wfn.org | [ENS] Defeat federal budget, mainline leaders say

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

Episcopal News Service

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Defeat federal budget, mainline leaders say

ENS 120605:1

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold and the leaders
of four other mainline denominations on December 6 called on Congress
to defeat the fiscal year 2006 federal budget "once and for all."

The leaders said that they "have asked that the Federal Budget be
recognized as a concrete statement of our nation's values" that would
bring "good news to the poor."

Joining Griswold were the Rev. Mark Hanson, Presiding Bishop of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the Reverend Dr. Clifton
Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church,
(U.S.A.); the Reverend John H. Thomas, General Minister and President,
United Church of Christ; and Mr. James Winkler, General Secretary,
General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist Church

"At each stage of the complicated legislative process, we have viewed
the budget through the lens of faith and our values and found the FY
'06 Federal Budget wanting. Now we ask that it be defeated once and for
all," their statement said.

Despite the exposure of poverty in the U.S. revealed in the aftermath of
hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the statement said, "Congress continues to
make decisions which benefit the rich but are paid for by the poor and
most vulnerable in our land."

The leaders criticized the budget's potential compromises which would cut
funding for food stamps, heating subsidies, Medicaid and child-support
enforcement. "They will seek to find compromise where there should be
no compromise - that is with the lives and future of the poor of this
country," the leaders said of the budget conferees.

They asked that Congress reflect during the season of Advent, reject the
budget and join with the President to craft a budget that will reflect
"our nation's historic concern for justice and the least among us."

[full statement follows] Joint Statement from Five Mainline Leaders
"Congress Should Defeat Budget Reconciliation Once and for All" Christians
have begun the Advent Season in which we prepare to celebrate our Savior's
birth - the Savior who began his public ministry by proclaiming that
God had anointed him "to bring good news to the poor." We view this as a
time for purposeful reflection, recognizing that we live in a fractured
and fearful world, but seeking to find hope for ourselves and to give
hope to those without hope.

Throughout this year we, five leaders of Christian denominations
representing close to 20 million followers, have asked that the Federal
Budget be recognized as a concrete statement of our nation's values,
and as such that it "bring good news to the poor." At each stage of
the complicated legislative process, we have viewed the budget through
the lens of faith and our values and found the FY '06 Federal Budget
wanting. Now we ask that it be defeated once and for all.

The traumatic events of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita showed the nation and
the world the faces of poverty in this country. The statistics from the
most recent U.S. Census Bureau report on poverty presented hard numbers
of 36 million Americans living below the poverty line, thereby verifying
what our eyes had seen along the Gulf Coast but know to be true throughout
the land.  Yet Congress continues to make decisions which benefit the
rich but are paid for by the poor and most vulnerable in our land.

Now the conferees must take hard decisions regarding the FY '06
Federal Budget. They will seek to find compromise where there should
be no compromise - that is with the lives and future of the poor of
this country.  The House budget package cuts total $49.9 billion and
the Senate $35 billion necessitating hard bargaining and unacceptable
choices. How can Congress compromise on food stamps when the Congressional
Budget Office (CBO) estimates that more than 222,000 people, primarily
low-income working families with children and 70,000 legal immigrants,
would lose food stamps if conferees follow the House budget? How can
Congress compromise between the $1 billion for heating subsidies for
low-income people included in the House bill but not in the Senate while
knowing that heating bills are expected to rise 50 percent? How can
Congress compromise on Medicaid provisions that will force low-income
patients to forego needed health care or medications and relieve states
of providing
 low-income children just above the poverty line with comprehensive
preventive care and treatment? How does Congress compromise when the
House proposal includes deep cuts to child support enforcement that will
likely push children deeper into poverty when, already, nearly one in
five children in this nation live below the poverty line?  It cannot.

We pray that Congress will use this Advent season for purposeful
reflection and in so doing conclude that the compromises required are
unfair and will only cause greater hardship and suffering. They should
vote down the FY '06 Federal Budget. Then, Congress and the President
should come together to present a budget that brings "good news to the
poor," reflecting our nation's historic concern for justice and the
least among us.

Signed by:

The Most Reverend Frank T. Griswold Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal
Church The Reverend Mark Hanson Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America The Reverend Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick Stated
Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.) The Reverend
John H. Thomas General Minister and President, United Church of Christ
Mr. James Winkler General Secretary, General Board of Church and Society,
United Methodist Church

-- To SUBSCRIBE to enslist, send a blank email message, from the address
which you wish subscribed, to: join-enslist@epicom.org

Send QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS to news@episcopalchurch.org

The enslist is published by Episcopal News Service:
  http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ens

--