Cost of Living crisis

‘Outrageous’: GOP Budget Includes $1 Billion in Taxpayer Funds for Trump Ballroom

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Article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

US President Donald Trump holds a rendering of the White House South Terrace balustrade view as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on March 29, 2026.(Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

“Using taxpayer dollars to toady to a wannabe-dictator is both pandering and pathetic,” said one critic.

Even though President Donald Trump has long insisted that his proposed White House luxury ballroom would be funded by private donations, congressional Republicans unveiled legislation on Monday that would put US taxpayers on the hook for the project.

As reported by Punchbowl News, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released a proposal for a budget reconciliation package that includes $30 billion more in funds for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), $3.4 billion for Customs and Border Protection, and $2.5 billion for the Department of Homeland Security.

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Tucked into the proposal is $1 billion for what is described as an “East Wing modernization project, including above-ground and below-ground security features.”

Given that Trump is planning to build his ballroom on the area of the White House’s East Wing that he demolished last year, this means that $1 billion in taxpayer money would be going to the president’s vanity project.

Democratic officials immediately pounced on news that their Republican counterparts are planning to funnel $1 billion to the ballroom project, noting that the budget plan comes as Americans are struggling with the surging costs of energy and food.

“Zero dollars to lower costs,” wrote Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee. “Zero dollars to protect your healthcare. A massive check for an out-of-control ICE, and $1 billion for Trump’s ballroom. This Republican budget bill is a disaster.”

Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) responded to the GOP ballroom plan by declaring, “Oh hell no.”

“Spiking prices, SCOTUS attacking democracy, collapsing faith in the US government,” Casten added, “and the GOP is prioritizing sending more money to murderous ICE agents and Trump’s ballroom vanity project. This is offensive.”

Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) contrasted the GOP finding money to fund the ballroom with its unwillingness to extend enhanced subsidies for Americans who buy health insurance through exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act.

“Add the ballroom to the laundry list of things Trump said someone else would pay for,” Ansari wrote. “Ultimately, of course, it’s always the American people footing the bill for his outrageous pet projects. A $1BN price tag while he rips away your healthcare. Sickening.”

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) welcomed the chance to have his Republican colleagues go on the record in favor of funding the ballroom.

“Just flagging that now everyone gets an up or down vote on the ballroom!” he wrote.

Elected Democrats weren’t the only ones to hammer the GOP for the proposal to fund Trump’s ballroom.

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, called the GOP plan a “corrupt absurdity” that would make taxpayers shell out $1 billion for the president’s “grandiose, bombastic, vanity project.”

“Using taxpayer dollars to toady to a wannabe-dictator is both pandering and pathetic,” added Gilbert, who decried the plans for increased ICE funding as “abhorrent.”

Kristen Crowell, executive director of Families Over Billionaires, denounced the ballroom funding plan as “a glaring symbol of misplaced priorities and grift,” while also calling attention to other harmful aspects of the GOP’s budget proposal.

“At a time when families are struggling to afford housing, child care, and other basic necessities,” Crowell said, “the White House and Republicans in Congress are proposing to pour tens of billions of dollars into an already bloated and unaccountable deportation machine—while also carving out funding for the president’s own luxury projects.”

Article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Continue Reading‘Outrageous’: GOP Budget Includes $1 Billion in Taxpayer Funds for Trump Ballroom

Almost half of Britons are worried about paying their energy bills

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/almost-half-britons-are-worried-about-paying-their-energy-bills

An online energy bill

ALMOST half of Britons are worried they won’t be able to pay their energy bills as inflation is projected to rise following the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to a survey published today.

The research by debt charity StepChange found that 24 million people (45 per cent) said they were concerned about increasing energy costs, up from 29 per cent when they were last asked in January.

A further 14 million (28 per cent) of adults in England and Wales were specifically worried about their ability to afford water bills.

…

StepChange chief executive Vikki Brownridge said: “Making ends meet is getting harder — household essentials like energy and water are becoming increasingly unaffordable and are driving problem debt at alarming rates.

“Where people once commonly came to us after a life shock and emergency borrowing, more often we have clients telling us they simply cannot afford the cost of living as cumulative rises and historic arrears cripple budgets.”

Their report used data from 153,829 clients who completed online or telephone debt advice in 2025, with a further online survey of 257 clients.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/almost-half-britons-are-worried-about-paying-their-energy-bills

Keir Starmer explains that he feels no shame or guilt benefitting personally from gifts from the rich and powerful while insisting on policies of severe austerity causing suffering and death.
Keir Starmer explains that he feels no shame or guilt benefitting personally from gifts from the rich and powerful while insisting on policies of severe austerity causing suffering and death.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves - the very poorest and most vulnerable.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.
Continue ReadingAlmost half of Britons are worried about paying their energy bills

Morning Star Editorial: Food crisis is the price of Trump’s war

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/food-crisis-price-trumps-war

 Goods at a food bank

WORKING people are already being presented with the bill for imperialist war in Iran. Today the country was told to prepare for food shortages if the conflict caused by the US-Israeli aggression continues.

The blockade of the Straits of Hormuz, presently being enforced by the US military, is cutting off vital supplies of carbon dioxide (CO2). This is needed for the storage of packaged meats and salads, and for brewing.

…

Ultra-Blairite Business Secretary Peter Kyle was deployed in an effort to reassure the public that the Starmer Cabinet has the situation under control.

His version of “keep calm and carry on” was to reveal that Keir Starmer “is going through personally and driving deep dives into lots of areas of resilience throughout our economy.”

Given Starmer’s cynical involvement in Donald Trump’s aggression against Iran, allied to his general mishandling of every project he touches, this announcement may not have the effect Kyle hopes. Even Corporal Jones of Dad’s Army might allow it is time to panic.

The prospect of food shortages comes on top of massively escalating fuel bills as a result of the war.

Allied to these direct consequences there is the mounting pressure for accelerated military spending. This primarily comes from those elements within Labour who are also for unequivocal backing for any US war, no matter how illegal or even deranged it may be.

Thus George Robertson’s intervention. When he was defence secretary under Tony Blair he authorised a military strategy focused not on defending Britain but on acting as first accomplice to Washington in its “world policeman” role.

To maintain that privileged position he made it clear that the people’s welfare must be sacrificed.

Starmer is far from being as distant from that approach as he likes to appear. He is enabling the US-Israel aggression in every way possible whole continuing to declare “this is not our war.”

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/food-crisis-price-trumps-war

Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/

Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Food crisis is the price of Trump’s war

Morning Star Editorial: Labour can’t afford to ignore the anger across our education workforce

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-cant-afford-ignore-anger-across-our-education-workforce

 Members of the National Education Union (NEU) hold a rally at Old Palace Yard, in Westminster, London, January 29, 2025

…

It is no exaggeration to say, as National Education Union (NEU) leader Daniel Kebede does, that “the classroom has become the front line of every unresolved crisis in our society… hunger walks in with the children. Anxiety takes a seat at the back of the room.”

Schools are community hubs, and their intrinsic links across each community make teachers both receptive to local feeling and persuasive local voices.

So if a union the size of the NEU finds 65 per cent of its members who voted Labour less than two years ago would not do so again, MPs need to take note — especially since every opinion poll confirms this collapse in support for the party is general.

That it also found the most popular party among NEU members is now the Greens is another warning.

The conceit that the working class has nowhere else to go, that Labour can offend every one of its natural constituencies in turn while exclusively courting Tory — and more recently Reform UK — votes, should have died with the Scottish election wipeout of 2015, but remains the default setting of the zombie Blairites — whose long domination of the party has seen a steady decline in its vote, concealed at first by the initial size of the majorities that were shrinking but now threatening its future as a party of government. Peter Mandelson, a key author of that strategy, is gone: can the party escape his influence, and listen again to working-class people instead of the filthy rich?

…

Original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-cant-afford-ignore-anger-across-our-education-workforce

Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves - the very poorest and most vulnerable.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.
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Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Labour can’t afford to ignore the anger across our education workforce

AOC Commits to Opposing ‘Any Spending on Arms for Israel,’ Including Iron Dome

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Original article by Julia Conley republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks at a press conference to announce the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act at the US Capitol on March 25, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

The progressive congresswoman has been named as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender.

A private meeting between Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and an increasingly influential progressive New York City organization on Tuesday evening revealed new evidence of Israel’s “weakening position,” as one journalist observed, as the potential 2028 presidential contender committed to voting against any military funding for the Middle Eastern superpower, including for “defensive” weapons.

To the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), whose New York City chapter Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) met with on Tuesday, the congresswoman’s failure to vote against a 2021 funding package for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system—instead voting “present”—represented a significant betrayal of the fight for Palestinian rights and against Israel’s violent anti-Palestinian policies.

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The congresswoman further angered solidarity organizers in 2024 when she voted in favor of a resolution to adopt a definition of antisemitism that conflates the term with criticism of Israel, and last year she voted against an amendment to strip Iron Dome funding from a must-pass defense spending bill. She then voted against the Defense Appropriations Act itself, which included spending for offensive weapons for Israel.

On Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez was clear when asked by a DSA organizer whether she would support an arms embargo on Israel, which has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza since beginning its US-backed assault there in 2023; is currently joining the US in attacking Iran; and has killed over 1,000 people in the region in the last month as it’s pledged to use Gaza as a “model” for its attacks on Lebanon.

“I have not once ever voted to authorize funding to Israel, and I will never,” Ocasio-Cortez said in response to the question. “The Israeli government should be able to finance their own weapons if they seek to arm themselves.”

A member asked to clarify in a follow-up question, asking specifically, “If the moment presents itself in Congress, will you commit to voting ‘no’ for any spending on arms for Israel, including so-called ‘defensive capabilities?’”

“Yes,” Ocasio-Cortez replied, according to a partial recording of the meeting.

DSA members who attended the forum also reported that Ocasio-Cortez committed to opposing the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s definition of antisemitism, which claims that “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavor,” and “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis,” are examples of anti-Jewish bias.

The positions expressed by Ocasio-Cortez at the DSA forum have already been embraced by other progressive lawmakers like Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), but some observers noted that Ocasio-Cortez committed to voting against all military funding for Israel as she’s been named a potential contender for the 2028 presidential race.

Political strategist Chris Sosa said Ocasio-Cortez’s clear position against all weapons for Israel “will echo across the Democratic Party” and is a sign of a new “common litmus test” for candidates.

“Whatever Israel’s level of popularity is right now is its ceiling, because Israel is going to take a huge part of the blame for the financial crisis and likely recession about to hit us,” said Ryan Grim of Drop Site News, referring to the growing economic turmoil that’s resulted from the US-Israeli war on Iran. “And while the global economy is on its knees, Israel will *still* be pushing for the war on Iran to continue. And people will have had more than enough.”

“Alexandria Ocasio-Corronez breaking against Israel here is a major sign of their weakening position,” added Grim.

A poll released last month by Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies found that more US voters now view Israel negatively than positively. In 2023, 47% of Americans viewed Israel in a positive light, versus 24% who had negative views of the country’s government.

At Groundwork DSA, a faction within the organization that aims for the DSA to “become a genuine, mass political party,” one organizer noted that Ocasio-Cortez’s position sets her apart from other Democrats who are thought to be likely presidential contenders, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris, who refused to back an arms embargo during her 2024 campaign.

Neither Newsom nor Harris “will be ideologically willing to even consider an arms embargo against Israel,” wrote organizer J. Kraush ahead of Tuesday’s forum. “More importantly, they can not be swayed on the topic, precisely because there is no political or financial benefit for them to move. We can expect them to receive millions in funding from Zionist organizations such as AIPAC, especially if AOC remains a front-runner.”

While establishment Democrats continue to back military funding for Israel, Ocasio-Cortez’s commitment “is the right thing to do and the leadership Democratic voters want to see,” said progressive organizer Daniel Denvir.

Original article by Julia Conley republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

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Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Continue ReadingAOC Commits to Opposing ‘Any Spending on Arms for Israel,’ Including Iron Dome