The president has released his new budget proposal. If you're a fan of high military budgets and low spending on social service programs this is a budget you'll love.
Iraq is draining America's resources in profound ways (that and Bush's lopsided economic policies that reward the richest of the rich while taking from the "least of these" in society and the middle class).
As Duane Shank wrote this week on God's Politics:
The war is an enemy of the poor and America will never invest the necessary funds or energies in combating poverty as long as wars take the people, skills, and money.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities also notes:
In a sign of the President's misguided priorities, his budget puts extremely large tax cuts for the most affluent Americans ahead of the needs of low- and middle-income families as well as future generations. Low- and middle-income Americans would be hit by budget cuts in areas from education to protection of the environment and assistance to the poor. Future generations would foot the bill for the much larger long-term deficits that the President's extravagant tax cuts would produce. The tax cuts in the budget far exceed proposed reductions in domestic programs.
The United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries has a new action alert up where you can send a message to members of Congress asking that they support a budget that lifts up the "common good."
How the new Congress deals with budget issues will be a real test of their moral leadership.
