WASHINGTON (CNS) – Every decision Congress makes about the federal budget “should be assessed by whether it protects or threatens human life and dignity” at home and abroad, the chairmen of two bishops’ committees told U.S. Senate and House leaders working on a budget package.

“A central moral measure of any budget proposal is how it affects ‘the least of these’ (Mt.25). The needs of those who are hungry and homeless, without work or in poverty should come first,” said Bishops Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., and Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa.

The third “moral criteria” they outlined was: “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.”

The bishops are, respectively, chairmen of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development and the Committee on International Justice and Peace.

Their letter was addressed to the leadership of the Budget Conference Committee: Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairs of the Senate and House budget committees, respectively, and those committees’ ranking members, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md).

The U.S. bishops “stand ready to work with leaders of both parties for a budget that reduces future unsustainable deficits, protects poor and vulnerable people, advances the common good, and promotes human life and dignity,” they wrote.

On behalf of the USCCB, Bishops Blaire and Pates thanked lawmakers for reaching an agreement to end the recent partial government shutdown and to “restart suspended programs and services.”

“As you work on a larger budget package that sets the country on a sustainable fiscal path, we continue to urge wise bipartisan leadership and moral clarity in crafting a plan that responsibly replaces sequestration and protects programs serving poor and vulnerable people at home and abroad,” the prelates said.

“A just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in these essential programs,” they added.