Who's Taking Apart What America Built?
About The Things That We All Depend On ~1200 words | approx. 9 minutes
Preface: Our communities are facing real struggles. Families have been separated. Public health systems are under pressure. Voting access is being questioned in ways it hasn't been in decades. What's driving that? Something has been changing over the past year or more. The concern in living rooms, congregations, and union halls isn't new — but it's moving from private worry toward public conversation. Think of it like hot coals that have been smoldering: the heat has been there, spreading person to person, but it needs oxygen to become visible. Leaders speaking out — clearly, consistently, together — provides that oxygen.
Something has been changing over the past year or more. The concern in living rooms, congregations, and union halls isn't new — but it's moving from private worry toward public conversation. Think of it like coals that have been smoldering: the heat has been there, spreading person to person, but it needs oxygen to become visible. Leaders speaking out — clearly, consistently, together — provides that oxygen.
Think about the last time your child needed a doctor and help was there. The last time a flood struck your community and emergency workers showed up ready to help. Think of the times you've fed your family without worrying whether the food was safe.
What made those things possible? Who was keeping watch?
For discussion of these states, follow the links.
Alaska Georgia Iowa Maine Michigan N Carolina Ohio
To continue with the the national concerns,
For most of our lives, the answer has been a web of programs — built by Americans across generations — not perfect, but always present. Programs that tracked illness before it spread. Inspectors who caught fraud and waste inside government. Health resources that kept working families from going without care. Emergency systems that kicked in when disaster struck. These are not political favors. They are what America built — because experience taught us that without them, people suffer.
So here is my concern — and I want to share it honestly, because I think you deserve to know what is happening, and I trust you to think it through.
What Has Changed
Beginning in January 2025, the federal government undertook a rapid and sweeping dismantling of agencies, programs, and the experienced people who run them. Some reductions were called efficiency. Some reorganization. But when you look at what was actually eliminated — and who was affected — a striking picture emerges.
Fraud and waste inspectors were illegally fired; the tracking of dangerous food borne illnesses was dramatically curtailed;The Department of Justice and FBI eliminated thousands of jobs; FEMA lost billions of dollars in funding; a budget law that substantially reduced the funding of Medicaid passed Congress and was signed by the President.
Let's take a look at what happens, then, to communities, and to our family and our neighbors.
The Harms Are Already Upon Us
Security and Crime Prevention: The Department of Justice eliminated more than 4,500 positions, including FBI lay-offs of 1,500 employees in February 2025. Plans before Congress are to cut an additional 1,500 FBI positions. The DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis — the only federal agency legally mandated to share threat information with state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement — was reduced by roughly half, from 1,000 to approximately 500 employees.
The Major Cities Chiefs Association, County Sheriffs of America, and the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies wrote directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security, warning that cutting the intelligence office would create "dangerous blind spots in our homeland security network" and leave local officers unable to "detect and prevent threats before they occur." This came from America's own law enforcement community.
Disasters: The administration canceled $3.6 billion in disaster mitigation grants already awarded to communities nationwide; a federal court ordered the funding restored in December 2025. After a period of non-response and non-compliance, some of the funding has been restored, though long term status of the program is uncertain. During the July 4th Texas flooding, Government Executive reported nearly two-thirds of calls to FEMA's emergency line went unanswered.
Waste and Fraud: Federal Inspectors whose job was to catch waste and fraud inside government agencies were fired — which federal courts have found in violation of federal law.
Health and Medical Care: On July 4, 2025, the President signed H.R. 1 into law (the One Big Beautiful Bill.) The Congressional Budget Office projects an increase in the uninsured of 7.5 million through Medicaid and other cuts, rising to 10 million. The Urban Institute's estimates that between 5 and 10 million people will lose Medicaid coverage in the next 2½ years. That could be as many as 1 in every 8 Medicaid patients. Decline in Affordable Care Act and private insurance enrollments add to the plight.
Rural hospitals face additional consequences.
Dr. Jason Deen, a pediatric cardiologist at the University of Washington:
"Medicaid cuts would mean that thousands of children in Central and Eastern Washington would have very poor access to subspecialty care. These babies could die, frankly, because they wouldn't be able to get diagnosed and they wouldn't get the care that they need."
St. Mary’s Health Care System issued a statement recently as it closed its labor-and-delivery services at Sacred Heart Hospital in rural Lavonia:
“Recent Congressional cuts to Medicaid solidified this decision.”
Dr. Anita Somani, Ohio state representative and physician:
“Several rural communities are already health care deserts while other communities have hospitals and clinics which are on the brink of closure.”
Autumn McFann, CFO for FirstHealth of the Carolinas:
“It may unintentionally accelerate rural service line closures, like OB services, oncology services ... and possibly even emergency services.”
Meanwhile, measles cases have exploded — from 58 confirmed cases in 2023 to 2,288 in 2025, with 2,777 more so far this year. Kindergarten vaccination rates have fallen below the level needed to keep children safe. A disease that America worked for generations to eliminate is back, partly because federal vaccination outreach has weakened.
The CDC's FoodNet program — the national program that tracked dangerous foodborne illnesses across 54 million Americans — was cut in July 2025 from checking eight pathogens to just two. Programs cut included cyclospora. As Dr. J. Glenn Morris of the University of Florida observed: "If you want to make foodborne disease go away, then don't look for foodborne disease."
Waste and Fraud: The inspectors whose job was to catch waste and fraud inside government agencies were fired — which federal courts have found in violation of federal law.
This is only a sampling. The damage is widespread across government and across the country. These are not hypothetical. They are our neighbors — and our public safety partners.
Our Communities Are Fighting Back
Here is something important: your community is not standing still.
Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia took the FEMA grant cancellations to court — and a federal judge agreed with them. Local health departments are filling gaps. State legislators are pushing to protect Medicaid. Hospital associations are speaking up. Pediatricians are calling Congress. Faith communities are organizing. Law enforcement agencies across the country are writing warning letters. The doctors, nurses, epidemiologists, food safety inspectors, and emergency managers who built and maintained these systems understand what is at stake. They are asking us to pay attention and join them.
Where Do We Go From Here?
What does it mean when the systems designed to protect us are taken apart, one by one?
The protections that generations of Americans have built belongs to all of us. We can protect it.
Congress has real tools here: it can conduct oversight, set funding priorities, and write the rules under which public services operate. Are members of Congress using those tools to strengthen independent Inspectors General and protect the services your community depends on — local health departments, rural hospitals, Medicaid, children's health programs? How will your members of Congress use those responsibilities to protect the safety, stability, and well-being of our communities? Find out.
Talk about this with your family, friends, faith community, and neighbors. Share reliable information. Ask: What is happening? Who is affected? What can our communities do to protect the public institutions on which we all rely?
Conversation raises awareness. Awareness turns to action. This is not a moment to sit out. Your voice belongs here.
Along with speaking with your local officials, and supporting your hospitals and health departments, one of the most effective tools you have as a citizen is your vote. Plan now to vote in every election: check your registration, make your voting plan, and encourage the people in your life to do the same. Find registration and nonpartisan voting information at vote.org or Vote411.org.
Thank you for being here — and for thinking this through with me.
Sources
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/climate/fema-missed-calls-texas-floods.html
Nextgov/FCW July 1, 2025; CBS News July 3, 2025; Defense One April 6, 2026; Nextgov/FCW April 10, 2026.
FEMA press release, April 4, 2025. Cited in Congressional Research Service Insight IN12609 (multiple versions, June 30, 2026 final). Available at: https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IN12609
WBUR News, December 12, 2025: https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/12/12/judge-orders-fema-grant-restored-bric-massachusetts
International Code Council summary, April 2, 2026: https://www.iccsafe.org/building-safety-journal/bsj-news/fema-resumes-the-building-resilient-infrastructure-and-communities-bric-grant-program/
SBP USA, April 17, 2026: https://www.sbpusa.org/blog/bric-funding-2026-what-communities-need-to-know/
For the budget proposal version:•CBS News, June 17, 2025: "4,000 employees took 'fork in the road' at Justice Dept., with more cuts to come": https://www.cbsnews.com/news/4000-employees-took-fork-in-road-justice-dept-more-cuts-coming/
For the actual February 2025 layoffs version:•Reuters/AP, February 22, 2025, cited in Deccan Herald: https://www.deccanherald.com/world/pentagon-to-fire-5400-workers-fbi-lays-off-1500-as-backlash-builds-to-trump-downsizing-effort-3417008
For total actual FBI reduction (2,600 positions, ~7%):•Reuters, April 23, 2026, cited in Minnesota Lawyer: https://minnlawyer.com/2026/04/23/doj-cuts-thousands-law-enforcement-jobs-crime-crackdown/
✓ Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) opposed BRIC cancellations on the Senate floor — available as a cross-partisan credibility anchor if desired.
• CDC Measles Cases and Outbreaks, 2025–2026: cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html
• NBC News, "CDC quietly scaled back surveillance program for foodborne illnesses," 2025: nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cdc-quietly-scaled-back-surveillance-program-foodborne-illnesses-rcna227089
• KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), Medicaid Cuts and State Impact Analysis: kff.org
• Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, "Medicaid, CHIP, and ACA Marketplace Cuts in the Budget Reconciliation Law, Explained," updated August 13, 2025: ccf.georgetown.edu/2025/07/22/medicaid-chip-and-affordable-care-act-marketplace-cuts-and-other-health-provisions-in-the-budget-reconciliation-law-explained/
• Congressional Budget Office, Final cost estimates for H.R. 1 (P.L. 119-21), July 21 & August 11, 2025: cbo.gov/publication/61570
• Governor Bob Ferguson, press statements on Medicaid impact in Washington State, 2025
• Dr. Jason Deen, Pediatric Cardiologist, University of Washington, February 2025 public statement
• Mat Slaybaugh, CEO, Garfield County Hospital District, February 2025 public statement
• Cathy Bambrick, Administrator, Astria Toppenish Hospital, February 2025 public statement
• Dr. J. Glenn Morris, Director, Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, quoted in NBC News, 2025
• Federal court rulings on Inspector General Act violations, January 2025
• CBS News, "DHS to cut 75% of staff in its intelligence office," July 3, 2025: cbsnews.com/news/dhs-intelligence-arm-to-cut-staff-by-nearly-75/
• Washington Examiner, "DOJ axes 4,000 jobs including plans to end 1,500 FBI positions," June 17, 2025: washingtonexaminer.com/news/3445088/doj-ends-4000-jobs-plans-end-1500-fbi-positions/
• Associated Press / CT Mirror, "Federal judge orders FEMA to restore canceled disaster mitigation funding," December 12, 2025: ctmirror.org/2025/12/12/fema-funding-bric-judge-orders-restored/
• Government Executive, FEMA emergency assistance line reporting, December 1, 2025 [URL to be confirmed at govexec.com]
Major Cities Chiefs Association, County Sheriffs of America, Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies: joint letter to DHS Secretary Noem, 2025 (quoted in CBS News report above)
Projected Reductions in Medicaid Expansion Enrollment Under OBBBA’s Work Requirements and Six-Month Redeterminations: National and State Estimates for 2028, April, 2026.•https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/Executive%20Summary_Projected%20Reductions%20in%20Medicaid%20Expansion%20Enrollment%20Under%20OBBBA%E2%80%99s%20Work%20Requirements%20and%20Six-Month%20Redeterminations.pdf
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