The state budget that was signed by Gov. Mike DeWine, also last week, created a “trigger” to pull Ohio out of Medicaid expansion if federal lawmakers reduced their share of spending for that program.
While reducing the federal share was proposed, it was not included in the final federal budget bill, so that “trigger” is in state law but wasn’t pulled.
Over the next decade, enrollment in the public health insurance program could decrease nationwide by between 307,000 to 511,000 recipients because of the federal spending bill, according to June estimates by KFF, a nonprofit health policy group.
Here’s what’s happening in southwest Ohio:
• SNAP: Thousands of Ohio’s 1.5 million food assistance recipients could lose eligibility for food assistance, with others seeing a possible reduction in their benefits, over the next few years under the new federal budget. The federal budget included $186 billion in reductions to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program over the next 10 years through changes to its framework.
• Veterans Affairs: The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said it is on pace to reduce its number of employees by nearly 30,000 by the end of September, the end of the federal government’s fiscal year. The department said that this reduction eliminates the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force, or RIF. In March, the department said it was considering a reduction of about 80,000 jobs across the department’s national footprint.
• ICE and immigration: A Muslim chaplain who served at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is now in federal custody after being detained during what was supposed to be a routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to his attorneys. Imam Ayman Soliman was granted asylum status after he arrived in the U.S. from Egypt more than a decade ago, the advocacy groups Ignite Peace and Young United Souls for Revolutionary Action said. His status was recently rescinded.
Other federal updates:
• West Africa: Trump promised West African leaders a transition from aid to trade during a White House meeting this week, where leaders from several nations pointed to their countries’ natural resources. West Africa continues to reel from the impact of sweeping U.S. aid cuts. Last month, the U.S. facilitated a peace deal between Rwanda and Congo to help end the decades-long fighting in eastern Congo. This enabled the U.S. to gain access to minerals in the region. But analysts said it won’t end the fighting because the most prominent armed group said it does not apply to it.
• Ukraine: The Trump administration has resumed sending some weapons to Ukraine, a week after the Pentagon directed that some deliveries be paused. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the pause on some shipments last week to allow the Pentagon to assess its weapons stockpiles — a move that caught the White House by surprise.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
About the Author
