Tag Archives: Medicare

New York Times: Trump Pardoned Tax Cheat After Mother Attended $1 Million Dinner

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Paul Walczak’s pardon application cited his mother’s support for the president, including raising millions of dollars and a connection to a plot to publicize a Biden family diary.

As Paul Walczak awaited sentencing early this year, his best hope for avoiding prison time rested with the newly inaugurated president.

Mr. Walczak, a former nursing home executive who had pleaded guilty to tax crimes days after the 2024 election, submitted a pardon application to President Trump around Inauguration Day. The application focused not solely on Mr. Walczak’s offenses but also on the political activity of his mother, Elizabeth Fago.

Ms. Fago had raised millions of dollars for Mr. Trump’s campaigns and those of other Republicans, the application said. It also highlighted her connections to an effort to sabotage Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s 2020 campaign by publicizing the addiction diary of his daughter Ashley Biden — an episode that drew law enforcement scrutiny.

Mr. Walczak’s pardon application argued that his criminal prosecution was motivated more by his mother’s efforts for Mr. Trump than by his admitted use of money earmarked for employees’ taxes to fund an extravagant lifestyle.

Still, weeks went by and no pardon was forthcoming, even as Mr. Trump issued clemency grants to hundreds of other allies.

Then, Ms. Fago was invited to a $1-million-per-person fund-raising dinner last month that promised face-to-face access to Mr. Trump at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla.

…

trump-pardon-paul-walczak-tax-crimes.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/us/politics/trump-pardon-paul-walczak-tax-crimes.html

Snopes: Clarifying claim that DOGE, RFK Jr. found 8M people fraudulently on Medicaid

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The numbers appeared tied to estimates on the number of people who may be cut from Medicaid under U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Snopes has a lengthy discussion of claims by F’Elon Musk (DOGE) and Robert “Brainworm” Kennedy Jr. that they found 8M people fraudently on Medicaid. Their conclusion:

These numbers don’t add up to 8 million … 

Like almost everything else involving DOGE, the math doesn’t work out.

You can click the link below to read the article:

Clarifying claim that DOGE, RFK Jr. found 8M people fraudulently on Medicaid
The numbers appeared tied to estimates on the number of people who may be cut from Medicaid under U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/05/24/medicaid-doge-rfk-jr

MSNBC: Trump made a promise not to touch Medicare. His megabill just broke it.

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The House bill, as of now, would trigger massive cuts to the program.

As many Americans were still sleeping Thursday morning, the House of Representatives passed a bill whose text they hadn’t read, Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The bill’s sweeping cuts to Medicaid, contributing to 14 million fewer people having health coverage by 2034, have received wide coverage. Less well known, however, is the bill’s dire implications for Medicare recipients. If the House version of the bill becomes law, Medicare payments to medical providers would be slashed by more than $500 billion over the next 10 years. This would have serious implications for tens of millions of older adults and providers and may even cause hospitals to close.

The explanation of how these automatic cuts to Medicare spending would work:

Though the GOP bill doesn’t explicitly call for Medicare cuts, it would trigger them under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act. Congress passed Stat PAYGO in 2010 to discourage policymakers from enacting tax cuts and spending that would increase federal deficits.

Under Stat PAYGO, the Office of Management and Budget must keep “PAYGO scorecards” for five-year deficit impacts and 10-year deficit impacts. PAYGO stipulates that when any legislation is enacted, the average cost of the legislation for the next five years is entered into each year of the five-year scorecard and the average cost for the next 10 years is entered into each year of the 10-year scorecard. At the end of each session of Congress, if there is a cumulative deficit in that fiscal year on either scorecard, there is an automatic spending reduction (sequestration) to offset the larger of the two deficits. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the House Republican bill, if enacted, would increase the deficit by $2.3 trillion over 10 years, and trigger sequestration.

And as for social security:

Some types of funding, including many mandatory spending accounts like Social Security, are exempt from the automatic cuts, but Medicare provider payments are not. 

So …

In short, though Trump and House Republicans promised this bill would not touch Medicare, at the moment that promise is broken.

Opinion | Trump made a promise not to touch Medicare. His megabill just broke it.
The House bill, as of now, would trigger massive cuts to the program.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-made-promise-not-touch-medicare-megabill-just-broke-rcna208518

MSNBC: It’s not just Medicaid: Why the Republicans’ bill would likely force Medicare cuts, too

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The CBO said the GOP’s megabill would lead to $500 billion in cuts to Medicare. Two days later, 215 House Republicans voted for it anyway.

As the fight over the Republicans’ so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act unfolded, much of the focus turned to Medicaid, and for good reason. Despite Donald Trump’s promise not to cut the health care program, the GOP legislation would cut roughly $700 billion from Medicaid in the coming years, and with just hours remaining before the bill reached the floor, party leaders added new and punitive Medicaid provisions to shore up support from far-right members.

But as important as the future of Medicaid is, the legislation’s impact on Medicare matters, too.

If people were to dig into the 1,000-page bill to look for the provisions related to Medicare cuts, they won’t find them. But there’s a difference between the literal text of the legislation and the practical effects of the legislation.

In fact, as The Washington Post reported, the Congressional Budget Office found that the Republicans’ megabill would add so many trillions of dollars to the national debt, “it could force nearly $500 billion in cuts to Medicare” — with some cuts taking effect as early as next year. As the Post noted, the higher deficits would force budget officials “to mandate across-the-board spending cuts over that window that would hit the federal health insurance program for seniors and people with disabilities.”

…

But that doesn’t change the bottom line: The CBO told the House that the Republicans’ reconciliation package would lead to $500 billion in cuts to Medicare, and two days later, 215 House Republicans voted for it anyway.

It’s not just Medicaid: Why the Republicans’ bill would likely force Medicare cuts, too
The CBO said the GOP’s megabill would lead to $500 billion in cuts to Medicare. Two days later, 215 House Republicans voted for it anyway.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/medicare-cuts-medicaid-republicans-reconciliation-bill-rcna208484

Musk Watch: Musk promised budget cuts. He delivered a panopticon.

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The Department of Government Efficiency, the secretive White House initiative founded by Elon Musk, was sold to the American public under the guise of cost-cutting. In this regard it has failed. After more than 110 days of austerity theater, DOGE has shaved just a few billion dollars from annual federal spending. Musk, who is poised to “significantly” reduce his involvement in the project, had promised $2 trillion.

DOGE has had much more success expanding the executive branch’s domestic surveillance capacity.

Citing whistleblower complaints, Rep. Gerald Connolly divulged last month that DOGE is building a “master database,” a single exhaustive repository containing personal data held by numerous federal agencies, including the IRS, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Health and Human Services.

“The DOGE team is reportedly engaged in an unprecedented effort to build a massive database using data from SSA and across the federal government,” the Democratic lawmaker wrote in a letter to the SSA Office of the Inspector General.

Efforts to build the database are part of a Trump executive order dictating the elimination of the federal government’s “information silos.” In signing the executive order in March, Trump tied it to DOGE’s nominal mission of “stopping waste, fraud, and abuse.”

But in action, amalgamating federal data is part of the White House’s push to deport and intimidate undocumented immigrants, including by falsifying SSA death records to prevent undocumented immigrants from accessing housing and banking services. DOGE employees are also using data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to remove undocumented immigrants from housing, even if they are living with family members who are legal residents.

The DOGE master database is being built and housed at the Department of Homeland Security and includes the use of biometric data to track immigrants, according to Wired. “They are already cross-referencing immigration [data] with SSA and IRS as well as voter data,” one DHS official told the outlet. FedScoop reported last week that members of DOGE have been spotted at a DHS border security office that houses fingerprint, facial, and iris records.

China would be so proud!

Musk promised budget cuts. He delivered a panopticon.
The Department of Government Efficiency, the secretive White House initiative founded by Elon Musk, was sold to the American public under the guise of cost-cutting.

https://www.muskwatch.com/p/musk-promised-budget-cuts-he-delivered

Raw Story: ‘Pay for Trump’s golf trips’: Observers call out ‘Orwellian language’ in Republican budget

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“The GOP budget has $0 for FEMA’s emergency management funding, yet provides $300M to pay for Trump’s golf trips,” complained Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.). “Extreme weather doesn’t discriminate between red and blue districts. The GOP is choosing Trump’s golf over the safety and security of their constituents.”

‘Pay for Trump’s golf trips’: Observers call out ‘Orwellian language’ in Republican budget
President Donald Trump released his 2026 budget proposal on Friday in a document that says he’s cut $163 billion from federal spending so far. Fox News reporter Edward Lawrence said that this was a “skinny” topline budget request, but it “does not include Medicare and Medicaid spending. Represents an increase of 13.4%, for the military,” Lawrence s…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pay-for-trump-s-golf-trips-observers-call-out-orwellian-language-in-republican-budget/ar-AA1E42tw

Newsweek: Medicaid Update: Trump Pushes Republicans to Mandate Change

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President Donald Trump is pushing to have the pharmaceutical industry help fund his tax cuts by requiring drugmakers to lower Medicaid drug prices, according to reporting by Bloomberg News.

Newsweek reached out to the White House by email on Friday afternoon for comment.

Trump targeted drug prices as part of his effort to bring down costs for Americans: He first signed an order that rescinded former President Joe Biden’s executive order that lowered the cost of prescription drugs, but last month signed a fresh order telling the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take new steps to lower drug costs through competition and market forces rather than through presidential mandate.

So the bottom line is that thanks to King Donald’s meddling, we now have a net INCREASE in prescription costs to Medicaid patients.

Medicaid Update: Trump Pushes Republicans to Mandate Change
The proposal comes amid negotiations over how to cut hundreds of billions of dollars in spending to fund the GOP tax package.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/medicaid-update-trump-pushes-republicans-to-mandate-change/ar-AA1E42uD

Fox News: Harvard professor reveals university was ‘not ready’ after Oct 7 as Trump revokes tax-exempt status

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An adjunct professor at Harvard spoke out Thursday after the Ivy League university’s president, Alan Garber, apologized as scathing internal reports exposed that antisemitism and Islamophobia were prevalent on campus. 

Eugene Litvak, who teaches at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that one of the nation’s top universities “was not ready” for the anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic behavior that has plagued Harvard since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

“Obviously, I was really, really upset,” Litvak told Fox. “What happened at Harvard after October 7th, and [at] the university, in my opinion, again, that’s my personal opinion, the university was not ready to face these kinds of challenges. None of the universities were ready.”

“I’m commending, actually, the letter from the president of the university,” the Harvard professor added. “What I really like, in science, we say that you cannot solve any problem unless you formulate it. So he formulated the problem in his letter. He acknowledged that there is a problem. Otherwise, nothing would happen.”

Harvard president Alan Garber apologized in a letter Tuesday after internal reports unveiled antisemitism and Islamophobia’s presence at the Ivy League school. Garber described the findings as “disturbing.”

“I think that’s a step in the absolutely right direction,” Litvak told Fox News Digital. “I would like to see the fruits of it. But again, I was very, very pleased because of the acknowledgment that there is such a problem.”

But:

Despite Garber’s apology and admission, President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social Friday stating that the administration will be “taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status,” noting “It’s what they deserve!” 

Harvard professor reveals university was ‘not ready’ after Oct 7 as Trump revokes tax-exempt status
A Harvard school of Public Health professor spoke out after scathing internal reports unveiled antisemitism and islamophobia at one of America’s top universities.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/harvard-professor-reveals-university-was-not-ready-after-oct-7-as-trump-revokes-tax-exempt-status/ar-AA1E6efu

Associated Press: May Day demonstrations in US and around the globe protest Trump agenda

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Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. and around the world rallied Thursday in May Day protests that united many in anger over President Donald Trump’s agenda from aggressive tariffs that are stoking fears of global economic turmoil to his administration’s immigration crackdowns.

In the United States, organizers framed this year’s International Workers’ Day protests as a pushback against what they see as the administration’s sweeping assault on labor protections, diversity initiatives and federal employees. Protesters lined streets in many cities from New York to Philadelphia to Los Angeles and held a boisterous rally outside the White House in Washington.

May Day demonstrations in US and around the globe protest Trump agenda
Hundreds of thousands of people rallied in U.S. cities and around the globe for International Workers’ Day or May Day, with the focus this year on President Donald Trump’s agenda.

https://apnews.com/article/may-day-workers-labor-unions-rallies-marches-trump-46de8196d7f01d7458c3d77ccd5e0e54

Irish Star: True meaning behind [Bimbo #1] Karoline Leavitt’s nickname as White House press secretary clashes with reporters

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[Bimbo #1] Karoline Leavitt has been living up to a new nickname she was given following her first White House press briefing as she’s accused of making a disgraceful attempt to spin the Trump administration’s Signal group chat scandal.

The White House press secretary – who recently showed off what a day in her life looks like – was first dubbed the “spinmeister” by CNN back in January as she was accused of spinning information about a pause on federal grants and loans when she said payments for Social Security, Medicare and food stamps would not be affected but didn’t say what would happen to nonprofit programs like Meals on Wheels.

“It’s a classic spinmeister tactic saying I answered that when you haven’t answered it and apparently can’t answer it right away,” CNN’s fact-checker Daniel Dale said.

But the 27-year-old’s latest spin attempt has backfired as she now appears to have made a spectacular U-turn after critics accused her of lying. After The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to a Signal messaging app group in which top government officials discussed plans for strikes in Yemen, Leavitt attempted to change the narrative.

During a fiery White House briefing on Wednesday the press secretary told reporters: “If this story proves anything, it proves that Democrats and their propagandists in the mainstream media know how to fabricate, orchestrate, and disseminate a misinformation campaign quite well.”

She called Goldberg’s piece a “sensationalized story from the failing Atlantic magazine” while attempting to smear the reporter and doubling down on claims that no classified information was leaked.

Leavitt snapped at CNN’s Kaitlin Collins when asked about the ongoing scandal before abruptly cutting the volatile press conference short.

Head in the sand often?

True meaning behind Karoline Leavitt’s nickname as White House press secretary clashes with reporters

True meaning behind Karoline Leavitt’s nickname as White House press secretary clashes with reporters