Yesterday, the OU Advocacy Center, in partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council and other Jewish, Catholic, and Baptist organizations, organized a lobbying mission to Capitol Hill to advocate for federal disaster assistance fairness for houses of worship.

The Federal Disaster Assistance Nonprofit Fairness Act of 2013 (S.1274), introduced by U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and Roy Blunt (Mo.) would ensure that houses of worship damaged in recent and future disasters, such as Superstorm Sandy, would be eligible for federal financial aid to repair their damaged buildings on the same terms as other community institutions that receive aid from FEMA.

Delegates met with representatives of several senators to encourage bipartisan support for the bill, including Senators Tammy Baldwin(WI), Mark Beigich(AK), Richard Blumenthal(CT), Robert Casey(PA), Jeff Chiesa(NJ), Dean Heller, Mark Kirk(IL), Mike Lee(UT), Claire McCaskill(MO), Jeff Merkley(OR), Tim Johnson(WI), Charles Schumer(NY), Jon Tester(MT), and Sheldon Whitehouse (RI).