Church Leaders Release Statement on Trump’s Budget, Executive Actions Against People in Poverty
Washington, DC—The president’s budget represents the belief that poor and working class Americans do not need the support of a strong social safety net. This relentless assault on poor and hungry people in the United States and around the world actively undermines Christian values. Following a series of harmful executive actions, and the administration’s latest budget proposal, the Circle of Protection released the following statement:
As leaders from all the families of U.S. Christianity, representing church bodies and networks serving more than 100 million Americans, we are concerned about administration action to cut safety net programs that help low-income people. The gospel of God’s love for all people moves us to speak together on this issue. President Trump yesterday released a budget that proposes even more massive cuts to low-income programs over the next 10 years. […]Neither the administration nor Congress has taken any steps to address our ballooning federal debt and deficits in order to preserve our nation’s long-term economic health. We can do better. Jesus taught that the peoples of the world will be judged by what we do for the hungry, the stranger, the sick, and the prisoner (Matthew 25:31-46).
Read the full statement at circleofprotection.us/cuts.
Circle of Protection leaders affirmed the urgent Christian responsibility to protect our country’s safety net programs:
“Church leaders of all stripes – Protestant and Catholic, liberal and conservative, white, African-American, and Latino – have helped to convince Congress not to cut safety-net programs. Hunger and poverty are gradually declining, partly because of continued economic growth and partly because of safety-net programs,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “But now we see the Trump Administration looking systematically for ways they can on their own cut food and health care assistance for struggling families.”
“Show me your budget and I will tell you your values. Let me be clear: a budget is a moral document and an articulation of priorities. As Christians, we are compelled to protect and uplift the poor in our nation and beyond. The current budget, and continued executive action, has an outsized negative affect on people in poverty,” said Rev. Jim Wallis, president and founder of Sojourners.
For interview requests, please contact Meredith Brasher at mbrasher@sojo.net.
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