Lately, I’ve been worried about some new steps the Trump administration has in mind. There’s the gigantic Trojan horse airplane that the president is excited about. And the threat of millions of Americans losing Medicaid coverage as lawmakers consider changing the health care insurance program that benefits more than 70 million people nationwide, according to a Newsweek Report.
Republicans on the committee that oversees Medicaid had contemplated $800 billion in spending cuts, which largely affected Medicaid, so that the administration could increase tax breaks for the rich. The Congressional Budget Office estimated at the time that the bill could result in over 10 million people losing some coverage and more than seven million going without any insurance. Those most affected by Medicaid cuts include low-income individuals and families, the elderly, disabled, and immigrants. Amazingly, Republicans in Congress have argued for even larger cuts.
The original bill required that able-bodied adults work or volunteer for many hours a week. In a moment of generosity, the proposed bill would exempt pregnant women or anyone with a proven short-term hardship. There would also be new co-pays for those earning over a certain threshold. Medicaid recipients who make around $32,000 a year for a family of four would be required to pay $35 for some services. That could mean a difficult decision when it’s time to buy groceries or your kids’ meds.
I’m also worried about a House bill that wants the Treasury Secretary to designate any nonprofit he choices a “terrorist supporting organization” without justification. Such nonprofit organizations would have their tax-exempt status removed without due process, according to the Americans Against Government Censorship.
As the AAGC notes, “no administration should be able to weaponize the government against their political opponents in a power grab [nor should] the federal government use its power to punish and attack any organization that stands in their way.”
In the first 100 days of his administration President Trump pursued an agenda aimed at silencing any organization that expressed views that were counter to his public policies. Churches, universities, government agencies and officials, law firms and media were subject to punishment because they spoke out against the administration’s agenda. The bullying of opponents was shocking, but it shouldn’t have been. It was all there, overtly or by inuendo in Project 2025.
There are close to two million nonprofit organizations based in the U.S. They include charities, private foundations and other types of NGOs that provide food assistance, medical care, disaster relief, educational resources, and more. If that law passes, every American would become vulnerable in a variety of ways should the multitude of programs, agencies, and funders of civil society and social justice organizations lose their tax-exempt status.
As the executive director of Americans Against Government Censorship, put it, “It’s a sad day in this country when organizations that provide critical services to their communities are under attack from their government.” It’s also a sad time when a slew of executive orders and Draconian laws devised by ignorant, selfish people make others in all walks of life feel fearful, humiliated, insecure, ill, anxious and hopeless.
Then birthright citizenship showed up on political radar screens. On Day One of his current presidency, Donald Trump followed up on his pledge to issue an executive order ending birthright citizenship. He signed an executive order that day. The problem is that only constitutional amendments, not executive orders or legislation, can change the Constitution.
According to the ACLU and other legal scholars the president’s order is clearly unconstitutional because it violates the 14th Amendment, which states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” guaranteeing that no politician can decide who among those born in our country is worthy of citizenship.
The issue loomed large recently when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments concerning Trump’s efforts to end birthright citizenship. The arguments weren’t about birthright citizenship per se. That issue in its entirety will be heard later. Instead, arguments were about the merits of the case with a focus on procedural questions. As MSNBC’s legal expert Lisa Rubin noted, the most significant moment in the hearing came when the Trump administration’s lawyer blew his case with an irrelevant statement to which Justice Amy Coney Barrett responded that it sounded like “a troubling sign of creeping authoritarianism.”
Now Attorney General Pam Bondi wants “subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants to compel” reporters to reveal information about their sources. She has said that the Justice Department “will not tolerate disclosures that undermine President Trump’s policies.” The Draconian act would overrule the PRESS Act, which had bipartisan support pre-Trump. It would have codified protections against subpoenas for reporters’ records if Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hadn’t let the proposed Act die, according to a recent post on The Intercept.
It's obvious that further threatening legislation lies ahead. It will be up to the courts, public vigilance and protests, and pleas to Congress to end the dangerous dysfunction we are experiencing if we are to avoid the authoritarianism that already looms large.
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Elayne Clift writes from Brattleboro Vermont.