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EXCLUSIVE: Michigan House speaker calls for answers over $300M taxpayer-funded Rx Kids program
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The Republican leader of Michigan’s House says a state-funded maternal health initiative has become something far different than lawmakers were promised, accusing Democrats of using more than $300 million in taxpayer funding to advance a broader guaranteed-income agenda.
Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Digital as House Republicans continue scrutinizing Rx Kids, a taxpayer-funded program that provides unrestricted cash payments to pregnant women and new mothers.
Hall argued lawmakers believed they were funding a maternal and prenatal health initiative, not what he described as a broader experiment in guaranteed income.
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Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall discusses his concerns about Michigan’s Rx Kids program. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
«I think the Democrats kind of slipped this in here under the idea that it was for prenatal care,» Hall told Fox News Digital. «Lawmakers did not have the complete picture.»
Rx Kids launched in Flint in 2024 and provides expectant mothers with a $1,500 lump-sum payment during pregnancy, followed by $500 monthly payments after the child is born.
According to materials provided to Fox News Digital by Hall’s office, the program has expanded to communities across Michigan with more than $300 million in taxpayer funding.
Rx Kids has promoted the initiative as a maternal and infant health program designed to reduce financial stress for new families. According to podcast interviews and program materials, its leaders have also discussed expanding the model to communities across Michigan and beyond.
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Hall argued the program lacks the eligibility requirements found in traditional public assistance programs.
«We have a lot of social safety net programs in our country that are working very well,» Hall said. «They have eligibility checks. They look at citizenship. They look at income verification.
«Rx Kids, by design, is given to anyone that has a child,» he continued. «They don’t look for citizenship. They just pay out anyone that has a child.»
Hall’s office also provided Fox News Digital with video of legislative committee testimony in which program officials acknowledged payments had been made to individuals who were not legally present in the United States.
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Hall argued taxpayer-funded cash assistance should include income and legal status requirements similar to those used by existing public assistance programs.
«What we prefer are the traditional welfare programs like Medicaid, the food stamp program and the WIC program,» Hall said. «They make sure you’re here legally, they make sure you’re not making a lot of money and then they give you the benefit. That’s not what Rx Kids is.»
Hall also criticized the program’s unrestricted cash payments, noting recipients are not required to spend the money on diapers, formula, housing or other expenses related to pregnancy or caring for a newborn.
«They give you this free cash and there are no strings attached by definition,» Hall said.
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The cover of the Rx Kids playbook describes how communities can replicate the Michigan-based maternal cash assistance program. (rxkids.org)
Hall said caseworkers had told him they had seen recipients use the money for alcohol, drugs and gambling. Fox News Digital has not independently verified those claims.
The speaker also pointed to public comments from Rx Kids leaders that he said reinforced Republican concerns that the initiative is intended to become something larger than a maternal health program.
Hall’s office also shared podcast interviews in which Rx Kids co-founder Luke Shaefer discussed the expanded Child Tax Credit and the role he believes Rx Kids can play following the expiration of those federal payments.
In a separate interview, Dr. Mona Hanna, the leader of Rx Kids, discussed her vision of expanding the initiative into a government-scale public program.
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Hall said those remarks aligned with his assessment of Rx Kids.
«This is a progressive left-wing experiment toward basically a universal income,» Hall said. «They’re trying to move the welfare state down that lane.»
Hall also questioned the program’s advisory network.
Hall’s office also shared archived versions of the Rx Kids website that listed Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan Secretary of State and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson’s husband Ryan Friedrichs and Community Change official Dorian Warren as members of the program’s advisory circle.
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The advisory circle page was removed from the organization’s website days after lawmakers questioned program leaders during a June 2 Michigan House Oversight Committee hearing.
The timing of the removal does not establish why the page was taken down.
«Our secretary of state’s husband is on the advisory board. Abdul El-Sayed is on the board,» Hall said. «It’s like a who’s who of radical left Democrats.»
Hall’s office also pointed to an Rx Kids white paper examining voter turnout among recipients and the program’s promotion of Vot-ER, a physician-backed voter registration organization powered by TurboVote.
Materials provided by Hall’s office also identified Hanna as an adviser to Vot-ER.
Hall said those connections and the program’s research into voting behavior deserved additional scrutiny.
«We’re trying to understand why are you so interested in the voting pattern of the people that are receiving your no-strings-attached welfare,» Hall said. «We aren’t getting good answers.»
Hall said House Republicans did not include additional funding for Rx Kids in Michigan’s newly signed budget, though the program still has access to previously appropriated funds.
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Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall, left, stands with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Hall has criticized the state’s Rx Kids program. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
«The good news is that we cut off funding to this program in the new budget,» Hall said. «In the future, we’re going to try to put guardrails around it so that it goes to the people that truly need it.»
Rather than eliminating assistance for struggling families, Hall said he wants taxpayer dollars directed toward existing programs that assess financial need and place restrictions on how certain benefits can be spent.
«I think people support those programs,» Hall said. «They have eligibility requirements to ensure that you’re not taking advantage of the system.»
Fox News Digital reached out to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office, Rx Kids and Michigan State University for comment.
childrens health, michigan, health, social policy, state and local, aid
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Mamdani repeatedly sidesteps questions on reported plan to revive tax hikes on wealthy New Yorkers
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New York City democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani repeatedly sidestepped questions Thursday about reported plans to launch a public pressure campaign this fall pushing tax hikes on wealthy New Yorkers and corporations.
Mamdani reportedly plans to build public support after Labor Day for similar proposals that Gov. Kathy Hochul previously rejected in early 2026. The reported push is expected ahead of the New York Legislature’s return to Albany in January 2027 and Hochul’s re-election campaign this fall, according to The New York Post.
During an interview with Fox 5 New York, Mamdani repeatedly declined to answer questions about the potential campaign before later saying such discussions would only come after the November election.
Asked whether he had spoken with Hochul about the reported campaign, Mamdani did not answer directly, instead using the opportunity to tout the opening of 2,000 free child care seats for New Yorkers through their policy efforts.
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Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks to reporters about the city’s finances during a news conference in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (Seth Wenig/AP Photo)
«The governor and I are in constant communication and, frankly, I appreciate her partnership because if it wasn’t for the governor, then we wouldn’t have been able to stand together to announce that we had more than 5,000 New Yorkers come forward to apply for these 2,000 free child care seats,» he said. «And I’m so excited about that, and the fact that we’re going to expand to 12,000, and the work that’s still to come.»
The reporter then pressed Mamdani on whether the Democratic Socialists of America would join the potential campaign this fall, but he again declined to answer directly, saying his focus remains on the present.
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Kathy Hochul, governor of New York, left, and Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, speak during an announcement in New York, US, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«My focus right now is where we are, which is August, and ensuring that everything that we’re doing is keeping New Yorkers safe amidst a heat wave and preparing for the school year,» Mamdani said. «A lot of the conversation about what comes after November, I think, is a conversation for what comes after November.»
«So you don’t plan to launch a campaign to tax the rich before the November election?» the reporter asked.
«The conversations I’ve been having with the governor and with my team are about the here and now and there will always be time for the conversations that come after that,» Mamdani said.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani previously backed a proposal to tax luxury second homes owned by non-residents, targeting ultra-wealthy property owners. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The reported campaign would revive a previous push by Mamdani to close the city’s multibillion-dollar budget gap through tax increases, a proposal Hochul previously rejected. Mamdani’s earlier plan called for raising the city’s personal income tax rate on filers earning $1 million or more, a move he projected could generate roughly $3 billion annually, while also increasing corporate tax rates.
As an alternative, Hochul and Mamdani jointly advanced the state’s first pied-à-terre tax, an annual surcharge on certain high-value second homes, which passed in May 2026. State and city officials have projected the measure could raise about $500 million annually.
Mamdani also said his May 2026 executive budget closed what his administration described as an inherited $12 billion budget gap, crediting aggressive savings, new investments, his partnership with Albany and new tax revenue, including the pied-à-terre tax.
Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
zohran mamdani, new york city, elections state and local, taxes, kathy hochul
INTERNACIONAL
Fiscalía prepara escrito de acusación para audiencia intermedia y cierra investigación contra exvicepresidente panameño José Gabriel “Gaby” Carrizo
El Ministerio Público de Panamá se encuentra en la etapa decisiva del caso contra José Gabriel “Gaby” Carrizo, exvicepresidente de la República (2019-2024) y excandidato presidencial.
El proceso, que investiga el presunto delito de enriquecimiento injustificado agravado, avanza tras el cierre formal de la investigación, lo que obliga a la Fiscalía Anticorrupción a presentar un escrito de acusación para su revisión judicial.
La defensa de Carrizo, representada por el abogado Víctor Orobio, confirmó a TVN que había recibido la notificación oficial sobre el cierre de la investigación.
“Ya nos notificaron del cierre de la investigación. Estamos esperando la presentación del escrito de acusación y de la fecha de la audiencia intermedia”, detalló Orobio.
El cierre de la investigación responde a la expiración del plazo legal para las pesquisas, después de que los tribunales rechazaran la solicitud fiscal de extender el periodo bajo la figura de “investigación compleja”.
Por tanto, la Fiscalía Anticorrupción debe ahora solicitar formalmente la audiencia y presentar el escrito de acusación, en el que se expondrán los hechos, la calificación jurídica y las pruebas reunidas.
Posteriormente, la defensa tendrá la oportunidad de contestar e introducir sus propias pruebas para la audiencia intermedia.
La causa se originó tras un informe de la Contraloría General de la República, que identificó un supuesto incremento patrimonial injustificado de Carrizo por $1,9 millones durante su gestión pública.
Como consecuencia, el contralor Anel “Bolo” Flores dispuso en noviembre de 2025 el secuestro de bienes y cuentas bancarias pertenecientes al exvicepresidente hasta por $1,3 millones.
El secuestro de bienes, anunciado públicamente el 6 de noviembre, se implementó, según se dijo, como medida cautelar para asegurar fondos en caso de una eventual condena y resarcimiento al Estado panameño.
La decisión de la Contraloría, bajo la gestión de Flores, intensificó la presión sobre Carrizo, quien ya era objeto de dos investigaciones distintas por presuntas irregularidades durante su periodo como vicepresidente entre 2019 y 2024.
La intervención de la Contraloría en este caso marcó la segunda ocasión en la que se aplica una medida similar contra un miembro de alto perfil del Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD).
Esta reiteración provocó en su momento especulaciones y aumentó la controversia pública sobre la transparencia y la gestión de los recursos estatales.
El presunto enriquecimiento injustificado constituye una infracción que afecta de manera directa la confianza ciudadana en las instituciones públicas.
Las autoridades buscan determinar si Carrizo obtuvo ventajas económicas ilícitas aprovechando su cargo, un aspecto central para la integridad de la función pública.
La medida de secuestro de bienes tiene como finalidad principal garantizar la posibilidad de reparación al Estado en caso de condena. Los bienes afectados permanecerán bajo custodia judicial hasta que se resuelva el caso en las instancias correspondientes.
El caso de Carrizo se suma a una cadena de escándalos que han sacudido el escenario político panameño, profundizando el malestar social y la desconfianza en la administración pública.
La lucha contra la corrupción se impone como un reto permanente para Panamá, que requiere acciones decididas de todos los sectores para fortalecer el Estado de derecho y la gobernabilidad.
El desenlace del proceso judicial contra el exvicepresidente será determinante para definir el alcance real de la política anticorrupción en el país y marcará un precedente sobre la responsabilidad de los altos funcionarios en la gestión de los recursos públicos.
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