Reform Jewish Movement Slams Passage of Budget Cuts Harming Low-Income AmericansPelavin, Associate Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism condemns today’s narrow passage in the Senate of a budget reconciliation package, noting, "The budget reconciliation package passed today by the Senate is a heartbreaking end to a year in which so many Americans struggling with poverty have been repeatedly wronged and abandoned by those in whom their trust was placed."Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Religious Action Center (political wing of Union for Reform Judaism)--Press release
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Washington, December 21, 2005--In response to today’s Senate passage of a budget reconciliation package including nearly $40 billion in cuts to social services, Mark J. Pelavin, Associate Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement:
The budget reconciliation package passed today by the Senate is a heartbreaking end to a year in which so many Americans struggling with poverty have been repeatedly wronged and abandoned by those in whom their trust was placed. Americans working to rebuild their lives after Hurricane Katrina and those who know the daily struggle of poverty now also know that a majority of the House, fifty Senators, and the Vice President who cast the tie-breaking vote, cannot be counted on to support them in times of need.
Among the $40 billion in cuts included in budget reconciliation are funds for child support enforcement, student aid programs and Medicaid. The elimination of cuts to Food Stamps after nationwide grassroots pressure and condemnation, including from the Reform Movement, is small consolation. Indeed, thanks to budget reconciliation, Medicaid recipients now face increases in premiums and co-payments for medical treatment, as well as reduced benefits, and Americans receiving government assistance through the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program are now burdened with a sharp increase in work requirements without being given adequate childcare funding to match.
The budget is a moral document, as the Reform Movement and others in the faith community have reminded members of Congress; it is the manifestation how our government treats those who most require its help. As the Midrash Exodus Rabbah teaches, all the troubles of the world are outweighed by poverty. Yet today’s vote evidences a Congress blind to the needs of the American people, and deaf to the exhortations of the Prophets, who commanded us not to wrong the stranger, the orphan and the widow.
America’s needy deserve better.
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The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is the Washington office of the Union for Reform Judaism, whose more than 900 congregations across North America encompass 1.5 million Reform Jews , and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, whose membership includes more than 1800 Reform rabbis.
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