Nothing short of amazing.

Nothing short of amazing. Early this morning the Senate rejected the latest attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. I know that it was your prayers, actions and advocacy that made this possible. You demanded that your elected officials put our concern for our neighbors ahead of politics and they responded just in time.  This outcome is a testimony to the power of your voices and your stories.

Through the Justice and Peace Action Network alone UCC advocates have sent nearly 7,000 messages to the Hill on health care. More than 4,500 messages went to the Senate in just the last two months. That is an unprecedented uprising and people in Washington are taking notice.  This week on Capitol Hill you could not go anywhere without running into faithful advocates. We were in the halls of the Senate, on the grounds of the Capitol, even in the Senate Gallery lifting up our cry for justice. I couldn’t be more proud.

Here are two ways to celebrate this moment:

1.  Say Thank You – Send a message of thanks to the Senators who stood strongly against these flawed health care proposals. Let all of them know that we are ready to work to strengthen our nation’s health care system.
2. Give – We have a small but mighty team working in our Washington Office to track legislation and make it easy for all of us to engage in timely advocacy. Your gifts to Justice & Witness Ministries make this work possible. If you have appreciated our UCC updates, action alerts and public witnesses on Capitol Hill please donate to support this work.

We know the work is not over. We will remain vigilant and steadfast in responding to future attacks on health care, including threats to Mediciad posed by the FY 2018 budget proposal. We are ready to advocate for changes that will improve and strengthen our current laws, so that health care can be truly affordable, accessible and equitable for all people. This will not be easy work, but if this last round has taught us nothing else, it is that we can do impossible and powerful things with God.

In Solidarity,

Sandy Sorensen
Director, United Church of Christ Washington Office