Latest news with #EndingTaxpayerSubsidizationofOpenBorders'
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Trump administration freezes $8M in family planning health care grants for low-income Tennesseans
Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and Northern Mississippi was notified Monday the organization lost $8 million after Title X grants were suspended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Photo: Angela Dennis) The Trump administration on Monday abruptly suspended an estimated $8 million in federal grant funding that provides family planning, cancer screenings and preventative health care to low-income Tennesseans. More than 30,000 Tennesseans have accessed healthcare through the impacted organizations since late 2023. Planned Parenthood announced that nine of its affiliates — including the affiliate that funds Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi — were notified that funding under the Title X grant program is suspended until further notice. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stated Tuesday that it is 'concerned about the compliance of several awardees' receiving a combined $27.5 million in Title X funds. The department is assessing all Title X grant recipients for compliance with federal law and President Donald Trump's executive orders. No final determinations have been made. The Title X program has supported affordable basic health care, birth control, STI testing and treatment, and cancer screening for more than 50 years, Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi President and CEO Ashley Coffield said Tuesday. Withdrawing Title X funds will drive up costs for people who already face barriers to access health care, she said. 'We're going to hang on as long as we can and provide the care without having the reimbursement,' Coffield said. Trump administration targets Planned Parenthood's family-planning grants The notice of suspension also went to Mississippi-based organization Converge, Inc., which began receiving Title X funds in 2023 to provide Tennesseans with low- and no-cost reproductive health care. Converge has served nearly 12,000 patients through 33 health centers in Tennessee, according to the organization. In a letter to Converge, HHS cited Converge's public statement, 'Our Commitment to Addressing Systemic Racism,' as grounds for compliance review based on civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin. The department is also assessing compliance with executive orders, including President Donald Trump's 'Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders' order barring publicly funded benefits to people without legal immigration status. 'Every day that there is a delay in Title X funding is a day that patients across Mississippi and Tennessee go without care,' Converge Co-founder Jamie Bardwell stated. 'This will create a cascading effect across the South, disrupting access to basic health care services … These disruptions will lead to increased negative health outcomes, including higher rates of unintended pregnancy and STIs.' HHS did not share a timeline for its compliance reviews. Converge will 'comply with the requests outlined by HHS and demonstrate our adherence to this administration's orders,' Bardwell stated. 'People's lives depend on it.' Title X funding has been distributed to the two organizations after the Tennessee Department of Health was kicked out of the program for violating the conditions of the grant by refusing to provide patients with 'non-directive' counseling that included abortion after the state instituted an abortion ban. The state health department previously received roughly $8 million from the program. In the 16 months that the organization has received grant funding, Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi has served 21,989 patients and logged 22,263 visits in Tennessee, Coffield said. The organization provides care on a sliding fee scale based on family size and income. Planned Parenthood received $3.8 million last year to provide services in Tennessee, according to Coffield. Converge received just under $8.4 million in fiscal year 2024 to provide services in Mississippi and Tennessee, HHS records show. The Title X grant funding cycle was slated to end March 31, with renewals beginning April 1. In previous years, organizations would have been told weeks in advance what funding level to expect for the coming year, Coffield said. Instead, they got the letter informing them of the funding freeze — the first correspondence they've received under Trump's second administration. It seems like the Trump administration and Elon Musk are appeasing their anti-abortion backers and targeting basic health care that has nothing to do with abortion. Real people's lives are going to suffer as a result. – Ashley Coffield, Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi CHOICES Center for Reproductive Health, a Converge sub-grantee, operates a walk-in clinic in Memphis providing birth control, emergency contraception, confirmation of pregnancy and options counseling and HIV testing, in addition to other testing and treatment services. 'CHOICES is heartbroken to have lost critical Title X funding—funding that provides essential family planning and wellness services that are especially important in places like Tennessee, where we face a total abortion ban and an utter lack of maternal health care services,' President and CEO Jennifer Pepper stated, pledging to fighting for patient care. Coffield said the freeze is causing unnecessary chaos, confusion and anxiety for patients. 'It seems like the Trump administration and Elon Musk are appeasing their anti-abortion backers and targeting basic health care that has nothing to do with abortion,' she said. 'Real people's lives are going to suffer as a result.' Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi will work to continue providing affordable care without support from Title X funding in the event of permanent loss. 'We will do everything that we can to continue to help people get the care that they need, that it's affordable, that they have the freedom to choose to come to the provider of their choice, and that they're not forced out of getting basic care by the Trump administration and Elon Musk,' Coffield said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill to benefit Nebraska immigrant ‘Dreamers' squashed after Trump order
A Nebraska bill that would have benefited immigrant DACA recipients won't move forward, sponsors said. Shown here, supporters of the DACA program rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court. (Robin Bravender/ States Newsroom) LINCOLN — A proposed Nebraska law that had bipartisan support and would have benefited immigrant 'Dreamers' has been crushed under the weight of a Trump administration threat that the state could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid if it is enacted. Legislative Bill 299, in part, sought to align Nebraska with what advocates said already had been the practice of most, if not all, other states: allowing immigrants who have legal permission to work in the U.S. but lack permanent residency access to the unemployment insurance benefits their employers pay into. Before the bill's sponsors backed off Thursday, LB 299 had cleared a few key hurdles, including a March 6 vote by the Legislature's Business and Labor Committee that poised the measure for debate by the state's full lawmaking body. But a Feb. 19 executive order from President Donald Trump titled 'Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders' has since come into play. State Sen. Teresa Ibach of Sumner withdrew her name Thursday from the bill. Co-sponsor State Sen. Margo Juarez of Omaha said she saw no alternative but to drop the effort this year. Proponents said they were maddened by the latest twist for the proposed law that had gained support from a range of business and civic groups. A leader of the religious coalition Omaha Together One Community told the Nebraska Examiner on Friday that its members are 'outraged.' 'The fact that the federal government would swoop in and block a bill that clearly represented the will of Nebraskans is a blatant insult to our state and should not be tolerated,' said Kathleen Grant. Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen's spokesperson, Laura Strimple, said Friday that the governor was pleased with the recent turn of events. 'Governor Pillen strongly opposes giving taxpayer benefits to illegal aliens and is pleased the Legislature will not act on this bill further this session,' she said. LB 299 sponsors said the bill primarily would have impacted so-called 'Dreamers,' who grew up in the U.S. after being brought here illegally as minors by their parents and who obtained legal permission, under the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, to work and live in the country. DACA recipients don't have permanent residency, and the program has been challenged in court. LB 299, they said, also was designed to benefit asylum-seekers who have been granted work authorization while their requests are reviewed and others with Temporary Protected Status, which is granted when returning to a person's home country is unsafe due to natural disaster, extraordinary conditions or war. While advocates have mostly focused on opening the door to unemployment benefits, the bill called for 'eligible aliens' who are employed in Nebraska to have access to the same public employment benefits offered to any other similarly situated employee, with a few exceptions. Access included participation in certain public retirement and deferred compensation programs. There's no way I can fight a threat like that. – State Sen. Margo Juarez of Omaha The 6-0 legislative committee vote that pushed the bill to the debate stage came after state and federal labor officials had resolved what Ibach described last week as a 'technical' problem with the bill. The concern was raised during a Feb. 10 public hearing. Nebraska Labor Commissioner Katie Thurber told lawmakers that LB 299, as then drafted, could cost the state more than $400 million in federal tax credits. She said the original language was too broad, created a new state definition for 'eligible alien' and would allow benefits even if the immigrant lost legal authorization to work in the U.S. Ibach and Juarez believed that the path had been smoothed — until, they said, a federal labor official reached out to the state Labor Department and Pillen's office this week, bringing up the Feb. 19 executive order. Juarez said she was caught off guard and was told that millions of dollars were at risk. 'There's no way I can fight a threat like that.' Thurber, in a statement to the Examiner on Friday, said that while an amendment addressed an initial concern, 'the situation has become complicated with recently proposed federal actions.' She said, for example, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on March 10 issued a proposed rule removing DACA recipients from the definition of 'lawfully present' for the purposes of eligibility under the Affordable Care Act. 'This coupled with the executive order from President Trump … makes it clear that extending benefits to illegal immigrants, including DACA recipients, is in direct conflict with federal policy.' Thurber said the bill 'poses significant risk that Nebraska's unemployment insurance system could face consequences if it goes against federal directives' aimed at illegal immigration. The Trump order, citing a 1996 federal law, said the law 'generally prohibits illegal aliens from obtaining most taxpayer-funded benefits.' The directive gave federal agencies and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, 30 days to identify federally-funded programs that 'permit illegal aliens to obtain any cash or non-cash public benefit.' Ibach said she retreated from LB 299 after Pillen's staff alerted her to the executive order and potential fallout. 'We were disappointed but thankful the Governor's Office called our attention to the reality of how LB 299 was going to be framed going forward,' she said. Nick Grandgenett, an attorney with Nebraska Appleseed, views the executive order as applicable to federal public benefits and said the proposed legislation pertained to state employment benefits. 'It really is outside the scope of that executive order,' he said. But adding the Trump order to an already complex marriage of immigration and employment systems muddies the waters, he said. 'I don't think there is truly a problem with the bill,' Grandgenett said. 'The confusion is kind of winning the day.' State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha said the situation signals trouble for Nebraska. She characterized LB 299 as an important bill with bipartisan support and challenged Nebraska Republican officials at all levels of government to stand up. 'When we have people in leadership not standing up for vulnerable populations like those covered in this bill, then we are going to be in a really bad place,' she said. Representatives of organizations such as the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nebraska Catholic Conference, and the Nebraska Alliance for Thriving Communities spoke in support of the bill during the public hearing. The alliance is a coalition that includes labor unions, hospitals, banks, cattlemen and pork producers. Ibach sees the effort as dead for now, unless labor officials can find a path forward. She said she'd continue to work on immigration and DACA reform. Juarez said she had made LB 299 her priority bill because she felt strongly that the targeted immigrant populations working with U.S. authorization deserved access to benefits — and that Nebraska businesses needed their talent. She said she is left 'extremely frustrated,' but won't give up and hopes for a revival during a different legislative session. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Health center under scrutiny after turning away undocumented patients
Feb. 27—LAS CRUCES — Sen. Martin Heinrich and Rep. Gabe Vasquez are asking New Mexico's attorney general to investigate whether Ben Archer Health Clinics violated the law Wednesday when it briefly posted signs saying they would not serve undocumented patients. Meanwhile, the Las Cruces Public Schools, which contracts with Ben Archer, reassured the community Thursday that its school-based health clinics are serving all students and their families. On Wednesday, a sign posted at Ben Archer's Las Cruces clinic announced: "Due to executive order 'Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders' dated February 19, 2025 any ineligible alien who entered the United States illegally or is otherwise unlawfully present in the United States does not qualify for federally funded services at Ben Archer Health Center." The executive order, issued by President Donald Trump, calls for agencies to withhold federally funded services from people without legal citizenship status, and to "enhance eligibility verification systems ... to ensure that taxpayer-funded benefits exclude any ineligible alien who entered the United States illegally or is otherwise unlawfully present in the United States." Heinrich argued in a statement Wednesday that the executive order has no bearing on health care. Photos of similar signs at multiple Ben Archer locations appeared on social media before the clinic reportedly changed course and removed the signs. Ben Archer CEO Mary Alice Garay did not respond to queries from the Journal, and the Hatch headquarters said no one was available to speak with reporters. The Hatch-based nonprofit community health center offers services at 11 sites in southern New Mexico with assistance from federal, state and local funding. Its services include primary and dental care, health education and numerous social services. It is also among the providers with whom Las Cruces Public Schools partners for services at clinics based at three high schools. Heinrich's office said it had also heard from patients who could not refill prescriptions at the center's pharmacy without proving citizenship. Later in the day, the clinic walked back the policy after receiving guidance from the New Mexico Department of Health. In a letter to New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, Vasquez joined Heinrich, a fellow Democrat, in calling for an inquiry into whether Ben Archer's actions were unlawful, and to assure patients were not being questioned about their immigration status. "BAHC's demands that patients produce proof of U.S. citizenship in order to receive basic health care appear to violate both state and federal law," their letter stated. "Their actions also unquestionably run counter to BAHC's mission statement emphasizing access to health services for underserved populations." Las Cruces Public Schools Superintendent Ignacio Ruiz, in an interview with the Journal, called the White House directive "unfortunate" at a time of growing need for mental health services, part of the "wraparound" service the district clinics are intended to provide students and families. He also pointed to a measles outbreak in Lea County, where nine cases were confirmed as of Tuesday. Ruiz said the district was issuing a memo to the community that its clinics were safe and any qualification requirements implemented by Ben Archer "are put on pause until further notice." "At this time, these centers are open to everyone, and they are able to utilize them and move forward with services," Ruiz said.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New Mexico health care center allegedly denies care to people without proof of citizenship
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-NM, responded to a local health care center in Southern New Mexico on Wednesday, Feb. 26, that is allegedly denying care to individuals unable to provide proof of citizenship. Heinrich posted on his X account an image of a paper from one of the Ben Archer Health Care Centers, reading the following: Ben Archer Health Center has over 10 locations in New Mexico, several of them in Las Cruces. Heinrich's office verified that Ben Archer was employing the practice at school-based health clinics, scheduled appointments at standalone clinics and same-day appointment requests, the Senator's office said. 'The idea that kids should have to take their birth certificate to school to get care at the school health clinic? It's just ludicrous. We have skyrocketing grocery prices, a housing crisis, and now, a measles outbreak in New Mexico and Texas. We need our elected officials focused on fixing real issues and our health care providers focused on providing health care,' Heinrich said. According to Heinrich's office, Ben Archer's leadership pointed at the executive order 'Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders' but has no bearing on the 'provision of health care to non-citizens.' 'What Ben Archer was pulling at its health clinics wasn't just wrong, it was illegal. I am glad they reversed course, and that they did it quickly. Let this be a lesson to all healthcare providers that we will hold you accountable for following the law,' Heinrich said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
