News - March 7, 2016 - In joint letters to the Senate and House Subcommittees on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, as they begin work on their appropriations bills, CCUSA and USCCB urge the members to provide adequate funding for programs that serve poor and vulnerable households. Read the full letters: Senate, House.

News - January 11, 2016 - In a joint letter to the House Committee on the Judiciary, CCUSA and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops call on the leadership to support the passage of the Second Chance Act. The legislation is an important step forward in addressing some of the many issues facing more that 650,000 men, women and juveniles…

News - December 4, 2015 - CCUSA, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Catholic Health Association and Catholic Relief Services sent a joint letter to the Senate and House leadership in support of provisions known as The Abortion Non-Discrimination Act (ANDA) included in the House Labor, HHS Appropriations bill, which would permanently codify protections for individual and institutional health…

News - November 30, 2015 - Catholic Charities USA has written letters to the Appropriations Committees of both the House and the Senate urging them to refrain from funding cuts to major social and anti-poverty programs as Congress determines where to allocate monies based on the Budget Act PL 113-235. Read the full letters: House and Senate.

News - November 16, 2015 - CCUSA has been working with several national faith groups to advocate against predatory lending practices and recently endorsed the Faith for Just Lending statement of principles. Asset development services continue to be one of the fastest growing areas of service at Catholic Charities agencies, partly in response to predatory lending practices. Learn more about the…

News - November 9, 2015 - A letter from CCUSA was sent to the House and Senate Appropriations leadership urging members to support the continued funding of the Emergency Food and Shelter Program at $120 million for Fiscal Years 2016 and 2017. The White House in its budget to Congress requested a $20 million reduction. The Senate agreed with the White…

News - November 16, 2015 - In a joint letter to the House Committee on the Judiciary, Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) called on members of the Committee to support the Sentencing Reform Act of 2015 (H.R. 3713). In particular, we stressed support for the following provisions: Reduce mandatory sentencing terms for several…

News - November 3, 2015 - Today Joanne Nattrass, executive director, Commonwealth Catholic Charities (Richmond, VA) spoke at a Congressional Briefing sponsored by the Interfaith Criminal Justice Coalition entitled Faith Voices Speak Out on Criminal Justice Reform. Ms. Nattrass shared both the experience of her agency in Richmond, and more broadly the work being done by the Catholic community to promote…

News - November 6, 2015 - CCUSA submitted comments today in response to a request from the Early Learning Interagency Policy Board (IPB) for feedback to inform a federal policy statement on health promotion in early learning. To inform a response, CCUSA solicited feedback from member agencies with leading early childhood programs, including Head Start, Early Head Start, day care, and…

News - November 2, 2015 - Catholic Community Services (CCS) and Catholic Housing Services (CHS) of Western Washington (Archdiocese of Seattle) submitted written feedback to the House Financial Services Committee in response to a request for proposals to address poverty and housing affordability. Over the past 36 years, CCS and CHS have developed 50 housing projects across western Washington state, which…

News - October 29, 2015 - Today, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) was elected as Speaker of the House. Catholic Charities USA and its members have been actively engaged with Congressman Ryan in the past few years as he has examined poverty in depth, including opportunities for our agencies and for our clients to share their experiences on Capitol Hill. CCUSA appreciates…

News - October 28, 2015 - Today, CCUSA President and CEO Sister Donna Markham joined Dr. Carolyn Woo (Catholic Relief Services), Archbishop Thomas Wenski (USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development), and Bishop Oscar Cantu (USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace) in urging policymakers in Congress and the US State Department to position the United States as a leader…