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Tag: defunding
Donald Trump

Trump Vows To ’Terminate’ Funding For Social Security And Medicare

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

President Donald Trump said over the weekend that if re-elected, he will "terminate" the taxes that finance Social Security and Medicare. Advocates of the popular federal programs took that remark as proof of their warnings over many months about Republican plans to sabotage and defund them -- beginning with the White House scheme to "suspend" payroll taxes in the name of pandemic relief.

Defying constitutional prohibitions, Trump announced that he had signed executive orders to bypass Congress in their dispute over a new relief bill, which included his unilateral decision to cut $200 weekly from the emergency federal unemployment supplements of $600 passed by Democrats, He called the order a payroll tax "holiday -- and while those taxes will eventually have to be repaid, Trump said he would make the cut permanent. Experts noted that this policy would bankrupt the Social Security and Medicare systems.

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Midwestern GOP Cracks Down On Right To Choose

The Republican Party’s three decade plan to restrict abortion rights scored another success after officials successfully defunded Planned Parenthood in both Minnesota and Indiana. In Kansas, a new strict set of regulations enforced by anti-abortion Governor Sam Brownback will now likely mean that all three clinics with doctors willing and able to perform the procedure will be forced to temporarily close their doors in coming weeks. The Associated Press has the documents:

Kansas officials have taken only a few weeks to draft new abortion clinic regulations and plan to decide by July whether to give the state’s three existing clinics the licenses they need to continue operating, according to documents released Tuesday.

The top executive for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid Missouri said he’s concerned imposing the new regulations so quickly will force all three clinics to shut down. The Planned Parenthood chapter operates one of the three clinics, all of which are in the Kansas City area.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is imposing the rules under Republican-backed legislation that was signed into law last month by GOP Gov. Sam Brownback, a strong abortion opponent. The department sent Planned Parenthood a letter earlier this month saying its clinic would be inspected and notified by July 1 whether it would have a license. The other clinics received similar letters.

The Associated Press filed an open records request last week, seeking copies of the department’s correspondence with the clinics. Planned Parenthood provided its copies of the letters shortly before the agency released them. Both also provided a copy of the latest version of the new regulations, dated Friday, the same day clinics were required to apply for their licenses.

North Carolina Becomes 3rd State to Defund Planned Parenthood

North Carolina is the latest victim of extremism by the Tea Party freshmen swept into state legislatures across the country last fall:

Republican state representatives in North Carolina voted to override Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of the state budget Wednesday morning, ensuring that a provision to strip all federal and state money from Planned Parenthood will take effect on July 1. North Carolina is now the third state, after Indiana and Kansas, to defund the family planning provider because it also provides abortions.

The state will be a key battleground in the 2012 presidential race when Barack Obama tries to repeat his victory there, an achievement shared by no other Democrat since Jimmy Carter in 1976. If the GOP-dominated State Legislature alienates moderates in the state, it might render its 15 electoral votes an easier lift. [Huffington Post]