Approval of Budget Reconciliation Law in the USA generates varied responses between Catholics

The United States Representatives Chamber approved the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”Just in time for President Donald Trump to schedule the signing of the controversial law on July 4.

After the approval of the law, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the United States Catholic Bishops Conference (USCCB), for its acronym in English) He issued a statement regretting “the great damage that the law will cause to many of the most vulnerable of society.”

Specifically, Broglio criticized the legislation to include “inconceivable cuts to medical care and food assistance, tax cuts that increase inequality, migratory provisions that harm families and children, and cuts to programs that protect the creation of God”.

Broglio also expressed his disappointment for several “positive aspects” of the bill that were reduced or eliminated in the final version approved this Thursday. In particular, he cited the reduction of federal funds to Planned Parenthood from 10 years to only one, the weakening of the provisions on the educational election of the parents and the elimination of restrictions on the use of federal funds for the so -called medical procedures of “gender transition”.

Given this situation, Broglio said that “the teaching of the Catholic Church of defending human dignity and the common good forces us to redouble our efforts and offer concrete help to those who will be in greater need, and to continue advocating legislative efforts that offer better possibilities in the future for those who need it.”

In the period prior to the approval of the measure in the United States Chamber and Senate, the USCCB had indicated Concerns about numerous aspects of the bill, including its tax provisions, the increase in the application of the immigration law, the reduction of federal social protection programs and the reduction of green and environmental energy programs.

The measure also raises the debt roof in 5 billion dollars.

Fund elimination for Planned Parenthood

Meanwhile, after the approval of the law, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told CNA-Ewtn News in English-that “the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ represents a historical victory in a critical priority: to stop the forced financing by the taxpayers of the abortion industry”.

The law stops for a year public financing through Medicaid for abortions such as Planned Parenthood. Although the original project proposed a 10 -year suspension, Dannenfelser described the one -year pause as “the biggest victory provides from the decision Dobbs”.

“This will save lives and remove more than 500 million dollars from the coffers of the great abortion,” he continued. “Combined with the decision From the Supreme Court of last week that gives states the power to do the same, this represents a tremendous advance towards the achievement of a decades that has always been elusive. ”

“Women are much better attended in federally qualified health centers, which exceed Planned Parenthood locations in number 15 a 1 throughout the country and provide comprehensive care and accessible to Medicaid beneficiaries and needy families, ”said Dannenfelser.

The administration seeks to deport 1 million people per year

Trump administration now promotes Its plan to deport one million immigrants not authorized per year as a result of the more than 150,000 million dollars in border security funds and deportation efforts that include the law, which covers the expansion of the capacity to detention of the United States Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) in 100,000 beds, the hiring of more than 10,000 new ICE agents and the completion of the construction of a wall border

In An interview with CNN Just before the approval of the law, the Archbishop of Washington DC, Cardinal Robert Mcelroy, described the mass deportation policies of the Trump administration as “morally disgusting” and “inhuman.”

Although he recognized the government’s right to deport those who have been convicted of serious crimes, he said that the major problem is the failure of the US political system to reform immigration laws.

Mcelroy said that the elimination by the administration of arrest protections in sensitive areas such as Churches has infused fear, and that some immigrants avoid attending religious services.

Paul Hunker, former former ICE book in Dallas and now a private immigration lawyer, told CNA that he has seen the Trump administration deport many working people without a criminal record and expects to see more of that now that the law has been approved.

“This is bad for both deportees and society in general,” said Hunker.

After the anti-Us disturbances in Los Angeles last month, Archbishop José H. Gómez de los Ángeles said: “We all agree that we do not want undocumented immigrants who are known terrorists or violent criminals in our communities. But there is no need for the government to carry out actions to fulfill the law in a way that causes fear and anxiety among immigrants.”

According to a recent survey from the University of Quinnipiac64% of voters say they prefer to give the majority of undocumented immigrants in the United States a way towards legal status, while 31% prefer to deport most undocumented immigrants in the country.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.