Welfare Reform Was a Disaster for the Poor. Trump Wants to Make It Even Worse.
President Bill Clinton signs welfare reform legislation on August 22, 1996.J. Scott Applewhite/AP This week marked the 23rd anniversary of welfare reform, a law that ripped a hole in the nation’s safety net under the guise of encouraging personal responsibility among poor families. The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has marked the anniversary…
Report: Trump’s Businesses Could Save Millions If Fed Cuts Interest Rates
Donald Trump and his son, Eric, at the 2016 grand opening of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DCEvan Vucci/AP In recent months, Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the Federal Reserve and its chairperson, Jerome Powell, for setting interest rates higher than Trump would like. “The only problem we have is Jay Powell and the…
Environmental Groups Just Sued the Trump Administration Over Its Endangered Species Act Rollback
Lance King/Getty Environmental and animal rights groups are taking the Trump administration to court over rules finalized last week by the departments of Commerce and Interior weakening the Endangered Species Act’s protections. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by Earthjustice on behalf of seven groups including the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Defenders of…
Trump Thinks Background Checks Won’t Stop Shootings. He’s Wrong.
President Donald Trump speaks to the Nation Rifle Association in April.Michael Conroy/AP After mass shootings left 31 people dead in El Paso and Dayton, President Donald Trump signaled a willingness to pursue significant new gun control legislation—in particular, by strengthening the federal background check system. Currently, gun-buyers are required to pass a background check if…
Trump’s New Indefinite Family Detention Plan Completes a Cruel Agenda
Detained immigrant children line up in the cafeteria at the Karnes family detention center in Texas in 2014.Eric Gay/AP In April, after starting a new system of sending asylum seekers back to Mexico to wait for their US court dates, the Trump administration received a familiar piece of news: A judge in California was blocking…
Four Mass Shootings Have Been Thwarted Since the El Paso Massacre, Authorities Say
Mother Jones illustration; Eline van Nes/Zuma; Getty In the two weeks since the gun massacre in El Paso, Texas, federal and local authorities have thwarted four additional threats they said could have resulted in mass attacks. All four of the alleged plotters—in Nevada, Connecticut, Florida, and Ohio—were heavily armed young white men. At least three…