SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
summer lee
GOP Targets Medicaid, SNAP Benefits to 'Pay for Tax Cuts for Their Billionaire Donors'
"The GOP wants to make food and healthcare unaffordable and inaccessible for the most vulnerable people in our country," said Rep. Summer Lee. "Make no mistake on who they're serving."
Nov 18, 2024
Congressional Republicans are reportedly considering new work requirements for recipients of Medicaid and nutrition assistance as well as spending caps for the programs as potential ways to counteract the massive cost of their tax agenda, which would primarily benefit the rich and large corporations.
The Washington Postreported Monday that Republicans, who are poised to take full control of the federal government come January, "have begun preliminary discussions about making significant changes to Medicaid, food stamps, and other federal safety net programs to offset the enormous cost of extending" soon-to-expire elements of the regressive tax law that President-elect Donald Trump signed in year one of his first White House term.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated earlier this year that an extension of the 2017 tax cuts would add $4.6 trillion to the U.S. deficit over the next decade. Republicans have made clear that tax legislation is a top priority in the next Congress, and they're preparing to use a fast-track procedure known as reconciliation to ram a new round of tax cuts through.
According to the Post, members of Trump's transition team have discussed with GOP lawmakers and aides the possibility of adding punitive new work requirements and spending caps to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Research and real-world experience have consistently shown that work requirements do virtually nothing to boost employment while making it harder for people in need to receive aid.
"To pay for tax cuts for their billionaire donors, the GOP wants to make food and healthcare unaffordable and inaccessible for the most vulnerable people in our country," Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) wrote in response to the Post's reporting. "Make no mistake on who they're serving."
"We already knew the push to cut taxes for the wealthy next year was going to be costly. Now we're learning that deep cuts to critical programs are on the agenda to help pay for them."
Following an election in which grocery costs were a leading concern of many voters, the Post reported that Republican lawmakers are "discussing stripping presidential authority to recalculate benefits" for SNAP, the nation's highly effective hunger-reducing tool that helps millions afford food each year.
"Republicans argue that if they eliminate that authority and hemmed in SNAP benefits—which increase automatically with inflation—that should count as reducing the deficit by tens of billions of dollars, according to some estimates," the Post noted.
As for Medicaid, the newspaper detailed preliminary GOP discussions to halt Biden administration efforts to help people who lost coverage due to the post-pandemic purge, adding a work requirement similar to SNAP's, and conducting more frequent eligibility checks—which could result in more people losing access to the program.
House Budget Committee Chair Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) openly made the case last week for what he called a "responsible and reasonable work requirement" for Medicaid, the Post observed.
Estimated savings from such changes come nowhere near offsetting the huge projected cost of extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts for individuals and handing additional tax breaks to big corporations. On the campaign trail, Trump proposed reducing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%, a change that would give the 100 largest U.S. corporations a combined tax cut of $48 billion a year.
Trump's tax agenda would also disproportionately benefit the wealthiest individuals in the U.S. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) released an analysis last month showing that the tax proposals Trump floated during his bid for a second White House term would deliver annual tax cuts to the top 5% and tax hikes for the bottom 95%.
"We already knew the push to cut taxes for the wealthy next year was going to be costly," ITEP wrote on social media Monday. "Now we're learning that deep cuts to critical programs are on the agenda to help pay for them."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Palestinian Rights Advocates Hold Sit-In After DNC Refuses Speaking Slot
"DNC, we will stay here until we get the call from Democratic leadership."
Aug 22, 2024
Delegates from the "uncommitted" movement led a sit-in outside of the Democratic National Convention and refused to accept no for an answer late Wednesday after the party declined their request to provide a mere five minutes of onstage time for a Palestinian American to speak to the horrors unfolding in the Gaza Strip, which Israel has been bombing relentlessly with U.S. support for more than 10 months.
DNC organizers did not say publicly why they are refusing to allow a Palestinian American to speak at the event at Chicago's United Center, which is located in the county with the largest Palestinian American population in the U.S.
The Uncommitted National Movement secured dozens of delegates to the DNC after hundreds of thousands of Democratic primary voters cast ballots earlier this year protesting the Biden administration's support for Israel's assault on Gaza.
In a joint statement late Wednesday, Abbas Alawieh, June Rose, Sabrene Odeh, and other uncommitted delegates said that "we are waiting for a phone call from Vice President [Kamala] Harris and the DNC to allow a single Palestinian American speaker from the convention stage."
"Our party's platform states that every life is valuable: whether American, Palestinian, or Israeli," the delegates said. "We will conduct a moral act of sitting in at the convention to push our party to better align our actions, instead of just our words, with the notion that every life is valuable by simply allowing a Palestinian American to speak from the stage."
Memo to Harris campaign: since you invited American Jews w/ a child held captive in Gaza, you should’ve also invited to speak a Palestinian American w/ family in Gaza suffering from the assault. Palestinians deserve respect. To fail to do this is an unforced error. Fix it now. pic.twitter.com/mImkced0tj
— James J. Zogby (@jjz1600) August 22, 2024
The DNC's speaker lineup thus far has included Republicans, the former CEO of American Express, and the parents of an Israeli American held hostage in Gaza.
"The Democratic Party has ignored Palestinian voices—canceling meetings, belittling protestors, and now blocking a Palestinian speaker from appearing at the DNC," the Uncommitted National Movement wrote on social media. "We won't let that happen. Palestinian Americans have watched for 10+ months as Democrats have spent their own tax dollars supplying Israel with weapons to kill their loved ones in Palestine."
"All we asked for was five minutes," the movement added. "DNC, we will stay here until we get the call from Democratic leadership. We will not stop until we win an arms embargo. We will not stop until the Democratic Party becomes the party of Palestinian rights."
The window for a reversal from DNC organizers is rapidly closing: Thursday is the final day of the convention, which will feature remarks from Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.
The Washington Postreported Wednesday that "many Democratic leaders were concerned" that providing even a brief speaking slot to a Palestinian American "would threaten the unity that has been on vivid display at the convention," given the likelihood that the speaker would criticize U.S. support for Israel's assault.
Waleed Shahid, a progressive organizer and Democratic strategist, said that "several names" of Palestinian Americans were submitted to the DNC for consideration and uncommitted delegates were "well aware that every speech would be vetted and edited by the campaign and have agreed to that process."
"There are tens of thousands of Palestinian Americans," Shahid added. "The DNC can find one person to speak."
In response to the DNC's decision, the group "Muslim Women for Harriz-Walz" announced that it "cannot in good conscience" keep its organization going "in light of this new information."
"The family of the Israeli hostage that was on stage tonight has shown more empathy towards Palestinian Americans and Palestinians than our candidate or the DNC has," the group said in a statement. "This is a terrible message to send to Democrats. Palestinians have the right to speak about Palestine. We pray that the DNC and VP Harris' team makes the right decision before this convention is over. For the sake of each of us."
Ongoing Israeli atrocities in the Gaza Strip—enabled by tens of billions of dollars of American weaponry transferred by the current Democratic administration—and the enclave's appalling humanitarian crisis have received scant attention from DNC speakers thus far. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the two most prominent progressive lawmakers to speak at the convention, each mentioned Gaza just once, with the latter offering praise for the Biden administration's diplomatic efforts that critics said was entirely unwarranted.
Zeteo's Mehdi Hasan wrote Wednesday that "there are plenty of Dem delegates at this convention here in Chicago who I am sure support an arms embargo and are against what's happening in Gaza."
"But," he added, "they don't want it to get in the way of pro-Kamala party atmosphere. It's an inconvenient genocide."
Reps. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) joined the sit-in late Wednesday, expressing solidarity with the demand for a Palestinian American speaker on the convention stage.
"To still speak up in your grief in the face of people who would essentially spit in your face, and to do it anyway, is a love that some people will never understand," Lee told the demonstrators.
This story has been updated to include a statement from the group "Muslim Women for Harriz-Walz."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Progressives for Harris' Call Rallies Broad Coalition to Defeat Fascism
"For the sake of our kids and our grandchildren, and for the planet, Trump must be defeated and Kamala Harris must be elected," Sen. Bernie Sanders said on the call.
Aug 06, 2024
More than 150,000 people tuned in Monday night to a Zoom call featuring prominent progressive lawmakers, organizers, and labor leaders who have united in an effort to help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris defeat former President Donald Trump and the far-right forces he represents in November.
The "Progressives for Harris" call, which lasted more than three hours, came ahead of the vice president's expected announcement of her running mate, a choice that progressives see as an important signal of how Harris intends to campaign and govern.
Progressives have backed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who is reportedly one of the final two contenders in the running for the spot on the Democratic ticket. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is believed to be the other candidate under consideration.
But Harris' vice presidential pick was not a significant topic of discussion on Monday night's call, which included remarks from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain and Association of Flight Attendants-CWA president Sara Nelson, Reps. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and leaders of the Uncommitted Movement.
"I'm inviting you all to get formation with the pro-democracy forces uniting against American fascism as well as fascism all around the world, a coalition that includes black men and women who organized in the tens of thousands not too long ago, LGBTQ folks, labor unions, and millions of workers all around the country and the world," said Working Families Party national director Maurice Mitchell, who emceed the event. "People like me who want an arms embargo to stop the war in Gaza and care deeply about public safety and police accountability and climate change and housing justice and education, people who want to protect reproductive rights, and everybody of good conscience in between."
"We cannot be spectators," Mitchell added. "We must be agents."
Watch the full event:
The call was held hours after polling from Data for Progress showed that strong majorities of voters in key battleground states support central elements of the progressive agenda, including raising taxes on the rich and large corporations, expanding Medicare and Social Security benefits, hiking the federal minimum wage, and reining in out-of-control housing costs.
Sanders, who commissioned the survey as he pushes Harris to embrace an ambitious working-class agenda, said during Monday's event that "my message is pretty clear, and that is: All of us together must do everything that we can to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris as our next president."
"The truth of the matter," said the Vermont senator, "is that our nation will not survive in any form that we can be proud of if we elect as president a pathological liar, somebody who I think just doesn't know the difference between truth and lies, someone convicted of 34 felonies, someone who is a convicted sexual abuser, and someone who as a businessman in the private sector was involved in 4,000 different lawsuits."
"For the sake of our kids and our grandchildren, and for the planet, Trump must be defeated and Kamala Harris must be elected," Sanders added.
While the call showcased broad support for Harris among leading progressives and a commitment to preventing Trump from winning another four years in the White House, grassroots organizers also made clear that they intend to pressure the Democratic nominee on critical issues, including the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza—created by Israel with the support of the United States.
"Gen Z is determined to make sure Trump is nowhere near the White House ever again," Elise Joshi, executive director of Gen Z for Change, said during Monday's livestream. (According to one estimate, nearly 41 million members of Gen Z—people between the ages of 18 and 27 this year—will be eligible to vote in November.)
"At the same time, Gen Z for Change must honor where this generation is at," Joshi continued. "Heeding the calls of young people means calling for an immediate and permanent cease-fire, and using the leverage at our disposal to achieve one, including a weapons embargo. With that, and a working-class agenda, we will see record turnout from Gen Z in November."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular