For Immediate Release July 1, 2025
Media Contact: Zack Cohen, zcohen@westendstrategy.com, 404-821-0572
Faith leaders sound the alarm on reckless cuts to SNAP, Medicaid and other crucial programs
WASHINGTON – Following today’s passage of the Senate reconciliation bill, people of faith are condemning the budget as a moral failure and a deadly attack on vulnerable constituents. In statements, leaders with Faith in Action call out the misguided policy and urge Congress to reverse course:
Bishop Dwayne Royster, executive director at Faith in Action: “I have long attested that budgets are moral documents. The same is true today. People already vulnerable from this administration’s reckless cuts and bigoted tirades are directly in the line of fire. The budget will extend tax breaks for those who need it least and cut programs for those who need them most, while pitting vulnerable communities against each other. All God’s children deserve access to health care, housing, food, education and other basic needs — necessities that will be harder to obtain because of this budget. Congress has a morality problem, and the American people are facing the brunt of their moral turpitude.
“James 5:1-6 reminds us, ‘Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.’
The Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould, political director at Faith in Action: “SNAP, Medicaid and other critical programs are not simply line items or luxuries. They are lifelines and sacred instruments of care that uphold the dignity of every human being created in the image of God. To pass a budget that rips food from the mouths of children, strips health care from the poor, the elderly and the disabled, and invests instead in the cruel separation of families is not just poor policy–it is a moral atrocity. In fact, it is a sin. This Congress has made its values plain: choosing power and profit over people, cruelty over compassion. In doing so, they have declared that vast swaths of the American people are expendable.
“As people of faith and moral conviction, we cannot and will not be silent. We are called to resist this injustice not with despair, but with holy defiance. We will organize. We will protect. We will build the beloved community where the least among us are not forgotten, but lifted up and loved. In the days ahead, as the Budget goes back to the House, we pray that God unhardens the hearts of those who wish to be modern-day Pharaohs.”
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About Faith in Action
Faith in Action is the largest grassroots, faith-based organizing network in the United States. The nonpartisan organization works with 1,000 religious congregations in more than 200 cities and towns through its 46 local and state federations. For more information, visit www.faithinaction.org.
Faith in Action is a 501c(3). Faith in Action and its affiliates are non-partisan and are not aligned explicitly or implicitly with any candidate or party. We do not endorse or support candidates for office.
