From Katie Adams in the UCC’s Washington, D.C. office:

Child Tax Credit: Today is Child Tax Credit Awareness Day; in July most families with children will begin receiving monthly installments of the newly expanded Child Tax Credit. Families will receive $250 per month for each child age 6 through 17 and $300 per month for children younger than 6.

Voting/Democracy: Tomorrow the Senate will have the opportunity to move forward with consideration of the For the People Act (S.1) a landmark voting rights/election protection bill. It is likely it will be filibustered by Senate Republican- in order to pass the procedural hurtle there would need to be 10 Republican supporters. There are also ongoing negotiations with Sen. Manchin on S.1 to gain his support.
Infrastructure: A Senate’s bipartisan group is racing to finalize a bipartisan infrastructure package, hoping to clinch a deal totaling $579 billion in new spending as soon as this week. The focus is on traditional infrastructure (roads, tunnels, bridges) without an expansion into building up our care or employer protection infrastructure. While Pres. Biden has offered increasing corporate and wealthy taxes, others in congress are discussing something like a gas tax to pay for the new spending.
Gun Violence: Recently the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) issued proposed gun rules could set the foundation for a national gun registry by requiring that licensed manufacturers and importers maintain permanent records of production or importation of firearms, in addition to receipts, proof of sales and other means of distribution, among other initiatives.
IMF Special Drawing Rights : In addition to the announcement at last week’s G7 summit of G7 countries offering one billion vaccinations to countries in need, G7 leaders also agreed to support the issuance of $650 billion in International Monetary Funds “Special Drawing Rights” to help countries that have been hardest hit by the pandemic. The UCC and other faith and humanitarian groups have called for the issuance of these special “SDR” funds over this past year to mitigate the financial toll COVID has had on some countries.
AUMF: Last week, the House of Representatives passed in bipartisan fashion Rep. Barbara Lee’s bill to repeal the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) by a vote of 268-161. President Biden has already signaled his support for repeal and Senate Majority Leader Schumer announced that there will be a Senate vote which is where advocacy attention now turns. On June 22nd the Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to consider a similar bill on the AUMF, sponsored by Senators Kaine (VA) and Young (IN).
Iran: New Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who human rights groups have raised concerns with, said Monday that Iran’s ballistic missile program is “not negotiable” and he unwilling to meet with President Biden even while both the U.S. and Iran take part in ongoing talks to revive the Iran Nuclear Agreement. Those talks have made progress, but remain far off and are currently paused for at least a short time.