FPL Senior Writer and Catholic Outreach Coordinator John Gehring went on The Big Picture with Thomm Hartmann last night to talk about the recent news around Catholic Social Teaching, budget politics and Rep. Paul Ryan.
Watch the whole interview:
It’s a staple of conservative orthodoxy that government is punishing the “job creators” with high taxes on the rich and redistributing their wealth to the undeserving, lazy “moochers.” This ideological illusion is the basis for irresponsible policies that cut safety net programs for the poor while giving tax breaks to the rich.
A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities strikes a blow straight through the heart of this offensive worldview:
Some conservative critics of federal social programs, including leading presidential candidates, are sounding an alarm that the United States is rapidly becoming an “entitlement society” in which social programs are undermining the work ethic and creating a large class of Americans who prefer to depend on government benefits rather than work. A new CBPP analysis of budget and Census data, however, shows that more than 90 percent of the benefit dollars that entitlement and other mandatory programs spend go to assist people who are elderly, seriously disabled, or members of working households — not to able-bodied, working-age Americans who choose not to work. This figure has changed little in the past few years.
The report also points out that, contrary to stereotypes, the share of benefits non-Hispanic white Americans receive slightly exceeds their percentage of the population.
Read the whole thing here.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has released a series of letters they sent to Congressional committees opposing the draconian cuts in the House GOP budget authored by Rep. Paul Ryan.
Yesterday, Speaker Boehner was asked directly about the issue, and this morning on Fox News, Rep. Ryan got his own chance to respond. Unfortunately, instead of addressing the concerns directly, Ryan tried to downplay the severity of the critique, dismissing the letters as not representing the consensus position of U.S. bishops.
RYAN: Um, these are not all the Catholic bishops, and we just respectfully disagree.
Ryan’s response comes only a week after his failed justification of his budget with Catholic theology. While it’s nice to hear him finally admit that he disagrees with the Church on this issue, his caveat falls flat.
The authors of the letters, Bishops Blaire and Pates, weren’t speaking as individuals. They wrote in their official capacity as chairmen of the USCCB’s Committees on Domestic Justice and Human Development and International Justice and Peace, respectively. Their views are rooted in a long history of Catholic social teaching on these issues and do represent the official position of the Church.
If Ryan has heard differently from other American prelates, he should tell us. In the absence of any specifics, it’s pretty audacious for him to simply dismiss this urgent warning from prominent Catholic Church leaders.
UPDATE: The Bishops have responded to Ryan’s comments, shooting down his argument that the letters aren’t representative. In statements to both The Hill‘s Jonathan Easley and TPM‘s Brian Beutler, USCCB spokesman Don Clemmer clarified:
“Bishops who chair USCCB committees are elected by their fellow bishops to represent all of the U.S. bishops on key issues at the national level,” Clemmer said. “The letters on the budget were written by bishops serving in this capacity.”
Following a rebuke of Rep. Ryan’s immoral budget priorities by both U.S. Catholic bishops and nearly 60 prominent Catholic social justice leaders, Sister Simone Campbell of NETWORK made an appearance on Current TV’s “The War Room” to detail why “Ryan misunderstands Jesus’ call to community in [his] budget plan”.
Watch the video here.
Yesterday the US Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned some of the GOP’s immoral budget cuts to programs protecting struggling families. Today House Speaker John Boehner responded with predictably dishonest spin:
“I want them to take a bigger look,” Boehner said. “And the bigger look is, if we don’t make decisions, these programs won’t exist, and then they’ll really have something to worry about.”
Boehner gave a detailed defense of the GOP plan, which to achieve most of its savings would cut billions from programs helping poor Americans.
“What’s more of a concern to me is the fact that if we don’t begin to make some decisions about getting our fiscal house in order, there won’t be a safety net,” Boehner said.
“There won’t be these programs, and I don’t know how often some of us have to talk about the fact that you can’t spend $1.3 trillion more than what you bring in — that’s what’s going to happen this year, $5 trillion worth of debt over the last five years — and think that this can continue,” Boehner said.
“When you look at the fact that we have to make hard decisions, it’s about trying to make sure that we’re able to preserve these programs that are critically important for the poorest in our society.”
Absent from Boehner’s response is acknowledgement of debt-reduction policy options other than gutting the safety net, such as raising revenues or reining in military spending – both of which the Catholic bishops have mentioned as critical elements of a morally responsible debt-reduction plan.
Boehner seems to be telling the bishops we face an inescapable choice between slashing the safety net now and decimating it later. He knows it’s a losing argument to claim that tax breaks for rich people are more important than programs that feed poor children, so he simply pretends the possibility of ending those tax breaks doesn’t exist.
The Ryan budget gave Boehner a clear choice between the social teachings of his Catholic faith and the radical values of Ayn Rand. By voting yes he chose the latter. He should spare us his crocodile tears about the poor.