Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 5 — The Georgia Bulletin, February 8,1990
Liz Schevtchuk
$1.23 Trillion Federal Budget: Mars, Missiles, Medicaid
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Even the White House budget
director sounds a bit flummoxed by President Bush’s propos
ed $1.23 trillion fiscal 1991 budget.
Buried in the 5-pound, 6-ounce document are plans for
spending on everything from Martian exploration to space
robots and the “peacekeeper” MX missile, to more mundane
things like housing, food stamps, education — and trees.
"The budget, for all its intimidating detail, might be seen ...
as the ‘Ultimate Cookie Monster,’” said Richard G. Darman,
director of the Office of Management and Budget. “Its ex
cessive tendencies toward consumption are not exactly en
nobling. But at the same time, its underlying motivation is
clearly not malevolent.”
PRE-MARCH WORSHIPERS — Worshipers
fill the National Shrine of the Immaculate Con
ception for a pro-life vigil Jan. 21 prior to the
17th annual March for Life Jan. 22 in
Washington. It was one of the largest crowds
ever to attend the pre-march Mass. (CNS photo
by Patsy Lynch)
“Of course,” Darman noted, “monsters do not naturally in
vite examination.”
Monstrous or not, federal budgets always get plenty of ex
amination.
As usual, some in Congress praised the budget, some
derided it, and the nation waited to see what would happen.
Although the president proposes a budget, Congress must
allocate the money, and the final budget emerging after
months of Capitol Hill-White House bickering often differs
significantly from the original.
“The budget and the congressional response to it in some
respects seem frozen in the past, with predictable partisan
commentary, high-flying rhetoric and modest choices,” said
John L. Carr, secretary for social development and world
peace at the U.S. Catholic Conference, the bishops’ public
policy agency.
“The bishops’ policy,” he said, “is more investment in
human needs and less in military hardware and, if necessary,
an increase in resources to meet the needs of the nation.”
The latter could — but doesn’t necessarily — mean higher
taxes, he said.
Under Bush’s budget, national defense outlays in fiscal
1991 would be $303.3 billion, up from the $296.3 billion the ad
ministration expects to spend on defense by the end of fiscal
1990.
The White House seeks money for 50 MX missiles and 950
Minutemen, which, like the MX, are intercontinental ballistic
missiles. Throughout the 1980s, the Reagan administration's
promotion of the MX elicited opposition from various U.S.
bishops, including some whose dioceses were proposed as
sites for MX installations.
Outlays for space robots and space exploration, including
a future trip to Mars, would rise from $767 million to $1
billion.
In his State of the Union address Jan. 31, Bush also endors
ed U.S. and Soviet troop reductions in Europe.
“The president’s troop withdrawal proposal is a step in the
right direction but the lack of significant resources for hous
ing, and the continued substantial investment in new nuclear
systems are disappointing,” Carr said.
War-torn El Salvador would receive U.S. assistance totaling
$375.4 million, of which $91.4 million would be military aid
and $284 million would be economic or general foreign aid,
according to the budget.
The budget seeks $14 billion for foreign aid outlays, an in
crease of $3 billion over fiscal 1990. One of the key areas
targeted is Eastern Europe, which would get $300 million in
special assistance.
On the domestic side, Bush’s housing assistance plan
calls for less spending by switching from housing construc
tion to rent assistance.
“Public housing construction costs at least twice as much
as rental assistance,” the budget states. “By emphasizing
more cost-effective low-income housing, the proposed 1991
level would subsidize about 4 percent more households,
about 82,000, than in 1990 at less cost,” the budget proposal
says.
Overall, housing funding would increase a bit from the
$16.2 billion expected to be spent by the end of 1990 to an
outlay of $17.6 billion.
The administration also has announced a new housing in
itiative called HOPE — Homeownership and Opportunity for
People Everywhere. Through it, grants would be made
available for tenants to purchase and control public housing,
but every $2 of the grant from the government would have to
be matched by $1 from a non-profit organization or state or
local government.
Some housing-related aid included in non-housing
categories of the budget would decrease. For example, the
administration would cut $293 million from the low-income
energy assistance program and cut rural housing by $423
million.
Outlays in Bush’s budget for elementary, secondary and
vocational education would increase from $9.7 billion for
fiscal 1990 to $11.2 billion in fiscal 1991. As part of that sum,
educational programs for the handicapped would be increas
ed from $1.7 billion to $2.1 billion; while “compensatory” pro
grams such as Chapter I for the educationally disadvantaged,
would climb from $4.5 billion to $5.1 billion. There was no ap
parent reference to tuition tax credits in the budget.
Head Start, the preschool program offering education,
nutrition, medical and social services to poor children, would
receive up to $1.8 billion, or up to 36 percent more, in fiscal
1991.
According to Carr, “there are some things that are really
encouraging in the budget. The Head Start plan is a real
plus.”
In an analysis of the budget, the Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities, a public interest group, said that the Head
Start and HOPE funding increases “are more than offset by
cuts in other low-income programs.”
Assorted Bush budget recommendations would:
— Cut outlays for mass transit from $3.5 billion to $3.4
billion.
— Cut energy conservation grants from $341 million to
$326 million.
— Increase health care outlays, including Medicaid, the
government program for the poor, and federal employee
health programs, from $47.9 billion to $53.3 billion.
— Increase Medicare, the health program for the elderly,
from $96.6 billion to $98.6 billion in outlays.
— Increase the Women, Infants and Children food program
for the disadvantaged from $2.1 billion to $2.2 billion in
outlays.
Trees also receive emphasis. The president has called for
$385 million in outlays for an America the Beautiful cam
paign, which would include planting of 1 billion trees on
private land and 30 million in communities in one year, as well
as land acquisition and various environmental protection ef
forts.
Father John Catoir
A Free Press
Jesus Christ is referred to as the Word of
God. A word is defined as an outward ex
pression of something invisible, like an
idea, or a notion. Jesus was the Word
because he gave perfect expression to
God’s love. In laying down His life that we
might live, He expressed the good news of
the Gospel.
In the Catholic press we use the written
word to share the same good news. We also
try to foster Catholic solidarity.
Bishop Lehman of Mainz, the president of
the Bishops’ Conference of Germany,
recently wrote: “...but in fostering that
solidarity, that love of the church, our sense
of loyalty need not dull our objectivity, even
in areas where criticism is needed. We must
accept certain tensions which flow from
that very loyalty to the Church."
Speaking the truth with love is not always
Catholic Press Month
Essential News
Archbishop John Foley
good politics, but if the Catholic press is to
be an authentic press there must be room
even for the unpopular views of critics.
Respectful criticism often contains the
seed of purification and reform. No human
organization is above criticism.
The Catholic journalist is always respect
ful of orthodoxy. Reporting on the news and
giving it careful analysis, however, is a job
that can bring us into areas of tension. This
is a healthy tension for all concerned.
Bishop Lehman insisted that the Catholic
press cannot be made into “an extension of
the long arm of the Church.”
Freedom of the press is necessary in
every society, including the Church.
(Father Catoir is president of the
Catholic Press Association of U.S. and
Canada.)
Now, more than ever, without the
Catholic press, you can’t understand the
world.
The most historic “summit” of the cen
tury may have been the visit of Soviet Presi
dent Mikhail Gorbachev to Pope John Paul
II.
The strongest movements for dignity and
freedom in Eastern Europe are religious —
in Poland, in Hungary, in Czechoslovakia, in
Lithuania and in the Ukraine.
The most famous and most respected
martyrs for justice in Latin America are a
Catholic bishop in Colombia and six Jesuit
priests in El Salvador.
The most visible leadership in the battle
to defend the right to life in the United
States is Catholic.
Radio brings us the headline news about
such events; television transmits gripping
pictures; secular newspapers and
magazines provide more detail.
Only the Catholic press, however, gives a
thorough understanding and appreciation
of the religious dimension of the extraor
dinary events of our age.
To be an informed Catholic and to iden
tify with Catholics throughout the world
who are living their faith in a heroic manner,
read the Catholic press!
(Archbishop Foley is president of the
Pontifical Council for Social Communica
tions.)