Fears Medicaid might be cut in debt ceiling fight – National & International News – THU 9Feb2023

Fears Medicaid might be cut in debt ceiling fight.

Missouri votes against banning children from carrying guns in public unsupervised.

Space-X to block Ukraine using its satellites to pilot attack drones.

NATIONAL NEWS

Fears Medicaid might be cut in debt ceiling fight

During a testy exchange during the State of the Union, President Biden alluded to a plan published by Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott last year which, among other things, would have required reauthorization of Medicare and Social Security every five years. At the time Scott published this plan, Republican leadership largely rejected it. But as the debt ceiling debate heated up in recent weeks, other Republicans have called for plans to cut the programs as part of an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. The ideas were voiced loudly enough that Donald Trump publicly warned Republicans against it. Since then, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has said that such cuts were off the table.

When Biden mentioned Scott’s plan, Republicans loudly heckled him. Biden called them on it, saying “As we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right? They’re not to be touched? All right”. However, this has left people wondering what Republicans do want to cut. Republicans have already said that cuts to the Pentagon’s budget are off the table, so that doesn’t leave much.

One possibility is that they intend to cut Medicaid instead. As it stands now, more than 1 in 4 Americans, 91 million people depend on Medicaid, which is 26 million more than Medicare. When the COVID emergency provisions end in April, millions of people will already be losing Medicaid coverage. Most of those losing their Medicaid coverage will be in states like Mississippi which chose not to expand Medicaid coverage under Obamacare. Coverage shortfalls in these states have already led to budget crunches in hospitals and forced many to close. If the federal government were to stop matching funds in states that did sign on to the expansion, that could cause hospitals in those states to experience budget shortfalls as well.

Click here for the full story (opens in new tab).

Missouri votes against banning children from carrying guns in public unsupervised

Missouri’s Republican-dominated legislature has struck down a bill that would have prohibited minors from openly carrying firearms on public land without adult supervision. Democratic legislator Donna Baringer said police in her district asked for the change to stop “14-year-olds walking down the middle of the street in the city of St Louis carrying AR-15s. Now they have been emboldened, and they are walking around with them,” Baringer said. “Until they actually brandish them, and brandish them with intent, our police officers’ hands are handcuffed.”

The provision to ban children from carrying weapons unsupervised was initially part of a broader crime bill. That provision was stripped from the larger bill to secure Republican votes. Only one Republican in the body voted in favor of banning children from carrying guns with no adult supervision. 

Republicans characterized the ban as an unnecessary infringement on gun rights. Republican legislator Tony Lovato, who hails from a St. Louis suburb, said that “While it may be intuitive that a 14-year-old has no legitimate purpose, it doesn’t actually mean that they’re going to harm someone. We don’t know that yet”. 

Click here for the full story (opens in new tab).

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Space-X will no longer allow Ukraine to use its satellites to pilot attack drones

Gwynne Shotwell, the president of Elon Musk’s company Space-X, says the company will no longer allow Ukraine’s military to use its Starlink service in drone attacks against Russian invaders. Starlink is an internet service that runs on low-orbit satellites. Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, they set about sabotaging Ukrainian communications, including the internet. Musk stepped in to offer several thousand Starlink terminals for free so that Ukrainians could continue using the internet. Space-X and others have since donated a total of 24,000 terminals. 

Shotwell’s statement indicated that while Space-X agreed that Ukraine’s military could use Starlink for comms, the use of the service for attack drones had weaponized the service in a way that violated the agreement. She went on to say that Space-X had put measures in place to limit how the service could be used.

The announcement drew ire and some confusion from Ukrainian officials. Starlink has been crucial to Ukraine’s success in identifying and locating Russian targets and targeting long-range artillery. There’s currently no viable alternative to ensuring the accuracy of these strikes. I

t’s a bit unclear where exactly Space-X is drawing the line as far as Ukraine’s military use of Starlink. It’s possible that Space-X doesn’t object to Ukraine locating the enemy with Starlink but does object to them using the service to actually pilot the drones. As of yet, Ukrainian forces haven’t reported any interruptions in Starlink service or function.

Click here for the full story (opens in new tab).

Please share any thoughts, comments or questions in the Comments section below!