Congress is cutting life-saving programs for families and the environment to detain and deport loved community members
The 119th Congress’ reconciliation package — a spending vehicle that bypasses the filibuster in the Senate — proposes slashing federal healthcare, food assistance, and clean energy investments in order to separate immigrant families and extend tax cuts for the wealthy. The FCNL community is calling on members of Congress to publicly and firmly oppose the legislation.
The House Energy and Commerce committee has jurisdiction over Medicaid. The committee has to cut $880 billion from the committee’s budget. Despite Speaker Johnson and President Trump stating Medicaid will not be touched, the Congressional Budget Office stated that there is no way to achieve the cut without harming the program. During markups, we expect to see committee members cut spending by implementing work requirements and shifting costs to states by reducing the federal expansion match rate or implementing per capita caps. All of these changes are counterproductive, forcing states to either reduce benefits or kick beneficiaries off the program.
The Agriculture Committee has authority over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and has to cut $230 billion from its budget. Proposed legislative text reduces the size of benefits, implements harsher work requirements, and shifts costs to states. All of these changes would be devastating for children and families receiving SNAP.
The Ways and Means Committee handles federal tax policy, and the committee is planning to extend the expiring provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (P.L. 115–97). This extension would give the top 0.1% an additional $314,000 a year in tax breaks and cost trillions of dollars.
Members of the Ways and Means Committee hope to repeal or cut parts of the clean energy tax credits of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA, P.L. 117-169) in order to fund tax cuts for the wealthy and deportation and detention efforts.
Passed in 2022, the IRA created new and expanded existing historically bipartisan clean energy tax credits, incentivizing businesses, houses of worship, and individuals to invest in clean energy projects. Cutting these credits threatens to increase household electricity bills by around 10% on average in 2035. Quaker meeting houses across the nation have used clean energy tax credits through the “direct pay” provision, which allows certain tax-exempt entities to directly receive rebates from the Internal Revenue Service.
Because of their widespread economic benefits, 21 House Republicans and 4 Senate Republicans have come out in support of the credits. However, on May 1, 38 House Republicans issued a letter urging a full repeal of the IRA. As the Ways and Means committee members consider their fate, we urge Congress to build upon, not tear down, these wildly successful tax credits and continue to champion environmental stewardship.
The House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees marked up bills– totaling $81 and $69 billion respectively– toward the largest investment in immigration enforcement in U.S. history. The social costs exceed any dollar amount.
Since January, unchecked enforcement has forced toddlers to appear in immigration court without an attorney and separated families without due process. Agents have kidnapped international students and imprisoned them with insufficient medical care, inadequate food, cold temperatures, and without religious accommodations. U.S. citizen children, including multiple with terminal illnesses, have been held in family detention, denied access to counsel, and removed without medication. The reconciliation bill will continue these disappearances and drive up profits for private detention corporations.
Despite endless hours for deliberation during the House markups, the House majority refused to take up amendments to prevent the government from removing sick U.S. citizen children; protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) holders; or prevent the U.S. from sending funds to dictators to imprison deportees. A political show of concern for unaccompanied children over the last year failed to produce sheltering or legal representation for vulnerable minors navigating an intimidating system alone. To add more harm, the bill punishes poor people fleeing persecution through fee increases such as a burdensome $1,000 asylum application fee.
Congress must denounce unconscionable cuts to health care, food assistance, and clean energy initiatives that will bankroll tax cuts for the wealthy and incite fear in the immigrant communities we belong to and love. We instead urge lawmakers to instead fund programs that honor that of God in every individual. This means investments that meet the needs of families, advance the transition to clean energy, and provide orderly and humane pathways for people to immigrate to the United States.
The economic cost of this megabill is massive; the human cost is immeasurable.
Anna Aguto is the 2024-2025 Program Assistant for Sustainable Energy and Environment and Native Advocacy. She lobbies Congress to address climate change in equitable, just, and peaceful ways and to live up to its treaty responsibilities to Tribal nations.
Katherine Jones is the Program Assistant for the Justice Reform and Election Integrity team. She works alongside José Moreno, the director of justice reform, to champion FCNL’s goals of a restorative justice system and protecting the people’s right to a fair and free election.
Vanessa is a Migration and Policy Administrative Assistant at FCNL. In this role, she provides policy and administrative support to the migration team and the Legislative Director of Domestic Policy, Anika Forrest.
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