After widespread bipartisan outcry, the Justice Department says it is permanently abandoning plans for a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. Widely branded as a “slush fund,” it was expected to reward President Donald Trump’s supporters, including those who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The fund was announced in May as part of a settlement in Trump’s personal lawsuit against the…
Source
“Political retribution, plain and simple,” was how US Sen. Alex Padilla described an announcement by Vice President JD Vance late Wednesday regarding the White House’s decision to withhold $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursement payments to California. Vance and Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, claimed the state’s Medicaid records have generated “red…
Source
Congress hasn’t finished the second reconciliation bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security, but Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), who chairs the House Budget Committee, has already started laying out his caucus’s wish list for a third. In particular, he specified that Republicans want to pour billions of dollars into military spending. To offset those costs, Arrington is eyeing more cuts…
Source
Complaints about enrollment fraud in Affordable Care Act health insurance coverage have bedeviled the federal marketplace for years. Now, the Trump administration is claiming wins in reducing the problem while simultaneously saying more controls are needed. It has proposed a sweeping set of ACA regulations for next year, including stepped-up requirements for some applicants to prove…
Source
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is ordering an administration-wide review of federal funding for over a dozen states, the vast majority of which are led by Democratic governors. The review will focus on federal funding for the states of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia…
Source
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has announced several initiatives aimed at combating supposed benefit fraud as the Trump administration is seizing upon the issue to amp up its violent immigration crackdown in Democratic-led states and cities. The news comes after right-wing Youtuber Nick Shirley went viral for videos accusing Somali people in Minneapolis of deceptively collecting Medicaid…
Source