ACTION ALERT: Your Voice Needed as Legislative Session Ends Monday

The decisions being made in St. Paul in the next few days will have a very real and lasting effect on the most vulnerable among us.

LCPPM Intern Pastor Janel Kuester opened the Minnesota Senate Session on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 with these words, “God of guidance, help us all realize that the situation of our beautiful State is one that we cannot forge through without your assistance. Calm our minds, open our ears, follow our hearts as we all continue to reconcile together”. Full text of prayer.

The session ends at midnight on Monday, May 18. As our six Minnesota ELCA bishops said in a March letter addressed to our elected leaders, “The measure of our moral fiber as a people is how we treat those who need help the most. We ask that you enlist all of us in this effort. Churches and community agencies have increased efforts to serve those in need, but only government has the reach and power to affect us all. Invite us to invest in this state, tighten our belts, and contribute our time and resources. We’re not afraid of tax increases if it means poor people who are sick can get health care, families who lose their homes find shelter, and children are cared for.” Full text of bishop's letter.

Your voice, your powerful voice, is needed!

Now is the time for people of faith to pray for our elected officials and to advocate for our brothers and sisters in need. Contact your legislators and the Governor and encourage them to support revenue-raising in order to make a balanced solution possible. Tell them that revenue-raising must be a significant part of the solution to resolve the state’s budget deficit and to make the tax system fairer.

To find out how to contact your decisions makers, click here.

And the latest developments...
Late Thursday night, Governor Pawlenty signed the Health & Human Services bill. While this is the action that we advocated for, he regretfully used his line item veto power to strike the entire $381 million appropriation for General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC). While we recognize that times are tough and cuts must be made, this veto undermines some of our core values of the common good, human dignity and compassion for the poor.
GAMC provides basic health coverage for the poorest single adults in our state. Nearly 30,000 men and women, most of whom make about $200 per month in income, lose all health coverage with the Governor's decision. $200 equals $7.15 per day. Imagine living on $7.15 per day, and then being asked to carry an enormous burden in solving the state budget deficit.
When the most vulnerable adults lose their health care safety net, they will wait until a treatable symptom becomes a serious illness or disease, and then local emergency rooms (and tax payers) will foot the bill. Most importantly, some people most likely will die because they will no longer have access to basic health care. This is not rhetoric or empty of real consequence. The decisions being made in St. Paul in the next few days will have a very real and lasting effect on the most vulnerable among us.

Governor Pawlenty has indicated that he will not call a special session. If the budget is not balanced by the beginning of the new fiscal year (July 1st), the Governor will have the authority to reduce spending and cancel programs altogether at his discretion.