Latest news with #Fedorchak
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rep. Fedorchak plans another online forum
U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., talks to voters through a virtual town hall meeting on March 25, 2025. (Amy Dalrymple/North Dakota Monitor) U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., will host another online public forum, with topics including the 'one, big beautiful' budget bill being considered by Congress. Rep. Fedorchak vows to protect Social Security during virtual town hall The forum will be at 7 p.m. CDT June 10. People wanting to participate in the conversation must sign up on Fedorchak's website by noon that day. The forum will be livestreamed on her website and on her official Facebook page but will not be interactive. 'I'm especially looking forward to sharing what the One Big Beautiful Bill means for our state,' Fedorchak said in a news release. Fedorchak said earlier this month that changes to Medicaid, including work requirements, included in the bill are needed to keep the program viable. This will be the third online forum hosted by Fedorchak, who is in her first term as North Dakota's only member of the U.S. House. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Fedorchak emphasizes need for new Medicaid requirements
U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak speaks in the North Dakota Senate chamber on Feb. 18, 2025, as Lt. Gov Michelle Strinden presides over the session. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor) North Dakota U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak described Medicaid as an 'at-risk program' unless reforms are adopted to curb rising costs. But North Dakota advocates for Medicaid recipients said Thursday they worry about people slipping through the cracks and new administrative burdens being added to the state. Fedorchak, a Republican member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, voted in favor of reforms to Medicaid during a meeting that ended Wednesday. During a virtual press conference Thursday, Fedorchak said the overhaul will ensure the program remains solvent for people with disabilities, pregnant women, elderly people whom she said the program was designed for. U.S. House panel passes GOP plan that cuts Medicaid by $625B, adds work requirement 'In my opinion, I don't think this will result in fewer people receiving those benefits,' Fedorchak said. 'It will result in the people who qualify for them receiving them.' According to the Congressional Budget Office analysis, which was shared with States Newsroom, about 10.3 million people would lose access to Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, with 7.6 million people becoming uninsured during the 10-year budget window. Those receiving Medicaid benefits would need to submit to eligibility requirements twice per year. In addition, people without disabilities between ages 19 to 64 would be required to work, volunteer or attend school for 20 hours per week to retain their benefits, she said. 'This is a very important and humane requirement,' she said. 'We want to help people become independent … this program should help encourage and incentivize able-bodied people to find a job, or be engaged with the community.' The Medicaid work requirements will not apply to pregnant women, foster youth under age 26 and tribal members, Fedorchak said. Those considered 'medically frail,' which include people who are blind or disabled, those with a substance-use disorder, or serious or complex medical conditions, would also be exempted from the work requirements. The exemptions also extend to the parent, or caregiver, of a dependent child, those who are incarcerated or released from incarceration within 90 days, those impacted by natural disasters, or people living in counties with an unemployment rate greater than 8%, or an unemployment rate 150% higher than the national average. 'There's a lot of very reasonable, I think, and appropriate exemptions included in this for folks who might not be able to reasonably meet these requirements,' she said. Kirsten Dvorak, executive director of The Arc of North Dakota, an organization that promotes the rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, said she worries about people 'falling through the cracks' because of the additional Medicaid requirements. She added she finds the inclusion of 'able-bodied' in the bill text concerning. 'How do you define able-bodied?' Dvorak said. 'Our disability community, through whatever means, is being attacked right now. And our community is nervous.' Dvorak said many people with disabilities work in North Dakota communities, in some cases due to job coaching services that are funded through Medicaid. She also questioned who was going to do the additional paperwork for the people with disabilities to continue receiving their services. Some members of the disabled community are under corporate guardianships because they don't have anybody who can make decisions for them, she said. About 108,000 North Dakota residents are eligible to receive Medicaid benefits as of April, including more than 54,000 people under age 21, according to data from the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services. No tax on tips, child tax credit and business tax cuts survive in big House GOP bill LuWanna Lawrence, a spokesperson for HHS, said the department is in contact with Fedorchak and North Dakota's congressional delegation about what the proposed legislation would mean to the state. 'We are closely monitoring the budget process at the federal level. At this time, we cannot speculate on potential impacts,' Lawrence said in a statement. Verifying the work requirements and additional Medicaid eligibility requirements is likely to require more state workers to process the paperwork, said State Senate Minority Leader Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo, a member of the Senate Human Services Committee. Hogan said she would not be surprised if state health officials approach the Legislature during the interim to request additional funding and staffing. On the proposed work requirements, Hogan said many people receiving Medicaid benefits work in low-paying service jobs that do not offer health insurance. She questioned what would happen if a person worked 18 hours one week and 22 hours the next. 'Do you lose your benefit? It's really complicated to document, particularly for lower-end workers,' she said. 'The ability to actually implement these administrative responsibilities feels like a punishment for being poor.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
In second town hall, Rep. Julie Fedorchak resolute in support for President Donald Trump's policies
May 1—GRAND FORKS — U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak did not waver in her support for President Donald Trump even as several constituents raised concerns about trade and immigration policy in a Thursday evening town hall. Half of the 12 people who asked questions at Fedorchak's event, her second virtual town hall since taking office, focused on the impact of tariffs or raised concerns about the Trump administration's mass deportation plan. Fedorchak, a Republican from North Dakota in her first term, repeatedly stated her support for the Trump administration's imposition of tariffs on U.S. trade partners, saying many of the country's trade relationships "aren't free or fair for Americans" when asked by a caller from Grand Forks. "President Trump is trying to improve our trade relationships and trying to improve the trade deals we have with countries all over the world," Fedorchak said. She was similarly resolute when asked for her thoughts on the administration's efforts to deport migrants en masse, a process that has seen the administration defy court orders and seek to remove legal residents and U.S. citizens alongside undocumented immigrants. Fedorchak asserted many of the migrants being targeted for deportation are "drug dealers" and "human traffickers," and invoked the murder of Laken Riley, whose death at the hands of an undocumented immigrant became a cause celebre for immigration opponents. "I know there's a lot of good people who want to live here, and I want them here," Fedorchak said. "I want them here legally, but we have a mess here to deal with." Asked by a caller from Fargo about the administration's efforts to dodge orders halting deportations, Fedorchak said it's "healthy" for each branch of government "to try to fulfill their mission to the greatest extent possible." She said she expects the administration to comply with judges' orders. "I expect the administration to follow these court directives," she said, though she later expressed support for a bill passed by House Republicans that seeks to limit judges' ability to order nationwide injunctions. She did not address multiple queries asking if she thought Congress should step in if the executive branch oversteps its bounds. Fedorchak did say she supports "a more thoughtful, deliberate process" to shrinking the federal government than the administration's sweeping cuts and said she is working with the White House and federal agencies to address cuts that affect North Dakotans. Two callers raised concerns about cuts to the Medicaid health program. House Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee, of which Fedorchak is a member, have been instructed to find $880 billion in savings in order to extend tax cuts passed during Trump's first term. Fedorchak has previously singled out Medicaid as a major source of waste, fraud and inefficiency. On Thursday, she said adding work requirements for "able-bodied, working-age people" and auditing Medicaid users for eligibility would save almost $500 billion and also proposed closing a loophole that allows states to shift their costs to the federal government. "Most of the people we're talking to understand the need to make these reforms so that the program is sustainable long-term for the people who depend on it," she said. One caller, from Bismarck, asked Fedorchak to push back against the Medicaid cuts, saying he is concerned how it would affect his autistic adult son as well as nursing facilities in small towns. "If you put your foot down and say 'no, I'm not going to go along with this,' you actually have a lot of power, even though you're a freshman," he said, alluding to House Republicans' narrow majority. Fedorchak reasserted that reforms are necessary and should not affect individuals like the caller's son. A spokesperson for Fedrochak's office said after the forum that nearly 2,000 people tuned in. "Julie took a wide range of questions from people from every corner of the state, which really goes to show how beneficial and productive this event format is for an at-large member," senior communications adviser Kate Roberts wrote in an email. During Fedorchak's previous town hall, Forum News Service noted at the time, hundreds of people in the comments of the livestream expressed displeasure with her decision to host the town hall virtually and took umbrage with her remarks. Facebook comments were restricted this time.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
About 200 protesters join 'Let Them Eat Cake' demonstration in downtown Fargo
Apr. 26—FARGO — Local organizers staged a political farce in protest of federal budget cuts at the hands of the Trump administration. On Saturday afternoon, April 26, about 200 people gathered on a street corner across from the Federal Building in downtown Fargo to speak out against recent and proposed cuts to federal spending. Many carried signs while they watched members of local political groups perform a short satirical play criticizing President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-North Dakota. The event was organized by Fearless, the Fargo chapter of Indivisible, and Red River United, the Moorhead chapter of Indivisible. Indivisible is a national organization made up of groups across the country that organize against the actions and policies of the Trump administration. Richard Loftus of Oxbow, North Dakota, wrote the script. He played a Marie Antoinette-like Fedorchak. "It's a parable, and it's a little story, and we're doing a little bit of a reversal of the French Revolution, because it's the programs that are going to the guillotine," Loftus said. Organizers dubbed the event as the "Let Them Eat Cake" protest, a phrase often attributed to Marie Antoinette. "Let them eat cake" was supposedly the French queen's response after being told that her starving subjects had no bread. The protest was held as the Trump administration cuts federal programs and employees. Many of the cuts have been led by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, led by billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk. Fedorchak has been supportive of the Trump administration's efforts to cut federal spending. The performance featured a familiar cast of characters lined up next to a wooden guillotine. It included Trump and Musk with a tiny chainsaw in hand, a reference to Musk's chainsaw-weilding appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this year. One by one, Trump, played by Fargo's David Kelsen, called up characters representing Social Security, rule of law, disability rights, clean drinking water, reproductive rights, LGBT rights, diversity, voting rights, education and science. Each was forced to hand over their money as the guillotine behind them dropped. "You're chopped," Kelsen said to each as the crowd booed. Last in line was Liberty, played by Bethany Dixon of Fargo dressed as the Statue of Liberty. She stood up to Trump's cuts, using a Wonder Woman-like lasso of truth to get him and Fedorchak to talk about the impact of spending cuts on Americans. "Real Americans care about their neighbors, their country," Dixon (as Liberty) said. "They care about me, Liberty." After the performance, Dixon talked about putting on the performance with the Indivisible groups. "We do a lot of things together, and we've been doing a lot of protective actions or protests, and thought, 'You know, we need a little bit of levity and maybe a different way to do things to reach maybe a broader audience,'" Dixon said. Some attendees said Saturday's protest was not the only one they have been to recently. Michelle Foss of Fargo said she has been attending protests as often as she can. She expressed concerns with the Trump administration cutting programs, positions and departments. "I think that that's my biggest concern with everything, is that all of this stuff's done without any thought, or at least without any appearance of there being any thought put into it, makes me have no confidence in any of it," Foss said. Kara Riley of Moorhead said she started coming to protests so her voice is heard on issues she is concerned about. "I'm really concerned about the infrastructure of the departments and the people being cut — they're not freeloaders, they're people we actually need," Riley said. Saturday's protest is the most recent in a wave of protests across Fargo-Moorhead against actions taken by the Trump administration. Last weekend protesters gathered near the West Acres Mall. On April 5, thousands converged on the Veterans Memorial Bridge to protest Trump and Musk. Indivisible is holding another protest from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, May 1. That protest is on International Workers Day and will have a theme of "For the Workers, For the Law." The group is partnering for the event with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, local unions and the League of Women Voters. On Thursday, the groups will gather at 5 p.m. on the Veterans Memorial Bridge. Around 6 p.m., the group will move to Moorhead's Woodlawn Park, where organizers, union leaders, community members and retired Fargo Municipal Court Judge Thomas Davies will give remarks.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rep. Fedorchak plans another telephone town hall meeting
U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., talks to voters through a virtual town hall meeting on March 25, 2025. (Screenshot from Fedorchak website) North Dakota U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak will host a second telephone town hall at 7 p.m. Central on Thursday. North Dakotans who want to participate in the conversation must sign up on Fedorchak's website by noon Thursday. The town hall also will be livestreamed on her website and also on her official Facebook page, but people will not be able to ask questions through those platforms. Fedorchak, a Republican in her first term, held her first tele-town hall in March, addressing issues such as Social Security. 'I'm eager to hear what North Dakotans are concerned about and, in turn, how I'm thinking about and addressing these consequential issues,' Fedorchak said in a news release.
