Hamas Accepts Gaza Ceasefire Proposal From Mediators

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Hamas Accepts Gaza Ceasefire Proposal From Mediators

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) Hamas said on Monday that it had accepted a Gaza ceasefire proposal presented by mediators Qatar and Egypt, which comes as Israel is planning a massive escalation that involves forcibly displacing more than one million Palestinians from Gaza City and sending them south.

“Hamas, along with the Palestinian factions, relayed their acceptance of the proposal put forward yesterday by the Qatari and Egyptian mediators,” Hamas said in a statement, according to Al Jazeera.

According to an Arab diplomat speaking to The Times of Israel, the deal would involve the release of 10 living Israeli captives and a 60-day truce, during which the two sides would be expected to engage in negotiations for a long-term ceasefire.

The Times report said that Israel has received the proposal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to dismiss the news and signaled he still planned to go ahead with the escalation in Gaza City.

Other Israeli officials outright rejected the idea of a deal with Hamas. “We fight only to win, and under no circumstances to stop halfway with a partial deal that abandons half of the hostages and could lead to ending the war in defeat,” said Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Hamas was “willing to discuss a deal for the release of hostages, only because of its fear that we seriously intend to conquer Gaza City.”

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir wrote on X that Netanyahu “has no mandate to pursue a partial deal.”

President Trump has backed Israel’s plans to escalate its genocidal war, claiming in a post on Truth Social on Monday that the only way to free the Israeli captives in Gaza is if Hamas is “confronted and destroyed,’

In light of the news of Hamas accepting a ceasefire proposal, the family members of Israelis held in Gaza are ramping up their pressure on Netanyahu to reach a deal. There have been significant protests in Israel calling for an agreement to release the captives.

“We demand that Netanyahu immediately conduct continuous negotiations for the release of all hostages from Gaza,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said. “The people stand with the hostages. The people will bring the hostages back. The people will not allow the prime minister to sabotage another deal.”

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

Hurricane Erin Forces Evacuations in North Carolina

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Hurricane Erin Forces Evacuations in North Carolina

(Headline USA) Holly Andrzejewski hadn’t yet welcomed her and her family’s first guests to the Atlantic Inn on Hatteras Island when she had to start rescheduling them, as Hurricane Erin neared North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Tuesday and threatened to whip up wild waves and tropical force winds.

Although the monster storm is expected to stay offshore, evacuations were ordered on such barrier islands along the Carolina coast as Hatteras as authorities warned the storm could churn up dangerous rip currents and swamp roads with waves of 15 feet.

Andrzejewski and her husband purchased the bed-and-breakfast, known as the oldest inn on the island, less than a week ago. By Monday they had brought in all the outdoor furniture and made sure their daughter and her boyfriend, who are the innkeepers, had generators, extra water and flashlights as they stayed behind to keep an eye on the property.

“It’s just one of those things where you know this is always a possibility and it could happen, and you just make the best out of it. Otherwise you wouldn’t live at the beach,” said Andrzejewski, who will also remain on the island, at her home about a 15 minutes’ drive away.

Erin lashed part of the Caribbean with rain and wind Monday. Forecasters are confident it will curl north and away from the eastern U.S., but tropical storm and surge watches were issued for much of the Outer Banks.

Officials at the Wrightsville Beach, near Wilmington, North Carolina, reported to the National Weather Service rescuing at least 60 swimmers from rip currents Monday.

By early Tuesday, Erin had lost some strength from previous days but was still a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. It was about 665 miles southwest of Bermuda and 720 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras and was moving northwest at a slower 7 mph.

A tropical storm warning remained in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands, where government services were suspended, some ports were closed and residents were ordered to stay home.

On North Carolina’s Outer Banks, coastal flooding was expected to begin Tuesday and continue through Thursday.

The evacuations on Hatteras Island and Ocracoke came at the height of tourist season on the thin stretch of low-lying barrier islands that jut into the Atlantic Ocean and are increasingly vulnerable to storm surges.

A year ago, Hurricane Ernesto stayed hundreds of miles offshore yet still produced high surf and swells that caused coastal damage.

This time there are concerns that several days of heavy surf, high winds and waves could wash out parts of the main highway. Some routes could be impassible for days.

This is the first evacuation for Ocracoke since Hurricane Dorian in 2019 caused the most damage in the island’s recorded history.

Tommy Hutcherson, who owns the community’s only grocery store, said the island has mostly bounced back. He’s optimistic this storm won’t be as destructive.

“But you just never know. I felt the same way about Dorian and we really got smacked,” he said.

Scientists have linked the rapid intensification of hurricanes in the Atlantic to climate change. Global warming is causing the atmosphere to hold more water vapor and is spiking ocean temperatures, and warmer waters give hurricanes fuel to unleash more rain and strengthen more quickly.

Bermuda will experience the most severe threat Thursday evening, said Phil Rogers, director of the Bermuda Weather Service. By then, waters could swell up to 24 feet (7 meters).

“Surfers, swimmers and boaters must resist the temptation to go out. The waters will be very dangerous and lives will be placed at risk,” acting Minister of National Security Jache Adams said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

 

Trump Says He’s Working To Arrange a Meeting Between Putin and Zelensky

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Trump Says He’s Working To Arrange a Meeting Between Putin and Zelensky

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) President Trump said on Monday that he was working on arranging a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, comments that came after a day of hosting the Ukrainian leader and several European officials at the White House.

“At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

Trump said that once Putin and Zelensky meet, he would join them for a three-way talk. “After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself,” he wrote.

Yury Ushakov, an aide to Putin, said that during the call with Trump, the Russian leader “expressed support for direct negotiations between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine.”

Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office on August 18, 2025 (White House photo)

Trump said that one topic of discussion with Zelensky and European leaders on Monday was the potential security guarantees Ukraine would receive from Western nations as part of a peace deal, which will likely be a major sticking point in negotiations with Russia.

“During the meeting we discussed Security Guarantees for Ukraine, which Guarantees would be provided by the various European Countries, with a coordination with the United States of America,” he said.

European leaders, led by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, are calling for a troop deployment to Ukraine to uphold any potential peace deal. When asked if the US would send troops to Ukraine, Trump didn’t rule out the idea.

But Russia has made clear that it’s strongly opposed to the idea of the deployment of troops from NATO countries to Ukraine, a position it reiterated on Monday. “We reiterate our repeatedly expressed position that we deny any scenarios that envisage the deployment of a military contingent to Ukraine with the participation of Nato states, which could lead to an uncontrollable escalation of the conflict with unpredictable consequences,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

The other major sticking point is the issue of territory. Russia has reportedly offered to end the war if Ukraine withdraws from the Donbas region and the lines are frozen in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, but Zelensky continues to publicly reject the idea of ceding territory.

Zelensky holds talks with European leaders in Washington ahead of the meetings with Trump (photo via Zelensky’s office)

Zelensky has received strong backing from the European leaders who joined him in Washington and held talks with them to coordinate their position ahead of the meetings with Trump. According to a press release from Zelensky’s office, he and the Europeans “stressed their firm support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the unacceptability of changing internationally recognized state borders by force.”

The statement said they also “welcomed the readiness of the United States to participate in guaranteeing security for Ukraine” and that “one of the key issues in the negotiations with President Trump will be the joint participation of the United States and Europe in creating the future security architecture for Ukraine and, consequently, for the entire European continent.”

Zelensky was joined in Washington by Starmer, Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

Iranian Death Plot Defendant Says He Thought He Was Hunting $250k Thief

Ken Silva
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Iranian Death Plot Defendant Says He Thought He Was Hunting $250k Thief

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Days after Trump won the November 2024 election, FBI Director Christopher Wray announced that he foiled another purported Iranian assassination plot.

However, the DOJ’s case against Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran; Carlisle Rivera of Brooklyn; and Jonathan Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island, didn’t charge any of them with conspiring to assassinate Trump. Instead, it accused them of plotting to kill a U.S. journalist of Iranian origin residing in the U.S.—likely, based on the government’s description, Masih Alinejad, who often appears on State Department-funded media as an outspoken critic of Iran’s government.

And now, it’s not even clear that Rivera or Loadholt knew who Alinejad was when they were allegedly stalking her for the Iranian, Shakeri. Instead, Rivera thought he was hunting someone who had stolen $250,000, according to a Monday court filing.

The Monday court fillings states that when Loadholt and Rivera were arrested last year, Rivera told authorities about the $250,000 theft. Loadholt, for his part, didn’t talk at all.

“Initially, Rivera invoked his right to remain silent. Ultimately, however, he gave agents a detailed description of his conduct. He explained that he was hired by a man named Mohammed—who he met years ago in prison—to locate the mother of Mohammed’s children,” stated the court filing, which was made by Loadholt’s attorney.

“He told agents that Mohammed texted him a photograph of the woman, along with her home address in Brooklyn, and mentioned wanting to kill her because she had run off with $250,000. Rivera acknowledged going to look for the woman in Brooklyn and at Fairfield University, where he was told she would be giving a speech, but said that he ‘wasn’t the guy’to commit a murder.”

Loadholt’s attorney asked a court to sever his case from Rivera’s, arguing that the interview Rivera gave to police would be prejudicial to his client. In fact, the government doesn’t have any good evidence against Loadholt other than statements from his co-defendants, the lawyer argued.

“The government intends to introduce Rivera’s text messages and voice notes with Shakeri, during which Rivera repeatedly mentions the difficulty of catching Victim-1, says that kicking her door is not going to work, and asks for half of his payment up front. Presumably, the government also intends to introduce the firearm seized from Rivera’s home,” Loadholt’s lawyer said.

“None of this evidence would be relevant or admissible at a separate trial against Loadholt unless the government could establish his knowledge of, and intent to participate in, a conspiracy to commit murder.”

Meanwhile, Shakeri remains at large. It was statements that he made to the FBI which serve as the basis for Wray’s contention that they were also mulling a Trump assassination plot.

Shakeri participated in a series of phone interviews with the FBI from Iran on Sept. 30, Oct. 8, Oct. 17, Oct. 28 and Nov. 7, 2024—ostensibly trading information in exchange for a sentence reduction for the unidentified individual.

In those interviews, Shakeri ratted out Loadholt and Rivera. He also told the FBI that an IRGC official was pushing him to assassinate Trump. The Iranian official is unidentified but appears to be known to the U.S. government.

“According to SHAKERI, in approximately mid-to-late September 2024, IRGC Official-I asked SHAKERI to put aside his other efforts on behalf of the IRGC and focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating, former President of the United States, Donald J. Trump (‘Victim-4’ herein),” the criminal complaint said.

“SHAKERI indicated to IRGC Official-I that this would cost a ‘huge’ amount of money. In response, IRGC Official-I said that ‘we have already spent a lot of money … [s]o the money’s not an issue,’ which SHAKERI understood to mean that the IRGC previously had spent a significant sum of money on efforts to murder Victim-4 and was willing to continue spending a lot of money in its attempt to procure Victim-4’s assassination.”

Shakeri further informed the FBI that the IRGC official told him on Oct. 7 that he had to provide a plan to kill Trump within seven days. Shakeri said he was unable to do so, and so Iran had paused its plans to kill Trump until after the 2024 election. If he lost, the Iranian government thought it would be easier to kill him, Shakeri said.

“During the interview, SHAKERI claimed to the FBI that he did not intend to propose a plan to murder [Trump] within the timeframe set by IRGC Official-I,” the charging papers added.

The FBI admitted in the charging papers that Shakeri is a liar, but said his claims about Trump “appear to be truthful.”

The government has yet to respond to Loadholt’s motion to sever his case.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Newsom’s Mocking Attack on Vance’s High School Picture Backfires

Luis Cornelio
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Newsom’s Mocking Attack on Vance’s High School Picture Backfires

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday took a jab at Vice President JD Vance on Twitter/X by reacting to side-by-side photos of the two from their high school years. But the mockery quickly backfired after users posted a brutal comeback photo.

Newsom’s photo showed him well put together, posing in a blazer, shirt and scarf, while Vance wore an oversized shirt, giving off a clumsy look.

The photo highlighted the contrast between the two. Vance has often spoken about his modest upbringing, whereas Newsom was raised in wealth as the son of an influential attorney.

Newsom didn’t comment on Vance’s look but openly praised his own photo, tweeting: “I miss the scarf.”

His post racked up more than 18 million views, nearly 240,000 likes and almost 9,000 comments.

But another photo also went viral, showing both men after high school. This image showed Newsom sitting with his arms crossed, while the other showed Vance in full Marine uniform.

The side-by-side contrast served as a counterpunch, highlighting Vance’s honorable service.

The episode comes as Newsom ramps up his social media presence, likely eyeing a 2028 presidential run.

Just before the photo post, Newsom mocked Vance’s running style by sharing an old video.

He captioned it, “go get ‘em JD,” alongside a clip of Vance running, responding to another tweet about Vance attending an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

That clip has long been used by the left to mock Vance.

DOJ to Start Producing Epstein Files to Congress

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DOJ to Start Producing Epstein Files to Congress

(Headline USA) The Justice Department has agreed to provide to Congress documents from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation, a key House lawmaker said Monday in announcing a move that appears to avert, at least temporarily, a potential separation of powers clash.

The records are to be turned over starting Friday to the House Oversight Committee, which earlier this month issued a broad subpoena to the Justice Department about a criminal case that has long captivated public attention, recently roiled the top rungs of President Donald Trump’s administration and been a consistent magnet for conspiracy theories.

“There are many records in DOJ’s custody, and it will take the Department time to produce all the records and ensure the identification of victims and any child sexual abuse material are redacted,” Kentucky Rep. James Comer, the Republican committee chair, said in a statement. “I appreciate the Trump Administration’s commitment to transparency and efforts to provide the American people with information about this matter.

A wealthy and well-connected financier, Epstein was found dead in his New York jail cell weeks after his 2019 arrest in what investigators ruled a suicide. His accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted in 2021 of helping lure teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The House committee’s subpoena sought all documents and communications from the case files of Epstein and Maxwell. It also demanded records about communications between Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration and the Justice Department regarding Epstein, as well as documents related to an earlier federal investigation into Epstein in Florida that resulted in a non-prosecution agreement.

It was not clear exactly which or how many documents might be produced or whether the cooperation with Congress reflected a broader change in posture since last month, when the FBI and Justice Department abruptly announced that they would not be releasing any additional records from the Epstein investigation after determining that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”

That announcement put the Trump administration on the defensive, with officials since then scrambling both to tamp down angry questions from the president’s base and also laboring to appear transparent.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed Maxwell at a Florida courthouse over two days last month — though no records from those conversations have been made public — and the Justice Department has also sought to unseal grand jury transcripts in the Epstein and Maxwell cases, though so far those requests have been denied.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment Monday.

The House Oversight panel separately issued subpoenas to eight former law enforcement leaders as well as former Democratic President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Bill Clinton was among a number of luminaries acquainted with Epstein before the criminal investigation against him in Florida became public two decades ago.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

 

MSNBC’s Rebrand Rollout Leads to Widespread ‘PMS’ Jokes

Luis Cornelio
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MSNBC’s Rebrand Rollout Leads to Widespread ‘PMS’ Jokes

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) MSNBC, under a new parent company, has decided to get rid of its name in favor of an alternative that quickly drew widespread mockery on X.

The network announced Monday it was dropping the name born from its original venture between Microsoft and NBC News. In its place, it rolled out MS NOW, short for “My Source News Opinion World.”

The network also scrapped its classic logo, ditching NBC’s signature peacock for a newspaper-like symbol. The new design immediately triggered ridicule, with users saying it read like “PMS NOW,” seemingly a reference to premenstrual syndrome.

“PMS NOW? We knew MSNBC was ‘feminist’ but this is next level!” one user posted.

Outkick founder Clay Travis piled on: “How much did this rebrand cost? And what were the rejected names? They should have just called the network ‘Menopaws’ and the logo could be a childless cat lady holding her cat.”

Others joined in. Leftist writer Peter Rothpletz quipped: “watch them follow the HBO model and change their name a dozen times before ultimately settling on MS-13.”

Jack Mirkinson of The Nation mocked it with: “multiple sclerosis now.”

Other riffs included, “Marxist Socialist News Channel,” “Majorly Skewed News Overly Woke” or “Most Surely No One Watching.”

The rebrand follows NBCUniversal spinning off most of its cable channels into an independent, publicly traded company called Versant, a move that formally severed MSNBC from NBC News.

“I don’t know what’s worse, Versant or My Source News Opinion World. Whoever came up with these names deserves to be shown the door,” one former media executive said in remarks to the New York Post.

Despite the backlash, MSNBC bragged about the change in a blog post, claiming the name was part of its plan to “chart our own path forward.”

“This name further underscores our mission: to serve as your destination for breaking news and thoughtful analysis and remain the home for the perspectives that you’ve relied on for nearly 30 years,” the News channel wrote.

The new name is set to launch later this year.

Trump Officials Deny Working with ADL on Anti-Semitism Policy

Jose Nino
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Trump Officials Deny Working with ADL on Anti-Semitism Policy

(José Niño, Headline USA) A public disagreement between the Trump administration and the Anti-Defamation League has intensified, as both sides issue contradictory statements about their working relationship on crafting anti-Semitism policy.

The situation kicked off after ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt stated in a widely circulated video that the organization was “working with the Trump administration” to combat antisemitism.

Responding to the video, a senior Trump administration official told activist Laura Loomer last Wednesday that while Secretary of Education Linda McMahon had agreed to meet with Greenblatt at his request, there was no ongoing partnership or coordination between the administration and the ADL. 

The official emphasized that Greenblatt had not met President Trump, nor had he met with the administration’s anti-Semitism envoy Yehuda Kaploun or other key advisers. 

 

They also rejected Greenblatt’s suggestion that the Trump White House was following the same anti-Semitism protocols as the Biden administration, asserting that the current approach represents a fundamentally different set of policies.

This denial arose as some right-wing media figures and activists pointed to instances they claimed showed substantive cooperation between the ADL and administration officials. Among the examples cited were the administration’s calls for prohibiting face masks following Greenblatt’s advocacy on the issue, public praise from Greenblatt for the arrest of a pro-Palestinian activist, and the Trump administration’s support for ADL-driven Title VI complaints dealing with campus anti-Semitism. 

In a similar vein, Headline USA previously covered Greenblatt’s praise of the Trump administration for fighting antisemitism and . 

Representatives for the ADL have not provided further comment, and Trump officials have reiterated that meetings with advocacy groups are common and do not necessarily indicate policy alignment.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

 

Headline Rewind: Our Biggest Scoops from the Week August 11-17

Ken Silva
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(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Watch our video breakdown of our best stories from last week, and find the time stamps and links below:

0:15: Federal Bureaucrat Teleworked from 10 Different Countries, Including Mexico and Lebanon

Federal Bureaucrat Teleworked from 10 Different Countries, Including Mexico and Lebanon

1:30: SCOOP: Secret Service Shot ‘Suicidal’ Man 18 Times Outside of the White House

SCOOP: Secret Service Shot ‘Suicidal’ Man 18 Times Outside of the White House

2:30: Conservative Plagiarist Benny Johnson’s Show Sued for Stealing Content

Conservative Plagiarist Benny Johnson’s Show Sued for Stealing Content

 

3:30: EXCLUSIVE: Michigan AG Still Hasn’t Expunged Record for Man Acquitted in Whitmer Kidnap Case

EXCLUSIVE: Michigan AG Still Hasn’t Expunged Record for Man Acquitted in Whitmer Kidnap Case

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Republicans Respond to Data Showing 10M Will Soon Lose Medicaid Coverage

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Republicans Respond to Data Showing 10M Will Soon Lose Medicaid Coverage

(, The Center Square) Democrats are sounding the alarm over a new analysis showing that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will cause millions of Medicaid recipients to lose their current coverage.

According to the Congressional Budget Office’s newest estimate, Medicaid reforms in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will result in roughly 10 million people losing eligibility for their current health care plan by 2034.

“This latest analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office confirms that the deeply unpopular One Big Ugly Law is also deeply unfair,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a response statement. “The American people deserve better than this cruel Republican budget scam.”

Republicans, however, have pointed out that the breakdown of the numbers offers a different perspective. Out of the 10 million affected, 5.3 million are able-bodied adults without dependents. Under the OBBBA, they could still remain on Medicaid, so long as they participate in work-related activities at least 80 hours per month.

The work requirements would not apply to pregnant women; minors and seniors; foster youth under 26; Tribal members; the medically frail; those already meeting TANF or SNAP work requirements; caregivers with young dependents; or the currently and recently incarcerated.

Another 3.7 million current Medicaid recipients set to lose coverage will still have access to some other form of government-sponsored health insurance. These individuals are primarily dual enrollees in Medicare and Medicaid, or those who are erroneously enrolled in Medicaid in more than one state. The former group would lose Medicaid but could retain Medicare, while the latter would be eligible to claim their Medicaid coverage only in their actual state of residence.

The remaining 1 million impacted individuals are noncitizens who do not meet immigration status requirements for Medicaid enrollment. Those noncitizens have nonetheless received coverage under taxpayer-funded, state-sponsored Medicaid programs.

“The prolonged lie exacerbated by Democrats that 17 million individuals will lose health care coveragefrom the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has finally been dispelled,” House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said Monday.

“It’s easy to scare people with coverage loss estimates, but the facts are clear – the vast majority of these individuals are either choosing to lose coverage or aren’t actually eligible for Medicaid, and nearly all are eligible for other forms [of] coverage.”

Overall federal spending on Medicaid will still grow by 30% over the next decade, provided that Republicans refrain from further enrollee-reducing changes in another ‘big, beautiful bill,” which GOP  leaders are considering.

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