Budget bill needs changes

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Feb. 1 on a $39.7 billion budget reconciliation bill passed Dec. 21 by the Senate with a tie-breaking vote cast by Vice President Dick Cheney. The House earlier passed its own bill, but must vote on changes the Senate made.

While the Senate restored cuts made in food stamps for poor families, the bill will still hurt low-income people. For example, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said increases in Medicaid co-pays and premiums, and reductions in benefits, will total $42 billion over 10 years. That will affect many families with incomes just above the poverty line, including up to 28 million children. The bill also cuts federal student loan programs by $12.7 billion over five years.

While TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) child care funding will increase by $1 billion, that's $11 billion less than what CBO estimates working single mothers trying to escape welfare and poverty will need because of increased work requirements.

Shortly after the House votes on the budget reconciliation bill, members will decide whether to make permanent the Bush administration's tax cuts. The timing is appropriate, since the House passed its budget bill in November to help pay for more tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy.

As Spokane Bp. William Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said nearly a year ago: "These are tough times. There are few easy choices. But there are some 'right' choices. In a time of war, mounting deficits and growing needs, our nation's leaders must ensure that there are adequate resources to protect people who are poor and vulnerable both at home and around the world."

The budget needs major work by both the House and Senate to restore the funding cuts. We should not punish the poor to further pad the pockets of the wealthy. That is not the American dream. Nor is it the Christian vision.