A new study released Tuesday shows just how insidious the Trump administration’s proposal to change the way the federal government measures poverty actually is. In short: millions could lose health and food benefits.
By way of background, in May, Trump’s budget agency sought public comment on updating the inflation rate used by the Census Bureau to determine the poverty line and estimate who’s poor. This technical change matters a lot because the federal poverty li...
health
Trump says he’ll announce a ‘phenomenal’ new health care plan soon. Where was it the last 2 years?
President Donald Trump says he’ll unveil a plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in two months time. But he’s failed to produce a viable plan for the last two years, and it’s unlikely a few more weeks will change anything.
“If we win back the House, we’re going to produce phenomenal health care,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News that aired Sunday night. “And we already have the concept of the plan, but it’ll ...
New York City to become first city ever to directly fund abortion
New York City will become the first city nationwide to directly fund abortion, thanks to a budget deal announced Friday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D) included $250,000 for the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF) in a $92.8 billion budget agreement for the 2019-20 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
New York City already funds Planned Parenthood, but the organization’s affiliates don’t just help patients terminate a pregnancy....
Secret Service repeatedly interferes with Rev. Barber’s protest in front of the White House
WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than 300 religious leaders and activists protested outside the White House on Wednesday to bring attention to administration policies they say are immoral. The U.S. Secret Service repeatedly interfered with the protest, first closing off Lafayette Square and then gating off access to the front of the White House an hour later.
The protest, called “Moral Witness Wednesday,” was led by Rev. Dr. William Barber II, a Protestant minister, social ...
How activists of color got Democrats to care about the Hyde Amendment
H.K. Gray had an abortion, but her insurance wouldn’t pay for it.
“When I was pregnant with my daughter, I used my Medicaid to cover almost all of her birth, almost all of her ultrasounds, and almost everything I needed for pre-natal care,” Gray told ThinkProgress, “So when it came time to when I needed my abortion for my third pregnancy, I just assumed it would work for that as well.”
That’s when Gray learned about the Hyde Amendment, whic...
Watch Elizabeth Warren blast Biden for his stance on abortion funding
‘We do not pass laws that take away freedom from women who are most vulnerable’ Warren said, in speech against Hyde amendment
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren delivered a scorching criticism of her fellow candidate in the 2020 election and former vice-president, Joe Biden, and his continued support for the Hyde amendment, a provision of federal law that restricts abortion access for poor and disabled women on public health insurance.
The Hyde amendment bars th...
Rev. William Barber is on trial for trespassing over a health care protest he led 2 years ago
Rev. Dr. William Barber is on trial in North Carolina for leading a protest calling for Medicaid expansion in the state’s legislative building two years ago.
Barber, then-head of the state NAACP chapter and leader of the progressive grassroots movement “Moral Monday,” was arrested on May 30, 2017, after he led a group of more than 30 people to the legislative building in Raleigh to to discuss health care with lawmakers. Barber and others in the group were later cha...
Prices of the most common prescription drugs nearly doubled in less than a decade
The one issue most Americans can agree on is that the price of prescription drugs are out of control.
An analysis from researchers at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, found that 48 out of 4...
As WNBA season tips off, star players speak out against anti-abortion bills
On Friday night, the 2019 WNBA season tips off with a contest between the Atlanta Dream and Dallas Wings. It’s a pivotal season for the league’s future. Last fall, the WNBA Player’s Association opted out of its current collective bargaining agreement, and players will be spending their spare time during the season fighting for better wages, resources, and support.
But while the league-wide drama both on and off the court remains the utmost importance to the league&...
Trump uses 1996 welfare reform bill to go after immigrants who use public benefits
President Trump is getting serious about going after immigrants who use public benefits.
In a presidential memorandum issued Thursday, Trump announced he will direct federal agencies to enforce a longstanding rule requiring the sponsors — usually U.S. citizen family members — of immigrants to reimburse the government for any public benefits they use, including Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, and the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
“Financial sponsors who...