Yesterday at The Hill, Kathy Saile of the USCCB and Galen Carey of the National Association of Evangelicals published an op-ed calling for a renewed "Circle of Protection" around anti-poverty programs as Congress considers a host of budget issues. Last year, the inter-faith alliance succeeded in keeping key anti-poverty programs like SNAP and Medicaid free from the sequester, but with Congress still unable to come up with an alternative to the sequester, and the poor lacking an organized, powerful, well-funded lobby, it is vital that religious groups stand up and insist that the budget not be balanced on the backs of the poor.