Date: Wed, 18 Jan 1995 13:02:23 -0500 From: David B. O'Donnell To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS Subject: Christian Coalition to Spend $1 million on Contract passage [ Send all responses to chagin@MINDSPRING.COM only. Any responses to the list or list-owners will be returned to you. ] (compiled from wire reports) CHRISTIAN COALITION ANNOUNCES IT WILL HELP PASS CONTRACT Will Spend $1 million in effort WASHINGTON -- The Christian Coalition pledged Tuesday to spend $1 million promoting the House Republican agenda, and its leader urged cultural conservatives to be ``mature enough to be patient'' for action on school prayer and other issues. As part of the effort, the Christian Coalition's 50 state directors are being brought to Washington to lobby for passage of the balanced budget amendment, one of 10 items in the House GOP's ``Contract With America.'' The coalition, built from religious broadcaster Pat Robertson's 1988 presidential campaign apparatus, was a major organizing force in last year's Republican midterm rout and claims more than 1 million members and supporters nationwide. While its policy agenda includes school prayer and a constitutional amendment prohibiting abortion, coalition Executive Director Ralph Reed said the organization would focus in the short term on pushing the contract, which addresses neither of those issues. The contract does include other items high on the Christian Coalition agenda, including welfare reform and tax breaks for families with children. ``By the time the dust settles, we will spend an estimated $1 million to deluge Capitol Hill with phone calls, faxes and telegrams,'' Reed said in a speech to the Detroit Economic Club. Reed's speech reflected another step in his effort to show the Christian Coalition, the leading political force in the so-called religious right movement, was not obsessed with abortion and other divisive social issues -- as most of its liberal critics contend. ``Our primary task is to take power and money away from government bureaucrats in Washington and return it to parents and children,'' he said. To that end, Reed said the new Republican Congress should follow its 100-day agenda with additional family tax cuts ``so that no family of four in America making less than $30,000 a year pays a dime in federal income taxes.'' Reed also called for elimination of agencies and programs that ``promote values contrary to those we teach in our homes.'' He specifically cited the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Legal Services Corp., whose services include divorce work for low-income people. He also advocated eliminating the Education Department and ultimately ending all federal involvement in welfare. After the 100 days dedicated to acting on the contract, Reed also called for a constitutional amendment ``to guarantee the right of all Americans to express their faith without fear of discrimination,'' in schools and other settings. But Reed called for patience among Christian conservatives who want the new Republican Congress to act swiftly on the prayer issue, and perhaps abortion and other social issues. ``For the new Congress and the Christian Coalition, this is a time for bold incrementalism,'' he said. ``We must be brave enough to be daring, but also mature enough to be patient, never forgetting that the wheels of change turn slowly.'' S. CHRISTOPHER HAGIN | The Pledge of Allegance says: Atlanta 1996 | "With liberty and justice for ALL" chagin@mindspring.com | What part of ALL do you not understand? HATE IS NOT A FAMILY VALUE