Federal Spending a Moral Matter, Griswold Tells Panel
Episcopal News Service. January 26, 2005 [012605-1]
John Johnson, , Domestic Policy Analyst in the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations in Washington, D.C.
"The federal budget is ... a moral document," said Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold to an audience at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C., on January 25. Anticipating President Bush's 2006 budget, scheduled to be presented to Congress, Griswold told the gathering that "rhetoric is one thing, but the budget is concrete and reveals the truth of our commitments," particularly with regard to the moral imperative of health care access in the United States.
"Compassion is not an abstraction," explained Griswold, who was invited to the Center for American Progress to participate in a panel discussion on national priorities centered on health care and the federal budget. "Jesus tells us, 'be compassionate just as the heavenly Father is compassionate ... It is clear to me as we read Scripture that God's concern is for the orphan, the widow, the poor, and the marginalized."
Joining Griswold were Center for American Progress president John Podesta; Dr. Ann Neale, a senior research scholar at Georgetown University; and Dr. Laurie Zoloth, professor of medical ethics and the humanities at Northwestern University.
"The conversation leads to common cause and can lead us to action for the common good," Griswold said, commenting on the importance of having a values conversation centered on the issue of health care. "My travels around the Anglican Communion have shown me how important it is to extend our concerns about health care worldwide. In some parts of the world malaria kills regularly more people than the recent tsunamis. Our federal budget can be an instrument of compassion both at home and abroad."
"There are today vast inequities in the delivery and accessibility of health care both in the United States and around the world," said Maureen Shea, director of the Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations. "President Bush will present to Congress a budget for the next fiscal year very soon. As the budget process is carried out, we will look at it through the moral lens of health care, looking to see if there are adequate funds to help insure those of low-income, the working poor and their children, to help fight AIDS both at home and abroad, to protect against malaria, and to do the research necessary to understand why one racial or ethnic group, or one gender suffers more than another from particular diseases.
"Failure to adequately fund these programs will not reflect our national commitment to justice," Shea commented.
"We will do our part" as churches and other non-profit institutions, Griswold added, but "we can't do it alone."
The Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations in Washington works with a number of health care organizations such as the National Coalition on Health Care, the Universal Health Care Action Network, and Families USA to bring together the wealth of the nation's resources to identify and propose solutions to the health care crisis. Numerous General Conventions have passed resolutions in support of access to health care that is just, equitable and available to all.
The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute whose mission statement says it is dedicated to "promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all." Further information about the Center for American Progress can be found online at: http://www.americanprogress.org.