'Nuns on the Bus' Tour Visits West County Candidates About Fair Budget

The bus tour is being conducted by NETWORK, a national catholic social justice lobby that, according to its website, focuses on addressing current social service needs.

According to the Southeast Missourian, the "Nuns on the Bus" is part of a tour launched by Missouri nuns to highlight how federal budget cuts harm struggling families.

Thursday's stops at U.S. Congressional Candidate Ann Wagner and U.S. Senate Candidate Rep. Todd Akin's offices are part of a Missouri bus trip by the Catholic sisters highlighting the work the sisters do to meet the needs of people at the economic margins. It was also to reveal how federal budget cuts proposed by vice-presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan and passed by the House of Representatives will hurt struggling families in these states, the Missourian stated.

During the tour, the nuns are reportedly meeting with "congressional offices to advocate for a fair budget."

Aaron Willard, spokesperson for Ann Wagner's office tells Patch he met with the "Nuns on the Bus" tour made a stop at Wagner's Winchester office Thursday morning.

"They had concerns about Paul Ryan's budget and they didn't like the budget passed by the U.S. House," Willard tells Patch. "A lot of it though was great concerns about health care in general. "

Willard said specifically, the group doesn't want lawmakers making funding cuts to social services programs such as medicaid and medicare.

He said there were several people from the the second congressional district in the group of about 15 people.

"Of the group they had, there was actually one one person that was identified as a nun," Willard tells Patch. "I think every everybody else, the group that they primarily identified was 'Alliance of Retired Americans.'"

In addition to lawmakers and candidates for the upcoming November election, the sisters are visiting Catholic-sponsored social service agencies that serve people who they believe will be further harmed by proposed budget cuts, according to the Missourian.

The tour, called "Nuns on the Bus: Nuns Drive for Faith, Family and Fairness," began in Kansas City on September 4 and is making stops in West St. Louis County, Liberty, Harrisonville, Springfield, Cape Girardeau and Hannibal where the trip will end on Sept. 7.

Patch has not received a response from Todd Akin's office regarding Thursday's visit.