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For Immediate Release
December, 19 2017, 01:45pm EDT
Contact:
Linda Benesch, 240-342-4301, lbenesch@socialsecurityworks.org
WASHINGTON
The following is a statement from Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works, in reaction to the Republican tax bill that just passed the House:
"House Republicans just jammed through a historically unpopular tax bill that enriches their wealthy donors at the American people's expense. Every Republican will be held to account, regardless of if they voted for the bill or were given permission to vote no.
Next November, they will rue this day when voters express their wrath at the polls. Dozens of House Republicans, including Reps. Steve Knight (CA-25), Darrell Issa (CA-49), Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48), Mimi Walters (CA-45), and Barbara Comstock (VA-10), should expect to lose their seats.
If rank and file Republicans go along with Speaker Paul Ryan's plan to follow up the tax scam with an attack on Medicare and Medicaid, they will fail. The only thing they will succeed at is making the bloodbath they will face next November even worse."
Social Security Works' mission is to: Protect and improve the economic security of disadvantaged and at-risk populations; Safeguard the economic security of those dependent, now or in the future, on Social Security; and Maintain Social Security as a vehicle of social justice.
LATEST NEWS
Dems Say They'll Stand Firm Against Budget Deal Unless GOP Halts Attack on Healthcare
Health insurance premiums are expected to rise significantly for approximately 22 million Americans after Republicans ended a tax credit for those enrolled in programs under the Affordable Care Act.
Sep 11, 2025
Democratic leaders said Thursday that they plan to hold up negotiations on a potential government shutdown unless Republicans agree to forfeit a policy change that is expected to dramatically raise health insurance premiums for millions of Americans.
Health insurance premiums are expected to rise significantly for approximately 22 million Americans enrolled in Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans after Republicans refused to extend enhanced tax credits when passing Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" in July.
In remarks on Capitol Hill Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he and Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) were in total agreement not to negotiate unless Republicans agree to extend the tax credits.
“On this issue, we’re totally united. The Republicans have to come to meet with us in a true bipartisan negotiation to satisfy the American people’s needs on healthcare, or they won't get our votes, plain and simple,” Schumer warned at a press conference.
"We will not support a partisan spending agreement that continues to rip away healthcare from the American people. Period. Full stop,” Jeffries said.
The enhanced tax credits, which were created in 2021 under the American Rescue Plan Act and later extended through the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, are credited with reducing the insurance premiums of millions of people who purchase health insurance through government exchanges.
The tax credits have reduced insurance premiums by 44% on average—over $700 per enrollee—and have contributed to the number of people purchasing insurance on the exchanges more than doubling to over 24 million in 2025.
According to a report released Wednesday by KFF:
Nine in 10 enrollees (92%) receive some amount of premium tax credit. If these enhanced tax credits expire at the end of 2025, out-of-pocket premiums would rise by over 75% on average for the vast majority of individuals and families buying coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces.
The increases come as insurance companies, citing "slumping share prices," per the Financial Times, are planning the largest hike to premiums in 15 years, including an 18% increase for those buying from ACA exchanges.
These increases will come on top of those already expected as a result of a Trump administration rule passed in June, which increased the maximum percentages of income and raw dollar amounts that insurance plans could charge patients out-of-pocket for care.
According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, these changes "will make coverage less affordable for millions of people." The CBPP estimates that "a family of four making $85,000 will have to pay an additional $197 in premiums for coverage in 2026" while a "family of two or more people on the same plan could face an additional $900 in medical bills if a family member is seriously ill or injured in 2026, and an individual enrolled in self-only coverage could face an additional $450 in medical bills."
In all, the Congressional Budget Office estimated in May that as a result of these mounting costs, over 5 million people will no longer be able to afford their health insurance plans.
"The death star of American healthcare, the insurance companies are preparing to blow up the lives of millions of middle-class families," warned journalist David Sirota in a podcast for The Lever.
Republicans in Congress are facing mounting pressure to extend the tax credits and stave off the premium hikes. Last week, 11 Republicans in Congress signed onto a bill that would extend the credits through 2026, allowing them to avoid the issue until after the midterm elections.
A survey conducted in July by two of Trump's most trusted pollsters, Tony Fabrizio and Bob Ward, found that for Republicans in the most competitive districts, "a 3-point deficit becomes a 15-point deficit" against the generic Democrat if they allow the healthcare premium tax credit to expire.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has stayed coy about whether he and the Republican caucus plan to support extending the credits.
"I'm not going to forecast that right now," Johnson told reporters earlier this week, while also saying, "There's a lot of opposition to it as well."
Democrats, meanwhile, have proposed a competing bill to make the subsidies permanent and are hoping to use this month's budget showdown to force Republicans to make concessions on the issue.
As David Dayen wrote Monday for the American Prospect, it sets up a challenging strategic and moral dilemma for Democrats:
On the one hand, Democrats fighting for healthcare benefits speaks to an issue where they have the highest level of support from the public. They would credibly be able to tell voters that they fought for lower costs during an affordability crisis and won, and that more of that will happen if they are given power in the midterms.
On the other hand, Republicans willingly drove the healthcare system toward the point of oblivion, and some may question why Democrats would offer a lifeline to bail them out. In this reading, relieving Republicans of the consequences of their health care plans would be harmful to Democratic midterm chances; Trump would take credit for keeping health care costs low.
What's clear, Dayen said, is that "unless action is taken, it will be an enormous example of Trump's failure to rein in the runaway cost of living."
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, urged Democrats to stand firm as the fight over a potential government shutdown heats up.
"If Republicans refuse to negotiate and move away from their cost-increasing agenda, then it is Republicans who will be forcing a government-wide shutdown," Gilbert said. "There should be no deal without assurances that the budget will be honored and not impounded, and one that returns care to the American people.”
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State Dept. Official Signals Review of Foreigners 'Praising, Rationalizing, or Making Light of' Kirk Killing
"The US government seeking to punish those who make light of the incident is a complete betrayal of the First Amendment and spits in the face of the principle of free speech and debate," said one lawyer.
Sep 11, 2025
"So much for free speech."
That's how multiple social media users responded Thursday after a top official signaled on the platform X that the US Department of State will review foreigners' remarks on the Wednesday killing of Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk, a key ally of Republican President Donald Trump.
"In light of yesterday's horrific assassination of a leading political figure, I want to underscore that foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country," Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote Thursday morning.
"I have been disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action," Landau added. "Please feel free to bring such comments by foreigners to my attention so that the State Department can protect the American people."
Lawyers swiftly stressed that the comments Landau is aiming to track down would be "fully protected speech under the First Amendment" to the US Constitution.
American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick said, "You can agree that it's a tragedy that a man was assassinated and also believe that the US government seeking to punish those who make light of the incident is a complete betrayal of the First Amendment and spits in the face of the principle of free speech and debate."
"It is appalling to see US government officials trying to police the speech of people outside the US and to direct consular officers to deny and strip visas from anyone who made a joke about Charlie Kirk's assassination—and rely on X for reports," he continued. "The First Amendment applies to the federal government; 'Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech.' Directing people to have a benefit denied and potentially be deported over a joke in very poor taste violates the First Amendment."
After one X user suggested visitors to the United States don't have the same rights as citizens, Reichlin-Melnick explained that "the First Amendment is a restriction on government action that applies even when the government seeks to restrict the speech of noncitizens. If you'd like, I can cite you dozens of court cases confirming that noncitizens enjoy First Amendment protections."
Kirk and his allies—including Trump—have long framed the late 31-year-old as a free speech supporter. A lengthy pop-up message about his death on the Turning Point USA website even says that "Charlie has become America's greatest martyr to the freedom of speech he so adored."
In response to Axios' reporting on Landau's threat, Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, sarcastically said: "Yes, this definitely seems like an appropriate and constitutional use of the State Department's surveillance authorities. And definitely a fitting way to honor a person whom Trump admin officials have labeled a First Amendment hero."
pretty wild that it so quickly became normalized that immigrants don’t have even basic free speech rightswww.axios.com/2025/09/11/c...
[image or embed]
— Olivia Messer (@oliviamesser.bsky.social) September 11, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Writer Miriam Elder similarly quipped, "The free speech government honoring the free speech martyr."
Trump also publicly fancies himself a protector of free speech, but since returning to office in January, he has targeted law firms that represent clients and causes he opposes, news outlets whose coverage he disagrees with, and foreign students who criticize Israel's US-backed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Although elected officials across the US political spectrum have condemned Kirk's killing and his unidentified shooter remains at large, Trump claimed in a Wednesday night speech that the rhetoric of the "radical left" is "directly responsible" for his death.
The president also pledged that his administration "will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone else who brings order to our country."
While Kirk's fatal shooting has sparked widespread condemnation of all political violence, the far-right crusader's longtime critics have also highlighted his attacks on marginalized people, promotion of misinformation and conspiracy theories, and strong opposition to stricter gun laws—including his assertion that "it's worth to have a cost of unfortunately some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment."
Landau wasn't the only key official making threats about commentary on Kirk's killing. Congressman Clay Higgins (R-La.) said on X early Thursday that "I'm going to use congressional authority and every influence with Big Tech platforms to mandate immediate ban for life of every post or commenter that belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk."
"If they ran their mouth with their smartass hatred celebrating the heinous murder of that beautiful young man who dedicated his whole life to delivering respectful conservative truth into the hearts of liberal enclave universities, armed only with a Bible and a microphone and a Constitution... those profiles must come down," he said. "So, I'm going to lean forward in this fight, demanding that Big Tech have zero tolerance for violent political hate content, the user to be banned from ALL PLATFORMS FOREVER."
"I'm also going after their business licenses and permitting, their businesses will be blacklisted aggressively, they should be kicked from every school, and their driver's licenses should be revoked," he added. "I'm basically going to cancel with extreme prejudice these evil, sick animals who celebrated Charlie Kirk's assassination. I'm starting that today. That is all."
Several X users responded with examples of Higgins' long history of problematic commentary.
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) CEO Greg Lukianoff told Higgins: "No. The state may not coerce private institutions to censor speech that the state itself cannot censor under the First Amendment. Besides, you are not safer for knowing LESS about what people really think."
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Multiple Historically Black Colleges and Universities Go Into Lockdown Amid Wave of Threats
"My heart aches for the constant trauma that students consistently experience simply because some lack the courage to do better!" said Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
Sep 11, 2025
Several historically Black colleges and universities went into lockdown on Thursday amid a wave of threats.
According to USA Today, Alabama State University, Hampton University, Virginia State University (VSU), Southern University and A&M College, and Bethune-Cookman University locked down after receiving unspecified threats.
In a message posted on social media, Alabama State University said that it had closed its campus and asked students, faculty, and staff who don't reside on campus to "leave immediately." The university also told USA Today that it had received "terrorist threats" and decided to shut down out of an abundance of caution.
Local news station WVTM 13 reports that the campus reopened on Thursday afternoon after getting the all clear from law enforcement.
Hampton University went even farther and canceled all activities on its campus on both Thursday and Friday due to what it described as a "potential threat."
Southern University and A&M College lifted its lockdown on Thursday afternoon but nonetheless said that all classes and campus activities were being canceled until next Monday.
"It is imperative that all members of the Hampton University community remain vigilant," the university advised. "If you see something, say something."
Virginia State University went into lockdown for roughly four hours on Thursday before the campus police department lifted it "with restrictions."
"Entry to campus is limited to faculty, staff and students with a valid VSU identification card only," the VSU Police Department said.
US Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) condemned the threats to the schools in a social media post.
"HBCU campuses have been safe havens since their creation," she said. "I'm not sure why or how they have become a target today, but it is not OK. It is not OK for anyone to be targeted for violence! My heart aches for the constant trauma that students consistently experience simply because some lack the courage to do better!"
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) also spoke out against the threats.
"For the love of America, left or right, let us speak out against this violence and seek to heal with peace and grace," he said.
The threats to the colleges came one day after the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, although there is so far no indication that the threats are related.
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