World

Republicans once maligned Medicaid. Now some see a program too big to touch

Published

1 year ago

March 2, 2025

Republicans once maligned Medicaid. Now some see a program too big to touch

WASHINGTON (AP) — Every time a baby is born in Louisiana, where Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson handily won reelection last year, there’s more than a 60% chance taxpayers will finance the birth through Medicaid.

In Republican Rep. David Valadao ’s central California district, 6 out of 10 people use Medicaid to pay for doctor visits and emergency room trips.

And one-third of the population is covered by Medicaid in GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s Alaska, one of the nation’s costliest corners for health care.

Each of these Republicans — and some of their conservative colleagues — lined up last week to defend Medicaid, in a departure from long-held GOP policies. Republicans, who already have ruled out massive cuts to Social Security and Medicare, are turning their attention to siphoning as much as $880 billion from Medicaid over the next decade to help finance $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.

But as a deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown nears, hesitation is surfacing among Washington’s Republican lawmakers — once reliable critics of lofty government social welfare programs such as Medicaid — who say that deep cuts to the health care program could prove too untenable for people back home.

“I’ve heard from countless constituents who tell me the only way they can afford health care is through programs like Medicaid,” Valadao said on the House floor. “And I will not support a final reconciliation bill that risks leaving them behind.”

And on Wednesday, President Donald Trump, too, made his position on Medicaid clear: “We’re not going to touch it.”

States and the federal government jointly pay for Medicaid, which offers nearly-free health care coverage for roughly 80 million poor and disabled Americans, including millions of children. It cost $880 billion to operate in 2023.

Johnson has ruled out two of the biggest potential cuts: paying fixed, shrunken rates to states for care and changing the calculation for the share of federal dollars that each state receives for Medicaid. Just a few years ago, Johnson spearheaded a report that lobbied for some of those changes during the first Trump administration.

Johnson insisted in a CNN interview that the focus will instead be ferreting out “fraud, waste and abuse, in Medicaid, although it’s unlikely to deliver the savings Republicans seek.

GOP pressure over Medicaid is mounting, with some state party leaders joining the calls to preserve the program. States are already struggling with the growing cost of sicker patients and could be left to cover more if the federal government pulls back. In some states, the federal government picks up over 80%.

More than a dozen Minnesota GOP lawmakers wrote the president recently warning that “too deep of a cut is unmanageable in any instance.” Gov. Joe Lombardo, R-Nev., told Congress in a letter that “proposed reductions would put lives at risk.” In Alaska, state Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel, a Republican and nurse, cited “huge concerns” during a floor speech.

Nationally, 55% of Americans said the government spends too little on Medicaid, according to a January poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

“It’s now a very popular program that touches a very broad cross-section of American society,” said Drew Altman, president of the health care research firm KFF. “Roughly half of the American people say that they or a family member have at one time been served by the program.”

Significant changes to Medicaid are still on the table. They have to be for Republicans get the savings they need to pay for tax cuts.

Work requirements, which could save as much as $109 billion over the next decade, seem to have solid support among GOP members, with some individual Republican-led states already moving to implement them.

Republicans also could consider cuts in benefits or coverage, as well as eliminating a provider tax that states use to finance Medicaid, Altman added.

Democrats warn that reductions are inevitable and could be dire.

Starting Monday, TV ads will caution people across 20 congressional districts that hospitals are at risk of closing and millions of people could lose coverage if Republicans cut Medicaid “to fund massive tax cuts for Elon Musk and billionaires.” The Democratic super political action committee House Majority Forward has launched the seven-figure campaign.

Trump and Republicans have for years called to lower government spending on health care, but they have struggled to formulate a serious plan that gains traction. Trump, for example, has spent nearly a decade arguing for an overhaul of the Affordable Care Act. His efforts to repeal the Obama-era national health care law failed during his first term and in his most recent presidential campaign he offered only “concepts of a plan” to adapt the program.

Michael Cannon, a director of health studies at libertarian Cato Institute, believes Medicaid needs an overhaul because it is a significant part of the federal budget and a contributor to the nation’s growing debt.

But Republicans, he said, are not looking at serious ways to drive down the cost of health care.

“The only reason for the cuts right now is to pay for the tax cuts,” Cannon said. “None of them are talking about the need to do better health reform.”

___

Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska and AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

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World

‘Hamnet’ Spoofed in ‘SNL U.K.’ Sketch in Which Shakespeare Returns From London With Ketamine, ‘Team Anne Boleyn’ Tote and ‘C—y Little Earring’

Published

2 hours ago

March 22, 2026

Press Room

‘Hamnet’ Spoofed in ‘SNL U.K.’ Sketch in Which Shakespeare Returns From London With Ketamine, ‘Team Anne Boleyn’ Tote and ‘C—y Little Earring’

A very different version of William Shakespeare showed up in the first episode of “SNL U.K,” appearing in a sketch that took comic aim at the biggest British film from this year’s awards season.

In “SNL U.K.’s” version of “Hamnet,” an increasingly Gen-Z hipster Bard returns home from staging plays in London to his doting wife (played by Tina Fey) and family.

“Dost thou not think I appear changed?” he asks on his first time back home. “I got a cunty little earring!”

Later returns to the family home see him on an electric scooter, brandishing a tote bag saying ‘Team Anne Boleyn,’ and proudly showing off “me slutty little chain.”

“London hath changed thee,” Fey’s Agnes Hathaway asserts.

“Thou art in Stratford upon Avon, and I’ve been in London upon ketamine,” says Shakespeare. “I’m like Charlie Xcx, sorry, Charlie 10 100 10. I’m in my glow up era, honey.”

In keeping with the plot of the film, Hamnet is seen falling ill, having “taken the powder” from a new purse. But as Shakespeare notes: “He’ll be fine. Tis but a K-hole.”

Following the “Hamnet” sketch, “SNL U.K.” poked fun at another beloved British institution in a skit in which a Paddington Bear immersive experience sees an actual bear let loose upon guests.

“That was amazing. I’ve lost half my face,” says one. “I always thought that three kids was a bit too many, and now I’ve got the optimum amount … none!,” adds another.

“In retrospect, maybe hot glue-gunning the hat to the bear’s head may have made it more angry,” explains Fay’s experience organiser. “I’m taking it to Broadway regardless”

Studiocanal, which has the rights to Paddington Bear and has its very own Paddington experience in London, has already sued the makers of comedy show “Spitting Image” over their depiction of the bear as a drug-taking, foul-mouthed podcast host. It’ll be interesting to see what they make of this one.

World

Trump proven right on Iran’s long-range missile capability as regime targets US-UK base, experts say

Published

3 hours ago

March 22, 2026

Press Room

Trump proven right on Iran’s long-range missile capability as regime targets US-UK base, experts say

Iran fires missiles toward US-UK military base

Fox News senior correspondent Mike Tobin reports on Iran launching missiles toward a joint U.S.-U.K. military base, while Netanyahu advisor Caroline Glick provides analysis on ‘Fox News Live.’

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The Islamic Republic of Iran significantly escalated its war effort against the U.S. with its launch of two intermediate-range ballistic missiles on Friday toward Diego Garcia, a key U.S.-U.K. military base in the Indian Ocean.

The targeting of Diego Garcia, roughly 2,500 miles from Iran, means Tehran’s missile capabilities appear to have exceeded previously acknowledged limits.

In the period leading up to Operation Epic Fury Feb. 28, Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed, “We intentionally kept the range of our missiles below 2,000 kilometers so we don’t have that capability. And we don’t want to do that because we do not have hostility against the United States people and all Europeans.”

TRUMP VOWS TO HIT IRAN ‘VERY HARD’ AFTER OBLITERATING NEARLY ’90 PERCENT’ OF REGIME MISSILES

Map from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies showing Iran’s missile ranges. (The Foundation for Defense of Democracies)

On Saturday, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said, “Just yesterday, Iran launched a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 4,000 kilometers [2,500 miles] toward an American target on the island of Diego Garcia. These missiles were not intended to hit Israel. Their range reaches the capitals of Europe — Berlin, Paris and Rome are all within direct threat range.”

IDF spokesman Nadav Shoshani blasted the alleged Iranian deception on X, writing, “Just 3 days before the war, the Iranian regime said they don’t obtain long-range missiles. Today, their lies were exposed once again, when missiles were fired 4000km away from Iran. They hoped to lie their way into becoming a force that can terrorize the world. We didn’t buy it.”

Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Fox News Digital, “The Trump administration, in citing Iran’s missile threat as a rationale for Operation Epic Fury, was therefore justified in its decision to undertake military action as Iran has consistently refused to negotiate over its missile program.

“It also shows how dangerous it is to solely rely on Iranian nuclear weapons fatwas and the supreme leader’s public rhetoric in formulating U.S. policy. As long as Iran retains the technical capability beyond public pronouncements, it is a threat.”

BEFORE-AND-AFTER SATELLITE IMAGERY OFFERS A RARE LOOK AT DAMAGE INSIDE IRAN

A banner depicting Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is placed next to a ballistic missile in Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran, Sept. 26, 2024, on the sideline of an exhibition marking the 44th anniversary of the start of Iran-Iraq war. (Hossein Beris /Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

“I think it’s a message that the IRGC is in charge in Iran after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s death,” Brodsky said. “When Khamenei was alive, he limited the range of Iran’s missile program to 2,000 kilometers. Khamenei recounted in 2018 how he had rejected overtures from IRGC commanders seeking to increase the range to as much as 5,000 kilometers.

“But now that he has died, those voices in the IRGC seeking to increase the range are likely driving the agenda. The launch of the missiles was likely meant as a signal of the IRGC’s capabilities to threaten U.S. allies beyond the Middle East. For example, this threatens Europe.”

The two long-range Iranian missiles did not hit the base, but the attempted attack marked a significant expansion of Iran’s reach beyond the Middle East and toward a major U.S. strategic hub. One missile reportedly failed in flight, while a U.S. warship launched an SM-3 interceptor at the other, officials said. It was not immediately clear whether the interception was successful. The remote base is a critical launch point for U.S. bombers, nuclear submarines and other strategic assets.

Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital, “The launch hammers home the president’s point about Iran being an imminent threat. It’s easy for casual observers to ignore, but the increasing maturity of Iran’s strategic programs, plural, has been exponentially expanding the threat that the Islamic Republic poses beyond the Middle East.

“That is what Epic Fury is seeking to address. The administration believes, absolutely correctly in my view, that these types of capabilities cannot be left in the hands of a radical, predatory regime.

HEZBOLLAH, IRAN UNLEASH COORDINATED CLUSTER BOMB STRIKES ON ISRAEL IN MAJOR ESCALATION

Israeli air defense systems are activated to intercept Iranian missiles over the Israeli city of Tel Aviv amid a fresh barrage of Iranian rockets June 16, 2025. (Menahem Kahanna/AFP via Getty Images)

“Despite its public denials, it’s been clear that the Iranian regime has been working on expanding the range of its ballistic missile capabilities for years. The launch toward Diego Garcia confirms that it has made real progress toward that goal and is already able to put targets in the same range as Central and Eastern Europe at risk. Moreover, it’s clear that the regime is seeking still greater capabilities and that, if left intact, Iran’s ballistic missiles would attain intercontinental range soon.”

Berman, the author of “Iran’s Deadly Ambition: The Islamic Republic’s Quest for Global Power,” added, “The parallel development Iran has been carrying out on its space program is significant. The booster used to put payloads into orbit can be married onto a medium-range missile to create intercontinental range capabilities. Before the war, we were seeing a clear convergence of the regime’s strategic programs: its ballistic missile work, its space capabilities and its nuclear program.”

A U.S. B-2 Spirit bomber, part of the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, stops for refueling at the U.S. military base on Diego Garcia in October 2001 after an airstrike mission over Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Department of Defense/Senior Airman Rebeca M. Luquin)

He warned about the serious Iranian threat to continental Europe.

“Europe is absolutely at risk as the recent launch makes clear,” Berman said. “I wouldn’t say that a failure to recognize this to date has been due to a grand deception by Tehran, though. It is more attributable to willful blindness on the part of European elites about the extent of the threat that the Iranian regime poses as well as undue faith in diplomacy and arms control in containing it.”

On Saturday, the United Kingdom condemned the attack.

“Iran’s reckless attacks, lashing out across the region and holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz, are a threat to British interests and British allies,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in a statement. “RAF jets and other U.K. military assets are continuing to defend our people and personnel in the region.

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“This government has given permission to the U.S. to use British bases for specific and limited defensive operations.”

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman and Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.

Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe. You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal, and email him at benjamin.weinthal@fox.com

World

Macron pushes tougher EU digital action ahead of key votes

Published

4 hours ago

March 22, 2026

Press Room

Macron pushes tougher EU digital action ahead of key votes

Published on
20/03/2026 – 14:39 GMT+1

French President Emmanuel Macron urged Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to step up enforcement of EU digital regulations to combat foreign election interference ahead of key elections in 2026 and 2027, according to a letter dated March 16 and seen by Euronews.

The call comes as concerns grow in France about potential election meddling before next year’s presidential race. French security services have identified several interference cases —including from Russia— during the ongoing municipal campaign, with the second round set for Sunday.

“In a geopolitical context marked by a multiplication of hostile stances against the European model and its democratic values, it is crucial that the Union, and with it each Member State, prepare to ensure the integrity of civic discourse and electoral processes, the fairness of elections, and optimal protection against interference operations and information manipulation,” Macron wrote.

Eleven EU countries head to the polls in 2026, with further key elections in 2027 in France, Italy and Poland, where Eurosceptic parties are polling strongly.

Call for rapid EU action

Macron urged von der Leyen to update guidelines originally introduced ahead of the 2024 European elections, pressing platforms such as Meta’s Facebook and Instagram’s X and Tik Tok to strengthen their efforts under the EU’s landmark content moderation framework, the Digital Services Act (DSA).

“It’s not about overhauling the DSA, it’s about ensuring it is fully enforced regarding the obligations placed on platforms—namely, assessing and mitigating systemic risks that could disrupt electoral processes,” a French official said.

The letter specifically calls for curbing the virality driven by algorithms, labelling content generated or modified by artificial intelligence, removing fake accounts and respecting transparency obligations for political advertising included in the DSA.

“The Commission must be able, on the basis of reports it receives, to take all the measures allowed under the Digital Services Act (DSA), from injunctions and safeguard measures to sanctions,” the same official said.

Under the DSA, online platforms face fines of up to 6% of global annual revenue.

Probes have already been opened these last years into suspected interference, including against Meta ahead of the 2024 European Parliament vote and against TikTok over its handling of election-related risks during Romania’s November 2024 presidential election.

In Romania, concerns over TikTok’s role in the first-round win of ultranationalist and pro-Russian Călin Georgescu led in 2024 to the annulment of the vote after declassified intelligence documents indicated he may have benefited from coordinated accounts and algorithmic amplification on the platform.

According to Emmanuel Macron, Brussels and EU capitals must be “able to build a genuine complementary strike force, capable of rapid action,” to prevent such foreign interferences.