Open Interfaith Letter to PA General Assembly Leadership 2
August 25, 2009
AN OPEN INTERFAITH LETTER TO THE LEADERSHIP OF
THE PENNSYLVANIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
SEEKING A RAPID AND GOOD FAITH COMPROMISE
BUDGET PROPOSALFOR PENNSYLVANIA
August 25, 2009
Senator Joseph Scarnati (President Pro Tem of the Senate)
Senator Robert Mellow (Floor Leader, Minority)
Senator Jane Clare Orie (Majority Whip)
Senator Michael O'Pake (Minority Whip)
Senator Michael Waugh (Majority Caucus Chair)
Senator Vincent Hughes (Minority Caucus Chair)
Representative H. William DeWeese (Majority Whip)
Representative Mike Turzai (Minority Whip)
Representative Mark Cohen (Majority Caucus Chair)
Representative Sandra Major (Minority Caucus Chair)
As clergy and leaders in Pennsylvania's faith community, we urge you to call on you, as a member of your party's leadership in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, to press for rapid and good faith efforts in crafting a compromise state budget for Fiscal Year 2009-10 that safeguards our economic future, protects vulnerable Pennsylvanians on the front lines of today's deep economic recession, and rejects the use of harsh cuts to balance the budget.
Our faith traditions call us to envision a society characterized by a profound sense of justice and shalom in human relationships and social structures, which leads us to support the following principles:
· That government, businesses, and society recognize the value of all persons, regardless of any identifiable demographic characteristic, and that government give all persons a voice in making decisions concerning legislation and policies that have an impact on the ability of persons to survive and flourish in society.
· That government promote, enhance, and protect the ability of all members of society to flourish.
· That government ensure that the most vulnerable citizens-children, elderly, poor, physically or mentally fragile-are not made to suffer, but have what they need to create a decent life.
Clearly, the impacts of the delayed Commonwealth budget are devastating for Pennsylvania's most vulnerable citizens. Across the Commonwealth, Pennsylvanians suffering the effects of the recession are turning to state-funded services and to institutions in their communities for assistance. Sadly, the impacts that have left citizens in need have also resulted in declining revenues at every level of government. Local governments, hospitals, elder care providers and non-profit organizations, community colleges, schools, and others are left with dramatically reduced resources to meet growing demand.
Private agencies that provide many important services are already drawing down their capital reserves, depleting agency lines-of-credit, and accessing alternate funding sources in order to continue to cover the costs of food, clothing, shelter, transportation, treatment, supervision and support for citizens in need. Ongoing non-payment for services (in the absence of a budget) severely challenges the ability of these agencies to continue delivery of services. Their survival and the continued employment of their tens of thousands of employees is being seriously jeopardized. Closure and/or severe cutbacks in services will leave even more vulnerable Pennsylvanians at risk, without access to needed services.
We remind you that we have come to this place because of reduced revenues, not reckless overspending. We know that Pennsylvania's spending growth has been lower than the national average for four of the past five years. And we are not alone in this crisis-most other states face significant budget deficits this year as well.
Sadly, from our perspective we see two sides, firmly entrenched, unwilling to budge from the positions taken. While we support fiscal accountability, we also believe that Pennsylvania cannot solve its current fiscal crisis through spending cuts alone. In order to avoid devastating reduction and elimination of services that protect our most vulnerable citizens, we urge you to consider thoughtful measures aimed at boosting revenue to help balance the budget, as well as cuts, and to encourage the members of the Budget Conference Committee to do so as well. A number of approaches aimed at enhancing revenues have already been placed on the table.
We also assert that cuts to local education and safety net services within the state budget will not protect Pennsylvanians from tax increases. It will simply shift the burden to the local level where local property owners will bear the brunt of increased property taxes to fund important services.
We believe that Pennsylvania's budget is a moral document and a statement of our shared responsibility to protect our most vulnerable citizens. You, as a leader within the Pennsylvania General Assembly, have a responsibility to work toward building a solid foundation for the future-one that does not leave children, elderly, and other vulnerable Pennsylvanians without the services they need. We believe this is best accomplished by preserving critical services for the most vulnerable and sustaining investments in education and skills that will serve to build a stronger Commonwealth.
We urge you, as a leader, to press your colleagues on Budget Conference Committee to move with all due speed to arrive at a compromise budget that is fair, avoids devastating gaps or loss of services for thousands of Pennsylvania citizens, and ends the uncertainty that local governments and agencies face as they try to maintain crucial services for those who need them most.
Time is running short for our neighbors who need your help.
Sincerely,
Open Interfaith Letter to PA General Assembly Leadership 2
August 25, 2009
Mrs. Kathleen A. Afflerbach
ELCA (Lutheran)
Quakertown
Vacant/Clymer
Rev. Dr. Robert G. Aregood
United Church of Christ
Reading
O’Pake/Santoni
Mr. David Arnold
United Methodist
Harrisburg
Piccola/Buxton
Rev. Dr. Bruce P. Bouchard
United Church of Christ
Hanover
Waugh/Tallman
Rev. David M. Byerly
ELCA (Lutheran)
Shamokin
Gordner/Belfanti
Dr. G. Clarke Chapman
United Methodist
Bethlehem
Boscola/Samuelson
Rabbi Carl Choper
Jewish/The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg
Piccola/Buxton
Ed Cloonan
Roman Catholic
Munhall
Costa/Gergely
Rev. Theodore L. Cockley
ELCA (Lutheran)
Williamsport
Yaw/Mirabito
Rev. Dr. Marjorie L. Coons-Torn
Conference Minister, Penn Central Conference
United Church of Christ
Harrisburg
Piccola/Marsico
Jean Dankosky
Presbyterian Church (USA)
New Cumberland
Vance/Delozier
Robert L. Daub
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Camp Hill
Vance/Grell
Rev. Stacie Dougherty
ELCA (Lutheran)
Oreland, Montgomery Co.
Hughes/Curry
Dr. Kay S. Dowhower
ELCA (Lutheran)
Mechanicsburg/Upper Allen Twp.
Vance/Delozier
Rev. Andrew M. Edwards
ELCA (Lutheran)
Fairview
Earll/Evans
Rev. Dr. Warren M. Eshbach
Church of the Brethren
Dover
Alloway/Grove
Rev. Sue Wagner Fields
Church of the Brethren
Elizabethtown
Folmer/Hickernell
Rev Dr. Charles Gommer
United Methodist
Dallas
Baker/Boback
Rev. Dr. Donald C. Hagey
ELCA (Lutheran)
Bethlehem
Boscola/Beyer
Rev. Gary L. Harke, Executive Director
Pennsylvania Council of Churches
Moravian
Harrisburg
Piccola/Buxton
Rev. Chad A. Hebrink
ELCA (Lutheran)
Berwick
Gordner/Millard
Fr. Geoffrey Howson
Episcopal Church
Fairview
Earll/Hornaman and John Evans
Jewish Social Policy Action Network (JSPAN)
1735 Market Street, Suite A417
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 635-2554
Rev. Karl W Jones, Jr.
United Church of Christ
Orwigsburg
Argall/Knowles
Rev. K. Joy Kaufmann, General Presbyter
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Reedsville
Corman/Benninghoff
Elizabeth Kury
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Harrisburg
Piccola/Helm
Rev. Thomas M. Lang
ELCA (Lutheran)
Perkasie
McIlhinney/Rep. Paul Clymer
Rev. Greg Davidson Laszakovits
Church of the Brethren
Elizabethtown
Folmer/Hickernell
Rev. Paul L. Lubold, Chair
Southwestern PA Synod, ELCA
Committee on Church in Society
ELCA (Lutheran)
Pittsburgh
Orie/Dom Costa
Rev. Karen Lundwall
ELCA (Lutheran)
Erie
Earll/Fabrizio
Rev. Sandra R Mackie
ELCA (Lutheran)
Gettysburg
Alloway/Moul
Diana S. Marshall
Episcopal Church
Bethlehem
Boscola/Samuelson
Nancy Martin
Congregation Council President
ELCA (Lutheran)
Selinsgrove
Gordner/Fairchild
Rev. Janet Marvar
ELCA (Lutheran)
Erie
Earll/Fabrizio
Rev. Fredrica K. Meitzen
ELCA (Lutheran)
Gettysburg
Alloway/Moul
Rev. MarthaSue D. Moll
ELCA (Lutheran)
Paxinos
Gordner/Phillips
Jean Murin, RSM
Sisters of Mercy
NyPPaW Justice Coordinator
Pittsburgh
Ferlo/Wheatley
Rev. Wayne C. Muthler
ELCA (Lutheran)
Shamokin Dam
Gordner/Phillips
Father Jack O’Malley
Labor Chaplain
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Helen Ortmann
Roman Catholic
Pittsburgh
Fontana/Wagner
Mrs. Andrea Palmer
Religious Society ofFriends
Kennett Square
Pileggi/Ross
Rev. David H Pflieger, B.C.C.
ELCA (Lutheran)
Kane
Scarnati/Rapp
Rev.Ricky Phillips
ELCA (Lutheran)
New Columbia
Yaw/Phillips
Rev. Donald E. Potter
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Mechanicsburg
Vance/Grell
J. Thomas Rogers
Elder, Presbyterian Church (USA)
Mechanicsburg
Vance/Grell
Rev. Thomas J. Shaffer
Buddhist
Harrisburg
Piccola/Helm
Karen Snair, Executive Director
Allegheny Valley Association of Churches (ecumenical)
Natrona Heights
Ferlo/Logan and Dermody
Rev. Schaunel Steinnagel
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Haverford
Leach/Briggs
Rev. Sandra L. Strauss
Director of Public Advocacy
Pennsylvania Council of Churches
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Harrisburg
Piccola/Buxton
Sensei Anthony Stultz
Buddhist
Harrisburg
Piccola/Marsico
Seminarian Linda Trout
ELCA (Lutheran)
Etters
Piccola/Perry
Rev. Dr. David True
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Chambersburg
Alloway/Kauffman
Robert Walden
Mennonite Church USA
Bethlehem
Boscola/Samuelson
Ruth Warburton
United Methodist
Clarks Summit
Mellow/Wansacz
Rev. David L. Wickmann, President
Moravian Church, Northern Province
Nazareth/Bushkill Township
Browne/Grucela
Rev. Susan L. Worrell
United Methodist
West Chester
Dinniman/McIlvaine Smith
Rev. Donna M. Wright
ELCA (Lutheran)
Telford
Wonderling/Clymer
Rev. Gail Zackrison
ELCA (Lutheran)
Edinboro
Earll/Evans
Pastor Joel Zeiders
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Bloomsburg
Gordner/Millard