The Dictatorship
‘We are less-than’: Americans fear more cuts to healthcare programs after RFK Jr. hearings
The walls are closing in on millions of Americans who utilize federal healthcare benefits such as Medicare and Medicaid, as the sweeping changes and cuts promised in President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” inch closer to reality, and lawmakers do little to soften the incoming blow.
All eyes were on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last week as he wrapped up a marathon seven congressional committee hearings, in review of several proposed federal health nominees and his handling of HHS. Senators spent the week grilling Kennedy over Trump’s 2027 budget proposalwhich would cut $15.8 billion from HHS and put new restrictions on those seeking Medicaid coverage — on top of the impacts of Trump’s bill, which leaves millions at risk of losing insurance coverage.
But the Kennedy hearings didn’t offer much in the way of positive news for federal aid recipients anxious about the future. Instead, Kennedy spent the week defending Trump’s budget proposal and balking — or making misleading claims — about cuts to Medicaid, which is poised to lose $1 trillion in federal spending by 2034 under Trump’s current terms.
“In all honesty, until Trump is gone, RFK is out, along with others who shouldn’t be anywhere near anything to do with Healthcare, we are screwed,” said Edwina Billhimer, a Medicaid recipient and registered Republican who lives in southern Indiana.
Billhimer suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a genetic connective tissue disorder that causes joint issues, chronic pain and severe fatigue. Billhimer cannot physically work and takes medicine around the clock to manage her symptoms. She’s the primary caregiver to her 39-year-old son Dennis, who had half of his brain removed following seizures. Her daughter Michaela was also diagnosed with EDS.
“I feel hopeless. I am waiting for people like myself and my son, along with the elderly, people with cancer and other diseases to be put in camps or hospitals till we die,” she said.
Shifting goal posts
Cuts to government healthcare programs have already had significant impacts on Americans since Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law last July.
In December, Affordable Care Act tax credits expired, causing health premiums to skyrocket for many of the benefit’s 22 million recipients — millions of whom are set to drop their health insurance. Americans without company sponsored healthcare, such as entrepreneurs, small farmers and freelancers, saw immediate increases in their costs.
This year, states across the country have reported hundreds of millions in added costs and lost tax revenue, and hundreds of rural hospitals are on the brink of closure. In January, the House responded by passing a bill to extend the ACA tax credits, but talks have since stagnated in the Senate.
Trump’s bill features one major change for individuals on Medicaid: a new, strict work requirement for eligibility that could block millions from enrolling in the program.
“They must be working at least 80 hours a month, attending school or participating in other specified activities like volunteering in order to receive Medicaid coverage, unless they qualify for an exemption,” said Jennifer Haley, a principal research associate at the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Division. Her team’s recent analysis painted a grim picture for those seeking Medicaid going forward.
Trump’s bill, Hayley said, “would lead to a decline in Medicaid expansion enrollment of about five to 10 million people in 2028.”
Despite ongoing White House claims that people have exploited these programs by avoiding employment, Haley said the majority of those enrolled in Medicaid already work.
But with an average unemployment rate bouncing between 4.3% and 4.45%, getting a job has been challenging for many Americans.
“I think 14 months of looking, I’ve probably put in somewhere around close to 2000 applications, and I’ve had a couple dozen interviews and nothing,” said Medicaid recipient Justin Cornell, 43, of Denver.
Cornell, who is currently unhoused, said he has been kicked off Medicaid about four times in the last seven years. Even with an advanced education, he said he mostly has relied on temporary gigs and food deliveries for income.
Cornell said his own health challenges got him where he is. In 2016, he was diagnosed with type two diabetes, and spent his 401(k) “on healthcare expenses.”
“I had someone help me get on Medicaid at that point, and it saved my life, because I was in the hospital for two nights in the ICU,” he said. The bill, he added, “was something close to $300,000, which obviously I wouldn’t have had. And unfortunately, I have been kind of in and out of housing and on and off Medicaid and SNAP since then.”
Cornell said he thinks many people have misconceptions about the Americans using healthcare programs such as Medicaid.
“If you were to walk into just about any shelter in any city at this point, you would discover that most of those people are working,” he said. “They’re usually working more than one job, and they’re just not making it. It’s not someone who is lazy, because you can’t get on these programs and not put any effort into it.”
“You need to call every week, you need to go down every week, you need to meet with someone, because that’s how you’re going to get on the program, not just applying to them,” Cornell added.
“We are looked down at”
Now it’s a waiting game as millions of Americans like Cornell and Billhimer brace for further healthcare cuts. The national anxiety over cost and cuts is clear in current polling data.
In a recently released Gallup survey of 20,000 Americans, roughly a third of respondents reported making “at least one trade-off with daily living expenses to afford healthcare.”
Just under half of U.S. adults said they struggle to afford healthcare costs, according to a study by the independent research institute KFF. About 3 in 10 said they or an immediate family member had problems paying for healthcare in the past 12 months.
For Billhimer, living life in fear of what could happen to her family’s coverage has been gruesome.
“Ever since the Big, Beautiful Bill passed, I have worried,” she said. “Right now, because of Medicaid, my medications and my son’s medications are covered. … If we were to lose the Medicaid coverage, it would be medications, or eating. And just the thought of that absolutely terrifies me.”
During a private Easter luncheon at the White House earlier this month, Trump suggested the federal government could not — and would not — fund federal aid programs such as Medicaid.
“It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things,” he said.
“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,” he continued.
The White House posted, and then deleted, the statement to social media.
Billhimer said Trump’s comments were devastating — and telling.
“People like us are not looked at. We are looked down at, because we’re less than,” Billhimer said. Of Trump’s comments, she said, “I’m embarrassed, because this isn’t the United States I grew up in at all.”
Maya Eaglin is a reporter at MS NOW covering breaking news, politics and current events around the country. She was previously an award-winning national correspondent at NBC News specializing in digital storytelling.
DETROIT (AP) — The opening of a Canadian-U.S. bridge across the Detroit River, which President Donald Trump had previously threatened to block, was delayed Thursday due to unresolved issues.
In a statement released before a scheduled Friday ribbon-cutting ceremony at the bridge, the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority said that “Canada and the United States have agreed to delay the opening of the bridge, taking the necessary time to resolve any outstanding issues.” It didn’t elaborate on what those issues are or how long the delay would last.
The 1.5-mile-long (2.4-kilometer-long) Gordie Howe International Bridge spans the Detroit River and connects the Motor City with Windsor, Ontario. The bridge is jointly owned by Canada and Michigan and was expected to open to traffic later this month.
But the opening had been thrown into question after Trump in February demanded in a social media post that Canada turn over at least half of the bridge’s ownership to the U.S. federal government and agree to other unspecified demands in one of the Republican president’s many salvos over cross-border trade issues.
Michigan officials and the White House had been in contact for months about the bridge following Trump’s post, with the understanding that the opening would move forward Friday. Invitations for the bridge’s opening went out this week following a conversation between Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
“This project is a powerful example of bipartisan and international cooperation, and the governor looks forward to attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony when it happens,” a statement from Whitmer spokesperson Bobby Leddy said.
New bridge a “long-term play”
Internal disagreements within the Trump administration threw those plans into question, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick pushed back on the opening, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss the private talks.
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday evening, “At the request of the United States we agreed to delay the opening and take the necessary time to resolve outstanding issues.”
He added, “There are some things that have been raised, a series of technical aspects, which we will work through with the United States.”
Even with the delay, officials remained optimistic that the bridge — a roughly $4.4 billion project — is still expected to open.
“We need to keep this very much in perspective,” said Sandy Baruah, president of the Detroit Regional Chamber and former U.S. assistant secretary of commerce. “Our organization, the state of Michigan and others have been working on this bridge for 20 years. If it opens July 1, Aug. 1 or Sept. 1, I’m not going to get overly agitated about it. This is a long-term play.”
Named after the late Canadian Hockey great Gordie Howe, who spent 25 seasons leading the Detroit Red Wings, the bridge is expected to be another vital economic artery between Canada and the United States.
The construction project was negotiated by Rick Snyder, the former Republican governor of Michigan, and paid for by Canada to help ease congestion at the existing Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. Work has been underway since 2018.
U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, said she’s taking people at their word that the holdup is “a minor hiccup.”
“This is probably the most bipartisan issue in the state of Michigan, so it’s ridiculous that we can’t just seal the deal,” Slotkin said.
Commerce and border crossings
Detroit and Windsor have been neighborly for generations, with residents in both countries frequently crossing the shared river border for entertainment and shopping. Windsor’s population in 2021 was about 230,000. Like Detroit, the Canadian city’s economy has a strong focus on manufacturing and the auto industry.
Commercial trade between the two cities primarily has been across the nearly century-old and privately-owned Ambassador Bridge, which is closer to downtown Detroit than the Gordie Howe Bridge.
The Ambassador Bridge had been the busiest commercial border crossing between the United States and Canada until last year, when truck traffic along the Blue Water Bridge connecting Port Huron, Michigan, to Sarnia, Ontario, surpassed the Ambassador Bridge’s numbers, according to the Bridge and Tunnel Operators Association.
In 2025, about 2.1 million trucks crossed the Blue Water Bridge compared to just over 1.8 million that used the Ambassador Bridge. About 3.5 million passenger vehicles used the Ambassador Bridge last year, while 1.6 million crossed via the Blue Water Bridge.
Combined, more than 9.2 million vehicles crossed the border on those two bridges in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
More than 3.7 million cars and SUVs also traveled between the United States and Canada last year via the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
Both bridges and the tunnel are working at full capacity, and the new bridge will help improve the efficiency of commercial and personal traffic between the two countries, Baruah said.
“This is what government is supposed to do, make it easier for business to conduct commerce,” he said.
___
Cappelletti reported from Washington.
President Donald Trump’s planned UFC fight on the White House’s South Lawn has required a monumental effort from more than seven federal agencies, hundreds of staff working onsite daily and at least $60 million, according to a legal filing that offers a glimpse into the preparations.
The event is part of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, and is scheduled for the weekend with the main attraction — seven mixed martial arts matches — on Sunday.
That is, if a judge doesn’t halt the proceedings, which is sought by two Virginia residents in a federal lawsuit against the National Park Service, which oversees the South Lawn.
The agency filed a rebuff of the request Tuesday in court, and, in it, laid out the operations for the event.
“Well over $60 million and tens of thousands of hours of labor have been expended,” the document read, adding that the money came from the UFC and groups affiliated with it.
The Octagon
It’s the eight-sided cage that surrounds the sometimes bloodied combatants and sits at the center of the constructed arena on the South Lawn.
The arena is expected to hold 4,000 spectators, with another 120,000 visitors — who swung tickets from an online lottery — anticipated to watch from the nearby Ellipse.
The installation began May 20, and the Secret Service worked with the UFC to screen between 20 and 30 trucks of equipment — as well as between “700 and 900” staff — that came in daily for the installation.
The document did not specify the extent of government resources spent on the project, but said seven agencies, including Homeland Security and the Federal Aviation Administration, have “allocated significant resources and manpower.”
The schedule
It’ll kick off Saturday with a ceremonial weigh-in at the Ellipse, followed by a concert by country musicians The Zac Brown Band.
A UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest will be ongoing through the weekend, with “interactive experiences,” live shows, celebrity appearances, “exclusive on-stage moments,” meet and greets, live music and interviews with the athletes.
Sunday night is when the seven bouts kick off. At the close, Trump is scheduled to fly to France for the G7 summit.
Disassembly of the installations will begin the next day, and they are expected to be entirely removed by June 23.
The athletes’ Epsom salt baths
There are 14 athletes competing, and their training is rigorous.
Preparations start months in advance, working toward more intense weight cutting and diet alteration in the final week that can include fasting, extreme sauna use and hot Epsom salt baths.
They could be shaving as many as 20 pounds before weigh-ins, which are designed to keep the competition fair between similarly weighted combatants.
Lawsuit calls it ‘corrupt’
It was filed Saturday by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of the two Virginia residents and argues that Trump’s authorization of the event violated National Park Service regulations prohibiting sporting events on federal parklands.
One of the attorneys, Brendan Ballou, characterized it as a “corrupt use of our most sacred national monuments for private gain.”
The National Park Service pushed back on that claim, but also detailed the event’s preparations to make a point.
“All these hopes could be dashed at the very last moment,” it read, “by the whim of two people who believe they have superior taste and want to spoil the event for everyone else.”
FBI agents on Thursday raided the Cleveland offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a pro-democracy organization that helps register voters in that state, according to three people briefed on the search.
Agents also fanned out across the state, showing up at the homes of the group’s leaders and staff members, carrying some subpoenas and seeking information and electronic devices, according to the people, two of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive ongoing investigation. Members of the group had made contact with lawyers on Thursday to determine their legal options, the people said.
Prentiss Haney, a board member for Ohio Organizing Collaborative, told MS NOW Thursday night that agents approached people with connections to Ohio Organizing Collaborative, including some who had performed basic canvassing and volunteer work for the group, and began pressing them for information.
Agents were “basically trying to fish for information,” said Haney.
“They had agents all across the state going to civil rights leaders and community leaders’ doors intimidating them, coming and demanding that they talk about literally anything they would ask,” Haney said, adding that agents “asked them if they’re committing voter fraud, just on their doors, in front of their houses with their children, and just following them to work and school.”
Haney said some of the people said the agents approached without warrants.
“Just straight-up intimidation tactics,” he said.
Spokespeople for the FBI and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Thursday night.
Those sources familiar with the investigation said they are concerned this new effort in Ohio is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to sow doubt and distrust in voting integrity in key swing states ahead of the midterm elections.
Federal agents have in recent months launched inquiries and investigations into voting protocols in Georgia and Wisconsin, have subpoenaed voting records in Arizona and sought reviews of voting machines in Puerto Rico.
According to its website, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative facilitates statewide voter registration through grassroots, community-led programs, including its “Democracy Builders” initiative. This collaborative works in Ohio’s major metropolitan areas, such as Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, to help underrepresented communities register to vote and provides other support.
The group has also joined lawsuits challenging redistricting efforts that it argues reduce Black voters of representation. These lawsuits also “stand your ground” laws that allow a person to shoot someone if they feel threatened.
Haney said the Cleveland raid and harassment of staff are unjustified and that investigators lack any evidence of wrongdoing.
“How can they distract and intimidate civil rights leaders and voters and community leaders who are helping people get registered to vote and create a national spectacle about it?” he said.
“That is the only reason why they would choose to do that, do it now, in the middle of a contested political election in the state. There’s no other reason. They have no evidence of that.”
Carol Leonnig is a senior investigative reporter with MS NOW.
Will McDuffie is a reporter for MS NOW.
Alex Tabet is a reporter for MS NOW.
Laura Barrón-López covers the White House for MS NOW.
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