The cuts to several states come amid an escalating fraud fallout fueled by a dubious YouTube investigation of Minnesota day cares.

The Trump administration on Monday said it had slashed billions in social services funds to a handful of blue states as part of its escalating response to new and unproven fraud allegations in Minnesota.

The Department of Health and Human Services will freeze $10 billion worth of federal grants to California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York, an HHS official told HuffPost, confirming news first reported by The New York Post.

It’s not clear whether the freeze was inspired by specific fraud allegations or solely for political reasons. Officials did not immediately provide a public explanation.

  • ameancow@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    They were going to cut welfare and social programs anyway, that’s all they’re here to do, they are gutting our treasury before they all get kicked out or guillotined. If the wind shifted in the wrong direction they would announce it’s reason to cut funding.

    Pay attention people, this is your script. When you talk to people on the fence, tuned out or already leaning right, you do not argue about social policies, racism, immigration or any of the other hot-button social issues that are on fire right now. Average dumb fucks (which is everyone) don’t actually care about any of that. I’m sorry but people just broadly only care about themselves. Maybe that will change someday, but for now you are not going to get success finger-wagging and pointing out the suffering of marginalized people.

    What you say is this: “Okay they’re cutting all this funding for medical care and poor people, they cut NASA and all these boards for health and education and environment protection, so where’s the benefit? Where is that money going? Are your groceries cheaper? Is your healthcare cheaper? Is anything getting better?”

    That’s it. Just ask this one question. If it’s some MAGAss who starts ranting and sputtering, you let it go. Or just repeat the question. “Where is your money that they’re taking out of your check? Where is going to? Getting oil from Venezuela? Are YOU going to get a barrel of crude?”

    We can leverage the average dumbass American if we make it a question not a lecture. People are dumber than they’ve ever been, but they still want to look smart, and if you ask them a question they can’t answer, they will chew on it so they know how to answer it next time someone asks.

    • jdredbeard@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Absolutely. People who don’t “care” about “politics” , they do care about economic issues that affect them

    • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Along similar lines, I always noticed how we have a vigorous debate about tax rates but nobody ever seems to discuss the benefits you receive for them. The tax rate isn’t going down to zero for working people ever. As long as we have to pay, surely we should get something in return.

      • ameancow@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        100%, we need to keep the focus on what our government is doing for us, we’re supposed to be the people who pay for and “own” our government, we pay their bills with our hard work and money, we sacrifice our future so that we can have a government. “We the people” needs to have meaning. Turn people’s desire to be patriotic against the right targets.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        How do you afford those benefits? I have no objection to tax rates paid by 95% of the population, but I strongly object to the tax rates paid paid by Elon musk and others of that ilk