Over 500 Faith Leaders Urge Congress To Reject Immoral Tax Bill Ahead of Key Senate Vote
MAINE PUBLIC RADIO: Maine Faith Leaders: GOP Tax Plan 'Neither Just Nor Moral'
Maine faith leaders and community members gathered in front of St. Luke's Cathedral in Portland Tuesday to call on U.S. Sen. Susan Collins to reject the GOP tax plan. The rally comes as the Senate prepares to vote on the bill later this week.
FLORIDA POLITICS: Jax preachers call Senate tax plan ‘economic genocide’
Steps away from Sen. Marco Rubio‘s Jacksonville office, a group of Jacksonville preachers thundered against the “immoral” tax bill in the U.S. Senate Tuesday. The clergymen, brought together under the aegis of the “Faith in Public Life” group, called for Rubio and Sen. Bill Nelson to vote against the tax bill based on “religious” values.
WJCT: Jacksonville Clergy Coalition Calls On Florida’s U.S. Senators To Reject Proposed Tax Plan
As the U.S. Senate debates the merits of a sweeping tax code overhaul, a group of Jacksonville clergy is urging Florida’s senators to vote it down later this week. Depending on what side of the political aisle you fall on, you may either consider a budget a statement of priorities or one of reality, but for a coalition of religious leaders in Jacksonville, the document is a profoundly moral one.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Tuesday, November 28th, hundreds of clergy and community leaders across the nation called on Senators to reject the Republican tax plan that will soon face a floor vote. The plan would add $1.5 trillion to the federal budget deficit and give massive massive tax cuts to corporations and millionaires while raising taxes on struggling families and the middle class. Faith leaders mounted moral actions at Senate offices in Maine, Tennessee and Florida.
Faith in Public Life Action also published an ad in the Chattanooga Times-Free Press, urging Sen. Bob Corker to denounce the bill. On Wednesday, an ad will run in the Arizona Republic urging Sen. John McCain to oppose this immoral legislation.
Photos from these actions and the text of the moral declaration are available here. You can sign the declaration here.
Faith leaders from across the nation responded:
Rev. Jennifer Butler, CEO of Faith in Public Life, (Washington, DC):
“As a pastor, I condemn any legislation that punishes families who are struggling to make ends meet. This bill fattens the pockets of billionaires at the expense of people who can barely put food on the table. That is wrong. The book of Proverbs says, ‘Whoever oppresses the poor, insults the Maker.’ To turn our backs on hard-working families, is to turn our backs on Christ himself.”
Pastor Lee Harris, Mt. Olive Primitive Baptist Church (Jacksonville, FL):
“At best, this plan is the reincarnation of trickle-down economics, which never worked. At worst, it is a kind of neo-slavery and works as an ethnic cleansing of people of color in America. Either way, it is something that people of color in America cannot afford.”
Rabbi Joshua Chasan, Bend the Arc Greater Portland (Portland, ME):
“Passing the tax bill in it’s current state before the U.S. Senate would be a catastrophic blunder for the vast majority of Americans. This tax plan is of one piece with recent failed attempts to overturn the Affordable Care Act. It threatens further assault on the physical well-being of families who already are reeling from massive redistribution from the poorest to the most wealthy.”
The Moral Declaration
