Welcome to News You Can Use for this week, capped by the Inglorious Fourth of Trump Triumph.

The Baltimore Sun's relentless pursuit of Gov. Moore's military record vs. his recollections and statements -- pretty obvious to any press observer in Maryland -- gets scrutiny on a professional level from the Columbia Journalism Review up there in New York. The Sun is owned by a very conservative broadcast executive who (by this account) does a certain amount of micromanaging the news content at the once-revered daily. So depending on your politics, this is either fake news from an elite Ivy institution's J-school, or an example of Maryland news practices catching the critical eye of a longtime and respected watchdog of the press. Take a look at the CJR report and pick a side.

We also have other news from Maryland about state efforts to keep our folks' head above water as the Trump administration continues to thin out resources that were appropriated (but not now defended) by a supine Congress. And you may not always enjoy the Beltway, or I-70/270 or I-68, but a new study on the 70th anniversary of the Interstate Highway System includes data on how much it saves in lives, time, money and tanksful of gas or diesel. And how much more the country should be spending to keep it up. Megan E of People's Action, coincidentally, charts in her report how much money Trump is seeking for the military so we can lose more ill-conceived wars. Just think of how many potholes those bucks would fill.

Ignore Trump; try to make July 4 count just the way YOU want it to.

It's News You Can Use for this week. Read on. 

HERE IN MARYLAND

Agenda Journalism – Columbia Journalism Review Examines Baltimore Sun’s Steady Hammering on Gov. Moore’s Military Record … “journalists who work at the Sun have told me that [owner David Smith appears to maintain an unusually close relationship with the newsroom, regularly attending editors’ meetings and speaking daily by phone with an editor. Tricia Bishop, the managing editor of the Sun, did not respond to questions about Smith’s editorial involvement.” Smith is also a top executive of the Sinclair broadcast group, known for conservative reporting. 

Maryland May Be Steeply Penalized After Reducing SNAP Payment Error Rates: Efforts to improve administrative mistakes may have cost Maryland extra time granted to certain states with higher rates of error -- In recent years, Maryland has reduced the administrative errors it makes when sending food assistance dollars to low-income families — but that success might cost the state in a year. New federal data shows that Maryland slightly reduced what’s called the “payment error rate” from 13.64 in federal fiscal year 2024 to 13.08 in federal fiscal year 2025, according to an update this week. While small, that .56 reduction is the line between Maryland paying more than $240 million under new cost-sharing requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and qualifying for a yearlong grace period granted to states with higher error rates. But arcane federal rules may bring a different form of financial penalty. Maryland Matters

Maryland’s Members of Congress Stress Affordable Housing Needs After Trump Stalls Bill:  U.S. lawmakers from Maryland vowed to continue focusing on affordable housing initiatives for state residents and beyond at a Capitol press conference Thursday, taking stabs at President Donald Trump’s refusal to sign a landmark bipartisan bill. States Newsroom via Maryland Matters

Maryland Officials Promote Third Year Of Sun Bucks To Help Stave Off Summer Hunger Among Students: Maryland families struggling to put food on the table can receive a monthly boost in food assistance dollars this summer, as Maryland Sun Bucks kicks off for the third year to help alleviate the “hunger gap” that occurs when schools close. Gov. Wes Moore says he hopes to build on last year’s success, when 630,000 Maryland students qualified for Sun Bucks, equating to $75 million in benefits. Maryland Matters

Think Tank Report Shows Interstate System, 70 Years Old, Saves Lives,  Time, Money – and Gas -- in Maryland “The TRIP report found that the Interstate Highway System is saving Maryland residents’ lives, time and money.  Travel on the Interstate Highway System is more than twice as safe as on all other roadways, a result of built-in safety features.  TRIP estimates that additional safety features on Maryland’s Interstate Highway System saved 134 lives in 2024. A university-based analysis cited by TRIP estimates that Maryland’s Interstate Highway System, which provides improved access and reduced congestion, annually reduces total vehicle delays by 35 million hours and reduces gasoline consumption by 9.8 million gallons.” The report urges Congress, which commissioned the anniversary report, to markedly increase funding for the system’s maintenance. [See report’s 50-state findings in NATIONAL below.]

Ospreys Suffer Population Crash: The osprey or “fish eagle” once ubiquitous in the Chesapeake and mid-Atlantic coast has suffered a population crash, observers report. The reversal of ospreys’ fortunes has been dramatic and well documented, with many adults and nesting chicks starving to death. While scientists mostly think there is no single cause, the decline has reinvigorated a dispute over the commercial harvest of menhaden, vastly increased by aerial surveillance guiding fishing vessels. Menhaden are small, oily fish that are packets of superbly calorie-dense energy, beloved by larger fish like striped bass, and by ospreys. Bay Journal

Maryland Will Fill Gaps To Aid Household Switch To Energy Upgrades: The Trump administration changed guidance for two federal home energy rebate programs early this month, announcing it will no longer cover household switches from oil, propane or gas heating to electric heating. The change will restrict how Maryland can use $136.6 million in federal dollars for household energy-saving upgrades, but the state is already well-positioned to fill in the gaps with its own funds. WYPR-FM.

THE REGION AND THE OTHER 49

HOUSING: The Michigan House has approved legislation barring large institutional investors from buying single-family homes. The legislation applies to corporations, investment funds, limited liability corporations and joint ventures that already own more than 100 single-family homes and have net values of more than $375 million. The bill won passage on a broad bipartisan vote. (Detroit News) via Pluribus

GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND THE FEDS

Supremes Unload Some Big Rulings Monday Morning

A roundup from The Guardian: Key cases today:

 Trump can fire federal regulators BUT

 Fed governor Lisa Cook firing unconstitutional

Trump is still on the hook for $5M to E. Jean Carroll

 Supremes OK counting mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day

Franklin Tops Pops Among Founders -- 84%: The favorable rating of Benjamin Franklin, the highest of any Founding Father, according to a new Marquette Law School poll. George Washington’s favorable rating stands at 81%, followed by Thomas Jefferson at 76% and John Adams at 66%. Alexander Hamilton is seen favorably by 64% of Americans, while just 22% see Aaron Burr favorably. (Marquette) via Pluribus

Interstate System Delivers Vital Benefits But Faces Severe Congestion And Decay, Congressionally Requested Report Assesses  As the U.S. celebrates its 250^th birthday, the U.S. Interstate Highway System is reaching 70 years old and continues to save lives and reduce delays, providing Americans with $65 billion in benefits annually.  But the nation’s most critical transportation network is also congested, carries significant levels of travel – particularly by large trucks – and lacks adequate funding to make needed repairs and improvements, according to the report by TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit. The report, requested by Congress, says funding of the system will need to double to meet future needs.

And a heap of news from Megan E, federal affairs director at Progressive Maryland’s national affiliate People’s Action:

Hello People's Action!

Happy Summer! I’m back and catching up on all the terrible things this federal government is doing. Apologies that this update is pretty long. 

ICE Funding

On June 10th, Republicans in Congress narrowly passed (and Trump signed) their second budget reconciliation bill that provides an additional $70 billion for ICE and border patrol, giving these abusive agencies more than eight times their annual funding. Now Republican House appropriators are trying to give them $30 billion more in Fiscal Year 2027. Republicans did not include funding for the White House ballroom or the anti-voting rights, SAVE Act in the bill. 

Trump continues to push hard for the SAVE Act, calling on the Senate to end the filibuster, but there is not enough Republican support in the Senate to do that. Last week, Trump canceled the signing of the bipartisan Housing bill that Congress has been working to pass for a year. He said he won’t sign it until the SAVE Act passes. The housing measure is a victory for both Republicans and Democrats and could be the only thing that Trump accomplishes to begin to address the affordability crisis so everyone in both parties seems to agree that that was stupid. Speaker Johnson says he’s sending it to Trump today and is confident he will sign it. 

Housing Bill

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act passed the Senate 85-5 and the House 358-32. The five Senators who voted against the bill were Republicans Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Rick Scott, and Tommy Tuberville. The House members who opposed were also all hard-line conservatives for a range of reasons from demanding the SAVE Act be passed to opposing government spending, which the bill only authorizes, to opposing the limitation of large institutional investors purchasing more than 350 single family homes. 

The bill seeks to increase housing supply through regulatory streamlining, including exempting infill housing from federal environmental reviews, establishing guidelines for single-stair multifamily buildings up to six stories, and creating competitive grant programs to incentivize local zoning reforms. Key provisions lift the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) cap by 100,000 units, restrict large institutional investors from purchasing new single-family homes (with exemptions for build-to-rent properties), expand access to small-dollar FHA mortgages, modernize manufactured housing standards by eliminating the permanent chassis requirement, and authorize the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program for three years. The legislation also includes significant community banking provisions, veterans' housing improvements, and enhanced oversight requirements for HUD and public housing agencies. The National Low Income Housing Coalition and National Housing Law Project argue the legislation has "fairly limited impact on affordability for the lowest-income folks in the country" because most provisions are not targeted at extremely low-income renters—those earning at or below 30% of area median income—who face the severest housing shortages (11 million households competing for only 3.8 million affordable rental homes nationally). Critics note the bill is geared more toward homeowners than renters, despite 75% of households earning under $25,000 annually being renters. (I’m experimenting with ChangeAgent AI for this paragraph so please excuse any errors.) 

The bill also bans large institutional investors purchasing over 350 single family homes, a step forward, though certainly insufficient, in limiting private equity from buying all the housing stock. The bill only authorizes these programs; they will have to be funded through the annual appropriations process. 

Partial Victory! (assuming Trump signs the bill) Our affiliate NJ Organizing Project/Resource Center has organized for the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program to be permanently authorized (People’s Action signed on in support) which was in previous versions of the bill; however this version only authorizes the program for three years so this is a partial victory. Congratulations to them!

People’s Action also supported the creation of a Whole Homes Repair pilot program modeled after the very successful Whole Homes Repair program in Pennsylvania that used American Rescue Plan Act funds and that our affiliates PA Stands Up and PA United worked on. This pilot program reallocates existing funds to a pilot program. 

Trump’s pointless, expensive on again off again war with Iran 

On June 23rd the Senate passed a concurrent resolution of Congress previously passed by the House directing Trump to halt U.S. military action against Iran and remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities. This was the first time both Houses had passed a War Powers resolution directing a president to halt military action since the War Powers Act was enacted in 1973. Susan Collins (R-ME), Rand Paul (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-ME), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) crossed party lines to vote with Democrats on the Iran war powers resolution, while one Democrat, John Fetterman (PA), voted against it. McConnell (R-KY)) and Dave McCormick (R-PA), were absent. That resolution was nonbinding. The Senate voted on the binding War Powers resolution on June 24th and Trump managed to flip Cassidy and Paul’s votes as they were in peace negotiations. That the war has not been authorized by Congress -- which is supposed to hold the war powers -- has exposed structural constitutional problems. 

A couple of weeks ago Trump and J.D. Vance made a preliminary agreement with Iran on a ceasefire deal where the U.S. is left in a worse position than before the conflict began. Iran will now be allowed to charge fees for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, giving it a claim over what were before the war officially international waters. Iran will get some money to rebuild and will negotiate with the U.S. over its nuclear program (um…that’s what they were doing before the war). The US & Iran were back to sending missile strikes at each other over the weekend, slowing ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz again. 

The House Appropriations Committee passed a $1.072 trillion defense appropriations bill for FY2027 along party lines. This bill is a $234 billion increase over 2026 levels. The Pentagon is requesting an astounding $1.5 trillion total budget for next year. They are hoping to get more money through another budget reconciliation. Republicans don’t have money for health care but they have money for war. 

Military Funding for Israel 

Libertarian Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) (who lost his primary after Trump spent millions to defeat him) will offer an amendment to the National Security-State funding bill that strips billions of dollars of military funding for Israel. Democrats, who are divided over the amendment, held a call yesterday and plan to speak about it again at the caucus meeting tomorrow. House leadership is opposing the amendment and CPC Chair Greg Casar spoke in favor of voting for the amendment. The bill heads to the House floor after July 4th. Republicans are allowing the floor amendment in order to divide Democrats. 

Supreme Court Decisions (see Monday’s rulings, above article)

The Court ruled last week that the Trump administration can move forward in ending TPS for Haitians and Syrians. Around 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians will lose their work authorization and protection against deportation. “It would be the largest de-documentization event of people in US history,’ said Ahilan Arulanantham, who argued the Syrian TPS case before the Supreme Court and is a law professor at UCLA School of Law.” In addition to ripping families apart and causing job loss and instability, this decision will have negative impacts on the economy, in particular industries like home health care where a lot of Haitians work. 

The Court expanded Trump’s power over the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program by ruling that the courts can’t review the administration’s decisions regarding TPS except for their constitutionality. The court also ruled against plaintiffs' argument that the decision to terminate Haitians TPS program was illegally based on racial discrimination barred by the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. This leaves the door open for Trump to quickly end other TPS programs for people from other countries. 

In a gross expansion of the Second Amendment the Court struck down Hawaii’s gun control law requiring gun owners to get permission from property owners such as a shopping mall, before bringing a gun on the premises. Businesses may still post signs barring weapons from the premises. 

Affordability Crisis

The Next Moves Memo from the People’s Affordability & Democracy Summit is available here. 

Dēmos and People’s Action Institute released a new report, Solving the Affordability Crisis: A Plan for a People-Powered, Racially Just Economy. Families across the United States are struggling to afford the basics with the rising cost of living and stagnant wages. New data shows inflation surging to a three-year high, and energy costs spiked nearly 18 percent since last year. The report demonstrates the connection between democracy and affordability and the consequences of policy decisions that allowed corporations and the ultra-wealthy to concentrate power and raise prices. Researchers focused on drivers behind the growing gap between wages and the costs of housing, health care, food, energy and utilities, and child care and care work. Examining political and economic forces, the report finds that the affordability crisis is the result of policy choices–and it is solvable. 

In solidarity,

Megan