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william barber
'We Will Organize Those People,' Anti-Poverty Crusader William Barber Says of Millions Set to Lose Medicaid
"They will not kill us and our communities without a fight."
Jul 02, 2025
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.
"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."
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Faith Leaders Blast GOP's Attacks on Poor and Tax Cuts for the Rich
"We are releasing this powerful report to expose for the American people how immoral, dangerous, and insane the administration's proposed economic decisions are," said Bishop William Barber.
Mar 05, 2025
Leaders from various faiths came together in Washington, D.C. on Christians' Ash Wednesday to share an open letter and report calling out efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration and Republicans in Congress to rip resources away from the working class to fund tax giveaways for the ultrarich.
"Budgets are moral documents," said Bishop William J. Barber II, president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, in a statement. "We are releasing this powerful report to expose for the American people how immoral, dangerous, and insane the administration's proposed economic decisions are and how they are going to hurt people."
"At this critical moment in our nation's history, we need a government that promotes unity and love towards all members of the human family, not division and hatred," added Barber, whose group released the report in partnership with the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).
"The Trump-GOP agenda would tilt the playing field even further away from poor and low-income people in favor of the wealthy and big corporations."
The report—titled The High Moral Stakes of the Policy Battles Raging in Washington—explains that "social safety net and housing programs are under attack from two fronts," pointing to both Republican lawmakers' pursuit of cuts and Elon Musk, the unelected leader of Trump's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The document details attacks on Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly called food stamps. It also warns that other "vital" initiatives such as the early childhood education program Head Start and federal rental assistance "could be on the chopping block."
EPI president Heidi Shierholz said that "as this report shows, these cuts will be profoundly destructive to incomes and economic security for this country's most vulnerable households—and they are being done for the sole purpose of providing tax cuts that will go overwhelmingly to the wealthiest households."
"This is an upside-down agenda that literally takes from struggling families to line the pockets of billionaires," she stressed. "We stand against this—and we stand for moral economic policies that lift up the most vulnerable, strengthen our communities, and ensure prosperity is shared by all."
Specifically, the GOP aims to extend expiring provisions of the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law that, as the report notes, "delivered huge windfalls to the rich and large corporations and contributed to the exploding wealth and power of our country's billionaire class."
"The Trump-GOP agenda puts recent improvements in the U.S. unemployment rate, low-income workers' real wages, and labor protections at risk. They have already rolled back some gains and indicated opposition to raising the federal minimum wage," the report continues, highlighting that while some states have higher hourly rates, the nationwide minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009.
The publication also blasts Trump's anti-immigrant policies, emphasizing that "immigrants are a vital part of our communities and economy," and the president's mass deportations "would devastate undocumented and authorized immigrants and citizens alike."
The document concludes with a section on Trump's "alarming moves toward more widespread use of the U.S. war machine both around the world, and within the United States," citing his declaration of a national emergency at the Mexican border, attempt to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development, and proposed takeovers of the Gaza Strip, Greenland, and the Panama Canal.
"This report's data make clear that the Trump-GOP agenda would tilt the playing field even further away from poor and low-income people in favor of the wealthy and big corporations," said IPS executive director Tope Folarin. "We will see more families go hungry, lose healthcare, and struggle to pay rent while Republicans give huge tax windfalls and unprecedented political power to the wealthiest Americans and throw more tax dollars into the machines of war and mass deportation."
Former IPS director John Cavanagh, who is now a senior adviser, joined faith leaders outside the U.S. Supreme Court in D.C. for a gathering to discuss the new report and the letter, which Barber read to the crowd and which can be signed on his group's website.
"We write to issue this call for repentance and truth-telling because our most basic moral commitments have been betrayed by our political leaders," the letter declares. "We have struggled to realize a republic committed to equality and freedom for all of us."
"We write today to confess that we have become subject to the tyranny of technology," it continues. "Awed by the possibilities of progress and the promise of limitless growth, our political leaders have allowed corporate power to go unchecked for decades. Our courts have ruled that corporations should be treated like people while everyday people have been increasingly treated like things. In the richest nation in the history of the world, poverty has become epidemic as the fourth leading cause of death."
"As people of faith, we stand together in the public square to say, 'We repent.' We are not afraid of the false god of efficiency, and we will not bow to any tyranny that claims control of our common life," the letter states. "We invite our colleagues to assemble on the town square, at city hall, or on the state house lawn in communities across this land and join this call. As we have in Washington today, we invite communities to study the report on the true state of our nation."
The livestreamed event was followed by a march to the U.S. Capitol to deliver the documents to congressional leadership.
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William Barber Joins 1,000+ Faith Leaders in Endorsing Harris
"My choice is to oppose the dangerous politics that Trump and the MAGA movement have unleashed by supporting the ticket that can defeat this potential for American fascism," Barber said.
Oct 27, 2024
Bishop and Poor People's Campaign co-chair Rev. William Barber II joined more than 1,000 religious leaders on Sunday in endorsing U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris for president over former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Other prominent faith leaders who have signed on to the endorsement include Rev. Kevin R. Johnson of New York City's Abyssinian Baptist Church; Rev. Teresa L. Smallwood, vice president and dean of academic affairs at North Carolina's United Lutheran Seminary; and the Rev. Andrea C. White, who teaches theology and culture at New York City's Union Theological Seminary. Barber and the other leaders offered their endorsement in their personal capacities and not on behalf of any congregation or institution they are affiliated with.
"In a moment like this, I am compelled to be clear that every voter must make a choice, and my choice is to oppose the dangerous politics that Trump and the MAGA movement have unleashed by supporting the ticket that can defeat this potential for American fascism," Barber wrote in a statement explaining his endorsement on social media.
"I'm endorsing Harris and Walz because we are in the midst of a crisis of civilization and democracy."
Barber gave several reasons for his opposition to Trump, including the former president's frequent lies, embrace of guns, inflammatory anti-immigrant statements, and economic agenda that favors the wealthy over the poor and marginalized. In particular, he blamed Trump for undermining the strong economy he inherited from former President Barack Obama by giving massive tax cuts to the wealthy while refusing to raise the minimum wage
"I must oppose Donald Trump and his policies of catering to the greedy, attacking healthcare, and working against living wages," Barber wrote.
He also alluded to Trump's violent rhetoric, such as his recent threat to deploy the National Guard against his political enemies if elected.
"I must prophetically oppose Trump's candidacy because he is threatening to use the office of the president for retaliation and destruction and refers to himself as the only answer to the troubles of America, which is a form of idolatry," Barber said.
In contrast, Barber said he was endorsing Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz because they "are seeking to speak truthfully about the issues of our nation, and, at the same time, to lead us toward a way of working together on issues that matter."
In particular, Barber praised their economic agenda, such as their commitment to increasing wages and expanding healthcare access. He also said they would offer equal protection to all U.S. residents and tackle the climate crisis.
"I'm endorsing Harris and Walz because we are in the midst of a crisis of civilization and democracy," Barber said. "We don't need more despotism. We must work together for a Third Reconstruction."
Barber, a North-Carolina based preacher and organizer, has criticized both parties for failing to address the needs of poor and low-income voters and mobilized those voters to make the parties heed their concerns. In early October, he blasted the presidential and vice presidential debate organizers and the candidates for not addressing the causes of poverty or offering in-depth solutions. He also joined a vigil outside the White House calling for a cease-fire in Gaza last fall.
"I am not endorsing Harris and Walz because I believe they are perfect," Barber wrote in his statement. "No person of faith should ever do that. I don't endorse them because I agree with them on every issue. I am endorsing them because I, like every American, must make a choice about who will lead this nation and set our public agenda for the next four years."
Barber further explained his decision to CNN.
"There's no middle ground when it comes to fascism," Barber said. "I've got to be clear as an individual and hope that other moral and religious leaders will do the same."
Speaking on the issue of Gaza policy specifically, Barber told CNN that he thought a Harris administration would be easier to negotiate with than a future Trump one.
In his statement, he said he believed Harris and Walz's "commitment to diplomacy offers the best chance of a lasting cease-fire in Gaza and averting wars that will consume untold resources and precious lives."
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