> Why are these terrible things happening? At a basic level they’re happening because Republicans want them to happen. Drastic cuts in food stamps and health care programs were central planks in Project 2025, which is indeed the Trump administration’s policy platform, and were written into legislation in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that passed last summer.

[…]

> But there’s a further problem. Passing either a SNAP bill or a revised budget would require calling the House of Representatives back into session, which would in turn make it impossible for Mike Johnson, the speaker, to keep stalling the swearing-in of Adelita Grijalva, who won a special election more than 5 weeks ago.[1] And here’s the thing: Once sworn in, Grijalva would provide the decisive signature to trigger a vote in the House to release the Epstein files.[2]

* https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/too-cruel-too-soon

edit: seems so:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/federa...

Of course, a handful of Democrat Senators could also vote to end the shutdown and that would fund SNAP, and everything else, too, at least for a few more weeks.

Both sides seem dug in right now. It's still not clear who I'll blink first.

Perhaps the precariat will partially awaken to the fact that the country club set on both teams doesn't give two shits about them, although parts of the limousine blue team claim to or may care slightly more but not enough to ensure universal healthcare or a decent standard of living for the 99%. Mamdani offers a glimmer of hope in a local, limited, and likely temporary manner when the 800 lbs. gorilla of corruption, brutality, and oppression continues at every level elsewhere.