The "Big Beautiful Bill"...
... and the US bishops' reaction
What I love about Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” was the defunding of Planned Parenthood— which (if it lasts) will relieve millions of American taxpayers of the odious moral taint that comes from subsidizing abortion. That’s not only a clear moral win, but the realization of a goal toward which the pro-life movement has been struggling in vain for years. A Wall Street Journal op-ed called it “the most significant pro-life law ever.”
What I hate about the Bill is the failure to address the gaping federal budget deficit— in fact, the decision to add more trillions to the mountain of debt that must be paid, one way or another, by future generations. We are stealing money from our children, and that’s a clear moral loss.
Now here’s what I find curious— not surprisingly, because it follows a longstanding pattern, but still curious, in the sense that it begs for explanation— about the official reaction from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. There’s a brief nod to the defunding of Planned Parenthood. But what follows, in the bulk of the statement by Archbishop Broglio, is an uninspiring rehash of Democratic Party talking points about inequality and damage to the environment and the suffering of those most in need. Those are all reasonable points, which have been made, again and again, by able politicians. But they are also debatable points, on which reasonable people can differ.
Democrats argue that cuts in welfare programs harm the poor. Republicans counter that those programs themselves are harmful to the poor. Democrats worry that environmental problems have a disproportionate impact on the poor. Republicans say that the poor are more directly harmed by the measures designed to preserve the environment. These arguments have been going on for decades, with no resolution in sight.
What is gained when the US bishops’ conference jumps into those debates, taking up one side of an argument on which millions of American Catholics differ? Where is the distinctive moral voice of Catholic leadership, pointing to clear instances of right and wrong. It is wrong to subsidize the slaughter of the unborn. It is wrong to squander the heritage of our children. And it is wrong to squander moral authority.