August 7, 2026

Affordability Bills

Republicans Push Affordability Bills Aimed At Codifying Trump EOs– thefederalist.com

pgnewser January 14, 2026 0

Blurb:

Republicans in so many ways have wasted their majorities in Congress over the past year. But the GOP has an opportunity to amp up its lackluster tenure with a second reconciliation package that its sponsors say will lower costs and cut the deficit by more than $1 trillion.

Of course, the devil is always in the details.

On Tuesday, Republican Study Committee members unveiled the Reconciliation 2.0 Framework, a proposal the lawmakers bill as a “comprehensive conservative roadmap” for the next reconciliation bill. The framework, its sponsors say, is aimed at affordability and codifying much of President Donald’s Trump’s America First agenda.

“There’s three major things that I think are threatening the American dream right now: housing costs, health care costs and energy costs,” said Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, at a press conference Tuesday.

Medicaid Paid Out $400M To Dead ‘Recipients’ In One Year– thefederalist.com

pgnewser January 14, 2026 0

Blurb:

The ongoing scandal regarding Minnesota’s welfare-industrial complex demonstrates the extent to which government-created graft has “hidden” in front of the nation’s noses for not just years but decades. Another report released just before Christmas illustrates the depths of those fraudulent payments.

Last summer, I wrote here about a report by Louisiana’s legislative auditor highlighting nearly $10 million in Medicaid payments that state made on behalf of deceased beneficiaries between February 2019 and last March. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most recent report shows that this type of government waste and abuse — or, depending on one’s perspective, fraud by insurance companies, who receive payments for “covering” dead people — occurs with regularity nationwide.