The Most Rev. Oscar Cantu
Bishop of Las Cruces, NM
During Labor Day weekend we take time to reflect on what allows us to “put food on the table.” In my line of work, as a pastor, I encounter people regularly who have to make difficult choices that no one should have to make: do I buy food or do I pay my rent? Many of our churches, synagogues, schools and community centers try to lend a hand to families in need. In many cases, the aid is appreciated but insufficient to get the family to a position of self-sufficiency.
It is during this time when so many Americans struggle to find work and put meals on the table that lawmakers in Washington are cutting a vital lifeline — food assistance — that protects vulnerable families from falling into poverty. This is a moral scandal that betrays our nation’s best values and highest ideals.
The U.S. House of Representatives is targeting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. SNAP is widely regarded as the nation’s most effective anti-hunger program. It kept more than 4 million people out of poverty in 2011, according to the non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and reduced the number of children living in extreme poverty that year by half. The House is proposing to slash $40 billion over the next decade from this successful program — double the amount lawmakers considered earlier in the year. This would have a devastating impact. Basic food support for up to 6 million Americans would be eliminated. Struggling working families, children and our elderly would be at particular risk. Earlier this summer we heard the disturbing report that New Mexico rated first among states in childhood hunger.
Even worse, these harsh cuts come on top of automatic reductions to food aid that will begin in November because of an expiring provision in an economic stimulus bill. This fall 442,000 people in New Mexico will see a cut in their food assistance benefits. Among those impacted are the 42 percent of children in New Mexico who receive SNAP benefits. Anti-poverty experts and religious leaders are speaking out against these draconian cuts. In New Mexico this will be devastating to children who already rank first in hunger! The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called food “a fundamental human right that is integral to protecting the life and dignity of the human person,” in a letter to House members this summer. SNAP, the bishops wrote, “helps relieve pressure on overwhelmed parishes, charities, food banks, pantries and other emergency food providers across the country who could not begin to meet the need for food assistance if SNAP eligibility or benefits were reduced!
When I listen to parishioners’ stories, I hear the pain in parents’ voices when they work overtime or even hold down two jobs to make ends meet, but still have trouble feeding their children. No one who has a job and works an honest day should have to make a choice between paying rent and buying food. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops noted in a recent statement timed for Labor Day that half the jobs in our country pay less than $27,000. Over 46 million people live in poverty, including 16 million children. Pope Francis recently lamented the “cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly human goal.” We must never forget that budgets and public policy decisions are ultimately moral choices about what we value as a society.
Elected officials and citizens have a reasonable concern about our national debt. We must be prudent stewards of fiscal resources. However, it is inhumane and ultimately irresponsible to squeeze savings from effective programs that help people from falling into poverty.
Bishop Oscar Cantu is the ordinary of the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico. The son of hardworking Mexican immigrants, he grew up in Houston with his seven siblings. While still a seminarian, he was involved in a committee to develop, promulgate, and promote a plan for Hispanic ministry. He was ordained a priest in 1994, and as a parish priest in Houston and a teacher at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, he was involved in the Christian Family movement and the Metropolitan Organization (TMO), which publicly addresses important social issues such as fair housing, immigration, education. He was named an Auxiliary Bishop of San Antonio in 2008 and the second bishop of Las Cruces in 2013. He is the incoming Chair of the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace.
