A First Look

On February 7^th, President Bush presented Congress with his $2.57 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2006.  Although the budget documents are couched in language of responsibility, compassion and sacrifice, the numbers and policies tell a very different story: costs of war and Social Security changes are excluded to paint a rosier picture of deficit reduction, 150 programs (many serving our nation’s most vulnerable populations) are slated for cuts or elimination while expensive tax breaks for those least in need are extended, and unfair budget rules are again proposed that demand restraint in spending, but not in cutting taxes.  Looking at the budget from a moral perspective, the National Advocacy Center is greatly troubled by the President’s proposal and believes that our nation can and should do better.

Looking Through the Lens of Good Shepherd Values

The Common Good

Economic Justice

Peace and Reconciliation

An Alternative Vision

The Common Good and Human Dignity: Looking Beyond the Numbers

“The obligation to "love our neighbor" has an individual dimension, but it also requires a broader social commitment to the common good.” – Economic Justice for All, Pastoral Letter, U.S. Catholic Bishops

“In the work of evangelization, our priority is to enable each person to live full as a child of God.” – Declaration on Social Justice, 1985 General Chapter, Sisters of the Good Shepherd

To truly build community and promote human dignity, our nation should be investing in programs that help ensure that the basic needs of all are met, provide all of us a fair chance to make a decent life for ourselves and our families, and strengthen our life together: housing, health care, education and job training, food assistance, and environmental protection.  Given that 45 million Americans lack health insurance and 12% live in poverty, we are already falling short of the vision – the President’s budget only takes us further in the wrong direction.

While the numbers themselves are telling enough – an 11.5% cut to Housing and Urban Development programs including the eliminations of the Community Development Block Grant, $45 billion cut from Medicaid, law enforcement grants slashed by nearly 50%, funding for the Safe and Drug Free Schools program eliminated, and even larger cuts proposed for the years beyond FY2006 – the real story of the President’s budget is the strain it will put on communities, the critical services and opportunities that people will lose, and the hole it will rend in our nation’s already fragile safety net.  Here are just a few examples of the human impact:

• According to estimates in the President’s own budget documents, by 2009 (the last year covered by the budget) 300,000 fewer child care subsidies will be available.
• Proposed cuts to the Food Stamp program would mean 200,000-300,000 fewer people, most of whom are members of low-income working families with children, would receive food assistance.
• For Medicaid, the dollar amount cut in 2009 alone is the equivalent of providing health coverage for over 345,000 seniors. It is also the equivalent of giving health coverage to almost 1.8 million children.
• Hundreds of thousands of students will lose financial assistance for vocational education provided by the Perkins student loan program, which is eliminated in the President’s budget.

In addition, cuts to a number of federal grants to already cash-strapped states and localities will mean further reductions in services.  Local fire and police departments will be able to put fewer people in the streets to protect communities; schools will have fewer funds to fight drug abuse and violence; and both urban and rural communities will lose vital support for housing, social services, and economic development.  We have compiled fact sheets detailing how proposed budget cuts would impact each Good Shepherd state (PDF).

If you would like to share a personal story about how budget cuts will or are already impacting your family, an organization you work for, or your community, please visit our story submission page.

Concern for Those Who Are Poor and Vulnerable and Economic Justice: Looking at Priorities

“The way society responds to the needs of the poor through its public policies is the litmus test of its justice or injustice.” Economic Justice for All, #123,

“The struggle against destitution, though urgent and necessary, is not enough. It is a question, rather, of building a world where every man, no matter what his race, religion or nationality, can live a fully human life, freed from servitude imposed on him by other men or by natural forces over which he has not sufficient control; a world where freedom is not an empty word and where the poor man Lazarus can sit down at the same table with the rich man. This demands great generosity, much sacrifice and unceasing effort on the part of the rich man”. - On the Development of Peoples, #47, Pope Paul VI

Catholic Social Teaching tells us that those who are the most vulnerable have the most urgent claim on the conscience of our nation.  Yet, by singling out domestic human needs programs to bear the burden of reducing the deficit, the President’s budget turns the principle of the “preferential option for the poor” on its head.  Although these programs have contributed little to growing deficits, they are slated for the deepest cuts, totaling $218 billion over the next 5 years.  

On the other hand, tax cuts and increased military spending have been the major contributors to the current deficit. Yet, the President’s budget provides $419 billion in defense spending in FY2006 alone – before the costs of the ongoing war in Iraq are taken into account; extends all of the expensive 2001 and 2003 tax cuts; AND proposes additional tax cuts, at a cost of $1.4-$1.6 trillion over the next ten years. 

The priorities of such a budget are as clear as they are unconscionable. Consider the tradeoffs that the Children’s Defense Fund has outlined:

When fully phased in, millionaires will receive an average tax cut of $136,298 a year. A working family earning $30,000 a year will receive just $532. The total amount of money provided to millionaires in the form of tax cuts each year will be $22.2 billion. That would be enough to fund:

• 735,738 child care places for children of working parents
• Health insurance for 3,130,515 uninsured children
• Head Start programs for 641,092 poor preschool children
• Full immunizations for 6,797,143 unimmunized infants and children
• 144,709 new elementary school teachers

Promoting Reconciliation and Peace: Looking for Commitment

As part of the Good Shepherd international community, the National Advocacy Center recognizes our nation has an impact that stretches beyond our borders and a responsibility to use our common resources to combat poverty, disease, injustice, and instability wherever they occur.  From this perspective, we continue to question the investment of many times the amount in the military and preparations for war than in programs and assistance that build and sustain peace. 

Among prosperous nations, the United States, despite being the richest, gives the lowest percentage of its Gross National Product (0.15%) to overseas development aid.  The President’s budget proposes roughly $23 billion for foreign assistance in the coming year, of which $8 billion consists of military assistance. There are some welcome increases in the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) and the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative.  However, these increases are far below promised levels and are accompanied by proposed cuts to Development Assistance and the Child Survival and Health Programs Fund, which would mean less aid for the poorest countries and weak and failing states.  In addition, the total amount proposed for foreign assistance is less than one twentieth the proposed military budget and much less than half of our current annual expenditures for the war in Iraq.

Articulating an Alternative Vision

Part of the direction statement of the 28th General Chapter of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd reads, “Profoundly challenged by the suffering and distress in our world, we witness to the fact that another reality is possible for humanity and for the whole of creation.”  The Scriptures offer a beautiful vision of what this reality could look like –

No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.  They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

            - Isaiah 65: 21-22

We can help bring this reality to life if we speak out and urge our leaders to ensure that every person in our nation is free from hunger, has access to health care, can live in a safe, affordable and decent home and community, and receives the education needed for work that pays a livable wage.

Take Action Now!

For More Information on the President’s Budget

Visit our Additional Budget Analyses page for a comprehensive listing of budget process background resources, budget analyses, faith responses, and detailed reports of how cuts will affect health, housing, education/job training, and other services.