US bishops weigh in on Obama's budget, urge focus on poverty, not family planning

March 31, 2009

In a March 26 letter to both houses of Congress, Bishop William Murphy, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop Howard Hubbard chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace, urged Congress “to place the needs of poor families and the most vulnerable in our nation and around the world first in setting priorities in the federal budget resolution.” Praising the president’s budget for its commitment to health care reform, the bishops call upon Congress to “direct these resources to provide health care for all and assure that reform protects and enhances life and does not threaten nor diminish it.” Likewise praising the budget for its increase in foreign aid, the bishops urge that the majority of funds be directed to poverty assistance. “Funds should not be diverted from these life-saving basic needs to expand the family planning budget,” they add, “especially now that this budget will fund groups that perform and promote abortion as a method of family planning.” The bishops also called for:

“additional funding for federal child nutrition programs and the targeting of domestic agricultural supports to small and moderate-sized family farm operations”

restored “funding to programs that provide families with affordable housing”

reauthorization of the D.C. Scholarship Program, “which allows low income children residing in the District of Columbia to receive scholarships to attend independent and religious schools in the District of Columbia. It would be a terrible injustice to undermine this impressive and needed effort.”

increased funding for migration and refugee assistance

“a budget resolution that does not reduce incentives for charitable giving nor decrease support for organizations and agencies serving those in need.”

“The significant resources raised by climate change legislation,” the bishops add, “should be used for public purposes, especially to reduce the disproportionate burdens on those least able to bear the impacts of climate change.” Countering the claims of those who look upon family planning as the solution to environmental concerns, the bishops add, “The poor in the United States and around the world contribute the least to climate change. 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.”

 

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Further information:

• Bishops Hubbard, Murphy Call on Congress to Remember Poor and Vulnerable in Federal Budget Resolution (USCCB)
• Full text of letter (USCCB)
• FY 2010 President's Budget (White House)