Christian Leaders Move To Protect Poor In Debt Negotiations

Christian leaders came together Thursday to defend the poor from potential cuts in Medicaid and Social Security should Congress fail to reach an agreement in current debt ceiling negotiations.

The leaders announced that they’ve already met with President Obama to warn him against cutting entitlement programs such as Medicaid and Social Security, saying the country had a moral obligation to help those in most need.

David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, warned that even if President Obama resisted making severe cuts to the programs, “there’s another tier of decisions that get made at the state level… a second round of cuts.”

Several of the speakers pointed out with some cynicism that much of the debate involving the nation’s debt limit revolves around increased taxes that would potentially be imposed on the wealthiest Americans.

Jim Wallis, president of The Sojourners, was concerned about the impoverished being left in the dust. Wallis said that it was “once respected in the past by both parties that, no matter what happens, you don’t make the poor suffer more.”