Washington Office will not get more money
By Robert P. Mills, The Layman Online, June 24, 1999
FORT WORTH – A proposal to provide the PCUSA’s Washington Office with “a larger portion of undesignated funds,” including unspecified amounts from special offerings such as the One Great Hour of Sharing, was defeated by a voice vote.
The Washington Office, the denomination’s political lobby, is supposed to base its efforts on General Assembly guidance. But a study done by Presbyterian Action for Faith and Freedom (formerly Presbyterians for Democracy and Religious Freedom) shows that of the 53 advocacy messages the office directed toward Congress over the past 14 months, only 34 make any reference to such guidance. And in just 21 cases did the Assembly’s action actually mandate the specific stance taken by the Washington Office.
Only three of the advocacy messages made any reference to biblical teachings.
The same study showed that of the 53 advocacy messages, 37 dealt with highly partisan issues, issues “where the vast majority of Democrats are arrayed against the vast majority of Republicans.” In every one of those 37 issues, the position advocated by the Washington Office corresponded to the Democratic position, this despite the fact that in a 1996 survey by the Pew Research Center more 60 percent of PCUSA members identified themselves as Republicans.
Presbyterian Action also reported, “The Washington Office is not effective on Capitol Hill. Its problem is that politicians can count votes, and they know that the office doesn’t represent Presbyterian voters. When we talk with congressional aides, both Democrats and Republicans, say they pay little attention to denominational lobbying offices like our own.”