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Bryce Covert

@brycecovert.bsky.social
16K followers 303 following 1.8K posts

Independent journalist writing about the economy. Contributing writer at @thenation.com. Send tips to brycecovert@protonmail.com or on Signal: brycecovert.25 she/her

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Reposted by Bryce Covert
Kyle Paoletta @kpaoletta.bsky.social · 2h
Today in @motherjones.com, my year-long investigation into how the Trump administration pulled over $200 million from the non-profits that provide legal aid to migrants. The ensuing scramble sent several organizations reeling, while others remained steadfast: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
First Trump came for immigrants. Then he came for their lawyers.
How legal aid groups survived the administration's attacks—barely.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 5h
"The average household in the top 0.1% holds over 3,000 times as much wealth as a bottom-half household does." www.wsj.com/economy/the-...
wsj.com
The Gap Between the Rich and the Very, Very Rich Is Getting Wider
The 0.1% are worth $28 trillion, or about 15% of the nation’s total wealth. The average wealth for a household in this group is over $200 million.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 19h
"Marlyn didn’t see Eber’s first steps or hear his first words. [He has] a mischievous smile that she’s never seen in person." This story is worth your time. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
The Babies Left Behind in America
The United States is deporting parents without their children, creating a whole new family-separation crisis.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 21h
It is shockingly common for child welfare agencies to remove children from parents because they can't afford housing. Billing them for the foster care really is just beyond the pale. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
“Nobody Blames the Landlord. They Just Take Away the Kids.”
All too often, when parents can’t afford safe housing, the solution child welfare services offer is putting their children in foster care.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I do wish it was more of a big deal that Congress, as per its Constitutional powers, appropriated money for federal programs and the Trump administration refused to spend it until it lapsed www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trum...
newsfromthestates.com
Trump administration revokes $810M approved by Congress for refugee aid and more
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has, once again, infuriated lawmakers from both political parties by using a controversial maneuver to cancel funding previously approved by Congress.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The anti-DEI crusade is getting results 5050wob.org/wp-content/u...
Women’s share of Russell 3000 board seats rose
from 22.6% in 2020 to 30.1% in 2025. In Q2 2026, it
moved to 29.2%—the first annual decline in more
than a decade. The gains of the past five years
remain substantial, but the change in direction
shows they are not self-sustaining.
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Rainesford Stauffer @rainesford.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This thread is an essential read:
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I'm shocked, just shocked www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/u...
nytimes.com
White House Claim of Finding $250 Billion in Fraud Uses Questionable Numbers (Gift Article)
The ledger used by a task force created by President Trump is difficult to verify and includes cases that were identified and went to trial during the Biden administration.
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Reposted by Bryce Covert
Katie Bergh @katiebergh.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
🚨New: With data added from more states, we now estimate that about 2 million fewer kids are receiving SNAP in the wake of deep cuts enacted in last year’s Republican reconciliation law. Overall, more than 5 million people have lost SNAP since July 2025. www.cbpp.org/research/foo...
cbpp.org
SNAP Tracker: People Are Losing Food Assistance as the Harmful 2025 Republican Reconciliation Law Is Implemented
SNAP participation nationwide fell by roughly 5 million people (12 percent) between the law’s July 2025 enactment and May 2026, based on the latest month of data.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Lol.
So this is a real problem. In fact, the Biden administration decertified 200 brokers engaged in fraudulent behavior during its tenure. But the Trump administration recertified them last year.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Despite the fantastical rhetoric of the Post, this is a smart policy shift nypost.com/2026/09/23/u...
nypost.com
Mamdani bans NYPD from responding to 311 calls on homeless encampments
A new City Hall policy prohibits the NYPD from responding to complaints about homeless encampments, leaving the job to overworked city staffers.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Fellow journalists, an honest question: are you posting your stories to LinkedIn or otherwise using LinkedIn like other social media?
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Melody Schreiber @melodyschreiber.com · 23/09/2026
NEW: The HHS is holding back Covid vaccines for all children in at least 11 states and one territory. And it's not clear when - or whether - the shots will be available. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Delays in Covid shots for kids is latest bid by Trump officials to restrict vaccines
Administration is holding back Covid vaccines for all children in at least 11 states and one US territory
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Uber and Lyft helped pave this path of rapidly breaking a ton of laws and then convincing people they had to bless them retroactively
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
RFK Jr cut off grants for racial health disparities and put the money toward erectile dysfunction, low sperm count--and his own excessive security apparatus www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
When Kennedy first started, the HHS Office of the Inspector General staffed up to prepare to protect him, but shortly after he opted for protection by the U.S. Marshals Service, people familiar with the matter said. A handful of cabinet-level figures in past decades have received a security detail from the marshals, a division of the Justice Department.

Previous HHS secretaries were protected by agents in the HHS inspector general’s office, and their security cost roughly $5 million a year, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Am I getting this right that they may be kicking off people who may have health insurance for emergency reasons but are otherwise doctor-avoidant? thehill.com/policy/healt...
thehill.com
Vance-led task force set to remove 750K Obamacare enrollees, citing fraud
The Trump administration is removing close to 750,000 people from Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage due to allegedly fraudulent enrollment, Vice President Vance announced Tuesday.  The cancellatio…
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Universal free school meals in Minnesota have decreased both the number of kids skipping meals and how much stress their families feel www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
mprnews.org
Fewer skipped meals, less stigma: New data on the impact of Minnesota’s universal school meals
A trio of new studies shows Minnesota’s universal school meals program is providing a sense of relief to Minnesota families and students who are no longer skipping lunch and worrying less about family...
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Congress appropriated funding for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund; the Trump administration is refusing to release it kelo.com/2026/09/21/t...
kelo.com
Trump administration sued over withheld federal grants for US community lenders
By David Hood-Nuño WASHINGTON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - A business advocacy group representing government-backed community lenders sued the U.S. Treasury Department on Monday, seeking to prevent nearly $30...
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Workplace heat rules lead to "robust and significant" reductions in worker injuries www.nber.org/papers/w35772
nber.org
Cooler Laws, Safer Workers: Evaluating California’s Heat Standard and Injury Reduction
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The plan is paid for by taking child care supports away from low income parents (mothers), just as they're requiring these same families (women) to *work* to access Medicaid and SNAP. The real goal is to punish poor single mothers. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/u...
nytimes.com
White House Plan to Subsidize Stay-at-Home Parents Divides Conservatives
Some praise the idea championed by Vice President JD Vance to direct federal money to support traditional families, while others say it cuts against conservative principles.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
AutoZone is spending $200k to try to stop 11 workers from unionizong www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Workers in New York seek to create first AutoZone union as company resists
Company may have spent about $200,000 to fight union effort in White Plains, where 11 people can vote to join UAW
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Workers at CVS, the country's largest pharmacy, say they're understaffed, overworked, and underpaid. Some of them are getting ready to strike. capitalandmain.com/understaffed...
capitalandmain.com
Understaffed and Underpaid: Why CVS Pharmacists in Three States Authorized a Strike
The pressure on pharmacy staff to work quickly leads to high turnover and threatens patient safety, workers say.
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Jeff Stein @jeffstein.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Reporting from @almsnatalie.bsky.social on the White House fraud ledger www.washingtonsun.com/trump-white-...
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Jess MacDonald essentially quit the NWSL because she was a mom. Amazing how things have changed.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
You love to see it www.thebulwark.com/p/exclusive-...
thebulwark.com
EXCLUSIVE: The Next Big Dem Proposal: Let Kids Eat Free
School lunches were free to all kids during the pandemic; a prominent think-tank wants to bring back the idea and make it permanent.
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Katie Bergh @katiebergh.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Between October 2024 & March 2026, Arizona denied more than half of the households applying or recertifying for SNAP for failing to complete the required interview. But it wasn't for lack of trying: during that period, more than 3 million calls to the state's overwhelmed call center were dropped.
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Lauren Kaori Gurley @laurenkaorigurley.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This week: Salvadoran workers who've been here for decades are losing work due to Trump admin policy on TPS, including: -Janitors, landscapers at federal buildings I.e. Walter Reed hospital & U.S. military bases - Construction workers on data centers, food service & many more wapo.st/4A8edjC
wapo.st
As immigration status for Salvadorans remains in limbo, businesses begin layoffs
Some restaurants, hospitals and construction firms pushed forward with layoffs as the end of temporary protected status for 232,000 Salvadorans loomed.
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Ben Casselman @bencasselman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Inflation-adjusted hourly earnings fell on a year-over-year basis for the fifth straight month in August, as higher gas prices wiped away workers' pay increases. #NumbersDay
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Cheer: School has finally started in NYC! Jeer: After school starts next week. Currently attempting to parent and work simultaneously. I think I've sat at my desk for a total of 10 minutes.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Both Romney and Jeb Bush ran on the idea that Democrats only get votes because they promise "free stuff" www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | We All Get ‘Free Stuff’ From the Government (Published 2015)
Jeb Bush boasts he won’t court voters with handouts, but the government gives generously to all tax brackets.
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Since becoming president again, Trump has promised: -$5000 stimulus checks via "DOGE dividend" -$2000 stimulus checks via "tariff dividend" -$1000+ checks via "savings" from expiring ACA subsidies -$5000 "dividend" if Rs win midterms No checks have been issued www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-magi...
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Cassandra Jaramillo @cassandrajaramillo.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
New reporting from my colleagues: Ectopic-related deaths in abortion banned states are increasing. One expert said deaths from ectopic pregnancies should “really be a never event.” www.propublica.org/article/ecto...
propublica.org
Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States With Abortion Bans.
With prompt and appropriate medical care, experts say, people shouldn’t die from an ectopic pregnancy. Women in Texas and Oklahoma have sued over delays in care, which, coupled with our new analysis, ...
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
ICE enforcement in Chicago cost retail and restaurant businesses $1.26 billion greatcities.uic.edu/news-stories...
greatcities.uic.edu
Hunkering Down: Immigration Enforcement’s Economic Cost | Great Cities Institute | University of Illinois Chicago
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Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · 08/09/2026
After Nebraska adopted an algorithm to assess the needs of people with developmental disabilities, more than 900 had their home care slashed—leaving families terrified their loved ones could be forced into institutions. A preview of what could soon be coming nationally after Trump’s Medicaid cuts.
nbcnews.com
A secretive computer algorithm is taking caregiving money away from disabled people
After Nebraska used a new interRAI tool to slash Medicaid funding for nearly 900 people, NBC News uncovered the hidden logic behind some of the cuts.
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s. e. smith @sesmith.lol · 08/09/2026
For those who don't have the capacity to travel hundreds of miles for abortion care, Dobbs is working exactly as designed.
newrepublic.com
Dobbs’s Near-Total Destruction of Abortion Rights Across the South
Anti-abortion lawmakers are forcing women to travel hundreds of miles to obtain health care.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
It always seems like it can't be true, but it is: American businesses often pay more to try to defeat a union drive or contract negotiation that they would if they recognized the union and agreed to better pay and benefits prospect.org/2026/09/08/u...
prospect.org
How Much Do Union-Busting Campaigns Cost? - The American Prospect
Is your boss making you sit through anti-union propaganda meetings? It turns out those are pricey.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Well doesn't this tell you everything you need to know www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/u...
Unmarried couples in which one parent stays at home would not qualify under the draft. Single parents who do not work are currently not eligible for the subsidy, nor would they be under the new proposal for married couples.
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Jessica Kutz @jkutzie.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I spoke to three moms who lost all of the food in their fridge and freezer during the blackout in Gary Indiana. They all had their replacement SNAP benefits denied. Experts told me they are concerned about how the state is operating the program after the disaster. 19thnews.org/2026/09/gary...
19thnews.org
Families lost weeks of food they couldn't afford to replace. Then their SNAP claims were denied.
As the city of Gary recovers from a devastating power outage, advocates say Indiana has a simple fix at its fingertips that could get parents the help they need.
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Elise Gould @elisegould.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
With August losses, federal employment is now down 336,000 jobs since January 2025. The vital services federal employees provide cannot be done without these essential workers. #EconSky
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Dave Jamieson @jamieson.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Insane stuff in the inspector general report on Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the Trump/Sean O’Brien pick for labor secretary. Truly demented behavior!
For example, during
Chavez-DeRemer’s April 15–20, 2025 personal travel to Oregon, she requested an off-
the-record stop at an establishment that was determined upon entry to feature partially
nude dancers. ASAIC 1, who served as Detail Leader and ASAIC, complied with
Chavez-DeRemer’s request to reassign the limousine driver so he could enter with her.
Chavez-DeRemer subsequently took money from her purse, gave the money to the
driver, and directed him to give it to the performer. When the agent resisted and sought
guidance from ASAIC 1, ASAIC 1 instructed him to comply with Chavez-DeRemer’s
requests. Chavez-DeRemer then took additional money from her purse and asked the
agent to drop the bills one by one onto the partially nude woman. The agent again
hesitated and sought intervention from ASAIC 1, who told him to follow Chavez-
DeRemer's instructions.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
So many flustered grandparents chasing children on the streets of New York City right now. No school hasn’t started yet, why do you ask.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Why are the vibes off? Well
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I Travel Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 02/09/2026
“... the president has a habit of including endorsements for Republican candidates while approving disaster funds, explicitly connecting campaign messages to aid requests in ways without precedent in the American tradition.”
ms.now
Trump approves disaster relief funds for 7 red states, after denying aid to blue states
Ahead of the midterm elections, the president isn’t even being subtle about his scandalous politicization of disaster aid.
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Hard to believe for a guy who had to settle a housing discrimination case 53 years ago, but Trump is trying to end all enforcement of housing discrimination. He's doing it in an underhanded way, by bureaucratically making grants to fair housing groups impossible. From @brycecovert.bsky.social:
prospect.org
Trump’s War on Fair Housing - The American Prospect
The nonprofits that enforce anti-discrimination laws are being cut off from the federal funding that makes their work possible.
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Katie Bergh @katiebergh.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Texas' SNAP application backlog grew from 3,700 in January to more than 150,000 in August as the state implemented major changes in response to the Republican reconciliation law's unprecedented SNAP cuts.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
The Trump administration has taken an ax to fair housing enforcement across the country prospect.org/2026/09/02/t...
prospect.org
Trump’s War on Fair Housing - The American Prospect
The nonprofits that enforce anti-discrimination laws are being cut off from the federal funding that makes their work possible.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
“He felt like he was treated like an animal,” said his father, Pierres Ronal Bel.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The EEOC just inked a deal with an ultra conservative Christian employer group that shields its members, both current and future, from any enforcement against gender identity discrimination in perpetuity theintercept.com/2026/09/01/c...
theintercept.com
Christian Employers Can Now Discriminate Against Trans People
A settlement with the Christian Employers Alliance blocks the EEOC from ever investigating the group’s members for gender identity discrimination.
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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
"An Air Force major who flew search-and-rescue helicopters was supposed to receive $340,000 and now relies on food banks for groceries. And at least 17 other Air Force members were promised early retirement, only to have the government claw back the agreement before the payments arrived"
wapo.st
A trans veteran became homeless after the military didn’t pay her severance
Chloe Shapiro is one of a dozen former service members identified by The Washington Post who have waited months for full payments.
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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
On average, 9,000 Americans die due to heat every year, some years more than 10,000. There is still no workplace standard to protect people from excessive heat on the job. www.npr.org/2026/08/31/n...
npr.org
NPR spent 2 years tracking deaths from heat. We found a staggering hidden toll
An NPR investigation found that people in the U.S. are dying from heat much more often than official counts show. We explore the reasons why — and how lives can be saved.
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