WASHINGTON - Hours after the Trump administration announced on Sept. 5 an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, the president seemed to backtrack, just a bit, by saying that if Congress can't find a legislative solution to legalize the program's 800,000 beneficiaries in six months, he might step in.

Published in International

WASHINGTON – Calling a proposed piece of legislation "discriminatory," the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration called on the president and Congress to reject a bill that seeks to drastically cut legal immigration levels in half over a decade and which also would greatly limit the ability of citizens and legal residents to bring family into the U.S.

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WASHINGTON – After efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act collapsed late July 17 in the U.S. Senate, Catholic health care leaders said they hope Congress will work together, in small steps, to fix flaws in the current legislation.

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WASHINGTON – The House passed a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act by a four-vote margin May 4. The final vote was 217-213.

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WASHINGTON – Now that lawmakers have withdrawn the American Health Care Act, Congress must "seize this moment to create a new spirit of bipartisanship" and make "necessary reforms" in existing health care law to address access, affordability, life and conscience, said three U.S. bishops' committee chairmen.

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WASHINGTON– The District of Columbia has joined six states in the country in allowing doctors to prescribe lethal medications to terminally ill patients who want to end their lives.

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The U.S. Catholic hierarchy was one of the staunchest foes of President Obama’s signature health care law, nearly derailing its passage in 2010 over concerns about abortion funding and exacting a political toll that helped doom abortion-opposing Democrats who backed Obamacare while boosting Republican efforts to take control of Congress.

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WASHINGTON - The past, the promise and the potential of the United States must not be smothered by bickering and even hatred at a time when the American people and indeed the world need a helping hand, Pope Francis told the U.S. Congress.

Published in Francis in America

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Flanked by Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner -- two high-profile Catholic politicians -- the visual of Pope Francis' Sept. 24 address to Congress will signal an evolving narrative.

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The U.S. Catholic bishops have welcomed the Obama administration’s tentative agreement aimed at limiting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and their top spokesman on international affairs bluntly warned Congress against doing anything to undermine it.

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American Jesuits are pushing members of Congress who were educated at the Catholic order’s schools to pass aid for thousands of refugee children who have surged across the border in Texas in recent months, calling proposals to swiftly deport them “inhumane and an insult to American values.”

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