Advent Expectation and the Fiscal Cliff

 
At this time of year, as we turn our attention to the waiting and the preparation that characterizes this holy season, and to the hope for the future that will arrive on Christmas morning, we join with you as we wait and hope. And yet we know that God has called us to be in the world and to call the world to better account. In the church, and especially during Advent, we have responsibilities outside of the walls of our houses of worship. We have responsibilities in our families, in our communities, and in our nation.
 
Most pressing among the many items of business before this lame duck Congress is the looming so-called fiscal cliff – the convergence of a number of policies that will automatically take effect in January, 2013. In this time of intense partisanship and long-term fiscal crisis, it is essential that the church’s voice be loud among those seeking to influence our national decisions. Contact your Members of Congress now to weigh in on the current fiscal cliff debate.
 
CBPP - causes of the deficitWe continue to exhort Members of Congress to bear in mind to common good when making fiscal decisions. We join in concerns about leaving a legacy of mounting debt to future generations, but so too do we abhor leaving a legacy of rising poverty, inequality, and underinvestment. As the national dialogue centers around ways to reduce the federal deficit, it is first important to remember what created our deficit (see chart) and second that there are only two ways to reduce it: cutting spending and raising tax revenue. To date, all deficit reduction measures ($1.5 trillion) have come from spending cuts, mostly from the section of the budget that is not responsible for our ballooning deficit. We cannot cut our way out of our deficit – new revenues must be part of any solution that seeks to reduce the deficit in a just way.
 
Absent action from Congress, on January 1st, a series of deep automatic spending cuts ($1.2 trillion) and the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will converge to create the so-called fiscal cliff. These policies together will significantly reduce the deficit, but as blunt tools they will also do harm. Combined with the pending need to increase the federal debt ceiling again and the expiration of Unemployment Insurance Benefits for the long-term unemployed, these policies have the potential to cause severe contraction in the economy and the labor market, even as a sluggish recovery from the Great Recession continues to provide too few new jobs to meet the demand of those seeking work.
 
For slides from a recent presentation on the fiscal cliff, click here.
 
Even in this time of waiting and thanking and hoping and praying, we know that we have so much work to do, both still to come this year, and as a New Year begins. But we engage with Members of Congress, and with you, during this Lame Duck season with hope and thanksgiving, trusting in our God who calls us into the public square, requiring us to bring our religious understandings of compassion, peace, and justice, to the decisions we make as a nation.
 
Send a message to your Member of Congress today – make sure they know to protect the poor in a fiscal cliff deal.

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