Bishop Oscar Cantú: Deep cuts to food assistance a moral scandal

Last updated on: September 1, 2013 at 10:11 am by Billy Kangas

Bishop Oscar Cantú: Deep cuts to food assistance a moral scandal 2013-09-01T10:11:00-04:00 Billy Kangas

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Today’s post is written by Bishop Oscar Cantú of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces.

In my line of work, as a pastor, I encounter people regularly who have to make difficult choices that no one should have to make: do I buy food or do I pay my rent? Many of our churches, synagogues, schools and community centers try to lend a hand to families in need. In many cases, the aid is appreciated but insufficient to get the family to a position of self-sufficiency.

It is during this time when so many Americans struggle to find work and put meals on the table that lawmakers in Washington are cutting a vital lifeline — food assistance — that protects vulnerable families from falling into poverty. This is a moral scandal that betrays our nation’s best values and highest ideals.

The U.S. House of Representatives is targeting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. SNAP is widely regarded as the nation’s most effective anti-hunger program. It kept more than 4 million people out of poverty in 2011, according to the non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and reduced the number of children living in extreme poverty that year by half. The House is proposing to slash $40 billion over the next decade from this successful program — double the amount lawmakers considered earlier in the year. This would have a devastating impact. Basic food support for up to 6 million Americans would be eliminated. Struggling working families, children and our elderly would be at particular risk. Earlier this summer we heard the disturbing report that New Mexico rated first among states in childhood hunger.

Even worse, these harsh cuts come on top of automatic reductions to food aid that will begin in November because of an expiring provision in an economic stimulus bill. This fall 442,000 people in New Mexico will see a cut in their food assistance benefits. Among those impacted are the 42 percent of children in New Mexico who receive SNAP benefits. Anti-poverty experts and religious leaders are speaking out against these draconian cuts. In New Mexico this will be devastating to children who already rank first in hunger! The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called food “a fundamental human right that is integral to protecting the life and dignity of the human person,” in a letter to House members this summer. SNAP, the bishops wrote, “helps relieve pressure on overwhelmed parishes, charities, food banks, pantries and other emergency food providers across the country who could not begin to meet the need for food assistance if SNAP eligibility or benefits were reduced.”

When I listen to parishioners’ stories, I hear the pain in parents’ voices when they work overtime or even hold down two jobs to make ends meet, but still have trouble feeding their children. No one who has a job and works an honest day should have to make a choice between paying rent and buying food. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops noted in a recent statement timed for Labor Day that half the jobs in our country pay less than $27,000. Over 46 million people live in poverty, including 16 million children. Pope Francis recently lamented the “cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly human goal.” We must never forget that budgets and public policy decisions are ultimately moral choices about what we value as a society.

Elected officials and citizens have a reasonable concern about our national debt. We must be prudent stewards of fiscal resources. However, it is inhumane and ultimately irresponsible to squeeze savings from effective programs that help people from falling into poverty.

Bishop Oscar Cantú is the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces. He will have been a priest in the Catholic Church for 20 years this November. He received his MDiv from the university of saint thomas and his doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. You can watch his weekly vlog on youtube here. This article also appeared here.

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