Senate leadership aims to schedule a rushed vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as soon as this week, undermining access to core programs in our communities.

After passing the House of Representatives, the Senate is advancing budget cuts with new amendments in One Big Beautiful Bill, aiming to pass it on the Senate floor next week ahead of July 4th recess. Ecumenical and religious partners are urging action and calls to Senate offices ASAP, citing alarm and concerns over provisions that would be destabilizing for millions across the U.S. in the greatest need.

Though the Senate bill encompasses many elements, some top concerns include:  

• Hunger and Healthcare: The amended Senate version would result in nearly 16 million low-income people removed from healthcare assistance, 3.2 million fewer people receiving SNAP benefits in an average month, and cripple state budgets with cascading effects on essential local programs. Church food pantries, health ministries, faith-based hospitals, disability ministries and more have shared concern about what impacts this will have on the people they serve.
• Creation Care: This bill will halt progress toward a clean energy transition, roll back clean air standards, and end popular programs to address climate change in vulnerable communities. Churches who take part in these programs, like the clean energy tax credits, may lose their ability due to qualification requirements in this bill. 
• Migration: The Senate bill would add nearly $120 billion for border security and immigrant detentions and deportations. Increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement is already separating families, causing fear and uncertainty in communities, and interrupting the work of ELCA sanctuary and welcoming congregations and their partners. The dramatic increase in resources for immigration enforcement would negatively impact even more people and communities. 

Lawmakers in the Senate need to hear from faith leaders and the religious community that the measures taken in this bill are crippling, morally alarming, and disproportionately placed on the back on the poor. For the most compelling calls, use ONE of the sample issues listed on the phone script in the next page and share a personal story about how this impacts your community or moral priorities. 

Scripture teaches us to “Do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed” (Isaiah 1:17). Call your lawmakers today to share what matters to you most and urge them to vote NO on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Republicans in Congress are again pushing to sell off millions of acres of public land as part of the GOP’s tax cut and spending bill.

A draft budget from the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), calls for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service to sell between two and three million acres over the next five years. Land in every western state except Montana would be eligible for sale under the proposal. There has been zero public input, and loophole that could allow for more expansive and exclusive development. The bill also exempts from sale, including “just for show” categories, such as national parks, that are not even managed by the U.S. Forest Service or BLM. But well-loved recreation spots, popular areas for hunting and fishing, prime wildlife habitat, and even sacred or historic sites could be privatized if the bill becomes law. 

Join Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada, as we examine the affects that the One Big Beautiful Bill might have on the State of Nevada.

Are you concerned about Public Lands being sold?

Have you thought about what will happen if hospitals in some of our rural areas are forced close?

Did you know 1 in 6 Nevadans use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)?

These are just some of the concerns about One Big Beautiful Bill that LEAN will examine this next week. Join us!

Contact your senators to ask them to oppose funding for mass detentions and deportations in the  “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.”

Right now, senators are considering the sprawling budget reconciliation bill known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act”, which would:

• Add nearly $120 billion to existing border security and immigration enforcement funding, dramatically increasing funding for detentions and deportations;
• Limit asylum to those who can pay for it by imposing a $1,000 fee to seek asylum and $550 fee for asylum-seekers’ work authorizations, prohibitive fees for those seeking safety and self-sufficiency; and
• Restrict immigrants’ already-limited access to hunger and healthcare programs, including U.S. citizens and individuals who hold legal immigration status and pay taxes to support these social service programs. 

The ELCA social policy resolution “Toward Just, Compassionate, and Humane Immigration Reform” states that “hospitality for the uprooted is a way to live out the biblical call to love the neighbor in response to God’s love in Jesus Christ.” This hospitality does not just help the vulnerable, it benefits the entire community.

Note: For more detailed information on the Bill, see a section by section summary of “Immigration and Law Enforcement Matters” and the similar House bill language pertaining to immigration provisions.