Press Release

Statement on the $700 Billion Bailout Package

Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, issued the following statement on the Congressional agreement for a $700 billion bailout package to deal with the current financial crisis:

“Bread for the World supports all efforts to stabilize this widening financial crisis.  Although details still have to be worked out, we know firsthand the kinds of crises poor families suffer every day.  While we may be able to prevent the worst-case scenario, the economy is already tough for too many.  More people in the United States are being pushed into poverty; more people are being pushed into hunger.

“An economy is more than just a secure credit market. An economy is also people:  people who suffer foreclosures, people who wonder about losing their jobs and live paycheck to paycheck, people who go to bed hungry.  Being a low-income American means constantly averting crisis, wondering whether the latest one will render them unable to meet even their most basic human needs.  

“As people of faith, we know that the Lord’s Prayer petitions for daily bread and for the forgiveness of our debts and of debtors. In rescuing the U.S. economy, our leaders and Congress must ensure that both are done at the same time, too.”  

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