We all want to live in safe, dignified and, if we are lucky, thriving communities surrounded by neighbors who see our value and welcome us.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a budget bill that puts millions of Georgians at risk, particularly our most vulnerable family members, friends and neighbors.
The proposed budget reflects an unprecedented divestment in health and economic stability that will make everyday life for Georgians more difficult.
The House bill threatens the health care of 3 in 10 Georgians with disabilities, 5 in 7 Georgia seniors living in nursing homes, and two in five Georgia children.
Plainly, the proposed budget takes financial resources from Georgia communities, thereby making them more vulnerable to housing insecurity, food insecurity, severe illness and under-employment.
Credit: Georgia Interfaith Public Policy Center
Credit: Georgia Interfaith Public Policy Center
The proposed changes will disproportionately affect rural communities in Georgia, straining the viability of rural health care centers and hospitals, and increasing the risk of closures.
With those closures would come not only a loss of health care access to millions of rural Georgians, but also further strain on urban centers’ health care networks as families with children and seniors seek new providers.
No less important, closures would result in the loss of jobs both for the employees of those medical facilities and for businesses that support them, like food service management, medical supply, local utilities and many more. All this combined will mean families have fewer resources to pay their bills at a time when expenses are continuing to rise.
So, what is the moral action? As citizens, professionals, people of faith or simply as humans with good intention, we can forge a path forward that is both fiscally responsible and creates economic prosperity for our communities.
We can and we must promote the common good as the Senate debates this bill.
We hope and pray our leaders will remember that government’s role should be to help its people, not harm them.
Wesley E. Myrick is the executive director of the Georgia Interfaith Public Policy Center, a unifying and coordinating voice bringing the common values shared by faith communities, including love, justice, mercy and hospitality, to the public policy arena.
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