FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 14, 2011

Contact: Rev. Paul H. Sherry, Coordinator, Faith Advocates for Jobs, 773-677-9964,psherry@iwj.org

Put Jobs First

Faith Advocates for Jobs Issues Statement on the Federal Budget

Faith Advocates for Jobs, a national interfaith campaign of more than 40 national and regional faith-based bodies and organizations, today released a statement on the ongoing federal budget deliberations, calling for a primary focus on job creation rather than deficit reduction.

“With an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent and threatening to go even higher, to focus at this time on deficit reduction rather than job creation is both morally questionable and economically wrong,” said Rev. Paul H. Sherry, Coordinator of Faith Advocates for Jobs.

“America’s unemployed need good jobs so they can feed their families,” said Rev. Sherry. America’s unemployed need good jobs so that the taxes they will pay with the money they earn can help restore the economy of this nation. If we want to reduce the deficit, one sure way is to create good jobs — private jobs and, when needed, public jobs.”

The statement acknowledges the need for deficit reduction over the long term but states that “the best deficit reduction plan is to get individuals back to work, paying taxes, and spending money in their communities.”

A budget proposal that “focuses entirely on deficit reduction rather than job creation,” the statement concludes, “will prolong and intensify the suffering of millions of our nation’s unemployed and underemployed.” And that, say the members of Faith Advocates for Jobs, is morally unacceptable.

Among the many organizations that have endorsed the statement are:

Interfaith Worker Justice

Arkansas Interfaith Alliance

Arkansas Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice

Bread for the World

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good

Cincinnati Interfaith Committee on Worker Justice

Community Faith and Labor Coalition, Indianapolis

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) – Southern California

Disciples Justice Action Network

Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon

Franciscan Action Network

Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition

Interfaith Worker Justice of East Tennessee

Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Mission and Justice Commission, Massachusetts Conference, UCC

Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

National Council of Jewish Women

National Employment Law Project

NETWORK, a Catholic Social Justice Lobby

New Orleans Interfaith Worker Justice Center

Poverty Initiative, National Council of Churches

Social and International Ministries, Jesuit Conference

South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice

Union for Reform Judaism

Unitarian Universalist Association

United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries

United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society