Last time the Maryland General Assembly struggled to sort out ambitions and peacefully replace a House Speaker after the death of the beloved Mike Busch, House factions and geography boiled over and there was talk of recruiting GOP members to tip the balance in a supermajority Democratic body. Remembering that, early aspirants to replace departing House speaker Adrienne Jones tripped over each other stepping aside to clear the way for Prince George's/Anne Arundel Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk to take the vacant leadership seat.

Civility triumphs. What a contrast to the hopeless mess that is the GOP-majority Congress, where battles over the nitty-gritty (and the most trivial opinion roadblocks to a solution) puts the health care of millions of Americans still further at risk. As our People's Action specialist on D.C. doings Megan E outlines below, "the Trump administration's war on poor people" is relentless and the GOP majority in both houses of Congress is kneeling to the increasingly addled Prez. The latest GOP apostate, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, has illuminated the two-faced nature of the GOP members as they mock Trump in private but fearfully knuckle under in public.

Trump's latest pro-billionaire trick, just today, is to try to pre-empt the efforts of many states to protect their residents from the dangers of corporate artificial intelligence while leaving room for its advantages. While the feds have dawdled in the four years since Chat-GPT began informing/bamboozling its users, states have stepped in. The billionaires of Silicon Valley and their hedge-fund allies are balking, and Trump is listening. He calls them "brilliant" and it's likely they are. But brilliant at what, and at whose expense? It's News You Can Use, so read on below...

HERE IN MARYLAND

Summaries from Maryland Reporter where indicated

Who Might Be the Next House Speaker? Peña-Melnyk Emerges: Maryland delegates and insiders are assessing who might succeed outgoing House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, after Del. C.T. Wilson confirmed he is running for the position, and Dels. Joseline Peña-Melnyk, Ben Barnes and Jheanelle Wilkins, all Democrats, emerged as other front-runners on Friday. The Baltimore Sun.  >>The next speaker of the House of Delegates will likely be a woman and immigrant. Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) appears to have a clear path within the Democratic Caucus to become the next speaker. A vote is scheduled for Dec. 16. Maryland Matters. >>“I am honored that the other three candidates have decided to withdraw their candidacy and give me their support,” Peña-Melnyk said. “I’m honored and grateful and blessed for their trust.” The other top candidates were C.T. Wilson, chair of the Economic Matters Committee; Ben Barnes, chair of the Appropriations Committee; and Jheanelle Wilkins, chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland.  Baltimore Banner/MDRep

Jones's Legacy: A Legislative Agenda and Clear Integrity: House Speaker Pro Tem Dana Stein (D-Baltimore County) moved into the acting speaker role Thursday afternoon as the Democratic Caucus prepares to nominate a new leader in just over a week. Stein referred to Adrienne Jones as a “trailblazer,” not only for being Maryland’s first woman and person of color to be elected speaker, but also for her legislative agenda. WYPR-FM. /MDRep

RNC, MDGOP Sue Over Howard, Montgomery Voter Registration Rolls: The Republican National Committee and the Maryland GOP filed a lawsuit Friday against state election officials, alleging “impossibly high” voter registration numbers, days after the Department of Justice filed a similar suit. The lawsuit claims Howard and Montgomery counties reported more registered voters than citizens over 18. Ten additional counties reported voter registration rates higher than 95%, a mark above the statewide rate, the suit alleges.  Baltimore Sun/MDRep

Del. Amprey to Push For Wine, Beer Sales In Grocery Stores: Del. Marlon Amprey (D-Baltimore City) believes 2026 could be the year Maryland legalizes beer and wine sales within grocery stores. He introduced legislation this year that would allow food retailers, pharmacies or gas stations to purchase a Class A liquor license, but the bill ultimately stalled in committee. [Prince George’s county government is seeking this change  also, but for grocery stores only] WYPR-FM/MDRep

New Govt Department Runs Headlong into Trump: Maryland’s newest department already had a tall order, to “advance social and economic mobility for all Marylanders,” as Acting Secretary Walter Simmons describes it. Then, two days after the law creating the Department of Social and Economic Mobility took effect, the federal government made it more challenging by declaring that race- and sex-based eligibility for Disadvantaged Business Enterprise status was itself discriminatory. It’s a change that Simmons estimates could affect up to 7,000 businesses in the state. Maryland Matters/MDRep

THE REGION AND THE OTHER 49

West Virginia: Residents in Mingo County filed a federal lawsuit against the company working to build an ammonia plant, two natural gas power plants and a data center complex in their communities. News from the States

(West Virginia) House, Senate health committee leaders don’t have plans for vaccine exemption legislation in 2026

As the question of whether West Virginia will allow religious and philosophical exemptions to its school vaccination requirements works its way through the courts, health committee leaders for both the House of Delegates and Senate say they’re not planning bills to change the requirements during the upcoming 2026 session.  Stateline Daily

Virginia Dems aim for big redistricting capture based on Texas ruling

Virginia Democratic lawmakers say they may pursue a new set of congressional district maps that would hand them 10 of the state’s 11 congressional districts. Emboldened by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to allow Texas maps to stand, legislators hinted they may try for an even more aggressive approach. Democrats currently hold six of the 11 seats. (Richmond Times-Dispatch) via Pluribus

WATER BILLS: Pennsylvania regulators will investigate a proposed rate increase by the state’s largest water and wastewater utility. The potential move could increase bills for some customers by more than 40%, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Pennsylvania American Water Co. filed the rate request last month, citing $1.2 billion in ongoing system improvements.  Stateline Daily

ECONOMY: Lawmakers in a growing number of states will face difficult budget choices next year as revenue growth slows, spending demands increase and federal tax cuts kick in. Fiscal analysts are projecting significant deficits in California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland and Nebraska, while deficits loom in Minnesota and Virginia. Revenue growth has slowed since Fiscal Year 2023. In most states, revenue is not growing fast enough to keep up with the rising costs of providing government services. Health care costs are becoming a key pressure point. And President Trump’s reconciliation bill lowered personal and corporate income tax rates, taking a bite out of revenue. (Pluribus News) [paywalled]

UTAH LABOR RISES UP: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) has called the legislature back into session tomorrow to tackle a measure repealing a law passed this year that effectively banned collective bargaining for public sector unions. Labor backers have collected enough signatures to force the measure on the ballot in November. (KSL) via Stateline Daily

GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND THE FEDS

Must the Military Disobey Unlawful Orders? Pam Bondi Has Said Yes.

As a lawyer for a conservative think tank, Ms. Bondi, now the attorney general, filed a Supreme Court brief last year saying service members who followed such orders were committing crimes. NYT

Work authorizations for legal immigrants slashed from 5 years to 18 months

The Trump administration Thursday announced new restrictions for immigrants, reducing the work authorization periods from five years to 18 months, the latest crackdown on legal immigration. The shift will not only affect hundreds of thousands of immigrants, but the shortened period for work authorization could create massive backlogs at the agency responsible for processing legal immigration requests, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Maryland Matters/States Newsroom

New student loan rule could dissuade people from advanced nursing degrees

A provision in the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the tax and spending law enacted this summer, overhauls the federal student loan program for graduate students in an effort to simplify the loan process and discourage colleges from raising tuition. A proposed rule would impose limits on how much graduate students can borrow for students in a new “professional” category. The category includes people studying to be medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians, pharmacists and lawyers. Students pursuing advanced nursing degrees, however, are not included in the professional category. Advanced practice nurses, hospital associations and other health groups say the rule will make it unaffordable for many nurses to advance their careers — disproportionately affecting communities, especially rural ones, that rely on them amid physician shortages. Stateline Daily

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Here’s this week’s take on crucial events and prospects in the three branches from People’s Action’s Megan E, Federal Affairs Director:

Hello, People’s Action!

Health Care Scrum on the Hill -- The Senate will vote, this Thursday, on Democrats’ proposal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits enhancements as they were promised when some of them voted to reopen the government. You may remember that Democratic Senators only extracted a promise for a vote in the Senate not the House so even if the vote passes the Senate at the required 60 vote threshold (it won’t), it dies there. There have been some efforts by Republicans in the House fearful of losing their seat and the establishment wing of the Senate to come up with a counter measure to vote on in the Senate to at least show they are for some solution on health care. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Bernie Moreno (R-OH) are pitching a two-year extension of the subsidies that would add income caps and other measures. Moreno’s support comes as somewhat of a surprise as pundits are calling him representative of a new generation of Republican leaders (I think they just mean he’s under 70 and Latino). 

If the Republican proposal were to pass the Senate (unlikely), only a minority of Republicans in the House even want to touch the ACA tax credits and there are more who are so strongly opposed that the Speaker of the House would likely lose his speakership if he passed something with Democrats and a minority of the House Republican caucus. And even that could only happen if Trump put a lot of might behind it, which doesn’t seem to be happening.  

Speaker Johnson is also talking about proposing “something” on health care this week but it won’t be on ACA extensions. 

***

As part of the Trump administration's war on poor people, there have been a lot of changes to housing policy (ex. ending housing first) and of course, cuts and more cuts which will leave people hungry, homeless and sick. But don’t worry, they have a plan for homeless people. Lock them up in privately run camps like the one they are building in Utah. This administration and their billionaire friends have no end of ideas of how to both extract tax dollars for profit while abusing vulnerable people. I think that’s the definition of fascism. 

The latest policy change will take back already allocated money from states and localities and leave 117,00 MORE people homeless. Watch for a sign-on letter from us soon.  

***

The U.S. Department of Education continues to be a hot mess. The Trump administration is pushing forward in dismantling the DoE, having fired over half the workers while moving certain offices to other agencies. This is being challenged in court. Now, the Department is calling back hundreds of workers who were fired earlier this year and are on administrative leave because they sued to challenge the firing. It turns out there’s a backlog of civil rights case filings at the Department and no one to process the claims. Go figure.

The Coalition on Human Needs has a blog & resources with more information: Pushing Back Against Attacks on Public Education, with resources from CHN members and others

WHAT'S HAPPENING: NEW RESOURCES

Healthcare/Immigration  

• NILC:(updated with Treasury Guidance) 300,000 Lawfully Present Immigrants Will Be Newly Ineligible for Health Care Help in This Open Enrollment Period
• Community Catalyst with NILC etc: Changing the Narrative: A Messaging Guide for Immigrant Health Justice

From One Fair Wage briefing and message testing:

Every job should be a good job — and in America today, that means at least $25/hour.

• 45–51% of U.S. workers earn under $25/hour — half the workforce.
• MIT’s Living Wage Calculator shows even the lowest-cost county now requires $25/hour to meet basic needs.
• LW4A includes active coalitions in five states and DC, backed by more than 100 national and local labor and community organizations.
• The message that lands strongest across voters: “One job should be enough to live — a living wage for all, with no exceptions.”

Swing Districts (18 Congressional toss-ups):

• 55% support vs. 30% oppose raising wages to $25/hour (+25).
• Strongest among:
  • Women: 60%
  • Under 40: 59%
  • People of color: 64%
  • Latinos: 72%
  • Democrats: 74%

1. Major Cities (NYC, Chicago, LA, SF):

• 66% support vs. 21% oppose raising wages to $30/hour (+45).
• Especially strong among Black voters (80%), Latinos (73%), women (72%), and younger voters (72%).

Raising wages increases voter enthusiasm — particularly among: Black voters, Young voters, Latinos, Democratic surge voters
This tracks with Celinda’s earlier findings in Michigan and Arizona.

Americans say affording basic needs "without struggling" requires $26/hour (Data for Progress)

In solidarity, 

Megan

www.peoplesaction.org  is the national affiliate of Progressive Maryland