Religious leaders protest cuts to Medicaid, SNAP in Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill'
WASHINGTON — Despite the June heat, hundreds of clergy and their congregants joined Democratic senators at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to protest the Trump administration's proposed cuts to the federal budget in a vigil that one leader described as 'very moving.'
Leaders from more than 30 churches, organizations and denominations gathered to oppose cuts to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in the budget bill passed by the House last month.
They said prayers, read scripture and sang songs to commemorate Pentecostal Sunday, where disciples received 'courage to act,' and demonstrated to 'not forget the least of these,' the Rev. Jim Wallis said.
The 'big, beautiful bill' passed in the House late last month after weeks of debate. It is now in the Senate for consideration and several senators have said they want to see changes to the package before they can support it. The demonstrators Tuesday sought to push senators to make those changes.
Bishop Dwayne Royster of the Faith United Church of Christ in Washington, D.C., spoke to the crowd wearing what he described as a Ghanaian symbol that means 'the all sufficient God.'
'And I'm here today to say we have an insufficient government,' he said. 'We have an insufficient government that cannot do the things that it has been called to do, which is care for its citizens all across the country.'
'We need to call out our government's insufficiency because there are people who will go hungry all across the land because SNAP benefits are about to get cut,' Bishop Royster continued. 'The problem is that Jesus fed the 5,000, why can't the United States of America?'
Bishop Royster said that the country needs to reevaluate how it views itself and oppose the bill that he said will make billionaires richer and send others into poverty.
The faith leaders said they were gathered to protest the budget because they believe it is an immoral document.
Paul Raushenbush, the CEO of Interfaith Alliance, told the Deseret News that he found the demonstration Tuesday moving because of the unity between so many different people of faith. He described the budget bill as 'antithetical' to Christian values.
'If you look at Jesus's life and Jesus's teachings, kind of across the board, they lift people up who are hungry, they lift up the people who are sick, they lift up the children,' he said.
After the faith leaders held their vigil, participants proceeded to the steps of the Senate and were joined by Sens. Chris Coons, Cory Booker, Raphael Warnock, Lisa Blunt Rochester and Michael Bennet.
Coons said Tuesday that they were gathering to remind lawmakers that 'no faith teaches that you should take away food from hungry children and health care and seniors and children in order to pay for a bigger tax cut for billionaires and the biggest corporations.'
'That is the core of what this bill does,' Coons told MSNBC before the vigil, later adding, 'A budget is a moral document and this budget bill is an immoral document.'
Raushenbush said he was glad to see Democratic support for their advocacy because religion and faith have become associated with the Republican Party.
'It was wonderful to hear their voices and to hear how deeply faithful they are,' Raushenbush said of the senators. 'I think one of the reasons it's so important to do this is that there is a false narrative out there that one side of the aisle has God and the other side is nonreligious.'
He noted that faith leaders who assembled on Tuesday held meetings afterward with senators on both sides of the political aisle as the Senate considers changes to the bill.
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