Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Top News | 'We Do Not Consent,' Says Warren of Illegal 'Power Grab' as Judge Halts Trump Order

 

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

■ Today's Top News 


'We Do Not Consent,' Says Warren of Illegal 'Power Grab' as Judge Halts Trump Order

Multiple lawmakers and advocacy groups argue that the White House's freeze on federal grant and loan funding is unlawful, and two legal challenges are already in progress.

By Jessica Corbett

Amid a flurry of sharp remarks from U.S. lawmakers in response to President Donald Trump's order to halt federal grant and loan funding across a wide swath of government programs and agencies, Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday demanded action from her colleagues on Capitol Hill.

"While President Trump illegally pauses federal funding from Congress, the Senate must not be business as usual," Warren (D-Mass.) argued on social media before the freeze was supposed to take effect. "We do not consent to this lawless power grab."

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Sean Duffy, Trump's pick for secretary of transportation, and is set to consider various other controversial nominees—including Doug Burgum for interior secretary and Chris Wright for energy secretary—this week.

After the freeze was announced in a memo by Matthew Vaeth, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, Democrats called for halting the Senate Budget Committee's consideration of Russell Vought, Trump's choice to lead OMB, but according to a spokesperson for the GOP-led panel, it "will proceed with Mr. Vought's nomination as scheduled."

The freeze was set to begin at 5:00 pm ET Tuesday, but nonprofit and business groups took legal action, which led Washington, D.C.-based U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan to direct the Trump administration not to block funding until a February 3 hearing.

Democratic state attorneys general are also working on a case. That lawsuit, The New York Times noted, "opens up another front in what will be a long legal fight led by Democrat-led states and progressive activists to stop President Trump's aggressive second-term agenda in the federal courts."

Some activists and lawmakers—including Warren—also want members of Congress to more forcefully fight back against illegal moves by the Trump administration, even though the president's party has narrow majorities in both chambers.

The president and executive branch "can only erode the checks and balances and grab power from another branch with House and Senate Republicans' consent," Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) said on social media. "I encourage my Republican colleagues to grow a spine and affirm that we're a co-equal branch of government and not just a dictator's advisory committee."

"And no... I'm not actually holding my breath here for these folks," the progressive lawmaker added.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, said in a statement: "Bottom line: This unconstitutional memo must be rescinded. The American people—Democrats, Republicans, and Independents—must come together to defeat this move towards authoritarianism. If President Trump wants to change our nation's laws he has the right to ask Congress to change them. He does not have the right to violate the United States Constitution. He is not a king."

Since the November elections that led to Republicans controlling the White House and Congress, Sanders has joined voters and grassroots organizers in urging the Democratic Party to learn from its devastating losses and actually deliver for working people. Those same voices have urged Democrats to actually serve as an opposition party while Trump is in office.

Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, a group that came out of Sanders' 2016 run, said in a Tuesday statement that "Trump's unilateral freeze on federal aid is an assault on working families, public programs, and the pillars of our already fragile social contract. This is a hair-on-fire moment, and Democrats must act accordingly."

"Halting funding for life-or-death programs like Medicaid, school meals, housing, childcare, and other public services is a calculated effort to dismantle government services and public goods," he added. "With Trump prioritizing the billionaire class over the needs of everyday Americans, Democrats must be relentless in standing up for the people. This is policy violence, plain and simple."

Ahead of 5:00 pm, as the Medicaid payment portals across all 50 states went down, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dodged questions about which programs would be impacted during a press briefing. She later said on social media that "the White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage. We have confirmed no payments have been affected—they are still being processed and sent. We expect the portal will be back online shortly."

After the briefing, ABC News reported on another memo from OMB:

An OMB memo obtained by ABC News senior political correspondent Rachel Scott also sought to shed light on the freeze's implications.

According to the memo, "In addition to Social Security and Medicare, already explicitly excluded in the guidance, mandatory programs like Medicaid and [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] will continue without pause."

"Funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell grants, Head Start, rental assistance, and other similar programs will not be paused," the document read. "If agencies are concerned that these programs may implicate the president's executive orders, they should consult OMB to begin to unwind these objectionable policies without a pause in the payments."

"Still, the pause could have sweeping implications," ABC pointed out, "as the federal government funds thousands of programs, including housing subsidies and educational grants."



'Illegal Sabotage': Medicaid Payment Portals Down Across All 50 States After Trump Order

"This is an immediate crisis for kids, for public safety, for our seniors, for our healthcare system," said Sen. Chris Murphy. "And why? Because Donald Trump is trying to seize power."

By Julia Conley

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dodged the question numerous times during the Trump administration's first press briefing on Tuesday: Will Medicaid be one of the federal programs impacted by the Office of Management and Budget's recently announced funding freeze on grants and loans?

Leavitt told reporters numerous times that "funds that go to individuals" will not be affected by the OMB's order and said she would get a full list of the impacted programs to the press after the briefing, refusing to answer when one journalist pointed out that many impacted programs "pass on benefits to people."

When one reporter asked if she was "guaranteeing here that no individual now on Medicaid would see a cutoff because of the policy," Leavitt said she would "check back on that."

But before the briefing was over, numerous Democratic lawmakers were sharing reports that Medicaid portals in all 50 states were in fact down.

"Just confirmed that the Trump administration shut down the Medicaid portal for Florida," said U.S. Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.). "There are over 3.8 MILLION Floridians on Medicaid."

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) confirmed that "Medicaid payment system has been turned off" in his state, with doctors and hospitals unable to be compensated for care provided to low-income people, children, and people with disabilities who receive healthcare through the program, while Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said the same about New Mexico.

On the Payment Management Services website at the Department of Health and Human Services, a message read: "PAYMENT DELAYS: Due to executive orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments, PMS is taking additional measures to process payments. Reviews of applicable programs and payments will result in delays and/or rejections of payments."

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said his staff had confirmed that Medicaid portals in "all 50 states" were affected by the order, which the OMB said was driven by the Trump administration's desire to ensure federal resources are not used to "advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and Green New Deal social engineering policies."

Noting that 41% of all births in the U.S. are covered by Medicaid, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) emphasized that the entire Republican Party is "backing this illegal sabotage"—freezing funds that provide nearly 80 million people with healthcare coverage as well as those that keep Head Start early childhood education programs, clinical cancer research trials, food assistance for senior citizens, and homeless shelters running.

"Overnight, Republicans are destroying healthcare for millions of Americans—and it isn't just [President Donald] Trump," said Ocasio-Cortez. "They are ALL in on it. Every one."

In a video posted to social media, Murphy accused Trump of a "brazen, transparent effort to seize power"—marked by his pardon of more than 1,000 people who stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to overturn his 2020 election loss and his firing of at least a dozen inspectors general, as well his "government funding shutdown."

"This is an immediate crisis for kids, for public safety, for our seniors, for our healthcare system," said Murphy. "And why? Because Donald Trump is trying to seize power."

Ocasio-Cortez agreed, saying Trump's order has thrown the country into "a constitutional crisis."

"Trump is holding all the nation's hospitals and vital services hostage to seize power from Congress and hand it over to billionaires," said the congresswoman. "It's a massive, illegal power grab that the House and Senate have a sworn duty to stop."




At 89 Seconds to Midnight, Doomsday Clock Now 'Closest It Has Ever Been to Catastrophe'

China, Russia, and the United States "have the collective power to destroy civilization," so they also "have the prime responsibility to pull the world back from the brink," according to The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

By Jessica Corbett

Highlighting the threat posed by nuclear weapons, the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency, the potential misuse of biological science, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Tuesday moved the Doomsday Clock "from 90 seconds to 89 seconds to midnight—the closest it has ever been to catastrophe."

The Bulletin was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and University of Chicago scientists involved with the Manhattan Project. The clock was launched two years later, as a symbol of how close the world is to apocalypse due to nuclear arms. The Science and Security Board now considers various threats with its annual updates.

"The purpose of the Doomsday Clock is to start a global conversation about the very real existential threats that keep the world's top scientists awake at night," explained Daniel Holz, a University of Chicago professor who chairs the board. "National leaders must commence discussions about these global risks before it's too late. Reflecting on these life-and-death issues and starting a dialogue are the first steps to turning back the clock and moving away from midnight."

The clock announcement came just over a week after the return of Republican U.S. President Donald Trump, whose country has a sizable nuclear arsenal.

"Blindly continuing on the current path is a form of madness."

"Long-standing concerns about nuclear weapons—involving the modernization and expansion of arsenals in all nuclear weapons
countries, the build-up of new capabilities, the risks of inadvertent or deliberate nuclear use, the loss of arms control agreements, and the possibility of nuclear proliferation to new countries—continued or were amplified in 2024," notesThe Bulletin's statement on the clock. "The outgoing Biden administration showed little willingness or capacity to pursue new efforts in these areas, and it remains to be seen whether the Trump administration will seize the initiative."

The other eight nations with nuclear weapons are China, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, North Korea, Russia, and the United Kingdom. The statement points out that "against the backdrop of Russia's continuing war against Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended compliance with the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), and Russia's Duma voted to withdraw Moscow's ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty."

While the United States and Russia have the most nukes, "China's nuclear arsenal has grown to about 600 warheads, and China may also now be deploying a small number of warheads on missiles during peacetime," the statement says. Additionally, "Iran continues to increase its stockpile of enriched uranium" and "Kim Jong Un recently declared his goal was to 'exponentially expand' North Korea's nuclear arsenal in coming years."

Along with detailing "extremely dangerous trends" on the nuclear front, the statement spotlights "devastating impacts and insufficient progress" in terms of climate. As board member and Princeton University professor emeritus Robert Socolow summarized Tuesday: "2024 was the hottest year on record. Extreme weather and other climate events—floods, tropical cyclones, extreme heat, drought, and wildfires—devastated societies, rich and poor, as well as ecosystems around the world."

"Yet the global greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change continued to rise. And investments to adapt to climate change and cut fossil fuel emissions were way below what is needed to avoid the worst impacts," he added. "There were formidable policy headwinds globally: Particularly worrisome, electoral campaigns showed climate change to be a low priority in the United States and many other countries."

The board's statement also lays out "daunting biological threats," including emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, proliferation of high-containment laboratories, artificial intelligence involvement in research and development, and weapons programs.

Artificial intelligence also features prominently in the statement's section on "disruptive technologies," which warns that "increasing chaos, disorder, and dysfunction in the world's information ecosystem threaten society's capacity to address difficult challenges, and it is clear that AI has great potential to accelerate these processes of information corruption."

The tech section also states that "the growing presence of hypersonic weapons in contested regional theaters substantially increases the risk of escalation," and "there is a growing belligerence among the United States, Russia, and China in space."

Those three countries, the statement stresses, "have the collective power to destroy civilization," so they also "have the prime responsibility to pull the world back from the brink, and they can do so if their leaders seriously commence good-faith discussions about the global threats outlined here."

"Blindly continuing on the current path is a form of madness," the document declares. "It is 89 seconds to midnight."

In anticipation of the clock update, Dr. Robert Dodge from Physicians for Social Responsibility and nuclear activist Talia Wilcox pointed to some recent progress in a Tuesday opinion piece for Common Dreams, writing that "there is great hope arising from the international community as the fourth anniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons."

"The timing of this Doomsday Clock unveiling could not be more critical," the pair wrote, acknowledging Trump's expressions of "concern about the existential consequences of nuclear war throughout his public life" and urging him to seize "one last chance to make the ultimate deal for the future of humanity."

Meanwhile, in a Monday piece for Common Dreams, Danaka Katovich, CodePink's national co-director, argued that "doom isn't good enough to get us to where we need to go."

"At CodePink, we've created a Peace Clock to give us ways not to just move away from doom, but to bring us closer to the kind of world we want to see," she explained. "It's something that's been within our sight a thousand times. We have to sprint toward it."




Gaza Aid Survey Details Israel's 'Disregard of International Law'

"Without accountability and a commitment to protecting humanitarian operations, we risk repeating the same cycles of impunity and neglect," said one campaigner.

By Brett Wilkins

A survey published Tuesday of 35 organizations working in Gaza found that Israel has failed to improve access to lifesaving humanitarian aid in the embattled Palestinian enclave—despite three separate orders from the International Court of Justice to do so over the past year.

The first of those ICJ directives, issued on January 26, 2024, ordered Israel to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza and provide basic services and humanitarian assistance to its approximately 2.3 million people. The overwhelming majority of Gazans have been forcibly displaced—often multiple times—sickened, or starved, their suffering exacerbated by Israel's "complete siege." According to Gaza officials, Israel's 15-month assault has left around 170,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing.

"As the survey shows, Israel completely failed to improve humanitarian conditions."

Groups participating in the survey—including Oxfam, Islamic Relief, Médecins du Monde, ActionAid, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), and the Norwegian Refugee Council—found that Israel has "systematically denied and restricted aid, supplies, and services both into and within Gaza" since the ICJ's January 2024 order. This tracks with previous reporting from human rights groups warning that Israel has flouted all three ICJ directives, which were also issued in March and May.

Among the survey's findings:

  • 89% of respondents said that Israeli actions regarding the provision of aid had worsened since the ICJ's ruling;
  • 93% said the humanitarian situation for the people receiving their aid and services had deteriorated;
  • 100% of surveyed agencies importing humanitarian supplies into Gaza said Israeli procedures for aid entry were either ineffective, had systematically impeded the humanitarian response, or were insufficient to meet the huge needs;
  • 95% of agencies who imported aid supplies inside the Gaza Strip said they regularly encountered delays, some of them lasting two months or longer; and
  • Agencies reported essential items like personal protective equipment (PPE), tarpaulins, winterization supplies, mobile kitchens, hygiene kits, food, and educational materials being denied due to the "dual use" procedure—because Israel deemed there was potential for them to be utilized for military use.

The survey results came a week into a fragile cease-fire between Hamas and Israel—which has already been accused of breaking the truce, including by killing civilians, a 5-year-old girl among them, and firing on medical workers.

"Given the volume of aid now entering Gaza, it is clear how much Israel has been obstructing the humanitarian response for the last 15 months," Oxfam policy lead Bushra Khalidi said in a statement. "As the survey shows, Israel completely failed to improve humanitarian conditions, in disregard of international law, while systematically preventing lifesaving aid from getting in."

"It is vital to assess past failures, even amid a cease-fire," Khalidi added. "Without accountability and a commitment to protecting humanitarian operations, we risk repeating the same cycles of impunity and neglect, leaving millions without hope of a better future."

The survey also coincides with hundreds of thousands of Gazans trying to return to their obliterated neighborhoods. Returning refugees report being blocked by both rubble and Israeli troops, who are sometimes using deadly force. More—but nowhere near enough—aid is finally reaching Gazans following the cease-fire.

"Now that aid is getting into Gaza, the next weeks will be critical but challenging, given the level of destruction Israel has rained down upon Gaza and its near-total decimation of the humanitarian infrastructure and operational capacity," Médecins du Monde president Dr. Jean-François Corty said on Tuesday.

The agencies that produced the survey are calling for continued and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid in Gaza, as well as for Israel to be held accountable for alleged war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The ICJ is currently weighing a South Africa-led genocide case against Israel. Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri.

"The international community must abide by its obligations under international law and ensure that the cease-fire becomes permanent, so Palestinians in Gaza have access to everything they need to survive without conditions and rebuild their lives equally as every human being deserves," AFSC Palestine/Israel country representative Hanady Muhiar stressed.

"Without meaningful accountability, the suffering will only deepen, and the path to justice and peace will remain blocked."

The communication and advocacy coordinator at ActionAid, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Riham Jafari, asserted that "it is essential that humanitarian access is not only immediate but sustained and unimpeded."

"The rights of Palestinians in Gaza must be protected from acts of genocide, and Israel must be held to account for its continued violations of international law," Jafari added. "Without meaningful accountability, the suffering will only deepen, and the path to justice and peace will remain blocked."




'The Oligarchy Is Thrilled': Trump Removes NLRB General Counsel and Democratic Board Member

"I will be pursuing all legal avenues to challenge my removal, which violates long-standing Supreme Court precedent," NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox said.

By Eloise Goldsmith

In a radical shake-up of the federal agency tasked with protecting the right of private sector employees to organize, U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday fired two key leaders at the National Labor Relations Board.

Trump ousted NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo and—in a less expected and legally dubious move—also removed Democratic NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox.

Wilcox's position is protected by federal law which states that board members can only be fired for neglect or malfeasance, perBloomberg.

The firm SpaceX, which was founded by Elon Musk, has challenged the protections shielding NLRB members from being removed, arguing they are unconstitutional. Other companies, such as Trader Joe's and Amazon, have also challenged the constitutionality of the agency. Washington Post reporter Lauren Kaori Gurley remarked that Wilcox's "unprecedented" firing "could bring cases filed by SpaceX, Amazon challenging NLRB constitutionality" to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Abruzzo was generally considered one of the most union-friendly figures to serve as general counsel in recent decades.

After being tapped as the board's lead prosecutor by then-President Biden in 2021, Abruzzo prosecuted complaints against companies like Starbucks, Amazon and Tesla, and under her leadership the board adopted a more worker-friendly framework for determining when companies must bargain with unions without an election.

Whoever takes over as NLRB general counsel, which during Trump's first term was former management-side labor lawyer Peter Robb, will have discretion over which sorts of cases the agency prosecutes.

Abruzzo's tenure was due to last until July, though her firing by Trump was widely expected. She did not, however, preemptively leave her post, which drew praise from one observer.

"Not unexpected, but I'm glad that Abruzzo didn't roll over but instead forced Trump, the supposed champion of working people, to fire the most pro-union government official since Frances Perkins. Let him own it," wrote reporter Jordan Zakarin on X.

Basel Musharbash, an antitrust and trade regulation lawyer, compared Abruzzo to the leaders of the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Biden.

"Jennifer Abruzzo was in the same league as Lina Khan, Jonathan Kanter, and Rohit Chopra—dusting off labor laws that have been sitting on the shelf for decades to protect and empower workers," Musharbash said. "Trump shouldn't have fired her—he should've reappointed her."

Wilcox's dismissal was less expected, especially given that there were enough vacant seats on the board to allow Trump to nominate a Republican majority, according to Bloomberg. The board is now without a quorum and can no longer issue decisions.

Wilcox was appointed to the NLRB in 2021 and was reconfirmed by the Senate for a second term in 2023. That term was slated to last through 2028. She is also a previous chair of the board.

"As the first Black woman board member, I brought a unique perspective that I believe will be lost upon my unprecedented and illegal removal," Wilcox said in a statement to Bloomberg. "I will be pursuing all legal avenues to challenge my removal, which violates long-standing Supreme Court precedent."

One organizer in Brooklyn remarked, "The oligarchy is thrilled with this move."

Jeff Hauser, head of Revolving Door Project on X, wrote on X that "this is 100% different than Abruzzo. Trump firing Abruzzo is substantively evil, but he is the president of, by, and for the bosses and has that power. Firing Wilcox is a constitutional crisis!"



'Five-Alarm Fire': Trump's Federal Funding Pause Sparks Fear and Confusion

"It's simply a shocking power grab by the president that will sow chaos in the economy and around the globe," said one advocate.

By Julia Conley


Calling a federal grant and loan funding freeze announced by the Trump administration "a massive, massive overreach," U.S. Sen. Patty Murray was among those expressing fury on Tuesday over a move that could have far-reaching implications for millions of Americans who rely on federal food assistance and education and healthcare programs, among other necessities.

"We are talking about our small towns, our cities, our schools, our universities, and a lot more," said Murray (D-Wash.). "Will local Head Start facilities get their funding? Will grantees at our local universities get the funding that they use to continue clinical trials? What does this mean for our homeless veterans we are working to get housed?"

The senator, who serves as vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, was speaking at a press conference given by Democratic leaders Tuesday morning, hours after the acting director of Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Matthew Vaeth, sent a memo to the heads of all government agencies announcing an imminent pause on all federal grants and loans.

The Trump administration's move was ideologically driven, the memo suggests, with each federal agency required to conduct a "comprehensive analysis" in the coming weeks to ensure its grant and loan initiatives operate within the bounds of President Donald Trump's executive orders banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, denying the existence of transgender people, and limiting spending on renewable energy.

"The use of federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and Green New Deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve," reads Vaeth's memo. "This temporary pause will provide the administration time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the president's priorities."

Murray called on Americans to "ask themselves: Is it 'woke' to fund cancer research or to rebuild an unsafe bridge? All of these critical priorities are funded by the grants the Trump administration would pause tonight... The American people did not vote for this kind of senseless chaos."

The precise impact of the administration's order, which is set to go into effect at 5:00 pm ET on Tuesday, is not made clear by the memo, but Vaeth stated that the federal government spent more than $3 trillion in fiscal year 2024 on federal financial assistance including grants and loans.

The memo says the funding pause should not be "construed" to include Social Security or Medicare and "does not include assistance provided directly to individuals"—but Democratic lawmakers and economic justice advocates were quick to point out that millions of people will be affected, including those whose paychecks depend on federal funding.

Diane Yentel, the president and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, called the memo "a potential five-alarm fire for nonprofits and the people and communities they serve."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned that "no one should believe" the funding freeze is temporary, and said it was illegal to pull back funding that has already been appropriated by Congress.

"Donald Trump must direct his administration to reverse course immediately and the taxpayers' money should be distributed to the people," said Schumer. "Congress approved these investments and they are not optional; they are the law... These grants help people in red states and blue states, support families, help parents raise kids, and lead to stronger communities."

The pause, he said, "will mean missed payrolls and rent payments and everything in between: chaos for everything from universities to nonprofit charities."

Yasmina Vinci, the executive director of the National Head Start Association, which provides early childhood education to low-income families, said the funding pause "at best, will slow down Head Start agencies' ability to pay hundreds of thousands of staff, contractors, and small businesses who support Head Start operations in every corner of the country."

"At worst, this means that hundreds of thousands of families will not be able to depend on the critical services and likely will not be able to work," said Vinci.

Dom Kelly, co-founder and president of New Disabled South, a disability justice advocacy group, said he confirmed the funding freeze will apply to Centers for Independent Living, which serve people with disabilities.

While the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and the Women, Infants, and Children nutritional program include benefits that are distributed to individuals, Kelly noted that the programs are implemented by state and local governments—so the memo's impact on them is unclear.

What is clear, said Kitty Richards, senior fellow at Groundwork Collaborative, was that "this blatantly illegal and authoritarian act threatens programs and aid that millions of families rely on."

"Working people could lose their healthcare," said Richards. "Lifesaving research will stop. People won't know the status of their student loans. Kids could go hungry. And there's no reason to believe that this will be temporary. It's simply a shocking power grab by the president that will sow chaos in the economy and around the globe. This is exactly what Trump's extremist allies planned for his presidency. Now they're trying to make it a reality."

Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), pointed out that the OMB threatened the funding just as the Senate "confirmed a billionaire hedge fund manager to run the Treasury Department.

He also noted the Senate is preparing to confirm Trump's pick to lead OMB, Russell Vought, "the architect of Project 2025, who will immediately seek to slash public services to hand out trillions in tax cuts to his wealthy friends."

"Billionaires and their anti-union extremist friends have amassed more power and influence than ever," said Saunders, "and they are using it now to rob working people."


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■ Opinion


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