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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦
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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦
@dpugel
Husband, dad, wonk with @kypolicy & runner, preferably on trails. Trying to bring Shalom to the commonwealth. The plural of anecdote is not data.
Lexington, KY Katılım Haziran 2010
2.2K Takip Edilen1.3K Takipçiler
Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
1 in 6 Kentuckians don’t have enough to eat. However, there are several bills in the #GA26 could help Kentucky use our strongest tool against hunger, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 🧵
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This report shows there were an average of 455 incidents of people lying to get or selling their EBT benefits... out of a state of 13 million.
Come on.
Also the data is from the FBI Crime Data Explorer, which means these folks were prosecuted.
RealClearPennsylvania@RealClearPA
PA's Welfare Fraud Rate Soars 165% in 2025 dlvr.it/TRbvPh
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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
The Senate budget eases some cuts proposed by the House by spending $ that the House put into the already huge rainy day fund. It also includes a 13th check for retirees. But it includes less in K-12 SEEK than the House budget and continues 7% cuts for many agencies.
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Providing fewer people with badly-needed food (at a time when groceries are much more expensive) while also costing the state more in administration and potentially much more in benefits?
Doesn't sound like a very good recipe to me.
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It also greatly increases the number of times benefit levels are calculated.
Every time the state calculates a benefit level it is an opportunity for errors. And thanks to HR 1 from last year, more errors require more state spending on benefits.
Up to $180 million in our case.
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SB 257 would kick off 40,000 people automatically due to a lower gross income threshold. That includes:
-17,000 children
-6,600 seniors
Many more would likely lose food because of computer mis-matches and paperwork confusion.
KyPolicy@KyPolicy
At a time of rising grocery costs, SB 257 would create a host of new barriers for people to access needed food assistance, resulting in fewer Kentuckians receiving help with grocery bills and new costs to the state. #kyga26 kypolicy.org/senate-bill-25…
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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
TODAY: join us for the #ThriveKY Virtual Forum with CHFS! Get timely updates on Medicaid, SNAP, #KYGA26, federal/state program changes, and the CHILD Waiver public comment period. With so much happening, don’t miss your chance to stay informed. Register: tinyurl.com/2026ThriveKY
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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
Just In: PCE Inflation was 2.8% in January, a bit below expectations. But Core PCE Inflation was 3.1%, the highest since March 2024.
**PCE Inflation could easily hit 4% this spring due to the war in Iran**
It's notable that PCE shows a lot of spending on healthcare where costs are clearly rising in 2026.
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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
Yikes. Big revision down to Q4 GDP data.
Q4 GDP was a mere +0.7% (the initial estimate was +1.4%)
The government shutdown really hurt growth.
The key is consumer spending. It was 2% in Q4. That's a clear slowdown from 3.5% in Q3, but it shows some resilience at the end of 2025 (though that will be tested this spring).
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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
New: Data from the federal government's Quarterly Services Survey shows hospital revenues in the fourth quarter of 2025 were up 10.9% from the year before. That drives up insurance premiums and patient costs.
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Health care is expensive for everyone - and it’s having a major impact on household finances, health and family decisions.
Cutting Medicaid at the federal or state levels won’t make that any better.
washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/03…
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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
JUST IN: A cool February inflation reading. Inflation remained at 2.4% (y/y) in February, the same as January. This reading was before the war in Iran began, so gas prices were still below $3 average.
-->Note that some items had larger than normal increases in February including fuel oil, utility gas, apparel, groceries and medical care.
The monthly gain (just for month of Feb.) was 0.3%.
“Core inflation” (excluding food and energy) was 2.5%
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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
The biggest problem for many Americans is that we have "whack-a-mole" inflation. Just as some items get back to more normal price points, other items start spiking. It's hard to budget and plan when you don't know what's spiking next.
Look at the February data.
Overall 2.4% inflation isn't bad.
But...
Restaurants +3.9%
Medical care +4.1%
Electricity +4.8%
Utility gas +10.9%
And we all know gas prices spiked since this data was collected. It's hard for moderate-income Americans when food, utilities, gas and medical care are rising quickly.
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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
Last year Republicans passed the biggest cuts to Medicaid, ever. But, those cuts did not include structural changes to Medicaid like a block grant, per capita cap, or reduced federal matching payments for Medicaid expansion, which would likely be on the table with more cuts.
Meredith Lee Hill@meredithllee
NEW: Key House Republicans are pushing for more spending cuts across social safety net programs in a second party-line bill - including Medicaid Budget Chair Jodey Arrington told @politico he's planning to discuss with House Republicans later today a raft of fraud prevention offsets across welfare and more. He also wants to pair military spending with cuts across the Pentagon. but vulnerable Rs are already wary of more sensitive spending cuts - “I’m going to listen to everything,” said Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.). “I think we need to be very thoughtful about what we do and how we go about doing that.” Other Rs raised concerns about the ability to pull off another party-line bill inside the closed-door meeting this morning, per 3 ppl in the room politico.com/live-updates/2…
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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
While most adults with Medicaid do not have access to job-based coverage, when it is available, it can be unaffordable.
About a quarter of working-age adults in expansion states and WI decline employer coverage due to costs: on.kff.org/4rW1LPG
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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
What a chart.
Gas prices are now $3.54, up more than 55 cents since before the war in Iran began.
This is the highest gas price ever under President Trump (including his first term).
This is effectively a $25/mo. tax on most households. (and it's likely to get worse. remember: gas prices are SLOW to go back down)
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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
30 major work stoppages began in 2025 and idled 306,800 workers #BLSData bls.gov/opub/ted/2026/…
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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
Since Jan 2025, the US has lost 526,900 jobs in sectors outside health care and social assistance. Now, for the first time in 4 years, healthcare is also experiencing job losses, -18,600 in February.
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Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 retweetledi
