"Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed." - Luke 14:12-14

The Ongong Federal Budget Debate

House and Senate approve very different Budget Resolutions for 2014, forecasting disagreements ahead  (March 25, 2013)

House and Senate pass budget covering last six months of FY 2013  (March 23, 2013)

The impact of the sequester -- the indiscriminate, across-the-board spending cuts -- on public education  (March 23, 2013)

The sequester's impact on each state from the Coalition on Human Needs.  The Washignton Post's report on the sequester's impact.

Key Upcoming Dates in the federal budget debates

The Deficit, a Current Necessity

A Recent History of the Federal Budget

We Approach the Cliff, Again. A review of the budget debates of early 2013.

The Federal Budget Crisis: Too Little Revenue. Our most serious problem is federal revenue (income) is at a 60-year low.

  The Debt Ceiling Explained.  The need to raise the debt ceiling.

Options for Shrinking the Deficit: What Would You Choose?

The Federal Budget and the Economic Downturn: What Should Congress Do?  Background on the budget and spending options.

Background

What is the "fiscal cliff?"

Before the end of 2012, Congress needed to revise the federal budget to avoid the "fiscal cliff." As originally written, the budget for 2013 called for

1. tax increases and the end of many tax breaks, and
2. huge spending cuts.

In total, the budget deficit would have been reduced by some $500 - 700 billion. But according to numerous experts, such a large reduction in the deficit would have triggered a recession next year. So Congress worked to modify the budget: to continue some tax breaks while ending others, and to delay some spending cuts while going forward with the rest. But the question was: whose tax breaks should be extended and whose taxes should rise? Which spending cuts should be postponed or eliminated? Policymakers’ decisions about these and other budget issues could exacerbate inequality or lessen it, further weaken (or strengthen) the social safety net, reduce (or boost) needed investments in people and the physical infrastructure, and promote military spending over other more pressing needs (or not). Check out the resources on this page for more information.

Learn more:

We Avoided the Fiscal Cliff: What Happened? An overview of the agreement that allowed us to escape the fiscal cliff.

Fiscal Cliff Talking Points: What is our bottom line.

Read more about the Fiscal Cliff. Severe deficit reduction will bring a recession -- how can we avoid it?

The fiscal cliff, growing inequality and economic stagnation.

Congressional Budget Office Foresees Recession due to Planned Deficit Reduction. This is the impending Fiscal Cliff: the bipartisan and highly regarded Congressional Budget Office projects that if the planned massive reductions in the federal government deficit go into effect next year, the country will fall back into a recession.

The Budget and the Common Good

The founding principles of the United States, declared in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, include not only protection for our people from domestic strife and defense of the nation in times of war but also establishing justice and promoting the general welfare.

While we like to define ourselves by these ideals of fairness and generosity, we have spent much of our history trying to make the reality resemble the words. Today—when millions are unemployed, and when many jobs pay too little to lift families out of poverty while other people have unimaginable wealth and proposals abound to cut taxes for those most able to pay—our society is failing to realize the ideals we proclaim.

Our laws and public policy are the blueprints by which we set up the institutions that allocate people’s chances in life.  They can provide opportunity for all, and thereby promote justice, or conversely, they can create opportunity for some and deny it for others. 

Reminding us that Jesus calls us to attend to the needs of the least of these, General Synod 25 challenges the United Church of Christ to support policies that serve the common good:

“Our Christian faith speaks directly to public morality and the ways a nation should bring justice and compassion into its civic life.  In the story of the last judgment, Jesus tells us that nations will be judged by how they care for their most vulnerable citizens, those Jesus describes as, ‘the least of these who are members of my family.’ This story in Matthew (Matthew 25: 34-35) is not about personal salvation; rather it is presented as a story of the judgment of nations.” 

Today we are called to address the disparity between our ideals and the reality of rapidly widening inequality—our poorest neighbors living invisibly and un-cared-for among us.

• Job Creation, not Deficit Reduction, Is Our Priority
• Raise the Debt Ceiling

The Economy - Where We're At & Why the Budget Matters

The U.S. economy entered a recession in late 2007. While Wall Street has recovered and is once again paying huge bonuses, Main Street continues to struggle. Millions of people remain out of work. Incomes fall or stagnate as prices rise. Record numbers of families continue to lose their homes. State governments, required by law to balance their budgets, are cutting services, laying off workers, and blaming state employees for their financial woes. Corporations are sitting on record amounts of cash but are not hiring nor investing because the economic future is too uncertain.

Going forward, the country has a choice between two paths. On one, we continue to muddle through, allowing the “market” (which brought us to this point) to determine our economic future. This means the unemployed will wait years before returning to work. Proposed budget cuts will deny health insurance, child care, heating assistance, money for college tuition, and other essentials to those most in need.    

There is another path. The federal government can intervene and steer the economy in ways that benefit us all and create jobs to put the recession behind us. Here’s a four-part plan.

• Stop the cuts in safety net services. Assistance for those who are suffering has never been more necessary.
• Create jobs. Millions are unemployed and the situation is dire. Congress must establish a program of job creation. The deficit, which is largely caused by the recession, should be reduced only after the economy is back on a sound footing. 
• Curtail military spending. Veterans must receive the services they need. But major cuts should be made to weapons systems that are unnecessary or do not function as intended.
• Raise additional revenue. The people who have benefited the most from the economic developments of the past four of decades must pay more in taxes. The economy has grown enormously since 1970, but ALL the gains have gone to the top 10% of households, primarily to the top 1%. (Among the bottom 90% of households some incomes have risen and others have fallen but, adjusted for inflation, the average household has slightly less money today than 38 years ago.) The small segment of households at the very top of the income ladder that have seen huge gains can, and should, pay more in taxes.