"The pattern of failure — in what was now three separate cases — suggested that something extraordinary was taking place in the city’s federal courts." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/u...
New York Times journalist covering cities and urban policy for The Upshot. emily.badger@nytimes.com, ebadger.21 on Signal
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"The pattern of failure — in what was now three separate cases — suggested that something extraordinary was taking place in the city’s federal courts." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/u...
A review of about a thousand arrests made in the first two weeks of the federal law enforcement surge in DC suggests that the operation has been more of a sprawling dragnet than a targeted crime-fighting operation: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/u...
In detailed budget logs it tried to keep from public view, the White House is trying to wrest more control over spending from Congress. (and this was *before* last night's pocket recision) www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/u...
"I have determined the business need is higher than the security risk associated with this implementation and I accept all risks,” said the DOGE worker who uploaded everyone's Social Security information to the cloud: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/u...
That story here: www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/u...
Been thinking about this graphic we published last fall after the election. Most large, diverse cities shifted toward Trump, one of the major stories of 2024. D.C. notably broke that pattern. It barely shifted at all. People knew the stakes.
Strange, I was told congestion pricing would turn Manhattan into a ghost town
Random little triangles of land on residential blocks created by the city's diagonal street grid... those are federal land too.
Did you know that the road medians on Pennsylvania Ave. in SE are National Park Service land?
Here is the federal government owning a stream bed in NE DC
The excellent Amy Fan map of the federal footprint in this story is now interactive! Some of the details in it are so weird. Look around.
Spot on. I would note that there are 43 law enforcement agencies operating in Washington, the majority of which are federal. The Capitol Hill police alone have a force about the size of Cleveland's municipal police.
The president wants to “take back” DC, but the federal government never really let it go. It touches nearly every aspect of life in the city, making it harder for local officials to manage even the things Trump cares most about. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/u...
“Official statistics, government statistics are a mirror that society holds up to itself." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/b...
Today Gov Hochul announced new details on the IBX, a 14-mile light-rail line that will connect Brooklyn and Queens directly. Take a ride on the future line with us! Free link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
States know even more about you than the federal government does. The Trump administration is now trying to access that data, too: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/u...
Good news www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/u...
Wild that the National Capital Planning Commission now sits at the center of Trump's campaign to pressure the Fed chair to lower interest rates: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/u...
New: I teamed up with @elenashao.bsky.social and nytgraphics to map more than 100 public TV and radio stations that are at risk of closing as a result of tonight's vote: www.nytimes.com/interactive/... This is a time bomb that will go off in the fall, when the last federal grants run out.
And link here to a helpful new Furman Center report on work requirements and time limits in housing assistance: www.localhousingsolutions.org/policy-insig...
As that AP story points out, private landlords who accept vouchers won't like this. For all the program's hassles and paperwork, its major upside for landlords is the stability of long-term reliably paying tenants.
The Trump admin would like to put a 2-year time limit on federal housing assistance for the non-elderly or disabled. 70% of such households now in subsidized housing have already been there that long: apnews.com/article/hud-...
"It was an exercise of power, not reason." Helpful @adamliptak.bsky.social context on recent SCOTUS moves: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/16/u...
The "DEI" science grants the Trump administration has canceled include some that support young scientists from rural and first-gen college backgrounds: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/u...
Republicans want states to cut food aid errors. Their bill could do the opposite: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/u...
How the GOP mega-bill bill finds its savings: piling more paperwork on the poor. w/ @sangerkatz.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/06/29/u...
Since Mamdani won the Dem NYC mayor nomination with a free bus proposal, let's talk about free transit. Research suggests that free transit: a—increases ridership b—doesn't get people out of cars c—benefits youth, elderly & low-income ppl d—doesn't add employment e—maybe ups operational efficiency
We pored through more than 900 grants worth $2.6 billion that the Trump administration canceled at Harvard. “This is larger than any individual grant,” a researcher told us. “What we are losing is a future.” www.nytimes.com/interactive/... With @emmbadger.bsky.social and @ethansinger.bsky.social
Rather than softening the Medicaid cuts in Republican's megabill, the Senate has made them even more aggressive: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/u...
Mr. Musk and his allies systematically built a false narrative of widespread fraud at the Social Security Administration based on misinterpreted data: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/u...
Big tax cut bills typically don't leave the poor worse off. Bills cutting the safety net don't normally include benefits for the rich. The GOP reconciliation bill is something we haven't really seen before. w/ @aliciaparlap.bsky.social + @sangerkatz.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
"We are not cutting Medicaid in this package." "We're not doing any cutting of anything meaningful." "the largest deficit reduction in nearly 30 years" These are lies. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/02/u...
RFK's "Make America Healthy Again" report cites studies that don't even exist: www.notus.org/health-scien...
The MTA today won a temporary restraining order against the federal government's attempts to shut down congestion pricing. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/n...
NEW: Under Trump, the National Science Foundation is awarding grants at the slowest pace in decades. We took a detailed look at every area of science affected by the funding lag. Here's a gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Plastic Spoons, Umbrellas, Violins: A Guide to What Americans Buy From China www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
For all Trump's focus on trade deficits with China, we actually have a big surplus in one area -- selling U.S. higher education to foreign students. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/u...
yes!
Easily one of my favorite stories we've ever worked on. Have you ever... not gotten around to opening your mail for a week or two? That's the kind of thing that will get a low-income family kicked off benefits. The GOP reconciliation bill would ramp up such hurdles.
Here's a complete list of *everything* in the GOP megabill, thanks to heroic efforts from @aliciaparlap.bsky.social @emmbadger.bsky.social and Josh Katz. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
You can see more of the details on exactly what’s in the bill the House just passed here in this extremely long table we’ve compiled at the Upshot: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Together, these provisions serve the purpose of pushing more of the cost of SNAP onto states. And when states cannot afford that, benefits will be cut. But there’s plausible deniability for Congress baked into federalism: it’ll appear to be the states cutting these benefits, not them.
This one changes how error rates are calculated, and will have the effect of making these numbers higher everywhere. Currently, when states make small under- or overpayments – today <$57 — those errors are excluded from their error rate. The new GOP bill says *any error above $0* will be counted.
In 2023 data, Alaksa had an error rate of 60 percent. New Jersey: 35 percent South Carolina: 23 percent fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/defaul... But there’s also another provision in the bill…
The new bill would require states to contribute 5% toward the monthly SNAP allotments families receive. And the rate increases from there depending the state’s SNAP error rate – the rate at which state agencies over- or underpay benefits in an annual review of a sample of cases.
The reconciliation bill passed by the House GOP yesterday alters the social safety net in many significant ways that are easy to miss if you blink. Let’s take, for one, SNAP, a program where the federal government currently pays 100% of benefits.
Republicans in the House just passed the strictest Medicaid work requirements they have ever put forward, via @sangerkatz + @sarahkliff: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/u...
As Congress Debates Cutting Medicaid, a Major Study Shows It Saves Lives: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/h...
This trend of boys and men falling behind has profound consequences for American society. If you have been thinking about them, experiencing them, witnessing them with your own sons, @clairecm.bsky.social wants to hear from you: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/u...
Boys and young men are falling behind -- in school, in college, in young adulthood, in the labor market. via @clairecm.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/u...
That's a question that will be easier to answer after we have about a year of data.
Wow! Each $1 spent on Universal Pre-Kindergarten generates between $3-$20 dollars in aggregate earnings. That's enough to offset the costs of Universal Pre-Kindergarten through higher tax revenues.
congestion pricing is the only thing in politics that makes me feel any hope rn
Excellent NYT graphic. In the space of about 3 months, tariffs on China: -- doubled; -- went up ≈ 2.5X from there; -- roughly doubled again; -- went up ≈ 40% from there; -- and now have dropped ≈ 80% from the peak -- but are still 3X what they were in February. www.nytimes.com/article/trum...
Policy changes often take years to show results. And then there is congestion pricing in New York. Here are all of the ways we could find it having an immediate effect: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Fascinating story by @sangerkatz.bsky.social + Sarah Kliff on an accounting trick nearly every states uses to collect extra federal Medicaid dollars — now potentially targeted by House Republicans looking for savings. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/u...
DOGE appears on pace to far undershoot Musk's cost-cutting goals. But that is not the right way to think about Musk's legacy, per @juliaangwin.com. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/o...
For months now the federal government has been claiming in court that DOGE merely *advises* and *consults* with agencies. Good @lawfaremedia.org piece on the administrative paper trail now emerging in court that clearly disproves this: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/on-d...
"We are giving New York one last chance..." A third federal deadline to halt congestion pricing! From @stefanoschen.bsky.social + Winnie Hu www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/n...
Many thanks to @normative.bsky.social + @noahkunin.bsky.social for wanting to record a podcast about a spreadsheet about a bunch of privacy impact assessments!
Little snippet of the latest WatchCats with NYT’s Emily Badger explaining how DOGE misrepresents the money it’s supposedly saving. youtube.com/shorts/cDgon...
@emmbadger.bsky.social and @sheeraf.bsky.social looked at how the Trump administration is trying to access data the government keeps on Americans and link it together. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/i...
During the pandemic the Labor Department suggested states create "pseudo records" to track unemployment fraud while protecting identity theft victims -- basically, records of real fraud tied to make-believe people. This week DOGE discovered those make-believe people. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/12/u...
Setting aside whether you trust DOGE or any government agency not to abuse access to this much of your data, the mere act of centralizing it increases the risks and costs of it being hacked or leaked. China's public security bureau found this out the hard way 3 yrs ago: www.wsj.com/articles/vas...
A disturbing catalog of the personal data DOGE is getting access to (with a bonus cameo by yours truly) www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/u...
Here's the personal data DOGE has accessed or sought to access, compiled into one terrifying image (from @emmbadger.bsky.social & @sheeraf.bsky.social's excellent story: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/u...). And as the article notes: "If anything, this list is an undercount."
Staggering potential for abuse here. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/u...
Wondering what type of data the US government gathers on you, (and which the DOGE team now wants to link together)? @emmbadger.bsky.social and I took a look at all the databases the Trump Admin is trying to access: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/u...
The government knows an enormous amount about you in the data systems DOGE has sought to access. Just for starters: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/u...
Long waits, waves of calls, website crashes: Social Security is breaking down www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
DOGE, which operates with a spirit of moving fast and breaking things across the rest of the government, says it cannot be expected to move fast and set up a FOIA operation.
Fantastic piece from @sangerkatz.bsky.social + @aliciaparlap.bsky.social asking budget wonks to help explain what's so shady about GOP plans to make their tax cut look free. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
God’s work from the @nytimes.com aka math www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/u...
"A staffer asked if any Montana residents were among them, and then directed them to the hallway." www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/u...
Imagine if all of government reported data like DOGE does -- deleting numbers, altering them without notice, pointing numbers to the wrong things. w/ another awesome @ethansinger.bsky.social graphic: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/u...
Fantastic graphs by @aatishb.bsky.social + Irineo Cabreros showing how covid broke the trendline on... everything five years ago. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
So many verboten words in the federal government now I could not fit them on one screengrab www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Parents in Maine can no longer check a box in a hospital form to register their newborns for Social Security numbers because of a contract the SSA canceled with the state, for no apparent reason. www.huffpost.com/entry/maine-...
Really good NYT Opinion videos with fired inspectors general: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
it's a team sport!
It's not a "$2 billion penalty on American taxpayers." It's taxpayers paying a bill for services the government contracted on their behalf.
To be clear, this is money largely owed to organizations to pay for work they already did that the federal government asked them to do.
DC folks, want to talk about something else tomorrow night? We're discussing Deirdre Mask's very fun "The Address Book" at Solid State: www.solidstatebooksdc.com/ssb-read-the...
This is kind! But my lead contribution is just having a byline that comes first in the alphabet. @ethansinger.bsky.social made this wonderful graphic.
The federal government spends a lot on contracts with outside organizations — most of it in places where DOGE isn't cutting. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
DOGE this week also for the first time started posting a list of grants it says it has cut -- with zero information needed to look up or assess them.
DOGE updated its "wall of receipts" this week and removed about 1,000 contracts that the group had claimed last week to have canceled -- more than 40 percent of their listings. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/03/u...
In NE DC near Union Market
I'll yell until I'm blue in the face about this, but it's wild to see what @kateconger.com and I saw at Twitter, play out in the federal government. Musk *welcomes* a challenge in court. He is willing to risk being sued. Everything flows from that mindset. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/u...
"For all of the Chicken Littles out there, the economy in the congestion zone has been humming." nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/02/27/m...
What Can House Republicans Cut Instead of Medicaid? Not Much. via @sangerkatz.bsky.social + @aliciaparlap.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/u...
President Trump has lauded a House budget blueprint that would enable Congress to pass much of his legislative agenda. That budget passed a committee vote and could hit the House floor as soon as this evening.
The $400M worth of State Department Teslas? Trump admin said that started in Biden White House. But I obtained a document showing the amount Biden's State Department planned to spend on EVs: $483,000. Former WH official on $400M: "I don’t think this is a clerical error" www.npr.org/2025/02/24/n...
The Privacy Impact Assessment OPM published about the new email system that allows it to send messages government-wide specifically says *any responses are voluntary.* That's in conflict with Musk's demand for messages by midnight tonight. www.opm.gov/media/kfpozk...
DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/u...
Is that legal? A super helpful compilation from Francesca Paris + @charliesavage.bsky.social of the major moves in Trump's first month of office, with this key: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/u...
They have a lot less faith that Republicans in Congress will move to do anything about it.
Americans overwhelmingly want Trump to follow court rulings if they conclude he has overstepped legal bounds. From a new WaPo survey: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
How many people over 100 years old are collecting Social Security checks? Not a lot. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/u...
On the "wall of receipts" it published yesterday, DOGE claimed $8 billion of savings on one contract. It was actually an $8 million contract. from @sangerkatz.bsky.social @aatishb.bsky.social @ethansinger.bsky.social + Josh Katz www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/u...