Keep the Vulnerable in Mind: Letter to Congress

Sep 22, 2010

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September 22, 2010

The Honorable Name
U.S. Senate/U.S. House
Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator/Representative:

As people of faith, we pray for those decision-makers who have the responsibility for legislation that affects the ongoing recovery and well-being of our nation and its people. While we represent diverse religious traditions, we share a common scriptural understanding that God judges our nation based on our treatment of hungry and poor people. We therefore urge you to weigh carefully the impact of your decisions on those who face the greatest need.

We recognize that you face pressure to reduce deficits and stabilize the fiscal outlook, but we cannot build a strong economy when there are so many unemployed people, nor should we deprive the most vulnerable among us the services they need. Millions of people are being forced to rely on social safety net programs to meet their most basic needs. Service providers – in public and private agencies – are unable to meet the increased demand for food and services. We are troubled by efforts to pay for necessary investments in human needs programs by cutting critical safety net programs. For example, Congress’ recent cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) took away twice the amount of food that will be provided by all U.S. food charities in the upcoming year. Instead of robbing one safety net program to fund another, we must create good, sustainable jobs, producing an economy that works for everyone. A vibrant, growing economy with a low unemployment rate and a high number of taxpayers is critical to getting our fiscal house in order.

Poverty is also a drag on the economy and high unemployment prevents us from achieving robust economic growth. Child poverty costs our nation about $500 billion each year in lower educational outcomes, reduced productivity, and increased healthcare costs. A recent study by Caroline Ratcliffe and Signe-Mary McKernan shows that children who are persistently poor are much less likely to be consistently employed as adults. Similarly, hunger costs our economy $90 billion a year; poverty creates an additional $22 billion in healthcare spending per year. Spending money now on anti-poverty and anti-hunger programs is an investment in the future—we can choose not to incur the expenses of lowered productivity or preventable health care.

We urge you not to let rhetoric about the deficit keep our country from investing in our most basic priorities, such as creating jobs, educating our youth, feeding hungry children, and enabling low-income working parents to support their families. For example, more than 19 million children receive free or reduced-price school lunches; about 10 million receive breakfast, but only 12 percent receive meals in the summer. Similarly, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) lift millions of low-income families out of poverty each year, ensuring that full-time working parents can put food on the table. The opportunity to act on these programs currently lies before Congress. The Child Nutrition Reauthorization Bill will help expand access and participation for millions of children who otherwise would go hungry. The current EITC and CTC benefit and eligibility levels will expire at the end of the year, and without Congressional action to continue them, 3 million people, including 500,000 children, will fall below the poverty line.

Congress will have to take responsible, bold, and difficult steps to stabilize our long-term deficits and debt, but the economy needs to recover first; today’s unemployed must return to work. As you continue the daunting task of rebuilding our economy, creating jobs, and eventually putting our country on solid fiscal ground, we urge to you keep our most vulnerable in mind. What you do will reflect our values as a nation.