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Peter Chen

@ptrchn1.bsky.social
650 followers 557 following 476 posts

Senior Policy Analyst, NJPP. Deranged Cubs fan.

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Reposted by Peter Chen
ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/09/2026
Sen. Susan Collins helped steer millions in federal defense contracts to Navatek, whose CEO illegally funneled thousands of dollars to her campaign. The FBI sought to launch a probe and was eyeing Collins and other lawmakers. Then Trump gutted the unit in charge. THREAD 🧵
Martin Kao, CEO of defense contractor Navatek, poses next to Sen. Susan Collins for a photo. Collins is holding a model of a boat in her hands. Behind them is a large sign with the Navatek logo.
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Rutgers Bloustein School @bloustein.rutgers.edu · 19/09/2026
Wow! What a great turnout for our Bloustein NYC Alumni mixer on Sept. 17! Thanks to the staff at Tailor Public House for their hospitality, and thank you to all alums who were able to make it! #rutgersalumni Next up -- Bloustein New Brunswick Alumni mixer, end of October. Watch for details!
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Reposted by Peter Chen
New Jersey Policy Perspective @njpolicy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
New Jersey can make application processes simpler, reduce paperwork, and provide temporary coverage for people who lose Medicaid. “New Jersey still has time to build a system that catches people before they fall through the cracks," said report author Jen Spiegel. www.njpp.org/publications...
njpp.org
Medicaid Work Requirements: Barriers by Design - New Jersey Policy Perspective
New federally mandated work requirements threaten to rip health coverage away via eligibility obstacles, and burdensome paperwork and reporting requirements.
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Reposted by Peter Chen
New Jersey Policy Perspective @njpolicy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The report finds that nearly 540,000 residents will have to prove every six months that they are working, in school, volunteering, or otherwise meeting a new federal requirement. The problem: most of them already qualify. The barrier is not employment, it’s paperwork. www.njpp.org/publications...
njpp.org
Medicaid Work Requirements: Barriers by Design - New Jersey Policy Perspective
New federally mandated work requirements threaten to rip health coverage away via eligibility obstacles, and burdensome paperwork and reporting requirements.
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Reposted by Peter Chen
New Jersey Policy Perspective @njpolicy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
🚨 New Report 🚨 An estimated 300,000 New Jerseyans may lose health coverage starting in 2027 — all because of complicated paperwork processes. New Medicaid work requirements mean nearly 540,000 residents will need to navigate onerous documentation and renewal processes. www.njpp.org/publications...
njpp.org
Medicaid Work Requirements: Barriers by Design - New Jersey Policy Perspective
New federally mandated work requirements threaten to rip health coverage away via eligibility obstacles, and burdensome paperwork and reporting requirements.
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Reposted by Peter Chen
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities @centeronbudget.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Wide racial and ethnic disparities in child poverty persisted in 2025. But 2021 showed that policies like an expanded Child Tax Credit and stronger food assistance can substantially reduce both poverty and these gaps. @danilotrisi.bsky.social explains: www.cbpp.org/blog/analyzi...
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Peter Chen @ptrchn1.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
In the bad old days (this is FY2019's end-of-year summary), more than 1/5 of the NJT operating budget was capital transfers! And unsurprisingly, if you raid capital for a decade, the next decade has reliability issues. Who knew?????
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Peter Chen @ptrchn1.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
NJT's low subsidy ended up with the agency raiding capital budget to pay for operations for YEARS. Guess what happens when you neglect long-term maintenance and equipment replacement? Also note the budgets have no inflation adjustment. 2024 budget is LOWER than 2020 when inflation adjusted
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Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg 🇵🇸 @elizabethweill.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
One woman I met outside Delaney Hall told me men inside the jail -- including her husband -- are denied medical care and have resorted to drinking their own urine to try to address infections. truthout.org/articles/thi...
truthout.org
This Back to School Season, Kids Face a New Fear: ICE Taking Their Parents
More than 200,000 children in the US are estimated to have had a parent detained by ICE.
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ITEP @itep.org · 11/09/2026
More state lawmakers are losing their appetite for data center tax breaks as revenue losses balloon out of control. It's clear that these enormous tax breaks were a race to the bottom without a full understanding of the costs. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
wsj.com
States That Gave Data Centers Billions in Tax Breaks Are Now Ripping Up the Deals
Amazon, Meta and Google risk losing decadeslong exemptions due to a backlash against their facilities
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Peter Chen @ptrchn1.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Weird how no-strings-attached cash doesn't create questions of dependency and isn't called "welfare" when certain people propose it
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David Gilbert @davidgilbert.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
SCOOP @telliotter.bsky.social and I identified the authors of the bogus noncitizen voting Census report and how they used bad data to make faulty conclusions They include a former DOGE guy (of course) and two people from AFPI, a Trump-aligned think tank www.wired.com/story/a-us-c...
wired.com
A US Census Report on Noncitizen Voting Used Bad Data to Reach Faulty Conclusions
Trump has touted a recent Census report. WIRED found grave flaws in its analysis and the process behind it, and confirmed the identity of several of its authors—among them a one-time DOGE affiliate.
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Peter Chen @ptrchn1.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Great reporting on the reality of mass deportation efforts facing immigrants in NJ. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series
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Peter Chen @ptrchn1.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
giant businesses and billionaires promising that another tax cut will trickle down to the masses
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Reposted by Peter Chen
Alex Ambrose @alexfromnj.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Who could’ve predicted this would happen (me, exactly one year ago today)
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Reposted by Peter Chen
Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
You can’t talk about debt without talking about how we got into a bad predicament, and there’s only one correct answer: tax cuts enacted this century
U.S. debt is on track to reach historic levels
Debt held by the public as a percentage of the gross domestic product, 1792-2055
- Historical - • Projected → Without Bush and Trump tax cuts
187.55%
180%
160
140
120|
100
80
99.38%
60
• 47.85%
40
20
0
1800|
1820 1840 1860|
1880
1900 1920 1940|
1960|
1980 2000 2020 2040|
Hover or click to see values.
• Notes:
Source: Authors' calculations using data from the Congressional Budget Office, the Joint Committee on Taxation, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Federal Reserve, the Yale Budget Lab, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. A full list of sources is available here.
Chart: Center for American Progress
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The Jersey Vindicator @jerseyvindicator.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
NJ officials warn new Medicaid rules could cause eligible residents to lose coverage
jerseyvindicator.org
NJ officials warn new Medicaid rules could cause eligible residents to lose coverage
State officials say complicated paperwork and unclear federal requirements could create administrative hurdles as new rules take effect for an estimated 540,000 residents.
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Reposted by Peter Chen
Carrie Brown @brizzyc.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Good to meet New Jersey Civic Information Consortium grantees and fellow board members today at the summer social at Duke Farms! Don’t miss the cool things happening in NJ news and info spaces (3rd photo from @jamditis.com)
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Peter Chen @ptrchn1.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
To the extent there is polling on this, lgbtq+ identity is a very small chunk of the overall reasons why people cut off parents, with abuse, manipulative behavior, and other interpersonal conflict making the bulk of the reasons
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ITEP @itep.org · 14/08/2026
To put these enormous tax breaks in context, the largest single-year tax break we've documented for any corporation before 2025 was J.P. Morgan’s $5.2 billion haul in 2024. itep.org/six-companie...
itep.org
Six Companies Reaped $83 Billion in Federal Tax Breaks in 2025
Six companies alone accounted for $83 billion of federal tax breaks disclosed by publicly traded U.S companies so far for 2025. Microsoft received a record high for single-year federal tax breaks for ...
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Reposted by Peter Chen
ITEP @itep.org · 14/08/2026
$83 billion in federal tax breaks went to just 6 companies in 2025. Microsoft has the record high for a publicly held company in a single year at nearly $19 billion. That's out of $204 billion disclosed by publicly traded U.S companies so far for 2025.
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Streetsblog NYC @nyc.streetsblog.org · 14/08/2026
The City Council will not call on state legislators to pass an e-bike licensing bill akin to the one now in effect in New Jersey, where the messy rollout is causing issues for cyclists. buff.ly/TF1NuPG
nyc.streetsblog.org
Council Backs Off E-Bike Registration Amid Jersey's Messy Restriction Rollout - Streetsblog New York City
Council Member Gale Brewer was set to introduce a resolution, but has scrapped it in advance of a Sept. 30 hearing.
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Reposted by Peter Chen
Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 12/08/2026
“This is not a matter of a few people engaging in aberrant behavior,” @evacide.bsky.social told @19thnews.org of police abusing Flock ALPRs to stalk people. “These are just the people who have gotten caught, and who have gotten caught so blatantly that they have experienced consequences.”
19thnews.org
Flock is just the latest example of using surveillance to stalk women
The technology is under fire for how police officers have abused it. But it’s only the symptom of a larger problem.
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The Fund for NJ @fundfornj.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Thank you to the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers and the @njnonprofits.org for convening the Summer Joint Policy Forum, which brought together leaders from across New Jersey’s philanthropic and nonprofit communities for important conversations about the issues shaping our state’s future.
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Dara Lind @daralind.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
NEW FROM ME: The Great Delegalization. There are now (almost certainly far more than) 1M immigrants who were protected from deportation on Jan 20, 2025, and no longer are. It’s the result of a problem that’s been building for 30 years—& now only Congress can fix. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
newyorker.com
These Immigrants Lived in the U.S. Legally. Now Trump Is Changing Their Status.
More than a million immigrants are seeing protections that granted them safe lives in the U.S. suddenly swept away.
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ITEP @itep.org · 10/08/2026
The frenzy over NYC’s pied-à-terre tax ignores who actually pays it. Most New Yorkers are renters, and most homeowners don’t own properties valuable enough to qualify. The tax targets a tiny share of the city’s wealthiest property owners. itep.org/new-york-cit...
itep.org
New Yorkers, Please Pay Your City Income Taxes: Why the Pied-à-Terre Tax Rollout Is Not Worth a Meltdown
The news coverage of the second home tax has been disconnected from the real living conditions for the millions of New Yorkers who don’t own a second (or third, or fourth) home.
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Daniel Han @danieljhan.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
New from me: New Jersey lawmakers steered state money to employers, relatives and clients www.politico.com/news/2026/06...
politico.com
New Jersey lawmakers steered state money to employers, relatives and clients
Add-ons to the state budget have become an annual tradition for the Democrats who control the state Legislature.
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Fair Share Housing Center @fairsharehousing.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
In a win for Elizabeth tenants—and democracy!—a judge rejected a lawsuit from landlords seeking to block a ballot measure to restore the city’s longstanding $20 cap on annual rent increases for rent-controlled apts. Thx @maketheroadnj.bsky.social & @law.rutgers.edu: law.rutgers.edu/news/clinic-...
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New Jersey Policy Perspective @njpolicy.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
“NJPP’s impact comes from a talented team, strong partnerships, and a shared commitment to policy that improves people’s lives in New Jersey. I look forward to building on that foundation,” said @ptrchn1.bsky.social. Read the full announcement: www.njpp.org/media/press-...
njpp.org
NJPP Names Peter Chen as Next President, Succeeding Nicole Rodriguez - New Jersey Policy Perspective
TRENTON, NJ — New Jersey Policy Perspective’s (NJPP) Board of Trustees announced today that NJPP Senior Policy Analyst Peter Chen will become the organization’s next President, succeeding Nicole Rodri...
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Reposted by Peter Chen
New Jersey Policy Perspective @njpolicy.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Exciting news! Senior Policy Analyst @ptrchn1.bsky.social will become the NJPP's next President, succeeding @nicolenjpp.bsky.social, who is stepping down after four years as President. We're thrilled to welcome Peter into this new role and wish Nicole the best on the next part of her journey!
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Peter Chen @ptrchn1.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I'm sick of it too. If only there were something to do about it!
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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
People potentially subject to the nyc pied-à-terre tax are being treated with 1% of the administrative hostility of SNAP and Medicaid applicants, and they’re throwing 100x the fit
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Ezra Levin ❌👑 @ezralevin.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
The Trump regime made the largest healthcare cuts in history, slashing more than $1 trillion from Medicaid, Medicare, and the ACA. At the same time they gave away $1 trillion in tax cuts for the richest one percent.
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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
“Experts worry that the litany of unanswered questions surrounding medical frailty will lead to more vulnerable people getting kicked out of the program. Preliminary estimates from the Congressional Budget Office suggest over 7 million people will lose coverage in coming years.”
statnews.com
Chronically ill people face confusion over new Medicaid work rules and ‘medically frail’ exemption
Patients, advocates, and experts fear the difficulty in documenting a frailty exemption to Medicaid work requirements will lead to millions losing coverage.
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New Jersey Policy Perspective @njpolicy.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Private prison companies exploit incarcerated people and their loved ones and are finding new ways to profit off of them. New Jersey cannot allow these profiteers to continue to go unchecked. We must end prison communication fees. newjerseymonitor.com/2026/07/29/n...
newjerseymonitor.com
Switch to new digital tablets in NJ prisons prompts civil rights lawsuit • New Jersey Monitor
NJ switched to a new provider of electronic tablets for prisoners' personal use. A new lawsuit says inmates will lose content they purchased.
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Peter Chen @ptrchn1.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Other than climate change (and honestly linked to climate change), this might be the biggest problem that world governments need to team up to solve. The creation of a class of outrageously wealthy individuals, with outrageously low tax rates due to avoidance, needs a global solution.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 28/07/2026
ProPublica obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing. From the archives:
propublica.org
The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax
ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, ev...
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
"Tonk" is a Border Patrol slur that refers to the sound a metal flashlight makes when used to beat a migrant in the head. And that's the word that Border Patrol agents under the direct command of Greg Bovino were using when bragging about their arrests in Los Angeles last year.
New court filings detail immigration agents in Los Angeles referring to potential targets using racial slurs.
Civil rights groups are asking a federal judge to bar an “ongoing campaign of suspicionless and discriminatory” stops in the Central District of California.
Immigration agents who descended on Los Angeles last summer referred to Latinos using slurs like “tonk” and “wet,” according to body camera footage and text messages detailed in a court filing asking a federal judge to bar agents from making stops based on racial profiling.

After a June raid at Home Depot in Hollywood, body camera footage captured an agent saying: “There was a guy, I’m pretty sure he’s wet he was just sitting in that minivan.” A text chain revealed an agent referring to “tonks everywhere selling food” — using a word reportedly derived from the sound an agent’s utility flashlight makes when hitting a migrant’s head. In a video, an agent said, “Yeah, just plug us in wherever you see some tonks and we’ll jump out.”
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New Jersey Policy Perspective @njpolicy.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
New analysis from @ptrchn1.bsky.social: The digital economy relies heavily on collecting personal data. Now, a first-in-the-nation law will charge companies escalating fees based on how much New Jerseyans' data they collect and sell. www.njpp.org/publications...
njpp.org
New Jersey Makes Data Brokers Pay for Collecting Your Information - New Jersey Policy Perspective
A first-in-the-nation law charges companies escalating fees based on how much New Jerseyans' data they collect and sell.
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Ruth Delgado @heylookitsruth.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
‼️ ICE goons kidnapped a U.S. citizen in Passaic, NJ ‼️ Prior to this video being taken, he was confronting ICE for trying to kidnap his neighbors. Video from 8:25am on 7/23/26
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Peter Chen @ptrchn1.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
i can't believe i have to say this but you do not, in fact, ever gotta hand it to the white supremacists
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George Joseph @georgejoseph94.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
NEW @us.theguardian.com investigation into allegations that Amazon pushed smaller companies into raising prices: “They’d say, ‘You need to go to Target. You need to go talk to Walmart to get them to raise their price.’” www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
theguardian.com
‘We were at their mercy’: inside the Amazon tactics that hiked prices across the internet
Internal emails revealed in court and interviews with ex-employees describe how Amazon’s practices drove up prices for competitors like Walmart and Target. Amazon denies price-fixing claims and says i...
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Peter Chen @ptrchn1.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Ah glad to see the anti-big-government conservative position is now "comply with all commands of government agents or we'll execute you"
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Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Just finished recording a podcast on (the desperate need for) SSI reform. Hope to be able to share with you all later this week.
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William Shakespeare @shakespeare.lol · 19/07/2026
Yea, dost thou jeer
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Peter Chen @ptrchn1.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
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Ezra Levin ❌👑 @ezralevin.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
5-year-old Camila's crayon drawings in detention look just like my 5-year-old's drawings. We need this to end, and then we need prosecutions for everybody who had a hand in harming these families. www.ctinsider.com/news/article...
ctinsider.com
5-year-old spent 118 days on her own in federal immigration custody in CT
On any given day there are more than two dozen immigrant children detained without a parent or guardian in programs run by Connecticut nonprofits.
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Peter Chen @ptrchn1.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Nothing says the party of free speech like saying "shut up or we'll kill you"
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Stephen Stirling @sstirling.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
We're monitoring Philly air quality today on our wildfire smog blog. Air quality has already fallen to unhealthy levels. With @robtornoe.bsky.social, Frank Kummer and more www.inquirer.com/weather/live...
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Colleen Wilson @colleenonthescene.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
The list of problems with implementation of the new NJ e-bike law is long — and lawmakers who passed it aren’t talking. - MVC is backpedaling on multiple issues - People w/disabilities are out of luck - insurance requirement doesn’t cover e-bike rider I dove into as many angles as possible ⬇️
northjersey.com
Cyclists are frustrated, upset. Is NJ's new e-bike law already broken?
New Jersey's new e-bike law - the strictest in the country - goes into effect July 19, but it's causing confusion for cyclists, tourists and even MVC.
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