UCC weekly message points to an urgent
need for setting our budget priorities
Weekly Message 2001, #9 from the UCC Justice and Peace
Ministry
[published here on 4-14-01]
SETTING OUR FEDERAL BUDGET PRIORITIES
The federal budget, released on April 9, reveals how
President Bush's proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut will effect our common
life in the United States. Programs to support the training of doctors
at children's hospitals lose $35 million. Tax credits to boost economic
development in poor neighborhoods have been scaled back, as has funding
for a highly successful community policing program.
During a major energy crisis, the budget cuts $200
million from federal renewable energy and energy efficiency programs.
Solar, wind and renewable energy research was cut by 50 percent, making
way for the budget's planned replacement activities -- $5 million to
study oil drilling in Alaska's pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Thus far, some bipartisan House and Senate reactions
to the proposed budget cuts indicate that a large tax cut may not be the
best way to spend the surplus after all. On April 6, the US Senate voted
65-35 to trim the tax cut to $1.2 trillion to make way for spending on
special education, prescription drug benefits for seniors, and long-term
health care. Deuteronomy 24:21-22 reminds us "when you gather the
grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the
alien, the orphan, and the widow. Remember that you were a slave in the
land of Egypt..." Members of Congress are home for the
congressional Easter recess, so call your members' district offices or
schedule a visit. Let them know where you stand on budget priorities
that effect our common good.
