Elected Official Letters                                          Next Page

 

June 8,2016

Valerie Jarrett

Chair

White House Council on Women and Girls

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, D.C. 20500

RE: Request for Presidential Action to Ensure the Availability of Pregnancy Accommodations for Federal Employees

Dear Ms. Jarrett:

On behalf of the undersigned organizations dedicated to equality and opportunity in the workplace for women, we write to urge the Administration to provide critical leadership to protect pregnant workers’ health and workplace rights—actions that are particularly important in light of the potential threat posed by the Zika virus. Specifically, we request that the President direct all federal agencies to immediately adopt an interim pregnancy accommodations policy to address federal employees’ requests in Zika-affected areas, as a first step in developing and adopting comprehensive pregnancy accommodations policies for federal employees that will serve as a model for employers across the country. Such action by the Administration also will help preempt discriminatory actions against pregnant workers, including an employer’s imposition of workplace restrictions or conditions based on its unilateral assessment of what is medically necessary or appropriate in that particular circumstance, instead of acting in response to an accommodation request initiated by a pregnant worker with a medical need.

(Read More)

 


 

June 7, 2016

The Honorable Harold Rogers

Chairman

House Committee on Appropriations

2406 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

 

The Honorable Nita Lowey

Ranking Member

House Committee on Appropriations

2365 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

 

RE: NCPE Opposes Reauthorization of the D.C. School Voucher Program in the FY 2017 Financial Services Appropriations Bill

Dear Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Lowey:

The 56 undersigned organizations write to voice opposition to reauthorizing the District of Columbia private school voucher program as part of the FY 2017 Financial Services Appropriations bill. We oppose this and all private school voucher programs because public funds should be spent on public schools, not private schools. But the D.C. program, in particular, has proven ineffective and unaccountable to taxpayers. Not only have multiple Department of Education (USED) studies1 concluded that the program has failed to improve educational outcomes for participating students, but two U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports have also identified its repeated management and accountability failures.2

We acknowledge that the proponents of the program may be able to point to some students who have gone to exemplary schools and seen improvement from the program. But according to government studies and investigative reports, these students are, unfortunately, the exception rather than the rule. Congress should not reauthorize this unsuccessful and poorly managed program.

(Read More)


May 24, 2016

The Honorable Virginia Foxx

Chair

 Subcommittee on Higher Education and

Workforce Training

Committee on Education and the Workforce

2176 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Rubén Hinojosa

Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Higher Education and

 Workforce Training

Committee on Education and the Workforce

2176 Rayburn House Office Building

 Washington, DC 20515

           RE: Subcommittee Hearing "Demanding Accountability at the Corporation for National and Community Service"

Dear Chairwoman Foxx and Ranking Member Hinojosa:

The undersigned organizations submit this letter for the record of today’s hearing, "Demanding Accountability at the Corporation for National and Community Service." We oppose further restrictions on women’s health care for those served by AmeriCorps members.

This hearing follows a recent investigation1 by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which reported that a few AmeriCorps members provided emotional support to women during abortion procedures at several New York City community health centers. CNCS OIG came to the flawed conclusion that the support in question violated the Serve America Act’s (SAA) restriction on "providing abortion services or referrals for receipt of such services.

(Read More)

 


May 23, 2016

Oppose Any Amendment to Defund EEOC Implementation or Revision of the EEO-1 in the FY 2017 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Bill

Dear Representative:

 

As organizations committed to equal pay and equal opportunity in the workplace, we write to urge you in the strongest possible terms to oppose any attempt to defund the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) implementation or revision of the Employer Information Report (EEO-1). Earlier this year, EEOC, in cooperation with the Department of Labor, proposed revising the EEO-1 to collect pay data from large private employers and federal contractors. Collecting these pay data will serve as a critical tool to identify pay discrimination, improve enforcement of pay discrimination laws, and increase voluntary employer compliance with those laws.

(Read More)

 


 

May 10, 2016

 

The Honorable Thad Cochran

Chairman

U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations

S-128, The Capitol

Washington, DC 20510

 

The Honorable Harold Rogers

Chairman

U.S. House Committee on Appropriations

H-305, The Capitol

Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Barbara Mikulski

 Vice Chairwoman

 U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations

 S-146A, The Capitol

 Washington, DC 20510

 

The Honorable Nita Lowey

Ranking Member

U.S. House Committee on Appropriations

1016 Longworth House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

 

Dear Chairman Cochran Vice Chairwoman Mikulski, Chairman Rogers, and Ranking Member Lowey:

 

As you continue consideration of individual appropriations bills for FY 2017, we write to strongly oppose the inclusion of ideological policy riders that are harmful to women’s health. Opponents of women’s health have long used the appropriations process to undermine women’s access to comprehensive reproductive care, including access to safe and legal abortion. We continue to strongly oppose policy riders that deny insurance coverage of abortion for women enrolled in Medicaid, women who work for the federal government, women who live in the District of Columbia, and others.

A number of new anti-women’s health policy riders were included in individual FY 2016 appropriations bills as they moved through the House Appropriations Committee. Additionally, a debate around funding for Planned Parenthood health centers threatened to shut down the entire federal government. This year we have already seen renewed interest by anti-women’s health organizations and Members of Congress to attach--or further expand-- harmful riders to FY 2017 appropriations bills. We oppose the poison-pill riders we have seen in past years, listed below, and any additional policy riders that would defund Planned Parenthood or harm women’s health.

(Read More)

 


 

May 10, 2016

Re: CARD Opposes Taxpayer-Funded Employment Discrimination

The Honorable John McCain

Chairman

Senate Committee on Armed Services

218 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

 

The Honorable Jack Reed

Ranking Member

Senate Committee on Armed Services

728 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

 

Dear Senator:

The 82 undersigned religious, education, civil rights, labor, and women’s organizations write to voice our strong opposition to any amendments to S. 2814, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2017, that would sanction taxpayer-funded employment discrimination.

 

The government should never fund discrimination and no taxpayer should be disqualified from a job under a federal contract or grant because he or she is the "wrong" religion.

 

We appreciate the important role religiously affiliated institutions historically have played in addressing many of our nation’s most pressing social needs, as a complement to government-funded programs. Indeed, many of us are directly involved in this work. We also recognize that the separation of church and state is the linchpin of religious freedom. In our view, effective government collaboration with faith-based groups does not require the sanctioning of federally funded religious discrimination.

(Read More)

 


April 27, 2016

 

The Honorable Richard Cordray Director

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

First Street NE

Washington, DC 20002

 Dear Director Cordray:

 The undersigned organizations commend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “Bureau”) for moving forward on a rulemaking to address the widespread harm resulting from forced arbitration, which blocks consumers from joining together to seek justice and forces them into individual arbitration. Lenders and other financial services companies use forced arbitration to push consumers out of court and into a private arbitration system that they tilt to favor large financial interests. The CFPB’s empirical findings in its comprehensive and evidence-based report on the use of arbitration clauses unequivocally demonstrate that forced arbitration imposes conditions that restrict consumers’ rights and block their access to courts, giving lenders an effective license to steal.

(Read More)


April 27, 2016

RE: NCPE Opposes H.R. 4901, the Reauthorization of the D.C. School Voucher Program

Dear Representative:

The 56 undersigned organizations write to voice opposition to H.R. 4901, the reauthorization of the District of Columbia private school voucher program. We oppose this and all private school voucher programs because public funds should be spent on public schools, not private schools. But the D.C. program, in particular, has proven ineffective and unaccountable to taxpayers. Not only have multiple Department of Education (USED) studies1 concluded that the program has failed to improve educational outcomes for participating students, but two U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports have also identified its repeated management and accountability failures.2

We acknowledge that supporters of this program may be able to point to some students who have gone to exemplary schools and seen improvement from the program. But according to government studies and investigative reports, these students are, unfortunately, the exception rather than the rule. Congress should not reauthorize this unsuccessful and poorly managed program.

(Read More)


April 26, 2016

The Honorable Mac Thornberry

Chairman

Committee on Armed Services

2216 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Adam Smith

Ranking Member

Committee on Armed Services

2216 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

 Dear Chairman Thornberry and Ranking Member Smith:

On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we write in strong opposition to the Kline amendment entitled “Nonapplicability of Certain Executive Order to Department of Defense and National Nuclear Security Administration” to the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act and to express our deep support for the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order. We are organizations dedicated to protecting workers, eliminating workplace discrimination and protecting access to justice. The Executive Order, as well as the regulations and guidance implementing it, represent a much needed step forward in ensuring that the federal contractor community is providing safe and fair workplaces for employees by encouraging compliance with federal labor and civil rights laws, and prohibiting the use of mandatory arbitration of certain disputes. The Kline amendment would gut the implementation of the Executive Order’s many important protections and, as a result, we urge you to reject it.

(Read More)


April 21, 2016

 Re: Senate Consideration of Supreme Court Nominee

 Dear Senator:

On behalf of the undersigned organizations committed to advancing women’s legal rights and protections, we write to urge you to consider the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to be an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court’s decisions give meaning to legal rights for women, including women's constitutional right to equality under the law and to make the most personal and private decisions, such as whether to have an abortion or to use contraception. The Court's decisions likewise are key in determining the scope and interpretation of statutes prohibiting sex discrimination at work and at school, and laws establishing civil rights, voting rights, and health and safety regulations. The Court’s decisions in these and many other areas of the law, such as affirmative action and immigration, affect the lives of women and girls across the country for generations. That is why women, and all those who rely on the courts for justice, need the Court to be functioning at full force.

(Read More)


April 13, 2016

The Honorable John Barrasso

Chairman

House Oversight & Government Reform

Committee

Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Elijah Cummings

Ranking Member

House Oversight & Government Reform

Committee

2230 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515

 

RE: NCPE Opposes H.R. 4901, the Reauthorization of the D.C. School Voucher Program

Dear Chairman Chaffetz and Ranking Member Cummings:

The 56 undersigned organizations write to voice opposition to H.R. 4901, the reauthorization of the District of Columbia private school voucher program. We oppose this and all private school voucher programs because public funds should be spent on public schools, not private schools. But the D.C. program, in particular, has proven ineffective and unaccountable to taxpayers. Not only have multiple Department of Education (USED) studies1 concluded that the program has failed to improve educational outcomes for participating students, but two U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports have also identified its repeated management and accountability failures

(Read More)


April 5, 2016

The Honorable John Barrasso

Chairman

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Jon Tester

Vice Chairman

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: NCPE Opposes S. 2711, the Native American Education Opportunity Act

Dear Chairman Barrasso and Vice Chairman Tester:

The 45 undersigned organizations submit this letter for the hearing on S. 2711, the “Native American Education Opportunity Act,” to express our strong opposition to private school vouchers in the form of Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). ESAs are effectively no different than vouchers; they place funding that would ordinarily support students attending public schools into an account for students to use on other education expenses, including private school tuition. Like vouchers, ESAs divert desperately-needed federal resources away from the primary school system students attend to fund the education of a few, select students in alternative settings. Furthermore, voucher and ESA programs lack accountability, do not improve educational outcomes of students, strip students of rights, and do real harm to the public school systems that educate the majority of students in a state or district.1 At a time when schools serving American Indian students are desperately in need of funding,2 Congress would better serve all American Indian students by using federal funds to make schools serving American Indian students stronger and safer than by allowing funds to flow to a separate voucher program.

(Read More)


March 23, 2016

INTERNATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING & REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RECOMMENDATIONS

FOR THE FY 2017 STATE-FOREIGN OPERATIONS BILL

 

Organization: 61 organizations supportive of international family planning and reproductive health programs

(see list of endorsers below)

 

Contact: Craig Lasher [email protected] (202) 557-3442

Jonathan Rucks [email protected] (202) 557-3422

 

Funding Request: a total of at least $1 billion for family planning and reproductive health programs, both bilateral and multilateral, with funding provided from the Global Health Programs account and the Economic Support Fund and from the International Organizations and Programs account in order to provide a $65 million voluntary contribution to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

 

Rationale/Background:

U.S. investments in family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) programs are cost-effective and deliver real results. FY 2015 funding of $610 million for international FP/RH programs (of which $35 million is a contribution to the United Nations Population Fund)—the last fiscal year for which programmatic impact data is currently available—made it possible to achieve the following:

 

h 28 million women and couples receive contraceptive services and supplies;

h 6 million unintended pregnancies, including 3 million unplanned births, are averted;

h 2.4 million induced abortions are averted (1.9 million of them unsafe); and

?h 12,000 maternal deaths are averted.1

(Read More)

 


March 18, 2016

The Honorable Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell

US Department of Health and Human Services

200 Independence Avenue SW

Washington, DC 20201

RE: Protect Women’s Access to Federally Supported Health Care

Dear Secretary Burwell:

As organizations committed to safeguarding and improving access to health care for all women, the undersigned urge the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take affirmative steps to protect peoples’ access to care under federally-supported programs. We thank HHS for its sustained commitment to expanding access to affordable, high-quality health care for Americans through implementation of the Affordable Care Act. In service of this commitment, we urgently request that HHS prevent states from excluding qualified women’s health providers from essential public health programs.

(Read More)


March 16, 2016

The Honorable Roy Blunt

Chairman

Appropriations Subcommittee on

Labor, Health and Human Services and Education

260 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Patty Murray

Ranking Member

Appropriations Subcommittee on

Labor, Health and Human Services and Education

154 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

 

The Honorable Tom Cole

Chairman

Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human

Services, Education, and Related Agencies

House Appropriations Committee

2467 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Rosa DeLauro

Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human

Services, Education, and Related Agencies

House Appropriations Committee

2413 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

 

Dear Chairman Blunt, Ranking Member Murray, Chairman Cole, and Ranking Member DeLauro:

As you develop Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and related agencies, the 61 undersigned members and associated organizations of the Family Planning Coalition respectfully request that you provide $327 million in funding for the Title X family planning program. Title X is the sole source of dedicated federal funding for family planning services for underserved populations. Strong support for the program is incredibly important given that four out of ten women who receive care at a Title X-funded health center consider it their only source of health care and six in ten women consider it their main source of care.i Moreover, more than 4.1 million women and men access life-saving health care such as birth control, cancer screenings, and testing for sexually transmitted infections through Title X health centers.ii

The organizations listed below collectively represent millions of administrators, providers, patients, researchers, and advocates who share the common mission of supporting and protecting federal funds for critical, cost-saving programs that provide family planning services to millions of women, men and families. By restoring resources for the Title X family planning program you will help protect access to the public health safety net for millions of poor and low-income women and men in need of high-quality health services.

(Read More)


March 15, 2016

Dear Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Leahy:

We write to you as organizations strongly opposed to the continued attacks on women’s health care. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing, “Late-Term Abortion: Protecting Babies Born Alive and Capable of Feeling Pain,” represents yet another tired, wasteful, and harmful attempt to push abortion out of reach for women. Abortion has been and will always be a part of women’s lives. While some members of this Committee are pursuing an anti-women’s health agenda and seeking to force women back into the dark ages and alleys, the undersigned organizations reject their efforts and stand firmly in support of a woman’s constitutional right to safe and legal abortion.

A woman’s health, not politics, should inform important medical decisions. This deeply personal decision should always be made by a woman in consultation with her doctor, family, and other individuals she trusts, not politicians. When a woman needs to end her pregnancy, it is important that she have access to safe, legal medical care, not roadblocks to that care.

(Read More)


March 14, 2016

The Honorable Barbara Mikulski

Ranking Member

Committee on Appropriations

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Nita Lowey

Ranking Member

Committee on Appropriations

United States Representative

Washington, DC 20515

 

The Honorable Harold Rogers

Chairman

Committee on Appropriations

United States Representative

Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Thad Cochran

Chairman

Committee on Appropriations

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairmen Cochran and Rogers and Ranking Members Mikulski and Lowey:

On behalf of the 80 undersigned organizations, dedicated to the health and welfare of our nation’s youth, we respectfully request your support for the requests below during the fiscal year (FY) 2017 funding deliberations. As organizations committed to supporting adolescent sexual health programs—the Office of Adolescent Health’s (OAH) Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Adolescent School Health (DASH)—we know firsthand the vital role these federal programs play in supporting the health of young people and communities.

The current federal investment in adolescent sexual health promotion programs is an important step in the right direction, but much remains to be done to strengthen, enhance, and expand these efforts. The availability and quality of sexual health information and sexuality education varies drastically across the country. Less than half of all high schools and only 20% of middle schools in the U.S. provide all 16 of the CDC-identified topics critical to ensuring sexual health. In addition, many young people face systemic barriers to accessing health information and services, resulting in persistent inequity and disparities.1

While the measure of sexual health and well-being is about more than just the absence of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unintended pregnancy, or sexual violence, the data on these points alone remain largely unchanged in recent years, continuing to highlight the need for additional resources to serve young people most in need of sexual health education.

(Read More)


March 2, 2016

The Honorable Shaun Donovan

Director

Office of Management and Budget

725 17th Street, NW

Washington DC 20503

Dear Director Donovan,

On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we write to express our support for the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order and to urge you to release the final rule as soon as possible.

We are organizations dedicated to eradicating all forms of discrimination in the workplace and promoting good jobs for women. This executive order is the latest in a series of important steps the President has taken to bring the federal contractor community closer to achieving these goals.

Employers that have the privilege of doing business with the federal government also have a responsibility to abide by the law. This executive order is crucial to the communities we represent because it helps ensure that federal contractors behave responsibly and ethically with respect to labor standards, civil rights laws and more. The executive order will ensure that companies applying for federal contracts have every incentive to comply with federal labor and employment laws, including for example the Fair Labor Standards Act (which includes the Equal Pay Act), Title VII, and the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and their state law equivalents. This will lead to fairer treatment for workers in the federal contractor workforce and raise awareness among other employers about their legal obligations. The executive order will also ban compulsory arbitration of claims of sexual harassment and sexual assault, which is critical to ensuring that workers can have their day in court.

(Read More)


February 17, 2016

The Honorable Robert C. “Bobby” Scott

United States House of Representatives

2101 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515

Re: The Pay Stub Disclosure Act

Dear Congressman Scott:

The undersigned organizations write in enthusiastic support for H.R. 4376, The Pay Stub Disclosure Act, which you and Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) introduced on January 13, 2016. As you know, wage theft is an epidemic that costs mostly low-wage workers tens of billions of dollars each year in unpaid wages. The legal tools they have at their disposal, be it thinly-resourced departments of labor or private lawsuits, are not available to far too many workers seeking to be properly paid for all of their work. The Pay Stub Disclosure Act is an important weapon in the fight against wage theft.

(Read More)


February 16, 2016

Dear Member of Congress:

As organizations dedicated to eliminating sex discrimination in the workplace and promoting policies that benefit women and working families, we urge you to support the Restoring Statutory Rights and Interests of the States Act of 2016 (“Restoring Statutory Rights Act”), introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The Restoring Statutory Rights Act would restore the rights of workers to pursue their state and federal law claims and obtain remedies in court rather than forcing arbitration of their claims. For women and all workers, access to courts is critically important to pursue remedies of civil rights violations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and family and medical leave claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.

The practice of forced arbitration is widespread and damaging. In a 2010 survey, 27 percent of employers—covering over 36 million employees, or one-third of the non-union workforce—reported that they required forced arbitration of employment disputes.1 Although arbitration can be a valid and effective method of dispute resolution when both parties voluntarily agree to arbitrate, forced arbitration clauses that limit an employee’s legal rights in a non-negotiable contract are abusive and erode employees’ traditional legal safeguards. For example, the ability to obtain key evidence necessary to prove one’s case is often restricted or eliminated in arbitration proceedings, and it can be nearly impossible to appeal adverse decisions by arbitrators.

(Read More)


February 2, 2016

The Honorable John Kline

Chairman

Education and the Workforce Committee

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Bobby Scott

Ranking Member

Education and the Workforce Committee

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, D.C. 20515

 Re: NCPE Opposes Private School Vouchers

Dear Chairman Kline and Ranking Member Scott:

The 56 undersigned organizations submit this letter for the hearing "Expanding Educational Opportunity through School Choice” to express our strong opposition to private school vouchers. Vouchers divert desperately-needed resources away from the public school system to fund the education of a few, select students, with limited, if any, real impact on student academic achievement. Instead of providing equal access to high quality education or setting high standards for accountability, voucher programs have proven ineffective, lack accountability to taxpayers, and deprive students of rights provided to public school students. Congress would better serve all children by using funds to make public schools stronger and safer than by creating a new voucher program.

(Read More)


January 21, 2016

Cosponsor the Workplace Action for a Growing Economy Act (WAGE Act)

Dear Senator: (This same letter was sent to the House of Representatives)

On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the 39 undersigned organizations, we urge you to co-sponsor the Workplace Action for a Growing Economy (WAGE) Act (S. 2042/H.R. 3514). Introduced by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA), this important legislation would amend the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by strengthening protections for working people who organize and promote change through collective action. The WAGE Act would increase protections for all working people and will help open up pathways to equal pay, increased safety in the workplace, and higher wages. The very best way to raise wages and turn the tide back in favor of working people is to protect and strengthen their right to speak out together. We applaud Senator Murray and Representative Scott for their work on this legislation, and urge you to co-sponsor it.

The Leadership Conference believes that our current labor laws protect American working people on paper, but that they lack tangible deterrents or penalties for employers that break the law and violate workers’ rights. This deficiency has a particularly pernicious effect on people of color and women. The WAGE Act would put teeth into the 80-year-old NLRA by establishing penalties for employers that illegally fire a worker or violate a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) order. The WAGE Act is a long overdue and much needed update to the NLRA that will protect working people’s fundamental right to discuss such topics as their wages, fair scheduling, sick leave, and equal pay. Currently, the NLRA protects the right of working people to join together in mutual aid and protection to make positive change at their workplaces – whether they are seeking to form a union -- but the penalties are too weak to meaningfully deter employers from breaking the law.

(Read More)


January 15, 2016

Celebrate Religious Freedom Day 2016

Dear Member of Congress,

This weekend, the United States will celebrate Religious Freedom Day 2016, which marks the 230th anniversary of the Virginia General Assembly’s adoption of the landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. This Statute, drafted by Thomas Jefferson and adopted in part thanks to advocacy by James Madison, provided the basis for the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects several foundational rights including freedom of religion.

We write as a diverse coalition of national religious, secularist and other organizations that advance religious freedom, to urge you to support the core principles emphasized within this Statute, and reflected in the First Amendment. These principles include two in particular that we deeply value.

  • Civil rights for all, regardless of individual religious beliefs: “Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.”

  • Robust freedom of religion, belief and expression: “All men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of Religion.”

Jefferson and Madison believed—as did others involved in drafting and adopting the Statute and First Amendment—that religious freedom is a fundamental and expansive right.

It is a fundamental right because each human being is endowed with a conscience, to which they alone have access and control. Government cannot coerce its people to change, abandon or adopt religious beliefs. It must respect that America is a nation comprised of individuals of varied and different religious and philosophical backgrounds; each person has the right to hold their own theological and moral views.

(Read More)


December 11, 2015

The Honorable Thad Cochran

Chairman

U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations

S-128, The Capitol

Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Barbara Mikulski

Vice Chairwoman

U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations

S-146A, The Capitol

Washington, DC 20510

 

The Honorable Harold Rogers

Chairman

U.S. House Committee on Appropriations

H-305, The Capitol

Washington, DC 20515

 

The Honorable Nita Lowey

Vice Chairwoman

U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations

1016 Longworth House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

 

Dear Chairman Cochran, Vice Chairwoman Mikulski, Chairman Rogers, and Ranking Member Lowey:

 

The undersigned organizations write in strong opposition to the inclusion of the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act (ANDA), or similar language, in a year- end funding agreement. ANDA is an extreme, poison pill rider that would undermine women’s ability to obtain abortion care, including in life-threatening circumstances. In the Hobby Lobby decision, the sharply-divided Supreme Court allowed certain bosses’ beliefs to trump women’s health. Like the result in Hobby Lobby, ANDA would allow women’s health and lives to come second to the beliefs of others—with dangerous results for women. It would radically expand the Weldon Amendment, a harmful annual appropriations rider that already obstructs access to abortion care. ANDA would create a new right for health care entities to refuse to “participate in” abortion care—“participate in” is a vague term that could result in a hospital turning away a woman in a life-threatening situation who needs emergency abortion

care or a health care provider refusing to give her complete information about her health, including whether abortion is a treatment option. Not only that, it would open the door to frivolous lawsuits by allowing a wide range of individuals and entities to sue in federal court in order to block a range of policies that help ensure women have access to abortion.

(Read More)

 


December 11, 2015

The Honorable Thad Cochran

Chairman

U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations

113 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Barbara Mikulski

Vice Chairwoman

U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations

503 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

 

The Honorable Harold Rogers

Chairman

U.S. House Committee on Appropriations

2406 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

 

The Honorable Nita Lowey

Vice Chairwoman

U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations

2365 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

RE: NCPE Opposes Reauthorization of the D.C. School Voucher Program in the FY 2016 Omnibus Appropriations Bill

Dear Chairman Cochran, Ranking Member Mikulski, Chairman Rogers, and Ranking Member Lowey:

The 55 undersigned organizations write to voice opposition to reauthorizing the District of Columbia private school voucher program as part of the FY 2016 Omnibus Appropriations bill. We oppose this and all private school voucher programs because public funds should be spent on public schools, not private schools. But the D.C. program, in particular, has proven ineffective and unaccountable to taxpayers. Not only have multiple Department of Education (USED) studies1 concluded that the program has failed to improve educational outcomes for participating students, but two U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports have also identified its repeated management and accountability failures.2

(Read More)


November 19, 2015

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch

U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20530

Dear Attorney General Lynch,

We, the undersigned, urge the Department of Justice to investigate the recent attacks on reproductive-­ health clinics using all appropriate federal statutes, including domestic terrorism. Since the release of the first deceptively edited video from the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) intended to vilify Planned Parenthood, and, by proxy, all abortion providers, anti-­choice extremists have launched an unprecedented and multi-­pronged assault against women's reproductive rights.

As you know, beginning in July when the first video was released and continuing through recent weeks, there have been multiple arson attacks and an outrageous number of threats against abortion providers. It's clear that anti-­choice extremists are using these videos as an excuse to commit violent attacks against trusted women's health clinics. When hate rhetoric and threats incite violence, those responsible for committing violence need to be investigated for their acts of domestic terrorism.

(Read More)


November 19, 2015

75 Organizations Oppose the Workplace Advancement Act (S. 2200)

Dear Senator:

On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we write to express our opposition to the Workplace Advancement Act (S. 2200). This inadequate bill suggests that there is just one solution to address the gender pay gap: a very weak non-retaliation provision that is so narrowly drawn it would do more harm than good. In addition, the bill includes a sense of the Congress that recommits to the legal principles previously passed in the Equal Pay Act of 1963, a law that no longer has the teeth necessary to make meaningful strides in closing the gender pay gap.

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November 19, 2015

The Honorable Thad Cochran

Chairman

U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations

S-128, The Capitol

Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Barbara Mikulski

Vice Chairwoman

U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations

S-146A, The Capitol

Washington, DC 20510

 

The Honorable Harold Rogers

Chairman

U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations

H305, The Capitol

Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Nita Lowey

Ranking Member

U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations

1016 Longworth House Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Cochran, Vice Chairwoman Mikulski, Chairman Rogers, and Ranking Member Lowey:

As you complete fiscal year (FY) 2016 appropriations, the undersigned organizations write to strongly oppose funding cuts for programs that family planning providers rely on to provide quality care to millions of women, men, and young people, as well as to oppose ideological policy riders that are harmful to women’s health.

We are encouraged by the recent passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA) and the critical sequestration relief that legislation provides to nondefense discretionary (NDD) programs. Funding for NDD programs including public health remains far too low: even with the passage of BBA, NDD funding for 2016 will be 12% below the 2010 level when adjusted for inflation. But as Congress continues its attacks on publicly funded family planning providers that deliver critical, high-quality health care services to millions people each year, we are concerned the essential public health programs that support providers’ work, such as the Title X Family Planning Program, will remain targets for politically motivated cuts in FY 2016 appropriations legislation.

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November 19, 2015

The Honorable Thad Cochran

Chairman

Committee o Appropriations

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Barbara Mikulski

Ranking Member

Committee o Appropriations

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

 

The Honorable Harold Rogers

Chairman

Committee o Appropriations

United States House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Nita Lowey

Ranking Member

Committee o Appropriations

United States House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Cochran, Vice Chairwoman Mikulski, Chairman Rogers, and Ranking Member Lowey:

As you head into the final negotiations on FY 2016 appropriations, we encourage you to fund international family planning and reproductive health at no less than $612.6 million, including $35 million for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the amounts requested by President Obama and approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee. We believe this is an important step toward meeting the United States’ fair share of global need—calculated at just over $1 billion—for these critical programs which are cost-effective, save lives, and support our broader global health, development, and foreign policy priorities.

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Posts prior to November 19, 2015

 

 

June 8, 2016

Request for Presidential Action to Ensure the Availability of Pregnancy Accommodations for Federal Employees

 

June 7, 2016

NCPE Opposes Reauthorization of the D.C. School Voucher Program in the FY 2017 Financial Services Appropriations Bill

 

May 24, 2016

Accountability at the Corporation for National and Community Service

 

May 23, 2016

Oppose Any Amendment to Defund EEOC Implementation or Revision of the EEO-1 in the FY 2017 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Bill

 

May 10, 2016

We strongly oppose the inclusion of ideological policy riders that are harmful to women’s health

 

May 10, 2016

CARD Opposes Taxpayer-Funded Employment Discrimination

 

April 27, 2016

The undersigned organizations commend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

 

April 27, 2016

NCPE Opposes H.R. 4901, the Reauthorization of the D.C. School Voucher Program

 

April 26, 2016

The undersigned organizations, we write in strong opposition to the Kline amendment

 

April 21, 2016

Senate Consideration of Supreme Court Nominee

 

April 13, 2016

NCPE Opposes H.R. 4901, the Reauthorization of the D.C. School Voucher Program

 

April 5, 2016

NCPE Opposes S. 2711, the Native American Education Opportunity Act

 

March 23, 2016

Recommendations for Family planning and reproductive health programs

 

March 18, 2016

Protect Women’s Access to Federally Supported Health Care

 

March 16, 2016

The Family Planning Coalition respectfully request that you provide $327 million in funding for the Title X family planning program

 

March 15, 2016

Organizations strongly opposed to the continued attacks on women’s health care

 

March 14, 2016

Organizations committed to supporting adolescent sexual health programs

 

March 2, 2016

Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order

 

Feburary 17, 2016

The Pay Stub Disclosure Act

 

Feburary 16, 2015

Organizations dedicated to eliminating sex discrimination in the workplace and promoting policies that benefit women and working families

 

Feburary 2, 2016

NCPE Opposes Private School Vouchers

 

January 21, 2016

Cosponsor the Workplace Action for a Growing Economy Act (WAGE Act)

 

January 15, 2016

Celebrate Religious Freedom Day 2016

 

December 11, 2015

NCPE Opposes Reauthorization of the D.C. School Voucher Program in the FY Omnibus Appropriations Bill

 

December 11, 2015

Strong opposition to the inclusion of the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act

 

November 19, 2015

We, the undersigned, urge the Department of Justice to investigate the recent attacks on reproductive-­ health clinics using all appropriate federal statutes, including domestic terrorism

 

November 19, 2015

Organizations Oppose the Workplace Advancement Act (S. 2200)

 

November 19, 2015

The undersigned organizations write to strongly oppose funding cuts for programs that family planning providers rely on to provide quality care to millions of women, men, and young people

 

November 19, 2015

Fund international family planning and reproductive health