Sep 22 2017
0

Capitol Hill Brief — Who Fights Our Battles?

By | Blog, Capitol Hill Brief, Religious Liberty | No Comments

 

I’ve told you this week that Concerned Women for America submitted just last week an important legal brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

This is the case of the Christian baker being forced to design a custom-made wedding cake for a same-sex wedding — in violation of his deeply-held religious beliefs.

But we at CWA know the battle is more than a legal one; it is a spiritual one.  That is why we have mobilized our more than 500 prayer-action chapters around the country to lift the justices, our attorney writing the brief, and the attorneys that will give the oral arguments up in prayer.

It’s vital that president Trump knows he has our support in fighting for conservative, Christian values. Please sign the open letter at www.CapitolHillBrief.org and express your support of his administration’s protection of religious freedom. If you’d like to hear these commentaries on the radio, find me on your local radio station.

 

Sep 21 2017
0

Capitol Hill Brief — Free Speech

By | Blog, Capitol Hill Brief, Religious Liberty | No Comments

 

Here’s the second constitutional violation by the government in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Supreme Court case we’ve been highlighting this week.

Again, this case involves a Christian baker that is being forced to design a custom-made wedding cake for a same-sex wedding celebration in violation of his deeply held religious beliefs.

We discussed the violation of the baker’s free exercise of religion, as he is required to violate his religious beliefs under threat of law.

But even beyond that, the government also violates the artist’s freedom of speech, as he is compelled to use his artistic expression to promote speech that he disagrees with.

Would you help us pray for this important case?

It’s vital that president Trump knows he has our support in fighting for conservative, Christian values. Please sign the open letter at www.CapitolHillBrief.org and express your support of his administration’s protection of religious freedom. If you’d like to hear these commentaries on the radio, find me on your local radio station.

 

Sep 21 2017
0

The Committee on Marijuana Legalization Implementation Needs to Hear From You!

By | Maine | No Comments

There is a hearing scheduled at the State House for next Tuesday, September 26, before the Committee on Marijuana Legalization Implementation (MLI) concerning LR 2395. This is the bill that amends the marijuana legalization act and lays the groundwork for the regulatory framework for retail marijuana.  The purpose of this hearing is to listen to the perspective of the people of Maine.  We need to send a simple message to the committee members: Recommend the legislature overturn the 2016 Question 1 vote!

Click here to read the draft bill.

The MLI committee chairs, Sen. Roger Katz and Rep. Teresa Pearce, keep talking about how they want to “get it right” to eliminate the black market. However, we all know that is not an attainable goal.  In their quest, it seems they are providing a lot of deference to the medical marijuana lobby, which obviously wants to make a profit.

This is detrimental to the citizens of Maine for many reasons such as:

  • It is against federal law
  • Makes it easier for underage children to possess
  • Revenues will not keep up with costs of law enforcement and regulation
  • Will entice unproductive out-of-staters to come to Maine
  • Can cause impaired driving
  • An opioid crisis already exists in Maine

I will be testifying on behalf of CWA of Maine concerning LR 2395.

The Committee on Marijuana Legalization Implementation needs to hear from you!

Take Action:

  1. Contact each member of the committee before next Tuesday and ask them to overturn the 2016 vote on Question 1. Click here for their names and contact information.
  2. If at all possible, attend the hearing and/or present a testimony to provide a voice in defense of public health, youth, communities, and public safety. The hearing will be at the State House at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 26, in room 228.  Contact me if you plan to testify and I will give you further instructions.

 Please Pray: Father God, we ask You to protect Maine from marijuana and to convince our lawmakers to repeal legalization of recreational marijuana.  James 4:2 says, “We have not because we ask not.”

For health and wellbeing,

Penny Morrell

State Director
CWA of Maine
[email protected]
me.cwfa.org

Sep 21 2017
0

Senators Roberts and Moran Need to Hear From You Concerning Lower-Court Nominations

By | Kansas | No Comments

Earlier this month, at the Concerned Women for America (CWA) Leadership Training Conference in Washington, D.C., I had the opportunity to lobby our senators on Capitol Hill concerning the issue of lower-court vacancies.

There are currently over 140 vacancies in the federal district and appellate courts.  This is a unique opportunity to secure the judicial branch of government by ensuring the judges appointed to these seats are constitutionalists, not activists legislating from the bench.  Thanks to our hardworking grassroots volunteers, Concerned Women for America was instrumental in the confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch. CWA can multiply that impact across the federal lower courts.  However, gridlock in the Senate is slowing the confirmation process of judicial and executive nominees.

Solution: Reasonable gridlock reform should be enacted to allow a simple majority vote to open debate on legislation, while keeping the filibuster rule of a 60-vote requirement to end debate.

We have a golden opportunity to secure the federal judicial system’s foundation of constitutional jurisprudence and to fight back against judicial activism. There are over 140 judicial vacancies, 59 of which are considered judicial emergencies.

One problem is that there is gridlock in the Senate, and it is holding up the confirmation process.  A total of 206 judicial and executive branch nominees were confirmed during the first six months of Obama’s presidency. Meanwhile, President Trump has only secured 55 judicial and executive confirmations in his first six months.  At this rate, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) says it would take 11 years to confirm President Trump’s nominees.

The solution to the gridlock is reform.  We must maintain the integrity of the Founders’ intent for the Senate to be a slower-moving body, but update certain Senate rules and procedures to limit the gridlock.  Currently, the process is to have a 60-vote threshold to begin debate and 60-vote threshold to end debate.

CWA wants to keep the filibuster: The 60-vote threshold to end debate is a key tenet of Senate procedure to protect the voice of the minority party.  We want to end the 60-vote requirement to start debate.  This would allow the majority party to open discussion on legislation while protecting the minority party with the filibuster still in place.

Sens. Roberts (R-KS) and Moran (R-KS) both claim to be institutionalists.  This means they do not like to change what has been traditionally done.  Obviously, their approach has not worked well, because the opposing party has taken full advantage of this.

 

Please Pray for Sens. Roberts and Moran. Pray that they will see beyond tradition and realize what is necessary to allow constitutionalists, not activists, into our lower courts.

 Take Action: Please contact Sen. Roberts here and Sen. Moran here.  First, let them know that as a member of Concerned Women for America, you are grateful that the CWA of Kansas State Director, Barbara Saldivar, and her team met with the senators’ staffers on September 8 in Washington, D.C., to discuss the lower-court vacancies. Please reiterate the message that we want gridlock in the Senate to end. Also ask for consideration in ending the 60-vote requirement to start debate and changing it to a simple majority vote.

Thank you for your faithful prayers, action, and support of Concerned Women for America of Kansas.

Blessings,

Barbara Saldivar
State Director
CWA of Kansas
P.O. Box 8331
Topeka, KS  66608
(765) 260-5659

[email protected]
ks.cwfa.org

Sep 21 2017
0

Time to Sign up for the 2018 Encourage-A-Legislator Program

By | Virginia | No Comments

We thank God for our wonderful volunteers who facilitate our Encourage-A-Legislator (EAL) project every year.  Some of you have been with us from the beginning.  Can you believe this will be our 10th year encouraging and praying for our state leaders?  CWA of Virginia is known at the capitol as, “The group who prays.”  What a testimony!

If you have not participated in our EAL Program in the past, know that this program is focused solely on prayer and encouragement to our state legislators.  Starting the second week in January of 2018 our EAL participants simply pray for an assigned legislator every day of the eight week legislative session and send a postcard once a week to their assigned legislator with encouraging words letting them know that they are being prayed for each day. This is not a lobbying effort but a ministry to the legislators.  Whether a legislator is a believer, non-believer, conservative, liberal, democrat, republican, independent, or other, they are in desperate need of prayer.

Each year, we recruit over 100 volunteers to help us out with our EAL program, and this year is no different.  Ideally, we would have 143 volunteers to cover 40 Senators, 100 Delegates, Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General.   Will you volunteer for this inspiring ministry?

Once signed up, participants receive a packet near the end of December or beginning of January.  The packet includes instructions, the name and biography of their assigned legislator, and eight CWA of Virginia EAL postcards.

Year after year, we receive many letters of appreciation from the legislators expressing their gratitude for the many postcards of prayer and encouragement they received.

Sign up today by e-mailing me at [email protected] or call me at 434-525-6705.  I will need your name, address, phone number, and how many legislators you would like to encourage.

Click here for the brochure.  Print and distribute freely.

Please forward this on to friends and family who you think may be interested in participating.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Praying along with you,

Janet Stasulli
Encourage-A-Legislator Coordinator
CWA of Virginia
434-525-6705
[email protected]

Sep 20 2017
0

Graham-Cassidy Bill: Last Chance for Health Care Reform

By | News and Events, Planned Parenthood, Press Releases, Sanctity of Life, Senate Legislative Updates, Uncategorized | No Comments

Washington, D.C. – Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) as well as Sens. Dean Heller (R-Nevada) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) have teamed up and introduced a bill that gives power over health care decisions back to the states and the American people. The Graham-Cassidy health care bill is the Senate’s last chance to pass health care reform with a simple majority vote through the reconciliation process in 2017. The Senate has a hard deadline of September 30.

Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America issued the following statement in response:

“Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee is proud to support the Graham-Cassidy health care bill. It is time to make good on the promise made to the American people to end ObamaCare.

“There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution for health care. Sens. Graham and Cassidy have provided a bill that gives power back to the states.

“Improving health care means protecting life at all stages, and Graham-Cassidy does just that. This legislation ensures that no funds within the bill will be, or can be, used to subsidize plans that provide abortion coverage &emdash; something every other bill has failed to address. Most importantly, it redirects Medicaid funds away from Planned Parenthood and gives them to federally qualified health centers which provide care for the whole woman.

“All the funds provided through this legislation will go through CHIP (Child Health Insurance Programs) &emdash; a bipartisan effort to ensure underprivileged children are able to receive healthcare. It is time to give Americans real care instead of “insurance” that is not worth the plastic on which it is printed.

“While it may not solve every problem plaguing the American health care and insurance industry, Graham-Cassidy is a vast improvement over the status quo, providing momentum that enables other issues to be addressed.

“The American people have been waiting eight years to be given back their right to make their own health care choices.

“Now is the time to make good on the promise made to the American people.”

For an interview with Penny Nance contact Annabelle Rutledge at [email protected] or 916-792-3973.

Sep 20 2017
0

Capitol Hill Brief — Free Exercise

By | Blog, Capitol Hill Brief, News and Events, Religious Liberty | No Comments

 

The government’s action in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Supreme Court case we’ve been highlighting this week, violates two provisions of the First Amendment.

This is the case where a Christian baker is being forced to design a custom-made wedding cake for a same-sex wedding celebration in violation of his deeply held religious beliefs.

This is a violation of the Free exercise clause which says that, “Congress shall make no law… prohibiting the free exercise” of religion.

Here Jack, the artist, is being prevented from exercising his religious beliefs through his artistic work. He may ultimately go to jail if he insists on living out what he believes. Outrageous!

It’s vital that president Trump knows he has our support in fighting for conservative, Christian values. Please sign the open letter at www.CapitolHillBrief.org and express your support of his administration’s protection of religious freedom. If you’d like to hear these commentaries on the radio, find me on your local radio station.

 

Sep 20 2017
0

For America (Day 81)

By | Legal, News and Events, Prayer | No Comments

foramericaprayerjournal
All-loving God, Creator, Savior,
You are our safety and refuge.
Provider, Sustainer, All-forgiving Father,
We lay all our anxieties before You.

With a thankful heart, conscious
That all is a gift from You,
We come with sincere supplications
And prayers for our people.

Our undeserved blessings are always before us.
Each day, the sun and air, the stars and rain
Proclaim Your mercies anew,
And we are reminded of our dependent state.

Thank You.
Thank You for a minute of peace,
For silence to think and dream.
Thank You for laughter and consolation.

Thank You for friendships and
Family, and colleagues,
Leaders, and talented artists.
Thank You for music.

Thank You for the universe —
The wonder and mystery of it all.
Thank You for this place we call “Earth” —
And for the United States.

Thank You for freedom and liberty.
Thank You for the blessing of community.
Thank You for language and our limited understanding.
Thank You for the blessing of work.

We thank You for those who serve
Unselfishly to protect our freedoms
Around the world. Putting their lives on the line,
Allowing the Great Commission to spread.

We pray Your protection on them,
Your blessings upon their families.
Help us to be sensitive to their needs,
And quick to give sacrificially to their aid.

We pray for wisdom for our leaders:
For the president, vice-president,
Heads of departments, security and intelligent officials;
We pray for our judges.

We ask most earnestly for a Great Awakening.
Let Your Word rule every heart, house, town, and state.
Let Your songs spread through the air
In the land of the free, the home of the brave.

Amen.

—
Click here for more prayers from our For America Prayer Journal.

Sep 19 2017
0

Capitol Hill Brief — What You Didn’t Know

By | Blog, Capitol Hill Brief, Religious Liberty | No Comments

 

I told you yesterday that the next step in the efforts to marginalize Christian beliefs has reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The case is Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

You know the pattern, a Christian baker is, once again, being forced under threat of law to use his artistic talents to help celebrate same-sex “marriage,” in violation of his deeply held religious beliefs.

But did you know the Civil Rights Commission ordered Jack, the owner in this case, not only to create the cake, but also to re-train his staff and to report to the Commission every order he declines for any reason for the next two years.

This should send chills down your spine. We should pray.

It’s vital that president Trump knows he has our support in fighting for conservative, Christian values. Please sign the open letter at www.CapitolHillBrief.org and express your support of his administration’s protection of religious freedom. If you’d like to hear these commentaries on the radio, find me on your local radio station.

 

Sep 18 2017
0

Capitol Hill Brief — Supreme Court Brief

By | Blog, Capitol Hill Brief, Defense of Family, Religious Liberty | No Comments

 

Last week, Concerned Women for America submitted an amicus brief (which is just a fancy way of saying a “friend-of-the-court” brief) in a very important First Amendment case before the U.S. Supreme Court.  The name is Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

This is the case where a Christian baker is being forced to use his artistic talents to help celebrate same-sex “marriage,” in violation of his deeply held religious beliefs, by designing a custom-made wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

For the government to compel speech in this manner, under threat of law, is a violation of both freedom of speech and religious liberty.  Would you help us pray for this important case?

It’s vital that president Trump knows he has our support in fighting for conservative, Christian values. Please sign the open letter at www.CapitolHillBrief.org and express your support of his administration’s protection of religious freedom. If you’d like to hear these commentaries on the radio, find me on your local radio station.