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Stephen Semler is cofounder of Security Policy Reform Institute, a grassroots-funded US foreign policy think tank, and senior fellow at the Center for International Policy.
In the first two weeks of its war on Iran, the US spent an estimated $2.1 billion a day. It’s no wonder Donald Trump is saying that the cost of war means the federal government can’t afford to spend money to help Americans meet their basic needs.
Congressional Democratic leaders are asking ICE to agree to reforms, promising to vote for $11 billion in funding for the agency if it does so. ICE has every reason to concede to the demands — then ignore them once the funding bill passes.
Donald Trump is making the United States’ affordability crisis worse and suffering historically low approval ratings. He is likely hoping wars abroad will divert the public’s attention from his domestic policy failures.
Only one in ten American voters want a bigger military budget. Congress keeps approving massive spending increases anyway, as it did when it voted for a nearly $1 trillion military budget last week.
A new Census Bureau report establishes that poverty increased over the course of the Biden administration. The data is yet another rebuke to the politicians and commentators who insisted economic conditions under Joe Biden were great.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the US government created a formidable but temporary array of social programs that led to a sharp decline in economic insecurity. Since then, Americans’ economic insecurity has only gotten worse.
Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill funnels tens of billions of additional dollars to Immigration and Customs Enforcement — meaning the agency will have three times as much to spend next year as it did this year.
Donald Trump’s federal budget includes massive increases in military spending, including funding for a Star Wars–esque missile defense system known as the “Golden Dome.” Both Trump and the media are likely underestimating the cost of this boondoggle.
Donald Trump’s federal budget for 2026 would funnel more money to the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security — and proposes deep cuts to almost everything else.
The Trump administration wants to slash health care under the guise of “government efficiency.” In case you wondered how sincere that rationale is, they also want to funnel unprecedented sums to a military that can’t even pass an audit.
A new report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development affirms the obvious: ripping away pandemic-era welfare amid inflation and a housing affordability crisis was a complete disaster. The result: homelessness in the US is at a record high.
Despite charges of genocide, mass starvation, thousands of dead children, and the near-entire destruction of Gaza, when Kamala Harris was asked if she would “do anything differently” on US policy toward Israel in its bloody war, she said no.
If the president’s catastrophic debate performance didn’t sink his reelection chances, his deeply flawed campaign strategy likely will. Cost-of-living issues dominate voter concerns, but Biden’s 2024 campaign isn’t geared toward voters’ material interests.
This war would look very different if Israel’s principal aim was to free the hostages. But Israel’s assault on Gaza was never about the hostages.
As public disapproval of Israel’s war on Gaza grows, it has become increasingly common for elected Democrats to criticize Israel. Nevertheless, the vast majority of them just voted for a bill that cements support for the onslaught as official US policy.
The Biden administration has been able to maintain a low profile by spreading arms provision to Israel across more than 100 smaller munitions sales — allowing the president to posture as a peacekeeper while US weapons wipe Gaza off the map.
Earlier this month, Joe Biden expressed his concern for the Israelis taken hostage in Gaza. But if he really cared about their safety, he wouldn’t be sending Israel weapons for its indiscriminate and criminal bombing campaign.
Joe Biden is fast-tracking weapons shipments to Israel to support its assault on Gaza. The types of weapons being sent have been used repeatedly by the Israeli military to attack and kill civilians during the last 15 years alone.
The US is poised to send more military aid to Israel, on top of the billions it gives annually. But Israel’s all-out assault on Gaza will not bring back the Israeli lives lost on October 7 — and it is already killing countless Palestinian civilians.
President Biden keeps touting improved economic indicators that don’t necessarily reflect the conditions of working people. Rather, data reveals an ongoing humanitarian crisis — one that Democrats were complicit in making, but so far refuse to acknowledge.