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The Debt Ceiling Reform Act, led by Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., would allow the treasury secretary to suspend the debt limit for two years. That can take effect 46 calendar days after notifying Congress — unless Congress passes a law to prevent it during that window.
Republicans raised the debt limit by $5 trillion in Trump's megabill, likely resolving it through the 2026 midterm election.
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
‘A huge human cost': Labor criticised over delays to aged care reforms as waitlist grows
Labor is facing a backlash over aged care services as a delay to landmark reforms prompts calls for urgent funding for 20,000 additional home packages and warnings that a two-speed system is locking out poorer elderly people. The Albanese government lost its first parliamentary vote of the new term on Monday afternoon, when the Senate voted to establish an inquiry into delays for home care packages, including unmet needs and the wellbeing of seniors waiting for assistance. Proposed by the ACT independent David Pocock, the vote was supported by the Greens and the Coalition, and comes after the aged care minister, Sam Rae, rejected calls to bring forward an additional 20,000 home care packages. Labor's reforms to the sector, originally slated to come into force from 1 July, have been pushed back to November, delaying the release of more than 80,000 home care packages. More than 87,000 elderly people are on the waitlist for care at home, with wait times up to 15 months. Labor has promised an end to lengthy delays by 2027, with maximum wait times of 90 days. Sign up: AU Breaking News email 'There is a huge human cost to delaying the release of more home care packages,' Pocock said. 'For some people that means being stuck in hospital longer because they can't get the support they need to return home safely. For others it means entering residential aged care earlier than they otherwise would have, others are struggling at home without the help they need.' The push follows warnings from the sector that Labor's changes risk squeezing out elderly people with limited financial means. Tracey Burton, chief executive of Uniting NSW and ACT, told Guardian Australia early this month equitable access for poorer Australians remains an unmet promise of changes passed by parliament last year. After a royal commission and a taskforce report to the federal government, Labor introduced new rules requiring wealthier people to pay more for their care and boosting access to support services for people who choose to stay in their own home. Residents who can afford to pay for their own care do so using a payment known as a refundable accommodation deposit (RAD). The average RAD is $470,000, with the lump sum refunded to family members when a resident dies. Elderly people whose care is paid for by the government rely on a supported accommodation supplement, worth $70 per day. The Greens aged care spokesperson, Penny Allman-Payne, is set to chair the Senate inquiry. She said the difference in value between RADs and supported placements, combined with a shortage of available residential beds and a rationing of home care packages, has led to fears of a two-tier system. 'You shouldn't have to be a millionaire just to guarantee care in your old age, but that's exactly what's at risk from Labor's new aged care system. 'Far from fixing the residential aged care system, Labor's changes coming this November mean wealthier homeowners may soon be worth twice as much in revenue to an aged care facility as an older person who lives week to week.' In a letter to crossbench MPs, Rae said the government acknowledged high demand for home care places, and said it was expected to continue up to November. But he rebuffed calls for bringing forward extra places. 'We also recognise that waiting to access a [home care package] has a real impact on older people and their families, as well as on the care providers. 'The Support at Home program is designed to bring down wait times for care and deliver more tailored support, giving older people the flexibility and choice to stay at home for longer.' Demand for aged care services is expected to surge, with the country on track for a doubling of people over 65 and a tripling of those aged over 85 within 40 years.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Jacinta Price uncovers the truth behind 'First Nations' terminology
By Indigenous senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (pictured) declared that 'First Nations' is not even an Australian term before being told off by Penny Wong in parliament. The star Coalition politician was at the centre of a fiery row in the Senate last week after One Nation senators including Pauline Hanson turned their backs on the acknowledgement of country at the start of parliament. Senator Price separately objected to the ceremonies as a person of Indigenous heritage, claiming they did little to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians and were a form of 'political point-scoring'. It prompted Senator Wong to urge the Coalition to 'respect' parliamentary traditions. 'I would hope that the Opposition would reflect on the words of their own leader in relation to welcomes to country,' the Labor Senate leader told the chamber. 'Decency and respect cost us nothing, but it goes a long way to building a sense of unity.' Before being told off by Wong, Price launched a blistering attack on the term 'First Nations' - that has since gone viral on social media. 'First Nations isn't even Australian terminology, for crying out loud!' she told the chamber. 'It's been adopted from Canada, from America. It's just reinvention, which is actually belittling and watering down traditional culture and what it's really about.' Price also doubled down on her stance about Welcome to Country ceremonies, claiming they were a 'reinvention' of Indigenous culture. 'Senator Hanson is correct to say that Welcome to Country is not traditional culture. It isn't. And what we do need to recognise is - and it is important for all of us, as leaders of this nation, to recognise - the reinvention of culture, which diminishes traditional culture,' she continued. 'For those who still live close to traditional culture, within cultural confines, their day-to-day lives are dictated by it.' 'They speak their language. They are often spoken about in very romanticised terms. And the use of acknowledgements really does absolutely nothing to improve their lives. To be quite honest, as a woman of Indigenous heritage but, first and foremost, as an Australian, I am absolutely done with the virtue signalling that takes place. I am of the belief that it is not necessary to have an acknowledgement, because we are all Australians. 'Every single one of us - including the Ngunnawal and the Ngambri - is Australian. We are here to serve all Australians equally in this country, not to praise or acknowledge one group above others. Truly, I don't think you really want to acknowledge my existence because of my indigeneity more than anybody else's. I am equal to you and to everybody else here and to everybody in this country.' 'But we can ignore traditional culture in this chamber because there are elements of it every single one of you across from here ignore, because it's detrimental to the most remote and marginalised communities. But if you speak up against it, if you mention it, you're painted as a racist or somebody who is a "coconut", or somebody who is a traitor. 'magine if we treated every single racial group in this manner in this country. It's horrendous.' Price didn't mince her words on what she thought of the politicisation of Indigenous Australians due to their racial heritage. 'I'm sick to death of it as a woman, mother, soon to be grandmother and as an Australian of proud heritage, whether it's my convict ancestors or it's my Warlpiri ancestors, I'm proud of it all and we should all be,' she said. Price was quickly inundated with widespread support. 'Thank you for speaking up for ALL Australians, Jacinta,' conservative political lobbyist group Advance Australia posted. A man added: 'Well said, we are all Australian irrespective of skin pigmentation, heritage, race or whether you believe in a deity or you don't. I hope this is replayed many, many times.' Another commented: 'Here's hoping that one day we can all be proud Australians and recognise past heritages and be thankful we live in an amazing country.' The speech also reignited calls for Price to lead the Coalition. 'Future Prime Minister of Australia,' one Aussie commented. The senator's fiery speech came after Opposition Senate Leader Michaelia Cash leapt to her defence and accused Wong (pictured) of having 'sought to dismiss' Price's objection to the ceremonies. 'I will stand by and respect Senator Nampijinpa Price, who every day has lived and breathed reconciliation in this country - her father is white, her mother is black,' Cash said. 'Please don't ever come into this place again and pontificate to us like you've just done.'
The Herald Scotland
4 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Trump's immigration raids are hitting farms hard. So what's next?
And they must be picked by hand. Lots of them. Finding those hands locally can be a challenge. Like other growers, some of her workers are foreign-born, whose presence is reflected in the Hispanic restaurants in the nearby 3,300-resident town of Mattawa. But this summer the harvest coincided with President Donald Trump's mass deportation sweeps. Rumors swirled of roadway checkpoints. More than 100 workers who started Lyall's harvest dwindled to 30 by the second week, leading her farm to struggle to get cherries picked in time. Some were picked too late, she said, but the financial hit to her farm was likely to be far less than what some other growers experienced. "There's a lot of farms that didn't pick because they didn't have enough labor," she said. Lyall is a Trump supporter in a conservative farming region. She favors stricter border security because of worries of drug cartels. But she wants to see a path toward a stable workforce. "There needs to be some solutions put on the table," Lyall told USA TODAY. Across the country, Trump's immigration raids have roiled farms and farming communities - with cases of worker shortages and fears of unpicked crops. And it has fueled growing calls for the Trump administration to protect agricultural workers critical to the U.S. food supply. Of the 2.6 million people working on U.S. farms, about 42% lack legal status, according to the Department of Agriculture and other estimates. Farmers say few native-born residents will pick fruit or tend cows. The country's foreign agriculture worker visa program can be costly, burdensome and limited. And farmers say Congress has failed for decades to pass comprehensive immigration reforms. Those long-standing struggles are now compounded by the lurking presence of Trump's masked immigration forces as harvest season approaches or is underway. Earlier this month, raids on farms in California left hundreds detained, and soon after, a group of farmworkers in California held a three-day strike and called for boycotts. At stake are potential disruptions to the U.S. food supply and higher consumer costs. "Farm employers are holding their breath, trying to keep operations afloat without knowing whether their workforce will show up tomorrow -- or stay away for fear of a raid," said Ben Tindall, head of the Save Family Farming advocacy group, based in Washington state. The Trump administration in June suspended farm enforcement but then reversed that decision. More recently, Trump has cited the importance of farm labor and said his administration would look into ways for farmworkers to "be here legally, they can pay taxes and everything." Other administration officials, including border czar Tom Holman, said there would be no "amnesty" but cited ongoing discussions about policy changes related to farmworkers. A bill in Congress would create a legal pathway for longtime workers and streamline worker visas. The push for changes comes amid signs of a shift in public attitudes reflected in a recent Gallup poll that found a record-high of 79% of U.S. adults say immigration is good for the country, while only 35% said they approve of Trump's handling of the issue. Manuel Cunha, the president of the Nisei Farmers League, which represents 500 farmers employing about 75,000 California farmworkers, said he's hopeful that policies will change. For now, he said, workers in places like the San Joaquin Valley are holding steady despite raids that have caused temporary shortages. Still, farmers are on edge, knowing it could change at any moment. Why foreign-born workers are critical to farmers In Lincoln County, Wisconsin, where the rural landscape of pastures and fields is dotted with barns and silos, Hans Breitenmoser's parents emigrated here in 1968 from Switzerland to raise dairy cows on a small farm. He grew up amid the daily rhythms of feeding and milking. When the farm grew, they had to hire more workers. But they could find few native-born residents willing to take the jobs in the sparsely populated area. And over time, fewer younger people were sticking around the farms. Now, the 56-year-old relies on about a dozen foreign-born workers, mostly from Mexico, to operate the 460-cow farm, not far from a shuttered church with peeling paint about five miles outside a town of 9,000 residents. "If it wouldn't be for immigrants, my dairy farm wouldn't run," he said. In recent months, dairy farms in Texas reported absenteeism while ICE has detained or deported people at dairy farms in New York and Vermont, where one Trump-voting farmer told a news outlet he didn't think deportations would impact the industry's workers. Dairies are particularly vulnerable to labor shortages because cows need daily care to survive, Brietenmoser said, and cannot be temporarily shut down like a construction site or restaurant. "Am I concerned about it? Absolutely," said Breitenmoser, who said he was among a minority in Lincoln County who did not support Trump in 2024. "They don't get fed and they don't get watered, and they don't get milked and they don't get cleaned up after, they will die." Across the nation today, about 70% of workers in the U.S. farm sector are foreign born, according to the Federal Reserve of Kansas City. The National Milk Producers Federation says milk prices could nearly double if the U.S. dairy industry loses its foreign-born workforce, the group said. "The uncertainty that undergirds agricultural labor and immigration in the U.S. continues to harm workers and their families, farm employers, rural communities and national food security," according to the federation. Farmers typically hire workers with documentation such as Social Security cards or permits the government says must "reasonably appear to be genuine." The government's E-Verify system, required in some places, isn't foolproof. Breitenmoser argues Trump's political rhetoric painting immigrants as criminals and invaders, when most are workers filling jobs no one else will, is a self-defeating strategy. "We've built an economy that relies on people, but we have a public policy that demonizes them. And to my way of thinking that just doesn't make any sense," he said. "American farming cannot survive without foreign-born staff." The dairy farmer noted that "we had immigration reform in front of the Congress prior to the election, but because all of the Republicans were scared of Donald Trump, it didn't happen." The solution, he said, is "stupid simple:" Accept the realities of farm labor. Hand out more work visas. And create pathways to vet longtime workers who need legal work permits. He hopes the recent turmoil will lead to long-needed changes. "Somebody's going to drive through McDonald's to buy a freaking latte and a hamburger. And guess where that comes from? It comes from my farm. And it doesn't happen magically. It takes human beings, be they brown, Black, White, green or otherwise, to get the job done," he said. "And that's what our public policy should reflect." Workers face stains, worry In a Colorado agricultural area northeast of Denver, Maria has worked in fields of watermelon, pumpkins and tomatoes for years. But not now. The 56-year-old, who didn't want to use her full name because she doesn't have legal status, emigrated from Chihuahua, Mexico 20 years ago to escape violence and find better pay. Jobs on farms are hot, grueling and physically challenging. But some farmworkers can earn in one hour what they'd make in a full day back in Mexico. She said she sees an ICE presence in her part of Colorado. One friend's brother was detained on the street earlier this year. Her husband is still working in a dairy to make ends meet, but she said some farms have had to look for workers out of state. For now they want to stick it out. Their lives are here. They have children and U.S. citizen grandchildren who live in the United States and are concerned about them. "There's a lot of anxiety about, you know, grandmother, are they going to take you away?" she said. Many have reluctantly returned to work after raids that have taken place in places like California's San Joaquin Valley for financial reasons, said Teresa Romero, head of United Farm Workers. "It is a little misconception, assuming that workers are not going back to work. Some workers are, of course, scared of what could happen," she said. "They might be scared for a day or so, but they go back to work. They need their jobs and they need to support their families." Romero said the crackdown is also impacting the communities in which they live and work. Many are staying inside and not going to parks, school functions, churches and restaurants. In raids earlier this month at cannabis farms in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, immigration agents descended on Glass House Farms near Camarillo and in Carpinteria. They clashed with protesters and detained more than 200 farmworkers. A Mexican farmworker, Jaime Alanis Garcia, 57, died after falling from a greenhouse roof he'd climbed atop in an alleged attempt to evade officers, according to multiple reports, "The farmworkers detained in these raids are clearly in the United States to fill jobs that employers cannot otherwise fill," U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Thousand Oaks, said in a letter to federal officials. "Their undocumented status is not by choice, but a direct result of Congress' ongoing failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would allow a sufficient number of workers into the country and provide a viable pathway to citizenship." That's what Gabriel, a 42-year-old from Puebla, Mexico, who didn't want to use his name because he lacks legal status and fears detention, would like to see, too. The farmwork in California's Central Valley has lived in the U.S. for 25 years. He has worked in fields of crops from eggplant to pumpkin, waking up at 4 a.m. and earning $16.50 an hour. He said the majority of his fellow workers are also immigrants without papers and are still working, but some are considering going home. He blames past and current administrations for failing to deliver on immigration reform. He said some longtime workers were angry at former President Joe Biden for enacting more legal pathways to migrate and not focusing on legalizing the status of longtime workers. "Let workers work," he said. "These are people who help feed the country and pay taxes." Even legally present farmworkers are uneasy. ICE officials have argued they don't need probable cause to detain people and the agency could deport people with just six hours' notice. Maurico Sol, an H-2A worker who supervises dozens of fellow visa holders on a farm that spans Idaho and Oregon, said some colleagues have asked if it's safe to go to Walmart on weekends. He advised them to always carry their passport and visa. "I've also heard people that say, well, maybe this is going to be my last year," he said. "Because it feels different ... Even when we are in a good space here, where it's not happening a lot, you feel like, eh, we don't know. We don't want to go out. Because maybe they're going to confuse me if they see me in the mall and I'm going to be chained for, I don't know, 48 hours, or maybe they're going to deport me even though I have papers." A search for a solution Sol works for Shay Myers, a farmer whose onions grow in fields not far from where the Snake River separates Oregon and Idaho. The third-generation farmer operates Owyhee Produce, which grows one in every 20 onions consumed in America. Myers, 45, is also TikTok influencer with 692,000 followers and posts videos about his farm and the intricacies of agriculture. But lately the Republican farmer has been highlighting his mostly foreign-born laborers - from Mexico, Central America, Peru and Colombia - who he says are critical. The majority of his workers, which can number 350 during harvests, are here on H-2A visas. While such workers represent about 13% of the nation's farmworkers, the number of certified H-2A workers grew by 64.7% between 2017 and 2022. Meanwhile, the share of unauthorized workers has dropped to about 42% from from 55% in 2001. But it's also a bureaucratic and expensive program, he said. Farmers have to prove no domestic workers are available or willing to do the job. They provide housing and adhere to wage-premiums meant to keep the program from pushing down wages of U.S. residents who do similar jobs, and must follow rules such as overtime that differ among states. And it's time-limited. Labor groups also criticize the H-2A visa program, saying it often requires workers to stick with one employer which makes them vulnerable to wage theft or poor housing. Myers said that's not the case at his farm. He grew up and went to school in the area with undocumented families. And today his children do, too. "We lose from every angle. The right-wingers come at us ... 'You won't give jobs to Americans," Myers said. "And then the left wing side of the discussion is, well, all you do is bring H-2A workers and they work for you like slaves." He, too, wants a more flexible worker program and creating a path to legal status for undocumented workers here for 10 years and longer. He said the deportations have proved a problem both ethically for farm families and economically for the industry. "Let's find a solution," he said on one video. Earlier this month, Trump suggested in Iowa - a leading corn and pork producer that relies heavily on migrant workers - that his administration would seek to permit some migrants without legal status to stay on farms, the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. "If a farmer's willing to vouch for these people, in some way, Kristi, I think we're going to have to just say that's going to be good, right?" he said, referencing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem who was with him on the Iowa trip. "You know, we're going to be good with it. Because we don't want to do it where we take all of the workers off the farms. We want the farms to do great like they're doing right now." U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins cited plans to make the H-2A program "cheaper, more efficient and more effective for those farmers." The United Farm Workers favors paths to legal status for those already here over simply expanding the guestworker program for new arrivals, who they say would still be more prone to labor abuses. In Congress, Republican U.S. Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, and Veronica Escobar of Texas introduced the DIGNITY Act. Among its many provisions is a seven-year earned legal status program allowing undocumented immigrants to live and work legally, with renewable status based on good conduct and restitution. "We have 10 million people or more working in construction, hospitality, agriculture, dairy, fisheries, slaughterhouses who are undocumented but are not criminals," Salazar said at a news conference. But House Speaker Mike Johnson told the Wall Street Journal that immigration overhauls would face an uphill battle. Rollins has also suggested that the country could fill jobs with Americans who will face Medicaid work requirements, something farmers immediately shot down. Farming groups call for realism Cunha, head of Nisei Farmers League, was among those very blunt about that idea: "That's just not going to work," he said. He knows firsthand. In 1998, during President Bill Clinton's Welfare-to-Work push, Cunha helped launch an effort in 10 California counties to recruit welfare recipients and unemployed workers to help fill tens of thousands of farmworker jobs. People would be aided with child care, transportation and training. Just 500 people applied. And only three took jobs. None of them lasted more than two days, he said. Crops were lost. 'It was a total disaster," he said. A similar result took place in North Carolina, according to a 2013 report by the Partnership for a New American Economy and the Center for Global Development. When North Carolina had more than 489,000 unemployed residents, a growers association offered 6,500 jobs. Of 245 domestic workers hired, only seven lasted the entire season. It's not likely he contended that higher wages alone would have Americans flocking to the jobs, he argued. Not only can the work be physically grueling or dangerous, Cunha said it is not the unskilled work that many people assume. It takes experience and skill to prune a fruit tree or know which fruits to pick now and which to return for later. At a recent farm training in California that included topics like heat illness, Cunha said workers instead were full of questions about avoiding run-ins with ICE. Should they drive different routes or not wear hats and bandanas? One asked if he should shave his beard to look less like a farmworker. For now, he said, as the area's remaining harvests are closing in, it's stressful for both farmers and farmworkers. "Labor is tight, but it's holding. And as long as - we pray every day - they stay out of the valley, then we'll make it through this season," he said. "But we do need to deal with it. We should not have to go through this type of tension. And workers should not have to worry about shaving their beard."
