United Women in Faith, National Mission Institutions, Urge Members and Others to Speak Out Against the Federal Budget

For Immediate Release

Contact: press@spotlightpr.org

NEW YORK –  United Women in Faith in June was one of 45 national religious organizations that signed an open letter opposing the federal budget reconciliation bill. United Women in Faith and several of their National Mission Institutions, today issued the following statement in response to the passage of the federal budget reconciliation bill:

United Women in Faith and its affiliates are deeply concerned about the impacts this federal budget will have on families. Many are hanging on by a fraying rope and need a lifeline. Our National Mission Institutions (NMIs) work hard to support families in need, and this bill will increase the strain on them and the families for which they care. We are asking our members and everyone to contact their congressmembers and donate to our mission giving to continue the fight for justice.

“Nearly all of our families have health care through either Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP),” said Mike Landis, executive director of The Neighborhood Center, a New Jersey NMI. “Some of our new moms depend on the Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC) to supplement their diets.

“The reconciliation bill approved by Congress and signed by the President will radically reduce the safety net that our parents need to raise their children,” Landis said.

NMIs across the country are already facing federal funding cuts and operating with fewer resources. Slashing necessary social programs will only increase the pressure that these organizations face, making it increasingly difficult for families and children to receive the resources they need and deserve.

“This year we are helping over 13,000 people per month at our two emergency food pantries in Salt Lake City and so we are very aware of the challenges our customers face accessing programs that help families pay for healthcare and food,” said Bill Tibbitts, deputy executive director and Coalition of Religious Communities director at Crossroads Urban Center, a Utah NMI. “This budget will quadruple the red tape our clients face by increasing the number of times they have to complete an eligibility verification and adding complicated busywork requirements to both SNAP and Medicaid.

“It is particularly alarming that the budget imposes time consuming busywork requirements on families with children,” Tibbitts said. “It is cruel to threaten to take away parents’ healthcare because they cannot get hours of paperwork submitted properly every month.”

United Women in Faith and its NMIs strongly oppose the budget and vow to continue working to support families.

“This budget is an affront to our biblical values to care for the most vulnerable among us,” said Elizabeth Chun Hye Lee, Director of Mobilization and Advocacy at United Women in Faith. “We urge our members and people of faith not to stay silent on the harms this budget will create.

“It rewards tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and instead increases funding for ICE to enforce unjust immigration policies that destroy families,” said Lee. “We are called to break, not tighten, the bonds of injustice.”

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United Women in Faith is a sisterhood acting in faith to tackle the hard work of the world without hesitation.