How Trump’s Dismantling of the VA Left a Veterans Hospital in Crisis — ProPublica

The administration has denied that it is hurting veterans’ care. “There’s actually an excitement about what’s going on,” said Collins, a former personal lawyer for Trump, in congressional testimony this spring. A spokesperson said the eliminated jobs for healthcare providers were simply “not needed.” 

That is not what we have found. Over months of reporting, ProPublica has watched the East Orange VA Medical Center — a typical agency facility — spiral downward. The hospital and its affiliated facilities in New Jersey lost nearly a tenth of the staff they had when Trump took office…

 https://www.propublica.org/article/east-orange-va-hospital-veterans-decline-new-jersey

 

Look at This Chart Before You Vote

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KcVdZplmLFo

 

Trump’s VA killed a home loan program. Veterans are paying for it : NPR

More than 700 veterans suffered payment increases of $1,000 or more…

 https://www.npr.org/2026/10/30/nx-s1-5995628/trump-va-home-loan-program-veterans-paying

Trump’s cuts have exposed US to ‘cascade’ of El Niño dangers, experts warn

President has taken an axe to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, stalling climate research on and response to extreme weather events…

 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/27/trump-cuts-el-nino-noaa

 

Trump administration has pushed off 13% of Americans enrolled in food stamps

Stakeholders concerned more people at risk of food insecurity after One Big Beautiful Act took effect…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/25/trump-food-stamp-cuts

 

Bill Pulte Said He Was Cracking Down on Fraud. Now He’s Firing the Investigators. – Mother Jones

Pulte’s cuts “will eliminate our capacity to effectively conduct criminal investigation of mortgage, bank, and other fraud schemes involving the entities FHFA regulates.”… 

 Top Democrats said Thursday that Pulte “should resign, and if he does not, Congress must hold him accountable.”…

 https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/10/bill-pulte-fhfa-fraud-federal-mortage-inspectors-office-budget-cut/

Top Democratic appropriator wants White House to pay for airing 'propaganda' - Live Updates - POLITICO

Sen. Patty Murray is proposing to dock the Office of Management and Budget for violations…

 https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/10/01/congress/penalties-for-propaganda-ads-01103825

 

NASA scientists say relocations put space missions at risk : NPR

"We do not have a replacement lab," the engineer said. "I did not have anywhere to start laying out the components and figure out what we have, what we need and all of that."

 Meanwhile, as of August, the lab space they were rushed out of at Goddard remains vacant, the engineer said. 

"They clearly don't have a long-term plan," the engineer said, "which was not really how we feel you should be treating world-class engineering labs."…

 https://www.npr.org/2026/09/15/nx-s1-5964919/nasa-employee-relocations-equipment-impacts-missions

 

‘Institutional neglect’: 25 years on from 9/11, experts sound alarm over US counter-terror efforts

Budget cuts, loss of knowledgeable officials and diverted resources raise risk of another attack, experts warn…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/10/9-11-us-counter-terrorism-intelligence-trump-administration 

 

More taxes have gone uncollected after IRS slashed its staff : NPR

"Defunding the IRS is not a money-saving proposition because you have fewer employees," says Natasha Sarin, who served as a counselor on tax policy to former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. "It is a money-losing one, because you do a less good job of collecting taxes."…

 https://www.npr.org/2026/09/02/nx-s1-5954022/irs-tax-collection-job-reductions

Hospitals say coming Trump administration rules are worse than GOP's Medicaid cuts - POLITICO

Hospitals expected to lose $340 billion through 2034 after Congress passed the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act last year. If the rules are finalized as proposed, they would generate $756 billion in savings to the federal government and $265 billion in savings to states through 2035.

 Or as hospitals see it, they’re losing $681 billion more than they expected…

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/02/hospitals-say-coming-regulations-worse-than-medicaid-cuts-01060086

 

Here’s Why We’ve Been Seeing So Much Food-Borne Illness – Mother Jones

 “Climate change has allowed pathogens like cyclospora…to expand from the tropic, subtropic lines into areas more north and south.”…

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/09/why-so-much-food-borne-illness-this-year-cyclospora-salmonella-listeria-e-coli-outbreaks-safe-eat/ 

 

USDA cuts strip NRCS workers from local communities

The Natural Resources Conservation Service lost nearly a quarter of its staff nationwide in 2025 after the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal government. Many were local experts that help farmers with soil and water conservation efforts...

 https://www.kcur.org/environment-agriculture/2026-08-31/nrcs-cuts-impact-conservation-farmers

 

USDA reportedly shelves cyclospora research amid relocations and fund cuts

Trump officials shuttering three projects on foodborne parasite, two defunded by Congress, Politico reports…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/30/usda-cyclospora-research-projects-shelved

 

Attacks on the U.S. Public Health System

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UfnoLOgNwPs

 

Trump admin defunds abstinence-only programs in chaotic budget cuts - POLITICO

The Trump administration’s sweeping grant cuts are hitting sexual abstinence programs long favored by Republicans…

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/06/trump-admin-cuts-teen-pregnancy-prevention-funds-01027294

More than 1 million children lost access to food benefits after Trump bill passed

Analysis finds more than 4 million Americans lost Snap benefits, or food stamps, from July 2025 to March 2026…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/25/food-stamps-children-trump

 

Congress wants to get more homes built quickly. That might be harder after DOGE. - POLITICO

Some of the lawmakers who pushed for the law worry that the Department of Housing and Urban Development — which has shed more than 30 percent of its core policy workforce in just three years following budget cuts — is too understaffed to quickly issue new rules and implement its provisions, aimed at making building and buying homes cheaper and easier...

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/23/bipartisan-housing-bill-implementation-01008945

 

How the administration has mired the US in multiple crises

Between widespread cuts to vital government agencies, various disease and illness outbreaks, and new environmental disaster vulnerabilities, the United States is facing a convergence of crises with widespread repercussions. 

Yet the Trump administration has hamstrung the federal government from addressing these crises – and in some cases is actively fanning them. Over the past year, the administration has moved to shrink the federal workforce, roll back environmental protections and policies intended to fight the climate crisis, reduced funding for scientific research and is seeking to advance legislation that would impose new voting restrictions...

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/19/how-trump-and-his-administration-have-mired-the-us-in-multiple-crises  

Senators will ‘insist on offsets’ in reconciliation bill, Ron Johnson says - Live Updates - POLITICO

He told reporters Monday, ahead of the House rollout, that identifying offsetting cuts“would certainly be one of my objectives.

” But that risks putting him at odds with Thune, who has voiced concerns that pursuing spending cuts to health care or other sensitive programs could blow back on vulnerable members just before the midterms...

 https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/07/15/congress/ron-johnson-reconciliation-offsets-00999519