Congressional Republicans are reportedly trying to insert anti-abortion language into government funding legislation as the shutdown continues, with the GOP and President Donald Trump digging in against a clean extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits as insurance premiums surge.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, sounded the alarm on Saturday about what he characterized as the latest Republican sneak attack on reproductive rights.

Wyden said Saturday—which marked day 39 of the shutdown—that “Republicans are spinning a tale that the government is funding abortion.”

“It’s not,” Wyden continued. “What Republicans are talking about putting on the table amounts to nothing short of a backdoor national abortion ban. Under this plan, Republicans could weaponize federal funding for any organization that does anything related to women’s reproductive healthcare. They could also weaponize the tax code by revoking non-profit status for these organizations.”

“The possibilities are endless, but the results are the same: a complete and total restriction on abortion, courtesy of Republicans,” the senator added. “Trump said he’d leave abortion care up to the states. Well, this latest scheme makes it crystal clear: A de facto nationwide abortion ban has been his plan all along.”

  • Macchi_the_Slime@piefed.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    2 days ago

    I’m one of the people dependent on it. Yes I’m aware of the bullshit excuses they’re peddling. But unfortunately the way our legal system is structured, it doesn’t fucking matter that everyone with half a braincell knows they’re lying because it doesn’t automatically force them to do the right thing.

    Last I heard, 8 States managed to get their full November allotment out before the stay. what happens to everyone else when the fucking liars get to reasonably claim “oh no we have no more money” and it doesn’t matter that we know they’re lying because they’re still paying ICE because that’s not what they were ordered to do? Then they have to start a whole new set of fucking litigation and it gets bogged down longer.

    So while I’m happy for the people who were able to get paid out their SNAP and would totally love to be able to buy my kids food because we’re really struggling right now, I cannot give the slightest fuck about a 2 day stay while the lower court figures out their shit.

    • theneverfox@pawb.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 days ago

      My understanding is that the states that fully funded it did it with their own money and the assumption they’d get it back down the line

      Which is why only 8 states did it

      Also, Trump 1 did exactly what the court ordered them to do. There was no confusion about the procedure

      The Supreme Court decided that the lower court order was invalid because it didn’t have a time frame. That’s a bullshit justification

      This was really a case about presidential power

      • Macchi_the_Slime@piefed.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        2 days ago

        I was seeing conflicting things about that. I saw some things saying there were States trying to shift funds around to pay SNAP recipients, then others saying it was USDA money that the administration was trying to claw back before the whole stay, order getting reaffirmed, then last night the dems voting to open the government. So I’m not sure how that actually shakes out.

        My understanding though about the stay was that it wasn’t the whole court, just KBJ because she handles such things for that district. That it was set to expire 48 hours after the lower court issued their ruling on the broader appeal which they did a couple hours later on Friday(declined the appeal) from what I remember reading and the stay expired yesterday and today the original court reaffirmed the funding order.

        That’s my understanding of where things sit at this time. Not sure where any of this lands with the dems caving on ending the shutdown though.

        • theneverfox@pawb.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 days ago

          When it’s unclear and muddy like that, someone is lying. It’s why billionaire controlled media is such a problem

          But yeah, it looks like it’s cut and dry - the 8 States are just using their own funds, probably because they were the only ones with the flexibility in their budget

          • Macchi_the_Slime@piefed.blahaj.zone
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            2 days ago

            Idk, the list I saw last was:

            Alaska
            California
            Illinois
            Louisiana
            Nevada
            Oregon
            Vermont
            Wisconsin
            

            I’m not super knowledgeable about all of these states, it’s pretty conceivable that California or Nevada might be able to shift things around and pay people. But like Louisiana? Pretty sure they get way more from the federal government than they give in taxes. It seems kinda crazy that they’d have the money to fund their own SNAP recipients. According to one of the legal creators I follow the administration was fighting to only pay out the 5 or so billion that the USDA contingency fund had and I guess there are filings that indicate that they have paid out that much.

            So it sounds to me like they had intended to just give everybody a pittance, not enough to really do anything as a full fuck you to as many people as possible. Then fucked it up and accidentally released full funds in a free-for-all to states that were able to snap them up quickly enough and between their own budgets and that money those 8 have been able to fully pay out their SNAP recipients.

            But as things stand right now KBJ’s stay is over, it lasted max 48 hours after the lower court issued their ruling on whether they’d hear the administration’s appeal of the orders to fund SNAP. Which it seems that ruling amounted to “Fuck you, pay SNAP. And pay it from your tariff money” basically. I guess the most recent order tells them to fund the rest of the missing SNAP funds from this pool of funds called Section 32 funds which I guess he was trying to take the remaining money out of the Child Nutrition Fund so like the School Lunch program and stuff. So that’s a whole different pot of cruelty.

            • theneverfox@pawb.social
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              15 hours ago

              Do you know how illegal it is to steal federal funds? It’s super extra illegal, control of funding is where most actual federal power lies. The federal government has surprisingly little direct authority over the States, so I find it difficult to believe this, especially since the 8 States announced it was coming out of their own budget

              I’m pretty sure this is all just bullshit to muddy the waters. I think any truth in this was coordinated with the States, I don’t think they’d reach into the bucket and pull out more than was provisioned to their state

              And as far as Louisiana paying it? Not only are they one of the most corrupt states, they’re extremely reliant on aid programs. I find it very easy to believe they had money laying around that they repurposed to avoid a massive problem