{"id":1611,"date":"2013-05-30T10:53:05","date_gmt":"2013-05-30T16:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/?p=1611"},"modified":"2013-05-30T10:53:05","modified_gmt":"2013-05-30T16:53:05","slug":"faith-in-values-sequestration-hurts-all-of-us-not-just-our-most-vulnerable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/faith-in-values-sequestration-hurts-all-of-us-not-just-our-most-vulnerable\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith in Values: Sequestration Hurts All of Us, Not Just Our Most Vulnerable"},"content":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Sally Steenland<\/a>, Center for American Progress
\nclick for original article<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s Day 90 of\u00a0sequestration<\/a>\u2014the across-the-board spending cuts that went into effect March 1, which the Obama administration predicted would be devastating and conservatives insisted wouldn\u2019t be so bad. Three months in, it\u2019s worth asking how harmful the phased-in cuts have been\u2014although that depends on whom you ask.<\/p>\n

When sequestration cuts furloughed air-traffic controllers in April, airline travelers rose up in fury.\u00a0Congress responded<\/a>\u00a0with a quick legislative fix that \u201cunfurloughed\u201d the controllers and returned flight delays to annoying, rather than infuriating, levels.<\/p>\n

Likewise, when word got out that some national parks would face delayed openings because of sequestration, local chambers of commerce near Yellowstone National Park in Wyomingraised almost $171,000 in private donations<\/a>\u00a0to allow the park to open by clearing snow from park roads and entrances. And a visitor center and natural preserve in Grand Teton National Park that would have been closed all summer were saved by\u00a0wealthy private donors who contributed $116,000<\/a>\u00a0so that both could open on time.<\/p>\n

But other groups have not been so lucky. Sequestration cuts are forcing\u00a0Head Start programs<\/a>across the country to drop children from their ranks, despite research showing that\u00a0every $1 invested in Head Start brings $9 in benefits<\/a>\u00a0to society. Cancer clinics have been forced to denychemotherapy<\/a>\u00a0to elderly ill Americans because of cuts to Medicare. Schoolchildren on\u00a0military bases<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Native American reservations<\/a>\u00a0are suffering because of cuts to the Impact Aid program, which provides needed assistance to schools that have no local tax base. Anddomestic-violence<\/a>\u00a0victims have fewer places to turn because of funding cuts to shelters. Sequestration cuts mean fewer\u00a0Meals on Wheels<\/a>\u00a0for the homebound and elderly, fewer\u00a0dialysis treatments<\/a>\u00a0for sick patients, fewer\u00a0vouchers for low-income housing<\/a>, and more.<\/p>\n

But even if you\u2019re not in one of the groups described above, you\u2019re not out of the woods. Sequestration\u2019s cuts are so relentlessly broad and mindlessly indiscriminate that they will eventually affect us all. For instance, anyone affected by our nation\u2019s increasingly extreme weather\u2014from floods and tornadoes to hurricanes and wildfires\u2014will see reductions in forecasting, warning systems, preparedness, and response because of cuts to agencies such as the\u00a0National Weather Service<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0U.S. Geological Survey<\/a>. And in the wake of last week\u2019s horrific tornado in\u00a0Oklahoma<\/a>, crucial disaster relief and personnel depended on federal funding that is being slashed because of sequestration.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, we will all be affected by cuts to federal research and development, or R&D, programs that result in groundbreaking scientific and technological advances, such as the Internet, that spur economic growth. As\u00a0Hunter R. Rawlings III<\/a>, president of the Association of American Universities, said of sequestration\u2019s effect on R&D programs, \u201cTo put it kindly, this is an irrational approach to deficit reduction. To put it not so kindly, it is just plain stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only is it stupid, but also it\u2019s immoral. A few weeks before sequestration took effect, a group of faith communities sent a public message to Congress, \u201cFaithful Alternatives to Sequestration<\/a>,\u201d which decried any deficit-reduction plan that would increase poverty or place a greater burden on vulnerable Americans. These faith groups called for increased revenues through a more progressive, simpler tax code and urged Congress to replace sequestration\u2019s mechanism with a \u201cbalanced approach that ensures that our collective responsibility to each other can and will be met.\u201d<\/p>\n

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan<\/a>\u00a0echoed these sentiments last month in noting Congress\u2019s quick response to the air travelers versus its lack of response to the suffering of vulnerable children and families. \u201cBudgets aren\u2019t just numbers,\u201d he said. \u201cThey reveal our value choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our policymakers don\u2019t seem to be paying much attention to faithful Americans and advocates who are urging Congress to replace arbitrary spending cuts with a rational budget plan that promotes economic growth along with responsible spending. It\u2019s too bad that the children of airline business travelers don\u2019t attend Head Start programs. If they did, Congress might respond to their plight.<\/p>\n

Sally Steenland\u00a0is Director of the\u00a0<\/em>Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative<\/em><\/a>\u00a0at the Center for American Progress. Steenland, a best-selling author, former newspaper columnist, and teacher, explores the role of religion and values in the public sphere.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Sally Steenland, Center for American Progress click for original article It\u2019s Day 90 of\u00a0sequestration\u2014the across-the-board spending cuts that went into effect March 1, which the Obama administration predicted would be devastating and conservatives insisted wouldn\u2019t be so bad. Three months in, it\u2019s worth asking how harmful the phased-in cuts have been\u2014although that depends on whom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/AP538578562297-620.jpg?fit=620%2C360&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1611"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1613,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611\/revisions\/1613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}