Be Careful What You Cut

We use knives gingerly and carefully; we know they can cut. In their recent and ongoing efforts to reduce federal spending while simultaneously cutting taxes, our congressional representatives are not wielding a knife so much as a meat-cleaver. People of all faiths should demand extreme caution as Congress brings its blade to bear on Americans. 

Too often we don't realize that abstract numbers like budgets are packed with practical moral consequences. How we collectively decide to use the gifts with which we've been blessed not only shows what we value, but also shapes our moral identity. Scripture states that, "Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss." (Proverbs 22:16). What will we lose if Congress approves a budget that slices and dices 50 billion dollars from programs that serve the poor while cutting taxes that further enrich the wealthy?

Our losses will be deep: our compassion, wisdom, and sense of justice will all be compromised. Slashing 220,000 needy families from the food stamps program is disheartening and demoralizing by itself; starving families in a land of plenty is an outrage. But to know that such hunger is induced by the need to offset the costs of tax cuts that will primarily benefit the affluent is a moral outrage as well as an affront to our common decency as a nation. 

People of faith will first pray that our Senators and Representatives exercise wisdom and compassion when they vote on next year's budget, and then act on that prayer to demand so.   Please join us in urging them to care for the "least of these."  For, we cannot let our morality come under the knife.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Joel Schwartzman and Rev. Dr. James R. Ryan,

President and Secretary of Housing Justice!