Fwd: Action Alert: Budgets are Moral Documents!

[Ian David]

The original email came with the suggesiton to forward in whole, so I am posting it in its entirety.

> Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 21:00:40 GMT
> From: Sojourners <[e-mail]>
> Reply-To: [e-mail]
> To: X
>
>
>
> Dear SojoMail reader,
> Bush's budget proposals:
> ? Making permanent the tax cuts of 2001 - 70% of which benefited
> the wealthiest 20% of U.S. citizens
> ? The elimination of block grants that aid poor communities
> ? Making it more difficult for working poor families with children
> to be on Medicaid
> ? A $355 million cut to programs that promote safe and drug-free
> schools
> ? Cuts to housing and urban development programs
> ? The elimination of 48 educational programs
>
>
>
> Yesterday, President Bush released his administration's proposed 2006
> federal budget. The $2.6 trillion budget projects a record $427 billion budget
> deficit, not including funding for Iraq and Afghanistan. It includes increases in
> military spending while at the same time proposes major cuts to domestic
> programs that benefit people living in poverty.
>
> Budgets are moral documents. This administration's proposed budget reflects
> a set of priorities that stand in clear opposition to biblical values.
> Paying attention to the poorest among us is arguably the most central biblical
> imperative-not increased spending on nuclear warheads and tax cuts for the rich.
>
> When considering a document as important as this one, it is imperative that
> our leaders consider its impact on people living in poverty. Urge your
> members of Congress to consider this budget's effect on the poor.
>
> »Click here to take action today
>http://go.sojo.net/campaign/budget_06
>



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Without Vision the People Perish
A Reaction to President Bush’s 2006 Budget Proposal
http://www.calltorenewal.org/public_policy/index.cfm/action/policy/item/federal_budget2006.html

Jim Wallis, Convener of Call to Renewal
February 7, 2005

The biblical prophets frequently spoke to rulers and kings. They spoke to “the nations,” and it is the powerful that are most often the target audience; those in charge of things are the ones called to greatest accountability. And the prophets usually spoke for the dispossessed, widows and orphans (read poor single moms), the hungry, the homeless, the helpless, the least, last, and lost. They spoke to a nation’s priorities.

Budgets are moral documents that reflect the values and priorities of a family, church, organization, city, state, or nation. They tell us what is most important and valued to those making the budget. President Bush says that his 2006 budget “is a budget that sets priorities.” Examining those priorities - who will benefit and who will suffer in President Bush’s budget - is a moral and religious concern. Just as we have “environmental impact studies” for public policies, it is time for a “poverty impact statement”, which would use the fundamental question of how policy proposals affect low-income people. We could start with this budget and do a “values audit” to determine how its values square with those of the American people. I believe this would reveal unacceptable priorities.

The cost of the deficit is increasingly borne by the poor. The budget projects a record $427 billion deficit, and a promise to make tax cuts benefiting the wealthiest permanent. Religious communities spoke clearly in the past years about the perils of a domestic policy based primarily on tax cuts for the rich, program cuts for low-income people, and an expectation of faith-based charity. We must speak clearly now about a budget lacking moral vision. A budget that scapegoats the poor and fattens the rich, that asks for sacrifice mostly from those who can least afford it, is a moral outrage.

Low-income people should not be punished for decisions that placed us in financial straits. Rather than moving toward a “living family income,” the budget stifles opportunities for low-income families, which are vital for national economic security. Our future is in serious jeopardy if one in three proposed program cuts are to education initiatives (after a highly touted “No Child Left Behind” effort), there will be less flexibility to include working poor families with children on Medicaid, and reductions in community and rural development, job training, food stamps, and housing are accepted as solutions for reducing the deficit. Cutting pro-work and pro-family supports for the less fortunate jeopardizes the common good. And this while defense spending rises again to $419 billion (not including any additional spending for war in Iraq).

These budget priorities would cause the prophets to rise up in righteous indignation, as should we. Our nation deserves better vision. Morally-inspired voices must provide vision for the people when none comes from its leaders. We must believe that such vision can change the hearts of those needing new grounding and direction.

The Bible talks often of the need to repent - to turn and go in another direction. If we do not now “Write the vision; make it plain upon tablets” (Habakkuk 2:2), others cannot follow. If we do, we act to secure the future of the common good.