Tony Hall: “Budgets are moral documents by nature. They reflect the priorities of individuals, households and even nations, exposing our real notions of who and what is valuable. As elected leaders in Washington engage in shouting matches over how to solve America’s looming sovereign debt crisis, the voice of the poor is still getting drowned out. They’re obviously not our priority. 

Every day 25,000 people worldwide die from hunger and preventable diseases. 50 million Americans go to bed hungry at least two or three times a month; 17 million of them are children. So when I saw a recent poll showing that my fellow evangelicals were among those most supportive of cuts to foreign aid directly benefitting vulnerable people, it broke my heart. 

We do need to balance the budget, but not on the backs of the poor and hungry. They didn’t get us into the current mess, and hurting them is not the right way out of it. With less than 1% of America’s budget devoted to foreign aid, cutting programs that save lives and actually help lift people out of poverty is both morally irresponsible and ignores the bigger problem.”