Presbyterians join push for 'moral budget' in Washington

LOUISVILLE — The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness stood in solidarity with Repairers of the Breach recently as the latter held a prayer and protest rally in Washington, D.C. to decry proposed budget cuts that it says would be detrimental to women, children and other marginalized people.

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Supporters gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court April 2 for the second “Moral Witness Wednesday” by Repairers of the Breach, a faith-based, anti-poverty organization trying to keep Congress from adopting a budget that it says would weaken the social safety net while benefitting the rich. 

“We cannot go along with what is happening,” said the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, president of Repairers of the Breach, who was speaking by phone to those gathered in person and online. “This budget is a budget for the greedy. It is a budget for taking. It is a shameful thing.”

In early March, the advocacy group highlighted its concerns in a report called “The High Moral Stakes of the Policy Battles Raging in Washington,” and last Wednesday’s rally was accompanied by the release of a new appendix that says the U.S. president’s “allies in Congress are in the process of passing a budget that would take services away from women and children, tear immigrant families apart, and perpetuate war.”

“This budget is a betrayal of every sacred tradition that teaches us to care for the widow, to care for the orphan, to care for the stranger, to care for the poor,” said the Rev. Dr. Hannah Broome, director of religious affairs for Repairers of the Breach. “See, you don't need to be a Christian to hear the warning of the prophet Isaiah when he says, ‘Woe to those who make unjust laws.’ You only need a conscience.”

In his remarks, Barber said the cuts would hurt several vulnerable groups, including children, older people and LGBTQIA+ persons, and called for “a movement across America.”

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“Now is the time that we must do whatever it requires in our nonviolent traditions,” Barber said. “If we have to sit in, let’s sit in. If we have to march, let’s march. If we have to engage in nonviolent civil, direct action and disobedience, let's do it. Our future is worth it. We must do collective action together. We will not let this democracy fail on our watch.”

Those who joined the gathering included the Rev. Christina Cosby, Representative for Domestic and Environmental Policy Concerns for OPW.

“The re-launch of Moral Wednesdays by the Poor People’s Campaign and Repairers of the Breach is one way people of faith can take a stand and move their prayers to be a prophetic witness in the public square,” Cosby said. 

Speakers at last week's rally included John Cavanagh of the Institute for Policy Studies, a partner on the report with Repairers of the Breach and the Economic Policy Institute.  

“The battle for the budget sets the moral tone for a nation’s soul and that battle has begun here in the richest nation on Earth,” Cavanagh said. Members of Congress “have begun the process for a budget that will cut and endanger health insurance for 36 million people by cutting Medicaid. Nearly 1 in 5 women (and) almost half of all children rely on Medicaid or its Children's Health Insurance Program. Shame! The cuts will risk hunger for 40 million recipients of food stamps. Shame!” 

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Cavanagh went on to ask the public to seek out the report, “demand an end to policy violence against women and children and demand the urgent adoption of policies that guarantee a healthy future for all.”

The rally was followed by a march to the Capitol building, where a prayer circle was formed. (See video here.)

“As people of faith, we must pray alongside impacted communities, and our prayers must not stay inside our sanctuaries,” Cosby said. “It is vital that they move to public action, calling for a budget that protects programs, people and the planet over profits.”

For more information about Moral Witness Wednesday, go here.