“To reduce the number of people stymied by paperwork and red tape, New York State has been working to automatically certify residents who are already fulfilling the requirements, by accessing information not only from state databases but from payroll providers.”
From my colleague Adam Searing: States are Beginning to Grapple with Federal Medicaid Cuts Impact on Rural Health Care ccf.georgetown.edu/2026/03/31/s...
A very real problem with our foreign policy is that we are able to easily kill for causes we don’t actually think are worth dying for
Sponsoring a spouse costs US citizens up to $2,675 in fees alone, $675 to petition, $1,440 to adjust status, $560 for a work permit. The government is cashing those checks and then doing nothing. That's fraud not delay.
Holy shit - this would be very, very bad:
"The databases, called “Numident” and the “Master Death File,” include records for more than 500 million living and dead Americans, including Social Security numbers, places and dates of birth, citizenship, race and ethnicity, and parents’ names."
Minnesota has sued to halt CMS' unlawful, punitive effort to block federal #Medicaid funding through a "deferral". My colleague Andy Schneider takes a look at the lawsuit and how CMS isn't following its own regulations. A court hearing is scheduled for tomorrow: ccf.georgetown.edu/2026/03/06/c...
As promised my colleague Andy Schneider with a *must read* blog taking a deep dive into the Trump Admin's latest unprecedented effort to block federal #Medicaid funding in order to punish Minnesota. A few key takeaways to follow (1/x): ccf.georgetown.edu/2026/03/02/c...
the party that wants to require ID to vote abruptly invalidating a thousand people’s IDs overnight seems like a pretty giant flashing red light
The @ACLU has filed a class action damages suit against federal & state officers over an Idaho immigration raid last October. 200 armed officers raided a horse-race festival, detaining 400 Latinos for 4 hrs. All adults & many teens ziptied & searched.
1/8
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
GEORGE RETES: “My name is George Retes. I was born and raised here in Ventura, California. I’m 26 years old and I am an Iraq combat veteran. I was going to work like normal. I show up. ICE is there. There’s kind of like a roadblock. I get out. I identify myself — that I’m a U.S. citizen, that I’m just trying to get to work. I’m trying to leave. I’m getting ready to leave and they surround my car, start banging on it, start shouting these contradictory orders. Even though I was giving them no reason, they still felt the need to — one agent knelt on my back and another agent knelt on my neck. And during that time, I’m just pleading with them that I couldn’t breathe. I was in isolation. I was in basically this concrete cell. I was stripped naked in like a hospital gown. And they leave the lights on 24/7. They just came out and they said that I was violent and that I assaulted agents. Why lie when it’s on video of everything that happened? Why lie?”
PBS News Hour: U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents describe how they were treated.
Watch the segment here www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMgC...
I'm clipping transcripts of the citizens speaking in this thread 1/3
As a direct result of the obscene actions of Russell Vought and Elon Musk in destroying USAID, we can expect “at least 9.4 million additional deaths by 2030, if the current funding trend continues.
About 2.5 million of those deaths are projected to be children under the age of 5.”
People aren't so easily sorted into disabled (in the sense of totally unable to work) and non-disabled. All kinds of conditions limit the types of work someone can do and how many hours they can work.
Thus, rather than require such adjudications, the Department is changing its regulations to provide the Board more flexibility in reviewing appeals. Instead, for appeals taken from decisions issued after this IF becomes effective, as explained in Section IV.A of this preamble, the default will be summary dismissal unless a majority of current Board members vote to consider the appeal on the merits. And such dismissals will occur quickly—within 15 days of filing the appeal—allowing aliens to seek Federal court review expeditiously, rather than potentially waiting for years for a Board decision that in the vast majority of cases would affirm the underlying Immigration Judge decision.
🚨HOLY CRAP. The Trump admin just took a SLEDGEHAMMER to due process, largely eliminating the Board of Immigration Appeals process and MANDATING DISMISSAL of ALL appeals (which cost $1,000 thanks to OBBBA) filed after tomorrow unless a majority of the BIA votes to hear the case.
it does feel fundamentally dysfunctional, right, to beg lawmakers to use the law to force law enforcement to obey the law
--avg. net premium hikes: 102% (more than double)
--over 70,000 PA enrollees have already dropped coverage (~15% of all 2025 enrollees)
...and more, including enrollment & avg rate hikes by HOUSE DISTRICT.
🚨 PENNSYLVANIA: More ugly #ACA data caused by Republicans letting the enhanced tax credits expire:
acasignups.net/26/01/23/pen...
What’s this old thing
New in the Federal Register, CMS has taken the next regulatory step toward withholding federal Medicaid dollars from Minnesota, following its January 6 letter to Walz
public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-00512.p...
As Evan reminds me, the state subsidy program for low-income enrollees is mostly being paid for by retooling the *existing* program which ELIMINATED deductibles altogether for enrollees up to 250% FPL.
In other words, over 800K just saw their deductibles skyrocket as well.
bsky.app/profile/evan...
i'm sure being known as Justice Kavanaugh Stop is a minor inconvenience with a brief duration and he will be promptly free of it
United States Department of Agriculture Limited Sources Justification For an Order/BPA Exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold FAR 8.4 Ordering under the Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Control No. (if applicable) 1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity. 1a. Requesting Activity Agency: USDA Office of the Chief Information Officer 1b. Contracting Activity: USDA Office of Contracting and Procurement, Procurement Operations Division 2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved. This limited source justification supports the establishment of a single award Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) under the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), Information Technology (IT) for Palantir Platform current and future commercial solutions, including core software, data, compute infrastructure, and ancillary support services, such as software modifications, auxiliary modules, engineering services, and training in direct support of the National Farm Security Action Plan (NFSAP).
Specific technical requirements include, but are not limited, to consolidation of complex data systems and environments into a unified platform which enables rapid deployment of Al functionality. This capability includes integration with key user data previously submitted by applicants for access of USDA services to reduce overall application and processing times and to automate data collection and extraction from forms to seamlessly integrate existing USDA data sources to conduct key security checks and expedite benefits processing for eligible applicants. Real-time data synchronization with existing producer and entity management systems will ensure accurate applicant information to inform and facilitate speedier and more accurate application processing and payment disbursement where applicable. Other key technical requirements include implementing real time and continuous compliance monitoring with automate risk or alert generation or regulatory compliance officers and other personnel upon detection of threats or anomalies, in addition to establishing complete transaction logging and compliance documentation capabilities across all integrated tools and workflows for regulatory reporting and oversight activities. This includes implementing standardized integration protocols and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that maintain existing security controls, audit trails, and data privacy protection across all system interfaces. The BPA will include a one-year base period, with two (2) one-year option periods for a total potential ordering period of three (3) years. The estimated BPA ceiling is $300 million.
Screenshot from "https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/farm-security-nat-sec.pdf" reading: 3. U.S. Nutrition Safety Net Must be Protected from Fraud, Abuse, and Foreign Adversaries Programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) should be preserved for truly needy individuals legally in the United States, safeguarding them from fraud, abuse, and foreign adversaries while respecting the generosity of the American taxpayer. Vulnerabilities in the SNAP payment system are a persistent target of transnational criminals and gangs. Law enforcement has identified a troubling trend of transnational criminal organizations (TCO) stealing from the poor and the American taxpayer by such means as cloning point of sale devices and card skimming. The proceeds often are used by the TCOs to fund their criminal activity. • Action: In alignment with President Trump's Executive Order 14218, Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders, USDA will ensure all relevant programs comply with associated laws, regulations, and Executive Orders; implement strengthened enforcement measures; clarify expectations for both States and authorized retailers to mitigate benefit trafficking and other types of fraud; and improve the integrity of application processes. • Action: In partnership with USDA's Office of Inspector General and other federal agencies, ensure no funds across USDA's 16 nutrition programs are being used to fund activities related to terrorism or criminal activity. • Action: The USDA will disqualify authorized retailers that are complicit in SNAP fraud or otherwise demonstrate a lack of responsible business behavior to transact SNAP benefits. USDA will also enhance its work with Federal and local law enforcement to combat SNAP retail fraud, including benefit trafficking and card skimming and cloning.
USDA plans to give Palantir a no-bid contract for AI "data integration" for the National Farm Security Action Plan which notably highlights SNAP 'fraud.'
So Palantir AI will ingest "key user data previously submitted by applicants" to "conduct security checks."
It'll cost up to $300 million.
This guidance would mean that people who originally entered as refugees or asylees, or who were "paroled into the US," could never become eligible for SNAP even if they became permanent residents. That's definitely not what HR 1 said.
Details are here: ag.ny.gov/sites/defaul...
The law is clear on who can receive SNAP benefits, yet the Trump Administration is trying to strip rightful recipients of the support they need to feed their families.
www.fox2detroit.com/news/dana-ne...
You really gotta follow up on an underspecified claim like “we found 186k dead people.”
People die every day, and the government is always going to be some amount behind in working out the administrative consequences, but that doesn’t mean the deceased’s EBT accounts were somehow used for fraud.
They cut out more than refugees and asylees, though. Non-citizen eligibility for SNAP was narrowed to Lawful Permanent Residents, Cuban & Haitian Entrants, and COFA Migrants (people from Micronesia, Palau, and Marshall Islands). FNS doesn't seem to have their website updated, but here's a source.
Yes, this is in line with what the state agencies were told. Most of the Ukrainians in my area were parolees, so they are losing eligibility.
“To the extent states sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized,” wrote Patrick A. Penn, a top official at the Agriculture Department. “Accordingly, states must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025.” David A. Super, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, said it would not be “legal” for the government to claw back benefits that it had already provisioned without affording people due process.
Some states got full benefits out after the courts ordered them to. The White House is saying that was illegal. But it would also be illegal to claw back those benefits. The net result is that some SNAP users got full benefits, and some did not depending on how aggressively their state acted.
