Conferees urged to budget more for social services, international aid

Published: 2004-04-28

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Priorities in approving the federal budget for next year should include full funding for a social services block grant, expansion of health care coverage for the uninsured, and rejection of efforts to cut Medicaid and housing voucher programs, according to the president of the U.S. bishops' conference. In an April 22 letter to House and Senate budget conferees, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., asked that special attention be paid to the human consequences and moral dimensions of budget choices. "Those decisions help or hurt people, strengthen or weaken family life and advance or jeopardize the future of our nation," he said in the letter. A news release on the letter was issued April 26 by the communications office of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. A copy of the letter was also released along with background material.

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