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With the fast-approaching deadline for raising the debt ceiling, House Republicans, Senate Democrats and the White House are busy negotiating some budget cuts that will ensure sufficient numbers of GOP votes in the House to get the debt ceiling raised.
To be clear, the responsibility for passing this vote falls to the majority. It always has. With power comes such responsibilities. Evidently the House republicans are already backing away from their plan to kill Medicare as we know it. This is no surprise: politicians tackle seniors at their peril. But, I remain deeply worried that the GOP will look for further cuts in programs that aid the poor.
In a powerful speech at the Rerum Novarum conference this week, Bishop Stephen Blaire urged that Congress not balance the budget on the bakcs of the poor and he noted that the poor, unlike other powerful groups, have no one to advocate for them. That is our job as Catholics. Call your congressmen now.
