The Top Ten issues at GA – #6 Overture tandem affects PCUSA message, costs By John H. Adams The Layman Online Friday, June 11, 1999 FORT WORTH, – Presbyterians will be asked to pay more money for a federal lobbying office that often espouses causes that are only archively representative of General Assembly declarations, while another overture might rein in those declarations. This tandem of overtures is the sixth-ranking issue before the 211th General Assembly, according to The Layman Online. The overtures are related inasmuch as both affect the message that the Presbyterian Church (USA) takes to the public forum. One overture, 99-22, seeks to increase funding for the Washington office. The other overture, 99-43, wants policy pronouncements to reflect grassroots thinking – or, at least, the last official statement of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Justification for policies It doesn't always happen that way. For instance, the Washington Office lobbies for programs that generally come from the Democratic Party agenda. By doing a search-and-find of General Assembly documents ranging back to long before reunion in 1983, the Washington office can locate justification for just about any policy. And it does. For instance, the Washington office aggressively supports availability of abortion in just about all circumstances – not withstanding a recent General Assembly policy statement that recognizes the validity of pro-life arguments, strongly opposes partial-birth abortion and encourages legislation to make adoption easier. There have been many other issues, both by the Washington office and other agencies of the church, in which official statements have either ignored or misrepresented more current General Assembly policy. 1993 report is cited That's where 99-43 enters the picture. The Missouri Union Presbytery overture cites a report made to the 1993 General Assembly by a task force on social witness policy development. The 1993 General Assembly adopted that report, which called for a "grass roots" or "bottom up" response in development of social witness policy. "Now we are again concerned that this approach to social witness policy is not being consistently followed by boards and agencies of the church in developing materials and strategies for such witness," the overture says. The overture wants the General Assembly to state point-blank: that the most current statement by the General Assembly on any issue is authoritative until and unless is it superseded by another statement.

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