Illegal, Immoral, and Incompetent

DOGE’s attack on U.S. foreign assistance ignored the laws that established and authorized the current operations of USAID. When Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to undo some of the damage, USAID no longer had staff in place to manage the process. The courts have ordered the Administration to restore the operations of USAID. 

The church leaders in the Circle of Protection have written to Secretary Rubio and Members of Congress, citing specific examples of how hungry and poor people around the world have been adversely affected. Read their letter here.

The disruption of food aid in near-famine situations and life-supporting medication for people with HIV-AIDS have already resulted in deaths.

Urging Mercy for Low-income Americans

If one or more of your Members of Congress are Republicans, urge them not to cut funding or make damaging changes to Medicaid, SNAP, and other low-income programs.

Republicans now control the White House and both houses of Congress. But they have yet to agree among themselves on their legislative goals. They are likely to push for deep cuts and damaging changes in Medicaid, SNAP, and other low-income programs.

The chair of the House Budget Committee has suggested a possible $5 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years, mainly $3.5 billion from Medicaid (health care for poor and low-income people) and another $300 billion from SNAP (nutrition assistance for people in poverty). Millions more Americans would be unable to afford the health care they need. Hunger among America’s children would become more severe and widespread. 

President Trump’s priorities are a big tax cut, mainly for high-income people, and funding for his merciless program of deportation and border control. The proposed cuts to programs that help people in need would help to pay for these priorities.

Catholics and a wide array of Protestants of many varieties, working with other groups, pushed back against a massive political attack on poverty-focused programs between 2011 and 2017.  Republicans have even more power now, and their attack of poor and vulnerable people is more radical.  Yet there are only three more Republicans than Democrats in the House of Representatives, and Republicans hold only 53 or the 100 seats in the Senate. 

If concerned citizens convince just a few Republicans to take exception to making struggling Americans poorer, we might be able to block or moderate this planned attack on hungry and poor people. 

Explain how your faith shapes your views on this issue. According to the Pew Research Center, 87 percent of the voting members of our new Congress are Christian. Speak from the Bible about God’s love for all people, especially for people who are hungry or need healing.

Photo: Bread for the World

A Vote Against Dictatorship This Thursday

President Trump’s budget office this week issued an unconstitutional order to indefinitely pause all government grants and loans that Trump’s political appointees deem inconsistent with the President’s priorities - “including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernment organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”

Russell Vaught is a leading advocate for the idea that the Constitution allows the President to “impound” spending that Congress has given final approval. The Senate will vote tomorrow on Vaught’s confirmation as director of Trump’s budget office. People who have Republican senators should contact them today to urge that they vote against Vaught’s confirmation. A vote for Vaught is a vote against the fiscal authority that our Constitution vests in Congress.

Most dictators come to power by winning elections and then asserting dictatorial powers. A number of Trump’s executive orders exceed his authority. A judge almost immediately put a hold on part of Monday’s OMB order, and the courts may rule against some of Trump’s other executive orders. But it’s hard to have faith that our current Supreme Court will restrain President Trump. 

Trump spoke to House Republicans at their retreat Monday evening. The retreat was held at Trump’s luxury golf club in Miami, a venue that shouted Trump’s intention to use his office as an opportunity to increase his own wealth. His speech rallied the House Republicans to approve the tax cuts and funding for immigration enforcement that he wants. The President made it clear that he expects House members to follow Speaker Johnson, and that he expects Speaker Johnson to do what the President wants.   

Trump suggested that he’d like to serve a third term. The Constitution clearly forbids that, but President Trump repeatedly asked the Speaker of the House whether there might be a way around this little problem.