Calling the government’s firing of thousands of probationary status workers a “gimmick” and a “sham,” a federal judge Thursday ordered six federal agencies to rehire the workers.
Judge William J. Alsup, a Clinton-era appointee in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, found “that the Trump administration’s firing of probationary workers had essentially been done unlawfully and by fiat through the Office of Personnel Management,” the New York Times reported.
The Treasury, VA, Agriculture, Defense, Energy and Interior departments were ordered to comply with the order and offer to reinstate anyone who was improperly terminated.
Alsup said what the government did was a “gimmick” contrived to quickly carry out mass firings.
The judge did clarify with lawyers who represented the unions that brought the lawsuit that reduction in force orders being issued at some agencies were “still legal and could go forward,” the Times reported.
Alsup made the ruling after taking issue with the Justice Department not making acting OPM director Charles Ezell testify Thursday, CNN reported.
Ezell was expected to face tough questions from labor union attorneys, but the Justice Department instead withdrew a declaration from Ezell which was the government’s only evidence in the case.
“You’re afraid to do so because you know cross-examination will reveal the truth,” CNN said Alsup told DOJ attorney Kelsey Helland. “I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth.”
Where have we heard before that attorneys representing something to do with the felon-in-chief coming into court either not prepared or unwilling to provide evidence they say they have?
It’s almost as if the current administration is trying to do as much damage as possible and hope that no one notices or doesn’t raise too much of a fuss.
Imagine that.
— — — — —
RFK Jr. is suggesting everyone should get measles. This man, who is not a doctor, will kill us.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy is now suggesting that everyone should get measles. Kennedy is advocating contracting measles OVER being vaccinated. Yet another alarming reminder that RFK Jr. is a danger and a failure in his new position as head of HHS. Faced…
Well, it’s another day here in the United States, or not, if you believe the House of Representatives.
Included in the continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government that narrowly passed the House Tuesday was a provision that would give more power to President Donald J. Felon.
The grifter-in-chief, in order to impose tariffs on Mexico, China and Canada, had to declare a national emergency. That sets the clock ticking for any member of the House to force a vote to repeal the tariffs.
The House just voted that “each day for the remainder of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a calendar day for purposes of section 202 of the National Emergencies Act.” A day is not a day. Lewis Carroll, George Orwell, and Franz Kafka must all be chuckling — or weeping.
By declaring every day as the same day, that effectively takes the power of taxation away from the Congress and gives it to the person in the White House who is tanking the economy even as we speak.
Rep. Don Beyer, D-VA, and Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-WA, said in a joint statement that the Republicans in the House voted “to give Trump expanded powers to raise taxes on American households through tariffs with full knowledge of how he is using those powers, and every Republican will own the economic consequences of that vote. It speaks volumes that Republicans are sneaking this provision into a procedural measure hidden from the American people.”
Beyer and DelBene said the Constitution gives the Congress the authority to set tariffs, which are taxes.
“Yet House Republicans are choosing to surrender the power of their own votes to a reckless president, putting politics over the country and their constituents,” the statement said.
Beyer’s deputy chief of staff, Aaron Fritschner, outlines more about how this works here.
This just passed, party line vote with all Dems voting no and Republican Thomas Massie joining them.I will explain the details below, for those who want cliff notes version it's in the bottom of this press release:beyer.house.gov/news/documen…
Fritschner explained that it is a House resolution, “meaning it will take effect without further action. Republicans passed it and it’s done.”
In other words, that is the way tariffs will be dealt with whether or not the Senate approves the CR.
It was suggested on social media that if the House declares the session to be one long day, then perhaps they should only be paid for one day.
I agree.
— — — — —
Speaking of special elections, there are two coming up soon in the state of Florida that could have an effect on how things are going lately.
The adjudicated rapist in the White House plucked Rep. Michael Waltz, FL-6, to be head of the National Security Agency and Rep. Matt Gaetz, FL-1, to be attorney general out of Congress, leaving two openings.
Waltz did indeed become the 29th U.S. national security advisor, while Gaetz crashed and burned after the nomination to become a talk-show host on an obscure right-wing “news” network.
Gay Valimont, a Democrat and a gun violence prevention activist in Pensacola, Florida, is running to replace Gaetz in the FL-1 district.
Josh Weil, a Democrat, an Orlando resident and a public school educator, is seeking to replace Waltz in the FL-6 district.
These two races, along with an as-yet-unscheduled special election to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik, NY-21, could sway the balance of power in the House of Representatives, according to reporting by First Coast News. (Stefanik’s nomination to be U.N. ambassador is being held because House Speaker Mike Johnson cannot spare her vote.)
Susan Horwitz of the St. Augustine Beach Democratic Club in Florida said shifting the balance in the House could happen because of these two Florida elections.
“If the Democrats can take over and have the Speaker of the House, then we have created a new balance,” she told First Coast News. “And it would give us a little more input into what’s going on in Washington.”
So if you have a few bucks to spare, it might be worth it — and benefit America and its democracy, not to mention the economy — to contribute to Weil and/or Valimont.
If there was any doubt that the current occupant of the White House was eager during his second term to line not only his pockets but the pockets of many others, that was dispelled when a senator connected the dots, and all of corruption happened in the first six freaking weeks in office!
For almost 30 minutes Thursday, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut spoke from the floor of the Senate about President Donald J. Felon’s normalization of pay-to-play politics.
“In the first six weeks of the Trump presidency, Trump and Elon Musk and their billionaire friends have engaged in a stunning rampage of open public corruption,” Murphy said.
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“It’s not fundamentally different than what happened in Russia. These are efforts to steal from the American people to enrich themselves,” he continued. “And their strategy is to do it all out in the open, to do it at such a dizzying pace that the country just gets overwhelmed or anesthetized or dulled into a sense that we just all have to accept the corruption — or, maybe more charitably, that this is just how government works, that government is just corrupt, and so the fact that it’s happening out in the open instead of happening secretly, well, it’s really nothing new.”
Watching the video (below), I was blown away by the number of easily verifiable facts presented by Murphy that all occurred within a matter of days.
To say that the more than 20 examples of corruption perpetrated by the felon-in-chief and his billionaire entourage was overwhelming is a massive understatement.
There are so many things that have happened and are continuing to happen that it is incredibly difficult to keep up with them, much less to remember when they took place.
Murphy did the public a real service by compiling the list, beginning with the launch of a meme coin on Jan. 17 and ending March 4 with Musk’s cancellation of Verizon’s contract with the FAA and substitution of his own company in its place and the gutting of IRS employees who investigate tax evasion.
In between, as outlined by Murphy, were the firing of inspectors general, who were tasked with rooting out corruption; dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has saved billions of dollars for Americans who were taken advantage of by large corporations and banks; “pausing” the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which opens the door for foreign officials to offer bribes to American officials, and the cancellation of meetings to formulate a vaccine for the next flu season, which could likely result in deaths.
There is much, much more.
Image from Sen. Chris Murphy’s Instagram account.
Murphy is not saying that there hasn’t been corruption in other administrations or even in Congress on other sides of the aisle.
“But never before has the corruption happened this openly or this frequently,” he said.
None of this is OK, Murphy said, adding that doing things by the rules still matters.
“This is how democracies die,” he said. “Democracies die when the very powerful people steal from us so regularly, so openly, so unapologetically, that we come to believe that it’s normal.
“And it’s our decision, as a body and as a country, to decide not to normalize this scale of corruption,” Murphy said.
I urge you all to take a few minutes to watch Murphy’s video or read the transcript and share this article or the links with others.
Then call or email your representatives in Congress and ask them what they are going to do about it.
Way to control the conversation, President Donald J. Felon.
If there’s something he doesn’t want the press or the public to talk about, he should just tell us to not talk about it. And we’ll take it from there.
Case in point: via his “Truth” Social account, the golfer-in-chief reposted something written by Charlie Kirk, who is fresh off his ego-feeding by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Kirk wrote a piece entitled, “Shut Up About Egg Prices — Trump is Saving Consumers Millions.”
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In other words, everything’s fine. Yeah, prices are going up instead of down as promised, but America will be great again, but not for a while, and there will be some discomfort, but the billionaires in the administration won’t feel it, and we should be content with that.
As Ben Meiselas said, “Donald Trump wants you to shut up. Shut up about inflation. Shut up about egg prices. Shut up while he crashes the economy, slashes federal jobs, and golfs his days away at Mar-a-Lago, all on the taxpayer’s dime.”
Trump Tells Americans 'Shut Up About Egg Prices' as He Golfs on Saturdaywww.meidasplus.com/p/trump-tell…
The Atlanta Fed put out a prediction that the GDP will contract around -2.8 percent in the first quarter, which is a clear sign of a recession, and as Meiselas points out, even on Wall Street execs are warning that the on-again-off-again tariffs “could trigger a Great Depression-level economic collapse.”
And what do we get from the administration? It only will be a short-term disturbance and start laying your own chicken eggs.
Over at the New York Times, opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof wonders what, if anything, will be the adjudicated felon’s undoing.
Kristof leads off by saying that, if there are aliens looking at the United States at this moment, “they might be puzzling over the great Trump paradox.
“It’s that President Trump is doing immense long-term damage to the United States by undermining democratic norms, vandalizing the federal government and siding with alleged war criminals in the Kremlin, yet if support for him falls, I doubt it will have anything to do with all this. Rather it may be … egg prices.” (NOTE: the ellipses were included by Kristof; I didn’t leave anything out.)
I guess Kristof didn’t get the “Truth” socialer’s memo.
The Times columnist, of course, would rather the public be upset about the betrayal of Ukraine or the threats to NATO or the undermining of democracy.
“But I welcome indignation of any kind,” Kristof wrote. “Maybe we can be rescued from our nation’s disastrous course by chickens.”
With that, it’s time to concentrate on making Sunday brunch, which will undoubtedly include breaking a few more expensive eggs.
— — — — —
May I suggest that the Democratic Party look to Matt Drudge for messaging advice.
There’s not a whole lot of “getting it done” getting done, Mr. Minority Leader, that we can see.
KATIE COURIC: Do you think the Democratic Party has become too progressive?HAKEEM JEFFRIES: I think it's important for us to be the party of common sense solutions and getting it done.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This post was updated at 3:32 p.m. Thursday to reflect the suspension of tariffs on Canada by the current administration.
How much is the tariff on whiplash?
As I sit here trying to write, I truly am afraid to refresh the webpage for fear that there will be another update on the state of tariffs from the administration of President Donald J. Felon.
A little more than a month ago, the grifter-in-chief imposed tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China. Then the stock market didn’t react well and he said, “Nevermind” and the tariffs for Canada and Mexico were postponed until March 4.
Why? Well, we’re guessing that the administration needed some time to come up with a good excuse.
After speaking with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, the tariffs for Mexican goods and services that are covered by the North American trade agreement — the one that the felon-in-chief signed during his first administration — will be paused until April 2, CNBC reported.
Is this going to be a monthly thing now?
The golfer-in-chief will say something, the markets will react badly, he’ll get bad TV coverage, he’ll come back and say “nevermind”? Rinse, repeat?
It’s almost as if the mayor of Mar-a-Lago 1) doesn’t know what he’s doing, 2) isn’t getting any good advice from the people around him or 3) hired really shitty people to be around him who don’t know what they are doing.
Could be combination of all three. After all, he still doesn’t realize or want to admit that tariffs on goods imported TO the United States will end up being paid by American consumers. Tariffs are not free money from other countries.
All this uncertainty is not just having an effect on only the American consumer.
“[B]usinesses have also been operating in a state of limbo, unsure of when or whether the import taxes would take hold,” NPR reported.
A business in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that embroiders sports and work uniform emblems has halted investment in factories in Texas and Georgia because of the uncertainty.
The owner, Randy Carr, told NPR that he will try to try to pass along any import tax to customers but will likely have to bear some of the cost himself.
“We have a plan to deal with it, but honestly it’s punitive to my staff and the growth of the business, because it’s just another form of a tax,” he told the news organization.
All of this adds to the chaos that we have all been feeling since the adjudicated rapist was sent back to the White House.
— — — — —
Texas Rep. Al Green was censured Thursday by the House of Representatives for speaking out during the joint session of Congress about the plan to gut Medicaid.
Ten Democrats voted along with Republicans to censure Green.
Here are their names:
10 Dems who voted with MAGA to censure Rep Al Green for loudly rebuking Trump's fascist plan to gut Medicaid:•Ami Bera (CA)•Jim Costa (CA)•Jim Himes (CT)•Jared Moskowitz (FL)•Ed Case (HI)•Laura Gillen (NY)•Tom Suozzi (NY)•Marcy Kaptur (OH)•Chrissy Houlahan (PA)•Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA)
These are “solutions” from current administration officials to problems we are facing now in the United States.
While we have real concerns, there seems to be no one in this administration who actually cares what we think.
Least of all President Donald J. Felon.
There is apparent no one in his entourage who cares enough about the American public to confront him about his boneheaded scheme to start of tariff war with Canada and Mexico. Even the Wall Street Journal editorial board calls it dumb.
The grifter-in-chief went through with his threat yesterday to slap 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico and 20 percent on China.
The president’s defense of the tariffs — which he is unwilling or too incompetent to admit will come out of the pocketbooks of Americans — is that “companies could avoid them if they set up shop in the United States,” per the New York Times.
Here’s a question: How are companies going to avoid tariffs — again, the companies DON’T PAY THE TARIFFS — by setting up shop in the U.S. without the American consumers being hit financially if and until the companies can physically build businesses here?
The golfer-in-chief ran on bringing down the prices of goods. So far that hasn’t happened and doesn’t seem likely.
How’s that working out so far?
Well, stocks took a tumble Tuesday, wiping out all gains since Election Day for the S&P 500, the Associated Press reported, following “a steep sell-off Monday.”
“Worries about tariffs raising consumer prices and reigniting inflation have been weighing on both the economy and Wall Street,” the AP said.
I’m afraid to check my 401(k)s, aren’t you?
Market in Europe also fell sharply, while there were more modest declines in Asia.
Add to all this, the former Social Security Administration commissioner Martin O’Malley said cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency — or DOGE — “could result in the ‘collapse’ of the Social Security system ‘within the 30 to 90 days.’,” The Hill reported.
O’Malley, who led the SSA from December 2023 to November 2024 under the Biden administration, said the Trump/Musk administration’s attempts to cut the workforce “will lead to the departure of vital staff and threaten the agency’s fundamental operations.”
The adjudicated rapist campaigned on not touching Social Security or Medicaid, but lo and behold, he now supports the GOP budget plan which calls for deep cuts to Medicaid.
Oh, and Saturday, the mayor of Mar-a-Lago issued an executive order telling federal agencies to begin cutting down national forests for the lumber. Our national forests.
We have someone in the White House who doesn’t give a damn about anyone but himself. He certainly doesn’t care about the Americans who voted for him — reminder: it wasn’t a mandate or even a majority the total votes — and he certainly doesn’t care about the rest of us.
He doesn’t care that withholding aid and weapons from Ukraine will almost certainly kill more citizens of that country and reward a murderous Russian dictator who will likely set his sights elsewhere in Europe.
He doesn’t care that cutting off funding, then promising to restart it, but then not actually restarting the funding through the U.S. Agency for International Development will lead to preventable deaths from starvation, AIDS/HIV, polio, Ebola and more all around the globe.
But, yeah, he’s staying out of jail, and he will tell us how wonderful everything is that he’s doing during tonight’s joint session to Congress.
Americans — and others around the world — are under attack from this monster and those who blindly follow him.
Tuesday evening the grifter-in-chief will be standing in front of a joint session of Congress and will more than likely tell the United States and the rest of the world how great he thinks his return to the Oval Office has been.
Technically, the lie-fest speech will not be a state of the union — that is reserved for presidents who have been in office for more than a couple of months, according to an explainer article in USA Today.
Whatever you want to call the speech it will be filled with enough boasting, accusations and goals to keep CNN’s Daniel Dale busy on the factchecking desk.
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Ahead of the so-called state of the union address, a poll conducted by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, in partnership with NPR and PBS News, interviewed U.S. adults to find out what they thought about how the second term of President Donald J. Felon is going.
The poll found that majorities of Americans do not think the union is strong, nor do they think it’s on the right track.
“About six weeks into his second term, President Trump’s swift actions have not garnered overwhelming support from Americans,” the Marist Poll said. “In fact, majorities believe the president is moving too quickly and think the cuts made to federal agencies will do more harm than good.”
When asked, 53 percent of Americans said the country was not very strong or not strong at all. That included 74 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of independents.
The remaining 47 percent — including 77 percent of Republicans — said the nation was very strong or strong.
Fewer Americans, according to Marist, said the state of the union is not very strong or not strong at all now compared to 62 percent in 2023.
Fifty-four percent of respondents believe the country is moving in the wrong direction, as opposed to 45 percent who said it is heading in the right direction. That is an improvement from December when 64 percent said the country was off track and 35 percent said it was going in the right direction.
A clear majority of Americans said the president has been rushing to make changes without considering the impact — 56 percent to 43 percent, according to the Marist Poll.
Almost the same breakdown of Americans — 55 percent to 45 percent — believe that staff and funding cuts to agencies of the federal government will do more harm than good.
Marist also found that the president’s approval rating is under water at this time. Only 45 percent approve of the job he is going, while 49 percent disapproval.
However, the president is doing better on the approval front than his mega-donor and head or not-the-head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk.
Only 39 percent of residents have a favorable opinion of Musk, while 50 percent have an unfavorable opinion of Musk. The remaining 11 percent, according to Marist, are either unsure or have never heard of him.
Likewise, DOGE has a 44 percent unfavorable opinion and a 39 percent favorable opinion, with 17 percent unsure of how to rate it or having never heard of it.
The Marist/NPR/PBS News poll is a survey of U.S. residents over the age of 18 and was conducted from Feb. 24 through Feb. 26. Results are statistically significant within ±2.8 percentage points. The partisan breakdown among registered voters is 34 percent Democrat, 34 percent Republican and 31 percent independent.
And Conan O’Brien gets the last word for today, from the Oscars broadcast:
Conan: You know, Anora is having a good night. That's great news. Two wins already. I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian.
I couldn’t be more embarrassed for and ashamed of this country than I am right now.
I wasn’t planning on writing anything today, but after watching clips of President Donald J. Felon and his “right-wingman,” Shady Vance, lecturing Vladimir Zelensky during his visit to the Oval Office, I had to get this off my chest.
The president of Ukraine is a bona fide hero, having stood up to Vladimir Putin from the very beginning of Russia’s attempt to take over his country by force.
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That Zelensky is thought of as a hero and is well-respected around the world must really get under the orange-tinted thin skin of the felon-in-chief.
It’s pretty obvious that the Florida golfer knew that Zelensky wouldn’t take any bull so he had to have Vance sitting next to him.
Trump to Zelenskyy: "Don't tell us what we're gonna feel. You're in no position to dictate that. You're in no position to dictate what we're gonna feel. We're gonna feel very good and very strong. You're right now not in a very good position. You're gambling with World War 3."
Here’s hoping the outbursts and bullying that Trump and Vance displayed toward Zelensky prop him up even more around the world.
There’s no doubt that the United States does not have Ukraine’s best interests at heart.
Hell, I don’t think the U.S. has its own citizens’ best interests at heart — unless you are part of the wealthiest 1 percent.
You really couldn’t ask for a more telling explanation of what this administration is all about when one of the questions from the “news media” directed at Zelensky was about whether he owns a suit.
Watch this clip:
Actual question from reporter: "Why don't you wear a suit?"Ukrainian President Zelenskyy: "I will wear costume after this war will finish."
In all seriousness, those of us who were paying attention knew that things would be bad when the President Donald J. Felon actually started occupying the Oval Office.
But holy mother of the universe I dread looking at my phone now.
Forget about whose bright idea it was to bring two sex traffickers from Romania to Florida to avoid prosecution — even Ron DeSantis is pissed. Not to worry that the Labor Department reports a spike in first-time applications for unemployment — wonder how long before the labor secretary shuts down monthly reporting.
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And file under “if it weren’t so funny, it would be tragically sad”: President Musk tweeted that there’s a shortage of “top notch” air traffic controllers and it would be ever so nice if retired ATCs wouldn’t mind coming back to work.
On Wednesday, the felon-in-chief had his first Cabinet meeting led by Elon Musk.
During that meeting, the adjudicated rapist was asked by a reporter if he was concerned about the Texas measles outbreak in which there was a reported death of a child — the first measles death in 10 years.
The golfer-in-chief, without commenting at all, turned the question over to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who called it “not unusual” and said “we have measles outbreaks every year,” according to NBC News.
Last year, the United States had 285 measles cases total, which was the fourth highest since 2000, Vox reported. The Texas outbreak has grown this week to at least 124 people.
Nearly 14 percent of school children in the religious community in Gaines County, Texas, have exemptions to required childhood vaccinations.
The Trump administration has pulled this campaign explaining the benefits of getting a flu vaccine. Let's make sure it still gets coverage on social media. 🧪
Shortly after the road-kill eater’s nonchalant response to a child’s death from an easily preventable disease, it was announced that the FDA was canceling its March 13 meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.
Dr. Paul Offit of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia — he’s an outspoken critic of RFK Jr. — said the cancellation of the meeting could “interfere with or delay production of flu vaccines.”
He said, because it’s a six-month production cycle to get the vaccine into arms, “one can only assume that we’re not picking flu strains this year.”
According to the Times, strains are usually selected by the FDA meeting around this time of year using World Health Organization data with manufacturing beginning in June.
Oh, by the way, the U.S. withdrew from WHO by the stroke of the president’s pen on an executive order his second day in office this time around.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seasonal influenza activity remains elevated, with this season now classified as a high-severity season overall for all age groups. This is the first high-severity season since 2017-18.
The CDC estimates that there have been at least 33 million illnesses, 430,000 hospitalizations and 19,000 deaths from the flu so far this season. Of the total deaths, 86 have been children.
Consider the cost of treating flu illnesses next season if the Congress passed its draconian budget that increases health insurance and there’s no flu vaccine available.
A friend of mine who is a former registered nurse said the news about the strain-picking meeting being canceled was very concerning to her.
As she posted, people can opt out if they don’t believe in vaccines, but they shouldn’t have the power to put policies in place that could very well kill others.
Again, your members of Congress should be aware of what you think about this dangerous move by the FDA under the direction of a known vaccine skeptic.
Here is what I sent my senators and congressman today:
Dear XXX, the decision announced Wednesday, Feb. 26 that the FDA was canceling its meeting of vaccine experts to advise on flu shots is more than disturbing. That the new health secretary is gambling with the well being of Americans is certainly not a surprise. But it seems to be medical malpractice. Something needs to be done by Congress to force the FDA to continue medical practices that have been successful to date. We cannot allow this administration to destroy our country and allow its citizens to become sick when proven vaccines are available.
What was approved was $4.5 trillion in tax breaks and $2 trillion in spending cuts.
But it’s not law yet.
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“Next steps are long and cumbersome before anything can become law — weeks of committee hearings to draft the details and send the House version to the Senate, where Republicans passed their own scaled-back version,” the AP said. “And more big votes are ahead, including an unrelated deal to prevent a government shutdown when federal funding expires March 14. Those talks are also underway.”
Good times indeed.
While this was an early test for the felon-in-chief’s agenda, it’s now up to the House Republicans to craft a bill “for an ambitious, partisan budget plan,” NPR reported.
The vote was also “a critical step to laying out a budget blueprint, allowing Republicans to unlock reconciliation letting the GOP avoid a Democratic filibuster,” NPR said.
It is likely to be a real slog getting there because the blueprint is asking for $2 trillion in cuts — “the exact details of those cuts will be sorted out later, by individual committees in the House.”
One committee — the House Energy and Commerce Committee — is going to be responsible for coming up with a savings of $880 billion. Energy and Commerce oversees spending for Medicare and Medicaid, so it’s likely those committee members are not going to look too far afield for things to slice and dice.
And then there’s Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie who was the lone Republican “no” vote. He posted on social media, “If the Republican budget passes, the deficit gets worse, not better.”
“The GOP budget extends the 5 yr. tax holiday we’ve been enjoying,” he posted on the site formerly known as Twitter, “but because it doesn’t cut spending much, it increases the deficit by over $300 billion/yr. compared to letting tax cuts expire. Over 10 years, this budget will add $20 trillion to US debt.”
Setting aside Massie’s “tax holiday we’ve been enjoying” — have you seen a decrease in taxes? — the budget blueprint is not draconian enough for the Kentucky congressman.
Attention working-class Americans:Republicans’ new budget does NOT include no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, or no tax on Social Security. Instead it protects tax handouts for billionaires and makes way for the largest Medicaid cut in history.
Since Congress will have to buckle down in order to produce a tax package that both the House and Senate can OK, now is the time to let your representatives know what you think of it.
It is more important than ever to let your representative — especially on the GOP side of the aisle — know your thoughts about the proposed cuts.
The House Budget Committee Democratic Caucus has a website on which the public can see how the upcoming budget will likely affect them.
You can search by congressional district, if you happen to know it, or by your rep’s name, your address/ZIP or location.
I did a search for my hometown of Odessa, Texas, to see how that solidly red district would fare under the Republicans’ spending plan.
Republican Rep. August Pfluger has represented the TX-11th district since 2021. He will be running for re-election in 2026. The district stretches from Odessa to Killeen and includes the cities of Midland and San Angelo. Pfluger also serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, so he will be intimately involved in making the budget cuts.
The Democratic caucus’ website said, if the budget is passed, there will be an average annual tax cut of $324,266 for the richest 0.1 percent, and $2 trillion will be given away to CEOs and big corporations.
“Under the Republican budget plan, the 90,000 people who receive coverage under the Affordable Care Act in Rep. August Pfluger’s district would see their average premium go up by $430 per year — a 90% increase,” the website said.
A 60-year-old couple with a household income of $85,000 in Pfluger’s district would see health insurance costs increase by $15,493 per year — or a 214 percent increase.
There are also more than 104,000 people on Medicaid in the TX-11th congressional district who will be at risk of losing their health care under the GOP budget. That includes 77,268 children under the age of 19 and 15,000 seniors over 65.
Food assistance programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, will be threatened under the GOP budget and will affect 96,000 people in Pfluger’s district.
Above and beyond the budget, there are 14,832 people in Pfluger’s district alone that the federal government employs. Their livelihoods and the district’s economy are being threatened by the job eliminations under President Musk.
The TX-11th is not an outlier. Even a super wealthy district such as the NY-16th, newly led by Rep. George Latimer, would be hit hard by the GOP budget plan. The NY-16th contains White Plains, Rye, Larchmont, Scarsdale and New Rochelle.
Average premiums for the ACA would go up by almost $2,900 a year for 10,000 recipients, and that 60-year-old couple would see a 105 percent increase in health insurance premiums — or almost $7,600 per year.
Now is the time to let your Congress members know that the vast majority of Americans cannot afford to give the super wealthy more tax breaks.
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