They Will Not Kill Us Without A Fight

38 moral witnesses were arrested today for refusing to accept policy murder

Summer funerals are grueling in the South. After those who are grieving gather at the church house and remember their loved one, we lead them as pastors to the graveyard and encourage them to stay in the AC of their vehicles until everyone has arrived. Funeral homes pitch tents for the family to sit under in the shade and hand out fans to move the warm moist air. Even still, we’ve learned to be careful at summer funerals. It’s not uncommon for a grieving soul to pass out.

It was a hot summer day in Washington, DC as we held a funeral procession for the 51,000 people who will die next year if the healthcare cuts that Senators are still debating in Trump’s Big Ugly Bill become law. There were no tents to shade weary souls. Nevertheless, hundreds came to cry out against a bill that will kill, and 38 moral witnesses were arrested for praying in the Capitol rotunda and blocking the street in front of the Capitol to pray for a miracle to save lives.

Where we’re from it’s common courtesy for traffic to pull over on the side of the road and pause for a funeral procession. Today, the moral leaders who took the street weren’t just asking Senators to pause. They were insisting that we cannot continue to go down the road this bill proposes. We need to mourn and repent. We must stop and listen to the people who will be harmed.

The largest ever cuts to America’s safety net were pushed through the House and the Senate without a single hearing for the people whose lives depend on these programs to testify. This is why we hosted a public hearing on the steps of the Supreme Court this morning. Though the House hasn’t been called back in session yet,

Rep. Jamie Raskin

of Maryland joined us to receive these testimonies and share them with colleagues who will likely come back to Washington later this week to vote on the Senate’s version of this Big Ugly Bill.

We wanted to share these testimonies with you so you can reach out to your Senators and Representatives to let them know what people who would be impacted have to say about this Big Ugly Bill.

Chris Shumake traveled from Alexander County, North Carolina with pastor

Joel Simpson

to share what it would mean for him to lose Medicaid.

Elaina Hurley is from West Virginia. She may not look like she has much in common with Chris, but you only need to listen to her for three minutes to see why these cuts would hurt them both the same.

This Big Ugly Bill proposes devastating cuts. But it would also give Kristi Noem billions to hire new masked men to terrorize immigrant communities and build new concentration camps on US soil. Rev. Tanya Lopez came from Downey, California to share her experience of seeing a man kidnaped from her church parking lot by men who would not identify themselves but put a gun in her face when she asked them to leave.

One more testimony from today: North Carolina’s Sen. Thom Tillis has been in the news for going against his party’s leadership and telling the truth about how cuts to Medicaid would hurt the people he represents. From our decade-long struggle to expand Medicaid in North Carolina - a battle in which Tillis was on the other for years - we know that one of the reasons Republicans agreed to expand Medicaid in North Carolina was the vulnerability of rural hospitals. Rev. Karen Roberts serves a rural community in Western North Carolina and knows well how her own aging father depends on Blue Ridge hospital. Stories like hers aren’t about political party. They’re about every community's desire to have what people need to live.

At this point, it’s still not clear whether Senate Leader Thune has the votes he needs to pass this bill. Even if he does, it still has to go back to the House for another vote. Your Senators and Representatives still have time to hear the testimonies that were never put on record at an official hearing for this bill.

May the public record be clear, as we said together outside the Capitol today: they will not kill us and our communities without a fight.

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You can read a report on today’s Moral Monday in USA Today.

Moral Monday on Morning Joe: 7/1/2025