Bryce Covert

@brycecovert.bsky.social

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Independent journalist writing about the economy. Contributing writer at @thenation.com. Send tips to brycecovert@protonmail.com or on Signal: brycecovert.25 she/her

Those who remained were tasked with drafting language to rescind regulations banning most forms of discrimination that the office had spent decades rooting out. They also began reversing rules that required contractors to maintain a workplace free of harassment, and that prohibited them from retaliating against applicants and employees for discussing their pay.
Do you enjoy eating food and taking medications that don’t make you sick? Getting rid of the government means getting rid of the Food and Drug Administration’s power to make sure drugs are safe before they go on the market. It would eliminate the Department of Agriculture’s oversight of food processing, which makes sure our produce and meat aren’t covered in feces or riddled with pieces of metal.
Midway through his 37-minute appearance, Mr. Vance held up a large poster of Markita Barnes, a woman in Wisconsin who was convicted in March on 10 counts of health care fraud for stealing $2.3 million from a Medicaid benefit program meant to help at-risk pregnant women and women with young children. Ms. Barnes was initially indicted in 2023, during the Biden administration, but in his remarks, Mr. Vance accused Democrats of defending her.
Hat that says: Please be half as good as the US women
Lationna Halbert in her kitchen, holding baby Kingsley
Hand holding an “I Voted 2026” sticker that looks like a blue and orange basketball in front of some flowers
Except the U.S. has won a World Cup — four, in fact, including one at home — and five Olympic gold medals and produced a Ballon d’Or winner. It has also regularly been ranked the best in the world. The U.S. has bona fide soccer superstars. However, the players who transcended the sport, changed culture and are among the world’s top 100 players are sitting at home … because their World Cup is next summer in Brazil at the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Edward Yim, the director of clean energy at the legal nonprofit Lawyers for Good Government, said he thought the new guidance violated the Inflation Reduction Act. In establishing the rebates, the law explicitly said that a valid reason for receiving payment was “to replace a nonelectric appliance.” “That’s a pretty straightforward, simple violation of the statutory text,” said Mr. Kim, who previously worked on this issue at the Energy Department before leaving the government last year.
WASHINGTON -- About 120,000 people aged 20 and over joined the labor force in May, however those gains were entirely among men while women left the labor force last month, according to a National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) jobs analysis of monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That brings the total net number of women who have left the labor force so far this year to more than 300,000, NWLC found. “The numbers reflect the Trump administration's pronatalist agenda to push women out of the workforce and return to a time of strict gender roles,” said Jasmine Tucker, vice president of research at NWLC. “The policies of this administration gave us an idea of what would happen, and now we're seeing the consequences play out in the data." In May, according to BLS numbers, 191,000 men aged 20 and over joined the labor force and 71,000 women aged 20 and over left the labor force.
In March 2025, funding was cut by USDA for animal disease control and prevention, including Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, New World Screwworm, and African Swine Fever from several agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). That funding supported more than 180 outbreak investigations and responses in 22 countries and helped build the capacities of over 160 laboratories in testing, biosafety, quality assurance, and workforce development. Specifically, funding was targeted to monitoring and responding to New World Screwworm, preventing the spread of the disease to the U.S.
Paxton was indicted in the late summer of 2015 over accusations of defrauding investors, according to Chron. The charges stemmed from accusations that Paxton had encouraged other legislators to invest in McKinney-based company Servergy in 2011 without telling them he would make a commission, Chron reported. Paxton allegedly misrepresented himself as an investor in the company, which was charged with fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2016.
After Elon Musk’s DOGE effort fizzled out, the Trump administration renewed its focus on what it describes as wasteful government spending, with Vice President JD Vance leading a “war on fraud.” Vance, in a separate effort, warned states they could lose Medicaid funding if they don’t aggressively prosecute Medicaid fraudsters.
Key’Asia Hollis, Marley Lewis, and Tamesha were denied requests for accommodations at Amazon warehouses during their pregnancies.
Screenshot of a website for a company called "Kick'em Out Quick" that offers eviction attorneys who "move quickly to protect what's yours." It has a logo in one corner of someone karate kicking the roof of a house open and tabs at the top that say "KICK'EM OUT" and "MAKE'EM PAY."
Employees lost confidence that the Teamsters had a viable plan to win a contract, as deep disagreement emerged between store employees and union officials about how to overcome the company’s resistance, according to workers who had been leaders in the union campaign. “The union-busting of Chipotle and the shifting priorities of the Teamsters left the workers in the lurch,” former employee Atulya Dora-Laskey, who had been a prominent activist with the union, said in an interview. “I know other Chipotle workers will eventually organize again,” she said. “It was very viable to win a contract at Chipotle if the Teamsters had followed through.”
Through these revisions, the rule would ensure equal access to qualifying facilities would be provided in accordance with the sex of an individual based on his or her immutable biological classification as either male or female rather than the ever-shifting concept of self-assessed gender identity.
Tweet from APStylebook that says: You've been asking for this one for years. We heard you. We announced a change in AP style at the @ACESEditors conference today: It's now healthcare, one word, in all uses. We also changed childcare and daycare, closing them up to one word rather than two.
Video of a red light and many cars driving through it in a chaotic four lane stretch of road
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Mr. Buria told Mr. Driscoll that President Trump would not want to stand next to a Black female officer at military events, the officials said.
“The feedback I’m hearing from citizens is that extra few bucks on their [return] at the end of the year, because of the taxes they didn’t have to pay, comes secondary to wanting us to take care of the things that government needs to be invested in,” said Idaho GOP Sen. Jim Guthrie. “Which is your infrastructure and your roads and bridges and schools and also your Medicaid population.”
Yanfeng Ge sits on his brother Chaofeng Ge’s bed in the basement apartment they once shared in Flushing, Queens. Photo: Shuran Huang for Documented
A handful of Mr. Chavez’s relatives and former U.F.W. leaders have been aware for years about various allegations of sexual misconduct, but there is no evidence that they made efforts to fully investigate the accusations, acknowledge the victims or apologize to them. Instead, many of the women say they were discouraged from speaking out in order to preserve Mr. Chavez’s public image. Internal emails dating back over a decade show union members discussing Ms. Murguia’s claims of abuse and the impact it had on her life. One of Ms. Murguia’s relatives confronted Mr. Chavez while he was still alive, in the 1980s. According to the relative, Mr. Chavez offered no defense and responded only by clearing his throat.
Now, in letters to Democratic Govs. Kathy Hochul, Gretchen Whitmer and Tina Kotek, first obtained by Fox News Digital, Cassidy charged that their respective states lead or have led the nation in improper payments in state-administered childcare assistance programs.
By contrast, the Assembly proposes creating two new tax brackets, starting at $10 million and $100 million, with progressively higher rates for each bracket beginning with $5 million.6 (FPI has argued for applying the top rate to all millionaire earners, creating a broader base for progressive taxation, rather than further fragmenting the top rates). However, the Assembly also proposes lowering the PIT rate for all tax brackets up to $323,000 (for joint filers). These rate reductions would completely offset the revenue raised by progressive top rates, resulting in a negligible net change to PIT revenue.
Despite Mr. Trump’s “no tax” branding, overtime pay is still subject to taxes, including payroll taxes and, potentially, state taxes. Some people who work overtime won’t be able to claim the tax break at all. Only Americans who, according to the Fair Labor Standards Act, must be paid time and a half for working more than 40 hours in a week can claim it. And even then, only a portion of the overtime pay — the additional “half” in time and a half — is exempt from the federal income tax.
The most obvious challenge is that it’s not clear how much Trump can do on his own. Under existing authorities, the administration can create portable retirement accounts — modeled on the Thrift Savings Plan used by federal employees — and make them available to workers who currently lack a workplace plan. But the government cannot compel employers or workers to automatically enroll, nor can it unilaterally appropriate funds to provide a universal $1,000 match to all eligible workers. Instead, the administration can facilitate take-up of a benefit that already exists. The bipartisan Secure 2.0 bill, signed by President Joe Biden in 2022, created a “Saver’s Match” — a federal contribution of up to $1,000 annually for qualifying workers who put $2,000 in an eligible retirement account. One problem has been that many eligible workers have had nowhere to put their contributions. Trump’s executive action could create additional account infrastructure, but eligibility would still be constrained. Only workers who make less than $25,000 per year, or roughly $41,000 for couples, are eligible.
A useful comparison would be how Republicans responded to the surge in funding for the Internal Revenue Service in the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act. The moment they got leverage, Republicans forced substantial reductions in that funding, despite a Democratic Senate and a Democratic President in 2023-24. They have continued this approach ever since, including another hack at IRS funding in the funding bill that passed the House just last week with bipartisan support. There is now only about $10 billion of that $80 billion surge left, and nearly nothing for enforcement of the tax laws, the whole point of the policy. Yet where Republican nullification of the IRS money is seen as a fact of life, the $75 billion ICE surge in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has been deemed untouchable by Democrats, at least in this round of asks.
December Jobs Report: Women Account for All Monthly Labor Force Losses WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its analysis of monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) jobs report, the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) found that 81,000 people aged 20 and over left the labor force in December meaning they are now neither working nor looking for work. These losses were all among women: 91,000 women aged 20 and over left the labor force last month while 10,000 men aged 20 and over joined the labor force last month. Over 2025, among those 20 and over, women's labor force size increased by just 184,000 while men’s increased by 572,000. This means men joined the labor force at three times the rate of women last year, and women’s gains in 2025 are but a fraction of the gains women have made in previous years.
Press statement from Safe Horizon, the nation’s largest agency serving domestic violence survivors, saying: “The White House’s decision to freeze critically important federal funding—including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)—to New York and several other states will result in untold numbers of families, children, victims, and survivors being left without access to safety and care. In New York, TANF not only provides a crucial lifeline to victims and survivors on public assistance but is also the primary funding source for the network of emergency domestic violence shelters across the state. Without this funding, many, if not all, of these shelters will be forced to close their doors, leaving survivors and their families at heightened risk of continued violence and homelessness.
Instead of Frederick Douglass, a women’s suffrage marcher and Ruby Bridges desegregating an elementary school, the Mint’s special quarters for 2026 will feature Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and James Madison, along with pilgrims glimpsing America’s shores.
Graphs of support for policy interventions broken down by party, showing that 81% of Democrats, 49% of Independents, and 34% of Republicans support universal day care. The top text says: Partisan differences are again pronounced. Majorities of Democrats support all three policy options, with more than eight in 10 favoring universal day care. By contrast, only around one-third of Republicans support universal day care or direct payments to parents to help them care for children at home. Some of this low level of support among Republicans may come from the fact that the question asked respondents to consider these programs, “even if they would mean an increase in the federal deficit.” The only program that generated majority support across the political spectrum is an increased child tax credit to be used however parents would prefer. This is one area of potential bipartisan agreement.
Khadra Hussein Ibrahim said she lost her 2-year-old son, Abdi Bari, to malnutrition a few months ago, after Mercy Corps had to cut the nutrition and other services it was providing her family because of an 80% reduction in funding the organization received from USAID for programs in Somalia.
There were times when housing resources became an issue for families, and the family court judges would order welfare services to allocate those resources. The Nevada Supreme Court ruled last year that district courts can’t order governmental social service agencies to pay for housing assistance.
Impact By The Numbers Of the more than 40,000 people supported, nearly 35,000 received free bail assistance, along with court reminders, transportation, and community referrals, which promote stability and court compliance. The Bail Project only posts bail for people already deemed eligible for release by a judge, removing money as the barrier to freedom in 29 jurisdictions where the organization has operated. These clients returned to court 92% of the time, proving that cash bail is unnecessary to ensure court appearances. Additionally, more than 6,000 people – most released on their own recognizance – have received support through The Bail Project’s pretrial pilot programs, which address real-life barriers that prevent court return. Services include court reminders, transportation, warrant clearance support, housing assistance, and access to legal and community resources. Pilot sites include Chicago (IL), Washtenaw County (MI), and St. Louis (MO), where community-based hubs like the Tap-In Center help individuals resolve warrants and connect with supportive services without fear of arrest. Since 2018, the Bail Project’s work has: - Prevented more than 1,409,562 days of incarceration - Saved more than $109 million in taxpayer costs - Provided nearly $104 million in free bail assistance - Served people across 29 jurisdictions nationwide - Revolved 89% of bail funds to help others - Seen nearly one-third of clients have all their cases dismissed, demonstrating unnecessary pretrial detention
WSJ headline saying: Trump Calls for Arrest of Democrats Who Urged Troops to Disobey Illegal Orders Trump said the lawmakers’ actions amounted to seditious behavior and called them traitors.
That afternoon, when his stepdad was out grocery shopping and his grandmother was just getting back from dialysis, he cracked open the door to Walker’s room. His mom was lying face-down in bed, as if she had fallen over while getting up. JJ ran over and tried to find any sign she was breathing. When he called 911, a dispatcher coached him to slide her to the rug and start CPR. “I need you,” he shouted as he leaned over his mom, pressing down on her chest. “I need you!”
Sometimes all that families need to remain stably housed and prevent a child’s removal is some extra money. But while the Children’s Division doesn’t use its funds to help these families with housing, the agency does directly fund the housing needs of foster families, as federal law requires. In Missouri, licensed foster-care families receive between $509 and $712 a month for a child, depending on the child’s age, to cover housing and other basic needs, plus an additional $91 a month for children 3 years and younger to cover things like formula and diapers. They receive between $320 and $700 a year for clothing, as well as monthly payments of as much as $2,034 for children with “elevated needs.”
“It’s just easier to keep patients hooked up continuously,” said Dr. Jon K. Hathaway, an obstetrician at Indiana University Health. “It’s an ease-of-manpower issue over the science.”
You can’t call yourself a progressive champion while cutting school funding and Medicaid. You can’t call yourself a progressive champion while fondling young women and making them feel as if they are only valued for their high heels and short skirts. You can’t call yourself a progressive champion when your quest to assert your dominance leads to needless death. But Mr. Cuomo has tried to pull it off by using his political might to divert our attention.
“I will become homeless trying to feed my family. Because food comes first, before paying other bills. I’ve worked 40+ hours/week for most of my life, and I still rely on food stamps. It's not my work ethic that's a problem, it's the company not paying living wages.” (Tiff B., a retail worker in Oregon)
Thank you for contacting our press office. Due to staff furloughs resulting from the Radical Left Democrat shutdown, the typical monitoring of this press inbox may be impacted. We ask for your patience as remaining staff works diligently to field your requests. As you await a response, please remember these delays could have been avoided had Senate Democrats supported the clean Continuing Resolution to fund the government. Thank you for your patience and attention to this matter.
Instead, the administration is providing a lifeline for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known commonly as WIC, by pulling money from an account that funds things like school breakfast and lunch programs. Some of the money in that nutrition account comes from import revenue from prior years, as authorized by a 90-year-old law, along with other funding Congress provides each year.
Last year, the village of Kipnuk secured $20 million in federal funding to mitigate erosion and fortify its infrastructure against storm surges, only for it to be rescinded. A spokesperson for the federal Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday defended the decision, saying “due to the proactive cancellation of this grant, $20 million of hardworking U.S. tax dollars are currently sitting in the U.S. treasury instead of swept into the Kuskokwim River.”
Q: What are two specific policies you would enact in your first year to address the city’s affordability crisis? Cuomo's answer: First, build. With a 1 percent vacancy rate, demand is driving up costs, so the only answer is to increase supply. In my first year, I’ll add 50,000 affordable homes by cutting red tape, rezoning land and bringing 25,000 rent-stabilized apartments back online. Second, tax reform. Cap property taxes at 2 percent for struggling homeowners, eliminate income taxes for residents earning up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, end taxes on tips and raise the real estate transfer tax threshold to $2.5 million to make it easier to purchase a home.
Q: What’s your one big idea — your most important policy proposal that you would prioritize if you could only achieve one campaign promise? Cuomo's answer: The “big idea” is what has been missing from City Hall for over a decade: competent, effective government that delivers for the people it serves. Real change comes from day-in, day-out execution: experienced leadership that can deliver change, managerial skill and knowledge that gets results. My priorities are clear: public safety, affordability and opportunity.
An official portrait of Charlotte Burrows
Screenshot of eeoc.gov that says “Due to a lapse in appropriations, the EEOC’s offices are temporarily closed”
A pop up screen on hud.gov saying “The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands.”
Screenshot of hud.gov that mainly shows a splash with this text: “God blessed us with this great nation, and together, we can increase self-sufficiency and empower Americans to climb the economic ladder toward a brighter future.” - Secretary Scott Turner
Still of Roll Safe tapping his temple
House Republicans are renewing a focus on scrapping the so-called dual mandate established by Congress in the 1970s that requires the Fed to target interest rate decisions that aim for both stable prices and full employment. They say the central bank should focus solely on prices. “I believe price stability is the most important issue” for the Fed, House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.), who reintroduced legislation Wednesday that would narrow the body’s focus to prices, said at a hearing on the issue. “No matter how many mandates, not only is it first among equals, but it’s the only one they can actually do something about.”
Internal State Department and U.S.A.I.D. documents and correspondence obtained by The New York Times show that several international organizations, including the Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, had offered to buy or accept a donation of the contraceptives. The government would have incurred no costs or might have even been able to recoup taxpayer funds under those scenarios. Instead the administration decided to proceed with destroying the products, an operation that was estimated to cost $167,000.
Many staffers have been moved from civil rights jobs, workers say. At the Justice Department, for example, attorneys who protected employees from workplace discrimination were moved to roles handling human resources complaints or Freedom of Information Act requests. At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, civil rights lawyers who pursued cases of housing discrimination were shifted to defend the agency from complaints. At the Transportation Department, an employee who spent a decade working in civil rights is now reviewing highway grants.
Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Among those at risk is 66-year-old Larry, who did not provide his last name. Sitting on a park bench in Dupont Circle, where he has spent most of his days since losing his housing in June, Larry explains that keeping a roof over his head had never been an issue until his wife passed away from kidney failure in 2022. Her death meant the loss of the earned income she contributed to their household, but more importantly, it deprived Larry of his will to get out of bed in the morning.
The Pigeon Lady from Home Alone
Soon after starting as chief executive the next year, Mr. Khosrowshahi outlined a vision for a system of inexpensive, easily installed cameras in Uber cars that would record trips by default. Employees found that his plan would be feasible, cost effective, reduce the likelihood of misconduct and help drivers, according to a 2017 presentation. But the company decided not to require cameras in cars, largely because it conflicted with its business model, according to internal communications. By design, drivers are classified as independent contractors, not employees. That allows Uber and similar gig economy companies to avoid paying significant costs associated with traditional employment, including minimum wage, overtime, employee benefits and time for rest breaks. As a result, Uber goes to great lengths not to treat drivers like employees. That means limiting trainings or not requiring that certain equipment — like cameras — be installed in cars to avoid running afoul of employment law.
Kevin Hassett, Trump’s National Economic Council director, said on NBC that the firing of BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer is part of Trump’s plan to make further changes to the agency. “The president wants his own people there, so that when we see the jobs numbers, they are more transparent and more reliable,” Hassett said.