Joint Letter to House Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Regarding Budget, July 5, 2011

Joint Letter from Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, Chairman, Committee on International Justice and Peace and Ken Hackett, President, Catholic Relief Services to House Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs regarding Budget/Appropriations, July 5, 2011

As you prepare to mark up the FY 2012 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) wish to share with you our funding priorities for poverty-focused humanitarian and development assistance. In supporting these life-saving services, we seek to promote integral human development, reduce poverty, and improve stability in the world’s poorest countries and communities in morally appropriate ways.  Doing so contributes to our long-term security, since poverty and hopelessness can provide a fertile ground for the growth of terrorism.   

We acknowledge the difficult challenges that Congress faces to get the nation’s financial house in order: fulfilling the demands of justice and obligations to future generations; controlling future debt and deficits; and protecting the life and dignity of those who are poor and vulnerable. However, the United States has a moral imperative to maintain its commitment to assist the poorest people in the poorest places on earth as they face the global impacts of the economic downturn, climate change, and food crisis.   

Based on our overseas experience and relationships, the USCCB and CRS have identified critical poverty-focused development and humanitarian accounts that warrant robust funding (please see the attached table).  We have also attached testimony submitted to the subcommittee earlier this year that provides more details on the priority programs we support. The enacted FY 2011 Foreign Affairs budget cut these life-saving programs by an average of 8.4% from FY 2010; further cuts would be disproportionate and life-threatening to the world’s poorest people. 

joint-letter-to-house-subcommittee-regarding-budget-appropriations-2011-07-05.pdf