USA TODAY White House Correspondent Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy discusses a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's efforts to overhaul the Department of Health and Human Services.Israel readies a plan to seize all of Gaza.The Department of Homeland Security is offering $1,000 stipends and free airfare to immigrants who deport themselves.Trump says he knew 'nothing' about an AI image of him as the pope.USA TODAY Money and Personal Finance Reporter Medora Lee takes a look at new data showing seriously delinquent student loans jumped just as involuntary collections resume.Check out how dandyism looked at the Met Gala.Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to [email protected] Transcript available hereSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What lawsuit is being discussed regarding HHS cuts?
19 Democratic state attorneys general are filing a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's efforts to overhaul the Department of Health and Human Services. I spoke with USA Today White House correspondent Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, who joined me from outside the White House to learn more. Swapna, thanks for hopping on today. Thank you, Taylor, for having me.
So just starting here, before we get to this lawsuit, let's go back to March. Tell us about this restructuring plan that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced, and how is it really part of this broader push from the Trump administration?
Chapter 2: What are the details of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s restructuring plan?
Secretary Kennedy basically said his dramatic restructuring plan would save taxpayers about $1.8 billion per year, and that would be through a downsizing plan. And that involves 20,000 fewer full-time employees. So it would go from about 82,000 to about 62,000 employees. And Secretary Kennedy also says it will not be affecting any critical programs.
Some of the details of the plans include consolidating divisions, which will go from about 28 to about 15, centralizing functions such as HR and IT. And they're also shutting down certain regional offices. You know, it'll go from about 10 to about five. That's the overall plan.
All right. So fast forward to this moment. Why are Democratic state attorneys general now suing? And really specifically, what do they criticize about these cuts?
Chapter 3: Why are states suing the Trump administration over HHS cuts?
Well, the coalition basically describes there are about 19 attorneys general who are bringing this lawsuit. And what they're saying is the restructuring is reckless. It's irrational. It's dangerous. And the reason for that is they say, for instance, you know, the administration has fired staff that's responsible for maintaining federal poverty guidelines, which states rely on to determine poverty.
eligibility for food assistance programs, housing, Medicaid, etc. And there are some other programs, something called like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which basically helps low-income homeowners and renters heat and cool their homes. And the entire team has been fired. So that's a huge problem.
Chapter 4: What are the implications of the lawsuit for low-income assistance programs?
But the Trump administration says they'll support low-income households through energy dominance, through bringing prices lower and things like that. But that doesn't make much sense to these folks because they're saying, well, that will take time, right? It's not going to be immediate. It's going to be not paying bills this year.
And the administration also says it's not really necessary to have this program because a lot of the states have a different program which prevents utilities from shutting off heat during winter. But critics are not satisfied with that answer because none of this is going to be immediate.
Chapter 5: What can we expect from Kennedy's upcoming hearing?
And even if there are rules preventing them from shutting off utilities, they still have to pay for the higher bills that they will incur this year.
Well, you know, interestingly, Kennedy next week, Swapna, is expected to appear before lawmakers. Tell us a little bit about what to expect there. What's at stake and what might happen in that hearing?
The hearing is going to be on May 14th, and I'm sure he will be asked questions by the senators about last Friday. The HHS proposed a budget that is 26 percent lower than last year, and it involves $33 billion. dollars less than last year.
So I'm sure one of the questions for Kennedy is going to be how he's going to balance programs and maintain critical programs with 20,000 fewer people and a 26 percent smaller budget. So that's going to be a question that he will have to answer.
Swapna Menegopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent with USA Today. Thank you, Swapna.
Thank you, Taylor.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an expanded offensive against Hamas would be intensive after his security cabinet approved plans that may include seizing all of Gaza. A report by Israel's public broadcaster, Khan, citing officials with knowledge of the details, said the new plan was gradual and would take months.
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Chapter 6: What is Israel's plan regarding Gaza?
An Israeli defense official also said the operation would not be launched before President Trump wraps a visit next week to the Middle East. Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi rejected what he called pressure and blackmail. Israel resumed its offensive in March after the collapse of a U.S.-backed ceasefire that had stopped fighting for two months. It has since imposed an aid blockade.
The Department of Homeland Security is offering $1,000 stipends and free airfare to immigrants who deport themselves. The proposal released yesterday enhances the department's previous encouragement to immigrants without legal authorization to be in the country to announce their intention to leave on a Customs and Border Protection app.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement that if you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest. President Trump says he knew nothing about an artificially generated image of him dressed as the Pope that was posted to his Truth Social account over the weekend.
I had nothing to do with it. Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the Pope and they put it out on the Internet. That's not me that did it. I have no idea where it came from. Maybe it was AI.
The image that the White House reshared has drawn criticism from Catholics who are still mourning the death of Pope Francis. Trump attended his funeral last week alongside other world leaders, and a papal conclave to select a new pope is set to begin tomorrow.
Seriously delinquent student loan borrowers hit a record high just as the Department of Education is resuming involuntary collections on defaulted debt. I spoke with USA Today money and personal finance reporter Medora Lee for the latest. Hey there, Medora. Hi. What does this research, Medora, tell us about seriously delinquent student loan borrowers?
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Chapter 7: What incentives is the Department of Homeland Security offering immigrants?
And I guess really, what does seriously delinquent actually mean in this context?
So seriously delinquent means that you are 90 plus days overdue for your payment. So TransUnion did a study and they took a look at what's been happening. And they said that seriously delinquent student loan borrowers are at an all-time high of 20.5% through February. And that compares to just 11.5% in February 2020, which is just before the pandemic started.
And even worse, they say that could be understated. Because more and more outstanding student loans that are being paid are being reported each month. So they think that more than one in five student loan bars with a payment due have been reported as seriously delinquent, but the figure could be much higher.
Wow. And a massive jump from just a few years ago. What does serious delinquency like this really mean for one's finances, Medora?
So this is a really big deal because if you're seriously delinquent, you can start seeing major hits on your credit scores. And if you get a major hit on your credit score, that will put you even further into a hole because that'll increase the cost of anything that you borrow, like loans or even limit how much people can borrow. So people might want to kind of think about that.
I know it's a shock, but everybody sort of knew that the student loan payments were going to resume soon. And I know it comes at this kind of bad time when the economy looks like it's slowing. But if there's any way that you can make any sort of payments, you probably should, because that could really haunt you for a while.
Absolutely. So are there particular groups of folks, Medora, that are seeing the largest credit score declines in this moment?
It's actually those people that are seen as prime or top tier borrowers that usually see the largest hit to their credit cards for serious delinquencies and defaults. And even though there's a lower percentage of these prime borrowers or super prime borrowers, that were seriously delinquent.
Those who did ultimately default saw the biggest impact to their credit scores just because they don't have a lot of bad marks on their score so far. So it turns out that they will see the biggest declines.
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