In a powerful and precent-setting moment, Governor Wes Moore has taken a groundbreaking step in the fight for environmental equity by signing Maryland’s first-ever Environmental Justice (EJ) Executive Order (EO). At a time when federal protections are being dismantled, Maryland is charting its own course—one that centers equity, accountability, and community partnership at the heart of state government operations.

Announced at a special event alongside key leaders and advocates, the Executive Order affirms that environmental justice is not just an ideal—it is a state-wide priority embedded in how Maryland governs, protects, and uplifts its people.

This EO is “a directive for action and a blueprint for equity,” said Governor Moore. He went on to state that this reflects Maryland’s unwavering commitment to environmental justice, regardless of what is happening in Washington, D.C., or elsewhere. Every single agency in Maryland will be part of this work, because it is core to what we do and who we are.

Donald Trump’s Department of Justice just launched a lawsuit against every active federal judge in Maryland. Let that sink in.

Why would a former president and current presidential candidate take such an extreme and unprecedented step?

Because Maryland’s judges followed the law.

It's Bastille Day, and in Maryland, state government and its agencies – and people, especially in solidarity mode – fight back against cuts and assaults from TrumpWorld. There are cuts in education already being felt, future cuts in SNAP and Medicaid to brace for and a loss of support for homeless K-12 students even as Maryland’s number grows. Our local states have to hang their heads as the Chesapeake Bay clean-up program lags, but other states are hitting the mark, Maine with new ways to cancel regular-debit subscriptions (while the FTC is bottled up in court) and Oregon with measures to use microgrid technology to make power supply more resilient. So states’ independence has a place. Meanwhile Congress is working on taking back money it already appropriated. Can the states figure out a way to keep revenue at home to replace canceled federal support? That might be next, and it sounds uneasily like 1861,  eh? Allons, enfants de la patrie...

The bill that Trump signed on July 4 is a beast from the pit and will dump extra requirements on state and local governments -- unless they, too, give in, hang their heads and let low-income workers fend completely for themselves. Some will do that; we feature here some who are not. Maryland is making its own moves, other states are also looking for ways to avoid housing market collapse, nutritional and health-care deficits and other human-rights abuses in many locations. The carnage in Texas floods, in which the National Weather Service's huge DOGE staff cuts may have contributed to lack of warning and preparedness, just amounts to the most jarring examples of what the cuts in this bill will do in order to fatten the tax benefits that the rich can send their platoons of lawyers out to reap. We hope this blog post will illustrate both the worst consequences and the most inventive responses of local governments and outraged working people to this devastating Trump assault. It is important now, as noted below, not to be fooled by the GOP timeline that puts off the worst damage until after the 2026 elections. The congressional jellyfish who knuckled under to Trump and voted for this casino-carnival of inequality have got to start paying the price today, and every day. Gear up.

Progressive Maryland and two of our chapters with residents in the first Congressional District, Shore Progress, and Progressive Harford County, issued the following joint statement after the House of Representatives passed the Republican budget bill, which slashes Medicaid, strips healthcare from millions, and transfers billions of our taxpayer dollars to the wealthiest people and corporations in America. 

Constituents flood Harris’s office with calls, emails, and social media action demanding he oppose harmful cuts

Harford County, Maryland – Progressive Maryland is publicly calling on Representative Andy Harris (MD-01) to vote no on the proposed federal budget bill that would slash funding for Medicaid and devastate access to healthcare for thousands of Marylanders.

Nationwide, the bill is projected to strip health coverage from 17 million Americans — including an estimated 31,000 people in Rep. Harris’s district alone, many of whom are children. The proposed cuts will hit especially hard in rural areas like Maryland’s First Congressional District, where healthcare access is already limited and costs are rising. If passed, the budget would strip over $4 billion in federal funding from Maryland, causing widespread harm to hospitals, providers, and patients across the state, regardless of where they live.

As July 4 approaches, MDOT offers guidelines on how to get to the beach with least traffic. But somehow the holiday is haunted by the threat posed by Congress (with Trump behind them like a Simon Legree, flogging those who stray from the coffle) as it approaches the biggest transfer of wealth from the working class to the already-rich in the history of the United States. Trump's "biggest ever" mantra is not limited to the recently dropped mega-bombs; the limited damage done to Iran's nuclear program ranks as nothing compared to the long-term damage to Americans' well-being brought on by Trump's high-velocity assault on the rights and constitutional protections previously afforded to us. As shown below, Republicans (opponents of bureaucracy) nevertheless "have turned paperwork into one of the bill’s crucial policy-making tools" to knock "people who are legitimate and qualified for Medicaid" off the rolls, enabling the big tax bonus for billionaires. Is it good to be the king? It is, apparently, if GOP members of Congress can be convinced that that's what you are.