Where’s the Billionaire Bailout for Our Children?
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What’s in Store for VA Disability Benefits with New Office of Management and Budget Chief?
What’s in Store for VA Disability Benefits with New Office of Management and Budget Chief?
Vought, confirmed Thursday in a 53-47 Senate vote, spearheaded a 2023 report by the Center for Renewing America think tank that called for reducing VA disability compensation for veterans who reach Social Security retirement age and eliminating unemployability benefits for these veterans as well.
The report also proposed cutting disability compensation to veterans with ratings lower than 30% and dropping disability compensation for veterans whose health conditions aren’t directly related to military duty.
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The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actually Did
The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actually Did (archived)
Sources tell WIRED that the ability of DOGE’s Marko Elez to alter code controlling trillions in federal spending was rescinded days after US Treasury and White House officials said it didn’t exist.
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As WIRED has reported, Elez was granted privileges including the ability to not just read but write code on two of the most sensitive systems in the US government: the Payment Automation Manager (PAM) and Secure Payment System (SPS) at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS), an agency that according to Treasury records paid out $5.45 trillion in fiscal year 2024. Reporting from Talking Points Memo confirmed that Treasury employees were concerned that Elez had already made “extensive changes” to code within the Treasury system. The payments processed by BFS include federal tax returns, Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income benefits [Social Security Disability Insurance], and veteran’s pay.
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On February 4, WIRED reported that Elez did, in fact, have admin access to PAM and SPS. Talking Points Memo reported later that day that Elez had “made extensive changes to the code base for these critical payment systems.” In a letter that same day that did not mention Musk or DOGE, Treasury official Jonathan Blum wrote to Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, “Currently, Treasury staff members working with Tom Krause, a Treasury employee, will have read-only to the coded data of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems.” (Krause is the top DOGE operative at Treasury and CEO of Cloud Software Group.) The letter did not say what kind of access the staff members actually had.
Previously:
Cloud Software Group: As Elon Musk Begins Shutting Down Payments to Federal Contractors, a Strange Money Trail Emerges to His Operatives Inside the U.S. Treasury’s Payment System
The alarming news progressive groups delivered to the White House
Earlier this fall, President Joe Biden’s top aides met a pair of progressives who had arrived in the West Wing with reams of data and a private warning: “Bidenomics” wasn’t breaking through.
The alarming news progressive groups delivered to the White House
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Pentagon working to restore benefits to veterans targeted for being LGBTQ+
The Pentagon began a new effort to contact former service members who may have been forced out of the military and deprived of years of benefits due to policies targeting their sexual orientation, starting with those who served under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Pentagon working to restore benefits to veterans targeted for being LGBTQ+
Who are the 11 senators who voted against the burn pits bill for veterans?
Who are the 11 senators who voted against the burn pits bill for veterans?
Senators Mitt Romney, Thom Tillis, Rand Paul, Tommy Tuberville, Richard Shelby, Pat Toomey, Mike Crapo, James Lankford, Mike Lee, Cynthia Lummis, and James Risch ultimately voted against the bill.
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Political commentators were less surprised to see Mr Paul oppose the bill, as the libertarian frequently opposes federal spending — unless it directly benefits him.
Mr Paul said the bill would put the economy “at risk” and attempted to include an amendment to the legislation that would cut spending on foreign aid in order to offset the cost. That amendment was ultimately voted down.
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Mr Paul had no problem asking for federal aid when his home state of Kentucky saw severe damage caused by tornadoes in 2021. He has regularly opposed federal aid bills for other disasters, and has previously attempted to attach amendments that reduce foreign aid spending to offset the costs of disaster relief.
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Mr Tillis, Mr Lee, and Mr Lankford said they opposed the bill over fears that it would allow more people to get treatment at the VA and increase wait times for veterans seeking healthcare. While wait times are never ideal, waiting weeks or even months for treatment is still a shorter wait than simply never being eligible for healthcare.
Cut all foreign aid!
Senate approves bill to aid vets exposed to toxic burn pits
What a Flournoy Pentagon Could Mean for the Air Force
What a Flournoy Pentagon Could Mean for the Air Force
While serving as under secretary of defense for policy under Gates, Flournoy was a key architect of the “surge” in Afghanistan and the proliferation of counter insurgency doctrine in that theater and Iraq. She has served as a close advisor to former Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who reportedly considered her for a top position in the Pentagon. In August, she said there is no quick end to the war in Afghanistan. “It would be a mistake for the U.S. to precipitously draw down or withdraw, particularly to leave Afghanistan before that peace is solidified, because we basically would be pulling the carpet out from under our Afghan partners, Afghan women, Afghan civil society that we’ve fought so hard to help them,” she said.
Related:
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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