politics

No Good Answers to Health Insurance Cutbacks at Congressional Town Halls

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Constituents jeer and boo Nebraska lawmaker over healthcare concerns

This post has been republished from Professor Patricia McCoy’s Substack. Her new book, “Sharing Risk: The Path to Economic Well-Being for All,” is available from The University of California Press.

Over the past two weeks, Nebraska constituents grilled a Republican congressman on recent health insurance cutbacks during a pair of town halls. Their angry response — and the congressman’s difficulty in allaying their concerns — signal potential voter backlash as those cutbacks are rolled out.

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The Great Risk Shift 2.0

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The rollbacks to social safety nets in H.R. 1 are just the latest effort in a 50-year campaign to shift financial risk from big institutions and monied interests onto ordinary households.

This post has been republished from Professor Patricia McCoy’s Substack. Her new book, “Sharing Risk: The Path to Economic Well-Being for All,” is available from The University of California Press.

Today, the typical family is worse off economically than it was in the 1960s, due to a concerted campaign by businesses and governments to dump their financial risks onto breadwinners and their families. This column examines how H.R. 1 continues that campaign while undermining some of the newer social safety nets established in recent years.

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The Curious Email From Social Security

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A July 4 email from the Social Security Administration claimed that Congress had eliminated federal income taxes on Social Security benefits, when it had not

This post has been republished from Professor Patricia McCoy’s Substack. Her new book, “Sharing Risk: The Path to Economic Well-Being for All,” is available from The University of California Press.

During last year’s presidential race, President Trump declared: “Seniors should not pay taxes on Social Security and they won’t,” according to CBS News. This promise to end income taxes on Social Security benefits was the single most popular economic proposal of either candidate, according to an ABC News/Ipsos Poll conducted about a month before the election. In fact, voters were so enthralled with his idea that 85% of people polled approved.

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How to Cut Health Benefits and Dis a Majority of Voters in the Process

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New Medicaid red tape and the loss of expanded Obamacare subsidies stand to hurt 93 million households

This post has been republished from Professor Patricia McCoy’s Substack. Her new book, “Sharing Risk: The Path to Economic Well-Being for All,” is available from The University of California Press.

In 2033, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance In H.R. 1, passed on July 4, Congress saddled Medicaid participants with new red tape, while allowing expanded subsidies for Obamacare premiums to lapse at the end of this year. When those changes take effect, they will affect all Medicaid participants (71 million at last count) and 92% of Obamacare policyholders (another 22 million). Together, this is far more than half of the number of people who voted in the latest Presidential election and suggests that the Republican majority in Congress will alienate voters.

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What Would Social Security’s Insolvency Do to Old-Age Benefits?

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Social Security benefits would not drop to $0, but they would be cut by 23 percent unless Congress acts

This post has been republished from Professor Patricia McCoy’s Substack. Her new book, “Sharing Risk: The Path to Economic Well-Being for All,” is available from The University of California Press.

In 2033, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund will run out of money to pay old-age Social Security benefits. At that point, tax revenues will still be enough to pay 77 percent of monthly checks. But there will be a substantial benefits cut unless Congress takes action. If and when Congress sees fit to act, it will have to choose between higher payroll taxes on the top 6 percent or reforms that make lower-income retirees substantially worse off.

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Curtailing Need-Based Scholarships for College in the Land of Opportunity

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What the proposed cutbacks to Pell Grants would mean

This post has been republished from Professor Patricia McCoy’s Substack. Her new book, “Sharing Risk: The Path to Economic Well-Being for All,” is available from The University of California Press.

In the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the House of Representatives voted to cut college scholarships for students from lower-income families. Other provisions in the bill would scale back health insurance benefits and food assistance for many of those same households. The fact that these reductions would pay for tax cuts for the wealthy has not been lost on Americans with opinions on the bill, who oppose it 2 to 1.

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Reading List for Rising Lawyers

/ Sangeeta Kishore / Leave a comment

The number one question I get from incoming 1Ls is: how do I prepare for law school? 

The short answer is: you shouldn’t prepare. Whether you’ve worked a long career or you’re fresh out of college like I was, use your time before law school to decompress and reset. I promise you won’t fall behind. The briefing, the outlining, the cold call, it’ll all come together eventually. 

But if you’re looking for something to do or want to get the gears turning ahead of time, here’s a list of my favorite legal reads: 

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American Politics Is Just A Toxic Law School Section

/ Thomas R. Blakely / Leave a comment

Recently I was scrolling through Twitter (never a good idea) after a Patriots game to see what the beat reporters were saying about the game and look for any takeaways I had missed.

Interspersed amongst these tweets were those of other (non-sporty) accounts I follow. Like many people, I follow a range of media outlets, individuals, sports teams, brands, journalists and celebrities. In the couple of years I have had a Twitter account, I have deleted the app on several occasions and only recently found myself using it again when I learned there are some really interesting accounts that track what’s happening in my local Newton community.

I’m always interested in what’s happening locally. I followed some of these accounts, and the act of doing so in turn suggested similar accounts to follow, and before long I was seeing tweets about roadwork, Zoom city hall meetings, polemic diatribes on bike lanes, and voting locations.

I was genuinely stunned however (which is saying something in 2021) when I happened upon the tweets of a few city councilors posing for a selfie together inside of the newly opening Tatte Bakery & Cafe on Centre St. in Newton—an upscale eatery for the Greater Boston bon vivant that boasts only four locations in the state, in the enclaves of Newton, Brookline, Boston, and Cambridge, as well as a de rigeur location in Washington D.C.

I was confused about what I was looking at, and why. Sure, we’ve all seen politicians at ribbon cuttings for schools and hospitals and senior centers and the like. 

But Tatte?

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Faith and Democracy

/ ianramseynorth / Leave a comment

What is the role of faith in our democracy? For starters, freedom of religion is the first right enshrined in the First Amendment. While amendments are not listed in order of importance, it’s hard not to read something into that drafting choice. Yet constitutional meanings frequently play hide-and-go-seek with text. This is especially the case for religion, which is never defined in the Constitution.[1]

Maybe the Founders’ generation assumed the meaning was self-evident. I would hope, however, that they knew there is little that is obvious or uncontested in religion. The etymology of the word itself suggests how difficult it is to define.[2] Religion comes from the Latin term religio.[3] The Latin phrase itself likely came from the root ligare, to bind. Joined with the prefix re-, religion is the process of “binding together again.”

The question is: what does religion bind together? Some believe it bound an individual to the discipline of moral discernment. It referred to epistemic responsibility, the responsibility to properly know what you know. A related but distinct interpretation was that it referred to the oaths taken by members of cults or religious orders. It emphasized the practical, ritual, and ecclesial dimensions of religious life. Over time, as religion started to assume more individualistic and mystical associations, the root was understood as referring to the re-connection between the human and the divine.

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BC Law Student Groups Call for Impeachment of President Trump

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Many BC Law students were outraged by the violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol. A number of student groups joined together to issue the following call to action to our elected representatives. It is presented here as a guest post.

On behalf of the Boston College Law Democrats, we respectfully ask Congress to bring articles of impeachment against President Trump at the next meeting of the House of Representatives. President Trump’s continuous undermining of the democratic process culminated today in acts of violence and a seditious occupation of the United States Capitol. The President’s inaction and implicit encouragement amount to high crimes against the Constitution. The evidence is clear that the President is not capable of upholding his oath of office, and thus should be impeached and removed from office.

Over the past four years, President Trump has repeatedly and clearly demonstrated that he is incapable of leading our nation. He has threatened our national security, the stability of our democracy and the fundamental principles of our Constitution. Instead of uniting this country, he has fanned the flames of discord. The violent insurrection on the sixth of January, 2021 was a direct result of his actions and he must be held accountable. While protesters stormed the steps of the Capitol building to prevent the peaceful transition of power, the President did not act. Instead, he incited chaos and relished in an attempt to undermine the institutions of our democratic process. As a direct result of President Trump’s incitement, the lives of duly elected members of Congress and hundreds of civilians were unnecessarily put at risk. The United States of America should no longer be forced to endure this existential threat to our democracy.

The President must not be allowed to subvert democracy with impunity. Congress must act to protect our institutions of government and ensure that President Trump will not be able to undermine them again. The President has violated his oath of office and continues to pose a threat to our democracy.

For the reasons above, we respectfully urge Congress to act.

– Boston College Law School Democrats

Cosigned by:

The Boston College Law School American Constitution Society

The Boston College Law School Latin American Law Students Association

The Boston College Undergraduate Democrats

The Boston College Law National Lawyers Guild

The Boston College Law School If/When/How Chapter

The Boston College Lambda Chapter

The Boston College Public Interest Law Foundation

Related content: BC Law professor and American Constitution Society chapter advisor Kent Greenfield drafts a letter calling for Trump’s removal from office. The letter was signed by more than 1,000 legal and constitutional scholars.