Politics and views in the United States.

As Congress debates Medicaid cuts and emissions rollbacks, former presidential candidate John Kasich calls for protecting vulnerable Americans, veterans link fossil fuel dependence to military deaths, and federal funding cuts threaten health and jobs.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

Medicaid reform, it has to be done from the standpoint of making sure that those who are the least among us, the most vulnerable, are not neglected or shut out.

2016 Republican presidential candidate John Kasich says budget cuts must protect the most vulnerable.

Kasich was governor when Ohio expanded Medicaid under Obamacare, and it now covers a quarter of the state population.

Proposals for cutting the program that provides health care for the poor, disabled and seniors include work requirements or capping individual benefits.

President Donald Trump says he's open to brokering peace between India and Pakistan after India launched airstrikes targeting suspected terrorist sites.

Pakistan says the strikes killed at least 26 civilians and amount to an act of war.

India's description of its attack as non-escalatory suggests they may not be interested in expanding the conflict between the nuclear powers.

But analysts fear Pakistan may feel it still needs to respond.

At the Vatican, black smoke from the Sistine Chapel signals no new pope has been elected.

Cardinals will continue voting.

Congress is expected to vote this week on revoking federal waivers that let states like California set stricter vehicle pollution rules than the national standards.

Laura Kate Bender with the American Lung Association compares that move with their annual survey of air quality.

It's clear from this year's report that people are still breathing too much unhealthy air and that we need to work harder than ever to implement the great policies we already have on the books.

Massachusetts conservationists are raising concerns about funding cuts for the Appalachian Trail.

Hawk Matheny with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy says 5,000 volunteers are struggling to fill the gap as agency layoffs and frozen funds jeopardize upkeep on the beloved and iconic path through 14 states.

We're carrying on.

We've been here 100 years and we'll endure through this.

It is the people's trail, the citizens' trail, so it's an all-hands effort.

Veterans who are elected officials gathered in Washington to stress that climate change is a national security threat.

Elected officials to protect America warns that losing Inflation Reduction Act investments could threaten both public health and military readiness.

Dr. Pat Spearman is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and former Nevada state senator.

It's about the people that we lose.

Six out of every 10 deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan were somehow related to oil, guarding it, moving it, offloading it, something.

How many more must die because we can't curb our appetite for fossil fuels?

New data shows dark money groups spent nearly $2 billion in the 2024 election, doubling the anonymously donated political funding from the previous presidential cycle.

The Department of Justice has quietly canceled over $800 million in grant funding, cutting federal support for crime prevention and non-profit-led public safety efforts.

I'm Farah Siddiqui for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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