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In the news today: House Republicans' Medicaid cut plans run into resistance; Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at Columbia University; and former Memphis police officers found not guilty in the killing of Tyre Nichols. Also, Russia attacks Ukraine on the first day of a self-declared ceasefire. |
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams, and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer depart a news conference at the Capitol, Tuesday. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
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House GOP backing off some Medicaid cuts as nonpartisan report shows millions would lose health care |
House Republicans appear to be backing off some, but not all, of the steep reductions to the Medicaid program as part of their big tax breaks bill. They are scrounging to come up with as much as $1.5 trillion in cuts to offset the revenue lost for some $4.5 trillion in tax breaks. Read more. |
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House Republicans are running into resistance from more centrist GOP lawmakers opposed to ending nearly-free health care coverage for their constituents back home. Their plans included reducing the share that the federal government pays for enrollees’ health care, and setting a cap on how much the federal government spends on each person enrolled in Medicaid. These appear to be off the table. A Congressional Budget Office report estimates that these changes would result in roughly 10 million people losing Medicaid coverage.
The findings touched off fresh uncertainty over House Speaker Mike Johnson’s ability to pass what President Donald Trump calls his “big, beautiful bill” by Memorial Day. Democrats, who had requested the report, pounced on the findings. “This non-partisan Congressional Budget Office analysis confirms what we’ve been saying all along,” said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J.
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Other proposed Medicaid changes are still in the mix for Republicans, including imposing new limits on a state’s tax on health care providers that generate larger payments from the federal government.
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US and UK expected to announce a trade deal that Trump says will cement their relationship
Federal Reserve leaves key rate unchanged as it sees risk of higher prices and higher unemployment
Chief Justice Roberts says judicial independence is key to checking Congress and the president
Energy Star, efficiency program that has steered consumer choice, targeted in cuts
Trump administration will provide programming from conservative network OAN for Voice of America
FBI director says bureau needs more funding than what Trump administration budget proposal calls for
President Donald Trump taps wellness influencer close to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for surgeon general
US Health department will analyze data from autistic Medicare, Medicaid enrollees, RFK Jr. says
Sen. John Fetterman raises alarms with outburst at meeting with union officials, AP sources say
The more Trump talks about making trade deals, the more confusing the tariff picture gets
Some migrants were told they’d be sent to Libya, attorneys say as they try to block the deportations
Judge seeks more information from Trump administration about prison deal with El Salvador
The election director in North Carolina, a key swing state, is ousted after a Republican power play
6 people are charged in a Texas elections investigation involving ‘vote harvesting’
Salt Lake City and Boise make pride flags official city emblems, skirting flag ban laws
Missouri poised to become first U.S. state to exempt stock sale profits from income taxes
Trump designates Thursday as a day for US to celebrate victory in World War II. Here’s what it means
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Pro-Palestinian demonstrators clash with security guards at Columbia University
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Police officers in helmets streamed into Columbia University Wednesday evening to remove a group of mask-clad protesters who staged a Pro-Palestinian demonstration inside the school’s main library. Read more. |
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Police said at least 80 people had been taken into custody, though it wasn’t clear how many came from the demonstration inside the library and how many were outside the building.
The university’s acting president, Claire Shipman, said the protesters who were holed up inside a library reading room were asked repeatedly to show identification and to leave, but they refused. The school then requested the NYPD come in “to assist in securing the building and the safety of our community,” she said in a statement. Shipman said two university public safety officers sustained injuries as protesters forced their way into the building.
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Columbia University in March announced sweeping policy changes related to protests following Trump administration threats to revoke its federal funding. Among them are a ban on students wearing masks to conceal their identities and a rule that those protesting on campus must present their identification when asked. The school also said it had hired new public safety officers empowered to make arrests on campus.
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Civil rights leaders say acquittals in Tyre Nichols’ death highlight the need for police reform
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After three former Memphis police officers were acquitted of all state charges in the beating death of 29-year-old Black man Tyre Nichols, including second-degree murder, community and civil rights leaders expressed outrage over another disappointment in the long push for police reform. Read more.
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The Rev. Al Sharpton, who spoke to Nichols’ mother and stepfather, said they were outraged. “Tyre’s death was preventable, inexcusable, and tragic,” Sharpton added in a statement. “Tyre and his family deserve true justice — not only in the courtroom, but in Congress, by passing police reform legislation once and for all,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson posted on social media.
Nichols’ death at a traffic stop more than two years ago sparked nationwide protests and renewed calls for systemic change as the first post-George Floyd case that revealed the limits of an unprecedented reckoning over racial injustice in Black America. After Floyd’s 2020 murder by a former Minneapolis police officer, states adopted hundreds of police reform proposals, creating civilian oversight of police, more anti-bias training and stricter use-of-force limits, among other measures.
- But federal reforms in the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act have been stuck in Congress without enough bipartisan support to get enacted during the Biden administration. Last year, police traffic-stop reforms put in place in Memphis after Nichols’ death were repealed by GOP Gov. Bill Lee, despite pleas from civil rights advocates.
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