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July 3, 2025


 

Overview: This week, the Senate passed their version of the reconciliation budget bill (H.R. 1), which is now before the House of Representatives. At the time of writing this newsletter, the House Rules Committee advanced the bill for a floor vote. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is urging Republicans to unite in support of the bill, but several GOP representatives have problems with the debt ceiling, SALT provisions, and cuts to SNAP and Medicaid. Passage remains uncertain.

Letter to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson: CCUSA President and CEO Kerry Alys Robinson sent a letter to Speaker Johnson calling on him and all members of the House to consider individuals and families in need while negotiating the final version of the budget proposal. Read the press statement and full letter ([link removed]).

CCUSA also signed a letter last week ([link removed]) from the Circle of Protection ([link removed]), a coalition of church bodies, addressed to all senators asking them to avoid harmful cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, and to include individuals and families with the lowest incomes in benefitting from the Child Tax Credit, in the reconciliation bill (The Senate did not make these changes).

Economy: In the week ending June 28, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 233,000 ([link removed]), a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 236,000 to 237,000. The 4-week moving average was 241,500, a decrease of 3,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 245,000 to 245,250. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 147,000 in June, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.1 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ([link removed]).

 

Helping the poor is a matter of justice before a question of charity. As Saint Augustine observed: "You give bread to a hungry person; but it would be better if none were hungry, so that you would have no need to give it away. You clothe the naked, but would that all were clothed and that there be no need for supply this lack." Message of Pope Leo XIV for the 9th World Day of the Poor (Nov. 16, 2025), released Jun. 13, 2025

 

Q. Which U.S. president was the first to host a Fourth of July celebration at the White House?

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