Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, March 24, 2025…
- In a series of town halls, Bay Area congressman Ro Khanna urged residents of Republican-held congressional districts in California to organize against the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to programs like Medicaid and the wider social safety net.
- A federal rent assistance program that tens of thousands of Californians rely on is running out of money.
- Bay Area-based 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy protection and its CEO has resigned, amid growing financial distress for the genetic testing company.
Bay Area Democrat Brings His Message To Republican-Held Congressional Districts
Bay Area Congressman Ro Khanna crossed the state on Sunday, holding three town halls in districts where Republicans hold Congressional seats.
His first stop was in Bakersfield, where Erlinda Carrillo said she’s already exhausted by the first two months of President Donald Trump’s second term. Her daughter lost her job at a scientific research institute after the Trump administration canceled its government contract. She’s worried layoffs at the Department of Veterans Affairs will affect care for her brother, a Vietnam War veteran. And she’s concerned about her Social Security benefits amid cost-cutting at the Social Security Administration. “I’m tired of all of the backlash that we’re actually getting due to Donald Trump,” she said.
Khanna mocked Republicans for not holding in-person town halls and denounced the GOP budget framework that could set the table for cuts to Medicaid. He also got a taste of the rising frustration among Democratic voters who have criticized party leaders for lacking vitality and vision in their response to Trump. Dispirited Democrats made up much of the crowd in Bakersfield. They reserved particular criticism for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who led nine Democrats in voting for a Republican-authored budget resolution in order to avoid a government shutdown earlier this month.
Khanna reiterated his stance that the party’s “old guard needs to step aside,” and said, “If the party is letting us down, it’s time to rebuild the party.”
‘Quiet Panic’ As National Rental Assistance Program Set To Run Out Of Cash
A $5 billion pot of federal money set aside to help people on the verge of homelessness pay the rent is running out of cash — and no one has a plan to keep the roughly 60,000 renters, more than 15,000 of them in California — from losing their housing after the last dollar is spent.