USA News and Discussions

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More on that by CNN:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/19/americas ... intl-latam

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CBO Confirms GOP Budget Bill Triggers Medicare Cuts

Source: House Committee on the Budget

"WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman Brendan F. Boyle (PA-02), Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, released the following statement after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) warned that the Republican budget bill would trigger more than $500 billion in automatic cuts to Medicare under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go (‘PAYGO’) Act:

“This Republican budget bill is one of the most expensive—and dangerous—bills Congress has seen in decades. The nonpartisan CBO makes it clear: the deficit will explode so badly it will trigger automatic cuts, including over half a trillion dollars from Medicare.

This is what Republicans do—pay for massive tax breaks for billionaires by going after programs families rely on the most: Medicaid, food assistance, and now Medicare. It’s reckless, dishonest, and deeply harmful to the middle class.”

As Republican holdouts are demanding even more cuts to health care, there is no reason to believe the members of the current Republican conference will disarm this budget time bomb."

Read more: https://democrats-budget.house.gov/news ... icare-cuts

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Shooting reported at CIA headquarters in Virginia

https://abcnews.go.com/US/shooting-repo ... =122069659

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These republicans are literally killing their own base! WTF!

That their base continues to support them is a case of false consciousness gone wild.

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The Curious Case of the Republican Medicaid Turncoats
by James Barrata
May 11, 2025

Introduction:

(The American Prospect) House Republicans passed their colossal domestic-policy package early Thursday morning, clinching a vote of 215 to 214 while most of America slept. The GOP mega-bill, which diverts hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding from social safety net programs, is now bound for the Senate floor.

“It’s not surprising that this bill was written behind closed doors and rushed through in the night before Americans had a chance to see what it contains,” Amy Hanauer, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, told the Prospect. “This bill extends enormous tax cuts to those who have the most. It will increase inequality, reduce health coverage, and take food from people’s tables, all to shower the wealthiest people in this country and foreign investors with tax breaks.”

This comes on the heels of a sustained rift within the Republican Party. In an April 14 letter to GOP leadership, a dozen House Republicans vowed to preserve Medicaid, citing concerns over the potential knock-on effects of gutting the program on health care providers across the country. The self-described “Members of Congress who helped to deliver a Republican Majority” committed to supporting “targeted reforms” to Medicaid. “However, we cannot and will not support a final reconciliation bill that includes any reduction in Medicaid coverage for vulnerable populations,” they wrote.

In the end, hard-liners got almost everything they wanted, and moderates folded. As I have previously reported, the reconciliation package is lined with provisions that would do terrific damage to Medicaid. Indeed, Republicans added a slew of last-minute changes making it even worse. For instance, Medicaid work requirements will become effective at the end of next year instead of starting on January 1, 2029, and previous measures targeting marginalized communities—including undocumented immigrants and transgender individuals—have been intensified.

Additional extract:

Why did the moderates fold? One reason might be their own personal benefit... from an expansion of the pass-through deduction…The findings (from a Cash in Congress research project) indicate this increase would allow each of the six representatives to deduct more pass-through income from rental properties and certain businesses.

Read more here: https://prospect.org/politics/2025-05- ... n-bill/

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More than 3 million people would lose SNAP benefits under GOP bill, nonpartisan report says

The massive tax and spending bill passed by U.S. House Republicans would likely result in 3.2 million people losing food assistance benefits, and saddle states with around $14 billion a year in costs, according to a new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Democrats have argued the bill, which the House passed, 215-214 early Thursday without any Democrats in support, would cut programs for the needy to fund tax breaks for high earners.

The CBO document, issued late Thursday, responded to a request to the office from the top Democrats on the Senate and House Agriculture committees, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Angie Craig, both of Minnesota, and somewhat bolsters that claim. The panels oversee federal food aid programs.

“This report is truly devastating,” Craig said in a Friday statement to States Newsroom. “As a mother and someone who at times relied on food assistance as a child, these numbers are heartbreaking. It is infuriating that Republicans in Congress are willing to make our children go hungry so they can give tax breaks to the already rich.”

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/202 ... port-says/

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Treasury Department set to phase out the penny

Source: CBS News

Updated on: May 22, 2025 / 11:22 AM EDT

The Treasury Department said it plans to stop manufacturing the penny, calling time one one of the first coins minted by the U.S. government.

The federal agency placed its final order for penny blanks this month, with the United States Mint slated to end manufacturing of the penny when that runs out, a Treasury official told CBS MoneyWatch. The blanks — flat, metal discs that the Mint turns into coins — will run out in early 2026, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.

The penny, which dates from the early days of the U.S. Mint after its establishment in 1792, now costs more to manufacture than the coin is worth. The 1-cent coin cost about 3.7 cents to manufacture and distribute in 2024, according to the U.S. Mint's 2024 annual report. Ending production of the penny will save the Mint about $56 million in annual savings, the Treasury said on Thursday.

Despite their coppery look, pennies are mostly made of zinc, with their distinctive appearance coming from a copper overlay. Zinc's cost per metric ton is more than double what it was in 2000, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/treasury-p ... g-pennies/

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Chief HHS ghoul RFK Jr to bar scientists from publishing in leading medical journals
« on: May 28, 2025, 12:30:06 PM »
https://www.yahoo.com/news/rfk-jr-says- ... 36016.html

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday that he may bar government scientists from publishing in the world’s leading medical journals, instead proposing the creation of “in-house” publications by his agency - the latest in the Trump administration’s attacks on scientific institutions.

“We’re probably going to stop publishing in the Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and those other journals because they’re all corrupt,” Kennedy said during an appearance on the “Ultimate Human” podcast. He also described the journals as being under the control of pharmaceutical companies.

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Ok cool, but f*ck all the people he's thanking

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USDA employee among six charged in $66 million food stamp fraud scheme

https://san.com/cc/usda-employee-among- ... ud-scheme/

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Biden on ‘Original Sin’ authors: ‘I can beat the hell out of both of them’

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5326 ... ompetence/

kind of dumb to say ngl

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Trump administration scraps Biden-era policy on emergency abortions

Source: Reuters

June 3, 2025 4:38 PM EDT Updated an hour ago

June 3 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday rescinded guidance issued during his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden's tenure requiring hospitals to provide abortions to women in medical emergencies regardless of various state bans on the procedure. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said the 2022 guidance, which interpreted a federal law that ensures patients can receive emergency "stabilizing care" as preempting state abortion bans, did not reflect the policy of the Trump administration.

The agency, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said it "will work to rectify any perceived legal confusion and instability created by the former administration’s actions." The Biden administration issued the guidance in July 2022 weeks after the 6-3 conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had recognized a nationwide right of women to obtain abortions.

The 2022 guidance reminded healthcare providers across the country of their obligations under a 1986 federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) to ensure Medicare-participating hospitals offer emergency care stabilizing patients regardless of their ability to pay. Medicare is the government healthcare program for the elderly. Hospitals that violate EMTALA risk losing Medicare funding.

The 2022 guidance aimed to make clear that under EMTALA, physicians must provide a woman an abortion if needed to resolve a medical emergency and stabilize the patient even in states where the procedure is banned and that the federal law preempted any state laws that offer no exceptions for medical emergencies.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 025-06-03/

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