Clergy to Obama: "Put the needs of the poor first"

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:40 pm by Deacon Greg Kandra

Clergy to Obama: "Put the needs of the poor first" 2016-09-30T17:40:21-04:00 Deacon Greg Kandra

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A meeting between President Obama and Christian clergy — including Catholics — didn’t get much attention earlier this week. But while Washington wrestles with ways to raise the debt ceiling, and cut funding, this meeting helped give a voice to those who are not being heard from in the debate, the poor.

From Huffington Post:

As President Barack Obama and members of Congress continue heated negotiations over the debt ceiling and deficit reduction, a coalition of Christian clergy that has campaigned to keep cuts to social safety net programs off the table met with the president and senior members of his staff on Wednesday to make a plea for the nation’s poor and vulnerable.

The 40-minute meeting, which did not appear on the president’s public schedule, included representatives from some of the nation’s largest religious denominations and organizations, including the Roman Catholic Church, the National Council of Churches, the National Association of Evangelicals and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as well as representatives from social service groups such as the Salvation Army and Bread for the World.

The meeting came after more than 5,000 pastors sent the president and congressional leaders a letter last week telling them the “moral measure of the debate is how the most poor and vulnerable fare.” Held in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, it included a prayer session and a discussion of ways in which Biblical scripture is relevant to the budget debate.

Barbara Williams-Skinner, co-facilitator of the National African American Clergy Network, opened the meeting by holding Obama’s hand and saying a “prayer for God’s wisdom for his team on the decisions they make,” she said Thursday morning. “I told him there are over 2,000 verses of scripture [that apply to the fiscal debate],” Williams-Skinner said. “As a Christian, he, too, knows that is the word of God.”

During the meeting, Obama said he supported the group’s desire for “a bipartisan commitment to protect vulnerable people,” said the Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners, a Washington, D.C.-based network of Christians focused on social justice issues, who attended the meeting. The president also said he was concerned about potential cuts to Medicaid, changes to tax credits for low-income Americans and changes to foreign aid programs, according to Wallis.

Yet despite the fact that Obama voiced support for the group’s goals, any deal between Democrats and Republicans to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit will likely include significant budget cuts to entitlement and social service programs.

“We came here not to advance a particular plan, but a fundamental moral principle: put the needs of the poor first in allocating scarce resources,” said Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of La Cruces, New Mexico, speaking on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “As religious leaders, our concern is not which party wins the current political battles. But we know if we don’t speak up who is likely to lose: the families trying to feed their kids, the jobless looking for work, the children who need health care, the hungry and sick and hopeless around the world.”

Read the rest.

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