President's FY 2007 Budget
First
Thoughts
On
Monday February 6th, President Bush released his $2.77 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2007. Pouring through the documents and analyses of the proposal gives the reader a sense
of déjà vu because much of what they contain has, in fact, been seen before. Much
of last year’s NAC analysis could very well apply to the President’s FY07 budget because the priorities, unfortunately,
remain the same.
Despite the needs still facing
the Gulf Coast region and Katrina survivors and the inequalities last year’s hurricanes underscored and in the face
of continuing increases in poverty, food insecurity, and the number of people without health insurance, the President's 2007
budget again emphasizes tax cuts and increased military spending at the expense of critical human needs programs. Although couched in language of compassion, responsibility, and opportunity, the numbers and policies tell
a different story: the costs of tax cuts and ongoing wars are hidden, over 100 programs (many serving the most vulnerable
in our country) are slated for elimination and many more face significant reductions, additional tax cuts are provided for
those least in need of them, and troubling proposals from past budgets are recycled (including unbalanced budget rules and
efforts to cap funding for a number of programs). As with the cuts in the budget reconciliation bill that the President recently
signed into law, the cuts in the President’s budget fall hardest on the most vulnerable members of society – low-income
families, at-risk youth, and economically distressed communities – those who can least afford to bear them.
Looking at the President’s
budget through the moral lens of Good Shepherd values and Catholic Social Teaching, we once again find that it fails to live
up to compassionate rhetoric, nor does it provide for the real security needs – economic, social, and national –
our country is facing. While we know that government funding is not a “miracle
cure” for social and economic ills, we also know that the federal budget provides the fundamental framework through
which our nation is able or unable respond to the challenges and opportunities we face together. The President’s budget offers a vision of continuing conflict and competition, consumerism and self
interest. The prophetic tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Jesus’
own ministry challenge us to stand for a radically different vision of reconciliation and sharing, abundance and community
– a vision that demands justice and promotes the common good.
The following takes a closer
look at the President’s budget in light of this vision and its articulation in Good Shepherd values and Catholic Social
Teaching.
A Closer
Look – Good Shepherd Values and Catholic Social Teaching
Individual Worth and Mercy
The Common Good and Economic Justice
Peace and Reconciliation
Alternative Vision
Individual Worth and Mercy
Respect for the dignity of
every person and compassion underscore the National Advocacy Center’s commitment to fighting for investments 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 national life: housing, health care, education and job training, food assistance, and
environmental protection. Over the past several years, these programs have been under increasing strain from budget cuts and
rising needs across the country and the President’s budget exacerbates the situation.
The budget numbers themselves
paint a troubling picture – many human needs programs are either cut or fail to receive the funding needed to keep inflation
from eating away at the services they provide. Over the next 5 years, the President’s
budget proposes to cut Community and Regional Development programs by 6%, Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services
by 17%, and Income Security programs (housing, child care, WIC) by 13% (Source:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities). The budget would cut $500 million from the Social Services Block Grant,
eliminate the Community Services Block Grant (-$670 million), the Safe and Drug Free Schools program (-$347 million), and
the Perkins Vocational and Technical Education program (-$1.3 billion), cut the Community Development Block Grant by 20%,
and freeze funding for many other programs (including 21st Century Community Learning Centers and the Child Care
and Development Block Grant) at essentially FY2002 levels.
However, the real story of
the budget cuts is the communities and lives that will be impacted. According
to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, roughly ½ of all of the discretionary cuts come from grants-in-ad to state
and local governments. These cuts along with several regulatory changes the President
proposes will significantly increase the burden on local communities for providing needed social services, likely result in
further cuts at the state and local levels, and undermine successful federal-community partnerships. In addition, hundreds of thousands of people will lose critical supports if the President’s budget
proposals are enacted. Here are just a few examples of the human impact:
- The President’s own budget documents show that at least 400,000 fewer children will receive child
care assistance in 2011 than currently receive it and this is in addition to the over 100,000 children who have lost assistance
since 2002. The budget predicts 1.8 million children will receive child care
in FY 2011, compared with 2.45 million children in FY 2000.
-
Proposed changes to the Food Stamp program (rejected last year by Congress) would mean 200,000-300,000
fewer people, most of whom are members of low-income working families with children, would receive food assistance.
-
The budget would eliminate the Commodity Supplemental Food and stop providing food packages to 420,000
low-income elders and 50,000 pregnant women and young children.
-
Hundreds of thousands of students will lose financial
assistance for vocational education provided by the Perkins student loan program.
One positive note was the
President’s request for an additional $18 billion (in “off-budget” supplemental funding) to help with rebuilding
efforts along the Gulf Coast.
However, a coordinated rebuilding plan still does not exist for the region and few changes have been made to address
the failure of so many government agencies in responding to the hurricanes.
For a more detailed look at
the impact of the President’s budget on states, please visit the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (PDF) or the National Priorities Project.
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.
The Common Good and Economic Justice
Catholic Social Teaching
tells us that we have a shared responsibility to promote the Common Good, the “sum total of all those conditions of
social life which enable individuals, families, and organizations to achieve complete an effective fulfillment (Mother and Teacher, #74).” Economic justice is a fundamental component of the common
good – ensuring that the abundant resources that God has provided are shared and distributed equitably to create opportunity
for all. At a time when economic inequality is on the rise in our country we
need to take a closer look at the economic policy decisions, particularly the tax policies, included in the federal budget
to examine how the benefits of prosperity and the burdens of taxation are shared, and to evaluate the government’s fiscal
stewardship.
Since President Bush took
office, we have seen a dramatic reversal in the fiscal health of our nation – from surpluses at the start of the decade
to current deficit projections of over $400 billion. Our national debt now stands
at over $8 trillion – a heavy mortgage for future generations to bear. The
cause of this reversal is not, as the President and some leaders in Congress claim, uncontrolled spending – or rather,
not the spending that the President’s budget targets for reduction. The
two largest contributors to the current deficits are massive tax cuts and increased military and homeland security spending.
The tax cuts have been particularly
important because while they have been defended as economic stimuli, they have, rather, been a key factor in increasing economic
inequality. Heavily skewed toward the wealthiest Americans, the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 have widened the income gap and brought federal revenues
to their lowest levels as a share of the economy since 1959, leaving the government without adequate resources to support
opportunity-generating programs. The imbalance and fiscal irresponsibility of
these policies is highlighted by the still incomplete budget reconciliation process of FY2006.
Reconciliation’s deep spending cuts to Medicaid, child support, and other social programs were justified as a
means of reducing the deficit, but actually will only serve as a down payment on the tax cuts (also included in the reconciliation
process) that are still under negotiation – the net effect of which will be to increase
the deficit.
Despite these realities,
the President’s budget proposes more of the same – extensions of current tax cuts and additional tax cuts that
are only partially offset by the harmful program cuts mentioned above. Over the next five years, the President’s budget
will actually increase the deficit by $192 billion in order to provide an average tax break of $136,000 per year for millionaires
(while continuing to cut back on services for the most vulnerable). Over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office
and the Joint Committee on Taxation estimate that the cost of the tax-cut provisions would be $3.2 trillion (of which 20 percent
of the benefits would go to the wealthiest 0.3%) – revenues that are desperately needed to prevent further erosion of
services, prepare for the retirement of the “baby boomer” generation, and address the growing health care crisis
in our nation.
Tax policy is often one of
the most difficult issues to talk about, but its importance in the budget debate cannot be overlooked. For more background on talking about taxes, please see the “Speaking of Taxes” article in our
July newsletter.
Peace and Reconciliation
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. The Gospels and Catholic Social Teaching
challenge us to expand our definition of “neighbor” beyond our borders and live in solidarity with our brothers
and sisters throughout the globe.
One of the few bright spots
of the President’s budget is an 11% increase in funding for international assistance.
Two key Presidential initiatives, the Millennium Challenge Account and the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief received
increases of roughly $1 billion each. The president’s budget
also follows through with funding for the initiatives announced last year prior to the Group of Eight (G8) meeting in Gleneagles,
including a new malaria initiative, debt cancellation, the African Education Initiative, and a Women’s Justice and Empowerment
Initiative for Africa. In addition, the budget includes $15 million for a program
to aid victims of trafficking, a $5.08 million increase over FY2006 and over $1 billion for peacekeeping and humanitarian
assistance in the Darfur region of Sudan.
However, total funding levels
still fall short of earlier promises and these increases come at the expense of traditional core development and humanitarian
assistance (cut by over $320 million) and multilateral programs (Global Fund AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, UN Development
Programme, UNICEF). In addition, the budget provides inadequate funding for ongoing
peacekeeping efforts, despite the fact that the State Department is already estimating a $500 million shortfall in CIPA funds
for 2006 and has announced that it will be forced to stop UN peacekeeping payments in June.
Overall, development and
humanitarian assistance still account for less than half of the Foreign Operations budget ($23.7 billion total) and this budget
itself is dwarfed by defense spending, which, once the costs of military operations in Iraq
and Afghanistan are taken into account,
could reach nearly $600 billion this year. Measured as a proportion of Gross
Domestic Product, aid lags far behind the 0.7 percent target the United Nations set 35 years ago and reaffirmed in 2002 at
the Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey, Mexico. Although assistance has been
increasing in recent years, the United States
must take a stronger leadership role and provide more balance between its investments in the military
and preparations for war and programs and assistance that build and sustain peace.
A Better 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 the basic needs of all are met in our nation and throughout the
world through investments in social programs and development, health care and education, and through cooperative diplomacy
and assistance to address conflict and promote sustainable development.
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.
***Concerned
about how budget cuts will impact you and your community? Share your comments through our comment page.***
