The Debt Deal
What’s Next? How to Make Your Voice Heard.
Robin Stephenson
503-922-0427
rstephenson@bread.org
Matt Newell-Ching
503-922-2182
mching@bread.org
Matt Newell-Ching
mching@bread.org
503-922-2182
Robin Stephenson
rstephenson@bread.org
503-922-0427
The Budget Debate
“Everything we have
achieved for poor and
hungry people in the last
35 years is under severe
threat of budget cuts –
nutrition programs such as
the Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for
Women, Infants, and
Children, (WIC) and SNAP
(formerly food stamps), as
well as poverty focused
development assistance.”
- Rev. David Beckmann,
President
Bread for the World
Is not this the kind of fasting
I have chosen?
“It’s all hands on deck this time
around; not just me. We are
inviting you to join together in
prayer and fasting to form a
spiritual circle of protection
around those who would be
most hurt by the cuts.”
Ambassador Tony Hall
Circle of Protection
1. The nation needs to substantially reduce future deficits, but not at the
expense of hungry and poor people.
2. Funding focused on reducing poverty should not be cut. It should be made
as effective as possible, but not cut.
3. We urge our leaders to protect and improve poverty-focused development
and humanitarian assistance to promote a better, safer world.
4. National Leaders must review and consider tax revenues, military spending,
and entitlements in the search for ways to share sacrifice and cut deficits.
5. A fundamental task is to create jobs and spur economic growth. Decent
jobs at decent wages are the best path out of poverty, and restoring growth
is a powerful way to reduce deficits.
6. The budget debate has a central moral dimension. Christians are asking
how we protect “the least of these.” “What would Jesus cut?” “How do we
share sacrifice?”
7. As believers, we turn to God with prayer and fasting, to ask for guidance as
our nation makes decisions about our priorities as people.
8. God continues to shower our nation and the world with blessings. As
Christians, we are rooted in the love of God in Jesus Christ. Our task is to
share these blessings with love and justice and with a special priority
for those who are poor.
Creating Political Will
The State of the Union
• Nearly one in six people in the
United States lives below the poverty
line. With more than 46 million people
living in poverty, this is the highest
number on record.
• 22 percent of children live in
poverty, and more than one-quarter of
children under 5 live in poverty.
• 14.5 percent of households in the
United States struggle to put food on
the table; 21.6 percent of children in
the United States live in these
families.
Recent job fair in Atlanta (CNN)
The State of our World
• 1.5 billion people around the
world live in extreme poverty, on
less than $1.25 a day. Nearly 1
billion people suffer from chronic
hunger worldwide.
• Globally, 24,000 children die
every day from poverty, hunger,
and preventable diseases. That
is one child every 3.6 seconds.
• Currently, a child dies every six
seconds in the Horn of Africa due
to famine, war, or drought
Child in refugee camp in Kenya.
Rick McNary, Catholic Charities
The three major federal
deficit-reduction packages of
the last two decades — those
in 1990, 1993, and 1997 —
actually reduced poverty and
inequality, even as they
shrank deficits substantially,
by shielding core low-income
assistance programs as well
as through such measures as
expanding the EITC.
Budget Control Act
of 2011
What happens in
Congress and the Super
Committee between now
and December 23 will
determine how effectively
we can end hunger and
poverty at home and
abroad in the next
decade.
Glossary
Discretionary Spending: Congress must appropriate the
funds to pay for the program each year. These programs
include International Food Aid, Poverty Focused Development
Assistance, WIC, job-training programs, Head Start and
Hunger Free Communities, LIHEAP.
Mandatory Spending (Entitlements): Spending levels are
determined each year by the number of eligible people for
each program. These programs include SNAP, unemployment
insurance, Medicaid, EITC, Child Tax Credit.
Sequestration: Automatic cuts every year for 9 years after
FY2013. Cuts would be 50/50 for defense and non defense.
Means tested entitlements will be exempt (SNAP, EITC, Child
Tax Credit, Medicaid, TANF). Cuts: Defense 55 B per year
(military) + non defense 55B year (17B in non-exempt
mandatory + 38 B in discretionary).
Discretionary
Security
Non-Security
Cap for FY 2012: $684 billion, or $4
billion less than FY 2011
Cap for FY 2012: $359 billion, or
$3 billion less than FY 2011
International Affairs
Department of Defense
Homeland Security
Veteran’s Affairs
National Nuclear Security
Administration
WIC
Head Start
Low-income Housing
Nutrition Programs for the
Elderly
Low-income Home Energy
Assistance Program
Child Welfare Services
Food Safety
Department of Education
Department of Transportation
Others
Budget Control Act of 2011
CAPS
Budget Process
$1.2 Trillion/10
years
Super
Committee
Phase 1
October 1, 2011: Sept 21 Markup
Phase 2
November 23, 2011, authorizing committees suggestions by October 14
Phase 3/A
December 23, 2011
Phase 3/B
After 2013/ elections
Vote / Law
Nay
Congress
Yea
SEQUESTRATION
Nay
Deal
No
Deal
Track 1 Priority
FY2012: Poverty Focused Development Assistance needs protected.
Senate has begun appropriations but needs to make sure to
appropriate programs within capped amounts per BCA. PFDA is
considered security and will need to compete with defense. It’s our
first priority because it happens first.
Our National security is enhanced through investments in
Poverty-focused development assistance – not just through
military spending. By protecting the most vulnerable, we
provide people with a choice and reduce the likelihood of
conflict. Currently less than 1 percent of the federal budget
goes to poverty focused development assistance.
We cannot balance the budget on the
backs of the most vulnerable people in the
United States and abroad.
Track 2 Priority
Super Committee: Since everything is on the table, including
raising revenues. They could restructure SNAP or make further
cuts to important discretionary programs like WIC, Head Start,
and housing assistance.
Federal anti-poverty and anti-hunger programs stimulate
economic growth. Low –income families are more likely to
spend their benefits quickly and in their local communities.
Nearly 14 million people are unemployed, nearly one in four
children is at risk of hunger. With so many families in our
country struggling to put food on the table, now would be a
terrible time to cut these programs.
We cannot balance the budget on the backs
of the most vulnerable people in the United
States and abroad.
The Super Committee
Super Democrats
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sen.
Rep.
Rep.
Sen.
Sen.
Rep.
Max Baucus (MT)
Xavier Becerra (CA)
Jim Clyburn (SC)
John Kerry (MA)
Patty Murray (WA), co-chair
Chris Van Hollen (MD)
Super Republicans
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rep.
Rep.
Sen.
Sen.
Sen.
Rep.
David Camp (MI)
Jeb Hensarling (TX), co chair
Jon Kyl (AZ)
Rob Portman (OH)
Pat Toomey (PA)
Fred Upton (MI)
What can YOU do?
1. Advocacy: Letter, LTE, visit MoC,
sign on letters, press conference,
ACTION ALERTS!
2. Recess Lobby Visits: House, Oct
17-21, Senate: Oct 24-28
3. Join www.circleofprotection.us
4. Educate and stay informed:
www.bread.org/budget
5. Bread’s Offering of Letters 2012 –
Expanding the Circle of
Protection
6. Outreach to new audiences.
7. Social Media #circleofprotection
8. Stories – find them, tell them.
9. Prayer.
The Circle of Protection
All the nations will be gathered before him, and he
will separate the people one from another as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats...
They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you
hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes
or sick or in prison, and did not help you? He will
reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for
one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
-Matthew 25:32-45
Robin Stephenson
Organizer
rstephenson@bread.org
Matt Newell-Ching
Organizer
mching@bread.org
www.bread.org/budget