Religious Congregations Cannot Compensate for Federal Budget Cuts

 “There is no way our country’s 350,000 religious congregations can make up for the cuts in the services that help hungry, poor, and other vulnerable people. Congress should not justify budget cuts by saying that churches and charities can pick up the slack. They cannot.”  Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that the more than half -- or $2.5 trillion over 10 years -- the budget cuts proposed by  President Donald Trump administration’s will come from programs that help low- and moderate-income Americans.

"President Trump’s budget should lay to rest any notion that he’s looking out for the millions of people that the economy has left behind," the CBPP said in a recent analysis. "He proposes steep cuts in basic health, nutrition, and other important assistance for tens of millions of struggling Americans even as he calls for extremely large tax cuts for the nation’s wealthiest people and profitable corporations. Inequality and poverty would grow significantly worse while deficits, when honestly measured, would rise."

Some politicians have suggested that religious communities can help make up  much of the difference. Churches, synagogues, mosques and houses of worship are already deeply engaged in programs that feed hungry people in their communities. They host food pantries, meals for homeless individuals and families, and provide other forms of support to people in their community. So, it is inconceivable that the faith community at large can step in for federal programs that provide a safety net to the community. According to a Bread for the World analysis, the country’s religious congregations would have to add $714,000 to their annual budgets each year for the next decade to make up for the drastic cuts found in President Trump’s federal fiscal year 2018 budget 

 “There is no way our country’s 350,000 religious congregations can make up for the cuts in the services that help hungry, poor, and other vulnerable people,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “Congress should not justify budget cuts by saying that churches and charities can pick up the slack. They cannot.”

Christian leaders who represent The Circle of Protection  expressed opposition to federal budget cuts that would harm people living in hunger and poverty. “The Trump Administration’s budget proposal has now been presented to Congress. We believe budgets are moral documents; they reveal our values and show our priorities, whether for families, churches, organizations, or governments," the Circle of Protection members said in a June 21 news conference. "Budgets show who and what we view as important, and, likewise, who and what are not. We have deep moral concerns about the way this budget would impact those we are called to protect…”

The problem would be worsened by the proposed drastic reductions in in healthcare under consideration by the House and Senate. The proposed American HealthCare Act would eliminate $2,000 a year in healthcare services from every man, woman, and child in or near poverty for the next 10 years. “The healthcare cuts and the fiscal year 2018 budget cuts – both of which are being negotiated in Congress -- are a double whammy for America’s struggling families," said Beckmann.

Here is a statement from St. Vincent de Paul about the healthcare initiative in the Senate 

“The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, long known throughout the country for providing emergency assistance to the poor and the vulnerable on a daily basis, is stunned by the Senate's proposed health care legislation. After making such significant advances as a country in extending this fundamental human and moral right to health coverage to all, regardless of one's economic status, it is inconceivable to me that we could be on the verge of rolling this all back. It is callous and mean-spirited, and not consistent in any way with my Catholic faith and Jesus's call for a preferential option for the poor. We know firsthand from our daily work with the poor how devastating the loss of coverage would be to them, their families and their children. And we know we will also be poorer as a country and a civil society that professes to care for the least among us if we follow the path laid out by the Senate legislation.”  Sheila Gilbert, National St. Vincent de Paul President,