Latest news with #SocialSecurityWorks
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Miller-Meeks denies Big Beautiful Bill Act would add trillions to national debt
Members of Congress are now on their Memorial Day recess and back in their home districts. Republicans in the House of Representatives left D.C. by adopting a big piece of Trump's agenda last week. It's officially called the Big Beautiful Bill Act. But this is a budget with spending details and tax cuts. Independent estimates say it would add $4 trillion to the national debt if this passes the Senate in its current form. A few quick specifics. It would extend the first Trump administration tax breaks, include new cuts on estate taxes and reduce Medicaid spending while adding a work requirement to be eligible. It would also limit dependents for SNAP food assistance, weaken court authority to enforce contempt charges for ignoring and defying court orders and injunctions, and a lot more than that. Those restrictions on Medicaid and SNAP food assistance fell under the purview of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Iowa Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks serves on it. For months Republicans maintained they would see no cuts. A crew with a group called Social Security Works asked the Congresswoman about that in March. 'You voted in this committee to advance to advance resolution that where you guys need to find savings for 880 billion dollars,' the group said. 'How are you going to find that savings without cutting Medicaid?' 'There are ways that we can find it and we will continue to that,' Miller-Meeks answered. 'As you know, we didn't make any cuts. All we did was pass a budget reconciliation solution.' A different crew with Social Security Works tried asking her about her vote in favor of the cuts to Medicaid and SNAP benefits in committee that got included in the final bill. Congresswoman Miller-Meeks would not stop to talk and hurried to get on an elevator for a conference meeting. That more than 1100-page budget package passed by the House of Representatives is still being digested. We mentioned a few of the ramifications. Host Jim Niedelman gets into that with Iowa Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks. She voted for it and joins him for a conversation. 'They underpredicted the effect of revenue growth during the first Trump administration,' Miller-Meeks said. To hear more, click on the video. Now we want to hear from you, too, and that brings us to our question of the week. What do you think about the Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by the House of Representatives? Share your thoughts at 4therecord@ Local 4 News, your local election headquarters, is proud to present , a weekly news and public affairs program focused on the issues important to you. It's a program unlike any other here in the Quad Cities. Tune in each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as brings you up to speed on what's happening in the political arena, from Springfield, Des Moines, Washington, D.C. and right here at home. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Protestors fear proposed Medicaid cuts would close Newton hospital
May 27—Supporters of Medicaid last week opposed Congress' budget cuts by protesting outside Newton Clinic and MercyOne Newton Medical Center, which they said could now be in danger of closing or eliminating vital health care services for rural Iowans. The hospital already paused all labor and delivery services in 2024. Cindy Pollard, of Newton, said everybody she knows since 1999 has been born at the local hospital, known back then as Skiff Medical Center. Her wife was also born there. No babies have been delivered locally since last fall. Jasper County mothers have had to travel at least a half-hour away for a labor and delivery unit. "They no longer deliver babies here, and it's where everyone was born," Pollard said at the protest on May 21. "Our relatives are going to Grinnell to deliver ... Everything is against rural Iowa — the schools and Medicaid cuts — everything affects us out here. So that's why I'm going to start showing up right here." Progress Iowa and Social Security Works organized the Hands Off Medicaid rally last week in opposition to the House Republican budget bill. Over a 10-year period, it is estimated almost $700 billion in federal funding will be cut from Medicaid and $500 billion will be cut from Medicare. Health care advocates say nursing homes and hospitals could feel the financial effects of these cuts. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who represents Jasper County, voted in favor of the bill. Her decision was a subject of scrutiny by protestors, who felt betrayed considering her background as a physician. They also criticized a recent social media video in which Miller-Meeks refuses to answer questions from a representative of Social Security Works, a political group that advocates for the expansion of Social Security and for the economic security of disadvantaged and at-risk populations. In the video, Social Security Works confronts Miller-Meeks saying she lied to their faces when she said she wouldn't vote for Medicaid cuts. "But then you've actually voted for the largest cuts to Medicaid in the history of the country," said Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works. "Do you have any comments on that? Do you have any comments on the four hospitals in your district that are gonna close because of your vote?" Larry Anderson, of Newton, said he attended the rally last week because he would hate to see the community affected by these Medicaid cuts. "People don't realize this affects everyone," he said. "This is not just the so-called 'idle poor,' this is our nursing homes and our hospitals. We've already lost some OBGYN services, but we don't need to lose the hospital. And that could very well happen if Medicaid like this." Anderson is simultaneously surprised and not surprised by Miller-Meeks voting for the budget bill. "I think that no doubt she is under a great deal of pressure from her party and her party leadership, but we didn't elect her to do this," Anderson said. "We elected her to stand up for us, her constituents. And she's not doing it if she votes for this."
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Crowd rallies at Wilmington Social Security office in latest 'Hands Off' protest
A crowd gathered outside of Wilmington's Social Security office on Thursday, April 24, with one clear message -- "Hands Off of Social Security." "We got a call ... to action from Social Security Works, which is a national organization," Della Hann, leader with Brunswick Indivisible Stepping Forward for Action, said standing outside of the Social Security Office on S. 16th Street. "They asked that we show our support ... and that's why we're here, showing our support not only for Social Security as the entity but also for the workers. ... We're fully behind them and we want them to keep their jobs." Thursday's demonstration comes in the wake of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a Trump administration initiative headed by billionaire Elon Musk, terminating several leases for Social Security offices nationwide, amongst other recent changes. In her hands, Hann held a letter shared by Social Security Works signed by 110 U.S. congressional representatives, urging that all Social Security field offices remain open and that the program continue. Hann said she attempted to deliver the letter to the local field office, but they didn't have the appropriate staff to accept it, though it has already been delivered to the national office. "The economics of our entire region really would be in serious jeopardy if (Social Security) was destroyed in any kind of way or lessened," Hann said. "Retirement now is a huge part of this area of North Carolina in terms of its livelihood. Many of us, including myself, have come here to retire because it's such a gorgeous area. We would have to rethink those strategies if we can't have in our arsenal a piece of Social Security that we've paid for." Thursday's protest is one of several associated with the "Hands Off" movement in the Port City. Here's more on other recent related demonstrations in the Wilmington area. On Saturday, April 19, a crowd gathered in Wilmington's Innes Park outside of City Hall, critiquing the current presidential administration and Elon Musk. The event was a public demonstration aimed at protesting what organizers called "arbitrary and capricious political, personal, and discriminatory cuts being made in order to give millionaires and billionaires another tax break off the backs of working Americans." Lynn Shoemaker, vice president with the North Carolina American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, opened the community town hall, which then featured three-minute vignettes from numerous community members. Protestors held signs with messages including "Hands Off Everything," "The U.S. Rule of Law is Dead," and "Stop the Billionaire Takeover," reflecting a wide range of concerns. Prior coverage: Hundreds attend anti-Trump 'Hands Off' protests in downtown Wilmington, Brunswick County Two weeks prior to the community town hall in Innes Park, hundreds protested across New Hanover and Brunswick counties on April 5. Organizers estimated roughly 1,100 attended the rally in Wilmington, which took place just blocks away from the N.C. Azalea Festival downtown. Organizer Sam Pierce previously told the StarNews the event was just the beginning of what he hoped would become a larger gesture on par with the Civil Rights and labor movements. Spotted in the crowd was Randy Blythe, vocalist of the Grammy-nominated metal band Lamb of God. 'I believe that the U.S. government is slowly but methodically being taken over by technological oligarchs who are attempting to do their best to dismantle the mechanisms of democracy to remain in power perpetually if at all possible,' Blythe said. Outside of the Brunswick County Courthouse in Bolivia, more than 800 people attended another Hands Off protest on the same day. Organizer Shelley Allen previously told the StarNews that a variety of issues motivated the crowd to attend, including cuts made to the federal workforce and healthcare programs. This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Hands Off protest held at Wilmington, NC, Social Security office
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion - Has Trump declared you dead? You won't enjoy it if he does.
Last Thursday, The Trump administration placed 6,300 immigrants on Social Security's 'Death Master File.' According to Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, being listed there means 'losing your income, your health insurance, access to your bank account, your credit cards, your home, and more.' And that is precisely the administration's goal: to find people it doesn't like and compel them to leave. It claimed, without proof, that the people they declared dead are criminals or suspected terrorists. The claim is questionable, since the list includes eight children. So far, the only apparent commonality among the targets is that they were granted legal status during the previous administration. That's right — they are here legally. They followed the process to obtain Social Security numbers and were permitted to remain in the U.S. and work. The new administration, however, has reneged on that commitment and wants them to self-deport. For the Trump team, commitments made by our institutions can be invalidated based on the subjective judgment of a single individual. Process doesn't matter. The law doesn't matter. The only requirement for being declared dead is your esteem in the minds of those who control the data. If that's the deciding factor, why wouldn't any of the rest of us be next? The consequences of being on the Death Master List are dire. This affects a lot more than eligibility for Social Security benefits. Presence on the list sets in motion credit card cancellations and home loan foreclosures. It ends access to insured medical care. It means that you cannot work or apply for an apartment or open a bank account. For example, one elderly woman who was inadvertently placed on the list in December 2023 died after months of trying to correct the error. For months, she went without the income she relied on. Her home was listed for sale and her medical insurance was cancelled, leaving her unable to afford life-saving medication. At 88, she died from the stress and consequences of being already categorized as dead. (Her family has sued the Social Security Administration earlier this month.) If you are placed on this list — deliberately or mistakenly — you no longer exist, according to the institutional engines of our country. You may be alive, but your life will be plagued with irreversible consequences. Who among us will be next to be economically exiled? Are you a doctor who performs abortions? A journalist who publishes unflattering articles? An attorney who has represented an adversary? Members of these classes have already been subject to harassing lawsuits by Trump or his associates. Are you gay? Muslim? A Tesla protester? All of these classes have been targets of the administration's verbal wrath. Beyond lawsuits and threats, the administration has already punished foreign nationals residing in the U.S. by rescinding visas and deporting them without due process. And on April 14, in an Oval Office meeting with the president of El Salvador, who is being paid to imprison deportees, Trump announced that he is willing to apply his deportation tactics to American citizens as well. 'We also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways … that are absolute monsters,' Trump said. 'I'd like to include them … to get them out of the country,' he continued. But we know violent behavior is not the real criterion. Trump's ease in pardoning Jan. 6 rioters, some of whom violently assaulted police officers, proves that it's his personal assessment that is the driving factor in who is punished and who is not. This newest deportation weapon is an efficient means of delivering that punishment. It's swift, deadly and requires little effort. A simple digital switch can eviscerate an entire existence. Further, there has been little resistance to any of the administration's tactics, so implementation has been frictionless. The Republican-led Congress has not voiced objection or attempted to protect residents through legislation. And the Supreme Court recently issued what sounds more like a suggestion than a ruling to return a wrongfully deported resident. Add to that the administration's overt defiance of lower court rulings, without consequence, and its path to deporting anyone it deems worthy seems unobstructed. Criminal or not, citizen or not, we are all at risk. Kirti Schoener is a former tech executive and current concerned citizen. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
17-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Has Trump declared you dead? You won't enjoy it if he does.
Last Thursday, The Trump administration placed 6,300 immigrants on Social Security's 'Death Master File.' According to Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, being listed there means 'losing your income, your health insurance, access to your bank account, your credit cards, your home, and more.' And that is precisely the administration's goal: to find people it doesn't like and compel them to leave. It claimed, without proof, that the people they declared dead are criminals or suspected terrorists. The claim is questionable, since the list includes eight children. So far, the only apparent commonality among the targets is that they were granted legal status during the previous administration. That's right — they are here legally. They followed the process to obtain Social Security numbers and were permitted to remain in the U.S. and work. The new administration, however, has reneged on that commitment and wants them to self-deport. For the Trump team, commitments made by our institutions can be invalidated based on the subjective judgment of a single individual. Process doesn't matter. The law doesn't matter. The only requirement for being declared dead is your esteem in the minds of those who control the data. If that's the deciding factor, why wouldn't any of the rest of us be next? The consequences of being on the Death Master List are dire. This affects a lot more than eligibility for Social Security benefits. Presence on the list sets in motion credit card cancellations and home loan foreclosures. It ends access to insured medical care. It means that you cannot work or apply for an apartment or open a bank account. For example, one elderly woman who was inadvertently placed on the list in December 2023 died after months of trying to correct the error. For months, she went without the income she relied on. Her home was listed for sale and her medical insurance was cancelled, leaving her unable to afford life-saving medication. At 88, she died from the stress and consequences of being already categorized as dead. (Her family has sued the Social Security Administration earlier this month.) If you are placed on this list — deliberately or mistakenly — you no longer exist, according to the institutional engines of our country. You may be alive, but your life will be plagued with irreversible consequences. Who among us will be next to be economically exiled? Are you a doctor who performs abortions? A journalist who publishes unflattering articles? An attorney who has represented an adversary? Members of these classes have already been subject to harassing lawsuits by Trump or his associates. Are you gay? Muslim? A Tesla protester? All of these classes have been targets of the administration's verbal wrath. Beyond lawsuits and threats, the administration has already punished foreign nationals residing in the U.S. by rescinding visas and deporting them without due process. And on April 14, in an Oval Office meeting with the president of El Salvador, who is being paid to imprison deportees, Trump announced that he is willing to apply his deportation tactics to American citizens as well. 'We also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways … that are absolute monsters,' Trump said. 'I'd like to include them … to get them out of the country,' he continued. But we know violent behavior is not the real criterion. Trump's ease in pardoning Jan. 6 rioters, some of whom violently assaulted police officers, proves that it's his personal assessment that is the driving factor in who is punished and who is not. This newest deportation weapon is an efficient means of delivering that punishment. It's swift, deadly and requires little effort. A simple digital switch can eviscerate an entire existence. Further, there has been little resistance to any of the administration's tactics, so implementation has been frictionless. The Republican-led Congress has not voiced objection or attempted to protect residents through legislation. And the Supreme Court recently issued what sounds more like a suggestion than a ruling to return a wrongfully deported resident. Add to that the administration's overt defiance of lower court rulings, without consequence, and its path to deporting anyone it deems worthy seems unobstructed. Criminal or not, citizen or not, we are all at risk.
