Trump’s team is threatening to take away federal money that helps states pay unemployment benefits to everyone in the country — something that has never happened before in American history.They’re calling it “fighting fraud.”
In a letter to the governors of all 50 states and territories, acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said the government will use “every available tool” to deal with alleged “waste, fraud, and abuse” in unemployment programs.
That includes “withholding administrative funds from states” — something that has never been done before.
This threat is huge in scale.
Nearly 2 million Americans are currently getting unemployment benefits, and about 229,000 new people file for unemployment every week.These are people who lost their jobs without doing anything wrong.If the federal support Sonderling is threatening to cut is removed, state unemployment programs could stop working altogether.
Sonderling said, “We are officially putting governors on notice.
If states allow it, they will suffer the consequences.” That’s basically saying: follow our rules, or we’ll take away the support for people who are unemployed in your state.
This is not the first time we’ve seen this approach.
JD Vance, who leads Trump’s so-called “Task Force to Eliminate Fraud,” used similar threats with Medicaid, taking away $1.4 billion from California, Minnesota, and other states run by Democrats.The Agriculture Department also threatened to cut food aid.Last year, the government tried to shut down SNAP entirely, claiming “the well has run dry.”
It’s clear that the “fraud” excuse is a lie.
Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley said the administration is not going after the real people who are stealing from government programs — instead, they’re cutting off “vital funding for services that seniors, people with disabilities, and children rely on to survive.”
The hypocrisy is shocking.
Just last week, Vance ranted about “theft” from government programs, while the administration set up a nearly $1.8 billion slush fund to pay Trump’s January 6th supporters.
Billions for people who attacked the Capitol.
Nothing for the unemployed.
This was never about fraud.
It’s about punishing states that don’t agree with Trump and weakening the safety net — one threat at a time.
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