Taking Aim at Military Spending: Can Deficit Hawks Cut the Fat?
Peace and justice activists from diverse religious traditions have decried bloated military budgets for decades. Now it seems their prophetic witness is picking up some traction in Washington. The National Catholic Reporter has an important front page story looking at this development.
As Capitol Hill is consumed by a fierce and often fact-free debate over our growing national debt, two public officials have forged an unlikely partnership. Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas), are calling for "substantial reductions in the projected level of American military spending as part of future deficit reduction efforts." The subject of military spending "has been glaringly absent from public debate," they wrote in a recent statement. "Yet the Pentagon budget for 2010 is $693 billion -- more than all other discretionary spending programs combined."
David Robinson, Executive Director of Pax Christi USA, the leading national Catholic peace group, thinks it's about time deficit hawks start applying common sense to this issue.
"The deficit is going to be the battleground, budget-wise, in Congress for the next 18 months, and having the wisdom to include defense spending is going to be critical," he told NCR. Deficit reduction measures normally fall hardest "on the poor and vulnerable," Robinson said, "and people hurting now are going to be hurt further if military spending is not folded into the deficit reduction debate. By introducing defense spending -- which I would argue is the real culprit behind deficit spending -- poor people will take less of a hit."
For those tempted to dismiss these arguments as mere peacenik propaganda, remember it was Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in World War II, who in 1961 presciently warned about the growing dangers of a "military industrial complex." Recently, even Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has spoken out against excessive spending on unnecessary weapons systems and Andrew Bacevich, a professor of international relations at Boston University and retired U.S. Army Colonel, has emerged as a trenchant critic of how Democrats and Republicans alike have eagerly fed the machinery of war with a remarkably bipartisan spirit. His most recent book is aptly titled: "Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War." Check him out on the Rachel Maddow Show last night:
A False Choice: Fiscal Discipline or the Common Good
Yet again last night the Senate rejected efforts to extend emergency unemployment benefits and help states facing massive layoffs of teachers, firefighters, and other vital public employees. Emergency jobless benefits expired nearly a month ago, and more than 1 million people have had their checks cut off, according to estimates by the Labor Department. This number is expected to rise to more than 2 million people by the time Congress returns from its week-long break.
Don't mistake this as a wonky, inside-the-Beltway sideshow starring penny-pinching deficit hawks battling tax-and-spend liberals. Helping those most devastated by an economic crisis - in large part caused by the greed and incompetence of Wall Street - is not an abstract ideological debate. This issue is central to the daily struggles of families living on the edge and, ultimately, to ensuring a just economy that serves the common good. Churches and faith-based organizations like NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, have been at the forefront of this fight because it cuts to the heart of values shared by diverse religious traditions.
Balancing concern about our rising deficit and the urgent need to maintain critical social safety nets should not drive us to make false choices. Politicos and pundits are very good at setting up simplistic caricatures - think "big government" v. the "free market" - that distort nuanced reality. Perhaps Congress can take a page from the Catholic intellectual tradition, which emphasizes both/and rather than either/or thinking. We should not have to sacrifice emergency help to states and struggling families on the altar of fiscal discipline. There is room to be prudent about fixing our nation's disordered financial house without abandoning core values that make a society more than a disparate collection of individual interests. The common good is not a fluffy, philosophical abstraction. It's about recognizing that our destinies are interwoven - what happens to our neighbors down the street or even across continents is never alien to us.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that without federal help state cuts could result in the loss of 900,000 jobs. Low-income families are already facing unemployment numbers worse than the Great Depression, as Bob Herbert pointed out in a New York Times op-ed back in February. The stakes are high. If our government can bail out corporations that gambled away the savings of hard-working Americans, surely public officials who tout their commitment to family values can find a way to throw a lifeline to those families caught in the roiling currents of this unfolding crisis.
Beyond AIG -- working for a moral budget
The actions of AIG executives--with their reckless credit default swaps--contributed to the economic collapse we're experiencing today. The fact that $165 million of federal bailout funds were funneled to these same AIG execs symbolizes the core corruption behind it.
The popular response so far has centered on punishing offending investment banks, but we need a more holistic approach as well. Regardless of what happens with those AIG bonuses, the bottom line is that Americans are suffering. People are losing jobs and health care, unable to provide for their families and to ensure their immediate needs are met. Non-profit organizations across the country, like food banks and free health clinics, are stepping up to help, but they are buckling under the pressure of this recession. With donations sagging and investment values plummeting, these organizations are facing debilitating budget cuts. We need to help. These programs are lifelines for thousands of struggling families, and Faithful America is advocating for a budget that supports them.
The new federal budget submitted by the president is a step toward fairness. By increasing funds to food assistance, health care, and providing tax cuts for low and middle-income families, it renews our commitment to the common good. This budget says we're not going to bail out investment banks while leaving food banks and other service providers behind.
To this end, Faithful America is starting a campaign to build support for a federal budget that addresses the needs of on-the-ground service providers and the people they assist. Click here to learn more and lend your support.
Members of Congress will be under intense pressure to cut these vital funds. We need to remind them that difficult times are when these programs are needed the most.
Click here to support our effort.
The AIG bonuses are shocking, not just due to their size, but what they represent: the rejection of the idea of shared sacrifice and the common good. We might not be able to get those executives to reconsider their priorities, but we can demonstrate our values and commitment to the well-being of all -- not just a wealthy few.
UPDATE: Recipients of 15 of the 20 largest bonuses have returned them, including 9 of the top ten. Good start.
UPDATE II: The Coalition on Human Needs has more information on how the budget can improve opportunity and address needs for millions of Americans. Read the statement of support they sent every member of Congress here.
A Common Good Bailout?
Talk continues to swirl around how the government will divide the $700 billion in bailout money. Everyone seems to want their piece of pie; after all, $700 billion is a pretty big pie.
FPL board member Susan Thistlethwaite rightly points out that any attempt to assist the Big 3 automakers has to have the working class in mind to be the right approach, and that there's no easy answer.
Considering the complexity of the probelm, she poses a question rather than an answer: "Instead, can we find a "common good" approach that can balance the well-being of the country with the well-being of the workers and even the customers of the auto industry?"
As she lays out ways to do this, Sue puts the American worker (especially the American autoworker) front and center:
It costs a lot less than $25 billion to protect the workers' benefits. In a "common good" bailout, the government should guarantee workers' pensions and health care. It is certainly immoral for people to have paid into pensions for many years and then lose their retirement security. Similarly, health care is often one of the first casualties when industries engage in cost-cutting.
These are crazy times and perhaps the idea of a common good bailout is just crazy enough to work. For everybody.
Fox News' religious principle: small gov'mint
Apparently, this Sunday his scriptural message is: don't vote for the front runner, vote for limited government. Ah yes, the biblical principle of the limited role of government.
An Interview with Rev. Glenn Palmberg of the Evangelical Covenant Church on SCHIP
It is interesting to see who in the the faith community is speaking out publicly on SCHIP funding. With the "pro-family" religious Right not only silent on helping working families afford more than a prayer, they are also very silent on the blog attacks on the Frost family.
On a more hopeful note here's a Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy interview with Glenn Palmberg of the Evangelical Covenant Church on SCHIP
The Roundtable: What are the moral implications of SCHIP?
Rev. Palmberg: This legislation means health care, or a lack thereof, for an additional 4 to 6 million children. About 4 million children are covered by SCHIP, and it's been a pretty successful program. This legislation would add 6 million more children who don't have, can't afford, and can't get health insurance. That's a moral issue. We have a responsibility for caring for the poor. It makes a huge difference if they get preventive care and prenatal care. That will affect them for a lifetime.
On SCHIP: The Frost family speaking out
Suffer the Little Children or Let the Children Suffer? (The Rev. Anne Howard)
And there’s one more death on the way: our compassionate conservative President is threatening to veto S-CHIP, the proven and popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program that has won wide and deep bi-partisan support in both the House and Senate.
In the witty lead of this weekend’s Christian Science Monitor: “President Bush heads into only the fourth veto of his presidency with most of America's health establishment and nearly two-thirds of the Congress arrayed against him.”Mercy. Maybe this compassionate conservative hasn’t heard about the families of four who make less than $41,000 a year and can’t afford health insurance.
The Farm Bill Isn't Just for Farmers
Center for American Progress Director of Resources for Global Growth Jake Caldwell explains that as the Congress takes up the farm bill - it means something for EVERYONE: climate change, national security, trade, energy policy and the economy -- so it's worth paying attention to.
Faith in Public Life has a very informative press release on this essential piece of legislation.
Why the next budget destroys the least of these