General Assembly: Are sacrifice, compassion dirty words?

Editor's note: The following is one in a series of commissioned guest columns about the legislative session that starts Jan. 11.

The 2012 General Assembly will present unique challenges to our commonwealth. As in many other states across the country, Virginia is operating under the stress of shrinking revenues and increased demand on public services in the wake of the great recession. Though Virginia has fared this economic storm better than some and though we are one of the wealthiest states in the country in per annum income, we rank near the bottom with respect to human services, such as Medicaid. Much work remains in protecting programs that serve our most vulnerable families.

At the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy we work in coalition with faith communities throughout the state to advance public policies that demonstrate a compassionate response to the struggles of Virginians in need. We do this by engaging people of all faiths, educating the public about key issues, the legislative process and the call to advocacy.

As we prepare for the General Assembly to convene and pass a budget that will set Virginia's future course, we at the Virginia Interfaith Center see two forces driving policy that are in tension with one another. The first is the compelling need for our government to respond to the growing number of struggling Virginia families with smart policies that are aimed at reducing poverty and empowering people to build better lives for themselves. The other force at work is the increasingly toxic political environment that distracts politicians from enacting meaningful legislation that would benefit all Virginia citizens. The danger is that our General Assembly members will be tempted to reduce our neighbors to mere numbers on a balance sheet.

There is a need for bold action to address the problems we are facing in Virginia — and the need is growing. The most recent census data indicate that more than one in nine Virginians lived under the federal poverty level in 2010, including more than 14 percent of the children in our commonwealth.

The other force driving policy is the attitude our elected officials have about how we treat our neighbors. Unfortunately, some of our legislators are making decisions through the lens of a severely toxic political atmosphere bleeding over the Potomac into our beloved commonwealth. This is a skewed perspective that values the bottom line of a budget, obtained at any cost.

We fear that the spread of this view would open the door to reducing Medicaid funding to extremely dangerous levels; increasing the usurious environment for payday and car title lenders to flourish; and ignoring the dangers that leave our water and our health vulnerable by lifting the 30-year ban on mining uranium. This poisonous attitude is a significant obstacle to any healthy discussion in the General Assembly about those policies that would promote the common good.

However, there is an alternative lens through which the Center and some legislators view these choices. We believe that a compassionate perspective, which emphasizes our common humanity and shared sacrifice, is the most appropriate response to the increasing number of struggling Virginia families. Public conversations must include a new vocabulary that incorporates an often forsaken word — sacrifice. Our lawmakers must step back and evaluate the dynamics driving their decision making and consider who and how our society should share the burden of sacrifice in order to promote the common good.

In 2012, the Center will work with lawmakers to examine the most pressing issues facing Virginia families through this lens of the common good. The Center will be working to protect the most vulnerable among us from financial predators; prioritize the needs of working families through a thoughtful, moral budget; and support sustainable job creation initiatives. These initiatives include advocating for the renewal of our state's Earned Income Tax Credit, sustained funding for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Family Access to Medical Insurance Security.With a budget deficit of approximately $1 billion over the next two years, the Center is advocating that sacrifice be shared and new revenues be captured through the closure of tax loopholes rather than balancing the budget through cuts to programs that serve Virginia's most needy families.

The economic realities our commonwealth now faces are, in many respects, quite dire. But make no mistake about it: Our leaders can solve many of the daunting challenges they face in ways that reveal the heart of our common humanity. The only question is whether or not they are willing to put politics aside and work together for the best interest of the families they serve. We hope they will do just that. But either way the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy will continue to do everything we can to promote polices that directly affect our brothers and sisters in need.