US Senate rejects extension of health care subsidies

Source: SFGate

“The Senate on Thursday rejected legislation to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits, essentially guaranteeing that millions of Americans will see a steep rise in costs at the beginning of the year. Senators rejected a Democratic bill to extend the subsidies for three years and a Republican alternative that would have created new health savings accounts — an unceremonious end to a monthslong effort by Democrats to prevent the COVID-19-era subsidies from expiring on Jan. 1. Ahead of the votes, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York warned Republicans that if they did not vote to extend the tax credits, ‘there won’t be another chance to act’, before premiums rise for many people who buy insurance off the ACA marketplaces. ‘Let’s avert a disaster,’ Schumer said. ‘The American people are watching.’ Republicans have argued that Affordable Care Act plans are too expensive and need to be overhauled.” (12/11/25)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/senate-poised-to-reject-extension-of-health-care-21236218.php

Steve Trinward

Myanmar: Dozens killed as regime forces launch air strike on hospital

Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]

“At least 30 people, including patients, have been killed, and about 70 wounded after an air strike by the country’s military government hit a major hospital in western Myanmar, according to a rebel group, aid workers and a witness. Myanmar has been gripped by attritional fighting in a raging civil war. The hospital in western Rakhine state’s Mrauk U township was struck late on Wednesday by bombs dropped by a military aircraft, said Khine Thu Kha, a spokesman for the Arakan Army, which is battling the ruling government along parts of the coastal state.” (12/11/25)

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/11/dozens-killed-as-myanmar-military-govt-launches-air-strike-on-hospital?traffic_source=rss

Thomas L. Knapp

The democracy of a free press

Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff

“United States Founding Father Thomas Jefferson was a firm believer in ‘the good sense of the people’ when it came to exercising citizenship in a democracy. To promote constructive public engagement, he urged, ‘give them full information … thro’ the channel of the public papers’. ‘Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter,’ Mr. Jefferson wrote to a friend in 1787. The third U.S. president could likely not have imagined the huge volume and varied forms of today’s ‘newspapers’ – accessed 24/7, in print, over the airwaves, and online. However, even as media access has increased exponentially, press freedoms in 2025 are shrinking globally. News outlets are facing unprecedented political and financial pressures, and journalists are increasingly being silenced or targeted.” (12/10/25)

https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/1210/The-democracy-of-a-free-press

Steve Trinward

The SAVE Student Loan Repayment Plan May Finally Be on Its Deathbed

Source: Cato Institute
by Andrew Gillen

“At this time a couple of years ago, it looked as if one of the Biden administration’s most dangerous student-loan forgiveness schemes was unstoppable. The Supreme Court had struck down an earlier attempt, but the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan appeared to rest on firmer legal ground. Now, with the recent reconciliation bill and the newly announced legal settlement, the menace of SAVE is finally ending. On paper, SAVE was a student loan repayment plan. In practice, it was a mass student loan forgiveness scheme.” (12/10/25)

https://www.cato.org/commentary/save-student-loan-repayment-plan-may-finally-be-its-deathbed

Thomas L. Knapp

House Democratic Leaders Urged to Force a Vote on Stock Trading Ban

Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen

“Mike Johnson has lost control of the House of Representatives. Since reopening the chamber in November after a 53-day sojourn, he has seen continued Republican retirements and resignations in advance of an expected loss of power in next year’s midterms. Voting days have often devolved into recriminations involving individual members. Consensus to avoid a major legislative embarrassment by allowing Affordable Care Act health insurance premiums to skyrocket has been lacking. And Johnson has on several occasions lost control of the agenda-setting power to schedule floor votes, the most basic authority of a House Speaker. Discharge petitions, which if signed by a majority of House members can go around the Speaker and obtain an automatic floor vote, have succeeded on two occasions in recent weeks.” (12/11/25)

https://prospect.org/2025/12/11/house-democratic-leaders-urged-to-force-vote-stock-trading-ban/

Steve Trinward

US Suicide Rate Fell in 2024 After Hovering at High Level

Source: US News & World Report

“The U.S. suicide rate dropped slightly last year from some of the highest levels ever reported, preliminary data suggests. Experts say it’s hard to know exactly why, or whether the decline will continue. A little over 48,800 suicide deaths were reported in 2024, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 500 fewer than the year before. The overall suicide rate fell to 13.7 per 100,000 people. Suicides rose for nearly two decades aside from a two-year drop around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then they shot up again, to more than 14 per 100,000 from 2021 to 2023.” (12/10/25)

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2025-12-10/us-suicide-rate-fell-in-2024-after-hovering-at-high-level

Thomas L. Knapp