Faith Leaders: Sign Letter urging AZ Senators to support a recovery package benefitting Arizona’s most vulnerable

Signatures are due September 24 ~ Faith Leaders, please act today!

Dear Senators Sinema and Kelly,

We write to you as faith leaders representing a broad variety of faith traditions in Arizona. We are united across theological, ideological, and political differences by our shared by our faith and the motivation it inspires to make Arizona and our nation more consistent with God’s mandate to care for the most vulnerable and particular concern for people living in poverty throughout Scripture. The Hebrew prophets were clear that nations sometimes need to make big changes so that all can thrive, and this is such a time.

Together, we call for a broad, ambitious recovery package that strengthens the foundations for human well-being and flourishing. We strongly support a package that invests in housing, education, nutrition, health care, family care and addresses the systemic inequalities laid bare by the pandemic. We see the need for major investments in the lives of struggling Arizona families, particularly children. Childhood poverty has long-term consequences for our communities. Children who grow up in poverty don’t do as well in school, earn less as adults, are more likely to get arrested, and are less healthy as adults. The first three years of a child’s life is particularly critical. For example, the stress of poverty can impact a child’s health and is linked to chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance use problems into adulthood.

We applaud this year’s expansion of the Child Tax Credit, which if extended will substantially reduce child poverty. Congress should make the expansion and its full refundability permanent. This would benefit 92% of children in Arizona and move 109,000 children out of poverty. We also support the permanent extension of recent improvements in the Earned Income Tax Credit. Already, the expanded credits are making a difference. The first round of Child Tax Credit payments saw three million fewer children in poverty across the country between June and July. Families most used the credit to buy food, and food insecurity dropped notably.

We support strengthening nutrition programs and investments in affordable housing, rental assistance, and funding for tribal housing. There is a shortage of 136,032 available rental homes for very low-income households in Arizona, and renters have to wait an average of nine months before receiving housing vouchers. Studies affirm what we see and know already: stable housing is critical for children’s development. Children in homeless families given rental assistance experience fewer behavioral problems, are less likely to be placed in foster care, are less likely to have to change schools, and see lowered rates of domestic violence and psychological distress in their homes.

We also support financing these investments in our nation’s future with increased taxes on corporations and high-income individuals. We believe that asking the wealthiest in our society to support those families and children facing adversity is both fair economically and right morally. This is to some a controversial point, but the God of our holy texts urges nations to care for people in need and objects to extreme concentrations of wealth. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Jesus himself spoke out against the contrast between luxury for some and the neglect of people in poverty.

We further support the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Bipartisan collaboration and overdue investments in infrastructure are both good for the nation, and we are especially excited about the components of this package that would disproportionately benefit low-income people – such as universal broadband access, the replacement of the lead pipes that are poisoning many of our children, and improvements in public transportation.

Finally, we feel compelled to speak up together for voting rights legislation. One of the most fundamental and cherished rights in our American democracy is the right to vote. Faith communities are united in defense of democracy. Making voting accessible to all eligible voters is far more than a political issue. It has profound theological implications because this civil right affirms the inherent dignity and value of each person made in the image of God – imago dei. Election laws should make voting easier, not harder, while protecting the transparency and integrity of the voting, counting and certification processes. Attempts to restrict voting rights often disproportionately impact communities of color. We hope and pray that legislators from both parties can again work together on this issue of basic justice and theological conviction.

The Hebrew prophets taught that nations are sometimes called to make big changes, and we have come to prayerful agreement that now is such a time for our nation. We are still recovering from the pandemic, and we can do so in a way that also expands opportunity for all. We pledge to pray that you act and legislate boldly and courageously in this moment.