⛔ GOP Refusal to Extend Health Care Subsidies
Key Point: Republicans in Congress chose to bow to Trump instead of standing up for their constituents. They had every chance to negotiate on health care, but they caved to Trump’s pressure campaign and left millions of families facing skyrocketing insurance prices.
Here's The Facts
- While Republicans play political games, families are facing real-world consequences. If the enhanced premium tax credits expire at the end of this year, Americans will see their monthly premium payments more than double, increasing by about 114%, on average.
- Instead of negotiating to bring down insurance costs, Trump’s team tried to bully their own workforce by firing over 4,100 federal employees, including 20% of the workforce at the Department of Education, responsible for special education, civil rights enforcement, Title I funding, and after-school programs.
- Instead of working to lower health care costs for families, Trump’s team blocked SNAP funding and other vital programs to squeeze families and communities into political submission. They treated hunger and hardship as bargaining chips.
- Families are left asking urgent questions about Republicans’ plans for affordable health care, like whether they can afford prescriptions, see a doctor for chronic issues, or what to do in the case of a medical emergency.
- Americans deserve better than Republican governance. They deserve a government that functions and health care they can afford.
🏥 HEALTH CARE
Key Point: Trump promised better, cheaper health care. Instead, he slashed nearly $900 billion from Medicaid, the ACA, and vital health programs to fund billionaire tax breaks.
Here's The Facts
- Nearly $900 billion in health care cuts. Trump’s 2025 budget slashed funding for Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and subsidies that working families rely on, all to make room for billionaire tax breaks.
- Trump is still trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act. His administration is pushing plans to unwind coverage for millions, with no serious replacement.
- Millions are at risk of losing Medicaid. Proposed changes to the program add cumbersome requirements that could rip coverage away from low-income families, seniors in nursing homes, and children with disabilities.
- Medicare Part B costs are rising for seniors in 2026. The administration is poised to allow a 10% spike in Medicare Part B premiums for next year.
- Mental health & addiction programs are on the chopping block. Trump’s budget includes deep cuts to behavioral health grants and suicide prevention programs, even as demand hits record highs. Trump also paused rules to hold insurers accountable for unlawfully denying mental health coverage.
- He’s politicizing the Department of Health and Human Services. Trump’s appointments are focused on further curtailling reproductive rights, restricting public access to life-saving vaccines, and deprioritizing the role of science within the agency.
- Rural hospitals are at risk of closing. Trump’s refusal to invest in rural health systems is putting hospitals at risk, leaving entire communities without care. The massive cuts to health care spending will take needed federal assistance away from rural hospitals and clinics.
- Americans are being told to pay more and get less. That’s the TrumpCare vision: less coverage, higher premiums, fewer protections, and a free pass for Big Pharma and private insurers.
💵 THE ECONOMY
Key Point: Trump’s economy is faltering. Jobs are down, prices are up, and small businesses are struggling. His tariffs and policies are fueling inflation and uncertainty, dragging the economy toward stagflation.
Here's The Facts
- Job growth is collapsing. June and May jobs reports were revised down by a combined 258,000 jobs.
- Unemployment is rising. Unemployment rose to nearly a four-year high in September, and almost a quarter of all unemployed workers have been without a job for 27 weeks or longer. Inflation continues to tick up each month. CPI for all items rose in August, and in the last year, prices for all items increased 2.9%.
- Trump is still blocking key economic data from being published. Trump is limiting the amount of October federal data published and muddying the waters on the true state of the economy. According to the ADP National Employment Report, private sector job losses averaged 2,500 per week in October.
- Trump’s tariffs are driving up costs and will cost the average American household $2,400 this year – with families facing 40% higher prices for footwear, 38% higher prices for apparel, and a 3.3% spike in food prices.
- Trump’s tariff taxes will increase the number of Americans living in poverty by between 650,000 and 875,000.
- Main Street is paying the price. Tariffs, higher interest rates, and policy whiplash are crushing small businesses.
- Stagflation is back. Growth is slowing down, and prices are rising — a self-inflicted wound caused by Trump’s trade policies and fiscal chaos.
- Trump’s fake economic “boom” is unraveling, just like his promises.
- Consumer sentiment is at one of the lowest levels on record. According to Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu, consumers “remain frustrated about the persistence of high prices and weakening incomes.”
🏥 PUBLIC HEALTH
Key Point: Trump’s administration has weakened public health infrastructure by slashing funding, delaying vaccine safety reforms, and enabling misinformation, all while measles outbreaks surge and vaccine hesitancy grows.
Here's The Facts
- He slashed funding for CDC and pandemic preparedness. Trump’s 2025 budget cut millions from programs meant to detect and respond to disease outbreaks — even after the lessons of COVID-19.
- Climate and environmental health protections are being gutted. The Trump EPA rolled back air and water quality rules, despite growing health threats from extreme heat, wildfires, and pollution.
- Reversing course on reproductive health. Trump reinstated and expanded the global gag rule, defunded Title X family planning providers, and targeted contraception access at home and abroad.
- Politicization of the CDC is back. Senior public health experts report interference and suppression of science-based guidance — the same playbook Trump used in 2020.
- Gun violence research? None. Despite rising gun deaths, Trump is stonewalling funding for research and prevention, giving the NRA everything it wants.
- Public health equity programs are being dismantled. Trump is rolling back initiatives aimed at closing racial and economic health gaps, and replacing them with nothing.
- Measles outbreaks are back. With falling vaccination rates, 2025 has seen the worst measles resurgence in over a decade — and Trump’s silence is deafening.
- Childhood vaccination rates are dropping. In multiple states, vaccine coverage is below herd immunity levels — putting entire communities at risk.
- Food safety and overdose prevention are underfunded. While opioid deaths rise and foodborne illnesses spike, Trump is prioritizing corporate giveaways over public safety.
- Public health leaders are leaving. State and federal agencies are bleeding talent due to Trump’s culture of chaos and contempt.
🧓 SOCIAL SECURITY
Key Point: The Social Security Administration is crippled by staffing cuts and operational chaos, making it harder for seniors and disabled Americans to access benefits. At the same time, the administration quietly lays the groundwork to privatize the program.
Here's The Facts
- Trump’s team is pushing to privatize Social Security. In June, his Treasury Secretary, advisor Scott Bessent, let the truth slip: Trump wants Wall Street to manage retirement accounts, calling it a backdoor to privatization.
- The Social Security Administration is in crisis. Trump’s administration slashed SSA’s administrative budget, leading to:
- Longer wait times for benefits processing and appeals.
- Field office closures in rural and underserved communities.
- Hiring freezes and staff attrition that have ground customer service to a crawl.
- Overburdened caseworkers, with many handling double or triple their usual caseloads.
- Trump replaced experienced SSA leadership with a political loyalist more focused on cutting costs than serving retirees, disabled Americans, or survivors.
- Low-income seniors are paying the price. Cuts to SSI outreach, disability benefits reviews, and appeal processing are hurting the most vulnerable Americans.
🎓 EDUCATION
Key Point: Trump’s 2025 budget cuts slashed Head Start and public education funding, drained resources from public schools, and rolled back protections. He’s leaving students, teachers, and working families without the support they need.
Here's The Facts
- Trump proposed a 15% cut to the Department of Education in his 2025 budget. That includes slashing funding for public K-12 schools, teacher training, student mental health services, and classroom technology.
- He gutted the Department’s Office for Civil Rights. Staffing has been reduced, investigations into discrimination complaints have stalled, and protections for vulnerable students are being quietly rolled back.
- Head Start is on the chopping block. Trump’s budget cuts would eliminate thousands of slots for early childhood education, hitting low-income families hardest. Fewer kids in classrooms, fewer working parents with support.
- His voucher push is a handout to private schools. Trump’s plan to massively expand federally funded school vouchers would drain resources from public schools and funnel tax dollars into elite private and religious institutions.
- Higher education is under attack.
- Pell Grant access is being tightened, putting college further out of reach for low- and middle-income students.
- Student loan forgiveness plans were rolled back, even for public servants and teachers.
- His allies are trying to eliminate DEI programs and censor curriculum on race, gender, and history.
- Rural schools and underfunded districts are left behind. Trump’s cuts disproportionately hurt rural and low-income communities already struggling to keep teachers, maintain facilities, and provide basic resources.
🎖️ VETERANS
Key Point: Thousands of federal veteran workers have been laid off since Trump took office, causing delays and disruptions in critical services.
Here's The Facts
- VA staffing shortages are worse than ever. The VA has cut over 17,000 jobs this year, with the ultimate goal of firing 30,000 positions. Hiring freezes and budget uncertainty have left clinics understaffed and wait times up, especially in rural communities
- Mental health support is being slashed. Suicide prevention and PTSD programs are facing deep cuts in the 2025 budget, despite rising demand.
- Benefits processing delays are skyrocketing. Trump’s administration has failed to modernize systems, leaving veterans in limbo for months.
- Trump withdrew his own VA tech nominee for political reasons. The result? A leadership vacuum at the Office of Information and Technology during critical modernization efforts.
- Stripping retirement benefits. The Air Force has revoked early retirement benefits for service members who have served 15 to 18 years, even though their retirement orders were previously approved.
🌾 FARMERS
Key Point: Trump’s trade wars and tariff policies have slashed demand for American farm products, raised input costs, and deepened financial strain, threatening the livelihoods of rural families and farm workers.
Here's The Facts
- Helping Foreign Competitors Take Export Markets From U.S. Farmers: The Trump administration delivered $20 billion to Argentina, a competitor for soybean export markets, and is looking to provide an additional $20 billion in the future. The administration is also planning to raise beef import quotas from the country by four times their current levels, angering cattle ranchers who say his plan risks damaging the livelihoods of ranchers and having little impact on the price of beef for American families.
- Trump’s tariffs are punishing American farmers, again. Input costs are rising, exports are falling, and commodity prices are tanking due to Trump’s escalating trade war.
- Reduced Support for Farmers: Deep cuts to USDA programs have slashed critical financial and technical support that farmers rely on to stay afloat, especially small and family-run operations.
- Loss of Crop Insurance & Disaster Aid: Funding reductions in crop insurance and disaster assistance programs leave farmers vulnerable to extreme weather and market fluctuations, increasing the risk of financial ruin.
- Rural Development Underfunded: USDA cuts have gutted rural development initiatives that build infrastructure, improve broadband access, and support farm communities — making it harder for farmers to operate and thrive.
- Increased Costs and Uncertainty: With less USDA assistance, farmers face skyrocketing costs and mounting uncertainty, threatening food supply stability and rural economies nationwide.