Poverty, Health & Welfare
2012
2012-01-01 Rush Limbaugh mocked the idea that poor families deserved high-quality food, saying, “Now it has to be the best”. According to AI in 2013, he called compassion for the poor a “part of a partisan agenda”.
2023
2023-02-08 During a State of the Union address, Biden was booed and heckled after he warned that Republicans would make cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
2024
2024-07-10 During a National Conservatism convention, JD Vance stated, “…look, the thing on immigration is that no one can avoid that it has made our societies poorer, less safe, less prosperous, and less advanced.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jd-vance-debate-immigration-housing-prices-real-estate-federal-reserve
https://nationalconservatism.org/natcon-4-2024/presenters/sen-jd-vance/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXH1p8_jhc8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtRPLCso0Sw
2025 January
2025-01-20 Page 465 of Project 2025 outlines a plan to increase Medicare Part D prescription prices.
https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
2025 March
2025-03-05 Veteran Eric Rodriguez spoke out after the Trump administration cut 400,000 jobs, dragging the VA back to 2019 staffing levels.
2025-03-05 A military news outlet Military.com published an article speaking out on behalf of millions of Veterans who feel that privatized healthcare will rapidly eat into the VA budget.
2025 April
2025-04-01 The Trump administration made cuts to Meals on Wheels and other services for seniors and disabled. The Trump administration also made cuts to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which provides energy assistance, weatherization, equipment, and crisis assistance to the elderly and disabled.
2025 May
2025-05-06 During an interview with Meet the Press, Trump told the interviewer that girls don’t need to have 30 dolls, they can have two or three. Most children don’t have any dolls and can’t afford to take one more for the team.
2025-05-20 (for context – because most low wage workers are near, at or below the poverty line) The Trump administration announced plans to pass a lackluster “No Tax For Tips” bill. The bill ended up being temporary in nature, featured an income cap up to an unlivable $25,000 per year, and excluded payroll and state taxes. Altogether the bill offered little or no benefit to low-wage workers.
https://www.epi.org/publication/everything-you-need-to-know-about-no-tax-on-tips/
https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/how-does-no-tax-on-tips-work-in-the-one-big-beautiful-bill/
https://itep.org/conforming-to-the-no-tax-on-tips-gimmick-just-got-riskier-and-costlier-for-states/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_tax_on_tips
2025 June
2025-06-30 DeSantis vetoed funding on several projects intended to help Floridians including stormwater funding, homeless housing, and $200,000 for a Samaritan Resource Center program to help homeless people get job training and assistance with housing.
2025 July
2025-07-03 A news outlet reported that DeSantis vetoed funds set aside for a veteran program called “Patriot Passport” designed to allow permanent Florida residents who are veterans to ride transit lines for free.
2025-07-04 The Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law. Part of the bill’s agenda is to sharply reduce the number of Americans receiving food stamps or other programs designed to help struggling families.
2025 August
2025-08-01 The Trump administration announced plans to prevent Veterans from accessing abortion care or counseling.
https://reproductiverights.org/5-things-trump-va-abortion-ban/
2025-08-10 Trump posted on social media, “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY…FAR from the Capital….It’s all going to happen very fast, just like the Border….This will be easier - Be prepared! There will be no “MR. NICE GUY.” We want our Capital BACK…”
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115005075016157889
2025-08-11 In contrast to his social media post, Trump told the press he wanted to house the homeless DC population. No follow up was made as to the whereabouts or welfare of those individuals removed off the streets of DC.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1kzz4m3ll1o
2025-08-12 The National Alliance to End Homelessness issued a statement, “Homelessness is not a criminal issue. It is an economic issue”. In their statement they outlined that rhetoric only furthers inaccurate stereotypes. They explained that the use of military force makes it significantly harder for outreach and service workers to provide critical assistance.
2025-08-14 More reports showed wholesale inflation surges and tariff costs being passed down to consumers.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/14/economy/us-ppi-wholesale-inflation-july
2025 September
2025-09-03 Utah unveiled a 1300-bed homeless camp near Rose Park.
https://utahnewsdispatch.com/2025/09/03/utah-homeless-campus-site-unveiled-after-secretive-search/
https://homelesslaw.org/trumpdceo/
2025-09-08 As outlined on page 299 of Project 2025, cuts to SNAP benefits began. This includes school food programs, energy and internet assistance, and funding to the Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program (SNAP-ED), to name a few.
https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/08/trumps-spending-bill-cuts-billions-in-snap-benefits.html
https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/obbb-implementation
2025-09-14 During an airing of Fox News on September 10th, commentator Brian Kilmeade suggested euthanizing the homeless, further stating “Just kill them”. On September 14th he reasserted his sentiment that many homeless people are criminals or mentally ill and only then briefly apologized. Despite his remarks, he was able to keep his job.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/14/business/brian-kilmeade-fox-news-apology-homeless
https://www.axios.com/2025/09/15/brian-kilmeade-fox-news-lethal-injection-homeless
https://x.com/kilmeade/status/1967219726456959138
2025-09-17 Before the shutdown, Democrats proposed a bill to keep government funding going through October 31st, reverse Medicaid cuts, and extend the affordable care act subsidies. Unfortunately, they didn’t get enough votes for the bill to pass.
https://nlihc.org/resource/government-shutdown-extends-third-week-after-failed-cr-votes-senate
2025-09-20 The USDA stopped tracking food insecurity and issued a press release stating the annual Household Food Security Report would be terminated.
2025 October
2025-10-01 The government was shut down while Democrats fought to keep Medicare alive for millions of Americans and stop healthcare from skyrocketing. Republicans falsely claimed Democrats were trying to give millions of illegal immigrants Medicare. Medicare is not a program which immigrants were ever eligible for.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/government-shutdown-clock/
https://www.healthinsurance.org/glossary/american-rescue-plan/
2025-10-12 The Trump Administration bailed Argentina out with $40 BILLION in American taxpayer dollars. In November the Senate refused to vote for a takeback of those funds during the shutdown while millions of American families went hungry.
https://democrats-financialservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413878
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g3mdvle78o
2025-10-21 Americans begin receiving letters stating they should expect their health insurance prices to soar, double, and even quadruple.
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/12/nx-s1-5570849/shutdown-aca-health-care-tax-credits
2025-10-28 Rob Schmitt commented on Newsmax that there should be a weight limit for receiving SNAP benefits, asked why the people are subsidizing food for people that “weigh 300 pounds”, and claimed that people were “selling their benefits to get their nails done and buy weaves”. He even posted the bit about 300 pounds on his X account.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/newsmax-anchor-claims-americans-using-160133829.html
https://x.com/SchmittNYC/status/1983284055996047650
2025-10-31 Just hours before SNAP benefits were set to expire, Trump hosted a lavish Great Gatsby Halloween party at the White House.
2025-10-31 Trump posted 6 times about renovating a White House bathroom completely in marble amidst a government shutdown and hunger crisis.
https://deadline.com/2025/10/trump-lincoln-bathroom-white-house-1236604245/
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/31/trump-bathroom-white-house-remodel-shutdown.html
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/31/politics/white-house-lincoln-bedroom-bathroom-renovation
2025 November
2025-11-02 Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins weighed in on SNAP benefits in an X post, spinning rhetoric of SNAP fraud, attacking blue states, and calling Trump the “new sheriff in town”.
https://x.com/SecRollins/status/1985007736896053318
2025-11-03 Against judge orders, Trump refused to release contingency funds for SNAP benefits. He also refused to dip into other pots to fund the $8B needed to continue benefits through November, stating he would only release partial funds but that it “could take months”. Unrelated but for context on the US economy at this time, we had just paid $20B in bailouts to Argentina, meanwhile the US reached a record high in national debt, and the president had just thrown a massive Great Gatsby party for his billionaire friends.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-defies-court-snap-ruling
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/03/g-s1-96296/trump-deadline-contingency-funds-snap
2025-11-03 Despite judge rulings, the Trump administration announced they will restart SNAP benefits but will only pay out half the amount people normally get.
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/03/nx-s1-5596121/snap-food-benefits-trump-government-shutdown
https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-administration-partially-fund-snap-months/story?id=127138175
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/04/trump-snap-funding-shutdown-food-aid-00635141
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/07/politics/trump-administration-supreme-court-snap-benefits
2025-11-04 Trump posted on social media that he would not release ANY part of the SNAP funding until the “Radical Left Democrats open up government”, thereby weaponizing hunger of 40 million Americans in a retaliatory move against Democrats.
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115492285081397189
2025-11-04 News outlets report that the Trump administration is planning to make it harder to get Social Security Disability assistance or housing.
https://www.propublica.org/article/dhs-social-security-data-voter-citizenship-trump
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26090916-eligible-status-rule/#document/p1
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-housing-reforms-aid-hud-immigration-homelessness
2025-11-06 Trump removed the Direct File tool which allowed Americans to file their federal income taxes for free.
https://meritalk.com/articles/irs-officially-suspends-free-direct-file-service/
https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/11/12/trump-kills-irs-direct-file-what-now
2025-11-10 News outlets reported that the Trump Administration Agriculture Department threatened to penalize states that don’t “undo” steps to fully fund SNAP.
https://factkeepers.com/trump-administration-threatens-states-that-dont-undo-full-snap-payments/
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/09/nx-s1-5603417/full-snap-benefits-trump-states-order
2025-11-10 Eight Democratic senators joined Republicans in a vote to reopen the government without any concessions like saving affordable health care. During the shutdown, Trump leveraged SNAP benefits for politics and defied judge orders to release them to feed millions of starving Americans, so maybe this is what broke Democrats to cave. This was also when Trump forked over $40B in American taxpayer dollars to help Argentina out while our food pantries were overrun with needy citizens, and nobody voted to take the funds back from that either.
https://time.com/7332610/8-senators-broke-with-democrats-to-end-government-shutdown/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-democrats-vote-end-government-shutdown/
https://meidasnews.com/news/republicans-vote-no-on-using-argentina-bailout-money-for-aca-subsidies
2025-11-12 News outlets report that permanent housing solutions for the homeless will be negatively affected. The Trump administration made plans to cut Continuum of Care funding that supports permanent housing from 87% down to 30% across the country. Some outlets reported that the funds would be redirected from current housing to temporary transitional housing that requires the tenant to already have a job and get addiction treatment. The proposed plan would redirect $3.9 billion away from current programs and instead to policing encampments and making arrests.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/13/trump-cuts-homeless-housing-program-00650758
https://endhomelessness.org/action/stophudnofo/
2025 December
2025-12-15 Several news outlets reported the Trump administration plans to eliminate tens of thousands of VA health care jobs, reportedly around 35,000.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/13/va-veterans-affairs-job-cuts-trump/
2025-12-16 Obamacare subsidies were set to expire with four Republicans joining the Democrats to force a vote to stop this from happening. Congress sent lawmakers home form the holiday before the vote could happen.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/23/expiring-aca-subsidies-most-affected.html
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/19/politics/congress-obamacare-subsidies-expiring
2026 January
2026-01-14 In addition to the billions of dollars in cuts already, the Trump administration added millions of dollars in funding cuts against substance abuse and mental health programs.
2026 February
2026-02-02 Trump announced the Kennedy center would be shut down for two years for “renovations”. Renovations would include marble, furniture, gold inlay and gold trim. Trump said the renovations would not come from taxpayer money at all, stating quote, “zero taxpayer”. Meanwhile, a Gallup survey showed that millions of Americans were skipping meals in order to pay for their healthcare. The Gallup poll said, “In a nationally and state-representative survey of nearly 20,000 US adults conducted from June through August 2025, roughly one-third of respondents – the equivalent of more than 82 million Americans – said they have made at least one trade-off with daily living expenses to afford healthcare. Americans are also postponing retirement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi0AWU60RxE&list=WL&index=1&t=69s
https://news.gallup.com/poll/702596/one-third-americans-cut-back-cover-healthcare-expenses.aspx
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/02/nx-s1-5696489/kennedy-center-renovation-trump-questions
2026-02-25 Dr. Mehmet Oz and JD Vance announced a 6-month national moratorium blocking all new enrollments for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, supplies across the board. He stated, “These crimes are becoming a major source of fraudulent activity…”. This was implemented in Minnesota. Walz stated in a social media post, “This has nothing to do with fraud. This is a campaign of retribution. Trump is weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota”.
https://www.aha.org/news/headline/2026-02-25-cms-announces-actions-addressing-fraud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1l99wq4amo&list=WL&index=2
2026 March
2026-03-09 On the Washington Watch with Tony Perkins, Texas District 27 Congressman Michael Cloud said, “I’ve been in a number of these hearings, and you often see Matthew 25 thrown about – never in context. Uh, sometimes it seems to be the only – I would say – scripture, but it’s not even a full scripture that, the only half scripture that the left would seem to know. Uh, and they use it to justify all kinds of spending…uh, in Corinthians – it talks about that charity is something that’s given of a free will and not by compulsion. Uh, and taxes certainly by compulsion. And so, you know, we believe in, ah, generosity. Certainly we should be giving, taking care of our neighbor. Uh, that should be extension of how – who – we are, but we’re almost $40TR in debt. Uh, and so, we’ve got to prioritize. And the federal government has a specific constitutional – uh – duty and priority. Uh, and, and, scripture talks about the role of what a federal government is supposed to be doing or a government’s supposed to be doing. It’s a different role than the family. It’s a different role than the church, uh…and, and the community. And so, you know, it’s important that we kind of put all these things in context as we begin to weigh scripture, especially in the context of government policy…”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2LhGaW2C44&list=WL&index=4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMI-jsOUDQk
2026-03-10 News agencies reported that Pete Hegseth went on a spending spree with taxpayer money from September 2025 on, spending $9M on crab legs, $6.9M on lobster tail, $98,000 for a grand piano, $5.3M on Apple devices, $15.1M for steak, $124,000 on ice cream machines, $139,000 on doughnut orders, $225M on furniture, $12,000 for fruit basket stands, and $50.1B on grants and contracts. This all came just before the Trump administration decided to withhold SNAP benefits for American families and their children.
https://newrepublic.com/post/207555/pete-hegseth-billions-dollars-fruit-basket-stands-chairs-crab
https://mashable.com/video/jimmy-kimmel-pete-hegseth-spending-93-billion
2026-03-11 On the YouTube channel Sutherland Institute Senator John Husted said, “People living in poverty are not experienced at navigating the real world”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT_thvf4cXc&list=WL&index=1
2026-03-16 During a Newsmax interview with Carl Higbie ‘Frontline’ Trump-ally Michael Savage called poverty the “homeless industrial complex” and said, “It’s a racket bigger than the crack business in the State of California. Of course it’s not for the homeless. Donors who own these dilapidated hotels sell them to the State at inflated prices, then their wives or girlfriends or daughters decorate them at inflated prices, and the homeless bums don’t even wanna go in there on top of it all because they don’t have the freedom to destroy the society that they have in the streets. It’s crazy, I’ve been long-saying they shouldn’t have the freedom to live in the streets. Take the freedom away from them! Put them in internment camps 100 miles away from cities and give them the care that they need”. Carl Hibie chuckled, “homeless internment camps is definitely going to get noticed on the internet, so…”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3kp_9N3Jsk&list=WL&index=3&t=10s
2026-03-29 Trump touted more plans for his ballroom to include bulletproof glass and drone-proof construction. This during a war in Iran, the lowest job-market in decades, surging inflation, unaffordable healthcare, increasing poverty, and a shutdown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz6x2Y50Egs&list=WL&index=1&t=10s
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5807115-donald-trump-military-complex-white-house-ballroom/
2026 April
2026-04-03 During 2025 the Trump administration made deep cuts to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) which helps 6 million households pay their heating or cooling bills, buy fuel or fix broken heaters: particularly for the elderly. Now at the beginning of 2026 the Trump administration recommended cutting it entirely while simultaneously demanding $1.5T in defense spending to support Israels war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSXxofF5lJg&t=33s
https://www.ncoa.org/article/energy-assistance-beyond-liheap/
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5815067-trump-budget-liheap-energy-prices/
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5814887-15t-defense-budget-request/
2026-04-03 The Trump administration demanded $1.5T in defense spending to support Israels war and pay for the “Golden Dome”, while making further cuts to domestic necessities like heating and cooling and food. During an event at the White House Trump said, “It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual…things. They can do it on a State basis. You can’t do it on a Federal – we have to take care of one thing: military protection. We have to guard the country”. In other words, Trump wants to funnel American taxpayer dollars into funding Israel’s power-grabbing war in the Middle East.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0IV2JT26Ls&list=WL&index=4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEURbAHBPvg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GFcmIVM3Yc
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/02/politics/donald-trump-iran-war-daycare
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5814887-15t-defense-budget-request/
2026-04-13 Due to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, chief economist Maximo Torero of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned a lengthy disruption in trade at the Strait of Hormuz will result in a global food crisis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwgxQMSZzbA&list=WL&index=1&t=2s
https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/04/1167289
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-892976
2026-04-16 Headline MS Now: “Trump administration’s depraved crusade against Catholic leaders continues”. This article includes examples of the Trump administration now defunding shelter and migrant-children care ran by Catholic charities.
https://www.ms.now/opinion/pope-trump-vance-catholic-charities-contract-canceled
https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/catholic-charities-federal-funding-cut-miami/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hECf9ZCGws&list=WL&index=7
SUB WALL https://www.ms.now/opinion/trump-pope-leo-criticism-vance-catholic-peace
2026-04-18 Trump signed an Executive Order to loosen restrictions on psychedelic therapy treatment for military members suffering from PTSD. This came shortly after podcaster Joe Rogan texted Trump about ibogaine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWOnsAHeKLg&list=WL&index=4
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-signs-order-to-speed-review-of-psychedelics
https://www.npr.org/2026/04/18/nx-s1-5789859/psychedelic-treatments-mental-health
https://time.com/article/2026/04/21/trump-psychedelics-executive-order-what-to-know/
2026-04-28 Louisiana advanced HB211 to criminalize being homeless. Under the Streets to Success Act, homeless individuals would be arrested and fined for sleeping in public places. If they cannot pay the fines, they will be forced into hard labor to pay off the fines. In some cases they can be forced into a treatment program for which they would have to pay off with hard labor. Republican State Representative Debbie Villio stated in her proposal, “We aren’t looking to jail anyone, we’re looking to integrate them with the criminal justice system in an effort to connect them with service providers”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5IpSzIir_A&list=WL&index=1&t=614s
https://council.nola.gov/news/april-2026/councilmember-lesli-harris-urges-louisiana-to-reje/
https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?s=26rs&b=HB211&sbi=y
https://www.addicted.org/paying-for-treatment/cost/louisiana/
https://www.wafb.com/2026/04/09/louisiana-lawmakers-advance-bill-criminalizing-homeless-encampments/
2026-04-30 By the end of April, a bale of hay costs $23 a piece, diesel costs rose up over 46%, screwworms were an issue in the Southern border, and additional cuts to SNAP benefits while farming families are under duress.
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DXp39tRiciL/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmRokZs7gPQ&list=WL&index=2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LbxJS5uApQ&list=WL&index=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmRokZs7gPQ&list=WL&index=2
2026 May
2026-05-01 Nebraska was the first red state to roll out Medicaid work requirements.
https://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/WorkRequirements.aspx
https://www.ketv.com/article/nebraska-implements-new-medicaid-work-requirements/71189141
https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/nebraska-medicaid-work-requirements-launch-first-state/818992/
2026-05-06 KraftHeinz reported that consumers are dipping into their savings accounts just to eat.
PAY WALL https://www.seattletimes.com/business/consumers-are-running-out-of-money-and-cutting-back-ceos-warn/
2026-05-06 National Economic Council Director Kevin Hasset told Fox news “In fact, I had the head of one of the big five banks in my office yesterday going through the credit card data. And just as Secretary Bessent said, credit card spending is through the roof. They’re spending more on gasoline, but they’re spending more no everything else too.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-official-drops-odd-boast-161158876.html?
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5867139-strong-job-market-us/
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/07/politics/economy-trump-administration-messaging
https://www.the-independent.com/us/money/trump-credit-card-spending-b2971738.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ofisyS9MA&list=WL&index=9&t=41s
2026-05-12 When reporters asked him about the war in Iran, Trump replied, “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation – I don’t think about anybody”.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/12/world/live-news/trump-iran-war-news
2026-05-14 Trump’s puppet JD Vance denied that Trump said, “I don’t think about American’s financial situations…”.
https://newrepublic.com/post/210395/jd-vance-donald-trump-never-said-care-even-little-bit-americans
2026-05-19 A survey showed that at least 25% of job seekers reported it has taken them a year or longer to find a replacement job.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtEAIO6zYTo&list=WL&index=1
https://www.investopedia.com/quarter-of-job-searches-are-taking-more-than-a-year-11978096