President Obama’s FY 2013 budget proposes cuts to poverty-focused international assistance, which makes up less than 0.5% of the U.S. federal budget but saves millions of lives around the world. Poverty-focused international assistance provides food to the hungry, shelter to refugees, vaccinations against deadly diseases for children, and education for a more prosperous and stable future. Cutting this assistance doesn’t balance the federal budget but does cost lives.
Contact your members of Congress today and urge them to strengthen international poverty-focused humanitarian and development assistance as they consider the upcoming federal budget for fiscal year 2013. While our nation’s fiscal challenges are significant, the current economic crisis disproportionately impacts the world’s poorest people.
For further background, read the recent letter by Bishop Richard Pates, Chair of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Dr. Carolyn Woo, President of Catholic Relief Services.
Your voice matters. Your voice makes a difference. Poverty-focused international assistance was cut by 8% in fiscal year 2011, and a more than 20% cut was proposed for FY 2012. Thanks to your tireless advocacy, when the FY 2012 budget was finalized, we were able to recover 3% of the funding lost the prior year. So send your email or call your member of Congress. Raise your voice and take action today!
As members of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature, we believe that we have a moral responsibility to promote the just and ethical treatment of workers, and to intervene when powerful individuals or institutions seek to undermine their fundamental rights as workers and as human beings. We are concerned that the AAR and SBL are using the Hyatt McCormick and the Hyatt Regency hotels for their 2012 meetings despite the fact that the workers have called for a boycott of these hotels.
The House voted to pass Representative Paul Ryan’s budget resolution on March 29. This budget cuts domestic programs that serve people who are vulnerable, while increasing funding for military programs. It also proposes repealing the Affordable Care Act, which is already helping millions of seniors, children, and young adults. And it maintains tax cuts that primarily benefit people who are already the most wealthy.
Representative Paul Ryan released the House budget proposal for FY 2013 on Tuesday March 20. The initial “big picture” shows that it is no solution to our nation’s economic problems. Major concerns are immediately obvious: