Former Manatee County Commissioner Misty Servia

BREAKING: The Catholic Church enrages MAGA world by coming out forcefully against the "big, beautiful bill" as twenty bishops sign an interfaith letter stating that its "passage would be a moral failure for American society as a whole." There is nothing less Christ-like than cutting healthcare and food stamps or the poor.... "First, it provides tens of billions of dollars to the government to undertake a mass deportation campaign which will separate US families, harm US-citizen and immigrant children, and sow chaos in local communities," the letter reads. "It will spur immigration raids across the nation, harming hard-working immigrant families essential to our economy and causing widespread unrest like we recently witnessed in Los Angeles." The legislation would funnel over $150 billion towards Trump's border policies and immigration crackdowns, with the ICE budget alone ballooning from $3.4 billion to $45 billion until the end of 2029. It amounts to a 365% increase which Professor Donald Moynihan of the University of Michigan has pointed out is more than the combined funding for all 50 federal prisons. In addition to being a gross waste of taxpayer money, this funding will create a self-perpetrating deportation industrial machine just like our private prison system and military complex. Just like pouring money into military contractors incentivizes new wars, pouring money into this fledgling deportation industry will incentivize more crackdowns and family separations. The more you feed the monster, the bigger and hungrier it gets. "This funding also will be used to target faith communities, as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has removed places of worship from its sensitive locations list, allowing ICE agents to enter them for enforcement purposes," the letter continues. "We have already witnessed a reduction in attendance at many of our religious services in our denominations, as the threat of enforcement has deterred many families from practicing their faith." The signatories include numerous prominent bishops such as Cardinal Robert McElroy, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Bishop John Dolan, Archbishop Paul Etienne, Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski, and Bishop Jaime Soto. In addition to the Catholic leaders, the letter was signed by the leaders of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas as well as respected faith leaders of the Episcopalian, Jewish, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Muslim communities. "Moreover, the bill provides funding for a border wall along the US-Mexico border which we believe will drive migrants into the most remote regions of the border and lead to an increase in migrant deaths," the letter goes on. "It also would hurt the local environment along the border and force desperate asylum-seekers seeking safety to increasingly rely on human smugglers." "As you should know, our faith organizations have long favored the creation of legal avenues for migration and a legalization program for immigrants who have lived in the US for years and contributed their hard work to our economy," the signatories wrote. "We believe the adoption of these policies, instead of the implementation of a mass deportation campaign, would not only benefit immigrant workers and their families, but be in the best interest of our nation." "Second, the legislation makes severe cuts in health-care coverage and food assistance to millions of both low-income citizens and legal residents, including asylum-seekers and refugees, driving them deeper into poverty," the letter adds. "According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the bill transfers wealth from those in the bottom 10 percent of income to those in the top 10 percent of income in our nation, increasing the already large gap between the rich and the poor." The bill will slash nearly $1 trillion in funding from Medicaid, a move that will directly result in the death and suffering of countless Americans. People will go blind, see their life expectancies cut in half, and end up bankrupt and homeless. Nursing homes and hospitals will shut down. It also guts funding for crucial food programs like SNAP by roughly $186 billion by 2034. Americans are literally going to starve to death so that billionaires can afford a few new yachts. "From our various faith perspectives, the moral test of a nation is how it treats those most in need of support. In our view, this legislation will harm the poor and vulnerable in our nation, to the detriment of the common good. Its passage would be a moral failure for American society as a whole," it concludes. In a separate statement, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that the bill "takes from the poor to give to the wealthy." "It provides tax breaks for some while undermining the social safety net for others through major cuts to nutrition assistance and Medicaid," he continued. "It fails to protect families and children by promoting an enforcement-only approach to immigration and eroding access to legal protections. It harms God’s creation and future generations through cuts to clean energy incentives and environmental programs." "I underscore what my brother bishops said in their recent letter to find a better way forward and urge Senators to think and act with courage and creativity to protect human dignity for all, to uphold the common good, and to change provisions that undermine these fundamental values," he added. Please retweet and ❤️ to thank these bishops for speaking out!