Crafting a Moral Budget

November 2, 2015Tyler Dratch

 

A budget should be a moral document.

The budget, at its best, can serve as our nation’s covenant with each other. It can do much to assist the most vulnerable Americans, ensure all children have the opportunity to succeed. It can protect our environment. In short, budgets matter.

The tradition reminds us that “One who withholds what is due to the poor affronts the Creator; one who cares for the needy honors God (Proverbs 14:31). A budget agreement that provides funding for the needy in society is a compassionate budget in line with core Jewish values.

Around midnight on Monday evening, the text of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 was released. This bill, which was passed by the house on Wednesday and has been debated in the Senate this week, lays out an agreement to avert a government shutdown and a default on the nation’s credit, while restoring vital funding cut over to human needs programs over the past five years.

The Budget Control Act of 2011 created a process in which defense and non-defense spending would be cut each year after 2013. These cuts were never supposed to take effect. Congress created these sequester cuts to compel them to pass a comprehensive debt reduction plan, but when that did not materialize, the cuts that Congress planned would never be real, took effect.

Since 2010 critical human needs programs have been stripped of necessary funding. Here are a few examples:

  • Child welfare services have been cut by $42 million or about 14%.
  • The Community Development Fund, which helps individuals find affordable housing has been cut by 38%, by $1.8 Billion.
  • Special Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) has been cut by 17% or $1.3 Billion.

The budget agreement passed by Congress restores $80 billion in funding for both defense and non-defense programs. More money will be available to support the children and the elderly. We can fund education, housing and juvenile justice programs.

This budget agreement has protected important entitlement programs. Social Security Disability Insurance, a modest benefit of about $1,140 per month, was set to be cut by 20% in 2016. This deal insures that SSDI beneficiaries will receive their full benefit through 2022. Additionally, many seniors on Medicare were expecting certain premiums to rise at the end of the year. This budget agreement eases the increase in Medicare part B premiums to ensure that seniors can afford their healthcare.

While there is much to praise, it is important to note that the agreement also includes provisions that could harm the most vulnerable. The deal repeals provisions of the Affordable Care Act, making it harder for employees to gain access to quality health care, by striking a provision which would require employees of large companies to be automatically enrolled in health insurance.

The deal also ends a pilot program in 20 states that made it easier for people living with disabilities to receive their SSDI benefits. Nearly 80% of all SSDI applications are initially denied and fewer than four in ten applicants are ever approved after appeal. Congress should be making these modest benefits more accessible not less. Jewish tradition demands that we “not put a stumbling block before the blind (Leviticus 19:14). Yet, this particular provision does just that – it adds a further stumbling block to accessing SSDI benefits.

This budget agreement does much to protect vulnerable members in our society, but we must continue to advocate for future budgets that reflects our nation’s highest values and that protects every American. Visit the RAC’s economic justice webpage to keep track of future efforts to make our budget and our entire government more responsive to those who need assistance most.  

 

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