Trump’s budget Bill is under great scrutiny as it should be. Far from calling it a “Big Beautiful Bill” Elon Musk, who recently left the Trump administration, called the Bill a “disgusting abomination.” He went on to tell House voters.
“Shame on those who voted for it, You know you did wrong. You know it.”
Elon Musk is more concerned about this Bill from the perspective of his business model rather than a moral position. The Bill has raised great controversy and concern with NPR informing us of the consternation of those who analyze the economic impact of this Bill.
Since the House passed the bill, tech-billionaire Elon Musk has spoken out about its projected impact to the deficit, as has JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Speaking at an economic forum on Friday, Dimon warned continued government spending will create a “crisis” in the bond market by undermining public confidence in the ability of the U.S. government to pay back its debts. Sen. Johnson agreed.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) highlights the major economic concerns for Musk, Dimon, and Johnson. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act would increase the deficit by $2.4 trillion. This is what is raising the alarms in Congress especially with Republicans who thought that they were going to lower the deficit under this administration (a position they never seem to accomplish).
So, on the one hand, the overall economic concern is indeed concerning, but this bill goes against the basic tenets of Catholic social teaching. The way it will affect the poor and the immigrants is of great concern here. America magazine offers this analysis on both those issues.
It is estimated that the legislation would cut $700 billion over 10 years in Medicaid spending, leaving 7.6 million American families without health-care coverage. It also reduces spending for food assistance to the nation’s poorest by an estimated $300 billion over 10 years, adversely impacting 40 million low-income persons, including 16 million children. As many as 5.4 million per year could lose food assistance from the cuts. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill transfers wealth from citizens with the lowest tenth of income to those with the highest tenth of income, the largest transfer in U.S. history.
On immigration, it appropriates $175 billion for a mass deportation campaign, which includes funding for a border wall, detention centers and a substantial increase in border and interior enforcement personnel. It allows these agents to remove people based on the suspicionof illegal activity, without judicial review. And it increases fees for such benefits as temporary protected status (T.P.S.), humanitarian parole and work permits for asylum applicants, leaving these important protection mechanisms out of the reach of qualifying families.
The CBPP’s analysis goes into greater detail including how local congressional districts will be impacted. Here we see, for example, their estimated monthly SNAP cuts based on this bill.
These provisions would cut 3.2 million adults off SNAP in a typical month, including 1 million older adults aged 55 through 64, 800,000 parents of school-aged children, and 1.4 million adults in areas with insufficient jobs, reducing federal spending by more than $92 billion through 2034.
The CBPP offers detailed analysis on the state impact of these proposed cuts and it is worth going over for anyone interested.
Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, tells us in the above article from America magazine that the Church must respond to this devastating issue which flies in the face of our social teachings. As the Archbishop puts it:
There is another factor for the church to consider in this debate, as well—its moral authority. Unless the church stands up for the poor and marginalized of the nation, consistent with Catholic teaching, its moral voice will be diminished in the future. There are times when the church needs to forsake political considerations and take a stand, even if that effort is unsuccessful. This is one of those times.
We who assist with basic human needs, access to food, security, housing, and employment, are deeply concerned that this Bill will exacerbate an already difficult reality. This situation forces us to consider how we can respond to the growing needs we will face if this Bill passes. Archbishop Wester is telling the Catholic community that this is one of those times to raise our prophetic sense of Gospel justice and call out this bill. Here is an action alert link you can use to add your voice to the issue and to urge your Senators to protect SNAP and Medicaid.