Struggle on two fronts goes on here in Maryland. We have one of the biggest populations of federal workers, per capita, as many states, so we get hit hardest by the Trump/Musk purge. At the same time, these struggles are worsening our already-imposing state budget deficit, giving the General Assembly desperate problems as the legislative session draws to a close (and as the GOP-led Congress aims to stick working families with the downside of a new spending and tax plan that would make the rich richer).

That's a lot on the peoples' plate. As we see, the Democratic state attorneys general are in the forefront of taking Trump, Musk and the rest of the MAGA gangsters to court, where they have to come up with better answers than "I just felt like it." Meanwhile the lower prices, lower inflation and other benefits promised by Trump before the election are turning out to be their opposites. We've seen Trump's movie before and are not surprised, alas.

So the struggle goes on. News You Can Use tries to keep you up on significant stuff happening here, in other states and at the national level. Usually, the news requires action on our part to keep the bad people from gaining. No excuses, lets get to work and keep on working.

HERE IN MARYLAND

MLC Last Chance for some great bills – committee hearings needed 

our allies at the Maryland Legislative Coalition alert Marylanders to important progressive bills in the General Assembly that need to be included in the race to conclusion. See also Progressive Maryland's urgent legislative priorities in the Weekly Memo; we are backing important bills in environmental (clean, affordable power), housing (eviction protection), health care and economic (tax fairness) justice issues.

And now the news: First, Summaries from Maryland Reporter Monday 3/10

Md. Confirms Measles Case; Dulles Airport Travelers May Have Been Exposed: A positive case of measles was identified in Maryland, public health officials said Sunday. The highly contagious virus was detected in a Howard County resident who had recently traveled internationally, authorities said. The case comes as health officials monitor a growing number of cases across a dozen states. WaPo

Marylanders Protest Trump Actions Throughout State: Maryland Democrats fanned out over the weekend to try to rally people to oppose the federal budget cuts being made by the Trump administration. At one protest in Catonsville, some said they are concerned that the party has not figured out how to effectively oppose the president’s actions. WYPR-FM.

>>Around 1,000 people gathered in Bethesda Saturday to express their frustration and fear over possible cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and research at the National Institutes of Health headquarters. Many were doctors worried federal cuts could come for them. WUSA-TV News.

Moore's Leadership Under Question As Deficit Mounts: Questions are mounting about the state’s management and the governor’s leadership as Maryland faces a historic budget deficit that ballooned to $3.3 billion, alongside substantial proposed tax and fee increases. Baltimore Sun.

Moore Effort Gets Pushback From Poorer Counties: Gov. Wes Moore plans to change how Marylanders take deductions on their state income taxes, but officials in some of the state’s poorest counties say that plan could force them to cut services. Del. Jefferson Ghrist, told Moore: “You mentioned that the federal government is creating chaos for our state government in an effort to balance their budget. It appears that your budget does sort of the same thing to our county governments.” Capital News Service/Maryland Reporter.

State Dem Party Seeks Probe Into Mystery Anti-Moore Effort: The Maryland Democratic Party is calling on state elections officials to open an investigation into an online effort targeting Gov. Wes Moore. The Democratic Party, in a 14-page complaint to the Maryland State Board of Elections, questioned whether the effort violates state election laws. Maryland Matters.

DOGE Leaves Maryland Farmers Hanging With Unpaid Solar Farms: Mike Protas, owner of One Acre Farm in Dickerson, installed a $100,000 solar panel project on his property last year, expecting half of it to be paid for through a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant. Now, with federal funds frozen via recent Department of Government Efficiency actions, Protas doesn’t know if or when he will get the promised grant money. He's not the only one.  Baltimore Sun.

State, Local Educators Worry About End to Dept. Of Education: Emotional shock waves have been running through Maryland education circles since President Donald Trump instructed his education secretary to begin dismantling the federal Department of Education. State and local school districts depend on federal funding. If that source is disrupted, a tax hike may be needed to fill the budget gap. Maryland receives $2.1 billion from the federal government each year, representing 11% of its state education budget. WBAL-TV News.

Unions Ask Federal Court In Maryland To Stop DOGE Access To SSA Data: A group of labor unions is asking a federal court in Maryland for an emergency order to stop Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the sensitive Social Security data of millions of Americans. Associated Press.

Summaries from Maryland Reporter Friday, 3/7 below

MD Deficit Widens By $280 Million, Worsening Historic Budget Gap: A key fiscal panel cut another $280 million from the state’s revenue projections Thursday, warning of an impending “unnecessary negative shock” to the state’s economy driven by expected federal budget and employment cuts. The updated projections from the Board of Revenue Estimates come amid increased concern about federal budget and employment cuts and a looming potential shutdown. Maryland Matters

>>The new economic forecast out Thursday showed that the state should take in about $107 million less in taxes for the current budget year than expected, plus another $173 million less for the state budget year that starts July 1.  Baltimore Banner. 

>>State officials project Maryland will take in less tax revenue in the coming years due in part to federal layoffs. WBAL NewsRadio and TV 11.

More Funding For Abortions: The Maryland Health Department could soon have access to millions of dollars in unspent insurance funds that it hopes to use to fund abortions for uninsured and underinsured Marylanders. That is the goal of legislation gaining momentum this week in House and Senate committees: Giving the state access to about $25 million in premium surcharges that were required as part of the federal Affordable Care Act but have not been spent down. Maryland Matters

There Could Be A Tax On Sugary Beverages: In an effort to address Maryland’s growing budget deficit, two Democratic lawmakers are considering a tax on sugary beverage distributors — a proposal that has sparked controversy among Republicans and retailers.  Baltimore Sun.

'Hidden Disability' Designation on Driver's Licenses, IDs Unanimously Approved: It started with a conversation between a mother and her son about interacting with police in the wake of the May 202o death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. It ended Thursday with cheers and applause as first one chamber of the General Assembly, then the other, gave unanimous approval to “Eric’s ID Law.” It would require that the Motor Vehicle Administration place a butterfly logo above the words “hidden disability” on driver’s licenses, identification cards, even moped licenses, for people with a “nonapparent disability.” Maryland Matters.

Trump Lawsuits Put MD Federal Judges Center Stage: A surge in high-profile lawsuits against President Donald Trump has put a national spotlight on Maryland’s federal judges, some of whom have been singled out for their rulings by Trump’s high-profile supporters. Baltimore Banner.

Atty Gen Brown To Head 20-State Lawsuit Against Trump Firings: Attorney General Anthony Brown (D) is the lead attorney in a 20-state lawsuit against the Trump administration’s mass firing of probationary federal workers, one of two lawsuits Brown joined Thursday — and one of two dozen since Trump’s swearing-in. Thursday’s second lawsuit was filed in Massachusetts by eight states, including Maryland, against the Department of Education’s decision to suspend, without warning last month, $600 million in grants that states use to train teachers and place them in hard-to-staff schools. Maryland Matters.

>>The lawsuit says that the federal government must inform states 60 days prior of any attempt to layoff large amounts of its workforce so that states can prepare for the fallout. Brown says the White House did not do that, making the layoffs illegal. WYPR-FM.

‘Sounding The Alarm’: Grant Freezes, Firings Sow Concern Among Chesapeake Bay Advocates The Bay Program, based in Annapolis, is dependent on many EPA and other federal grant programs and is  at the helm of the effort to clean up the nation’s largest estuary and its network of tributaries, the health of which affects the millions of people living in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and thousands of plant and animal species who call it home. Advocacy groups focused on reducing bay pollution told The Sun that they’re bracing for more cuts to federal positions serving the waterway, and for cuts to grant funding for environmental projects from the EPA and other federal agencies. Baltimore Sun

THE OTHER 49

Twenty state Democratic attorneys general have filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s mass layoffs of federal probationary employees, Minnesota Reformer reports. 

The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Maryland, names 20 of President Donald Trump’s cabinet members and department leaders and argues the firings violated rules governing mass layoffs. The lawsuit says the terminations have inflicted “immense harm” on the workers and state governments, which will have to review and pay unemployment benefits to thousands of recently fired employees. [Note our Maryland story above; the lead attorney in some of these employee fights is Maryland AG Anthony Brown]. “Whether Donald Trump likes it or not, there are laws governing large-scale reductions in the federal government’s workforce that his administration must abide by,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said. States Newsroom

Immigration Status Protected: Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill to make it illegal for landlords to inquire about a potential renter’s immigration status, or to deny a renter based on the landlord’s perception of their immigration status. Washington, California, Illinois and New York already protect renters from discrimination based on immigration status. (Oregonian) via Pluribus

Indiana: Lawmakers are advancing a bill that seeks to hold sheriffs more accountable for managing jail funds, following a theft scandal last year. States Newsroom

GLOBAL AND NATIONAL POLITICS  AND THE FEDS

36 Firms Drove Half of World’s Climate-Altering Gasses -- Companies and states most responsible for climate change are also those working hardest to prevent climate action, new Carbon Majors report finds. DeSmog via Portside

The ‘Trump Bump’ risks becoming the ‘Trump Slump’ across financial markets. Bloomberg notes Monday morning: “Having been elected with a ‘pro-growth’ plan, President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff agenda, aggressive posture towards Ukraine and push to slash government payrolls are uniting with an already weakening economy to ignite investor fears of stagflation and perhaps even recession. … JPMorgan economists now see a 40% chance of recession this year ‘owing to extreme US policies. ‘ ”

Democrats’ Defend-Medicaid strategy gets a reboot after GOP cancels town halls HOWEVER The outside group Indivisible said Democrats should hold their own town halls — and if Dems don’t, they’ll hold their own. POLITICO

Mounting Concerns Over Future of Social Security: Former Maryland governor and Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley recently spoke with WBAL’s T.J. Smith about mounting concerns regarding the future of Social Security. O’Malley, warned of a potential system collapse due to drastic staff reductions, outdated technology, and misinformation about fraud within the agency. WBAL Radio. See the ex-Guv  also on Jen Psaki’s MSNBC show.

Poll finds support for stable or increased Medicaid funding, including among Trump voters --  A majority of Americans don’t want to see Congress reduce spending on Medicaid and believe the health care program for lower income individuals and families is important to their community, according to polling released Friday. The survey from KFF, a nonpartisan health research organization, broke down responses by political party as well as which presidential candidate voters supported during November’s election. The results show there is  majority support for the program among Republicans, including those who supported President Donald Trump. But it also showed that Americans might support changes to how Medicaid is run. States Newsroom DC Bureau

And here is Megan E’s report from People’s Action about the latest Capitol follies and stuff we can all do to fight back. She is federal affairs director at our national affiliate, People’s Action.

Hello People's Action!

Last week, President Trump gave a joint address to Congress,  where Rep. Al Green (R-TX) was kicked out of the President’s speech in front of Congress for yelling, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.” Al Green was censured by Congress last week (10 Democrats voted with Republicans) and some Republicans are pushing to have him stripped of his committee assignments. From the NYTimes: “Mr. Green, who is Black, also put his protest in the context of the civil rights movement. ‘I remember what it took to get me in this House — I’m not here because I’m so smart,’ he said. ‘I’m here because people made great sacrifices, and it was incivility, it was disruption.’” [that gained the rights that made his position possible].

Green was, of course, raising awareness of  Congressional Republicans' 10-year budget plan to cut Medicaid in order to give tax cuts to billionaires and corporations. Trump did not mention Medicaid or Medicare once during the speech and his only mention of Social Security, which is widely popular, was to spew lies which I shall not repeat, but they should make us worry about the sanctity of Social Security.

On Friday, Trump had a meeting with cabinet members and Elon Musk where Musk held ridiculous arguments with two cabinet secretaries and Trump said that the cabinet members are in-charge of their agencies and Elon is an advisor. Trump also said that air traffic controllers should be “recruited from MIT.”  This was the first sign of any check on Elon’s powers. 

Turning to this week, government funding expires on Friday. House Republican leadership plans to pass a continuing resolution tomorrow to extend government funding through September. The bill would add billions of dollars for deportations, veterans’ health care and the military — and cut $13 billion in funding for non-defense programs. Speaker Mike Johnson is whipping hard to try to get his whole party to vote for it. While far-right Republicans usually refuse to vote for any federal funding bills because they think the federal government should only exist to run the military, Elon’s massive cuts may persuade them to vote for the bill. In other words, Republicans are coalescing around the idea that funding level doesn’t matter because the executive branch is illegally refusing to spend the money anyway. They want to avoid a shutdown and buy time to pass the massive budget that will cut Medicaid, food assistance for hungry children, green energy tax credits and other programs in order to pass a massive tax cut for billionaires and corporations. Once that’s accomplished, they plan to start the appropriations process next year to formally cut funds for housing,  education and environmental justice programs. 

That’s the plan, it’s not clear whether it will work. Johson may still lose some Republican votes. 

House Democratic leader Hakim Jeffries is whipping against the bill (as he should). Dem leadership released this statement, “"The partisan House Republican funding bill recklessly cuts healthcare, nutritional assistance and $23 billion in veterans’ benefits. Equally troublesome, the legislation does nothing to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, while exposing the American people to further pain throughout this fiscal year," the leaders said in a statement. However, it’s not clear that moderate Democrats like Rep. Marie Glusenkamp-Perez (D-WA), Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) will vote no. 

If the House bill passes, Johnson may immediately break for recess and dare Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer not to provide the votes. The House bill will need eight Democrats to pass the Senate, since Senator Rand Paul is expected to oppose it. Senate lead appropriators Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) & Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) have called for a shorter spending bill to allow time to move the regular appropriations process. Murray slammed the CR as a slush fund giving Musk more power. 

The House Ways & Means Committee will begin drafting their tax cuts for billionaires and corporations this week. 

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a nomination hearing on Friday at 10:00am ET on Dr. Mehmet Oz’s nomination to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Dr. Oz supports the full privatization of Medicare and owns significant stock in United Health Group, the biggest provider of privatized Medicare Advantage plans. 

People’s Action has cosponsored a shadow hearing at 9:00am ET on Friday where people will speak out against Dr. Oz’s nomination. Dr. TouTou Moussa Diallo, a leader with the Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy coalition, will speak about her experience with a care denial on a Medicare Advantage plan on behalf of the Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition and People’s Action. 

In this email today....

ASKS: What You Can Do This Week, and ISSUE UPDATES: CLIMATE:

ASKS: Get Congress’s Attention: Congressional Recess starts later this week for the House & Friday for the Senate! Members of Congress will be in district all next week. If you missed our fly-in or couldn’t get a meeting with one of your Members of Congress, we encourage you to request one now for next week! I’ve updated the materials for our lobby day and put them in this recess folder, including instructions on how to schedule an in-district member-level meeting and contacts. If you’re ready to escalate and hold an action or empty-seat town hall, please let us know! We definitely want to lift up your socials!  Here is a report back form.

If you’re in the DC area on Wednesday, join us to Mobilize to Save Health Care!  

ISSUE UPDATE: CLIMATE

Inside Climate News’ roundup of Trump’s anti-climate actions.  The news outlet will continue to update 

Utility costs are going up due to shareholder greed and data centers and being blamed on the green transition. See: As Utility Bills Soar, New Yorkers Face the Cost of a Greener Future The utility that serves New York City and Westchester County has filed a request to raise its rates to help pay for the shift to cleaner energy, sparking dismay among residents.

‘Full on Fight Club’: How Trump Is Crushing U.S. Climate Policy -- President Trump has quickly transformed America’s approach to the environment, withholding funds and stretching the limits of presidential power.

Georgia was about to retire coal plants. Then came the data centers -- Georgia was going to retire its coal plants, but then the data centers arrived. AI is pushing energy providers back to fossil fuels.

In solidarity,

Megan