ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 31, 2006  

ELCA Presiding Bishop, Other Church Leaders Call for Moral Budget in 2007
06-051-AL*

     WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson,
presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA), along with leaders of four other Christian denominations,
sent a letter March 28 to members of the U.S. House Committee on
the Budget, calling for a budget in fiscal year 2007 "that meets
the moral test of serving 'the common good'."
     The letter was signed by Hanson; the Most Rev. Frank T.
Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church; the Rev.
Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly,
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); the Rev. John H. Thomas, general
minister and president, United Church of Christ; and the Rev.
Beverly Shamana, bishop and the president of the United Methodist
General Board of Church and Society.
     "We are leaders of five Protestant denominations
representing close to 20 million Americans who believe in the
biblical imperative to care for the 'least of these,'" the
Christian leaders said in the letter.  "This year we again raise
our voices of concern as Congress begins the budget process
anew."
     Last year, the same group of faith leaders wrote several
letters opposing the fiscal year 2006 budget, which threatened
cuts to food stamps, Medicaid and other services that benefit the
poorest in American society.  The most recent letter was written
in response to President George W. Bush's fiscal year 2007 budget
request, which was released in early February and is currently in
the markup process in the House Committee on the Budget.
     "We see clearly that again this year there is economic
injustice and an indifference to those most in need," the
Christian leaders wrote in the letter.  "This budget not only
continues the trend of last year in cutting programs for those
most vulnerable but contains even greater cuts in the years to
come."
     The Christian church leaders enumerated their specific
concerns:
+ Treatment of children:  "Domestically the president's budget
cuts education funds as well as funds to states for special
programs for children with disabilities.  Internationally it cuts
programs for child survival and health."
+ Treatment of women:  "The president's budget cuts international
family planning and domestically cuts the WIC program (Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children)."
+ Treatment of working families:  "The president's budget cuts
food stamps for working families and funding for child care
assistance for low-income working families, and for families in
which a parent is in a welfare-to-work program."
+ Treatment of the elderly:  "The president's budget cuts housing
for the elderly and cuts block grants that provide funds for
those needing nutritional assistance and who are vulnerable to
abuse."
+ Treatment of God's creation:  "The president's budget cuts
funding from programs for clean and safe water projects."
+ Treatment of those suffering from HIV/AIDS: "The president's
budget cuts funding to the most effective multinational global
program for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria."
+ Treatment of development assistance:  "The president's budget
reduces traditional international development assistance and the
Community Development Block Grant program for affordable housing
and public infrastructure projects."
     "We remember the words of Isaiah 58," the letter concluded.
"'If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of
the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness.'  We
pray that during this budget process, light will indeed rise and
that Congress will not only remember the hungry and afflicted but
will respond to them with justice and fairness for all."
-- -- --
     The full text of the letter is in PDF format at
www.ELCA.org/advocacy/issues/domestic/06-03-28-budget.pdf on the
Web.  Information about the ELCA's advocacy ministries is at
www.ELCA.org/advocacy on the ELCA Web site.

* Annie Lynsen is director for advocacy communications,
grassroots and network development, ELCA Washington Office.

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John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
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