for society’s vulnerable is politically strategic. Coming not long before an expected Supreme Court ruling on national subsidies in his signature health care reform, the speech highlights key supporters in the Catholic community for Obama’s agenda ahead of Pope Francis’ September visit to the U.S.
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More recently, the CHA filed an amicus brief defending the law in the pending Supreme Court case, King v. Burwell, that could invalidate federal subsidies for more than 6 million people if it strikes down provisions of the law. “Our nation took a giant step forward [with the Affordable Care Act],” Keehan said in a statement in January. “And now if this case is decided wrongly, we’ll take a giant step back.”
Last month, Obama stressed his shared interests with Pope Francis in addressing poverty at Georgetown University conference sponsored by leading Catholic and evangelical groups. Obama’s speech to the CHA this week followed a keynote by Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago, who addressed the conference on Monday, and whose appointment as archbishop has been considered telling of the direction Pope Francis hopes to point the U.S. Catholic Church.
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