A Call to Conscience

From Friends Committee on National Legislation:

H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” is misleading in name. It marks the U.S. federal government’s deliberate rejection of the basic pillars that support strong communities: access to food, healthcare, economic opportunity, and responsible stewardship of our environment. We call on Congress to honor the Light within all of God’s creation and reject this path. 

The bill proposes the largest reduction to nutrition assistance in the nation’s history, punishing parents already navigating low wages, rising costs, and childcare gaps. Instead of relief, it offers a maze of bureaucratic red tape—just to feed their children. An estimated three million adults would lose this critical lifeline, and one million children would face a greater risk of hunger. And yet the bill offers nothing to ease the burden of working families. 

It rips health care from nearly 14 million people—many just above the poverty line, many already managing chronic illness. And the bill’s tax provisions favor those already thriving. Major investments indulge the war industry. Everyday people will shoulder the consequences.

Poverty is a calculated public policy decision.

Our Line in the Sand

No crime is too vile, no abuse too blatant, that Donald Trump—mobster-in-chief—can’t find a soft spot for the perpetrators.

Consider just a few recent examples:

• Trump has vowed to fully pardon Todd and Julie Chrisley, reality TV stars convicted of defrauding banks of more than $30 million and evading taxes to fund their lavish lifestyle.

• He granted a presidential pardon to Paul Walczak, a former nursing home executive who pleaded guilty to tax crimes—just after Walczak’s mother donated $1 million to Trump.

• He pardoned Scott Jenkins, a longtime supporter and former Virginia sheriff convicted of conspiracy, fraud, and seven counts of bribery.

These aren’t isolated cases—they’re part of a coordinated effort to delegitimize the judicial system, especially when it dares to hold him or his allies accountable. Authoritarian regimes around the world use the same playbook: demonize judges, dismantle institutions, and rehabilitate history’s villains.

All is not lost—we must fight back to save our rule of law

In 2023, when Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition in Israel tried to undermine judicial independence, civil society fought back. People across political, religious, and economic lines filled the streets. It was nonpartisan, unified, and relentless—a true defense of democracy.

We must do the same.
We must draw our line in the sand.
And we must do it together.

Only a broad, mobilized, and united civil society can stop this authoritarian power grab.

GOP Reconciles Suffering

From Fitzpatrick to the Senate: Republicans Sacrifice Lives for Loyalty

No matter how you spin it, you can’t right a wrong.

Many Americans—especially so-called deficit hawks on the right—profess deep concern about the national debt. Yet last week, those same "fiscally responsible" Republicans voted to increase it by trillions. Their justification? That the bill merely targets fraud and waste.

That’s not just misleading—it’s dangerously false.

People will go hungry. People will lose medical coverage. And yes, people will die as a result of this bill.

One Vote Could Have Stopped It: Fitzpatrick Backed the GOP's Deadly Budget

He’s the The “Problem Solver” creating problems for those not privleged. Fitzpatrick even publicly stated he opposed cuts to Medicaid—before voting for them. He could have stood up. He could have cast the one vote that would have stopped this cruelty. Instead, he fell in line.

Some “problem solver.”

Many of those voting yes—including our Representative Brian Fitzpatrick—claimed that the cuts were only about fraud and waste, which is patently false. People will go hungry; they will go without medical insurance; and some will die as a result. And Republicans will all swear that Medicare won’t be affected. But because the bill increases the deficit by as much as it does, it triggers cuts to Medicare as well!

From historian Heather Cox Richardson:

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the bill cuts at least $715 billion in healthcare spending, mostly from Medicaid, and $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, causing more than 2.7 million American households to lose benefits. Because the massive debt increase in the measure triggers a 2010 law requiring offsets, it will cut Medicare, as well, by an estimated $500 billion.

Get Out of Jail Free Card

And if all that weren’t bad enough, the bill also includes a provision to shield Administration officials from criminal contempt—undermining the only real legal mechanism for holding them accountable.

Now the bill heads to the Senate, where a few voices are raising concerns. But let’s be clear: it’s the same political theater we saw in the House. They object just enough to lower the volume of public protest—then fall in line at the last moment.

This bill isn’t about fiscal responsibility. It’s about killing safety nets to give billionaires a payday. And no amount of spin can make that right.