U.S. Bishops Urge More Spending on Social Programs
U.S. Roman Catholic bishops have asked Congress to give “special scrutiny” to costly weapons systems and readjust the nation’s “misplaced priorities” by significantly increasing domestic social spending.
In a letter to members of the House and Senate Budget committees, Archbishop Roger Mahony of Los Angeles and Bishop James Malone of Youngstown, Ohio, said the federal budget is “not just a fiscal blueprint but also a moral document” and they criticized President Bush’s proposal to lower the capital gains tax.
“It (the budget) is a reflection of our real values as a people and a document with clear moral dimensions,” said the two prelates, speaking on behalf of the U.S. Catholic Conference in a March 27 letter made public recently.
“With the income gap between the rich and the poor larger now than at any time since such records have been kept,” the bishops said, “we question proposals which have the effect of lowering taxes for the wealthiest Americans.”
They urged Congress to evaluate the Bush proposal “in light of the already regressive nature of the overall tax structure and the need to raise revenues fairly to fund human-needs programs and reduce the deficit.”
Mahony is chairman of the conference’s International Policy Committee and Malone heads the Domestic Policy Committee.
The letter was written as Congress considers Bush’s budget proposal for fiscal 1991, which starts on Oct. 1.
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