ELCA Calls for Urgent Bipartisan Action to Prevent Shutdown
The U.S. government could run out of funding on Oct. 1, 2025, if Congress does not pass new legislation to fund its operations. A government shutdown would occur at midnight on Sep. 30, the end of the 2025 fiscal year, if no agreement is reached. On Sep. 24 the ELCA advocacy staff advanced the following message to members of Congress and The White House Faith Office.
ELCA Urges Immediate Return to Negotiating Table
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), a denomination of 2.7 million members who span the ideological and partisan spectrum, strongly urges the members of Congress and the President Trump to return to the negotiating table now and work in a bipartisan manner to fund the government.
Actions by this country’s elected officials jeopardize good government and the well-being of all that good governance facilitates. These actions include:
recurring government shutdown fights,
continual deepening of our nation’s unsustainably high debt, and
replacing normal bipartisan appropriations with unilateral reconciliation or rescissions.
This church understands government as a gift from God intended to promote the common good. This gift is a vital piece of God’s provision for the world God so loves (John 3:16) and especially for the hungry, sick, and poor with whom Christ identifies himself (Mathew 25:40).
Our government must do better. Failure to negotiate with one another and with the president will lead to a government shutdown that will hurt all Americans and harm the most vulnerable members of society first and worst of all. Likewise, failure to address healthcare premiums will result in over twenty million Americans facing dramatic increases in their healthcare costs starting in January 2026. Neither of these outcomes is acceptable.
We are deeply concerned by the breakdown of bipartisan governance, and we strongly urge the leaders and members of both major parties to govern for all their constituents, not just their supporters.
The Rev. Amy Reumann
Senior Director, Witness in Society
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
TERMS: More about reconciliation is available from Congress.gov. The Bipartisan Policy Center offers a “Rescissions 101” with more information.
