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Bishops remind Congress to remember poor, vulnerable in budget

By Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) - Congress must remember "the least of these" in society as it makes choices on the federal budget for fiscal year 2010, according to the chairmen of two U.S. bishops' committees in a joint March 26 letter to members of Congress.

Among the domestic items the bishops emphasized in their letter were health care, affordable housing, climate change, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarships program for the District of Columbia, funding for federal child nutrition programs, and domestic agricultural supports for smaller farms.

On international issues, the bishops stressed an increase in the international affairs budget, the Migration and Refugee Assistance account, and the Office of Refugee Resettlement budget.

"Our faith and moral principles call us to measure economic decisions on whether they enhance or undermine the lives of those most in need," said Bishops Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, N.Y., and William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., in their letter.

Bishop Hubbard is chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace. Bishop Murphy is chairman of the bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

The bishops also asked that Congress pass a budget that does not cut incentives for charitable giving.

"The budget choices of Congress have clear moral and human dimensions; they reflect our values as a people," they said. "Our plea is simple: Put the poor and vulnerable first."

On health care, the bishops said they "strongly urge" Congress to direct the money set aside in President Barack Obama's budget to "provide health care for all" and assure that health care "protects and enhances life and does not threaten or diminish it."

The bishops said Congress should restore funding to programs that provide affordable housing to families, including Section 8 vouchers, which allow individuals to pool federal subsidies with their own money to find quality housing.

The bishops also asked that Congress fully capitalize the National Housing Trust Fund, which would increase the inventory of affordable housing in communities.

They addressed the D.C. Opportunity Scholarships program, which has to be reauthorized by Congress. It is a trial program that has allowed low-income students in low-achieving public school neighborhoods to attend religious and independent schools in the nation's capital. "It would be a terrible injustice to undermine this impressive and needed effort," they said.

The bishops said $4 billion a year -- $20 billion over five years -- would help make "critical improvements in access, outreach and nutrition" in federal programs such as the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, known as WIC.

They also asked that farm-price supports be targeted to small and moderate-size family farm operations.

Bishops Hubbard and Murphy said climate change needed to be addressed both domestically and internationally.

"The budget and other measures must effectively provide help to poor families in the United States and in poor countries to adapt and mitigate the costs and consequences of climate-change policy," they added.

The bishops asked for a hike of $4.5 billion for the international affairs budget, with at least $3 billion of that to be devoted to humanitarian assistance, development, food aid, debt relief, peacekeeping programs, and HIV and AIDS treatment.

They estimated that 125,000 refugees could be resettled in the United States with a $2.05 billion Migration and Refugee Assistance account allocation to the State Department, with an additional $1.16 billion to the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement to provide domestic resettlement help to refugees from abroad settling in U.S.

"Too often the weak and vulnerable are not heard in the budget debate," Bishops Hubbard and Murphy said.

"While they do not have powerful lobbyists, poor children and their families have compelling needs that have a priority claim on our consciences and our choices as the nation allocates limited federal resources," they said.