In the final weeks of this 108th Congress, several issues of major importance to the Catholic Bishops were addressed. These provisions were enacted, or in some instances rejected, because of major lobbying efforts by the USCCB. As Congress finalized its work, the USCCB Office of Government Liaison urged it to take action on a number of issues of importance to the Bishops.

Following is a brief description of those issues from a report prepared by the Office of Government Liaison and sent to the Bishops on December 17:

Passage of Hyde/Weldon "Conscience Protection Amendment" - The bill included the Hyde/Weldon "Conscience Protection Amendment" that prevents any institutional or individual health care entity from being discriminated against for refusing to provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions. It protects not only physicians and other health care professionals but any kind of health care facility, organization or plan. It culminated a four-year campaign led by the USCCB, the Catholic Health Association, and the Catholic Medical Association, with grass roots support engendered by the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment.

Funding for Catholic School Students Restored - Funding for a long-standing program of assistance to Catholic school students, Title V, "Innovative Programs," was nearly eliminated by the House and had been completely eliminated by the Senate. A broad based lobbying effort led by the USCCB, and including Bishops and parents, convinced the Congress to restore $200 million of the funding for this program.

Preventing Expansion of the Death Penalty - On December 8, the Congress passed S. 2845, the "Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act." The original bill that passed the House (H.R. 10) included eight new federal death penalty expansion provisions for terrorists. The USCCB publicly opposed and worked to eliminate these provisions. The final bill did not contain any expansion of the death penalty.

Immigration - As the 108th Congress drew to a close, USCCB led an effort to defeat 12 far-reaching immigration provisions that were contained in the intelligence reform act. Among them were provisions that would have prohibited states from issuing drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants, required immigration authorities to summarily deport without judicial review persons suspected of being undocumented, made it more difficult for refugees to obtain asylum in the United States, and permitted the government to deport aliens to countries where they are likely to be tortured.

"As a result of interventions by USCCB and allied organizations, Congress rejected each of these provisions," the report noted. "However," it continued, "the fact that the House of Representatives gave preliminary approval to them earlier suggests how vulnerable immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are to the immigration restrictionist agenda, a vulnerability that will likely continue into the 109th Congress."

Earlier in the fall the Congress enacted two other laws, one addressing new requirements to serve disabled students, the other, passage of the "Justice for All Act."

More details on this legislation can be found in the

Office of Government Liaison year-end legislative report, www.usccb.org/ogl