wfn.org | [ENS] In Katrina's wake,

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

In Katrina's wake, church leaders urge Congress on federal budget,
poverty
concerns

ENS 091305-1

[Episcopal News Service] Leaders of five mainline denominations have
joined
in a renewed call on Congress to oppose cuts to programs serving the
poor in
the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Congress this week postponed consideration of the FY '06 federal budget
reconciliation process, which would make deep cuts in programs that
serve
the working poor, children and seniors.

"In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it is clear that greater burdens
on
these programs such as Medicaid and the Food Stamp Program will occur,"
said
John Johnson, domestic policy analyst in the Episcopal Church's Office
of
Government Relations. "The leaders of the Episcopal Church, Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church, USA, United Methodist
Church and United Church of Christ have consistently opposed cuts to
vital
programs serving the least among us included in this year's federal
budget."

Earlier this year, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold joined with leaders
of
the other mainline denominations in calling the President's FY '06
Federal
Budget "unjust" and calling on Congress to reject cuts proposed to vital
programs for the poor. [Full statement:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_59750_ENG_HTM.htm]

"In light of the devastation resulting from Hurricane Katrina and new
poverty numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, Congress must reconsider
our
national priorities and recommit it self to the values that Americans
share
in standing up for the poor and disenfranchised in our country," Johnson
added.

The full text of the letter follows:

September 13, 2005

Dear Members of Congress:

As leaders of our respective denominations, we have long sought an end
to
the injustices inherent in poverty. We have never seen these injustices
born
out so vividly in our own country as in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina.
The devastation wrought by Katrina has exposed the anguished faces of
the
poor in the wealthiest nation on the planet. These faces, precious in
the
eyes of God, cause us to remember that racial disparities and poverty
exist
in almost every community in our nation. They also compel us to set
before
Congress once again our concerns for the FY '06 federal budget and its
impact on people living in poverty. With renewed urgency, we call on
Congress to stop the FY '06 federal budget reconciliation process
immediately.

We believe our federal budget is a concrete expression of our shared
moral
values and priorities. Congress rightly and quickly responded in
appropriating needed funds to ensure an adequate initial response to
Hurricane Katrina. Our denominations have mobilized and are responding
in
prayer and financial support and direct service to those in need. Yet,
just
as disaster struck the Gulf Coast, the U.S. Census Bureau reported in
very
particular detail that poverty in the United States is growing. The
annual
report, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United
States:
2004 showed that 37.0 million people lived in poverty in 2004, an
increase
of more than one million people since 2003.

In April, during consideration of the budget resolution we wrote to
Congress
that, "As we view the FY '06 Federal Budget through our lens of faith
this
budget, on balance, continues to ask our nation's working poor to pay
the
cost of a prosperity in which they may never share." It is clear that
programs such as Medicaid and the Food Stamp Program that were slated
for
cuts by Congress will in fact have greater burdens placed on them as a
result of Hurricane Katrina. These programs are not simply entitlements
or
"government hand-outs," they represent the deep and abiding commitment
of a
nation to care for the least among us.

Believe us when we tell you that even before Hurricane Katrina or the
Census
Bureau's report, neither we nor our friends of other faiths had the
resources to turn back the rising tide of poverty in this country. The
FY
'06 reconciliation bill that is working its way through the authorizing
committees will send more people searching for food in cupboards that,
quite
frequently, are bare.

We commit ourselves to working for economic policies infused with the
spirit
of the One who began his public ministry almost 2,000 years ago by
proclaiming that God had anointed him "to bring good news to the poor."

The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, USA

The Rt. Rev. Mark Hanson
Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American

The Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

The Rev. John H. Thomas
General Minister and President, United Church of Christ

James Winkler
General Secretary, General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist
Church

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