LANSING — Following Frank Bisignano’s hearings on March 25th, to be Trump’s head of Social Security Administration, Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party Curtis Hertel released the following statement: 

“More than two million Michiganders rely on Social Security to pay rent, put food on the table, and buy life-saving prescriptions — Frank Bisignano’s nomination is a slap in the face to each and every one of them. Bisignano will be yet another yes-man who will do Trump’s bidding, no matter how many millions of Michiganders and Americans it hurts.

“So many Michiganders rely on Social Security for retirement, yet Michigan Republicans at every level are still supporting Trump as he plans to gut it. This is a blatant attack on working Michiganders who have paid into this system their whole lives, and Michigan Democrats will fight every day to protect Social Security from this dangerous administration.”

In the latest step of his extremist agenda, Trump is jeopardizing addiction care, vaccines, mental health services, and more across Michigan

LANSING — In case you missed it, the New York Times revealed yesterday that Trump has gutted $12 billion in funding for critical state health services, with a spokesman from Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services calling this funding for infectious diseases, addiction recovery programs, and mental health services a “waste.” Across the country and across Michigan, thousands of state health workers will lose their jobs because Trump decided he knew what was best for Michigan’s public health. 

Trump’s economic agenda has made it clear he doesn’t care about Michigan workers, his Secretary of Education made it clear he doesn’t care about Michigan students, and now, gutting public health funding makes it clear he doesn’t care about anyone besides himself. Michiganders deserve better than Trump and every Republican who constantly supports his agenda, despite the harm it causes working families. 

Read more about how Trump is gutting Michigan health care: 

New York Times: Trump Administration Abruptly Cuts Billions From State Health Services

• The Department of Health and Human Services has abruptly canceled more than $12 billion in federal grants to states that were being used for tracking infectious diseases, mental health services, addiction treatment and other urgent health issues.
• The cuts are likely to further hamstring state health departments, which are already underfunded and struggling with competing demands from chronic diseases, resurgent infections like syphilis and emerging threats like bird flu…
• In Lubbock, Texas, public health officials have received orders to stop work supported by three grants that helped fund the response to the widening measles outbreak there, according to Katherine Wells, the city’s director of public health…
• In interviews, state health officials predicted that thousands of health department employees and contract workers could lose their jobs nationwide. Some predicted the loss of as much as 90 percent of staff from some infectious disease teams.
• “In so many cases, these are lifesaving programs and services, and we worry for the well-being of those who have come to count on this support,” said Dannette R. Smith, the commissioner of Colorado’s Behavioral Health Administration…
• The Trump administration’s cancellations of grants and contracts throughout the government has led to numerous lawsuits from states and nonprofit groups, which are still in their early stages. The health grants in question were authorized and appropriated by Congress, and their termination may lead to new lawsuits…
• The pandemic led to widespread loneliness, boredom and anxiety, factors that contributed to a surge in overdose deaths that reached just over 111,000 in 2022, up from about 70,000 in 2019.
• The peak overdose numbers dropped to about 87,000 in the 12-month period that ended in October, according to the most recent federal data. Some of the sharpest declines were in states such as West Virginia, Michigan and Tennessee…
• “There’s millions of dollars that have been spent that essentially, the projects will never be able to be finished,” the official said. “This is just like throwing money out the window; it’s a total waste.”