Latest news with #safetyNet
New York Times
01-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Taking From the Poor and Giving to the Rich Is Not Populism
'I love the poorly educated,' President Trump declared during the 2016 campaign. His intense support for the 'big, beautiful' 4.5 trillion tax-and-spending bill now before Congress shows that he has a unique way of demonstrating his affection Republicans are on the verge of enacting Trump's upwardly distributive fiscal policy measure, which has become an extreme test of the loyalty of his more downscale MAGA supporters, who not only oppose the bill but stand to bear the brunt of its negative consequences. In its current form, which is changing by the hour, the measure, known popularly as B.B.B., would provide the upper classes, including Trump's allies and donor base — corporations and the rich — with tax cuts worth approximately $4.45 trillion over 10 years. The measure would offset the cost with the largest reductions in safety net programs in recent decades, if not all time, for those on the lower tiers of the income distribution. This pared back social spending would adversely affect a large bloc of rural and exurban Republicans who played a crucial role in putting their party in control of the House and Senate and Trump in the White House. 'You can very safely say,' Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the liberal Center for American Progress, told The Washington Post, that 'this is the biggest cut to programs for low-income Americans ever.' Many of the details of the legislation remain in flux as the Senate continues to vote on amendments. If the Senate approves the legislation, the House and Senate will still have to come to agreement on a final version for the measure to become law. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
26-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Trump's Bill Slashes the Safety Net That Many Republican Voters Rely on
From the start of his second term, President Trump has bet that he can appeal to low-income voters while slashing safety net programs on which many of those voters depend. The enormous tax-and-spending bill he is trying to push through Congress is a high-stakes test of that proposition, a gamble that Mr. Trump can retain the loyalty of his blue-collar supporters despite moves that could harm their immediate economic self-interest. As approved by the House, the legislation cuts hundreds of billions of dollars in food benefits and removes nearly 11 million people from the health care rolls, while offering large tax cuts skewed to the rich and adding trillions to the national debt. Senate Republicans are considering a similar measure, with bigger Medicaid cuts and smaller reductions in nutritional aid. Whether Republicans succeed in passing the bill — and whether voters punish them for lost assistance — could affect next year's congressional elections and determine the long-term size and strength of the social welfare system. Once mostly aimed at the indigent, aid programs were often derided by conservative critics as Democratic handouts for minority groups in urban areas. But some benefits now reach up the income ladder to working-class households, which Republicans increasingly court. Enrollment has roughly doubled in two decades in Medicaid and food stamps (formally, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP). The Affordable Care Act, signed in 2010 by President Barack Obama, subsidized households up to 400 percent of the poverty line, and pandemic-era subsidies, which expire this year, went higher. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CNN
05-06-2025
- Business
- CNN
CNN finds health protections for miners eroded under Trump
In just 5 months, President Trump has dismantled the safety net that for years protected miners from injury and disease. CNN's Kyung Lah traveled to coal country where miners fear the impact of the cuts.
CNN
04-06-2025
- Politics
- CNN
CNN finds health protections for miners eroded under Trump
In just 5 months, President Trump has dismantled the safety net that for years protected miners from injury and disease. CNN's Kyung Lah traveled to coal country where miners fear the impact of the cuts.
CNN
04-06-2025
- Politics
- CNN
CNN finds health protections for miners eroded under Trump
In just 5 months, President Trump has dismantled the safety net that for years protected miners from injury and disease. CNN's Kyung Lah traveled to coal country where miners fear the impact of the cuts.
