Free Republic

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has been accused of “vastly overstating” the economic benefits of mass migration by overvaluing the expected salaries earned by so-called skilled migrants, a report from a think tank claimed. The OBR, a non-departmental public body established by former finance chief George Osbourne in 2010 to provide supposedly independent economic forecasts and analysis of public finances, overestimated the expected tax contributions from migration by £6 billion according to a report from the Centre for Migration Control (CMC). An economic projection from the OBR produced ahead of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s budget published earlier this month stated...

SEATTLE (KOMO) — The leader of a fraud ring that stole more than $6.8 million in pandemic benefits from nearly every major COVID-19 pandemic assistance program was sentenced to prison. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), 29-year-old Paradise Williams personally received more than $2 million in fraudulent proceeds and spent the money on luxury cars, lavish trips, cosmetic surgery, jewelry and designer goods. The DOJ said Williams was sentenced to five years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering. “Paradise Williams was relentless in her efforts to steal pandemic benefits throughout the entire duration of our national emergency,...

(NEXSTAR) – As the clock ticks down toward a potential partial shutdown of the federal government this week, millions who rely on federal assistance for food could be left in the balance. If Congress fails to reach a deal to fund the government, a partial government shutdown would be triggered on March 1. That partial shutdown would impact several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which manages SNAP and WIC food assistance. SNAP, which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, used to be called the Food Stamp Program. The program helps low-income and no-income families buy groceries...

As Democratic leaders in cities around the country hand out tens of millions of dollars in ‘safety net’ benefits for migrants who entered the country illegally, one of their key voter constituencies is moving away from the party and President Joe Biden. In addition to losing black voters, according to a top pollster, support for former President Donald Trump’s border wall is now at a record high, the Washington Times reported last week. Donald Trump. His critique that the surge of illegal immigrants is a drain on America rings true to them, said Raghavan Mayur, president of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence...

(Deroy Murdock, Headline USA) Democrats constantly crow about their faith in “the right to choose.” But this applies to little beyond abortion. Any woman who chooses to buy a gun or send her child to a charter school should expect “pro-choice” Democrats to stand in her way. Democrats crave control and uniformity, even when it comes to medical care for America’s veterans. Democrats want vets in the Department of Veterans Affairs, not getting cured in the private sector. Obama–Biden’s VA waitlist scandal found veterans dying before they could see their doctors. Donald J. Trump promised to fix this lethal mess....

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “All In” that “immigration writ large is yielding enormous economic benefits to the United States.” Ocasio-Cortez said, “It is actually completely nonsensical that we do not talk about the enormous blessing, economic blessing that immigrants and immigration represent to the United States of America. A lot of folks sometimes think that this is a certain kind of immigrant, like college educated, or technical Visas, all immigrants that we are seeing, this is the CBO estimate, immigration writ large is yielding enormous economic benefits to the United States.”

On Jan. 1, illegal immigrants in California received free medical care. That was thanks to Assembly Bill 133, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in July 2021. Cost: $4 billion more a year, as an estimated 764,000 illegal immigrants are added to the already stuffed rolls of the 14.6 million Californians on Medi-Cal, the state’s version of the Medicare program. At the signing almost three years ago, Mr. Newsom exclaimed, “We’re investing California’s historic surplus to accomplish transformative changes we’ve long dreamed of—including this historic Medi-Cal expansion to ensure thousands of older undocumented Californians, many of whom have been...

How's this for an idea? Argentina's new president, Javier Milei, and his new justice minister, Patricia Bullrich, have advised Argentina's rioters they can kiss their welfare payments goodbye if they go out rioting -- starting fires, spraying graffiti, breaking windows, blocking roads, and looting. Milei's government in Argentina 🇦🇷 announced that they will cut off welfare benefits for everyone who riots and cuts off traffic in protests. The security minister said that police will take pictures and drones will, too. The most based spending cut! pic.twitter.com/LB0j6n1iN9 — Daniel Di Martino 🇺🇸🇻🇪 (@DanielDiMartino) December 19, 2023Bullrich, a former political rival of...

The United Auto Workers (UAW) will end its strike against the Big Three as the labor union has reportedly reached a tentative agreement with General Motors (GM). The UAW had, in the last few days, reached similar deals with Ford and Stellantis. On Monday morning, reports circulated that the UAW had reached a deal with GM. According to details available, the deal mimics many components of the union’s deal with Ford, where base wages will increase 25 percent through April 2028. Likewise, the deal reinstates benefits that GM’s auto workers have not enjoyed since the Great Recession, such as cost-of-living...

(NEXSTAR) — As lawmakers continue to try to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month, many are growing concerned about how it could affect them, especially when it comes to federal monthly payments they receive. The government could shut down by the end of next week, if Congress isn’t able to pass a spending bill. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed Wednesday he would not give up trying to persuade his colleagues to pass a temporary funding bill. So what would that mean for your Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, or Veterans Affairs payments? In short, they will not...

(WHNT) — The millions of people who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to help cover the cost of groceries and other necessities are about to get a bump in their benefits starting on Oct. 1. SNAP, which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, used to be called the Food Stamp Program. Next month, the benefits will automatically rise to reflect the recent changes in the cost of living due to high inflation. Benefit changes will be based on the Consumer Price Index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for June 2022. According to a report from Forbes Advisor,...

On Aug. 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Social Security into law. Eighty-eight years later, our Social Security system is among the most successful and popular government programs in history. Nearly every worker pays premiums (Federal Insurance Contributions or FICA) for Social Security. In return, they receive insurance benefits when they retire, become disabled, or lose a family breadwinner. Social Security is secure, efficient, and the most important source of retirement income for the vast majority of Americans. Social Security does have one major flaw, though: Its benefits are too low. The average Social Security benefit is only $1,700...

Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee on Monday called on Republican leaders to stop threatening cuts to SNAP benefits with less than two months to finish up the 2023 farm bill, and warned that continued threats could jeopardize the prospects for progress on the bill. In a letter addressed to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the 25 Democrats on the committee expressed concerns about comments from McCarthy’s leadership team threatening potential cuts to the largest U.S. food aid program to low-income Americans and asked the speaker not to interfere with the committee’s work.

Homeschooling rose to 1 in 10 American kids in 2021 due to lockdowns, and the number has remained high even as lockdowns abated. Most families who began homeschooling due to lockdowns say they don’t plan to go back. Despite the steady increase in homeschooling since its revival in the 1980s, families who choose this way of raising their children often face fearful responses from family and friends. Chief among the concerns is what people often call “socialization.” Sometimes, they mean, “Will your kids have any friends?” Other times, they mean, “Will your kids understand social cues and how to get...

The Michigan-based cereal giant Kellogg’s donated a whopping $91 million to the far-left Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement after slashing employee benefits, according to a report from The Federalist.Citing data published by the Claremont Institute, the outlet found that following the death of George Floyd in 2020, Kellogg’s launched the Racial Equity 2030 Global Challenge with an injection of $90 million in order to “fuel innovative and actionable solutions to build a racially equitable future.”“As stewards of our children’s future, we must collectively face the primary challenge of our time: racial equity,” said W.K. Kellogg Foundation Trustee and Board Chair...

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The White House on Friday will highlight impacts of the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, as it prepares to mark two years since President Biden signed it into law. The White House will release state-by-state data for all 50 states about the impact of the package, pointing to jobs and small businesses created and the number of people who saved money on health insurance coverage, a White House official told The Hill. ADMINISTRATION White House touting local benefits of American Rescue Plan to mark 2-year anniversary BY ALEX GANGITANO - 03/10/23 9:53 AM ET SHARE TWEET...

Millions of people in the U.S. are now facing the precipice of a hunger cliff. Starting in 2020, the pandemic pulled back the curtain on the tattered state of the U.S. safety net and the millions of families who were falling through. Hunger rates were expected to soar like they did during the Great Recession. But that’s not what happened. Thanks to a pandemic expansion of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, millions of Americans kept food on their tables during an unprecedented public health and economic emergency. These “emergency allotments” made food easier to access and increased the number...

(NEXSTAR) – Residents of 32 states who rely on federal assistance to buy food are about to see their benefits shrink at the end of the month. An emergency increase to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called the Food Stamp Program) was approved at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. For most recipients, that increase amounted to an extra $95 monthly over the past three years. Starting March 1, those emergency COVID-era benefits will end across all states. Seventeen states already saw those benefits expire as of January 2023. One state, South Carolina, ended the emergency allotment at the...

Over the holiday break, White House economic officials are expected to brief President Joe Biden on their priorities for the coming year. They are considering a push for more employee benefits to bring people back to the workforce, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 21. "Where are places where we can lower price pressures in the economy, lower costs for consumers and increase the productive potential of the economy? The things that we will prioritize and focus on will be in that area," Brian Deese, the director of the White House's National Economic Council, told the Journal. Mr. Deese did...