Tell Your Senators to Oppose Extreme Spending Cuts as a Solution to the Debt Ceiling

“In our Wesleyan tradition, greed is an impediment to holiness. John Wesley taught and practiced that excessive wealth, absent of effective stewardship and radical charity, prevents a believer from growing in grace and cultivates sinful actions and attitudes.” (2016 United Methodist Book of Resolutions ¶4056)

If Congress does not act to address the debt limit by early June, the United States will default on its debt for the first time in U.S. History.

While the House passed a debt-limit bill (H.R.2811), the proposed spending cuts are extreme and will be harmful to low to middle-income communities.

Your immediate advocacy is crucial to ensuring that the Senate opposes harmful spending cuts and prioritizes grace over greed.

As United Methodists who believe that the unmerited grace of God abounds to all, we must ensure that this is reflected in our social safety programs. If enacted, the House-passed bill would:

• Cut nearly $18 billion from the Child Care and Development Block Grant and $26 billion from Head Start;
• Cut $8.8 billion in funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, leaving families unable to heat or cool their homes during periods of extreme weather;
• Cut $40 billion from schools that serve students from low-income backgrounds – the lowest funding in nearly a decade;
• Cut up to $16 billion from the Substance Use and Mental Health Services Administration (a 22% reduction), restricting access to critical mental health and substance use treatment services;
• Cut more than $1.6 billion in 2024 and more than $16 billion from workforce development programs at the Department of Labor; and
• Make college less affordable and accessible by denying 80,000 students access to the Pell Grant and reducing the maximum Pell Grant award by nearly $1,000

Amidst these cuts, this bill would limit the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to ensure the highest income taxpayers pay their taxes – a giveaway the Congressional Budget Office estimates would increase the deficit by $120 billion.

There is too much at stake for our leaders to neglect the social and moral implications of these budget decisions. We must advocate now.

Use the form below to tell your Senator to oppose extreme spending cuts and protect funding for much needed social safety programs.