The entrance to a Big Lots store in Portland with a SNAP eligibility sign. Up to 3,000 Oregonians with (Stock photo by hapabapa/Getty Images)

On the eve of Thanksgiving, Oregon is co-leading a group of Democratic attorneys general in suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its leader Brooke Rollins over abrupt cuts to food assistance for refugees and asylum seekers.

The cuts could affect up to 3,000 Oregonians who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and who came to the U.S. as refugees, asylum seekers or through other humanitarian protection programs, according to state Attorney General Dan Rayfield.

The attorneys general argue in their lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Oregon, that Rollins broke federal law by attempting to cut off food assistance for some non-citizen groups even after they’ve obtained permanent residency, and that the USDA violated its own rules for issuing new guidance to states.

Rollins gave states’ SNAP agencies one day, rather than the standard 120 days, to adjust and respond to the new guidance or face steep penalties.

“We’re one of the most wealthy countries in the world, and no one should go hungry in America,” Rayfield said at a virtual news conference on Wednesday. “It’s absolutely absurd that we’re having this press conference here today, a day before Thanksgiving.”

Oregon is co-leading the suit with New York, and is joined by 20 other states and the District of Columbia. It is Oregon’s 48th lawsuit against the federal government since President Donald Trump began his second term in January.

Confusion sown

Congressional Republicans did eliminate SNAP eligibility for some refugees and asylum seekers in the GOP tax and spending megabill they passed this summer, several attorneys general at the news conference explained, but it did not make those groups permanently ineligible for SNAP after they’ve obtained green cards and permanent resident status. Furthermore, federal law prohibits this, they argue.

But an Oct. 31 memo from USDA Associate Administrator Ronald Ward to states’ SNAP agencies listing some refugee and asylum groups as “not eligible” and others not eligible until they’ve been permanent residents for five years, has sown confusion.

The memo was sent on a Saturday in the midst of the government shutdown, and the state SNAP agencies were given one day to respond.

“Federal law is specific and says that refugees, asylees, humanitarian parolees and other vulnerable legal immigrants are eligible for SNAP benefits as soon as they obtain their green cards and meet standard program requirements,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at the news conference. “The administration does not have the power to rewrite these rules just because they don’t like them.”

In a Nov. 19 letter, the attorneys general collectively asked Rollins to correct the error and explain why the 120-day standard for response was not being honored, but they did not receive a response, they said, necessitating the lawsuit.

Bonta said the mixed messaging from USDA is not happening in a vacuum.

“Families who rely on SNAP are still recovering from the whiplash of the recent government shutdown, when the Trump administration tried to block November SNAP benefits,” he said.

The Democratic attorneys general successfully fought that attempted block and two judges ordered the benefits paid.

“The reality is, after losing in court again and again, the Trump administration is still trying to find ways to deprive families that are barely scraping by of basic food assistance that the law affords them,” Bonta said. “They are working overtime to deprive hungry Americans of food.”

Members of law enforcement and National Guard soldiers respond to a shooting of two National Guard members on Nov. 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Two National Guard members from West Virginia were in critical condition Wednesday evening after being shot near the White House in Washington, D.C., officials said.

FBI Director Kash Patel, a Metropolitan Police Department leader and Mayor Muriel Bowser emphasized during a press conference the investigation was in the preliminary stages, but said the shooting was “targeted” and that one suspect, who was also shot, was in custody. 

“At approximately 2:15 this afternoon, members of the D.C. National Guard were on high visibility patrols in the area of 17th and I Street Northwest when a suspect came around the corner, raised his arm with a firearm and discharged at the National Guard members,” MPD Executive Assistant Chief Jeffery Carroll said. 

“There were other (National Guard) members that were in the area. They were able to, after some back and forth … subdue the individual and bring them into custody,” Carroll added. “Within moments, members of law enforcement in the area were also able to assist and bring that individual into custody.”

The Department of Homeland Security in a press release late Wednesday identified the suspect as an Afghan national who entered the U.S. in September 2021. Numerous news reports gave his name as Rahmanullah Lakanwal. The Associated Press, citing a law enforcement official not authorized to speak publicly, reported the suspect sustained “injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening.”

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services posted late Wednesday that “Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”

Carroll said there were no other suspects at the time of the press conference, in the early evening, and that law enforcement officials had reviewed video footage from the area where the shooting took place. 

“It appears, like I said, to be a lone gunman that raised the firearm and ambushed these members of the National Guard, and he was quickly taken into custody by other National Guard members and law enforcement members,” he said. 

The guardsmen were armed, but Carroll said investigators had not yet determined if they shot back or how the suspect, whom he did not name, was shot. 

“At this point, we’re still investigating exactly who shot the individual. It’s not clear at this time,” he said. 

Officials were also not yet sure “what kind of weapon” the suspect used during the shooting, which Carroll said “happened right in front of the Metro, although there is no indication that the perpetrator was on the Metro.” The Metro is the district’s public transit system.

Bowser reiterated during the press conference that the two National Guard members were in critical condition and referred to the shooting as “targeted.” 

Trump delivers remarks

President Donald Trump delivered brief remarks Wednesday night from Florida, condemning the “monstrous, ambush-style attack.”

Trump praised his deployment of guard troops to the district as “part of the most successful public safety and national security mission in the history of our nation’s capital.”

“This heinous assault was an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror. It was a crime against our entire nation. It was a crime against humanity. The hearts of all Americans tonight are with those two members of the West Virginia National Guard and their families,” Trump said in a recorded video message posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, around 9:20 p.m. Eastern. 

Trump said “based on the best available information” the suspect is from Afghanistan, which he called “a hellhole on Earth” and that he had been “flown in” by former President Joe Biden.

Trump said his administration will “re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden.” 

Biden established a program to bring Afghans who assisted American troops during two decades of war to the United States after his administration withdrew troops in August 2021.

FBI and partners to lead investigation

Patel said the investigation will be treated as an assault on a federal law enforcement officer. 

“The FBI will lead out on that mission with our interagency partners to include the Department of Homeland Security, Secret Service, ATF, DEA, and we’re thankful for the mayor’s assistance in this matter,” Patel said. “The Metropolitan Police Department and their skills in investigating homicides and gun shootings in this city is exceptional. 

“We will work together collaboratively, because this is a matter of national security, because it’s a matter of pride.”

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey wrote on social media before the press conference that the guard members had died, though he later posted he was hearing “conflicting reports about the condition of our two Guard members and will provide additional updates once we receive more complete information.”

“Our prayers are with these brave service members, their families, and the entire Guard community,” he added. 

Trump was briefed on the shooting and was “actively monitoring this tragic situation,” according to a statement Wednesday afternoon from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. The shooting happened just one day before Thanksgiving. 

Trump posted on social media that both guardsmen were “critically wounded” and taken to two separate hospitals. The shooter, he added, was “also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price.”

Trump mobilized 800 National Guard members to the district in August, on the grounds of a “crime emergency,” despite a nearly 30-year low in violent crime in the city. 

Some of the guard troops were instructed they would be carrying service weapons while deployed in the district, according to an Aug. 17 report in the Wall Street Journal. 

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters Wednesday the administration will send an additional 500 National Guard troops to the district.

“This will only stiffen our resolve to ensure that we make Washington DC safe and beautiful,” Hegseth said.

The White House was placed on lockdown for a period due to the shooting, according to a White House official. Trump and first lady Melania Trump were not present at the time of the shooting.

Last week, a District of Columbia federal judge found the Trump administration’s deployment of the National Guard in the city illegal. However, Judge Jia Cobb paused her order for three weeks to give the Trump administration time to remove the guard members along with appealing her ruling.  

More than 2,000 members of the guard have remained in the district, and are expected to stay until the end of February, according to Cobb’s order.

The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in an emergency motion to intervene.

When Trump mobilized the Guard, he also federalized the district’s police force for 30 days. While the federalization of the police force expired, Trump has kept the National Guard in the district.

Since then, Republican governors have agreed to send their own Guard members to the district, from Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina and West Virginia, among others. 

Lawmakers react

Members of Congress responded to the initial reports of the shooting with prayers and gratitude for the service members. 

“Praying for the National Guard members wounded in this horrific shooting,” U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., wrote on social media. “Thankful for the brave law enforcement officers and first responders who swiftly apprehended a suspect. There is no place for violence in America.”

Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican and retired lieutenant colonel in the Iowa National Guard, called for prayers for the victims. 

“Join me in praying for the two National Guardsmen shot in D.C. and their families,” she said. “Our men and women in uniform truly put their lives on the line to keep us safe and deserve our greatest respect.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote he was “closely monitoring the situation and am praying for the wounded National Guardsmen and their families.”

“My heart breaks for the victims of this horrific shooting in Washington DC near the White House,” Schumer wrote. “I thank all the first responders for their quick action to capture the suspect.”

Speaking in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Vice President JD Vance, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, said the attack was “a somber reminder.”

“Our soldiers are the sword and the shield of the United States of America,” he said. “And as a person who goes into work every single day in that building and knows that there are a lot of people who wear the uniform of the United States Army, let me just say very personally thank them for what they’re doing.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., wrote that his “thoughts and prayers are with the National Guardsmen who were attacked this afternoon. I urge you to keep them in your prayers too.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote the “National Guard has done heroic work this year working around the clock to make our nation’s capital safe again. We are forever grateful for the swift actions of law enforcement and for all those who risk their own lives to protect everyone else.”

Jacob Fischler and Leann Ray contributed to this report.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a Nashville press conference on July 18, 2025, to discuss arrests of immigrants during recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Wednesday the end of temporary protected status for roughly 330,000 nationals from Haiti by February, opening them up to deportations.

In her reasoning, Noem said extending temporary protected status to Haitians would be “contrary to the national interest of the United States” and will end on Feb. 3.

TPS is granted to nationals who hail from countries deemed too dangerous for a return, due to violence or major natural disasters. 

While TPS was granted to Haitians due to the 2010 earthquake, conditions in the country have worsened amid rising gang violence since 2021. 

“Moreover, even if the Department found that there existed conditions that were extraordinary and temporary that prevented Haitian nationals …from returning in safety, termination of Temporary Protected Status of Haiti is still required because it is contrary to the national interest of the United States to permit Haitian nationals … to remain temporarily in the United States,” according to the notice in the Federal Register. 

The notice is meant to comply with a court order earlier this year that barred DHS from ending TPS for nationals from Haiti until protections were set to expire in February. 

States with large Haitian immigrant populations include Florida, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank that studies global migration.

Noem, who stated in her confirmation hearing that she planned to curtail TPS renewals, has moved to end protections for nationals from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Syria and Venezuela.

Prisoners look out of their cell as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center, or CECOT, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 26, 2025. (Photo by Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice acknowledged in a court filing that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made the call to continue removals of Venezuelans to a brutal Salvadoran prison, despite a federal judge’s order to stop the deportations.

The Tuesday filing noted that Noem was advised by top officials at the Justice Department she did not need to comply with the March 15 judicial order to halt the deportations because it had been issued after the flights took off. The Venezuelan nationals were deported under an obscure wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act.

“After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador,” according to the DOJ filing. “That decision was lawful and was consistent with a reasonable interpretation of the Court’s order.”

Noem’s decision sent 137 Venezuelan men to a mega-prison for months until the Venezuelan government could broker a prison swap with El Salvador and the United States to have the men returned. 

In an emergency March 15 order, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said the planes carrying the Venezuelans had to return to the United States.

They did not have the opportunity to challenge their removal, which was a violation of their due process rights, the American Civil Liberties Union has argued in its case against the Trump administration. 

Tuesday’s filing represents a shift in legal strategy from the administration, which had initially argued that because Boasberg’s order was verbal and not written, his temporary restraining order carried no weight. 

Contempt probe

The filing comes after Boasberg resumed a contempt investigation to identify the Trump administration officials involved in authorizing the Venezuelans’ removals.

Last week, Boasberg ordered the administration to submit filings on how to proceed with the contempt inquiry.

“I certainly intend to find out what happened that day,” Boasberg said last week.

Tuesday’s filing argued that contempt proceedings are not needed and that “the Government maintains that its actions did not violate the Court’s order.”

The ACLU, which is representing the deported men, in its filing on the contempt issue urged Boasberg to request testimony from nine current and former officials from the Homeland Security and Justice departments. 

The ACLU also said the government should identify “all individuals involved in the decision… regardless of whether they were the ultimate decision-maker or had direct input into the decision, as well as all those with knowledge of the decision-making process.”

Once those people had been identified, Boasberg could determine in what order testimony should be gathered.

This week, we are reflecting on what we’re thankful for. One of the things we’re thankful for is you – our readers and supporters. Some of you have sent us tips, others have given us constructive feedback on our reporting, and many of you have helped us reach more people by sharing our reporting with your friends, family and neighbors. 

In the spirit of gratitude and giving, we want to share five stories that remind us of the power of community and how ordinary people can spark extraordinary impact. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed reporting them. 

“When we show up, when we speak up, we can make a positive difference” 

Portage, Sauk, St. Croix and Lincoln counties – Public nursing homes tend to be better staffed, have higher quality of care and draw fewer complaints than facilities owned by for-profits and nonprofits. As counties across Wisconsin look to sell off their nursing homes, grassroots campaigns are working to keep the homes in public hands – and some of them appear to be succeeding. 

“It kind of feels like I’m more connected to the stories … instead of just being behind my phone” 

Brown, Oconto and Shawano counties – For more than eight decades, Pulaski High School’s student newspaper has been the community’s newspaper of record, as the only news outlet consistently covering the rural village. Along the way, the paper has secured a level of community buy-in that might feel foreign to some news organizations today, as trust in news declines. 

“I don’t know just exactly how to say this, but my perspective for people has changed” 

Milwaukee and Dane counties – When Larry Jones arrived at the Wisconsin State Capitol on March 12, he didn’t know what he was getting into — let alone that he would be a viral internet sensation the next day. The 85-year-old self-described conservative had been invited by his grandson to a public hearing on a Republican-authored bill that would ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth in the state. While he was there, he changed his mind. 

“We’re learning how to navigate conflict in community. We’re learning how to support people in distress” 

Brown and Outagamie counties – In downtown Appleton, a “community living room” aims to give northeast Wisconsinites ways to deeply connect with one another — and a free community space to do so — in hopes they can combat the social isolation many feel today. It also hosts “emotional CPR training” or ECPR to train professionals and community members in how to assist someone in crisis or emotional distress. 

“There are too many wrong doors in this system, and we want to be a right door” 

Dane County – Yahara House, part of the nonprofit Journey Mental Health Center, is a community mental health program focused on building relationships and job opportunities. It is one of just seven clubhouses in the state and just three with international accreditation. Experts and advocates say the clubhouse model reduces hospitalizations and boosts employment in adults with serious mental illnesses.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

These 5 stories show people building connection, power and hope is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

On a dry, rocky patch of his family’s farm in Door County, Wisconsin, Dave Klevesahl grows wildflowers. But he has a vision for how to squeeze more value out of the plot: lease it to a company that wants to build a community solar array.

Unfortunately for Klevesahl, that is unlikely to happen under current state law. In Wisconsin, only utilities are allowed to develop such shared solar installations, which let households and businesses that can’t put panels on their own property access renewable energy via subscriptions.

Farmers, solar advocates and legislators from both parties are trying to remove these restrictions through Senate Bill 559, which would allow the limited development of community solar by entities other than utilities.

Wisconsin lawmakers considered similar proposals in the 2021-22 and 2023-24 legislative sessions, with support from trade groups representing real estate agents, farmers, grocers, and retailers. But those bipartisan efforts failed in the face of opposition from the state’s powerful utilities and labor unions.

Community solar supporters are hoping for a different outcome this legislative session, which ends in March. But while the new bill, introduced Oct. 24, includes changes meant to placate utilities, the companies still firmly oppose it.

“I don’t really understand why anybody wouldn’t want community solar,” said Klevesahl, whose wife’s family has been farming their land for generations. In addition to leasing his land for an installation, he would like to subscribe to community solar, which typically saves participants money on their energy bills. 

Some Wisconsin utilities do offer their own community solar programs. But they are too small to meet the demand for community solar, advocates say.

Utilities push back on shared solar 

Around 20 states and Washington, D.C., have community solar programs that allow non-utility ownership of arrays. The majority of those states, including Wisconsin’s neighbor Illinois, have deregulated energy markets, in which the utilities that distribute electricity do not generate it.

In states with ​“vertically integrated” energy markets, like Wisconsin, utilities serve as regulated monopolies, both generating and distributing power. That means legislation is necessary to specify that other companies are also allowed to generate and sell power from community solar. Some vertically integrated states, including Minnesota, have passed such laws.

But monopoly utilities in those jurisdictions have consistently opposed community solar developed by third parties. Minnesota utility Xcel Energy, for example, supported terminating the state’s community solar program during an unsuccessful effort by some lawmakers last summer to end it.

The Wisconsin utilities We Energies and Madison Gas and Electric, according to their spokespeople, are concerned that customers who don’t subscribe to community solar will end up subsidizing costs for those who do. The utilities argue that because community solar subscribers have lower energy bills, they contribute less money for grid maintenance and construction, meaning that other customers must pay more to make up the difference. Clean-energy advocates, for their part, say this ​“cost shift” argument ignores research showing that the systemwide benefits of distributed energy like community solar can outweigh the expense.

The Wisconsin bill would also require utilities to buy power from community solar arrays that don’t have enough subscribers.

“This bill is being marketed as a ​‘fair’ solution to advance renewables. It’s the opposite,” said We Energies spokesperson Brendan Conway. ​“It would force our customers to pay higher electricity costs by having them subsidize developers who want profit from a no-risk solar project. Under this bill, the developers avoid any risk. The costs of their projects will shift to and be paid for by all of our ​‘non-subscribing’ customers.”

The power generated by community solar ultimately goes onto the utility’s grid, reducing the amount of electricity the utility needs to provide. But Conway said it’s not the most efficient way to meet overall demand.

“These projects would not be something we would plan for or need, so our customers would be paying for unneeded energy that benefits a very few,” he said. ​“Also, these credits are guaranteed by our other customers even if solar costs drop or grid needs change.”

Advocates in Wisconsin hope they can address such concerns and convince utilities to support community solar owned by third parties.

Beata Wierzba, government affairs director of the clean-power advocacy organization Renew Wisconsin, said her group and others ​“had an opportunity to talk with the utilities over the course of several months, trying to negotiate some language they could live with.”

“There were some exchanges where utilities gave us a dozen things that were problematic for them, and the coalition addressed them by making changes to the draft” of the bill, Wierzba said.

The spokespeople for We Energies and Madison Gas and Electric did not respond to questions about such conversations.

A small-scale start 

To assuage utilities’ concerns, the bill allows third-party companies to build community solar only for the next decade. The legislation also sets a statewide cap for community solar of 1.75 gigawatts, with limits for each of the five major investor-owned utilities’ territories proportionate to each utility’s total number of customers.

Community solar arrays would be limited to 5 megawatts, with exceptions for rooftops, brownfields and other industrial sites, where 20 megawatts can be built.

No subscriber would be allowed to buy more than 40% of the output from a single community solar array, and 60% of the subscriptions must be for 40 kilowatts of capacity or less, the bill says. This is meant to prevent one large customer — like a big-box store or factory — from buying the majority of the power and excluding others from taking advantage of the limited community solar capacity.

Customers who subscribe to community solar would still have to pay at least $20 a month to their utility for service. The bill also contains what Wierzba called an ​“off-ramp”: After four years, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin would study how the program is working and submit a report to the Legislature, which could pass a new law to address any problems.

“The bill is almost like a small pilot project — it’s not like you’re opening the door and letting everyone come in,” said Wierzba. ​“You have a limit on how it can function, how many people can sign up.”

Broad support for community solar

In Wisconsin, as in other states, developers hoping to build utility-scale solar farms on agricultural land face serious pushback. The Trump administration canceled federal incentives for solar arrays on farms this summer, with U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announcing, ​“USDA will no longer fund taxpayer dollars for solar panels on productive farmland.”

But Wisconsin farmers have argued that community solar can actually help keep agricultural land in production by providing an extra source of revenue. The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation has yet to weigh in on this year’s bill, but it supported previously proposed community solar legislation.

The bill calls for state regulators to come up with rules for community solar developers that would likely require dual use — meaning that crops or pollinator habitats are planted under and around the panels or that animals graze on the land. These increasingly common practices are known as agrivoltaics.

The bill would let local zoning bodies — rather than the state’s Public Service Commission — decide whether to permit a community solar installation.

Utility-scale solar farms, by contrast, are permitted at the state level, which can leave ​“locals feeling like they are not in control of their future,” said Matt Hargarten, vice president of government and public affairs for the Coalition for Community Solar Access. ​“This offers an alternative that is really welcome. If a town doesn’t want this to be there, it won’t be there.”

A 5-megawatt array typically covers 20 to 30 acres of land, whereas utility-scale solar farms are often hundreds of megawatts and span thousands of acres.

“You don’t need to upgrade the transmission systems with these small solar farms because a 30-acre solar farm can backfeed into a substation that’s already there,” noted Klevesahl, a retired electrical engineer. ​“And then you’re using the power locally, and it’s clean power. Bottom line is, I just think it’s the right thing to do.” 

A version of this article was first published by Canary Media.

Wisconsin lawmakers look to break utility grip on community solar is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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The Planned Parenthood clinic in New Orleans was open for over 40 years but stopped seeing patients at the end of September after federal Medicaid funding cuts. Abortion opponents are looking for more ways to pull funds from the organization, despite legal abortion care making up a small portion of the services affiliated health centers provide. (Photo by Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator) 

Anti-abortion organizations and Republican elected officials are searching for more ways to prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving federal resources after congressional Republicans successfully cut off federal Medicaid funding until at least July 2026.

Letters written by activist organizations and Republican elected officials show stated goals of barring Planned Parenthood health centers from receiving federal money of any kind and pulling them from the 340B drug pricing program. With it, Title X-funded centers can receive significant discounts on prescription drugs, allowing the purchase of more medications and the ability to reach more patients.

Anti-abortion activists also expect proposals for further restrictions on Planned Parenthood’s access to Medicaid in health care legislation in early 2026.

In July, Republican members of the House and Senate passed a sweeping budget reconciliation bill that included a one-year provision barring clinics from receiving federal Medicaid reimbursement if they offer abortion services and billed Medicaid more than $800,000 in fiscal year 2023. The rule largely affects Planned Parenthood because of the high dollar amount, but some large independent clinics have also been affected.

Since then, more than 20 Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide have closed their doors, many of which did not provide abortion services. Others have laid off staff, including in Ohio. Maine Family Planning, the state’s largest reproductive health care provider, also offered primary care services at three of its 18 clinics but discontinued those services at the end of October because of the funding loss.

Katie Rodihan, director of state advocacy communications for Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement that those actions would make medication more expensive and take away access to birth control, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and cancer screenings.

“These anti-abortion lawmakers are so hellbent on shutting down Planned Parenthood that they’re willing to sacrifice your health care,” Rodihan said. “No matter what attack anti-abortion groups and politicians launch, Planned Parenthood Action Fund will always be ready to fight back for patients.” 

Opposition to the organization receiving federal funding is rooted in a belief that its main purpose is to provide abortion care, when in fact abortion makes up about 4% of the services Planned Parenthood clinics provide nationwide, according to the most recent annual report. But anti-abortion groups and many Republican lawmakers object to federal dollars being associated with legal abortion care in any way, even if it’s not directly paying for the procedure except in limited circumstances under the law.

In late September, Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt sent a letter to the administrator of the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, asking that the agency revoke Planned Parenthood’s 340B drug pricing eligibility and reject any future requests for that designation. The letter is also signed by the Republican governors of Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Several Republican-led states, including Ohio and Indiana, have also recently tried to cut Planned Parenthood off of state Medicaid funding.  

“States across the country are acting to ensure taxpayer dollars are not used to fund or promote abortions, and in turn, these clinics are seeking roundabout ways to maintain their funding,” Stitt wrote. “Even if Planned Parenthood affiliates with pro-life laws refrain from using federal funds for abortion, the organization’s national infrastructure still benefits, enabling abortion expansion in states where abortion is legal … .”  

Instead, Stitt suggested that money be allocated to community health centers and rural hospitals.

The letter was sent five days before the government shutdown started on Oct. 1, and no action has been taken by the agency so far since reopening on Nov. 12.

Argument traces back to COVID loans

Students for Life of America, an anti-abortion group with more than 2,000 student chapters nationwide, is leading the effort to pressure Republican President Donald Trump and his administration to disqualify Planned Parenthood as a vendor with the federal government. Called “debarment,” the administrative process usually applies to vendors accused of wrongdoing — such as fraud, embezzlement, failure to perform or tax evasion — and is determined by  the U.S. General Services Administration.

A vendor who is debarred cannot receive federal money of any kind for a period of three years. There is also a lesser penalty of suspension, which lasts up to 12 months.

Kristi Hamrick, Students for Life’s vice president of media and policy, told States Newsroom that members started discussing the idea toward the end of Trump’s first term, but since it involves a long administrative process, there wasn’t enough time to pursue it before Democratic President Joe Biden took office.

Students for Life sent a letter to the U.S. Small Business Administration on Oct. 22, along with a letter to the president’s office signed by more than 50 other anti-abortion groups, encouraging them to start the process of debarment. There has not been a response from the small business agency so far, Hamrick said, but employees only returned to work recently following the 43-day shutdown.  

The letter to Trump is signed by other well-known anti-abortion organizations, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Family Policy Alliance, Americans United for Life, Family Research Council and National Right to Life.

Along with allegations of financial fraud, the letter to the Small Business Administration accuses Planned Parenthood of a host of other violations, and mentions lawsuits filed against the organization led by Republican attorneys general in states like Missouri and Texas.   

Hamrick said the letter went to the agency because Republican U.S. Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Joni Ernst of Iowa wrote a letter of their own in March about alleged fraud committed by Planned Parenthood. They wrote that many of its affiliates — which are independent nonprofit organizations — applied for and received Paycheck Protection Program loans of about $120 million during the COVID pandemic.

The two senators said Planned Parenthood was not eligible for the loans because organizations with more than 500 employees were excluded. Planned Parenthood argued the national organization and the regional affiliates are separate — the affiliates applied individually — and guidance for the loans was later updated by the Biden administration to allow them. Most of the loans were forgiven.

Other entities were also accused of abusing the intent of the Paycheck Protection Program, including Catholic Charities USA, a humanitarian aid arm of the Catholic church with more than 3,000 employees. The Associated Press reported the organization and its member agencies received about 110 loans worth up to $220 million, which were forgiven.

Hamrick said Republicans in Congress should keep up their efforts to bar Planned Parenthood from Medicaid reimbursements, but there’s more that can be done.

“We won’t have to keep voting on whether or not Planned Parenthood can be funded in any one program, such as Medicaid, if they’re not eligible to be funded at all,” Hamrick said.

States still heavily affected by cuts

Hamrick said she hopes to see Republican lawmakers extend the Medicaid cuts for 10 years or more this time around, because this first round of cuts didn’t yield any “dire consequences.”

Dr. Chelsea Daniels, a member of the Committee to Protect Health Care’s Reproductive Freedom Task Force, disagrees. She moved out of Florida two months ago, where she worked in Miami for Planned Parenthood of Florida, and where she tried to help pass an amendment that would have enshrined a right to abortion into the state constitution. Although 57% of voters approved it, 60% is required by Florida law.

That demoralizing loss on top of many days where she had to tell people she legally couldn’t help them became too much. Florida has a six-week abortion ban, with exceptions for rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormalities and human trafficking. But Daniels said she routinely saw sexual assault victims who weren’t able to get an abortion regardless of any documentation they presented.

“Florida honestly just kind of pulverized me. I felt ground up by the end of it,” Daniels said.

She moved to California, and now practices as a family planning physician at Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties. In her first week of employment there, the affiliate announced it would close its primary care practice because of the Medicaid cuts, laying off 77 staffers and sending 13,000 patients across seven clinics looking elsewhere for basic care such as treatment for high blood pressure, vaccines, annual wellness exams and diabetes management. The final day of service will be Dec. 10.

Daniels wasn’t part of the layoffs, but she said that loss of care for so many patients is devastating.

“I left Florida for good reason, but the state of the country writ large is not good,” Daniels said. “And I don’t think our federal government cares. They think it’s just collateral damage and punishment for anyone who’s ever been associated with Planned Parenthood.”