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Senate Passes Tax Bill

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Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon championed tax cuts for the wealthy — and sharp budget cuts — in the years before the Great Depression. (Treasury Department photo)

The Senate passed its tax bill early Saturday morning. And, it turns out,  Indian Country might have been worried about the wrong, Andrew.  Andrew Jackson? No. Because the Republican tax plan would make one Andrew Mellon proud.

This is Trahant Reports.

Andrew Mellon was a wealthy industrialist who served as the Secretary of Treasury. President Trump’s own Treasury Department describes his tenure this way: “During the nation’s “most materialistic period in its history Mellon’s philosophy was one of debt reduction, tax reduction, and a balanced budget … His theory was that big business would prosper in proportion to the lightening of its tax load and its profit would be transferred to the rest of the Nation.

The Great Depression blew a hole in that idea. And if history is prologue, well, this all sounds familiar.

Now the House and the Senate have passed legislation to sharply reduce taxes with the idea that business will prosper and transfer its winnings to the rest of the nation.

The conservative wing is honest about this means. They say when the tax cuts result in a massive expansion of debt, they will want sharp budget cuts to follow. This is a core belief. And has been since Mellon’s time.

How bad is the Senate tax bill? It’s right up there as one of the most unpopular bills ever.  An average of polling finds support at about one-third of those polled. And, get this, FiveThirtyEight reports that this tax cutting bill is even more unpopular than tax hikes.

A couple of notes about Indian Country: So many tribal citizens are the low end when it comes to earning. This bill does nothing to help. Indeed there was a late night effort to increase tax credits for families with children. It failed because there would have been less money for corporate tax cuts. Nearly half of all Americans don’t pay income tax, it’s the payroll tax that is the burden. So a child credit would have helped ordinary working families.

Instead of turning the dial back on fossil fuels the Senate bill aligns the tax code for more oil and gas development. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has made this her signature.

This bill also strips the mandate to buy health insurance. A win for freedom, right? Perhaps. But it also means that healthy people will not buy as much insurance leaving sicker, older people to pay the bills.

There are a whole cast of winners: Big corporations, rich would-be heirs (like the Trump children) and religious schools (a last minute amendment by Sen. Ted Cruz expanded tax savings for this purpose).

The fight isn’t quite over: This bill will still have to be reconciled with a House version. But cutting taxes (and then the budget) is something Republicans have championed long before Andrew Mellon. So this bill is likely to become law soon.

I am Mark Trahant.

Children’s Health Insurance Program

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The Children’s Health Insurance Program expired Sept. 30. This federal program insures young people and pregnant women who make just enough money not to qualify for Medicaid (but can’t afford private insurance). The idea is to make sure that every child has the resources to see a doctor when they are ill. But unless Congress acts soon, some 9 million children will lose their insurance.

Congress has yet to reenact the Children’s Health Insurance Program and states will soon run out of funds to prop up the program. That will mean that thousands of American Indian and Alaska Native children will lose their health insurance. And, the result is the Indian Health Service will have to stretch its already thin dollars to try and cover a growing budget hole.

This is Trahant Reports.

The Children’s Health Insurance Program expired on Sept. 30. This federal program insures young people and pregnant women who make just enough money not to qualify for Medicaid (but yet who can’t afford private insurance). The idea is to make sure that every child has the resources to see a doctor when they are ill.

It’s hard to break down precise numbers because agencies lump funds from the Children’s Health Insurance Program or CHIP into overall Medicaid data. But we do know that the law worked really well.

We also know there are more than 216,000 Native children that have health insurance because of Medicaid and CHIP. Indeed, Native American children rely on Medicaid and CHIP at much higher percentages than other population groups. A study by Georgetown reported that 54 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native children were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP as compared to 39 percent of all children. “Even though much progress has been made in extending Medicaid coverage to American Indians and Alaska Natives, the uninsured rate for American Indian and Alaska Native children and families remain unacceptably high,” the report said.

This is a big deal and here’s why: The Indian Health Service is a health care delivery operation that works best when insurance (third-party billing in government-speak) pays for the medical costs. Medicaid, CHIP, Medicare, and other third-party billing now accounts for 22 percent of the IHS’ $6.15 billion budget.

But if Children’s health is no longer funded (because Congress did not reauthorize the legislation) then the Indian Health Service will have to make up the difference. That means taking money away from other patients and programs. It will be a critical problem for clinics because by law dollars from third-party billing (or Medicaid and CHIP) remain local.
Alaska is the state most impacted by Congress’ failure to act because two-thirds of the children in the Native health system are covered by Medicaid or CHIP. Other states that will be hit: Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, New Mexico, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and California.

Across the country, some nine million low- and middle-income children rely on CHIP for health coverage.

I am Mark Trahant.

Tax Code Values: The tax code debate is about what a nation values

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The first federal tax return in 1931 only required a single page.

What’s important to a country? The best way to tell is through its tax code.

This is Trahant Reports.

There is no better way for any legislature — be it a tribal council, a state assembly, or a Congress — to telegraph what’s most important to a society than through its tax policy. How a government collects revenue says what constituent groups are seen to matter. And, conversely, what groups and issues are insignificant.

That of course, is Indian Country. Tribes are not treated the same as cities or states when it comes to federal tax policy.

For example: There is a tax credit for adoption — but it does not apply when a tribal court adjudicates the case.

So Indian Country is a perfect illustration of my larger point: A country’s tax policy shows what it values. The key to this idea is simple when a nation wants more of something, then taxes it less. And, other hand, if a nation wants less of something? Tax it more.

The tax reform bills in the House and Senate say a lot about the power of corporations and the value of inherited wealth. Tax less, get more.

Both of these bills will sharply reduce federal spending. Last week the National Congress of American Indians and the Native American Finance Officers Association came out against the bills. A news release said:  “With respect to tribal nations, unless tribal provisions are included, the current tax reform legislation amounts to little more than a $1.5 trillion increase in the federal deficit over the next ten years. This deficit increase will inevitably create pressure to cut federal programs and services that are extremely important to tribal communities.”

The House tax bill is also an all-out attack on higher education. This is nonsense. Especially when the country needs to be competitive in a digital, knowledge-based world.

The House would eliminate the deduction of interest for student loans. Americans now owe more than $1.4 trillion on student loans. So instead of solving a problem, Congress is making it worse.

The House bill would also classify tuition waivers as income, making a graduate student wealthy for tax purposes. This will make it more difficult for people to pay for graduate school, and increase the debt levels for those who do. As a national policy this makes no sense.

And for Indian Country? There is already a shortage of graduate students and PhDs. Why should we make it more difficult?

And in the debate about values there is a powerful metaphor: College does not matter.

The House has already passed its version and the The Senate will vote on tax reform in early December. Republican leaders hope to pass the legislation before the end of this year.

I am Mark Trahant.

 

Remembering Jim Pepper

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Jim Pepper was a Muskogee Creek and Kaw Native who became a world renowned saxophone player and musician, respected by his peers and loved by those who grew to know his songs. Peppers music combined contemporary jazz fused with rock and Native rhythms.

Each fall for the past several years – a Native Arts Festval, is held in Portland Oregon, in Jim Pepper’s old neighborhood.  Sean Aaron Cruz organizes the event.  Winona LaDuke was a guest at the 2017 festival and paid tribute to his legacy.  Avotcja Jiltonilro performed at the 2016 Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival.  Kenman Miller plays with the Jim Pepper Tribute Band “The Flying Eagles.”  They each share their stories about how their paths intersected with Native Saxaphone great Jim Pepper, interwoven between beloved songs from the artist.

Hegemony: Our World is Changing

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Indian Country is already impacted by climate change. As Sen. Lisa Murkowski said at at the Alaska Federation of Natives: “Our world is changing.”  Yet the senator is working to open the Arctic to more development, not less. And a group of elders from the Bering Sea talks about what climate change looks like for the people who live in the north. So how do we change course?

This is a special edition of Trahant Reports. I am Mark Trahant.

Let’s play with a word, and an idea. “Hegemony.” It means the dominance of one political group over all others. That, at this moment, is the Republican brand. President Donald J. Trump, a Republican Senate, a Republican House, and a conservative, if not Republican, court system that will judge the law and the Constitution for years to come. Hegemony.

But that word has been corrupted. Once the Greek word, hegemon, meant to lead. But the root word “heg” in English later became to seek, or better, to “sack,” as in ransack.

So Hegemony might be the ideal word to describe the Trump era. The goal is to ransack (instead of lead). Ransack the government. Or at least the idea of government.

There is no better example of hegemony than the debate about the climate. The Republican brand from top to bottom is bent on grabbing as much natural resource loot that can be carried away in a short period of time.

Except this: Hegemony is an illusion. What seems like absolute power is not.

The Trump Administration released in early November the government’s climate assessment. The comprehensive report is clear: “It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. For the warming over the last century, there is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the observational evidence.”

In other words: There is no debate within the scientific community.

But Congress acts as if it has power over nature.

The recently enacted budget opens up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil development.

So instead of a pause, and a rethink about climate policies, there is a hurry up and drill mentality. (Even if you love oil: Why now? Why not wait until it’s worth something? The answer is because it will never again be that valuable. The era of extraction is over.)

Sen. Lisa Murkowski is a fascinating character in this debate. She’s fought hard for Medicaid and for the Alaska Native medical system.

 

AUDIO CLIP.

 

So she says it’s not health care, but climate that will define our generation.

The most recent climate assessment by the United States government puts it this way: “Alaska has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the nation, bringing widespread impacts. Sea ice is rapidly receding and glaciers are shrinking. Thawing permafrost is leading to more wildfire, and affecting infrastructure and wildlife habitat. Rising ocean temperatures and acidification will alter valuable marine fisheries.”

Yet the budget that Murkowski championed — and her role in opening up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge would seem to take a very opposite stand. Her words here on that process.

 

AUDIO CLIP.

 

So many conflicting messages.

But as she said at AFN the debate is changing. The world is watching growing threats from hurricanes, fires, and other dramatic natural events. A new report in the scientific journal, the Lancet, asks this question: How well is the world responding?

“The answer is, most of our indicators are headed in the wrong direction,” said Nick Watts, a fellow at University College London’s Institute for Global Health. “Broadly, the world has not responded to climate change, and that lack of response has put lives at risk. … The impacts we’re experiencing today are already pretty bad. The things we’re talking about in the future are potentially catastrophic.”

The Lancet says that “just in the United States,” already 3,500 people who have had to move because of dramatic climate changes. Most of of those people live in Alaska.

We have seen globally a five-fold increase in natural disasters, such as storms that are more intense.

“Today, there is scientific proof that climate change is largely responsible for the dramatic increase in the intensity and devastation caused by the hurricanes in the Caribbean and by many other phenomena around the world,” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres after a tour of Dominica.

That island, including the Kalinago Indian Territory, was hit with successive category five hurricanes. “I have never seen anywhere else in the world a forest completely decimated without one single leaf on any tree,” said Guterres, who flew by helicopter over some of the most affected areas, including Kalinago Territory.

And Puerto Rico still waits for clean water, sanitation, electricity, and basic infrastructure weeks after its storms.

We know, yes, know, that climate change will leave parts of the earth uninhabitable (as we have already seen in tribal communities in Alaska, Washington and Louisiana.) How many times can you rebuild when storm after storm wipes out the life you know?

How do we as a country, as a species, decide when we can no longer rebuild or stay? I’ve been thinking a lot about the Iranian city of Ahvaz where temperatures last summer reached 129 degrees. When will it become too hot, 130? 132? What’s the number that we just hit before we leave?

There has already been a global temperature increase of about 0.75 degrees Fahrenheit — the planet is not a uniform oven. But local spikes can be dramatic and dangerous. Heat waves, defined as extreme temperatures that persist for at least three days, are on the rise. As The Lancet reported: Between 2000 and 2016, the number of people exposed to heat waves climbed by 125 million vulnerable adults.. During 2015, the worst year on record, 175 million people suffered through sweltering temperatures.

Who will be the next climate refugees?

Already in Puerto Rico that demographic transformation is occurring.

Maria Cristina Garcia, a Cornell University historian and immigration expert projects a massive relocation to the United States. She says whether that migration will be permanent or temporary is still anyone’s guess. Much depends on the relief package that Congress negotiates.

Puerto Rico has 3.7 million residents. Think of the magnitude of so many people, half a million or more, moving to Florida, Texas or any other state.

Relocation. That’s a familiar word in Indian Country. This is a story with far too many historical examples. But, because of that, we already know that forced relocation is not just “moving.” It’s a complex set of issues. There will be costs ranging from behavioral health to increased joblessness and poverty. The idea of hundreds of thousands of American refugees should be seen as an immediate and dangerous crisis.

And right now we don’t really think of Californians as climate refugees, but we should.

At least 100,000 people were evacuated and nearly 6,000 homes and buildings were destroyed. And this number will only grow throughout and it ought to raise questions about where humans should live.

California’s average temperature has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit during the second half of the 20th century. Altogether this has led to more “fuel aridity” — drier tree canopies, grasses and brush that can burn.”

One study projects California dry periods going from about five extreme dry “events” during the decade of the 1930s, to about 10 per decade by the 2070s.

Again, raising the question of where people can be? Think of the tension about immigration now — and multiply that by a factor of ten or a hundred to get a sense of the scale ahead.

Back to the illusion of hegemony. Candidate Donald Trump promised to bring back the coal industry. But can he?

The chief executive of a private coal company, Robert Murray, sums up the illogic a few weeks ago he said on the PBS’ News Hour: “We do not have a climate change problem” and 4,000 scientists told him that “mankind is not affecting climate change.” Murray’s former lobbyist has been nominated as the deputy director of the Environmental Protection Administration.

Already the EPA has proposed rolling back the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan. But the new coal regulations (or more likely, non-regulations) will still be challenged through the regulatory process and in court.

But it is the markets, not the government, that is responsible for coal’s decline.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that coal consumption picked up after President Trump’s election but has started its decline again.

And the jobs that were promised? There are now under 60,000 people employed nationwide by the coal industry. And about a thousand jobs, at most, were created since Trump took office.

By comparison during that same time frame one of the fastest growing jobs, wind turbine service technician, created 4,800 new jobs at an average salary of $52,260. But the big numbers are in health care (where we should be growing jobs) an industry that created 384,000 new jobs as home health aides in the last year.

Hegemony? No.

Yet some communities from the Crow Nation to the Navajo Nation have been told that coal and its jobs are coming back.

One more note about the shifts in coal markets: The Lancet calls this one of the “glimmers of hope.” The report said many countries are moving away from coal-fired power plants, which are a source both of carbon emissions that fuel global warming and pollution that can cause immediate health problems in nearby communities.

A group of elders from the Bering Sea recently commissioned a report on their Ecosystem and Climate Change. It said that the abundant marine resources that have fed Yupik and Inupiaq people for generations are at risk. Already these elders are seeing a change in seasonal ice, and the loss of sea ice is in turn causing a dramatic increase in ship traffic through highly sensitive and important Arctic waters. (The science here is exactly the same as what was reported in the National Climate Assessment.)

 

CLIPS.

How do we change course? How do get a pause? One way is to wait until it’s too late.

In Dominica there is a forced rethinking that followed the hurricanes. Roosevelt Skerrit, the country’s prime minister,  recently put it this way: “Our devastation is so complete that our recovery has to be total. And so we have a unique opportunity to be an example to the world, an example of how an entire nation rebounds from disaster and how an entire nation can be climate resilient for the future. We did not choose this opportunity. We did not wish it. Having had it thrust upon us, we have chosen actively and decisively to be that example to the world.”

A shining example, yes, but the cost has been extraordinary and painful. The price of hegemony.

I am Mark Trahant.

Climate Change and Taxes

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Two serious debates in Washington right now: Climate change and taxes. These are connected. And the decisions made over the next few days and weeks will impact you and your children’s future.

This is Trahant Reports.

The federal government is required by law to publish a climate assessment. The report is out and it’s troubling.

Quote: “Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present. Corn producers in Iowa, oyster growers in Washington State, and maple syrup producers in Vermont are all observing climate-related changes that are outside of recent experience. So, too, are coastal planners in Florida, water managers in the arid Southwest, city dwellers from Phoenix to New York, and Native Peoples on tribal lands from Louisiana to Alaska.” The National Climate Assessment concludes that the evidence of human-induced climate change continues to strengthen and that impacts are increasing across the country.

So how is the Congress and the Trump administration responding to the report?

Well, the White House said no worries, the climate is always changing. And both the president and Congress are instead focused on tax cuts.

The tax cuts will save many American Indian and Alaska Native families money.  Or perhaps not. Here is the deal. The tax measure would double the standard deduction to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for joint filers. That’s the amount of money you can earn sort of tax free. But the plan takes away deductions for children — so a larger family could end up paying more from the start because of the fewer deductions.

Let’s be clear: The goal of this tax measure is to cut taxes for businesses. Individuals are a side debate.

But this tax proposal is also linked to a budget measure that has already passed Congress. That budget calls for deep spending cuts in federal programs — including those that serve Indian Country. And because of the process: the Senate will need just 50 votes to implement these budget cuts.

That budget also opens up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development — and an increase in fossil fuel production (the very cause of climate change).

The National Climate Assessment says Alaska is already at risk. “Alaska has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the nation, bringing widespread impacts. Sea ice is rapidly receding and glaciers are shrinking. Thawing permafrost is leading to more wildfire, and affecting infrastructure and wildlife habitat. Rising ocean temperatures and acidification will alter valuable marine fisheries.”

You would think Congress would pay attention to the government’s own warnings. That’s not likely. I am Mark Trahant.

Politics in the Trump Era

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It’s easy to blame President Donald J. Trump for all that is wrong in American politics. But is the problem of Trump or the era itself.

This is Trahant Reports.

John Boehner, the former Speaker of the House, was profiled in Politico over the weekend and he unleashed on many of his former Republican colleagues. One story was about Alaska’s Rep. Don Young. The two were fighting over an appropriations earmark — a $223 million bridge in Alaska — and Boehner said Young pinned him against a wall in the House and held a 10-inch knife to his throat. Boehner responded with a colorful four letter word. (Young told Politico the story was “mostly” true and the two men later became good friends.)

That was in 2005. And it shows that the craziness in politics has been around a lot longer than Trump. In fact Boehner tells of more recent accounts where he calls out some of the conservatives still in the House, such as Rep. Jim Jordan. Boehner calls him a “terrorist, a legislative terrorist.”

A new report by the Pew Research Center shows how politics is changing and identifies nine different political strains in both parties.

 

Republicans are divided by immigration, America’s role in the world, and the fundamental fairness of the U.S. economic system. And Democrats have their own divisions on issues such as the role of the party, U.S. global involvement, and religion.

One particularly interesting finding: The ninth group that Pew identified as “bystanders.” That accounts for about 8 percent of the country — but is, quote, “missing in action politically. Almost no one in this relatively young, largely minority group is registered to vote and most pay little or no attention to politics and government.”

If you want to pick one state to see these divisions play out, look to Arizona. Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake was a constant critic of Trump and is not running for re-election; and Republican are split on what type of candidate they want.

Democrats have this problem, too. Several have complained that frontrunner Rep. Krysten Sinema is too comfortable working with Republicans.

We don’t have the data to know if these same divisions are present in Indian Country. But anecdotally on social media at least the same sorts of “purity” tests are proposed and celebrated. We also know that too many people are bystanders and not registered to vote.

Here’s the thing:These could divisions could increase the importance of a Native voting bloc. It could be the decider. Especially in states like Arizona.

I am Mark Trahant.

Native women raising money for Congress

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Deb Haaland and Diane Benson at an Anchorage fundraiser. Haaland is running for Congress in New Mexico and Benson has been a candidate four times in Alaska. (Trahant photo)

How many Native American women have ever been elected to Congress? This is Trahant Reports.

New Mexico congressional candidate Debra Haaland is criss-crossing Indian Country. She’s determined to get her name out there — and to raise enough money to be competitive. She began last week in Milwaukee at the National Congress of American Indians and she wrapped up the week in Anchorage at the Alaska Federation of Natives.

Politics is a tough business. Most Native American candidates cannot dip into their personal wealth to run for office (at least the Democrats). It’s all about raising money five bucks at a time. A good haul is when someone writes a check with more than one zero.

Yet it’s hard to understate how important money is to a campaign.

Haaland, unlike most Native American Democrats, is running in a district with a lot of other Democrats. That means she has an excellent shot at capturing a seat in Congress — the first Native American woman to do that.

Haaland is Laguna Pueblo.

Haaland’s fundraiser in Anchorage was typical. It was much more of an introduction than a call for hard cash. That’s important. It was great to hear stories. We need that in politics. But it will take money, too. If we really want to see more Native Americans in Congress, because thousands of  five-plus dollar donations will make all the difference.

At that event one of the most touching moments was when Diane Benson, who ran for Congress in Alaska against Rep. Don Young, talked about why she ran. Her son had been injured in the military and yet politicians were making war and peace decisions without an understanding of the consequences.

I have been collecting information about Congress and Native American representation. And, it turns out, I was wrong about the actual numbers. I checked this morning and according to the House of Representatives historian since March 4, 1789, there have been  10,273 people elected to that body. There has never been a Native American woman. Ever.

Here is my list of the Native American women who have at least run for Congress, starting in 1988, Jeanne Givens, a Couer d’Alene tribal member in Idaho was the first.  Georgianna Lincoln in Alaska, Ada Deer, Menominee, in Wisconsin, Kalyn Free, Choctaw, in Oklahoma, Diane Benson, Tlingit, in Alaska, and Denise Juneau, Mandan Hidatsa Arikara, in Montana.

And in this election cycle, Carol Surveyor, Navajo, is running in Utah’s 2nd congressional district.

I better stick with “at least” because I am sure more names will surface. But the point remains: It’s long past time to elect the first Native American woman to Congress.

 

I am Mark Trahant reporting from AFN in Anchorage.

 

Alaska Federation of Natives Gavel-to-Gavel Coverage Oct. 19-21

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Tune in for annual broadcast of the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention LIVE from Anchorage, AK.

Thursday, October 19:
2:00 pm – 9:00 pm (EDT)

Friday, October 20:
2:00 pm – 9:00 pm (EDT)

Saturday, October 21:
12:00 pm – 8:00 pm (EDT)

The broadcast covers the convention as it happens from the main podium.

Listeners are able to hear the important speeches by Native leaders, state, and community representatives who are addressing the Native community as a whole.

At 4pm (EDT), hear “Alaska’s Native Voice,” a one hour program providing the voices of AFN attendees, as well as commentary and discussions about AFN presentations and activities, with host Antonia Gonzales.

KNBA 90.3 FM and Koahnic Broadcast Corporation are in the 21st year of providing this unique service that connects Native communities in Alaska through public radio.

Trump Care

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The chaos that is now Trump Care continues.

This is Trahant Reports.

First, Congress tried to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act by rolling back that law plus the decades long public health insurance, known as Medicaid. That effort failed in the Senate. Twice. But Congress has not given up. There are all sorts of proposals floating around that would try yet again through the budget or another mechanism.

The Trump administration is also sticking with its plan to unravel the Affordable Care Act using administrative authority.

The President signed an executive order that eliminates payments to insurance companies to subsidize the cost of health insurance for families who cannot afford the full cost. Insurance companies will likely increase health insurance premiums — and by a lot — or get out of the individual health insurance market altogether.

The administration’s policy impacts American Indians and Alaska Natives who get their health insurance through the exchanges. Under the Affordable Care Act, many tribal members and Alaska Native shareholders quality for a “bronze plan” from exchanges at no cost. A silver plan could also have been purchased, depending on income, using the subsidized rates.

The Kaiser Family Foundation figures that insurers will need to raise their prices between 15 and 21 percent on average to compensate for the loss of the subsidy.

One interesting twist: Ending the subsidy will cost consumers more in states that have not expanded Medicaid (such as Oklahoma and South Dakota) since there are a large number of marketplace enrollees in those states.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the total payments were $7 billion in this year and would rise to $10 billion in 2018 and $16 billion by 2027.

The subsidies have been controversial from the beginning.  The House of Representatives even sued the Obama Administration to try and stop these insurance subsidies arguing that Congress never appropriated the money.

The CBO also said that ending the insurance subsidies will increase federal deficits by $6 billion in 2018, $21 billion in 2020, and $26 billion in 2026.

“Congressional Democrats broke the American healthcare system by forcing the Obamacare nightmare onto the American people. And it has been a nightmare,” President Trump said.

The actions of the Trump administration mean two things: There will be chaos in the insurance markets as companies and individuals rebalance the value of those policies; and there will be litigation ahead because every one of these policy changes will be challenged in court.

 

I am Mark Trahant.

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