Government Must Not Balance Budget on the Backs o...( ALEXANDRIA Va. June 15 -- Escalating...),Health

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Escalating funding issues challenge social service providers in today's economy. Catholic Charities agencies across the country indicate that decreasing funds impact both those they serve and those they employ. As state governments face new budget years a stark reality has emerged. Proposed and unprecedented cuts to programs that provide minimal, but essential, services to the country's poor and most vulnerable are leaving these people with no hope for safety net services. City, county and state governments are attempting to balance budgets on the backs of those who have the least. As our country strives to recover from this severe economic disaster it must include all Americans in recovery efforts. It is morally imperative that that the country pursue recovery programs and strategies that will not plunge the poor into ever more catastrophic circumstances from which they will find it almost impossible to recover.

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Rev. Larry Snyder, President of Catholic Charities USA, stated, "I call on all government officials at every level to make prudent decisions that will minimize adverse effects on those who have the least in our society." In a public statement issued to elected officials Father Snyder went on to acknowledge that all Americans must share part of the burden of this economic crisis, but the poor and vulnerable must not bare a disproportionate share.

As Catholic Charities agencies in congressional districts across the United States, Guam and Puerto Rico experience unprecedented numbers of people coming to their doors for food, housing, health care and the hope of finding employment the agencies have depleted resourc
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