Latest news with #MedicaidCuts
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Photos of 'Good Trouble' protests across the US, from Chicago to Mar-a-Lago
The ' Good Trouble Lives On ' national day of action took place around the United States to protest President Donald Trump's controversial policies such as mass deportations and Medicaid cuts. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Associated Press
5 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Photos of 'Good Trouble' protests across the US, from Chicago to Mar-a-Lago
The ' Good Trouble Lives On ' national day of action took place around the United States to protest President Donald Trump's controversial policies such as mass deportations and Medicaid cuts. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump and the GOP Will Regret the Day They Passed This Sick Bill
In the Beltway newsletters on Thursday, they're writing about House Speaker Mike Johnson's historic, 'massive victory' in guiding President Donald Trump's big, ugly bill to final passage in the House. That's true in the most technical, process-based sense only. For America, this bill is a calamity in nearly every way. The only question is whether enough Americans will feel and see that to do the GOP the political damage it deserves. I think they will. They'll see, eventually, that Trump and Johnson and all of them just lied continually about the Medicaid cuts dealing only with 'waste, fraud, and abuse.' They'll watch as deep-red states build more versions of Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' with the billions in this bill for a mean-spirited and wanton immigrant detention system that majorities already disapprove of. They'll see veterans—veterans—lose their food stamp benefits. They'll see interest rates go up because of the trillions the bill adds to the debt. Here's the important question to ponder: Why is this happening? What kind of people want to close rural hospitals? What kind of people want veterans to stop being able to buy decent groceries? Answering these questions teaches us a lot about what's become of the Republican Party over the last three-plus decades. The seminal moment in this history isn't Trump coming down that escalator. In fact, it has nothing to do with Trump. The year was 1990. At an impromptu meeting at Andrews Air Force Base with congressional leaders, President George H.W. Bush agreed to the last tax increase that a critical mass of Republicans backed. The tax increase was responsible fiscal policy— the deficit had jumped significantly since 1989—and in fact the revenue, and other spending caps in the bill, helped stabilize the country's finances. But all anyone remembers is that Bush broke his 'read my lips' campaign pledge not to raise taxes. Ever since, Republican domestic policy has consisted entirely of two prongs: cutting taxes, overwhelmingly for the rich; cutting spending, overwhelmingly for, or one should say 'on,' working-class and poor people. This is who they are. Within that broad category, there are three camps. First, there are the coward-hypocrites: the ones who know something about policy and actually know better—who know, for example, that cutting taxes for rich people doesn't increase revenue. Second, there are the hard-hearted red-hots: those who devoutly believe that government shouldn't be in the business of doing things like helping veterans pay for groceries, that we as a nation can't afford this (because we have to give the billionaires their tax cuts) and that it creates a nation of girly men. These are your Freedom Caucus extremists like Chip Roy and Andy Harris, who caved once again this week, proving that they have no actual principles whatsoever (or more precisely proving that their real principle is obedience). Third, there's the clown posse: those, mostly new to politics, who are so stupid that they actually believe these lies about taxes and revenue, and spending being out of control. The lies are powerful and pervasive. If you try to Google the effect of those 1990 tax increases, for example, the first couple things you'll see are right-wing accounts that completely rewrite history. These people, mostly under 40 or so, have been hearing the lies about tax cuts and spending since they attended their first Young Republicans meeting, and they just buy it. Donald Trump is, surprise surprise, in the stupid category. No, he's not young, but he is new to politics and utterly incurious about how policy actually works, so when someone from the Heritage Foundation or wherever fills his brain with post-Andrews dogma, he says 'sure,' because it's exactly what he wants to hear. Likewise, when aides assure him, 'Sir, with respect to Medicaid, we're only going after waste, fraud, and abuse,' that sounds good to him. He asks no questions, because he doesn't give a shit whether some 23-bed hospital in Point Coupee Parish in Mike Johnson's Louisiana might close (neither does Johnson, obviously); all that matters to Trump is muscling his bill through, showing MAGA that he can push the likes of Roy and Harris around. This is our reality. The Republicans just passed a cruel, stupid bill whose priorities have repeatedly failed the country over the past 25 years. But they have something that the Democrats don't have, that no political party in American history has ever had: a multibillion dollar propaganda machine that will see to it that its vast audience never learns the truth about the impacts of this bill. The economy contracted by 0.5 percent in the first quarter of this year. What percentage of Fox News viewers do you think know that? If Fox has reported that, it has surely blamed it on Joe Biden, which they'll continue doing for a while yet. That's the battle now: to make sure that as many Americans as possible, as many whose minds are open to evidence, see the impacts of this bill. That they connect the dots from that nurse at the assisted living facility who took such good care of mom and always had a smile on her face, to the same nurse losing her job because the facility had to close, to this bill that Trump did such a 'masterful' job—as Johnson put it—of pushing through. I think the evidence will be so clear that enough people will see what this bill has done to their family, friends, and community, and the Republicans will rue the day they passed this sick, reactionary bill. Historic indeed.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
After voting for Trump's megabill, GOP Sen. Josh Hawley wants to prevent a key Medicaid cut from taking effect
HAZELWOOD, Mo. — Four days after President Donald Trump signed his 'big, beautiful bill' into law, one of the Republicans who voted for it wasn't interested in touting the measure's high-profile tax, immigration or health care provisions. Instead, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., held an event here Tuesday centered on a less-noticed part of the nearly 1,000-page bill: an expanded fund for victims of nuclear waste, a bipartisan issue he worked for years to get across the finish line. And when asked about the steep Medicaid cuts in the bill, Hawley continued to criticize them. Hawley said his 'goal' is to ensure the provider tax changes, which will limit state reimbursement for Medicaid, don't go into effect in Missouri in 2030 — even as he helped to pass a piece of legislation that will do just that. It illustrates the challenges Republicans face as they turn their attention to selling to the public the massive bill they've been working on for months, ahead of next year's midterm elections. 'I think that if Republicans don't come out strong and say we're going to protect rural hospitals, then, yeah, I think voters aren't going to like that,' Hawley told NBC News in an interview at St. Cin Park. 'The truth of the matter is, we shouldn't be cutting rural hospitals. I'm completely opposed to cutting rural hospitals period. I haven't changed my view on that one iota.' Hawley suggested he would work with Democrats to cut prescription drug pricing, a priority Trump has said he wants Congress to focus on, to pay for the tax cuts made permanent by the new law. Ultimately, Hawley — who is seen as a potential future presidential candidate — chose to stay in Trump's good graces and vote for the bill despite his reservations, while managing to score victories for his constituents. 'Gotta take the wins that you can,' Hawley told NBC News when asked about voting for a bill he admitted he didn't like. Defending his vote for the package that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected will cause nearly 12 million people to lose their health care coverage by 2034, Hawley said the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), as well as the rural hospital fund included in the bill at the eleventh hour to appease GOP holdouts in the Senate, would expand health care in Missouri. But for the hospitals and social safety net administrators in Missouri, the law's changes — even if not fully implemented until later — bring uncertainty to a community dependent on funding from expanded Medicaid access. The Missouri Hospital Association estimates the state will lose hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from the provider tax changes alone. Federally qualified health centers, which rely on government funding to function and provide health care to underserved populations, are already facing shortfalls and budget cuts. An administrator at such a health center in the rural Missouri Highlands told NBC News last month that the impacts from Trump's megabill will lead to death in her community. The issue is already impacting states across the country. Hundreds of rural hospitals could close and many more will lose billions of dollars in funding over the next decade, according to an analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. From a political standpoint, Republicans will need to defend policy choices that Democrats are already attacking as they seek to hold onto their congressional majorities in 2026. Hawley joined many GOP lawmakers in gaining private assurances from leadership early on and securing priorities in the sprawling legislation. He worked with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., 'early in the year' to attach RECA to the package. RECA, a federal law that provided financial compensation to individuals who developed certain diseases as a result of exposure to radiation, expired last year. 'For me, it was key to my vote,' Hawley said. The expanded fund will accept new claims from 'downwinders' and uranium workers until Dec. 31, 2027 and covers more cities and states, including zip codes in Missouri. Joining Hawley at the news conference Tuesday were advocates for victims of nuclear radiation from all over the country dating back to the Manhattan Project, including Sherrie Hanna from Prescott, Arizona. Hanna lost her father and her husband to cancers that were later linked to nuclear waste in the area. 'They both succumbed to painful deaths,' Hanna said. 'I know how important the RECA compensation is.' Hanna said she was 'devastated' when RECA expired in June 2024. 'I thought we would never get the program back. But we kept fighting.' The event was also bipartisan in nature: Hawley embraced former Democratic Rep. Cori Bush — who was a member of the progressive 'squad' in Congress — and showered her with praise. 'So Cori, thank you. We would not be here without you and your work,' Hawley said. Also joining Hawley was Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., who defended his support for the provision even as he and every other Democratic member of Congress voted against the Big Beautiful Bill. 'There are some concerns and issues that many of us have with this budgetary bill. But at the same time, the folks who have been waiting a long time for compensation, to be acknowledged for the pain and suffering, that's one thing that I can rejoice in,' Bell said. Some of the advocates who fought for RECA's passage acknowledged the bill's double-edged sword, like Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, who traveled from Arizona to praise Hawley's efforts in securing compensation for indigenous communities impacted by the government's nuclear programs. 'It's difficult to celebrate,' Nygren told NBC News, acknowledging the bill's negative consequences on renewable energy and health care coverage for the Navajo nation. This article was originally published on
CNN
09-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
‘It could be his Obamacare': GOP senator reveals his warnings to Trump before voting against his agenda
Before Republican Sen. Thom Tillis bucked his own party and voted against President Donald Trump's agenda last week, he warned the president how its toxic political ripple effect could soon wipe out Congress' GOP majority. 'As I told the president, if we don't get this right, he's probably going to have two of the most miserable years of his life if Democrats take the gavels in the House. And I'm trying to avoid that,' Tillis said in a wide-ranging interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Wednesday – his first national sitdown interview since announcing his retirement a day after voting to block the president's agenda. 'I told the president, I really do believe it could be his Obamacare,' Tillis said of the sweeping tax and spending cuts package that Trump signed into law last week, without Tillis' vote. 'I think it's politically just devastating.' The plainspoken North Carolinian was clear about who he blames for the details of that law, repeatedly calling out unnamed White House staffers that he said failed to grasp the real-life consequences of the new policy, particularly the spending cuts to Medicaid, which provides health care to millions of low-income Americans. Those advisers, he said, are the 'biggest risk to [Trump's] legacy' — though he declined, for now, to identify any by name. 'I don't have a problem with President Trump. I got a problem with some of the people I consider to be amateurs advising him. And I want to make it very clear to them: When you act like the president when he's out of the room, you don't impress me,' Tillis said. The senator may not be quiet for long. Asked about how he planned to spend his remaining 18 months in office, Tillis said he would demand accountability for some of those same Trump advisers. 'I am going to hold some of these people accountable, who I think are shielding him, who do not understand the legislative process, certainly do not understand the executive. And they're the biggest risk to his legacy,' Tillis told Tapper. The swing-state Republican had multiple issues with Trump's agenda. But it's the cuts to Medicaid that's drawn his sharpest rebuke, and which eventually led him to vote against the sprawling package. Tillis had repeatedly urged Trump and his team not to cut so deeply into the program, which he feared would cut off access to people who legally qualify for the program and cause Trump's downfall — just like then-President Barack Obama's health care law that led to Democrats' self-described 'shellacking' in the 2010 midterms. But in the end, GOP leaders passed their bill without Tillis' help, spurring Trump himself to publicly threaten to help primary the senator. In response, Tillis recalled sending the president a private missive of his own — just before announcing he would retire from Congress instead of seeking reelection next November. 'I told the president in another text: 'Now's the time to start looking for my replacement because I don't deal with that kind of bullsh*t,' Tillis recounted. Tillis has helped confirm nearly all of Trump's key nominees this term. But with hindsight, Tillis raised concerns with one of those now in power: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The senator suggested he would not vote to confirm Hegseth, if a vote were to be held again today. 'With the passing of time, I think it's clear he's out of his depth as a manager of a large, complex organization,' Tillis said, pointing, for instance, to Hegseths' recent failure to inform the White House before he authorized a pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine last week. 'The whole idea of having a pause on Ukraine defensive arms, that's just amateurish,' Tillis said. Asked by Tapper whether he would vote to confirm Hegseth knowing what he does now, Tilis said: 'Now, I have the information of him being a manager and I don't think his probationary period has been very positive.' Tillis offered another clear warning to his party about next November: Keep scandal-plagued Republican Mark Robinson out of the GOP's race to replace him in the Senate. 'There's no way if he became the nominee in North Carolina I could possibly support him,' Tillis said of Robinson, the former lieutenant governor who suffered a historic defeat in 2024 after a CNN KFile investigation found he made dozens of lewd comments on an online porn forum. 'Of course I wouldn't support the Democratic nominee. I would just have to take a pass.' And notably, Tillis was tight-lipped when asked about another possible candidate — Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law and former co-chair of the Republican National Committee. 'Our state is very difficult for Republicans to win. … So they need to be really smart about the name on the ballot and the profile on the ballot to have an opportunity to win,' Tilis said when specifically asked about Lara Trump. 'This is gonna be a tough race for someone. They need a good, solid, business, right-of-center conservative to match up against whoever it is.' When Tillis made his stunning decision late last month to not seek reelection, he called out DC politicians who 'don't bother to do the hard work' to understand what their policies would mean for someone like a young person living in a trailer park – a reference to his own humble beginnings. Tillis has been a waiter, a warehouse worker, and even, once, as an 8-year-old kid who got paid in biscuits, a walker of an elderly neighbor's cat. (Yes, a cat.) He said he thought about those living in his former trailer park in Nashville when he decided to vote against Trump's agenda. Again, he compared it to the 2010 health care law that led to a massive red wave after some people were forced off their private health plans. 'Now it's like, if you like Medicaid and you're eligible, you can keep it. That's fundamentally untrue,' Tillis said. Asked if many of those who will be impacted understand what's in Trump's bill, Tillis said: 'No, they don't, but they will' — referring to the Democrats' plans to broadly message the GOP cuts ahead of the midterms. 'If you're a competent Democrat, you're going to figure out how to communicate to them how it affects their lives. And it almost certainly will,' he said.
