Salt of the Earth: In session

In session
February 2001

The return of campaign finance reform
Catholic lobbies check if Bush is in their league
Will Bush's education plan make the grade?

Catholic lobbies check if Bush is in their league
It's hard to please all of the Catholic lobbies all of the time. Just ask President Bush.

While the National Conference of Catholic Bishops praised the new president for his decision to cut federal funding to international family planning groups that provide abortion counseling or help women obtain abortions, other Catholic groups haven't made up their minds about the rest of his agenda.

"One of our concerns is the emphasis Bush placed on churches having a bigger role in the needs of the poor," says Sister Anne Curtis, a lobbyist for the Catholic advocacy group Network. Curtis worries the government might "move to where it doesn't see it has a responsibility for the common good."

Curtis says she would favor efforts to create partnerships "but not an either-or arrangement."

Sharon Daly, vice president for social policy at Catholic Charities USA, has the same concerns but says she's optimistic. "John DiIulio, the head of the new office, is a Catholic," Daly says. "We think he has a balanced view: not faith-based agencies instead of government, but [faith-based agencies] and [government]."

The real question, says Daly, is how much money these organizations can expect. "We're hopeful, but so far his proposals don't include additional spending," she says. "If there's no additional money, we'll just be moving money around. That doesn't necessarily mean the programs will be better or more effective."

She also points out that the initiative hasn't passed a judicial test yet. "Even though the president wants to support religious groups, no one knows what the courts will say," Daly explains. "It would be really tragic if a group were caught up in court, spending money on lawyers versus helping the poor."

Both Daly and Curtis are also concerned about housing policies under the new administration.

"We'll be asking for major increases in funding for housing for families with children," Daly says. She thinks this might be a perfect opportunity for Bush to direct aid to religious and community groups.

Curtis says she will lobby for an increase in the minimum wage to help families pay their rents each month. "The Bush administration hasn't played all its cards on that yet so there might be some room to push a hike," she speculates.

"The real test will be the president's proposed budget," Daly says. Catholic Charities USA will be asking the president to provide more money for childcare programs and to restore food stamps and medical benefits to legal immigrants. She says she does not know how the administration will act on either of these proposals.

"The Clinton administration favored investments in daycare and benefits for immigrants, but even with administration support, we didn't get those things," Daly says. "We'll try harder and redouble our advocacy efforts with this administration."

Curtis suspects she won't be happy with Bush's budget allocations. "He campaigned on a $1.3 trillion, 10-year tax cut, but in reality it looks like that number will be much bigger, and skewed toward much higher income people," she says. She would rather see the government spend money on social security, social programs, and paying off the debt.

Curtis also expects to spend the year lobbying against increases in military spending, specifically for a national missile defense system. "This is not new issue; we've been lobbying against it for a few years," she says, "but with the Bush administration and the Republicans as the majority there's more momentum to increase military spending and funding for the national missile defense system. It's going to be an uphill battle for us, but we'll keep plugging away at it." —Anne Graber

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