Episcopal Church raises alarm at GOP fiscal plan’s potential to harm low-income Americans

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church, though its General Convention resolutions, has long supported government programs that help alleviate economic inequality and ensure low-income individuals and families have access to food, shelter and health care.

“Dioceses, parishes and faithful Episcopalians are called to advocate changes in public policy to help poor and hungry people,” General Convention said in one of those resolutions, from 2015.

With congregational Republicans and President Donald Trump now poised to enact a fiscal plan offering tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy while slashing spending on safety net programs that benefit the most vulnerable Americans, the church’s Office of Government Relations has issued action alerts on some key provisions of the legislation.

Extending the tax cuts that were enacted in 2017 during Trump’s first term is a central goal of the Republican bill. “These benefited the wealthiest Americans and, if extended, would necessitate cuts to programs such as Medicaid and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) that protect the most vulnerable,” the church said in an alert opposing what it called the “extreme tax cuts.”

“As a church, our priority is to center those at the margins of society, including by supporting a tax code that reduces economic disparities,” the alert said. Rather than extending the 2017 tax cuts, it advocates expanding tax credits for low- and middle-income households, including the Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.

Another church alert specifically calls on Episcopalians to speak out in support of SNAP, the federal anti-hunger program formerly known as food stamps. The legislation that House Republicans passed early May 22 would toughen work requirements for obtaining SNAP benefits while shifting more of the financial burden for the program onto the states.

SNAP currently assists more than 40 million Americans. That support could be cut by 30% under the pending legislation, which will be next considered by the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.

“As Episcopalians, our call is to advocate for the dignity of all people and especially the most vulnerable,” the Office of Government Relations said in its alert about SNAP. “We must take action to advocate against the irreparable harm that cuts to this program will cause to many individuals within our communities.”

The church also issued an alert warning of the legislation’s potential impact on Medicaid, the federal program that ensures health coverage for poor Americans and those with disabilities. About 72 million Americans were enrolled in Medicaid as of December 2024.

Republicans, to offset some of the trillions of dollars in tax cuts, have proposed reducing spending on Medicaid by as much as $880 million over a decade, largely by enacting what critics have called some of the strictest work requirements in the program’s history. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that more than 7 million Americans could lose their coverage under the bill.

“General Convention and Executive Council have urged the church at all levels to advocate for those living in poverty, with special attention to racial and gender justice,” the Office of Government Relations said in its alert on Medicaid.

“Of the non-elderly receiving Medicaid, six in ten are people of color and 57% are women. Medicaid also covers four in 10 children (eight in 10 children in poverty) and 41% of all births in the U.S. It is also the largest payer of services for those with mental health and substance abuse disorders.”

The alert notes that the church has affirmed health care as a human right. “When individuals face an increased risk of suffering from preventable and treatable illnesses, barriers to employment due to untreated conditions, and experience a diminished quality of life, it harms families, communities, and generations. …

“The social safety net, of which Medicaid is a vital part, is a major way we collectively care for one another, as Christ bids us to do.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.