(The following is a requested reprint of a newletter article I wrote a couple of weeks ago. Their idea was that by including the article here, another eight or nine people could read it.)
Most of us believe that a personal budget is a good idea. Few of us actually have one. In spite of all the advice from financial gurus like Dave Ramsey, Larry Burkett and Ron Blue, the closest we come is "the money comes in...and we spend it." And our personal debt grows in the process.
So when I got sucked into a discussion the other day regarding our nations budget, and our need to reduce our national debt, I once again found myself standing in the middle of the road as an obstacle to the bandwagon on which everyone else in the conversation was happy to ride. The Republicans are cutting the deficit by millions. That's a good thing, right? Not if those "not in my backyard" cuts cost the lives of thousands in third world countries.
And the proposed cut of $363 million to the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the 40% cut to the Global Fund will do just that. If the Republican controlled congress signs off on these cuts, they will, without question, become the very death panel they were so worried about.
These two programs, created by a Republican President in 2002, have treated more than 3.2 million AIDS patients worldwide though local hospitals and nongovernmental organizations. The program has changed the course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in seven short years, increasing the number of patients receiving antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) from 50,000 before the program began to more than 3.2 million since. Drugs to pregnant mothers have prevented the transmission of the virus to 140,000 babies.
PEPFAR officers estimate that 400,000 HIV/AIDS patients who were supposed to begin treatment will not be able to under the proposed cuts. And 100,000 fewer mothers will receive services to prevent transmission to their babies--which PEPFAR estimates means 20,000 more babies will be born with HIV.
Ambassador Eric Goosby, head of PEPFAR and the U.S. Global AIDS coordinator, laid out the stark result of the proposed cuts in an interview: "They're going to Kill a lot of people, flat out." The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services put it this way: "Cuts at the level being considered will result in the loss of innocent lives". And Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote this: "The proposed cuts in the House spending package would have devastating implications for these policies and for our humanitarian agenda as a whole. Simply put, these cuts will cost lives."
The Bush administration designated the foreign aid budget, including PEPFAR, as nation security spending, which could protect it from the congressional axe. House Republicans, however, have found a way around this protection. Why? House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., explained it this way: "I just don't think global health, as important as that may be...belongs in this national security budget."
A balanced budget is a wonderful goal. And I understand the pressure Republicans are under from their constituents to do "something." But imagine this for a moment. What if Dave Ramsey tells you... in addition to cutting up your credit cards and avoiding all high interest loans... the best way to balance your family budget is to stop feeding one of your children.
Think of the savings! Your financial bottom line will look so much better. But at what cost?
Consider me old fashioned, but I can't help believing that the Christian response to our own national financial woes has to look beyond just making a group of angry, under-educated voters happy. Cut funding to NPR if you must. Cut funding to State's Educational and Cultural Exchange programs (a $350 million dollar savings just over the next several months). Make the hard cuts, if necessary.
But ANY yes vote on the currently proposed budget cuts is, in my opinion, an act of murder. The children who will certainly die may not live in Oregon, or Wisconsin. But as members of the greater global community, they are our children, non-the-less.
