by Dennis Sadowski
WASHINGTON (CNS) – The needs of poor and vulnerable Americans must remain at the top of the country’s spending priorities as Congress debates the federal budget in the coming weeks, the chairmen of two U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops committees said.
Holding firm to earlier stances, Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace, told members of Congress that budget expenditures reflect the priorities of a nation.
“As Catholic pastors, we continue to emphasize that these choices are economic, political and moral,” the bishops said.
“While we lack the competence to offer a detailed critique of entire budget proposals, we do ask you to consider the human and moral dimensions of these choices,” they said.
Contrasting proposals have risen to the forefront in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The House budget, written by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., calls for reducing domestic spending and lowering tax rates for most income earners while growing military spending. His proposal, made as chairman of the House Budget Committee, calls for privatizing Medicare; reducing funding for Medicaid and food stamps by turning them into block grants administered by states; and abolishing the Affordable Care Act.
Ryan has said such steps are necessary to balance the budget by 2023 and begin reducing the federal deficit.
The Senate budget, offered by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., calls for slower growth in discretionary spending and new revenues from wealthy Americans and the biggest corporations. In introducing her proposal, Murray said the budget “tackles the deficit and debt the way the American people wanted it done.”