Faith leaders, including Bishop William Barber, and people who would be directly impacted by the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, participated in a Moral Monday protest on June 30, 2025.
(Photo: Repairers of the Breach)
Posted by: John Phoenix
“They will not kill us and our communities without a fight.”
Armed with 51 caskets and a new federal analysis, faith leaders and people who would be directly impacted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill got arrested protesting in Washington, D.C. this week and pledged to organize the millions of Americans set to lose their health insurance under the package.
Citing Capitol Police, The Hill reported Monday that “a total of 38 protestors were arrested, including 24 detained at the intersection of First and East Capitol streets northeast and another 14 arrested in the Capitol Rotunda. Those taken into custody were charged with crowding, obstructing, and incommoding.”
The “Moral Monday” action was organized because of the “dangerous and deadly cuts” in the budget reconciliation package, which U.S. Senate Republicans—with help from Vice President JD Vance—sent to the House of Representatives Tuesday and which the lower chamber took up for consideration Wednesday.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the megabill would result in an estimated 17 million Americans becoming uninsured over the next decade: 11.8 million due to the Medicaid cuts, 4.2 million people due to expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits, and another 1 million due to other policies.
“51,000 people will die next year if the proposed healthcare cuts in the President’s #BigUglyDestructiveDeadly bill becomes law. May the public record be clear: they will not kill us and our communities without a fight.”
“This is policy violence. This is policy murder,” Bishop William Barber said at Monday’s action, which began outside the U.S. Supreme Court followed by a march to the Capitol. “That’s why we brought these caskets today—because in the first year of this bill, as it is, the estimates are that 51,000 people will die.”
“If you know that, and still pass it, that’s not a mistake,” added Barber, noting that Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)—one of three Republican senators who ultimately opposed the bill—had said before the vote that his party was making a mistake on healthcare.
Moral Mondays originated in Tillis’ state a dozen years ago, to protest North Carolina Republicans’ state-level policymaking, led by Barber, who is not only a bishop but also president of the organization Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
This past Monday, Barber vowed that if federal lawmakers kick millions of Americans off their healthcare with this megabill, “we will organize those people,” according to Sarah Anderson of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).
In partnership with IPS and the Economic Policy Institute, Repairers of the Breach on Monday published The High Moral Stakes of Budget Reconciliation fact sheet, which examines the version of the budget bill previously passed by the House. The document highlights cuts to health coverage, funding for rural hospitals, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The fact sheet also points out that while slashing programs for the poor, the bill would give tax breaks to wealthy individuals and corporations, plus billions of dollars to the Pentagon and Trump’s mass deportation effort.
“Instead of inflicting policy violence on the most vulnerable, Congress should harness America’s abundant wealth to create a moral economy that works for all of us,” the publication asserts. “By fairly taxing the wealthy and big corporations, reducing our bloated military budget, and demilitarizing immigration policy, we could free up more than enough public funds to ensure we can all survive and thrive.”
“As our country approaches its 250th anniversary,” it concludes, “we have no excuse for not investing our national resources in ways that reflect our Constitutional values: to establish justice, domestic tranquility, real security, and the general welfare for all.”
By: Jessica Corbett
US approves $510 million arms deal for ‘Israel’
contact@ifamericansknew.org July 2, 2025
Protesters gather to demand no abductions, no deportations, arms embargo on Israel, end to repression and genocide in Gaza and release all the arrested students, on April 12, 2025 in Chicago, USA . ( [Jacek Boczarski – Anadolu Agency])
Reposted from Middle East Monitor, July 01, 2025
The administration of US President Donald Trump has approved a $510 million arms deal in favour of Israel.
The US Department of State said on Monday that the approved deal includes over 7,000 guidance kits for two different types of Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM).
In a statement, the state department said: “The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national security interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defence capability.” It added, “This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives.”
In March, the Pentagon reported that the State Department had approved a potential sale of munitions, guidance equipment, and related support to Israel, in two packages estimated at around $2.7 billion.
The Pentagon noted that Raytheon and Boeing were the main contractors for the first package, while the second package involves General Dynamics.
The Department of State also confirmed that it had approved the sale of Caterpillar D9 bulldozers and related equipment to Israel as part of a separate deal worth around $295 million.
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