Policy & Advocacy
Federal Budget Backgrounder, February 2012
Backgrounder on the Federal Budget, February 2012
Congress and the President are crafting the FY 2013 budget amid economic challenges, an upcoming election, expiring tax cuts, and mandatory spending caps set by the Budget Control Act. Pressure to cut discretionary programs will fall heavily on services for poor and vulnerable people.
Discretionary spending (one-third of the federal budget) is set annually by Congress and covers education, housing, social services, environmental stewardship, and defense. Mandatory spending (two-thirds of the budget) funds entitlements—SNAP, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and tax credits—which Congress can only adjust by changing eligibility or benefit rules.
USCCB Moral Framework
The federal budget is a moral document: choices about taxes, spending, and cuts directly affect people’s lives. Catholic teaching affirms a special priority for those in greatest need and calls on policymakers to balance deficit reduction with justice, compassion, and the common good.
Circle of Protection Principles
- Reduce deficits without cutting programs for hungry and poor people.
- Preserve and improve poverty-focused spending; make it more effective, not smaller.
- Safeguard development and humanitarian assistance that build a safer, better world.
- Share sacrifice equitably by reviewing revenues, military spending, and entitlements.
- Create jobs at living wages; economic growth is the best defense against poverty and deficits.
- Center the moral question: “What would Jesus cut?” and protect “the least of these.”
- Commit to prayer, fasting, and public witness as Christian citizens.
- Share our nation’s blessings with love and justice, prioritizing the poor.
Advocacy Actions
Before February 29, urge your Senators and Representative to:
- Extend emergency unemployment insurance benefits without punitive eligibility limits.
- Protect the Child Tax Credit for all working families, including immigrant households.
- Defend discretionary programs that support jobless workers, children, and families living in poverty.
- Oppose budget proposals that balance deficits on the backs of vulnerable populations.
By linking moral teaching to concrete budget choices, the Church and its partners can influence national priorities and ensure that deficit-reduction strategies do not sacrifice the dignity and well-being of the poorest among us.