Latest news with #RepublicanGovernors
Washington Post
5 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
DOGE sprouts in red states, as governors embrace the cost-cutter brand and make it their own
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The brash and chaotic first days of President Donald Trump 's Department of Government Efficiency, once led by the world's richest man Elon Musk , spawned state-level DOGE mimicry as Republican governors and lawmakers aim to show they are in step with their party's leader. Governors have always made political hay out of slashing waste or taming bureaucracy, but DOGE has, in some ways, raised the stakes for them to show that they are zealously committed to cutting costs. Many drive home the point that they have always been focused on cutting government, even if they're not conducting mass layoffs .
The Guardian
09-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
US agriculture secretary says Medicaid recipients can replace deported farm workers
The US agriculture secretary has suggested that increased automation and forcing Medicaid recipients to work could replace the migrant farm workers being swept up in Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign, despite years of evidence and policy failures that those kinds of measures are not substitutes for the immigrant labor force underpinning American agriculture. Speaking at a news conference with Republican governors on Tuesday, Brooke Rollins said the administration would rely on 'automation, also some reform within the current governing structure', and pointed to '34 million able-bodied adults in our Medicaid program' as potential workers. 'There's been a lot of noise in the last few days and a lot of questions about where the president stands and his vision for farm labor,' Rollins said. 'There are plenty of workers in America'. Trump signed legislation Friday creating the first federally mandated work requirements for Medicaid recipients, set to take effect by the end of 2026. Medicaid is a healthcare safety net program that currently covers pregnant women, mothers, young children and the disabled, with 40 states having expanded coverage to working poor families earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level. However, agricultural experts and economists have repeatedly warned that neither automation nor welfare reforms can realistically replace the migrant workforce that dominates American farming. According to USDA data, more than half of US farm workers are undocumented immigrants, and just under 70% are foreign-born. And a March report from the Urban Institute found that most Medicaid recipients are either already working, exempt or face some sort of instability. Previous state-level immigration crackdowns are also evidence of the challenges facing Rollins' proposed solution. Georgia's 2011 immigration law resulted in a shortage of over 5,200 farm workers and projected losses of hundreds of millions of dollars at the time, according to a University of Georgia study. Alabama farmers reported similar struggles, with locals telling the Associated Press in 2011 that American workers lasted about a day at their new farm jobs. While agricultural automation is advancing fast, it still appears to remain years away from replacing manual labor in fruit and vegetable harvesting. Rollins acknowledged the administration must be 'strategic' in implementing deportations 'so as not to compromise our food supply', but held that Trump's promise of '100 percent American workforce stands.' Trump himself appeared to soften his stance last week, telling Fox News he was considering exemptions for undocumented farm workers. 'What we're going to do is we're going to do something for farmers where we can let the farmer sort of be in charge,' he said.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Other GOP-led states are considering ‘Alligator Alcatraz' knock-offs, according to survey
As the opening of Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' is imminent, other states with Republican leadership have been in touch with the White House about opening similar facilities, according to a new report. Last week, Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina tweeted a desperate plea to the Department of Homeland Security for an 'Alligator Alcatraz' in her state. 'Dear DHS: We've got a swamp and a dream. Let's talk. South Carolina's gators are ready. And they're not big on paperwork. If I was Governor, we'd be bringing Alligator Alcatraz to South Carolina,' she wrote. In the wake of that message, a Fox News survey found that a handful of the 26 states with Republican governors have plans for a similar migrant prison camp in their states. Representatives for the governor's offices in Georgia and Arkansas confirmed that construction is underway on facilities that can hold thousands of migrants. A spokesman for South Carolina's Governor Henry McMaster said that the administration is 'exploring how the Palmetto State's unique assets and resources can be utilized to provide additional and enhanced support in the weeks and months to come.' Other states responded positively to Florida's efforts and the Trump administration's controversial policies involving the detention of migrants, but did not specify plans for their own 'Alligator Alcatraz.' On Tuesday, the White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, called on other states to follow Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' lead and to build similar prisons in their states during an appearance on Laura Ingraham's show. 'We want to go to every Republican state – now, of course, in a sane country, Democrats would do it, too, but they love the illegals and they hate the Americans. We want every governor of a red state, and if you are watching tonight: pick up the phone, call DHS, work with us to build facilities in your state so we can get the illegals out and we can get the criminals out,' Miller said. The first detainees arrived Thursday at the facility, which will cost $450 million to operate and consists of tents and trailers surrounded by razor wire on swampland about 45 miles west of downtown Miami. Republicans named it after what was once one of the most notorious prisons in the U.S. and have billed it as a temporary lockup that is essential to Trump's immigration crackdown. Opponents decry it as a political stunt and fear it could become a permanent fixture. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility's name. 'The proposal was rolled out without any public input in one of the most ecologically sensitive regions of Florida, and arguably the United States,' said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, which is among environmental groups that have sued to stop the project. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Independent
06-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Other GOP-led states are considering ‘Alligator Alcatraz' knock-offs, according to survey
As the opening of Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' is imminent, other states with Republican leadership have been in touch with the White House about opening similar facilities, according to a new report. Last week, Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina tweeted a desperate plea to the Department of Homeland Security for an 'Alligator Alcatraz' in her state. 'Dear DHS: We've got a swamp and a dream. Let's talk. South Carolina's gators are ready. And they're not big on paperwork. If I was Governor, we'd be bringing Alligator Alcatraz to South Carolina,' she wrote. In the wake of that message, a Fox News survey found that a handful of the 26 states with Republican governors have plans for a similar migrant prison camp in their states. Representatives for the governor's offices in Georgia and Arkansas confirmed that construction is underway on facilities that can hold thousands of migrants. A spokesman for South Carolina's Governor Henry McMaster said that the administration is 'exploring how the Palmetto State's unique assets and resources can be utilized to provide additional and enhanced support in the weeks and months to come.' Other states responded positively to Florida's efforts and the Trump administration's controversial policies involving the detention of migrants, but did not specify plans for their own 'Alligator Alcatraz.' On Tuesday, the White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, called on other state s to follow Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' lead and to build similar prisons in their states during an appearance on Laura Ingraham's show. 'We want to go to every Republican state – now, of course, in a sane country, Democrats would do it, too, but they love the illegals and they hate the Americans. We want every governor of a red state, and if you are watching tonight: pick up the phone, call DHS, work with us to build facilities in your state so we can get the illegals out and we can get the criminals out,' Miller said. The first detainees arrived Thursday at the facility, which will cost $450 million to operate and consists of tents and trailers surrounded by razor wire on swampland about 45 miles west of downtown Miami. Republicans named it after what was once one of the most notorious prisons in the U.S. and have billed it as a temporary lockup that is essential to Trump's immigration crackdown. Opponents decry it as a political stunt and fear it could become a permanent fixture. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility's name. 'The proposal was rolled out without any public input in one of the most ecologically sensitive regions of Florida, and arguably the United States,' said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, which is among environmental groups that have sued to stop the project.
Reuters
30-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
US Senate debates whether to adopt revised state AI regulation ban
WASHINGTON, June 30 (Reuters) - Two key U.S. Republican senators agreed to a revised federal moratorium on state regulation of artificial intelligence to five years and allow states to adopt rules on child online safety and protecting artists' image or likeliness. Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz originally proposed securing compliance by blocking states that regulate AI from a $42 billion broadband infrastructure fund as part of a broad tax and budget bill. A revised version released last week would only restrict states regulating AI form tapping a new $500 million fund to support AI infrastructure. Under a compromise announced Sunday by Senator Marsha Blackburn, a critic of the state AI regulatory moratorium, the proposed 10-year moratorium would be cut to five years and allow states to regulate issues like protecting artists' voices or child online safety if they do not impose an "undue or disproportionate burden" on AI. Tennessee passed a law last year dubbed the ELVIS Act to protect songwriters and performers from the use of AI to make unauthorized fake works in the image and voice of well-known artists. Texas approved legislation to bar AI use for the creation of child pornography or to encourage a person to commit physical self-harm or commit crime. It is not clear if the change will be enough to assuage concerns. On Friday, 17 Republican governors urged the Senate to drop the AI plan. "We cannot support a provision that takes away states' powers to protect our citizens. Let states function as the laboratories of democracy they were intended to be and allow state leaders to protect our people," said the governors led by Arkansas' Sarah Huckabee Sanders. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick voiced his support for the revised measure calling it a pragmatic compromise. "Congress should stand by the Cruz provision to keep America First in AI," Lutnick wrote on X. Congress has failed for years to pass any meaningful AI regulations or safety measures. Senate Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee, said the Blackburn Cruz amendment "does nothing to protect kids or consumers. It's just another giveaway to tech companies." Cantwell said Lutnick could simply opt to strip states of internet funding if they did not agree to the moratorium.
