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Illinois shut out of Medicaid after Trump administration halts federal grants and loans — The Trump administration's federal freeze has shut Illinois out of Medicaid, according to Gov. JB Pritzker's office. The government-funded health insurance program covered about 3.9 million people …
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NBC News, New Republic, Semafor, Fortune, Wirepoints and Raw Story
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White House says Medicaid portal ‘will be back online shortly’ after Trump funding freeze blamed … Medicaid reimbursement portals were down Tuesday in every U.S. state on the heels of a funding freeze ordered by the Trump administration of federal grants and loans, Sen. Ron Wyden said.
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Bloomberg, ABC News, Mother Jones, FOX 32 Chicago, PoliticusUSA, Arizona Mirror, Chicago Tribune and The Guardian
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White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion — Trillions of dollars could be on hold, according to an Office of Management and Budget memo. — The White House budget office is ordering a pause to all grants and loans disbursed by the federal government …
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The Handbasket, Vox, The Hill, NOTUS, New York Times, Associated Press, HotAir, The Atlantic, FedScoop, Reuters, The Independent, FOX 32 Chicago, Raw Story, Wall Street Journal, The Root, Axios, Mercury News, The Post Millennial, Hollywood Life, WVEC, Forbes, Fortune, Good Politics/Bad Politics, Heatmap News, Mock Paper Scissors, RedState, No More Mister Nice Blog and E&E News, more at Techmeme »
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As some Medicaid sites freeze up, White House acts to clarify pause on grants and programs — Payments system appears to be an issue after budget office issued broadly worded memo — WASHINGTON — A memo from the White House budget office indicates that Medicaid payments should not be affected …
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NPR
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All federal grants and loan disbursement paused by White House — The White House budget office has ordered a pause on all federal grants and loans, according to an internal memorandum sent Monday, potentially impacting trillions in government spending and halting public programs that affect millions of Americans.
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Medicaid, Head Start, health centers say they're locked out of federal funding website — A wide range of organizations and agencies that depend on federal health department funds say they have been locked out of the online system responsible for tracking and depositing their money …
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HuffPost, Business Insider, The Guardian, Mock Paper Scissors, Alternet.org, Center For Children … and Raw Story
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White House Budget Office Orders Pause in All Federal Loans and Grants
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The Hill, Politico, VTDigger, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New Jersey Globe, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg, The Independent, Jill Filipovic, Fox News and New Republic
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States lose access to Medicaid payment portal amid Trump federal aid freeze
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Bloomberg, Quartz, Mediaite, WUSA, NewsNation, MeidasTouch News and Daily Montanan
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Caroline Kennedy warns senators of ‘predator’ RFK Jr. in searing letter — In a letter to lawmakers, the former U.S. ambassador to Australia and cousin of Trump's HHS nominee, questions Robert F. Kennedy's ethics and views on vaccines. — Caroline Kennedy on Tuesday warned senators …
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Caroline Kennedy calls RFK Jr. a “predator” in letter to senators a day before his confirmation hearings
Discussion:
ABC News
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Democrats' playbook for Trump 2.0: Tune out the noise and focus on economic issues — As Trump floods the zone in his first week in office, Democrats are departing from their “resistance” strategy in his first term and zeroing in on issues that cost them the last election.
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Digby's Hullabaloo and Slate
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Senate Democrats block GOP's ICC sanctions bill — Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked Republicans from advancing legislation to sanction the International Criminal Court, arguing the bill had sweeping consequences on allies and American businesses. — Republicans failed to get the 60 votes needed …
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Axios, Reuters, Semafor, IJR, Jewish Insider and Washington Post
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Democrats declare ‘constitutional crisis’ on funding freeze — Senate Democrats vowed to fight a White House freeze on federal financial assistance, calling for a delay in the confirmation of President Donald Trump's nominee for White House budget chief, threatening potential court actions …
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Washington Examiner, Axios, The Hill, PoliticusUSA, Scripps News and NBC News
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Non-profits, health groups sue over Trump's freeze on grants, loans
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Associated Press, The Guardian, Business Insider, CNBC, New Republic, GovExec.com, Truthout, WVEC, Alternet.org, Reuters, The Verge, Baltimore Sun, Iowa Capital Dispatch, Raw Story, Hollywood Life and CBS News
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Michigan's Gary Peters won't seek reelection to U.S. Senate. Here's why — Washington ― Gary Peters, Michigan's senior senator and a former congressman, said he won't seek reelection next year and will retire from the U.S. Senate when his second term ends in January 2027.
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Scoop: Pete Buttigieg taking “serious look” at Michigan Senate race in 2026 … - “Pete is exploring all of his options on how he can be helpful and continue to serve,” said a person close to Buttigieg. — “He's honored to be mentioned for this and he's taking a serious look.”
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Washington Examiner, New York Daily News, New Jersey Online, New York Post, Roll Call and Breitbart
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Michigan Sen. Gary Peters will not run for reelection, opening a key Senate seat
Discussion:
Politico, One America News Network, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Bloomberg, Fox News, The Independent, Axios, The Hill, E&E News and Associated Press
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120. The Impoundment Crisis of 2025 — The Trump administration's Monday spending freeze is likely to provoke a crisis over the constitutionality of “impoundment”—one that the justices could well have to resolve *very* soon. — Welcome back to “One First,” a weekly newsletter that aims …
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A Primer on the Impoundment Control Act
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HuffPost, Bloomberg, The Nation and Digby's Hullabaloo
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Trump's Most Lawless Action Yet
Discussion:
Robert Reich and Forbes
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Trump Ousts Top Labor Board Leaders Who Backed Broader Worker Rights — Jennifer Abruzzo says she was fired by email late on Monday — Donald Trump is forcing out top leaders of the US labor board, ushering in a swift reboot of workplace law enforcement while testing the limits of presidential authority.
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How Things Work, Raw Story, Truthout, RedState and New York Times
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Trump fires acting Labor Board chair in legally dubious move
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Reuters, Washington Examiner, NBC News, Competitive Enterprise …, NPR, The Gateway Pundit and HuffPost
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Trump fires senior labor board official in ‘unprecedented and illegal’ move
Discussion:
Washington Examiner
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Live Updates: White House Defends Trump's Funding Freeze as Opponents Rush to Block It — Where Things Stand — Federal aid pause: The White House budget office ordered a pause in grants, loans and other federal financial assistance, a sweeping move it said was necessary to bring …
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Axios, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Washington Examiner, Politico, Reuters, Daily Kos, ABC News, Breitbart, The Hill, TMZ.com, NewsNation, E&E News, Fox News and The Gateway Pundit
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Trump's perceived enemies brace for retribution with plans, dark humor
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Trump to host Netanyahu at the White House on Feb. 4
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USA Today, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, VINnews and Semafor
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France floated sending troops to Greenland, foreign minister says — The comments came as Denmark's prime minister travels to Berlin, Paris and Brussels to shore up support from allies. — PARIS — France has discussed with Denmark sending troops to Greenland in response …
Discussion:
HotAir, Breaking Defense and Raw Story
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Republican congressman suggests some children receiving free school lunches should work at McDonald's instead — Rep. Rich McCormick said that the freeze on federal aid would allow the government to review all programs including ones that provide free school lunches to low-income children.
Discussion:
HuffPost, New Republic, Alternet.org and Raw Story
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Departing the New York Times — As many people reading this know, last month I retired from my position as an opinion writer at the New York Times—a job I had done for 25 years. Despite the encomiums issued by the Times, it was not a happy departure. If you check out my Substack …
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The Largest Tuberculosis Outbreak in U.S. History Is Happening Right Now in Kansas — And the news comes as the Trump administration has “paused” all public messaging by the CDC. — I always thought I'd missed a lot not having been born in the 19th century. From The Topeka Capital-Journal:
Discussion:
The Guardian, CBS News and New Republic
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Kansas' tuberculosis outbreak is now the largest in the U.S. since the 1950s
Discussion:
Scripps News, WHDH-TV and WUSA
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Social media dumbfounded as Jim Acosta quits on air — yet ‘CNN rewards Scott Jennings’ — Social media erupted Tuesday with users shocked and upset with CNN's decision to let anchor Jim Acosta go — while keeping conservative commentator Scott Jennings. — The ruckus started …
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The Strategy Behind Trump's Policy Blitz — The staff was still setting up dinner on Mar-a-Lago's outdoor patio on a balmy early-January evening when Donald Trump sat down. He was surrounded by several top advisers who would soon join him in the West Wing and who wanted to get his input …
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Man charged with carrying Molotov cocktails into the Capitol was targeting Johnson, Hegseth, Bessent — A man who was arrested Monday after allegedly bringing Molotov cocktails to the Capitol told police that he intended to kill Speaker Mike Johnson, Pete Hegseth and Scott Bessent, federal prosecutors said in court filings.
Discussion:
CNBC, The Hill, ABC News, Townhall, The Guardian, RedState, The Daily Caller and The Post Millennial
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Trump Is Going Woke — I understand that Donald Trump was elected to better manage our borders and curb left-wing wokeism. But have no illusions: Trump's right-wing wokeism — impugning electric vehicles and renewable energy because they don't conform to MAGA ideology and aren't manly enough …
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Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness — By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, and to ensure the readiness and effectiveness of our Armed Forces, it is hereby ordered:
Discussion:
NBC News, Missouri Independent, RedState, Law Dork, Transgender World, New York Times, Gay City News, Mother Jones, NPR, The 19th, Advocate, Mediaite, SpaceNews, Shore News Network, PinkNews, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Examiner, Modern Military Association …, The Federalist, Task & Purpose, The Independent, Althouse and Must Read Alaska
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What Just Happened: The “Invasion” Executive Order and Its Dangerous Implications — A number of crucial issues in immigration law and policy now turn on the meaning of a previously little-noticed term in the Constitution: “invasion.” The Trump administration and some red state governments claim …