Bryce Covert
@brycecovert.bsky.social
Independent journalist writing about the economy. Contributing writer at @thenation.com. Send tips to brycecovert@protonmail.com or on Signal: brycecovert.25 she/her
Workers at TSA are facing a big privatization push by the Trump administration that would force thousands of federal workers to work for private contractors for lower pay, fewer benefits, and no union contract www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
‘They’re selling the safety of the traveling public’: TSA workers decry Trump privatization push
Union exploring options to oppose program that would put US airport screening into hands of private contractors
theguardian.com
"I can't get employed. How am I supposed to survive?" www.npr.org/2026/08/04/n...
Medicaid work rule leaves homeless people in the cold
Conservatives who have long pushed for Medicaid work requirements often said vulnerable people would get a pass. But the federal government's list of exemptions left off homeless people.
npr.org
It's wild enough that schools think that they're not childcare (AHEM www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/o...) but summer camps also seem to think that they too are not childcare???
Opinion | School Is (Whisper It) a Form of Child Care (Published 2020)
And child care, at its best, fosters children’s development. So how did we come to treat them so differently?
nytimes.com
8/—We know that turnover is generally harmful to student learning. —Schools have likely lost staff beyond teachers at higher-than-usual rates too, creating more instability. —Teacher pay has declined relative to pay for other professionals and teachers also don't get the remote work perk.
2/ I recently collected figures—an exhaustive and exhausting process, btw—on teacher turnover across 21 states. Nineteen have seen meaningful increases in teachers leaving since the pandemic. In most states, there have been four to five straight years of elevated turnover.
"this year, the group has already documented 18 hunger strikes involving about 25 individuals at NWPIC, the most recent of which ended July 20."
Hunger strikes spreading in ICE jails amid due process violations, advocates say
Immigrant rights advocates say more detainees are risking their lives to protest inhumane conditions and legal rights violations
prismreports.org
About a third of farmworkers say they've foregone medical attention in light of the intense increase in immigration activity. 4% didn't report a crime. ufwfoundation.org/wp-content/u...
Biden's OSHA started work on a heat standard to protect workers from increasingly brutal conditions. Trump's OSHA is undoing that work. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/c...
Trump Administration Is Undoing Plans to Boost Workplace Heat Protections
The Biden administration took steps to shield workers from extreme temperatures. The Trump administration is taking a gentler approach with employers.
nytimes.com
“Without this, people become homeless. They lose their income. They lose their stability. Whatever tiny safety net they had is gone,” @shannonrosa.bsky.social said. “It’s just cruel.” My latest: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
‘Just cruel’: Medicaid halt in California and Minnesota plunges caregivers and disabled people into uncertainty
Shock and fury as Trump administration holds back Medicaid funding to states over alleged caregiving fraud
theguardian.com
An incredible account of what it was like to be one of the thousands of ICE kidnappings in Minnesota earlier this year minnesotareformer.com/2026/08/03/o...
Orbin Mauricio Henriquez Serrano survived a violent arrest in St. Paul. It still haunts him. • Minnesota Reformer
The morning of Jan. 11 began for Orbin Mauricio Henriquez Serrano with an ominous warning: The gas light on his Jeep Cherokee was glowing yellow on the dashboard. He didn’t want to go to work at the r...
minnesotareformer.com
A must read - a preview of what’s to come en masse when Medicaid work reporting requirements start nationwide. A pregnant woman loses coverage by mistake.. long waits lines for the call center.. People are scared. nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news...
Nebraska becomes first state to disenroll Medicaid recipients under new work requirements
The first work requirement-related disenrollments begin in Nebraska on Saturday. While the state Medicaid director estimates this will impact 200 Nebraskans, advocates are concerned that the number wi...
nebraskapublicmedia.org
"“I am panicking. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep,” said Marlene [a TPS holder]. “My kid is wondering if he goes to school, will I be there when he comes home?”
Lauren Kaori Gurley@laurenkaorigurley.bsky.social · 5d agoThis week: Nursing homes terminated hundreds of Haitian workers with TPS. Major airports fired Haitian janitors, cabin cleaners and wheelchair attendants. Schools let go of drivers and landscapers. My reporting on the fallout of Haiti TPS termination. t.co/vCyqrl7hK3
Why does every baking recipe assume I have sticks and sticks of room temperature butter just sitting around?
The Trump administration has gone months without paying attorneys who represent unaccompanied immigrant children as part of a years-old, congressionally-funded effort. The latest in a series of temporary bridge contracts ends tomorrow, with no replacement in sight: www.huffpost.com/entry/unacco...
These Lawyers Make Sure Children Don’t Face Deportation Hearings Alone. Trump Hasn't Paid Them In Months.
“We know what happens when children go to court without an attorney,” a lawyer said. “One word: deportation.”
huffpost.com
Nothing makes you feel your age like explaining reblogging to a 20-something
Project 2025 calls for eliminating Head Start. A leaked draft of Trump's first budget zeroed it out before he backtracked. Now the administration has found a way to essentially gut Head Start through regulation. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
A New Trump Rule Would Lower Standards at Head Start and Exclude Immigrants From the Program
The Trump administration is on the verge of releasing a proposed rule that would eliminate crucial quality standards at the nation’s preschool program for low-income children.
thenation.com
I don't want to be a guy who has emotions about a store, but also: I just want to go to the store! I want to touch the things! I want a real person (a union member!) to tell me what to buy!
Aftermath@aftermath.site · 6d agoI hate that they closed my local REI aftermath.site/soho-rei-close...
A scoop from me: The Trump administration is about to release a proposed rule that would gut most of the quality standards that define Head Start while blocking undocumented immigrants from enrolling their kids www.thenation.com/article/soci...
A New Trump Rule Would Lower Standards at Head Start and Exclude Immigrants From the Program
The Trump administration is on the verge of releasing a proposed rule that would eliminate crucial quality standards at the nation’s preschool program for low-income children.
thenation.com
Congress appropriated $345 million for HHS's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality this year. The Trump administration hasn't allowed any money to go out and fired all of the grant managers. kffhealthnews.org/news/ahrq-fu...
Trump Has Quietly Throttled an Agency Devoted to the Safety of American Healthcare - KFF Health News
Congress appropriated $345 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for the 2026 fiscal year, but the agency has spent less than $15 million on grants. AHRQ hasn’t issued a new one i...
kffhealthnews.org
RFK Jr. and Oz attacked California for its Medicaid home care, citing growth as proof of fraud. For @motherjones.com, I reported on how the growth isn't proof of fraud, and growth of participants is proof the program is more accessible than in other states. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
California does Medicaid home care well. They're being punished for it.
Republicans are deferring $850 million from the state because of unfounded fraud claims.
motherjones.com
Trans Kansans are still dealing with the financial and emotional fallout of one of the country's most draconian anti-trans bills newrepublic.com/article/2124...
The Costly Cruelty of the Kansas Anti-Trans Driver’s License Law
A state legislature mired in animus against transgender Kansans has succeeded in its inhumane goals, leaving those affected in a state of confusion and anxiety.
newrepublic.com
Useful explanation of regulatory decisions that have made the cyclospora outbreak harder to fight: civileats.com/2026/07/28/c...
What the Cyclospora Outbreak Says About the Food Safety System
The U.S. is facing a food-borne illness outbreak, and food safety experts say Trump cuts have made it harder to respond.
civileats.com
In February, the Kansas legislature invalidated all licenses with gender markers that differ from a person's sex assigned at birth. Trans residents have had to shell out money to drive to DMVs and secure new licenses, take days off of work, and even move out of state. newrepublic.com/article/2124...
The Costly Cruelty of the Kansas Anti-Trans Driver’s License Law
A state legislature mired in animus against transgender Kansans has succeeded in its inhumane goals, leaving those affected in a state of confusion and anxiety.
newrepublic.com
CBS reports that Ashley Moody did precisely what the entire GOP has accused Tim Walz of doing -- and yet, somehow, that crack fraud task force has not arrested the GOP nominee for Senate. www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/f...
Nixon Giovanni Pérez Paz was deported to Guatemala after an ICE traffic stop last year, and his wife Glendy Marisol González de la Cruz later followed him. They were just found bound, gagged, and shot with their 14-month-old daughter crying beside them. www.stlpr.org/law-order/20...
Overland couple shot dead in Guatemala after local ICE stop led to deportations
The couple’s 14-month-old daughter was found crying beside her mother’s body in a sugarcane field last week, according to Guatemalan authorities and media.
stlpr.org
19 million kids have been cut out of Republicans' Child Tax Credit expansion because their parents don't earn enough. What a perverse "work requirement." www.cbpp.org/research/fed...
To Strengthen Economic Security, Policymakers Should Expand the Child Tax Credit to the 19 Million Children Who Receive Less Than the Full Credit Amount
The Child Tax Credit helps make raising children more affordable, and its full value should be available to families with lower incomes.
cbpp.org
This paper finds that Quebec's universal childcare either nearly paid for itself or more than paid for itself by allowing more mothers to work and earn more
Kevin Milligan@kevinmilligan.bsky.social · last wk.New paper: Investing in Mothers? The Long-Run Impact of a Universal Child Care Program on Maternal Work and Income Joint with Michael Baker and Jon Gruber. We look at long-run (up to age 54) labour impact on mothers of kids eligible for the Quebec childcare program. www.nber.org/papers/w35514
“I get up at 5am every morning and I take two buses to work to clean the rooms of the residents. I give my heart,” said a nursing home housekeeper with TPS from Haiti. Excellent story by @msainato.bsky.social
Michael Sainato@msainato.bsky.social · last wk.“They would be returning to a country where many areas remain unsafe and where they may have nowhere to live or no way to support themselves. Knowing that my loved ones could be placed in harm’s way causes me tremendous fear, stress and anxiety.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Yet another example of the Trump administration refusing to dole out money that Congress appropriated, which is against the law www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/u...
Congress Budgeted Billions for Big Transit Projects. Trump Isn’t Spending It.
“It’s hard to look at the last year and see anything other than a deliberate slowdown of these grants.”
nytimes.com
"Of the 2,173 Arkansas women who qualified for Medicaid to cover their pregnancies and births but did not qualify for regular Medicaid, only 145 had another insurance option lined up and waiting for them on day 61."
Joan Alker@joanalker1.bsky.social · 2w agoPostpartum women go without care as Arkansas holds out as lone state to deny them Medicaid arktimes.com/arkansas-blo...