Thursday, October 06, 2011
Bread for the Journey
Follow the link to watch a short story told at Church of the Pilgrims in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 25th, 2011 as part of the Bread for the Journey dialogue series in worship.
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Rep. Jeb Hensarling: Families in Texas are Struggling
(Note: reposted from Bread Blog)
My grandfather used to say, “It’s never as easy as it looks,” prompting me to rethink a problem or look at the big picture. This is good advice for families trying to make ends meet, and surely it is good advice for Congress as well. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) is serving as co-chair of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (or Super Committee) to look at ways to reduce our nation’s deficit. The Super Committee has much latitude and can make recommendations on anything. They could raise additional taxes; make more spending cuts; cut defense spending; let tax cuts for wealthy Americans expire; or make changes to anything else in the federal budget.
Ferrell Foster of Eustace, TX, who works for the Baptist General Convention of Texas as associate director of Texas Baptists’ Advocacy/Care Center recently told me that, "the United States is not going to balance its budget by cutting the aid it provides for overseas hunger relief and poverty alleviation. These dollars are small potatoes for the U.S. budget, but they are vitally important to these international efforts. Many of these funds also have a positive impact back home in the American economy because they are often used to purchase American commodities and services.”
He also said, "Many of us are fiscal conservatives who believe that a government should live within its financial means. That conservatism, however, is mixed with a compassion for those who need help in lifting themselves out of poverty. George W. Bush called it ‘compassionate conservatism.’”
It would be easy to just make across-the-board cuts evenly across the budget so that all programs take the same size hit, but the budget is not only our blueprint for spending—it is a moral document that says who we are by what we pay for. Right now, 17.6 percent of households in Texas’s 5th congressional district struggled to put food on the table in 2010 (compared to 14.6 percent nation-wide). Also, more than one in seven people in the 5th district, including nearly one in four children (or almost 25 percent) live below the poverty line, which is $22,113 for a family of four.
We have a moral obligation to protect the most vulnerable among us. Join me in asking Rep. Hensarling to form a circle of protection around programs that help hungry and poor people in our district, throughout the country and around the world. Call Rep. Hensarling at 1-800-826-3688 .
Marco Grimaldo is a Bread for the World regional organizer who serves Texas.
Official photo of Rep. Jeb Hensarling.
My grandfather used to say, “It’s never as easy as it looks,” prompting me to rethink a problem or look at the big picture. This is good advice for families trying to make ends meet, and surely it is good advice for Congress as well. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) is serving as co-chair of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (or Super Committee) to look at ways to reduce our nation’s deficit. The Super Committee has much latitude and can make recommendations on anything. They could raise additional taxes; make more spending cuts; cut defense spending; let tax cuts for wealthy Americans expire; or make changes to anything else in the federal budget.
Ferrell Foster of Eustace, TX, who works for the Baptist General Convention of Texas as associate director of Texas Baptists’ Advocacy/Care Center recently told me that, "the United States is not going to balance its budget by cutting the aid it provides for overseas hunger relief and poverty alleviation. These dollars are small potatoes for the U.S. budget, but they are vitally important to these international efforts. Many of these funds also have a positive impact back home in the American economy because they are often used to purchase American commodities and services.”
He also said, "Many of us are fiscal conservatives who believe that a government should live within its financial means. That conservatism, however, is mixed with a compassion for those who need help in lifting themselves out of poverty. George W. Bush called it ‘compassionate conservatism.’”
It would be easy to just make across-the-board cuts evenly across the budget so that all programs take the same size hit, but the budget is not only our blueprint for spending—it is a moral document that says who we are by what we pay for. Right now, 17.6 percent of households in Texas’s 5th congressional district struggled to put food on the table in 2010 (compared to 14.6 percent nation-wide). Also, more than one in seven people in the 5th district, including nearly one in four children (or almost 25 percent) live below the poverty line, which is $22,113 for a family of four.
We have a moral obligation to protect the most vulnerable among us. Join me in asking Rep. Hensarling to form a circle of protection around programs that help hungry and poor people in our district, throughout the country and around the world. Call Rep. Hensarling at 1-800-826-3688 .
Marco Grimaldo is a Bread for the World regional organizer who serves Texas.
Official photo of Rep. Jeb Hensarling.
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