episcopalian and United Church of Christ Churches and interfaith development group Jubilee USA. In this panel, experts and representatives from religious institutions will discuss ways to improve NAFTA, enforce bipartisan Congress agreements on trade protections for vulnerable communities and explore policies related to prescription drug costs.

WHO: Reverend Stacy Martin, President and CEO, Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska; Anthony Granado, Director, Office of Domestic Social Development, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Fran Quigley, Clinical Professor of Law, University of Indiana; Eric LeCompte, Executive Director, Jubilee USA Network

WHEN: 4:00 - 4:30 PM Reception and Open Bar
4:30 - 5:30 PM Speeches
5:30 PM Reception
November 7, 2018

WHERE: US Congress Rayburn House Office Building
House Small Business Committee Hearing Room 2361
Washington, DC

Business Attire. This is a "widely attended" event for Congressional Staff.

To RSVP please contact Iuliia Ponomareva at [email protected] or call (202) 783-3566 x100.

As Congress works to avoid another government shutdown, a crucial part of the debate is the funding for relief and recovery aid desperately needed for disaster victims in Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Florida, Texas and California.

Republican and Democratic leadership have told Jubilee USA that your phone calls and messages for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are making a BIG difference. Please act now.

Hurricane victims in Puerto and the US Virgin Islands are suffering as Congress debates a government shutdown. Please send a message to your Senators and Representative and tell them Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands needs recovery funding to rebuild to withstand the next storm. Let Congress know that Puerto Rico needs debt relief. Tell them that US Citizens living in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands should be able to receive the same level of access to Medicaid, Medicare and child tax benefits that citizens can access who live in the States.

Because of the pressure we put on Congress in recent weeks, we stripped the final Congress tax package of an "excise" tax on Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Our collective action makes a big difference.

Send a message to Congress now. Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands need recovery funding to rebuild to withstand the next storm. Tell them Puerto Rico needs debt relief. US Citizens living in Puerto Rico should be able to access Medicaid, Medicare and child tax benefits that citizens can access who live in the States.‎

At the end of 2017, Jubilee USA and our partners hosted a prayer service in Congress for Puerto Rico. Supporting and participating groups included the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, United Church of Christ, Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, Franciscan Action Network, the National Association of Evangelicals, Muslim Public Affairs Council and Islamic Relief. During the prayer service, Puerto Rico's Archbishop Roberto González Nieves reflected, "Puerto Rico desperately needs a complete debt relief, funding for rebuilding, and equal access to Medicare, Medicaid and child tax benefit funding. [...] Today we pray with the persistence and tenacity of the widow of the gospel; we pray full of hope that the miracle of compassion, openness toward and solidarity with Puerto Rico may come true."

Your calls and messages are urgently needed as Jubilee USA and our partners continue to walk the halls of Congress. Together we can win the aid and relief Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands desperately needs.

Please click on this link and send a message to your Members of Congress now.

Thanks for taking action,

Eric LeCompte
Executive Director

Jubilee USA Network is an alliance of more than 75 US organizations, 700 faith communities and 50 Jubilee global partners. Jubilee is building an economy that serves, protects and promotes participation of the most vulnerable. Jubilee has won critical global financial reforms and more than $130 billion in debt relief for the world's poorest people. 

Our efforts build the political support needed to influence world-wide decision makers, the White House, Congress, the G20, International Financial Institutions and the United Nations to promote poverty reduction and move solutions to the international debt crisis. Ultimately, we work to create an international financial system that protects and ensures participation of the most vulnerable within the context of human rights. Our advocacy promotes responsible lending and borrowing, increasing debt relief for poor countries, curbing illicit financial flows and corporate tax avoidance, moving forward an international debt resolution process, pushing reforms in international financial institutions and protecting poor people from predatory financial behavior.

Our efforts focus on the following areas. Click below to learn more.

• Debt and Lending
• Tax, Corruption, Transparency
• Banks and Financial Institutions
• Trade
• Bankruptcy and Financial Crisis
• Puerto Rico Debt and Disaster Relief