Call your Congress Member &
US Senators from Texas TODAY

For Direct Income Payments & Access to Testing!

CALL TO ACTION – Call or email your Congressperson and our 2 US Senators from Texas today to demand immediate federal funding for direct grants (income payments) to adults and an immediate expansion of funding for testing to be accessible to those who need it most, regardless of ability to pay.  We will need to continue calls/emails even if the current stimulus package being debated passes.  See talking points below. 

For phone numbers and direct email links to your Congressperson and our 2 U.S. Senators from Texas, enter your address at this website: https://www.270towin.com/elected-officials/

INTRO – “Hello, my name is (name), I am with (name of your congregation or institution) and Central Texas Interfaith.  With millions of lives at stake, we are calling on you (Congressperson’s name or U.S. Senator’s name) to advocate and vote for legislation that does the following:

ISSUE 1 - DIRECT GRANT/PAYMENTS TO AMERICANS

• Congress should immediately pass economic stimulus measures that provide ongoing grants (direct payments) from the US government -- not just for one month, but $1,000-$1,200 per month for every adult living in the U.S. until we are clear of this crisis.
• This should ideally target people making less than $80,000-$100,000 per year.  This would allow low- to moderate-income people and families the ability to pay rent, purchase food, and have access to basic health services, utilities, transportation and other essentials.
• The target should be every American taxpayer, regardless of nationality or whether they use a Tax Identification Number in lieu of a Social Security Number.
• If the current stimulus bill being debated provides at least a start of an initial payment $1,000-$1,200, then pass it.  But this should be followed up with successive legislation to make payments ongoing. 

ISSUE 2 - AVAILABILITY OF CORONAVIRUS TESTING

• Congress should provide the funding necessary to vastly scale-up the availability of coronavirus tests for Americans who need it most. 
• Testing should be available equally regardless of ability to pay, insured status, nationality, geographic area, and available to those who are homeless or are in the criminal justice system.
• This includes adequate funding for ancillary testing equipment and protective gear for providers. 

Our world, and how we order our lives, has changed dramatically.  Though many of us are safely hunkered down in our homes, let us keep at the forefront of minds the elderly and most vulnerable, those experiencing homelessness, those who have lost their jobs, and those whose jobs keep us alive while putting themselves at risk, like healthcare, grocery, and other retail and service works.  After we ensure our families, friends, and others around us are safe and secure, lets carve out the time to continue to act on the faith that our collective power, will, and imagination are greatest when we keep organizing. 

[Excerpt]

....Jewish wisdom teaches that if you don’t know if you are selling weaponry or the materials to make weapons to people who are known to be safe or people who have a history of violence, then you may not sell. American Law responds to this wisdom with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). When someone goes to buy a firearm from a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL), that FLL (a.k.a. the seller) contacts the NICS and the NICS staff performs the background check on the buyer.

But, if the seller doesn’t get an answer from the NICS in three business days, he can sell without a completed background check. In addition, there are no required background checks for gun purchases at gun shows or other private sales. Resulting from this loophole, the shooter in Midland-Odessa was able to purchase his gun from a private seller, though he had previous failed a background check and been denied a gun purchase from an FFL.

Addressing these loopholes is the exact topic of two bills, HR1112 and HR8, respectively. Each passed by the US House at the end of February, and each were read twice in the Senate in March. It is time to urge Senator Cornyn to take action to prevent gun violence and save lives in Texas! As a senior member of the Senate he can help pass these two bills to close these loopholes.

Central Texas Interfaith is calling on Senator Cornyn to act. We are gathering thousands of postcards from Texans like us to send to Senator John Cornyn, showing that we stand with our brothers and sisters in El Paso in the fight for gun violence prevention through national policies. When you sign and return one of these post cards in person or online you are adding your voice to the call...

Rabbi Rebecca Reice: Gun Owners Can — And Should! — Work to End Gun Violence, Hill Country News [pdf]

Central Texas Interfaith Gun Safety Online Petition

At a special session on Austin's Land Use Code Revision, Central Texas Interfaith leaders called attention to real-time displacement happening in Northeast Austin and potential revisions in the land use code to prevent the displacement of hundreds of mobile home residents and precariously housed low-income families.  Congregational leaders stood with mobile home park residents facing eviction as they delivered testimony in support of interventions to better protect residents. 

In reference to gentrification and the displacement of low-income and people of color from Austin, CTI leader David Guarino "kicked off what would be a full day of public testimony with what he called the 'profound question.'

'Is the Austin we’re becoming truly the city we want to be?'”

Testimony by him and Francisco Martinez of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic called on the City of Austin to do better. 

Testimony by David Guarino, All Saints Episcopal [video]

Testimony by Francisco Martinez, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic [video]

Hundreds of Austinites Show Up at City Hall to Tell City Council How They Feel About Proposed Overhaul of City's Land Use Rules, Community Impact [pdf] 

Hundreds Attend Austin City Hall Meeting to Voice Their Opinions About the Land Development Code, KVUE 

Austin City Council Holds Special Public Hearing on Proposed Changes to Land Development Code, KXAN