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MAGA is Ruining Nebraska

Trump's Budget Bill Will Likely Force States to Cut Medicaid Payments to Doctors and Hospitals by More Than $50 Billion a Year. 76 Republicans We Track From the Hardest-Hit States Voted for It.

Trump's Budget Bill Will Likely Force States to Cut Medicaid Payments to Doctors and Hospitals by More Than $50 Billion a Year. 76 Republicans We Track From the Hardest-Hit States Voted for It.

A new Health Affairs analysis finds the 2025 budget bill's limits on Medicaid payments will likely force three dozen states to cut what they pay doctors and hospitals by more than $50 billion a year, starting in 2028. Fewer providers are likely to take Medicaid patients. These 76 Republicans on our report cards, from the 15 states facing the biggest cuts, voted yes.

Jim Pillen Handed a Lobbyist a $2.5 Million No-Bid Contract. Records Show His Office Was Warned About the Technology Her Company Was Selling.

Jim Pillen Handed a Lobbyist a $2.5 Million No-Bid Contract. Records Show His Office Was Warned About the Technology Her Company Was Selling.

Before Jim Pillen recommended lobbyist Julie Bushell for a $208,333-a-month no-bid contract, she was pushing lawmakers to fund her company's nitrate sensors. The state's top environmental official warned Pillen's chief of staff the technology was unproven. The lawmaker carrying the bill says he never saw the warning.

Jim Pillen Blamed Nebraska's Budget Forecasters for the Shortfall. Now He's Put the Two Senators Who Sponsored His Tax Cuts on the Board.

Jim Pillen Blamed Nebraska's Budget Forecasters for the Shortfall. Now He's Put the Two Senators Who Sponsored His Tax Cuts on the Board.

Six weeks before the forecast that will shape his next budget, Pillen replaced a third of Nebraska's independent revenue-forecasting board — the first governor to do that in its 40-year history — installing Lou Ann Linehan and Tom Briese, who championed the income tax cuts that have contributed to a third straight budget hole of at least $200 million. Linehan says she doesn't think there is a problem.

185 House Members We Track Voted to Make States Hand Your Medicaid and Food Stamp Records to Trump's Former Defense Lawyer

On September 16 the House passed the PROOF Act, 217-207. It orders states to turn over whatever Medicaid, SNAP and other benefit records Attorney General Todd Blanche asks for in writing, with no judge involved. A federal court had already blocked the Trump administration from cutting food stamp funding to states that refused to hand over recipient data. 185 of the members who voted yes have report cards on this site.

180 House Members We Track Voted a Third Time to Keep Trump's Iran War Going. Congress's Budget Office Says It Has Already Cost $38 Billion.

180 House Members We Track Voted a Third Time to Keep Trump's Iran War Going. Congress's Budget Office Says It Has Already Cost $38 Billion.

On September 15 the House voted 220-204 to end the war with Iran — the third time since June. Republicans voted 203 to 7 against it, and 180 of the members who voted no are on our report cards. The same day, the Congressional Budget Office put the war's direct cost at $38.1 billion and said it will push inflation higher into 2027.