If Congress Can Keep Planes in the Air, Why Can't It Feed Hungry People?

WASHINGTON, April 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bread for the World is disappointed in Congress' ongoing brinkmanship over the most harmful aspects of the sequester as it passes piecemeal solutions to certain agencies' cuts. Late last week, an overwhelming majority of congressional Democrats and Republicans approved the Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013. This temporary fix gives the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the authority to spend up to $253 million of its current budget to ensure that more flights depart on time.

President Obama will sign the bill into law once the Senate re-votes on its version. Due to a typo, the Senate version requires another vote this week.

"It is astonishing that lawmakers could work in a bipartisan way to alleviate cuts to less-essential programs so quickly, while the fate of millions of hungry and poor people around the world continues to hang in the balance," said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World.

"When lawmakers solve the FAA shortfall while keeping other sequester cuts in place, it sends a powerful message that lawmakers are balancing the budget on the backs of hungry and poor people. Congress needs to replace the entire sequester and create a fiscally sustainable budget that does not further damage programs that help hungry and poor people lift themselves out of poverty.

"Scheduled cuts to anti-hunger programs will have disastrous consequences on those whom Jesus calls 'the least of these,'" Beckmann added.

Bread for the World maintains that a truly balanced solution will include increased revenues as well as targeted spending cuts. Despite several proposals from the House, Senate, and President Obama in recent weeks, the sequester drastically cuts international food aid, Medicaid, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

For more information on Senate, House, and administration budget proposals, please visit www.bread.org.

Bread for the World (www.bread.org) is a collective Christian voice urging our nation's decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad.

SOURCE Bread for the World