Jewish, Catholic, Protestant Groups Cite Reagan’s Proposed Budget Cuts As Unfair to Needy

— Four major Jewish and Protestant social service Federations and Catholic charities in the metropolitan area condemned President Reagan’s proposed budget cuts as unfair, poorly conceived and unlikely to work.

Sanford Solender, executive vice president of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, told a press conference at St. Patrick’s Cathedral that if the proposed budget cuts are fully enacted, the Federation and its 130 social service agencies throughout Greater New York, serving 1.7 million people, stand to lose more than $43 million in federal support for a wide variety of programs like day care, foster care, mental health, nutrition, Medicaid, help for the disable and job trainees, neighborhood preservation, and other vital services.

Furthermore, Solender told the press conference, which was called by the Federation, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Brooklyn, and the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, that 225 Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) employees currently performing essential functions in Federation agencies will lose their jobs. In addition, more than 2500 elderly Jews attending senior centers in New York City would no longer be entitled to services under the proposed budget cuts in Title XX social service funds, Solender said.

“For the majority of elderly here in New York, life revolves around the senior center, where companionship and the hot meal are essential to their well-being,” he pointed out. “Take these services away and the elderly will retreat into isolation.” He added that “the sacrifices the President is calling for should be shared equally, not placed on the backs of the most disadvantaged.”

AREAS OF CONCERN

Bishop Joseph Sullivan of the Catholic Charities of Brooklyn, said: “The elderly, our neediest children, and low-income working people are being asked to assume a disproportionate share of the burden for turning the economy ground.”

Joyce Phillips Austin, executive vice president of the Protestant Federation, stated: “It is hard to understand how the Administration can be serious about putting people back to work when it proposes putting people back to work when it proposes cutting day care by 25 percent and eliminating several thousand CETA jobs.”

Msgr. James Murray, executive director of the New York Catholic Charities, questioned both the proposed reduction of 85,000 badly needed housing units and the Administration’s recommendation for a 20 percent increase in rents paid by subsidized tenants. “They don’t understand the realities of the short supply and high cost of housing for low and moderate income people,” said Murray.

DEVASTATING IMPACT OF THE CUTS

The four Federations’ leaders pointed out that the impact of the President’s proposals in New York City will be devastating:

Nearly 50,000 currently eligible recipients of food stamps would be entirely cut from the program. Over 200,000 households would see their benefits reduced.

Nearly 12,000 individuals currently working in CETA programs, almost 3,000 of whom work in community-based agencies, will be fired and many will be forced to go back on public assistance.

The potential Medicaid loss to New York City would be over $100 million, which will severely impact several of the already financially troubled hospitals.

96 day care centers serving over 8,000 children and 48 senior centers serving approximately 10,000 elderly would have to close. The proposed 25% cut in Title XX funds would result in a potential loss to the City of New York of almost $50 million.

Ultimately, Solender declared, “It is the responsibility of all Americans of conscience to join together to tell Congress and the Reagan Administration, ‘We can not tolerate a program that attacks the sustenance and dignity of the neediest people in our society, under the guise of turning the economy around.'”