Rev. William Barber II of North Carolina did not hold back in his criticisms of President Donald Trump's budget bill.
Barber mocked the budget bill as a "big, ugly, destructive budget" during an appearance on pastor Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove's podcast called "Our Moral Moment." Barber's comments were about the budget bill's title, the "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act."
"You cannot ever say it's 'big, beautiful.' Don't ever repeat that," Barber said. "It's a big, ugly, destructive, deadly budget."
Barber made the comments at a time when Trump's megabill faces an uphill battle in Congress. Several provisions are deeply unpopular among voters, such as the proposed cuts to Medicaid. It also includes tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy.
Trump has said the bill would unlock economic growth if it is passed. Democrats have described the bill as legislation that will hurt the lowest-income earners.
"It wants to cut 16 million people from Medicaid, cut people from SNAP and food stamps at a time when the price of food is so high," Barber said. "It will cut children's lunches, do nothing to raise the minimum wage, do nothing to fully fund education, fund another 10,000 ICE agents with masks to terrorize people illegally, bring our military budget to over $1 trillion."
Barber also shared his concerns about how the legislation will impact public health. He cited a study by Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania that estimated the legislation would cause 51,000 Americans deaths each year because of its impact on health care benefits.
"This is a form of policy murder, of policy death. We cannot mince words now," Barber said.
