To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.

×
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Climate
  • Economy
  • Rights & Justice
  • War & Peace
  • Breaking News
  • Opinion
  • News
  • Newswire
  • Further
  • Planned Parenthood Action Fund
  • Trade Justice Education Fund
  • Profile Organization Test
  • ProsperUS
  • Repairers of the Breach
  • Fix Our Senate
  • ACLU Florida
  • Alliance for Retired Americans
  • Concerted Action
  • Green New Deal Network
  • Costs of War
  • Fossil Free Media
  • Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights
  • Independent Jewish Voices Canada
  • Cascadia Wildlands
  • Congressman Jamaal Bowman
  • Environmental Defense
  • National Coalition for the Homeless
  • Riverkeeper
  • U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines
  • Free Gaza Movement
  • Friends of the Earth Europe
  • Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
  • Basel Action Network
  • Healthy California Now
  • Groundwork Collaborative
  • One Fair Wage
  • Progressive International
  • Data for Progress
  • Congressman Ro Khanna
  • Fight Corporate Monopolies
  • Mijente
  • Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal
  • Oxfam America
  • Repair Our Democracy
  • Farm Action
  • Accountable.Senate
  • The Sentencing Project
  • Hunger Free America
  • Fridays for Future
  • Family Farm Action
  • National Family Farm Coalition
  • Protect the Results
  • AFSCME
  • Color Of Change PAC
  • MPower Change
  • Western Watersheds Project
  • WildEarth Guardians
  • The Elders
  • Gwich'in Steering Committee
  • Stop the Money Pipeline
  • RootsAction
  • United Nations Human Rights - Special Procedures
  • Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO)
  • Communications Workers of America
  • The Endangered Species Coalition
  • Center for Climate Integrity
  • Climate Power
  • NORML
  • Lower Drug Prices Now
  • National Education Association (NEA)
  • Democracy Initiative
  • Small Business for Paid Leave
  • Campaign Legal Center
  • Muslim Advocates
  • Congresswoman Ilhan Omar
  • Accountable.US
  • Climate Mobilization
  • GLAD
  • Out & Equal
  • American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
  • The Sunrise Project
  • American Economic Liberties Project
  • Bend the Arc
  • Poor People's Campaign
  • Jewish Voice for Peace Action
  • The Revolving Door Project
  • Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
  • TIME'S UP Now
  • Oil Change U.S.
  • Vote Climate U.S. PAC
  • Community Change Action
  • Democracy 21
  • Environmental Justice Foundation
  • Center for Popular Democracy Action
  • Climate Justice Alliance
  • Free Press Action
  • International Rivers
  • JVP Action
  • Open Markets Institute
  • Center for Popular Democracy
  • Stand Up America
  • Demand Justice
  • Stand.earth
  • By the People
  • The Sanders Institute
  • Tax March
  • Friends of the Earth Scotland
  • Justice Democrats
  • Sunrise Movement
  • Western Values Project
  • Good Jobs First
  • Climate Works for All
  • Democratic Socialists of America
  • Freedom From Facebook & Google
  • National Center for Transgender Equality
  • As You Sow
  • Rootstrikers
  • Every Voice
  • Direct Action Everywhere
  • Earthworks
  • Global Witness
  • National Abortion Federation
  • Representative Keith Ellison
  • Transgender Law Center (TLC)
  • Sea Shepherd
  • American Promise
  • Americans For Tax Fairness Action Fund
  • Biofuelwatch
  • Grassroots International
  • Climate Justice Programme
  • End Rape On Campus (EROC)
  • Stop the Wall
  • Organization for Competitive Markets
  • Balestra Media
  • Pacifica Foundation
  • The LGBT Network
  • Compassion in World Farming
  • UNHCR
  • Community Alliance for Global Justice
  • Elders Rising
  • Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America
  • The Right Livelihood Award
  • Women's Earth & Climate Action Network (WECAN)
  • The International Rescue Committee
  • Women Cross DMZ
  • Acadia Center
  • American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC)
  • The New York Immigration Coalition
  • GAIA
  • The Culinary Union
  • The American Immigration Council
  • Citizens Against Monopoly
  • Our Revolution
  • United We Dream
  • National Women's Law Center
  • SumofUs
  • Global Zero
  • The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)
  • NAACP Legal Defense Fund
  • Network Lobby
  • NIAC Action
  • Asian Americans Advancing Justice
  • Freedom of the Press Foundation
  • Progressive Congress Action Fund
  • The Main Street Alliance
  • Millions Marching For Medicare For All
  • The World Health Organization
  • Senator Elizabeth Warren
  • Rep. Barbara Lee
  • John Conyers, Jr., Congressman
  • The Commonwealth Fund
  • Social Security Works
  • Mercy for Animals
  • American Federation of Teachers
  • Climate Disobedience Center
  • Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
  • Open Media
  • Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
  • Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
  • Bold Alliance
  • The Greenlining Institute
  • Physicians for Reproductive Health
  • Americans for Tax Fairness
  • Climate Action Tracker
  • American Federation of Government Employees
  • Patriotic Millionaires
  • Congresswoman Barbara Lee
  • Progressive Change Campaign Committee
  • Indivisible
  • Friends of the Earth Action
  • Stop the War Coalition
  • Earthrights International
  • Free Speech for People
  • National Employment Law Project
  • Navdanya International
  • Open Debate Coalition
  • Shut It Down - Climate Direct Action
  • SOA Watch
  • Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
  • Green Party of the US
  • Live Share Grow
  • Advancement Project
  • Chicago Teachers Union
  • Indigenous Environmental Network
  • Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition
  • Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
  • The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
  • Stop Mass Incarceration Network - Chicago
  • International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)
  • Progress Michigan
  • 350 Action
  • Climate Action Network International
  • Climate Tracker
  • Regeneration International
  • Ecojustice
  • Together for Global Justice (CIDSE)
  • Carbon Underground
  • Fight for $15
  • sHELLNO
  • Pembina Institute
  • Global Justice Now
  • Grassroots Leadership
  • La Via Campesina
  • New York Civil Liberties Union
  • Privacy International
  • National Iranian American Council (NIAC)
  • Restaurant Opportunities Centers United
  • U.S. Right to Know
  • Share the World's Resources
  • National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
  • Don't Shoot Coalition
  • Fight for the Future
  • Environmental Action
  • Oceana
  • UltraViolet
  • Huu-ay-aht First Nations
  • Latino Advocacy
  • Western Environmental Law Center
  • Rolling Jubilee
  • Coalition for Peace Action
  • Rodale Institute
  • Food Research and Action Center
  • Reject and Protect
  • The Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars
  • Center for Reproductive Rights
  • People's Action
  • Iraq Veterans Against the War
  • Jewish Voice for Peace
  • US Robin Hood Tax Campaign
  • Chesapeake Climate Action Network
  • Council of Canadians
  • Haiti: Make Births Safe
  • Center for Corporate Policy
  • Our Children's Trust
  • The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund
    commondreams-mobile-logo
    globe-icon
    LATEST NEWSOPINIONCLIMATEECONOMY POLITICS RIGHTS & JUSTICEWAR & PEACE
    LATEST NEWS
    OPINION
    globe-iconlogo-icon
    commondreams-logo
    commondreams-tagline

    government spending

    A protester wearing a Trump holds a sign that reads "Human survival costs too much"

    Trump Is Straining Our Mental Health Then Gutting Support Services

    Despite the administration’s cuts, there appears to be surprising agreement among people with divergent political beliefs that it’s time to expand services for those who are struggling.

    Mattea Kramer
    Sean Fogler
    Apr 27, 2025

    The United States has been in the throes of a mental health and overdose crisis so severe it has spanned five presidential administrations and been classified as an official state of emergency in three of them. No one knows exactly how this emergency will play out during the current Trumpian cocktail of uncertainty, fear, and cuts to social services, but charts of the recent turbulence of the stock market suggest a relevant visual: Imagine the nervous systems of millions of already struggling Americans, along with millions more who are being pushed to the limits of what they can handle, all experiencing deep emotional crashes, briefly recovering, only to collapse again into new lows. And while it might be tempting to think that many of us aren’t affected by the present gut-wrenching emotional tumult because we appear fine and don’t seem to care about what’s happening to the more desperate among us, our recent research suggests that people do care—including, perhaps, those you’d least expect to do so.

    Last year brought a widely reported piece of news in mental health. Overdose fatalities in the United States declined substantially, a notable but qualified victory. As overdose deaths fell 9% from 2021 to 2023 for white Americans, such deaths increased 12% for people of other races, according to a Reuters analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Street drugs continue to kill more than 84,000 people in the United States annually, and overdoses remain the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 44.

    Keep ReadingShow Less
    Opinion
    donald trump
    Trump speaks from desk next to image of F-47 fighter plane.

    The DOGE Budget: Money for War... and Not Much Else

    The Trump and Musk hollowing out of the civilian government, while keeping the Pentagon budget at enormously high levels of funding, means the United States is well on its way to becoming the very “garrison state” that Eisenhower warned against.

    William Hartung
    Apr 24, 2025

    Under the guise of efficiency, the Trump administration is taking a sledgehammer to essential programs and agencies that are the backbone of America’s civilian government. The virtual elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, and plans to shut down the Department of Education are just the most visible examples of a campaign that includes layoffs of budget experts, public health officials, scientists, and other critical personnel whose work undergirds the daily operations of government and provides the basic services needed by businesses, families, and individuals alike. Many of those services can make the difference between solvency and poverty, health and illness, or even, in some cases, life and death for vulnerable populations.

    The speed with which civilian programs and agencies are being slashed in the second Trump era gives away the true purpose of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In the context of the Musk-Trump regime, “efficiency” is a cover story for a greed-driven ideological campaign to radically reduce the size of government without regard for the human consequences.

    Keep ReadingShow Less
    Opinion
    pentagon
    SpaceX rocket launch debris.

    To Curb Government Waste, Musk Should Start With Pentagon Contractors... Like Himself

    The Pentagon’s deep over-reliance on private corporations not only wastes billions of taxpayer dollars, but also feeds conflicts and contributes to weapons proliferation.

    Chisom Okorafor
    Feb 20, 2025

    With an annual budget rapidly approaching $1 trillion, the Pentagon already gets more discretionary tax dollars than any other agency.

    Now congressional Republicans are proposing to hike that figure by anywhere from $100 billion to $150 billion—while slashing funding for programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and other programs that help keep Americans on their feet.

    Keep ReadingShow Less
    Opinion
    pentagon

    SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER

    Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.

    subscribe
    below
    * indicates required
    True
    True
    Follow Us
    Most Popular

    'All Are Now Vulnerable': Legal Scholars Alarmed as DOJ Begins Push to Denaturalize Citizens

    'Heinrich Should Be Ashamed': Lone Senate Dem Helps GOP Deliver Big Pharma Win

    NYT Runs Hit Piece on Mamdani Based on Tip From Proponent of 'Race Science'

    Outrage Pours in After House GOP Approves 'One of the Most Catastrophic Bills Passed in Modern History'

    Trump-GOP Budget Bill Will Give Top 1% Over $1 Trillion in Tax Breaks: Analysis

    'Evil and Cruel': GOP Lawmaker Shamed for Unloading Medicaid-Related Stock Before Voting to Gut Program

    Trump Asylum Crackdown Dealt Major Blow in 'Hugely Important' Court Ruling

    Big Brother Trump Is Watching You

    Critics Shred JD Vance as He Shrugs Off Millions of Americans Losing Medicaid as 'Minutiae'

    'An Act of Retaliation': EPA Suspends 140+ Employees for Signing 'Declaration of Dissent'

    We cover the issues the corporate media never will.
    Please support our journalism.