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Forwarded from the USCCB
Colleagues:
Here
is an update on the continuing Senate floor debate on
the federal budget.
As we said previously, many amendments are
being offered and we need your help to ensure that
poor people at home and abroad are not forgotten in
these tight budgetary times.
Many of you have already weighed in on the
first item below.
The last two are new.
Continue to call your Senators (Capitol
Switchboard-202-224-3121) and urge them to:
1)
Support the Santorum/Durbin amendment to
provide an additional $500 million for the Global Fund
to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
2)
Oppose Senator Kay Bailey-Hutchison's amendment
that transfers $143 million from international affairs
for border security/justice.
3)
Oppose Senator Ensign's amendment that
transfers $352.4 million from international affairs
for border security/justice.
RATIONALE
for opposing the Bailey-Hutchison and Ensign
amendments: USCCB
opposes any measure that would transfer funds from the
international affairs budget.
Cuts of the magnitude of these amendments are
likely to reduce funding available for humanitarian
aid, development assistance, and HIV/AIDS programs.
The U.S. Catholic bishops view this type of
foreign assistance as an important element in making
the world and our nation more secure by reducing
poverty. Border
security ought to be funded on its own merits and not
at the expense of vulnerable people in poor countries.
Dan
Misleh
Director of Diocesan Relations
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017
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