June 20, 2025

Overview: The Senate Finance Committee released its version of the GOP Reconciliation Bill. However, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that several provisions of the bill went beyond changing spending or revenues. The bill will have to be revised before a vote can be taken.

Meanwhile, the FY2026 appropriations process continues.  If Congress cannot agree on the appropriations bills, then a continuing resolution will be needed on September 30, 2025 (when the current CR expires).  Congress is also considering more than $9 billion worth of cuts in a rescissions package submitted by the president for certain disbursements that had already been approved by Congress. 

Economy: In the week ending June 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 245,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 248,000 to 250,000. The 4-week moving average was 245,500, an increase of 4,750 from the previous week's revised average. This is the highest level for this average since August 19, 2023 when it was 246,000. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 240,250 to 240,750.

Call to action: You can call and write to your U.S. senators opposing any provisions in the Reconciliation Bill that would remove Medicaid and SNAP benefits for certain groups, such as refugees and asylees who have already been thoroughly vetted and entered the country legally. One also could tell senators to make the Child Tax Credit available to families with the lowest incomes by lowering the eligibility requirement. As the credit is written in the Senate Reconciliation Bill, a family with two parents and two children with less than $36,000 annual income would not receive the full tax credit.

Town Halls: We have attached to this message a list of upcoming town hall meetings hosted by members of Congress. This is a great way to have your voice heard. Please reach out to your member for more details. You can use CCUSA's "Find Your Elected Officials" tool.

Every war leaves our world worse than it was before. War is a failure of politics and of humanity, a shameful capitulation, a stinging defeat before the forces of evil. Let us not remain mired in theoretical discussions, but touch the wounded flesh of the victims. Let us look once more at all those civilians whose killing was considered "collateral damage". Let us ask the victims themselves. Let us think of the refugees and displaced, those who suffered the effects of atomic radiation or chemical attacks, the mothers who lost their children, and the boys and girls maimed or deprived of their childhood. Let us hear the true stories of these victims of violence, look at reality through their eyes, and listen with an open heart to the stories they tell. In this way, we will be able to grasp the abyss of evil at the heart of war. Nor will it trouble us to be deemed naive for choosing peace. Fratelli tutti, No. 261

Q. When was the feast of Corpus Christi first instituted by the Church?

Please send your answers to [email protected]. 

Previous question and answer:

Q. What is the equilateral triangle, as it was used by first century Christians?

A. Thanks to Deacon Frank Daggett, Catholic Charities Maine, for being first with the right answer: The equilateral triangle has three sides of the same length and was used by early Christians to symbolize the Holy Trinity.

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