No, the Dems Aren’t Trying to Fund Health Care for ‘Illegal Aliens’; RFK Jr. Says There’s a Correlation Between Autism and … Circumcision? Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Oct. 9, 2025

Indy Digest: Oct. 9, 2025

The federal government shutdown continues—and it could go on for a while.

If you’ve been listening to the Trump administration and the Republican congressional leadership, the shutdown is all the Democrats’ fault (even though the GOP controls all three branches of the federal government), because the Dems insist on funding health care for, in their words, “illegal aliens.”

This claim is, as NBC News puts it, “highly misleading.” As I would put it, the claim is a lie. NBC News explains:

The Democratic bill would not change existing law barring people who are in the U.S. illegally from getting federal health care coverage.

The dispute centers around immigrants whom the federal government has decreed as “lawfully present,” but who haven’t formally been given legal status that is enforceable in court.

There are an estimated 1.4 million people considered “lawfully present” in the United States—including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program beneficiaries, who came to the U.S. illegally as children; people who have Temporary Protected Status; and refugees and people seeking asylum who are still going through the legal process. Republicans are seeking to prohibit Medicaid or ACA eligibility for those groups.

They are not “undocumented” or “illegal” immigrants. The government knows who they are, and many are going through the process of seeking official legal status or green cards. Among other things, they are not unlawful border-crossers who have been flagged for deportation.

The GOP law prohibited those “lawfully present” immigrants from accessing federal health care programs. The Democratic bill would restore that access—but not for undocumented people who lack protected status—while also restoring the $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts, a core goal for Democrats.

In other words: The Dems are fighting to restore health care to a whole lot of U.S. citizens, and migrants in the country who are “lawfully present”—not people sneaking across the border for reasons nefarious or otherwise.

The Trump administration issued a “fact sheet” titled “FACT: Democrats Shut Down Government Over Free Healthcare for Illegals,” which is beyond ridiculous. It starts with typical Trumpian speak (and the emphasis below is theirs, not mine):

“Democrats and their Fake News allies want you to believe it’s all a lie that Democrats shut down the government over free healthcare for illegal aliens.

Except that’s exactly what happened. As Vice President JD Vance said, “It’s not something that we made up. It’s not a talking point. It is in the text of the bill that they initially gave to us to reopen the government.”

Among the spurious facts is: “Democrats’ proposal would once again allow those improperly granted asylum and parole under Biden’s open borders scheme to receive Medicaid.”

Here’s what NBC News has to say about that: “The White House also says the Biden administration abused the immigration parole program to grant temporary entry to the U.S. for people who shouldn’t have received it. But if the Trump administration revoked that parole status, those individuals would lose their eligibility for any health care coverage under the Democratic proposal.”

So .. yeah, a lie.

This dispute is making for some interesting political bedfellows. The Hill reports:

“Hours after Trump’s comments Monday (in which Trump expressed an openness to working out an agreement on health care that could end the shutdown, before backtracking), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) released a long post on the social platform X that ripped her party over the subsidies issue.

“I’m absolutely disgusted that health insurance premiums will DOUBLE if the tax credits expire this year,” Greene wrote, a message that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) read aloud on the Senate floor Tuesday morning.

“Rep. Greene is absolutely right,” he said. 

Greene’s criticism was dismissed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who said she was ill-informed.

Which side will blink first—and how many people will be hurt as the shutdown drags on? Stay tuned.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• The president is increasing his rhetoric against his political opponents—to dictator-ish levels. The New York Times explains: “In the span of a few hours on Wednesday, President Trump threatened to jail the Democratic governor of Illinois and the mayor of Chicago; suggested a Democratic senator should be punished for questioning his administration; described left-wing protesters in Portland as ‘insurrectionists’; and endorsed out-of-state troops descending on Democratic-run cities. Increasingly, Mr. Trump has made clear what he views as the top threat against America: what he calls the ‘enemy from within.’ And his definition of that enemy is expanding, particularly as he looks to deploy the military on the streets of American cities. ‘He is escalating his rhetoric to focus on domestic enemies, and it’s pretty open-ended,’ said Robert A. Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago. ‘It’s very clear it’s on the liberal side of the house. But it’s not clear where the boundaries are.’”

• Meanwhile, Time magazine had good reason to ask a question: “Trump Is Threatening to Use the Insurrection Act to Deploy Troops in the U.S. Can He?” The answer? “The Insurrection Act has been invoked on multiple occasions over the years. The last time was in 1992, when President George H.W. Bush deployed the National Guard, at the request of former California Gov. Pete Wilson, to suppress unrest in Los Angeles following the acquittal of four white police officers who were filmed beating Rodney King, an unarmed black man. The act has also been invoked without the permission or request of a state. President Dwight Eisenhower, for instance, sent the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Ark., in 1957 against the wishes of the governor to quell opposition to the integration of Central High School. (Law professor Chris) Mirasola tells TIME that when the law was used before, it was in response to ‘situations that are far more extreme than what we currently see in Portland or Chicago,’ in which there were ‘riots and civil disturbances that are so large that federal functions literally cannot be exercised’ and necessitated the intervention of the military.“

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• Now here’s an absolutely bonkers headline: “Health Secretary Kennedy, Trump link circumcision to autism through Tylenol.” Yes, really. USA Today reports: “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expanded his crusade against using Tylenol with a cutting-edge warning: boys who were circumcised were twice as likely to be diagnosed with autism later. ‘There are two studies that show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism,’ Kennedy said Oct. 9 at President Donald Trump’s Cabinet meeting. ‘It’s highly likely because they’re given Tylenol.’ Kennedy and Trump set off a political firestorm Sept. 22 when they urged pregnant women not to take Tylenol because of the unproven risk that its active ingredient acetaminophen increases the risk of autism. The recommendation remains contentious. Tylenol’s manufacturer, Kenvue, said it continues to evaluate scientific studies but that studies found ‘no causal link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and fetal developmental issues.’”

• Disruption to air travel due to the government shutdown is increasing. The Washington Post says: “A week into the government shutdown—and days before the start of a holiday weekend—travelers at some U.S. airports have already been feeling the pain of flight delays. There have been more than 12,000 flights delayed at U.S. airports from Monday through Wednesday evening, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware. But it’s not clear how many can be blamed on the shutdown. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy has warned that delays and cancellations could result from the lapse in funding. Air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers are supposed to work without knowing when they will be paid; Duffy said this week there had been a ‘slight tick-up’ in controllers calling in sick.”

• A cybersecurity expert, writing for The Conversation, says the shutdown is hurting the nation’s cybersecurity efforts, too: “As the United States experiences its latest government shutdown, most of the daily operations of the federal government have ground to a halt. This includes much of the day-to-day work done by federal information technology and cybersecurity employees, including those at the nation’s leading civilian cybersecurity agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. CISA is among the entities that will see the deepest staffing reductions during the shutdown that began Oct. 1, 2025, according to Department of Homeland Security documentation. Only about one-third of its employees remain on the job after federal employees were furloughed. … The agency was already experiencing deep cuts to its staff and resources before the shutdown. And now, coinciding with the shutdown, a key law that enabled the agency to facilitate information-sharing with the private sector has expired. Taken together, the cyberdefense agency is being hobbled at a time when the need for its services has never been greater, from the ongoing China-led Salt Typhoon attack on U.S. telecommunications networks to ransomware, data breaches and threats to infrastructure.”

• Today’s recall news involves … Aldi spring rolls! Allrecipes explains: “The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has announced a recall for Tai Foong USA spring rolls that were produced exclusively for Aldi and sold under the name Fusia Asian Inspirations Veggie Spring Rolls. The boxes, which are labeled as Veggie Spring Rolls, may actually contain Fusia Asian Inspirations Shrimp Spring Rolls, and therefore, the packaging does not have the correct allergen warning, which the FDA requires. … The recalled Veggie Spring Rolls were sold at Aldi stores nationwide in 10-ounce packages and can be identified by the UPC 4099100222258 and ‘Best Before’ date May 17, 2027.”

• And finally … Matt King, the Independent’s music writer, does a LOT more than just write for the Independent. Frankly, I don’t know when he has time to sleep. Our friends at the Indio Post talked to Matt regarding one of his newest projects: It Came From the Desert! Vol. 3. Some details: “A new Halloween-themed record featuring local artists and original music is bewitching the valley with its spooky selections and macabre musical stylings. Several of the featured bands will be haunting Center Stage in Downtown Indio this weekend for a release party. The album, It Came From the Desert!, Vol. 3 is the brainchild of Matt King, local music journalist and a musician himself. Volume 3 is 34 tracks long, more than double the length of the first volume King released in 2022. … Each villainous volume is structured around a fictional radio broadcast on 106.6 KILL. In between the songs, hosts will break in with an interlude to tell you what’s next on the set list until desert-themed horrors and cryptids come on to the scene.” That show on Saturday, Oct. 11 at Center Stage is highly recommended!

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