The CR Budget Passed Yesterday Is A Moral Failure

Senators betrayed the Average American right when we needed them most.

WASHINGTON DC—Pablo DeJesús, Executive Director of Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, and Nicole Pressley, Director of Organizing Strategy Team, Unitarian Universalist Association, issued the following joint statement upon passage of the H.R. 1968, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025:

Yesterday in Washington, DC, on Capitol Hill, we witnessed a complete moral failure and cedes more power to an authoritarian inclined regime. And we did so with the surrender of Democratic members of the Senate right at the moment when they had maximum leverage in the negotiation. 

Our faith tradition holds shared religious values of interdependence, generosity, and equity. The Continuing Resolution budget that just passed fails by these measures.

Led by Minority Leader Schumer, ten Democrats endorsed a budget that gutted public services and transferred resources from everyday Americans to billionaires, and did nothing to stop Elon Musk’s administrative chaos and overreach. These Democratic Senators failed to take a courageous stance and make a principled vote right when we needed them most.

This budget supercharges President Trump’s mass deportation plan and positions the administration to continue dismantling our government while Musk invades our privacy.

It does so by taking food from children, depriving healthcare to seniors and veterans, and making significant cuts to IRS enforcement capacity.

Since coming into office in January, the Trump Administration has proposed cruel policies and engaged in reckless, illegal, and harmful interventions. Sadly, Senate Democrats acquiesced yesterday and gave away their power of the purse. They further eroded their capacity to check overambitious executive power, a role our founders intended for the Senate and foresaw as necessary.

Our country is tilting towards authoritarian rule. Everyday people are rising to meet this moment to fight for our values and our democracy. Our leaders must embody the same courage their constituents are demonstrating across the country. 

As Unitarian Universalists, we center love as a religious value; we side with love, and we shall not remain silent and watch without decrying the assault on our faith, our families, our funding, and our futures.

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