Hundreds of leaders of various faiths converged on the U.S. Capitol on Ash Wednesday to denounce the Trump-Republican agenda of slashing programs for the poor and huge giveaways for the rich and the war machine. 

Bishop William J. Barber II, who spearheaded the action, called Republican federal budget proposals “the most dangerous thing going on in this country right now.” 

“If political leaders are willing to forsake their Constitutional oath to establish justice, ensure domestic tranqulity, provide for the common defense, and promote the general welfare in order to appease billionaires – and we don’t say anything,” Barber warned his fellow clergy, “we will reject our ancient faith and the moral foundations of our common lives.”

Barber’s organization, Repairers of the Breach, co-released a data-heavy report with the Institute for Policy Studies and the Economic Policy Institute on the potential impacts of the Trump-GOP agenda. John Cavanagh, a senior advisor at the Institute for Policy Studies, spoke at the rally to share some of the report’s key findings. 

The Republican budget framework, Cavanagh noted, threatens to cut Medicaid for as many as 36 million people and slash food stamps for all 40 million recipients. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is perpetuating poverty by opposing a minimum wage increase and undercutting worker rights. 

“Republicans want to slash these vital social programs to pay for trillions of dollars of tax giveaways to the wealthy and corporations,” Cavanagh said. “They claim these windfalls will trickle down to the rest of us, but that didn’t happen after their 2017 tax reform.” Some 90 percent of workers got no benefits from the last GOP corporate tax cut, while CEOs and wealthy shareholders got even richer.

The report also calculates the high costs for the rest of us of Republicans’ proposed spending increases on mass deportations and the military budget. The Senate’s budget resolution would add $86 billion in new money each year for deportations and the war machine. This sum could instead cover the costs of Head Start for 3.6 million children, health insurance for 4 million children — and public housing for 3.9 million families.

Rev. Terri Hord Owens, General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), denounced the Trump administration’s dehumanization of migrants. “For every religious tradition, love of neighbor is at the core,” she said. “It is inhumane to stand by and witness actions that threaten to put at risk the people who have far too little to benefit those who have too much.”

Rev. Amanda Hendler-Voss, Senior Minister at First Congregational United Church of Christ Washington, D.C., spoke out against the attacks on federal employees by Elon Musk’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). 

“My congregation includes people who monitor elections in burgeoning democracies around the world, scientists researching disease, consumer protectors clawing back dollars from corporate abuse, national museum curators telling America’s stories, lawyers protecting laborers, and national security experts,” Hendler-Voss explained. “This administration calls them ‘lazy.’ But they are the most dedicated, principled people I know. DOGE is eviscerating the civil service and our democracy. Today we say with one voice: It is wrong.”

Before delivering a joint letter to political leaders demanding they stand against extremism and dangerous budget cuts, Bishop Barber ended his rally speech on a defiant tone. 

“The only way wannabe kings can be kings is if we bow,” he said. “But bowing is not in our DNA. It’s not in our souls. It’s not in our spirits. And we will not bow.”