September 2005
Before Hurricane Katrina hit, Congress was
preparing for a fall schedule that included a number of significant budget decisions. In addition to completing action the
annual appropriations bills, congressional committees were working to come up with $35 billion in spending cuts as part of
the reconciliation process mandated
by this year’s budget resolution. These cuts were to come from a variety
of mandatory and entitlement programs, including up to $10 billion from Medicaid and as much as $3 billion from the Food Stamp
Program. In addition, the budget also called for an additional $70 billion in
tax breaks (heavily tilted toward the most affluent and politically well-connected), despite record deficits. While in the
aftermath of Katrina Congress has agreed to postpone reconciliation in order to focus on relief and recovery in the affected
areas, House and Senate leadership has indicated that they plan to move forward with the cuts in late October and the President
has even suggested that additional cuts be made to offset the costs associated with hurricane relief.
From the time that these tax and spending
cuts were proposed during the development of the budget resolution earlier this year, the National Advocacy Center joined with many other faith-based
and secular advocates in opposing them. Such cuts along with exponential growth in military spending reflect the wrong priorities,
especially given the unmet need our country faces. While Katrina
was striking the Gulf Coast,
the Census Bureau released new data showing that an additional 1.1 million people slipped into poverty in 2004, bringing the
total number in poverty to 37 million or nearly 13% of the population. Nearly 46 million Americans were uninsured in 2004,
an increase of 800,000.
The images and stories from hurricane Katrina have put these needs into sharper relief and
have created additional needs that must be addressed. Congress has responded to these immediate concerns appropriately by
providing over $62 billion to date for emergency food, housing assistance, health care, and recovery efforts. Many of the
families affected by Katrina, however, will require longer-term assistance and our country cannot afford to ignore the deeper
and longer-term problems this disaster has revealed - the unmet need and poverty that existed before the storm, the undercurrents
of racism that still divide our communities, and the economic injustices that have created such a gulf between the wealthy
and the vulnerable in our nation.
Both these short-term and long-term conversations involve the need for a hard look our national
budget and priorities. Programs slated for deep reductions in this year’s
budget - Medicaid and Food Stamps – were the very ones that were able to provide immediate relief (food and health care)
to displaced families. These programs also represent the strongest threads in
our nation’s safety net, tattered after several years of other cuts to human needs programs such as housing, child care,
job training, and many more. Tax breaks have drained revenues and added to deficits without producing the promised economic
recovery that would benefit all; rather, they have exacerbated the already growing economic inequalities in our nation that
have left wages and incomes virtually stagnant for all but the wealthiest few.
Along with many other faith-based organizations, the National Advocacy has spoken out in the
past several years about the need to view the federal budget through a moral lens and to evaluate it according values grounded
in faith, but also found in the best of our national heritage – the common good, concern for those who are poor and
vulnerable, and economic justice. The budgets of recent years have repeatedly failed this moral test, but there is hope that
recent events have created movement toward a new conversation, an opportunity to rebuild more than just the Gulf Coast.
Catholic Social Teaching continually reminds us that we must evaluate our economy, our priorities,
and our government’s decisions from the “bottom up” in order for what we say and do to truly be good news
for the poor. As Katrina has shown us the face of poverty, we must let these images ground us in a renewed commitment to the
common good, to caring for the most vulnerable members of our nation and the world, to economic justice, and to reconciliation.
This is not the time for failed policies of the past, for “business as usual”
that pushes tax cuts or for cuts in programs that bring hope to those at the margins of our society. We must hold our leaders and government accountable even as we do our part to assist hurricane victims
because this disaster has shown us where the wrong priorities lead.
Additional Information
Links to Previous Budget Updates:
Budget Priorities Statement from the
Faith Community
Statement from the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops
Coalition on Human Needs
