(WHTM) — Days after federal agents killed a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis, Pennsylvania State Sen. Tim Kearney (D-Delaware) stood outside an office for one of the Keystone State’s most prominent Democrats, arguing he’s not doing enough.

“It’s going to take people in the street really trying to make a difference, which is one of the reasons that I’m here today,” Kearney said Wednesday while protesting outside U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s Philadelphia office. Fetterman did release a statement earlier in the day calling for President Donald Trump to fire Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

But State House and Senate Democrats have been pushing for several proposals that would limit what Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can do in the state. One would ban them from wearing masks, another prohibits them from making arrests on state property, court houses, and schools, while a third would let residents sue the federal government if they violate constitutional rights.

“I would hope that my colleagues across the aisle would join us in calling for accountability and calling for common sense standards for these ICE operations that have clearly gone way out of hand,” said State Rep. Tarik Khan (D-Philadelphia).

Republicans in Harrisburg and Washington mostly reject such initiatives, and Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, pushed back against the measures in a statement.

“ICE officers are facing a 1300% increase in assaults because of dangerous, untrue smears by elected Democrats,” she said. “Just the other day, an officer had his finger bitten off by a [radical] left-wing rioter. ICE officers act heroically to enforce the law and protect American communities, and local officials should work with them, not against them. Anyone pointing the finger at law enforcement officers instead of the criminals is simply doing the bidding of criminal illegal aliens.”

State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman said safety is a top priority for the Senate Republican Caucus.

“Under the tenure of the Biden Administration, state and local officials across this country sounded the alarm regarding the straining of their resources, the scourge of fentanyl deaths, the tragedy of human trafficking, including children smuggled across the border, and the flow of illegal firearms and dangerous gang members,” he said in a statement. “Collaboration between state and federal government is critical as we work to recover from the disastrous border policies of the Biden Administration and seek to protect lawful citizens.”

Meanwhile, Kearny warned Republicans that insisting on resisting bills to rein in ICE may face voters in November.

“If this stuff doesn’t move, which it hasn’t moved so far, then that’s something we can campaign on,” he said.

“It’s clear that enabling Rhode Island students to more affordably enter the primary care field, and supporting them once they make that choice, is both feasible and necessary,” Lauria said.

URI President Marc Parlange, also the commission’s co-chairman, said the medical school would be a “natural and strategic extension” of URI’s work. “It would help address Rhode Island’s primary care shortage while strengthening our state’s economy,” he said in a statement.

Lauria said the commission is calling for the state to provide $20 million in “initial seed funding” for the medical school in the state budget for fiscal year 2027, and $22.5 million in annual state funding beginning in 2029, when the first class of students would arrive. The commission also recommended the General Assembly create “a dedicated, recurring budget line to support ongoing medical school planning, accreditation, and initial operational activities.”

In an October report, the Tripp Umbach consulting firm told the commission the school’s start-up costs would total $175 million, and the commission called for exploring federal grants, a direct state budget appropriation, and a statewide bond referendum.

The consultants projected the medical school would be financially stable by its third year of operation, with costs offset by tuition revenue, clinical partnerships, and research growth. And the consultants projected the school would end up generating $196 million in annual economic activity, support about 1,335 jobs, and contribute $4.5 million in annual state and local tax revenue.

During a Rhode Map Live event in June, some officials called the medical school proposal a distraction from addressing the immediate need to provide more financial support and to improve the shortage of primary care doctors.

“In terms of the problem we face today, that won’t fix it,” Attorney General Peter F. Neronha said at the time. “As the head of Anchor [Medical Associates] said to me when I talked to him, that’s like telling the patient that the inexperienced doctor will be with you in a decade.”

But Lauria said the Senate is pursing short-term, medium-term, and long-term solutions to the shortage of primary care doctors, and the medical school is a long-term solution.

In the short term, Lauria said legislators pushed to speed up a Medicaid rate review aimed at boosting reimbursements for primary care doctors. And she noted the Senate passed legislation prohibiting insurers from requiring prior authorization for medically necessary health care services.

Lauria, who is a primary care nurse practitioner, said Rhode Island is lagging behind other states in Medicaid reimbursement rates. For example, she said, she practices medicine in East Greenwich, but if she did so 23 miles away Massachusetts, she could make 20 percent to 30 percent more.

Senate President Valarie J. Lawson, an East Providence Democrat, noted if the Legislature doesn’t act now on a public medical school, it might be having the same conversation in a decade, she said.

Lawson said her own primary care doctor is retiring at the end of March. “We know that we need to recruit physicians here and we need to retain them,” she said.

The commission report acknowledged that a URI medical school would not solve the state’s primary care problem. “Educating more clinicians is necessary but not sufficient for increasing supply,” the report states.

Doctors tend to stay where they train, so Rhode Island must have a plan to produce more primary care doctors through a residency strategy that incentivizes training more primary care doctors and trains them in places such as community health centers, the report states. Appropriate payment for primary care, reduced administrative burdens for clinicians, and lower uninsured rates could also be considered.

The commission called for creating a Primary Care Commission “to ensure continued focus on achieving a primary care–oriented system of care.” The commission also called for the development of a scholarship program linked to a minimum five-year obligation to local primary care practice.

The commission voted 15-0 in favor of the report. Senator Thomas J. Paolino, a Lincoln Republican on the commission, said, “The importance of this issue cannot be understated. My colleagues and I continually hear from constituents frustrated by skyrocketing healthcare costs, severe workplace shortages, and especially limited access to primary care.”

The commission began its work in 2024 when then-Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio named 21 people to the panel. In February 2025, the Joint Committee on Legislative Services approved $150,000 for a feasibility study. Tripp Umbach made a presentation on its draft of the report in May.

Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.

• 74% of residents support the extension of the ACA subsidies, while 19% oppose.
• Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said that resurrecting the Affordable Care Act subsidies could depend on President Donald Trump in an interview with NPR Jan. 1.
• 92%, including majorities of all parties, disapprove of Congress’s handling of healthcare.

Most Vermont residents support extending the recently expired Obamacare subsidies, which were at the center of the government shutdown fight last year and continue to cause tension on Capitol Hill, according to a new poll from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.

Democrats in Congress had refused to support a government funding bill that didn’t extend COVID-era subsidies for lower income Americans under the Affordable Care Act, leading to longest-ever government shutdown in October and November as GOP lawmakers would not extend the subsidies, citing reports of fraud and criticisms of Obamacare more broadly. The two sides ultimately came to a deal to reopen the government, and the subsidies expired at the end of 2025.

While the House voted to extend the subsidies in early January, the legislation is less likely to pass the Senate, which has previously voted against it. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said that resurrecting the Affordable Care Act subsidies could depend on President Donald Trump in an interview with NPR Jan. 1.

In Vermont, 74% of residents support the extension of the subsidies, while 19% oppose. This is divided along party lines, with 99% of Democrats in support and 62% of Republicans in opposition.

When asked about Obamacare in general, 55% of Vermont residents said they wanted to expand the law, including 79% of Democrats. 21% want to repeal the law entirely, including 72% of Republicans.

73% disapprove of how President Donald Trump has handled healthcare, but more disapprove of how Congress has handled the issue. 92%, including majorities of all parties, disapprove of Congress’s handling of healthcare.

The Green Mountain State Poll, a States of Opinion Project conducted by UNH Survey Center and released Jan. 26, surveyed 765 Vermont residents online from Jan. 15 – 19. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.

Do Vermonters support a “single-payer” health care plan?

A plurality (70%) of Vermont residents would support a national single-payer health care plan, the poll revealed.

A single-payer system is where all Americans would get insurance from a single government plan. It’s often championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who calls his plan “Medicare for all.”

Support for the plan is divided by party: 92% of Democrats support, while 61% of Republicans oppose. Those with a higher household income are also more likely to support the idea.

How healthy are Vermonters?

In the poll, most Vermonters said they were in either good (50%) or very good (34%) health.

However, nearly half (47%) of Vermont residents say that it is difficult to pay for their overall medical care expenses, and 67% said that overall medical costs have gone up in the past 12 months. Just 1% said they have declined.