By DAVID A. LIEB and GEOFF MULVIHILL

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Supporters of the sweeping tax and spending legislation that Congress has sent to President Donald Trump say the changes to Medicaid, food aid and other programs will encourage personal responsibility and halt those scamming the system.

Critics of the bill, given final congressional approval Thursday, say the requirements will upend lives.

Here’s a look at what people are saying about the bill.

Work requirements added for accessing more federal benefits

To enroll and stay on Medicaid, many ages 19 through 64 would be required to work, go to school or perform at least 80 hours of community service a month.

The Medicaid work requirement would apply to people in 40 states who are enrolled through expanded access that states agreed to put in place since 2014. Ten states, including Texas and Florida, did not expand the program.

For the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which already requires adults ages 18 to 55 to work, working would become mandatory for many until they turn 65.

For both benefits, there would be exceptions, including for parents who are caregivers to children under age 14.

Most people covered by Medicaid already meet the work requirement or qualify for an exception.

The requirements are sparking worry for some enrollees

Theresa Gibbs, who lost her job as a school bus driver, is enrolled in both Medicaid and SNAP. She likely would be exempt from the work mandate because she has three children under age 14. But Gibbs said she is applying for jobs anyway.

“I don’t think people should just live off the state if they’re perfectly capable to work,” said Gibbs, 34, of Jefferson City, Missouri.

But the changes worry others.

Amanda Hinton, 39, of St. Martins, Missouri, receives Medicaid and SNAP benefits. She puts in enough hours at a part-time gas station job to likely meet the new requirements but is concerned should her fibromyalgia, which causes pain and fatigue, keep her from working for a time.

“I’m panicked. I mean I have some chronic health conditions that are not curable, and I rely on my medication to help me just get through the day,” she said. “And without my Medicaid, I couldn’t afford these.”

Brittany Phillips, 32, of Greensboro, North Carolina, said being on Medicaid has helped her stay afloat both financially and health-wise while she works a temporary, remote medical services job paying about $600 weekly.

“I do believe that Medicaid should be available for everyone regardless of who they are — regardless of capacity, faculty — everyone should have Medicaid,” she said.

It’s not just the work requirement; it’s also the paperwork

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that 11.8 million fewer people could have health insurance by 2034 because of the changes, which also include booting off non-citizens who are not in the U.S. permanently and legally. And that doesn’t include those who could lose coverage for other reasons.

Advocates say that even people who are covered by exceptions to the work requirement could lose their Medicaid coverage. One major reason is a requirement that people’s eligibility would be assessed at least every six months.

“Every additional paper someone has to submit separately from their application,” said Deborah Steinberg, a senior health policy analyst at the Legal Action Center, “you lose people.”

Julia Bennker, who runs an in-home daycare in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, relies on SNAP and Medicaid and has had paperwork issues under existing Medicaid requirements. She said that earlier this year, she didn’t have health coverage for a month after she was told her forms were late — though she believes she submitted them on time.

That meant going a month without therapy and needing to reschedule another appointment with a prescriber.

Some of the conditions that would trigger exceptions — mental illness or substance use disorder — are not currently tallied in Medicaid computer systems.

“It’s not like you wave a magic wand and everyone who should be exempt is exempt,” said Hannah Wesolowski, chief advocacy officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

States will face pressure – and deadlines – to revamp their programs

State health care and social services agencies will have to rework their computer systems to account for the various changes while also dealing with federal funding reductions. That’s cause for concern for some health care advocates.

The legislation requires all states to shoulder more of the administrative costs of SNAP starting in 2027 and, for the first time, could force some states to pay for a portion of food assistance benefits starting in 2028.

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States also must implement the Medicaid work requirement by 2027.

“It will be a very tight and difficult timeline for many of these states,” said Sophia Tripoli, senior health policy director at Families USA, a health care advocacy organization. “There’s a huge cost burden on states from the administrative side just to stand up these systems.”

Julieanne Taylor, a lawyer at the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy in North Carolina, said her organization’s clients already face delays in verifications for the food program.

“To add more to them, it’s going to be a disaster,” she said. “It’s going to cause people to drop off because they’re like, ‘I don’t want to have to do this every year or every six months.’”

Rural hospitals could face financial struggles

The bill could also put rural hospitals at financial risk, experts say, because it seeks to cap the taxes that states impose on hospitals and other health care providers in a way that boosts Medicaid funding.

The nonprofit KFF, which studies health care issues, estimates that Medicaid spending in rural areas would decrease by $155 billion over the next decade under the bill.

“While there are already a number of small and rural hospitals that are vulnerable,” said R. Kyle Kramer, CEO of Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam, Connecticut, “it’s going to lead to a lot of closures.”

The bill includes a $50 billion fund to partially offset those reductions.

Planned Parenthood would lose federal money

Federal taxpayer money is already barred from paying for abortions in most cases.

The bill would also ban federal funds going to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, for other purposes like family planning programs and cancer screenings.

The group says that one-third of its roughly 600 clinics across the U.S. could face closure as a result of the legislation, and that states where abortion is legal would be hardest hit.

At least one other group says it also stands to lose funding because of the provision. Maine Family Planning has 19 sites and subcontracts with other health care organizations, including Planned Parenthood, to provide services at other locations across the rural state.

Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, and Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

By JAIMIE DING and JULIE WATSON, The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Famed Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. has been arrested for entering US illegally and will be deported to Mexico, where he faces organized crime charges, federal officials said Thursday.

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The arrest comes only days after the former middleweight champion fought in a match against Jake Paul in Anaheim, California. a

The Department of Homeland Security said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained Chávez for overstaying a tourist visa that expired in February 2024 after he entered the country in August 2023.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services flagged ICE about Chávez last year, saying he “is an egregious public safety threat,” and yet he was allowed back into the country Jan. 4 of this year, the agency said.

Officials said he has an active arrest warrant in Mexico for his involvement in organized crime and trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives and is believed to be an affiliate of the Sinaloa Cartel. ICE agents arrested Chávez in Studio City, California on July 2.

Chavez’s attorney Michael Goldstein said the boxer was picked up by a large number of federal agents while he was riding a scooter in front of his home in Studio City. Goldstein did not know where Chavez was being detained as of Thursday morning, but said they were due in court on Monday for his criminal charges.

The administration said Chavez applied for a green card on April, 2, 2024, based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, who is connected to the Sinaloa Cartel through a prior relationship with the now-deceased son of imprisoned cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. The agency said he had submitted multiple fraudulent statements on his application, which led to his arrest.

Chávez had fought just once since 2021 before his bout with Paul, having fallen to innumerable lows during a lengthy boxing career conducted in the shadow of his father, one of the most beloved athletes in Mexican history. The son has failed drug tests, served suspensions and egregiously missed weight while being widely criticized for his intermittent dedication to the sport

He still rose to its heights, winning the WBC middleweight title in 2011 and defending it three times. Chávez shared the ring with generational greats Canelo Álvarez and Sergio Martinez, losing to both.

By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans muscled President Donald Trump’s tax and spending cut bill through the House on Thursday, the final step necessary to get the bill to his desk by the GOP’s self-imposed deadline of July 4th.

At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations.

Democrats united against the legislation, but were powerless to stop it as long as Republicans stayed united. The Senate passed the bill, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tiebreaking vote. The House passed an earlier iteration of the bill in May with just one vote to spare. It passed the final version 218-214.

Here’s the latest on what’s in the bill.

Tax cuts are the priority

Republicans say the bill is crucial because there would be a massive tax increase after December when tax breaks from Trump’s first term expire. The legislation contains about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.

The existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent under the bill, solidifying the tax cuts approved in Trump’s first term.

It temporarily would add new tax deductions on tip, overtime and auto loans. There’s also a $6,000 deduction for older adults who earn no more than $75,000 a year, a nod to his pledge to end taxes on Social Security benefits.

It would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200. Millions of families at lower income levels would not get the full credit.

A cap on state and local deductions, called SALT, would quadruple to $40,000 for five years. It’s a provision important to New York and other high tax states, though the House wanted it to last for 10 years.

There are scores of business-related tax cuts, including allowing businesses to immediately write off 100% of the cost of equipment and research. Proponents say this will boost economic growth.

The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, and the bill would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, mainly due to reductions in Medicaid and food aid, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House’s version.

Money for deportations, a border wall and the Golden Dome

The bill would provide some $350 billion for Trump’s border and national security agenda, including for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds, as he aims to fulfill his promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history.

Money would go for hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses and a surge of Border Patrol officers, as well. The goal is to deport some 1 million people per year.

To help pay for it, immigrants would face various new fees, including when seeking asylum protections.

For the Pentagon, the bill would provide billions for ship building, munitions systems, and quality of life measures for servicemen and women, as well as $25 billion for the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system. The Defense Department would have $1 billion for border security.

How to pay for it? Cuts to Medicaid and other programs

To help partly offset the lost tax revenue and new spending, Republicans aim to cut back on Medicaid and food assistance for people below the poverty line .

Republicans argue they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse.

The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including older people up to age 65. Parents of children 14 and older would have to meet the program’s work requirements.

There’s also a proposed new $35 co-payment that can be charged to patients using Medicaid services.

More than 71 million people rely on Medicaid, which expanded under Obama’s Affordable Care Act, and 40 million use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Most already work, according to analysts.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill became law and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps, also known as SNAP benefits.

Republicans are looking to have states pick up some of the cost for SNAP benefits. Currently, the federal government funds all benefit costs. Under the bill, states beginning in 2028 will be required to contribute a set percentage of those costs if their payment error rate exceeds 6%. Payment errors include both underpayments and overpayments.

But the Senate bill temporarily delays the start date of that cost-sharing for states with the highest SNAP error rates. Alaska has the highest error rate in the nation at nearly 25%, according to Department of Agriculture data. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, had fought for the exception. She was a decisive vote in getting the bill through the Senate.

A ‘death sentence’ for clean energy?

Republicans are proposing to dramatically roll back tax breaks designed to boost clean energy projects fueled by renewable sources such as energy and wind. The tax breaks were a central component of President Joe Biden’s 2022 landmark bill focused on addressing climate change and lowering health care costs.

Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden went so far as to call the GOP provisions a “death sentence for America’s wind and solar industries and an inevitable hike in utility bills.”

A tax break for people who buy new or used electric vehicles would expire on Sept. 30 of this year, instead of at the end of 2032 under current law.

Meanwhile, a tax credit for the production of critical materials will be expanded to include metallurgical coal used in steelmaking.

Trump savings accounts and so, so much more

A number of extra provisions reflect other GOP priorities.

The bill creates a new children’s savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury.

The Senate provided $40 million to establish Trump’s long-sought “National Garden of American Heroes.”

There’s a new excise tax on university endowments and a new tax on remittances, or transfers of money that people in the U.S. send abroad. The tax is equal to 1% of the transfer.

A $200 tax on gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns was eliminated.

One provision bars for one year Medicaid payments to family planning providers that provide abortions, namely Planned Parenthood.

Another section expands the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, a hard-fought provision from GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, for those impacted by nuclear development and testing.

Billions would go for the Artemis moon mission and for the exploration of Mars, while $88 million is earmarked for a pandemic response accountability committee.

Additionally, a provision would increase the nation’s debt limit, by $5 trillion, to allow continued borrowing to pay already accrued bills.

Last-minute changes

The Senate overwhelmingly revolted against a proposal meant to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence. Republican governors across the country asked for the moratorium to be removed and the Senate voted to do so with a resounding 99-1 vote.

A provision was thrown in at the final hours that will provide $10 billion annually to rural hospitals for five years, or $50 billion in total. The Senate bill had originally provided $25 billion for the program, but that number was upped to win over holdout GOP senators and a coalition of House Republicans warning that reduced Medicaid provider taxes would hurt rural hospitals.

The amended bill also stripped out a new tax on wind and solar projects that use a certain percentage of components from China.

What’s the final cost?

Altogether, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the bill would increase federal deficits over the next 10 years by nearly $3.3 trillion from 2025 to 2034.

Or not, depending on how one does the math.

Senate Republicans are proposing a unique strategy of not counting the existing tax breaks as a new cost because those breaks are already “current policy.” Republican senators say the Senate Budget Committee chairman has the authority to set the baseline for the preferred approach.

Under the alternative Senate GOP view, the bill would reduce deficits by almost half a trillion dollars over the coming decade, the CBO said.

Democrats say this is “magic math” that obscures the true costs of the tax breaks. Some nonpartisan groups worried about the country’s fiscal trajectory are siding with Democrats in that regard. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says Senate Republicans were employing an “accounting gimmick that would make Enron executives blush.”

___

A man who pleaded guilty to threats of violence outside a St. Paul school, causing it to go into lockdown, was sentenced this week to three years of supervised probation.

Marcelo Rubio Loredo, 41, was accused of being outside Hmong College Prep Academy with a machete that he used to threaten staff members. He tried to get into the charter school at 1515 Brewster St., just east of Snelling Avenue, through a locked door in May 2024, according to a criminal complaint.

Marcelo Rubio Loredo (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Loredo pleaded guilty to one count of felony threats of violence in reckless disregard of the risk and another count of the same charge was dismissed. The complaint said he raised the machete over his shoulder in a swinging manner, which a staff member took as a threat.

He told an investigator that he had left his job and was looking for something to eat. He said he had the machete because he was working on a yard, the charges say.

Ramsey County District Court Judge Sophia Vuelo sentenced Loredo on Tuesday to 91 days in custody, which he’s already served.

State sentencing guidelines recommended a one-year stayed sentence, according to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

Loredo received a stay of imposition, which means the sentence will be reduced to a misdemeanor if he successfully completes probation and the sentence is not imposed due to a probation violation, the county attorney’s office said.

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