Five corporations control 90% of the US media market. Airlines merged from 12 major carriers in 1980 to 4 today. Four giants control 80% of meat processing. A handful of companies control the pharmaceutical industry. The evidence of corporate concentration is everywhere.

Truly astounded by @mayorbowser.bsky.social. The social safety net is designed to meet basic human needs in a city with extreme racial and economic inequity, not attract residents or tourists. 🧵https://www.washingtonian.com/2025/07/08/interview-dc-mayor-muriel-bowser-her-blm-plaza-decision/

DCFPI joined other anti-poverty organizations to raise the alarm: The proposed budget will set back DC’s progress towards alleviating poverty and hurt our ability to support residents in the future. 🧵

17 million people will lose their health coverage. For tax cuts for the wealthiest. And that’s to say nothing of the ripple effects across communities and lots of local economies. Truly mind blowing.

ICYMI: researchers out of UPenn and Yale say that the reconciliation bill's assault on health care through slashing of Medicaid and ACA coverage would cost 51,000 people their lives annually ldi.upenn.edu/our-work/res...

"If football stadiums drove economic activity, Landover would be at least an above-average suburban destination for shopping and entertainment. Instead, the old Landover Mall site decays behind chain-link fencing roughly a mile from Northwest Stadium, the Commanders’ current home."

This suggests that Republicans may add yet another deeply harmful health care cut to the Senate bill – a cut that would take health coverage away from even more people, shift massive, unaffordable costs to states, & could even lead some states to end their #Medicaid expansion.

Another economist eschewing the idea that stadiiums yoeld growth: www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

While there are a few tiny improvements, overall take of Senate bill is its #Medicaid cuts are harsher than the House bill’s draconian cuts driven by new restrictions of existing provider tax cuts in expansion states and elimination of eligibility for lawfully present immigrants like refugees (19/x)

Thread: Senate Republicans released initial bill language for their #Medicaid cuts. I am reading the bill now and will highlight key changes from House-passed bill. Topline is provider tax restrictions are worse, will devastate expansion state finances (1/x) www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

New details on federal SNAP cuts: the Senate has released its own cruel proposal for massively cutting food assistance for economically struggling Americans to give tax cuts to the wealthiest, incl in DC🧵

Today, the US House is voting to strip away DC's sanctuary law. The vote violates DC residents' right to self-governance and since we don't have Congressional voting representation, we need folks outside of DC to stop them.

A Business Activity Tax (BAT) is a simple reform that would make our tax system more equitable by ensuring that businesses operating within DC pay their fair share. We estimate that a 2 percent BAT rate could generate approximately $500 million a year. Read more: loom.ly/zSd-OPA from @itep.org

You don’t want to miss this week’s podcast episode. 👀🔥 Catch The Ward 5 Wave wherever you listen to podcasts or head to ward5.us/podcast 🎙️ Thank you to Kimberly Perry (DC Action) and Erica Williams (@dcfpi.bsky.social) for joining the conversation!

If this is even remotely accurate, Elon Musk and Donald Trump have killed more people in several months than the Iraq war killed in a decade

People will lose vital healthcare coverage if Trump's budget bill passes. One estimate found that this would lead to over 20,000 avoidable deaths per year. Oh, and a reminder that Joni Ernst is up for re-election in 2026.

Musk’s time running the Department of Government Efficiency ended this week. A short tenure with long consequences. He didn’t save trillions. Instead, he slashed science, hollowed out public services, and helped the ultra-wealthy dodge accountability. rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/what-mu...

Wow, here's a big change to D.C.'s sanctuary-city status: It looks like @mayorbowser.bsky.social wants to repeal the 2020 D.C. law that prohibits city agencies from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement (unless a judicial warrant is presented).

A budget is a moral document that shows what and who we value (and what and who we don't). It couldn't be more clear in this proposal that instead of ensuring the folks with the least get sheltered from the storm, they get left out in the cold www.dcfpi.org/press-releas...

In DC an average of $44k will go to the top 1% (those w/inc over ~$1.3m) while the bottom 20% (inc under $26k) get $90 (until the tax cuts for lower inc folks expire). Paid for in part by the biggest ever cuts to health coverage and food assistance. Some serious reverse Robin Hood 💩.

when i was a child, my family took CHIP and food stamps. this shaped my entire orientation toward government programs (positive) in a way most pundits don't have access to. and also, not to brag, but i think my siblings and i are proof that the ROI on feeding children is very high

There is not a single congressional district in the U.S. where more than 15% of voters support cuts to SNAP, the federal program that provides food assistance to millions of low-income Americans.

Today, the House approved a budget bill that included devastating cuts to programs like SNAP and Medicare, programs that tens of thousands of people in DC rely on every day. These plans would create new cuts and barriers that would have sustained effects on the District.

It would also be by far the largest SNAP cuts in history, ripping food assistance away from millions, including households with children as young as seven years old.

This bill would cause so much additional suffering. It would be by far the largest Medicaid cuts in history, kicking millions off their health insurance and condemning thousands of those people each year to die due to lack of coverage. (note the House-passed version is actually worse than this)

House Republicans passed their bill that’d rip health insurance from millions and take food assistance away from millions including households with kids as young as 7 in the largest Medicaid and SNAP cuts in history - while giving giant tax cuts to the rich. Thread on the next steps of the process.

The DC Council should ignore Bowser’s stadium subsidy speed-run: ggwash.org/view/99546/t...

Rs dropped the manager’s amendment at 9pm. They’re planning to pass it through Rules shortly & through the full House TOMORROW MORNING w/out anyone understanding how the changes work & w/out any analysis of how it would affect people. Deliberately because they don’t want to wait for the analysis.

We finally have a manager's amendment amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/R....

Thread. 33 of 40 #Medicaid expansion states (+DC) will now face a 10 point cut in their expansion match rate under House GOP reconciliation bill. Latest language penalizes not only states using own funds to cover undocumented kids but also states covering legal immigrant kids/pregnant women (1/x)

Stealing food and health care the most vulnerable to make the rich richer—that’s their grand plan www.dcfpi.org/all/us-house...

New @centeronbudget.bsky.social analysis of the draft GOP tax plan released yesterday: Unsurprisingly, it provides enormous tax cuts for the wealthy—including an average annual $65k cut for the top 1%—while doing little for low- and moderate-income families in 2027 (and even less by 2029).

The great @brendanvduke.bsky.social hits it out of the park here. What's at stake.

This bill is a disaster for children. It walks away from a 50-year commitment to ensure that poor children in rural Alabama and New York City all have access to the food assistance they need to grow and thrive.

THREAD: the Ways & Means bill creates new opportunities for tax avoidance and evasion, adds complexity to the tax system, and increases filing burdens for low- & moderate-income families. My @taxlawcenter.org colleagues have more analysis coming, but here's a starter list (suggestions welcome):

The House Republican tax bill is fully released and now under review. The bill is a recklessly expensive gift to the wealthy that also weaponizes the tax code to go after universities, the nonprofit sector, undocumented immigrants, and others. itep.org/itep-stateme...

Strong leadership underpinned by progressive values of fairness, public investment, and common sense in Maryland itep.org/maryland-bud...

Add this egregious capital gains tax break for the wealthiest to the list of things we need to protect ourselves from in DC x.com/jacsamoby/st...

No tax on tips barely registers b/c it affects a tiny share of workers. (Chart is from an older bill but same story here.) And deductions for overtime & seniors add to the cost but don’t fundamentally change the story either (& leave out lower income filers).

The House Ways and Means tax bill released today is skewed in favor of rich people, is even more costly than the original 2017 law, and fails to deliver for working-class families and small businesses. A thread 🧵

Medicaid cuts in the House E & C Cmte bill would take health coverage away from millions by slashing hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds. Loss of coverage means diseases go untreated & families face exorbitant medical debt.🧵 energycommerce.house.gov/posts/chairm...

🧵Update: In Worcester, MA, ICE dragged a mother away from her baby & family—without identifying themselves or showing a warrant. She’s now in San Antonio. The community tried to stop them. They were met with force. Read it. Share it. Never forget it tinyurl.com/No-warrant @lukeoneil47.bsky.social

A new @KFF analysis finds that Medicaid covers at least one in five hospital inpatient days in nearly every state as Congress considers potential cuts to the program. The data illustrate the importance of Medicaid to hospitals. www.kff.org/medicaid/iss...

How many times do DC residents have to vote yes on this for their will to be respected?

The DC Council is a co-equal branch of local government. It’s time to act like it. With federal interference, a delayed mayoral budget, and looming service cuts, silence isn’t a strategy for this year's budget. The Council has power and the Chair has responsibility. thedcline.org/2025/05/01/e...

The President just effectively signed a statement that he is committing a crime, violating a criminal statute enacted with overwhelming bipartisan majorities (it passed 96-2 in the Senate). Here is the law and his post. 1/3

Tariffs are already costing us $14 BILLION. Next, they want to: —Cut aid that lowers grocery bills —Kick grandparents out of nursing homes —Threaten coverage for 1 in every 4 births —Hike student loan payments —Raise ACA health premiums All so billionaires can get tax breaks.

Spending local tax dollars in fy26 and beyond on RFK is a bad deal, but like @tazramitchell.bsky.social says to @jakesherman.bsky.social let's not conflate that issue with Congress keeping us from using our own tax dollars this year... x.com/TazraMitchel...