RESULTS Weekly Update July 30, 2024

Quote of the Week

“During the pandemic, the expanded Child Tax Credit was a lifeline for millions of families. However, I was one of the many who couldn’t benefit from it.”

– RESULTS Expert on Poverty Tia Simmons in a July 17 op-ed in Other Words

Table of Contents

• The Senate is voting on the CTC bill this Thursday!
• Join Saturday’s National Webinar to talk strengthening democracy with Melanie Vant
• How will you make poverty an election issue this year?
• Quick News on U.S. and Global Poverty
• Announcements
• Upcoming Events
• Grassroots Resources

The Senate is voting on the CTC bill this Thursday!

Your hard work is paying off! After months of relentless advocacy to senators by you, the Senate has at last scheduled a vote on H.R. 7024, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act. This is the bill that would expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for 16 million children in families with low incomes. The bill passed the House by a wide margin in January and advocates have been pushing the Senate to vote on the bill ever since. Now it is happening.

The vote is scheduled for this Thursday at 1:30 p.m. ET. Remember, in the Senate, most bills require a minimum of two votes. The first is to limit debate on the bill (motion to proceed or MTP) and the second is the vote on final passage of the bill. The first vote requires 60 votes, the second only 51. Therefore, the first vote is the ballgame. If that vote fails, there is no second vote. The bill is essentially dead.

Because of the make-up of the Senate, the MTP vote will require bipartisan support to get 60 votes. While we are hopeful, we understand the current political climate in which the vote will occur. Being less than 100 days before the election, we don’t know how the vote will turn out. Regardless, your advocacy has moved this bill to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds and we will not give up on the millions of children in this country living in poverty.

TAKE ACTION: Call your senators NOW and urge them to vote YES on H.R. 7024 when it comes to a vote on Thursday! Call (202) 224-3121 and ask for your senator’s office (be sure to call both offices). When connected, leave this message:

“My name is _______________ and I am a constituent from ______________. I am calling to urge Senator _______________ to vote YES on H.R. 7024, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act. This bill would expand the Child Tax Credit for 16 million children, giving working families critical resources to lift themselves from poverty. This bill has strong bipartisan support and I urge the Senator to advance the bill and support its final passage. Please urge Sen. __________ to stand up for children and families by voting YES on HR. 7024. Thank you for your time.”

Please urge others you know to call as well. You can also email senators (but calls are better) using our online CTC action alert.

Join Saturday’s National Webinar to talk strengthening democracy with Melanie Vant

Join us this Saturday, August 3 for the RESULTS National Webinar. In July, we kicked off our Election Engagement Campaign with Brad Fitch of the Congressional Management Foundation. He shared research highlighting what really works in advocacy with congressional offices. This month, we continue our election engagement conversation with Melanie Vant as our guest speaker. Melanie is the Director of USAID’s Democracy Delivers Initiative (she is also a former RESULTS employee). With her, we’ll look at the state of democracy in the world and the essential elements of thriving democracies. We’ll also look at what this means for us as we deepen our democratic participation as part of our Election Engagement Campaign.

Also on the webinar, we will provide resources to help you interact with candidates and incumbents and continue to get them on the record on U.S. and global poverty issues.

Finally, after 19 years at RESULTS, we will bid a bittersweet farewell to Director of Grassroots Impact Ken Patterson, who is retiring at the end of August. Please join us!

TAKE ACTION: Register for the August National Webinar at www.tinyurl.com/RESULTS2024. The webinar is this Saturday, August 3 at 1:00 p.m. ET. Once registered, registrants will receive their confirmation and Zoom link a day or two before the webinar (be sure to check your junk mail if you don’t see it). You can find the slides and recordings from all our webinars on our National Webinars page. If you have questions, please contact RESULTS staff.

How will you make poverty an election issue this year?

Last week, the House abruptly tabled appropriations bills they were considering and started their August recess early. The Senate will adjourn this week. Both chambers will be on recess until September 9.

While it is frustrating to see Congress take a break when they have so much left to do, their weeks-long presence back home is a terrific opportunity for advocates to step up. And RESULTS is ready.

On the July National Webinar, we kicked off our Election Engagement campaign. The goal of this campaign is to make poverty an election issue. By Election Day (November 5), we want discussions on how a new Congress and new President will address poverty. We will do this by meeting with lawmakers and candidates, attending events to ask them questions, speaking to their staff, generating media, and any other way we can to raise these issues over the next 98 days before the election.

For instance, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court allowing cities to make homelessness a crime, what will candidates do to address rising rental costs making it more difficult to find affordable housing? Or what will candidates do to address the tragedy of thousands of children under 5 dying each day from completely preventable malnutrition? Candidates should be asked these questions (and others) about their plans to reduce poverty. The more we ask, the more they will feel pressure to do something.

TAKE ACTION: Start planning how you will engage with candidates to make poverty an election issue. Our Community of Change page under “Make Elections about Poverty” has helpful resources including an election engagement guide. This guide has how-to’s, specific questions for candidates, and links to recent webinars on election advocacy. As always, please reach out to RESULTS staff for questions or attend one of our election engagement office hours beginning next week (see dates in our Events Calendar).

Quick News on U.S. and Global Poverty

Keep pushing for Gavi co-sponsors Twenty-four members of the House have put their names behind a resolution on Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which is an exciting start. But we need many more supporters, both in the House and in the Senate. What do these key resolutions address? Increasing access to routine vaccines during childhood. Last year, almost 5 million children still died before their fifth birthday; we cannot stand for this. We’re encouraged that, during the recent Gavi pre-pledging conference, the Biden Administration pledged at least $1.58 billion over five years. But we must see it through. Please ask your legislators to co-sponsor the Gavi resolutions currently in the Senate (S.Res. 684) and the House (H.Res.1286). Use our online action today to make your requests.

Join Global Policy Forum on malnutrition. Nutrition is one of the most important factors to a strong start in life. Unfortunately, nearly half of all preventable child deaths have malnutrition as an underlying cause. We can and must do better. Join RESULTS for a new Global Policy Forum to learn more about the state of nutrition around the world and how your advocacy will ensure the US plays its part in the global fight against malnutrition. The forum is Thursday, August 15 at 9:00 p.m. ET. Register here.

Senate passes foreign assistance bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 out of committee. We have good news. The Senate State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee on Appropriations largely maintained our funding priorities in their State and Foreign Operations bill. Moreover, it includes crucial global health language. Check out the analysis on our blog.

Announcements

Keep up those summer meetings! Thank you to all of you who have gathered in-person this summer to take action. It’s not too late to plan your own gathering. We are promoting them all summer. Take your advocacy on the road (even if it’s just up the road), engage new people, and call on Congress to end poverty. Find resources to help on our Community of Change page. And after your meeting, please let us know how it went by completing our new Outreach Report Form.

Join tomorrow’s New Advocate Mentor Community Call. Tomorrow, July 31, at 8:00 p.m. ET, join the New Advocate Mentors community for a reflection and strategizing session on engaging new volunteers in our movement. All are welcome! Please come and share your thoughts on how we can mobilize more people into anti-poverty action. Your thoughts are so important so we can fully maximize our impact during the busy election season. We look forward to seeing you! Register today.

Check out our 2023 annual report! In 2023, RESULTS advocates published nearly 600 pieces of media and met with congressional offices 377 times – more than one meeting a day. We demanded economic justice in the tax code for families and children, stable and affordable housing, adequate nutrition for children everywhere, and access to healthcare and education for the most vulnerable around the world. And we got results! Read the 2023 annual report.

ICYMI: Fellows tell of their DC lobbying. Last Thursday, three passionate RESULTS Fellows went “behind the scenes” for the webinar Making an impact on Capitol Hill. Through stories, videos, and photos taken that day, they described what it’s like to walk the halls of Congress, how their meetings went, and how RESULTS is changing their lives. Watch and share the recording.

Upcoming Events

Congressional schedule: This week, the Senate is in session and the House is on recess.

Find these and other events on our website Events Calendar.

Wednesday, July 31, New Advocate Mentor Community Call, 8:00 p.m. ET. Register today.

Saturday, August 3: National Webinar, 1:00 p.m. ET. Register for the webinar.

Wednesday, August 7: Elections Support Office Hours, 5:00-7:00 p.m. ET. Drop in to discuss your questions relating to election engagement. No registration needed. Join via https://results.zoom.us/j/97873811515 or call (312) 626-6799, meeting ID 978 7381 1515. (See additional August dates in our online Events Calendar).

Thursday, August 8: Outreach and Event Office Hour, 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET. Join via https://results.zoom.us/j/94004748060 or call (312) 626-6799, meeting ID 940 0474 8060.

Thursday, August 8: Global Allies (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers) Webinar, 8:30 p.m. ET. Register today.

Wednesday, August 14: RESULTS Organizing and Advocacy Fellowship Information Session, 6:00 p.m. ET. Register today.

Thursday, August 15: Global Poverty Policy Forum on Malnutrition, 9:00 p.m. ET. Register here.

Friday, August 16: Anti-Oppression Learning Community, 12:00-1:30 p.m. ET. Registration is open.

Tuesday, August 20: U.S. Poverty Free Agents, 1:00 p.m. ET and 8:00 p.m. ET. Contact Jos Linn for more information.

Tuesday, August 20: Together Women Rise Advocacy Chapter, 8:30 p.m. ET. Learn more.

Wednesday, August 21: Action Network Manager Calls, 12:30 p.m. ET and 8:00 p.m. ET. No registration required. Join via https://results.zoom.us/j/95416781155 or call 312-626-6799, meeting ID 954 1678 1155.

Wednesday, August 21: Media Office Hour, 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET. Join at https://results.zoom.us/j/93668005494 or call (312) 626-6799, meeting ID 936 6800 5494.

Typically, registration ends one hour prior to the start of all webinars and trainings.

Grassroots Resources

• EOPs: Learn about the RESULTS Experts on Poverty.
• Actions and volunteer resources: Visit our Volunteers Hub, including our anti-oppression resources. To join the RESULTS listserv for more RESULTS conversation, send an email to [email protected].
• Please report your actions. Remember to please report your recent advocacy successes in lobby meetings, media, and outreach activities. Also, use our form to add to/edit your info and to sign up for updates and alerts.
• Share your story. If you have an inspiring story about advocacy, please tell us about it. Also, if you want to celebrate the actions of a new volunteer, sharing about the experience.
• Questions for the Board? If you have a question, comment, or suggestion for the RESULTS/REF Board, please e-mail [email protected]. View Board minutes and Annual Reports.
• Staff and jobs: RESULTS Staff directory and job postings.