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Catholic Bishops Oppose GOP Budget Proposals

April 26, 2012

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in an April 17 letter to several congressional committees, has criticized Republican budget proposals that would cut food stamp benefits for hungry adults and children while preserving military spending and subsidies to agribusiness.

The proposals, made by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), are not expected to pass the senate, but have deepened an already polarized debate over how to reduce the federal deficit and stimulate economic recovery.

The bishops’ statement says:

A just spending bill cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor and vulnerable persons.

Bishops Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., and Richard Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, chairmen of the committees on domestic justice and human development and international justice and peace, respectively, urged Congress to resist proposed cuts in hunger and nutrition programs at home and abroad.

Bishops Blaire and Pates reaffirmed the “moral criteria to guide these difficult budget decisions” outlined in their budget letter. Among the criteria, they propose:

Government and other institutions have a shared responsibility to promote the common good of all, especially ordinary workers and families who struggle to live in dignity in difficult economic times.

Sixty Catholic activists, including theologians and social justice advocates released a statement alongside the Bishops’ letter saying:

This budget is morally indefensible and betrays Catholic principles of solidarity, just taxation and a commitment to the common good.

Says International President Edwin D. Hill:

No movement for economic justice will succeed without support from a significant section of our nation’s clergy. .The Catholic bishops’ letter and the accompanying statement exhibit moral clarity, good economic sense and powerful leadership.

Photo used under a Creative Commons license from flickr user dave_mcmt