The Jubilee Blog

Call Senate for Puerto Rico Food Assistance

The Senate is about to vote on a Puerto Rico amendment to the 2018 Farm Bill. We need you to make a quick call to your Senators now.

Please urgently call your Senators and ask them to support Senators Marco Rubio and Kirsten Gillibrand’s Farm Bill amendment to extend special disaster aid for nearly 700,000 vulnerable people across Puerto Rico.‎

Since hurricane Maria, overall poverty rates have grown beyond half of the island's population. Nearly 60 percent of children in Puerto Rico live in poverty.

Senators Rubio and Gillibrand introduced a disaster relief amendment to the Farm Bill that allows up to $635 million to be spent on Puerto Rico's version of SNAP or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Already this year because of your actions, we've won more than $30 Billion in recovery aid and provisions for Puerto Rico to rebuild to withstand future storms. For the last several years, we've moved forward measures for debt relief. Now as we move debt relief forward, this amendment helps us pull back some of the impacts of austerity policies.

Call your Senators now and ask them to support Senator Rubio and Gillibrand’s amendment to secure nutritional assistance for the most vulnerable people in Puerto Rico.

The Farm Bill is moving fast. Please call the Senate now.

Thanks,

Kate

European Finance Ministers Applaud Greece Debt Deal that Provides Aid and Continues Austerity

European Finance Ministers endorse a new Greece debt agreement that provides financing in exchange for maintaining austerity policies and economic reforms.

“Parts of the Greece deal provide more breathing space for Greece in the short-term, but we are still concerned that there isn't enough debt relief to keep Greece out of trouble for the long-term," stated Jubilee USA Executive Director Eric LeCompte, who monitors and works on international debt agreements. "I'm also worried that the continued austerity policies hurt too many Greeks and will negatively impact economic growth."

While the International Monetary Fund's Christine LaGarde supports the deal, she raised concerns about the deal's ability to achieve sustainability for the Greek economy.

Eric LeCompte Quoted in Politico on Disaster Recovery

By Lydia Andrews 

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently quoted in Politico speaking about transparency in disaster recovery efforts in Puerto Rico. Read excerpt below and follow link to full article.

Zinke's political ties to Virgin Islands improved Interior's hurricane response, party boss says

By Ben Lefebvre

Disaster response experts say it would be inappropriate for Canegata's political connections to influence Interior's efforts in the Virgin Islands.

“These are processes that are supposed to be transparent and supposed to be above the board,” said Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA, an anti-poverty group that has been involved in hurricane disaster relief efforts. “So, it would not be something a political party would be part of.”

Read more here. 

G7 Discusses Debt Relief for Islands as Hurricane Season Begins

By Lydia Andrews

On the first day of the 2018 hurricane season, G7 Finance and Development Ministers are reviewing proposals for debt relief and “innovative financing” when islands are hit by natural disasters. Also focusing on empowering women in the economy, the group meets in Whistler, Canada, through Sunday. These meetings will help prepare outcomes for the upcoming G7 Ministerial meeting that President Trump attends later in June.

“As a new hurricane season begins, there is an urgency for the G7 to promote crisis response tools like debt relief,” noted Jubilee USA Executive Director Eric LeCompte, who has tracked G7 meetings since 2010. “This is the first time that Finance and Development Ministers are meeting jointly at the G7 and they can promote solutions for when financial crises and humanitarian crises collide.”

Colorado State University's "2018 Tropical Meteorology Project Forecast Schedule," projects that the 2018 hurricane season could be stronger than the 2017 season. From Dominica to Puerto Rico, many islands are struggling to recover from the damage inflicted during the 2017 hurricane season. In September, Jubilee USA began collecting thousands of petitions and organized hundreds of national and local faith communities urging debt relief initiatives when hurricanes strike. These initiatives include providing “breathing space” so when natural disasters hit developing islands they can temporarily stop debt payments and put the money into disaster relief. If a debt payment moratorium is not enough, then Jubilee USA advocates restructuring the debt to deliver further aid.

In recent months major religious leaders and Heads of State went on record calling for such processes including Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne and Grenada Prime Minister Keith Mitchell. Caribbean Leaders of the Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, Seventh Day Adventist, Methodist, Anglican and Episcopal Churches and the Salvation Army joined Jubilee Caribbean in urging that this process be in place before this year’s hurricanes hit. The proposals were discussed at the April United Nations Forum on Financing for Development during high-level public and private meetings. The Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church USA, United Church of Christ, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Jubilee USA met with the White House and US G7 team around the proposals.

“Many of the islands that are prone to hurricanes already struggle with high child poverty rates and high debt burdens,” stated LeCompte. “When these islands are struggling to recover and meet the needs of their people, they shouldn’t be paying debt.”

According to Jubilee USA, since the early 2000s, debt relief processes cut the debt of some of the world’s poorest countries. In recent years, debt relief initiatives supported Haiti after it was struck by an earthquake and relieved the debts of three African countries affected by the Ebola outbreak.

Read the Jubilee Caribbean Religious Leader Statement