'Do your job!': Crowd erupts in anger as GOP lawmaker defends deportations and Signal chat
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) faced a hostile crowd in her deep red district over immigration, DOGE cuts, and the Signal chat fallout. When asked about due process for immigrants, Spartz said, 'There is no due process if you come here [illegally].' The crowd erupted in boos. The Morning Joe panel discuss.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Begich joins U.S. House Republicans in voting to claw back public broadcasting money
Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, speaks to the Alaska Legislature on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. At background are Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak (left) and Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham (right). (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon) Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, joined congressional Republicans in a 214-212 vote Thursday to claw back $1.1 billion in previously approved federal funding for public broadcasting, including tens of millions of dollars intended for radio and TV stations in Alaska. The clawback, formally known as a rescission vote, was requested by President Donald Trump and does not take effect unless also approved by the U.S. Senate within 45 days. The rescission would be enormously significant for Alaska's public broadcasters, particularly those in rural Alaska. High Country News has reported that many of Alaska's rural public radio stations are heavily dependent upon funding from the federal government. A rescission would be even more significant than a budget cut, because it would instantly affect funding that has already been approved and included in local budgets. If Congress were to cut budgets going forward, stations might have at least some time to adapt. Stations on St. Paul Island, in Unalakleet, Sand Point and Talkeetna are among those that receive more than 70% of their funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the federally funded agency targeted by Thursday's vote. Stations in Sitka, Ketchikan, Petersburg and Haines are among those that receive at least a third of their support from the CPB. At KUCB-FM in Unalaska, the station would instantly lose nearly half of its funding and would have to eliminate original programming. The same would take place at KYUK-FM in Bethel, which stands to lose almost 70% of its revenue. On June 6, Alaska Public Media published a listing of knock-on effects, including the loss of the only local reporters in many rural parts of the state. Even in the state's urban centers, the funding loss would have devastating effects. KNBA-FM in Anchorage could have to stop production of National Native News and Native America Calling, two nationally syndicated programs that broadcast Alaska Native and American Indian news. In Juneau, the loss of funding would affect Gavel Alaska, the public broadcasts that cover legislative hearings in the state Capitol and elsewhere. Begich, in a written statement, said the rescissions package is 'a necessary step for restoring fiscal responsibility in our nation.' During his election campaign last year, Alaska's lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives said reducing the national deficit was a priority. He recently voted for a bill that increases the national debt by an estimated $2.4 trillion. In Thursday's statement, Begich said that 'while rural communities have in the past been indirectly supported through state-sponsored media, we must acknowledge how far we have come in terms of connectivity since the birth of radio more than 120 years ago. Alaskan residents have embraced today's pervasive cellular, satellite, and wireline technologies, connecting rural communities to critical information and resources in rich and compelling ways. Importantly, however, emergency management funding from these budgets that is directed to rural communities has been preserved.' In addition to the impact on public broadcasters, the rescissions package eliminates billions of dollars in foreign aid. 'This rescissions package primarily targets ideologically-shaped foreign spending at USAID. Under both the Obama and Biden Administrations, USAID funding was misused to promote political and socially left policies abroad. This package helps refocus our support in ways that are consistent with America's core values, rather than promote the agendas of international bureaucracies and ideological NGOs,' Begich wrote. 'America has been built on principles of freedom of expression, self-determination, sovereignty, personal responsibility, and limited government. This package supports those values by rescinding $9.4 billion from programs that do not reflect the will of the taxpaying public,' his statement said. A poll commissioned by PBS earlier this year found that 65% of the public believes the public broadcaster is either adequately funded or underfunded. In the Senate, a simple majority vote will be needed to approve the rescissions package. Republicans occupy 53 seats in that chamber and Vice President J.D. Vance would cast any tiebreaking vote, meaning that four Republicans would have to oppose the funding reduction for it to fail. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has said she supports funding public broadcasting. U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, while critical of NPR, has supported public broadcasting, particularly in rural Alaska. Trump has said that the rescissions request is the first of several that the White House budget office plans to submit. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Abortion Survivors Network: The World's Only Support Group For The Born-Alive
A little-known but growing nonprofit is working to amplify the stories of individuals who survived abortion procedures — and to challenge long-standing assumptions surrounding the issue. The Abortion Survivors Network (ASN) is the only organization in the world solely dedicated to supporting abortion survivors — people who were born alive after an abortion attempt — and their families. Founded over 20 years ago, ASN offers direct aid, trauma support, and community to survivors, as well as to their mothers and relatives affected by the experience. 'We are the only organization worldwide who serves babies who are surviving abortions still today,' ASN states in its mission video. With a survivor database now exceeding 675 individuals, ASN also works to expose what it calls the 'cultural myth' that abortions never fail. The organization connects survivors with counselors and peer groups, while advocating for public recognition and legal protections. That recognition is starting to reach the national policy stage. In January 2025, the White House released a strongly supporting H.R. 21, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, introduced by Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO). 'The Administration strongly supports H.R. 21 … and applauds the House for its efforts to protect the most vulnerable and prevent infanticide,' the statement reads.'A baby that survives an abortion and is born alive into this world should be treated just like any other baby born alive.' The bill would mandate that any newborn who survives an abortion attempt must receive immediate medical care and be admitted to a hospital. It would also provide legal protections for mothers, while holding practitioners accountable for negligence or failure to report such incidents. ASN's founder and staff say legislation like this affirms the core of their mission — to ensure survivors are seen, valued, and protected. 'Your story matters. And so do you,' the organization tells survivors.
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Baby Boomers' Luck Is Running Out
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. At the core of every joke about Baby Boomers lies a seed of jealousy. Unlike younger generations, they have largely been able to walk a straightforward path toward prosperity, security, and power. They were born in an era of unprecedented economic growth and stability. College was affordable, and they graduated in a thriving job market. They were the first generation to reap the full benefits of a golden age of medical innovations: birth control, robotic surgery, the mapping of the human genome, effective cancer treatments, Ozempic. But recent policy changes are poised to make life significantly harder for Baby Boomers. 'If you're in your 60s or 70s, what the Trump administration has done means more insecurity for your assets in your 401(k), more insecurity about sources of long-term care, and, for the first time, insecurity about your Social Security benefits,' Teresa Ghilarducci, a labor economist at the New School, told me. 'It's a triple threat.' After more than half a century of aging into political and economic trends that worked to their benefit, the generation has become particularly vulnerable at exactly the wrong moment in history. Perhaps the biggest threat to Boomers in the second Trump administration is an overhaul of Social Security, which provides benefits to nearly nine out of 10 Americans ages 65 and older. In an emailed statement, Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano wrote, 'I am fully committed to upholding President Trump's promise to protect and strengthen Social Security. Beneficiaries can be confident that their benefits are secure.' But in February, DOGE announced plans to cut Social Security staff by about 12 percent and close six of its 10 regional offices; a quarter of the agency's IT staff has quit or been fired. Social Security's long-term outlook was already troubled before Trump, and these drastic reductions make the understaffed agency even less equipped to support those who rely on it. Shutting down field offices means seniors can't get help in person; less staffing means longer wait times when they call and more frequent website crashes. 'When you add hurdles, or cause a slowdown in terms of processing claims, you see losses in terms of benefits,' Monique Morrissey, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, told me. In fact, shutdowns of field offices during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic corresponded with decreased enrollment in both Social Security and Social Security Disability Insurance, which is available to Americans under 65 who can no longer work for physical or mental reasons. Social Security cuts will most hurt low-income Boomers, who are the likeliest to rely on benefits to cover their whole cost of living. But even those with more financial assets may depend on Social Security as a safety net. 'It's important to understand that many seniors, even upper-income seniors, are just one shock away from falling into poverty,' says Nancy J. Altman, the president of Social Security Works, an organization that advocates for expanding the program. As a whole, seniors have more medical needs and less income than the general population, so they're much more financially vulnerable. If you're comfortably middle-class in your early 60s, at the height of your earning potential, that's no guarantee that you'll remain comfortably middle-class into your 70s. In the next few years, Boomers who face more medical bills as they stop working might find, for the first time in their life, that they can't easily afford them. Middle-income seniors are also likely to feel the impact of a volatile market. 'They tend to have modest investments and fixed incomes rather than equities, so the type of wealth that will erode over a high-inflation period,' Laura D. Quinby, who studies benefits and labor markets at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, told me. After Trump announced 10 percent tariffs on all imported goods in April, the three major stock indexes dropped 4 percent or more. They've since recovered, but the erratic market—whipped around by Trump's shifting proclamations about tariffs—scares many middle-class Boomers, who are watching their retirement savings shrink. In the near future, older Americans might find themselves paying more for medical care too. Trump's 'big, beautiful bill,' which has passed in the House but awaits a vote in the Senate, would substantially limit Medicare access for many documented immigrants, including seniors who have paid taxes in the United States for years. The bill would also reduce Medicaid enrollment by about 10.3 million people. Although Medicaid is for people with limited incomes of all ages, it supports many older Americans and pays for more than half of long-term care in the U.S. Most seniors require some sort of nursing home or at-home medical care; one study found that 70 percent of adults who live to 65 will require long-term services and support. [Read: The GOP's new Medicaid denialism ] That support may soon be not only more expensive, but harder to come by. The long-term-care workforce is disproportionately made up of immigrants, so the Trump administration's immigration crackdown is likely to reduce the number of people available to take care of seniors—and increase how much it costs to hire them. 'If you have no money, you'll be on Medicaid in a nursing home, and that's that. But if you're trying to avoid that fate, you're now going to run through your money more quickly and be more vulnerable,' Morrissey said. Seniors with some financial security are more likely to live long enough to contend with the diseases of old age, such as Alzheimer's and dementia. The Trump administration has cut funding for promising research on these diseases. 'Going forward, you'll find less treatments reaching fruition,' Thomas Grabowski, who directs the Memory and Brain Wellness Center at the University of Washington, told me. For now, the UW Memory and Brain Wellness Center, where Grabowski works on therapies for Alzheimer's, has stopped bringing in new participants; as time goes on, he said, they'll have to tighten more. (Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, told me in an email that the cuts to research funded by the National Institutes of Health are 'better positioning' the agency 'to deliver on medical breakthroughs that actually improve Americans' health and wellbeing.') Changes at the UW Memory and Brain Wellness Center could have dramatic effects on current patients, including Bob Pringle, a 76-year-old who lives in Woodinville, Washington. In April, he started getting infusions of donanemab, an anti-amyloid medication approved by the FDA last year. The drug doesn't cure Alzheimer's; it's designed to slow the disease's progression, though the utility of donanemab and other Alzheimer's drugs remains controversial among experts. Pringle, for one, has found donanemab helpful. 'With the medication, my decline is a gentle slope, rather than a rapid decline,' says Pringle, whose mother died of Alzheimer's and whose sister lives in a memory-care facility. 'You're always hopeful that somebody with a bigger brain than you have is working on a cure, and the medication gives us some time until then,' Bob's wife and caretaker, Tina Pringle, told me. 'But right now, because of the funding cuts, our outlook is grim.' [Read: The NIH's most reckless cuts yet] The unknowability of the future has always been a scary part of getting older. The enormous upheaval that the Trump administration has created will only magnify that uncertainty for Boomers. After a historical arc of good fortune, their golden generation has to contend with bad timing. Younger generations, including my own, shouldn't gloat, though: Cuts to Social Security and a halt to medical research could well worsen the experience of aging for generations to come. Younger Americans will likely grow old under challenging conditions too. Unlike the Boomers, we'll have plenty of time to get used to the idea. Article originally published at The Atlantic
