State budget pleases Catholic Conference

The latest budget ever in New York State has nonetheless pleased officials at the State Catholic Conference.

The restoration of funding in the areas of health care, welfare and Medicaid were among many positives in the new budget cited by John M. Kerry, executive director of the Conference, which represents the bishops in matters of public policy.

"We're very pleased that the budget restored many cuts that were proposed earlier in the year," he told The Evangelist, calling the budget an example of "economic justice. The proposed welfare cuts relating to a preferential option for the poor were draconian cuts that would have affected women and families. Many of those cuts have been restored."

Apples and oranges

One major issue of concern during the budget process was a proposal to cut funding for the Maternity and Early Childhood Foundation (MECF), from last year's $1.77 million to just $300,000. Some lawmakers declared that the $2.6 million earmarked for abstinence education programs would cover MECF's grants to organizations that provide alternatives to abortion.

"They were confusing apples and oranges," explained Kathleen Gallagher, associate director of the Catholic Conference. "One [program] is for preventing pregnancy; the other is for women that are pregnant."

To restore the funding, Catholic Conference officials banded together with diocesan leaders, including Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, who personally called lawmakers over the weekend to voice his opinion on the cuts. Mrs. Gallagher said that the help of Assemblymen Ronald Canestrari (D-Albany/Rensselaer) and Dennis Butler (D-Queens) was instrumental in achieving the final result: At about 1 a.m. Monday, MECF funding was restored at $1.27 million.

Positive steps

Other positives in the budget include such additional resources in the area of education as textbook and software aid, the restoration of statewide standards for welfare reform, and the aforementioned $2.6 million for abstinence education.

"That's a major positive development," Mr. Kerry said of the latter. "With federal matching, that's a $7 million program."

In terms of welfare reform, Mr. Kerry stated that the new budget does not reduce benefits; while it does create a voucher system for welfare recipients, that system will not take effect for five years, giving the Catholic Conference time to address the issue.

The Conference was particularly pleased that the budget phases out an assessment on healthcare facilities that acted "almost like a tax," said Mr. Kerry. "There will be substantial savings to healthcare facilities over time."

On balance

No budget is perfect, the director added, and lawmakers "could have completed this months ago." However, the budget's positives far outweigh the negatives, he said.

"They proposed $1.6 billion cuts in health care at one point, and most of those have been restored," Mr. Kerry explained. "They proposed cuts in the mental health field, and most of those have been restored. I could say we would like to have more mandated services for the poor; but when you're looking at a $1.2 billion cuts and hundreds of millions of that are restored, it wouldn't be fair" to call it a real negative.

Some federal budget proposals that cut programs and services will still have to be enacted, but state cuts could have made the situation for the poor, children, families and healthcare providers much worse, Mr. Kerry said.

Issues like physician-assisted suicide and surrogate decision-making that surfaced during the budget process could have passed and did not, he added.

All in all, he summed up, "these are major successes for the Church. The severity of the cuts was so great and has been so much reduced that we'll be able to continue our services at a reasonable level and continue to serve the poor."

(08-07-97) [[In-content Ad]]