There are a lot of outright media lies being told about the so-called Big Beautiful Bill passed by a tie-breaking vote of Vice President J.D. Vance.

The lie is that millions will be forced to lose their Medicaid coverage.

There is a difference between Medicare (for those 65 and older but also extends to some people under 65 with certain disabilities or conditions) and Medicaid (the financially indigent) which is administered by the states and reimbursed by the federal government.

Forty states do not have any eligibility requirements! What the bill does is tighten up eligibility by either look for work or volunteer for a charity for 20 hours per week. In other words, give back to society for the free stuff you’re getting. Most folks should be able to do that unless, of course, you are medically frail. But millions of “layabouts” (the lazy) are at risk if they don’t adhere. The changes are to curb waste, fraud and abuse and quit able-bodied folks from gaming the system and end benefits for illegal immigrants who have somehow cheated the restrictions, according to Rep. Ralph Norman.

Remember that in 1992, President Bill Clinton was onboard to enact rules that cut off Medicaid to those who able-bodied persons without children who don’t look for work or at last volunteer 20 hours a week for charity. Is it too much to ask the welfare freeloaders to actually give back to society in exchange for being subsidized by hardworking Americans who pay the taxes? (Keep in mind 40 percent of American households pay no income tax!).

The move is expected to save $1 trillion over a decade.

We must move away from this dependency on government and make people responsible for their own situation. America cannot sustain socialist tendencies because it’s financially not sustainable.

With 100 million Americans receiving some form of welfare, the bill seeks to ween some folks off the welfare state so we can all prosper and quit spending ourselves into oblivion.

The other lie, of course, is that the bill gives tax breaks to millionaires. It does not. All tax brackets are the same!

* * * * *

The Republicans are vastly outnumbered in the California State Legislature but they continue to make great valiant attempts to expose the wrong things happening in our state.

You can thank Republican state Assemblymen Juan Alanis and Heath Flora for casting two of the 17 votes calling for an audit of the Medi-Cal system. However, the Democrats slayed the attempt at transparency with their opposing 42 votes.

Assembly Republicans forced a vote on Assembly Joint Resolution 4 to demand a full audit of Medi-Cal, a system now running on emergency bailouts, riddled with financial mismanagement and spiraling toward collapse.

Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher said his party called for answers but Democrats blocked an audit. He said: “Doctors aren’t getting paid. Patients are losing care. Newsom created this mess, and Democrats just helped him bury the evidence.”

Medi-Cal ran out of money in March and Newsom needed a $6.2 billion bailout to keep it afloat.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office says Medi-Cal’s rising costs are driving the state’s structural deficit.

Newsom’s expansion to cover illegal immigrants will cost $12 billion this year alone — with no funding plan and no accountability.

His administration missed a federal deadline to implement Prop. 35, costing the state millions in matching funds and delaying care for vulnerable patients.

California is heading toward a two-tiered system: citizens face work requirements in Washington’s Medicaid reforms, while Newsom gives full Medi-Cal coverage to non-citizens with no work requirement and no accountability.

AJR 4 demanded transparency to ask:

• Why did Medi-Cal spending jump 84% in six years?

• Why did Newsom underestimate expansion costs by $2.8 billion, and need an additional $3.44 billion loan to pay the bills in Medi-Cal?

While Medi-Cal collapses, Newsom still found a way to cough up $1 billion for the stalled high-speed rail project. Meanwhile, he shortchanged Prop. 36 — the court-ordered treatment plan backed by all 58 counties.

Gallagher vowed to keep “fighting for answers,” adding that “while Newsom hands out benefits this state can’t afford, Californians are being pushed out of care.”

* * * * *

Unlike Gavin Newsom, I am not a fan of cities buying old fleabag hotels at exorbitant prices and turning them into rooms for the homeless. Consider that Modesto officials are wetting themselves at being able to spend $18 million to make the former 48-room El Capitan Motel a homeless haven as part of the state’s Project Homekey program.

This project will cost $375,000 per unit! In nearby Merced, the city is building a new modular structure of 58 units for $11.2 million using Project Homekey funding. That’s $193,103 per unit.

One of those expressing total thrill at the $18 million gift of taxpayer funds is Modesto City Councilman Chris Ricci (a progressive liberal Bay Area transplant).

Ricci noted that Modesto has received millions on homelessness yet the homeless population in Stanislaus County increased between 2024 and now! That’s because providing housing is not addressing the root cause. Most of the street people are unable to hold down jobs because of drug and alcohol addiction and mental illness. So when a city fills 48 rooms easily, right behind it comes a whole new crop of homeless to take their place on the streets as America is a drugged nation. They seek peace in drugs, not faith. I maintain there is a spiritual malaise that causes folks to turn to substances.

* * * * *

In another post, Ricci said it would be great if Modesto had something similar to the new 120-unit senior complex in Bradenton, Florida with prices starting at $332 per month.

Wishful thinking. This is California, which isn’t governed properly like Florida is.

Ricci didn’t mention that the $37.4 million project, called “Astoria on 9th,” is a collaboration between Miami Heat legend Alonzo Mourning’s nonprofit AM Affordable Housing and Miami-based developer Housing Trust Group. The rents for the units are between $322 to $1,316 per month based on income.

For $37 million Florida gets a beautiful modern five-story structure for 120 units. Modesto spends $18 million to convert a 48-unit crappy rundown eyesore of a hotel into a homeless shelter that I’m sure will be destroyed in no time.

* * * * *

Did you pay attention to the most recent Point In Time homeless count? Did you notice the disparity of homeless numbers? Ceres is the third largest city in Stanislaus County yet ranks seventh out of 11 cities/unincorporated towns in the count.

Modesto was counted to have 1,603 homeless and Turlock 241. Ceres had 18 while Empire had 93 and Oakdale 50, Patterson 36 and Riverbank 31.

So why does Ceres have such low numbers? It has to be the fact that Modesto is two bridges away where there are more places to camp and more panhandling opportunities. Or could it be that Ceres Code Enforcement is driving them out? Or is it because Ceres doesn’t anything in the way of services for the homeless, except for mobile showers?

* * * * *

I saw an excellent meme the other day of a female cowgirl holding up a sign that read: “If my neighbor’s cow jumps the fence and gives birth in my yard, it’s not my cow or my calf.”

To go further, if a neighbor’s tree hangs over my property, I can lop off branches.

So why is our country allowing pregnant women to schedule a “vacation” to the US at due date, only to give birth and then say, “Hey, my baby is an American citizen now”?

It’s ludicrous.

Two California residents were sentenced recently for running a “birth tourism” business that helped pregnant Chinese women travel to the U.S. to have babies — only to secure American citizenship for their children. Through their company, USA Happy Baby Inc., the man and woman typically charged their “affluent” Chinese clients $20,000 to $40,000 for their services, and up to $100,000 for those considered “VIP” customers, according to prosecutors.

Let’s talk about that anchor baby policy.

The reason this policy came into play was because after the Civil War there were some saying that slaves’ children born in the United States weren’t U.S. citizens. Previous Supreme Court cases, like Dred Scott v Sandford in 1857, had determined that African Americans could never be U.S. citizens. The 14th Amendment changed that. But in 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court went farther, ruling that birthright citizenship applies to the children of immigrants in the case of U.S. v Wong Kim Ark.

The matter hasn’t been revisited by the high court since.

I am not a legal scholar but it seems that birthright citizenship doesn’t apply to those who illegally enter the country or visitors are here on “vacation.” Citizenship should be determined by the citizenship of the mother; thus if the Mexican national who snuck across the border gives birth on U.S. soil, that baby is a Mexican citizen, not U.S. citizen.

Each country has its own rules. I have experience in this regard. My dad served in the U.S. Navy beginning in 1960. He was stationed in Japan so for a time my father and mother were in Japan where I was conceived (yes, I was “Made in Japan”). I was born in Japan, however, I was a native born American citizen at birth, not a Japanese citizen.

Trump ended the anchor baby policy by executive order and liberal judges tried to block it as unconstitutional – until the Supreme Court ruled that federal district courts generally cannot issue nationwide injunctions, limiting their power to block federal policies. So Trump’s executive order stands. Bur the U.S. Supreme Court should settle the matter of the anchor baby policy with regard to the 14th Amendment.

* * * * *

Well it seems California will be answering for its defiance of federal law and its sanctuary and diversity policy.

Panic has set in at school districts across the state as the Trump administration continues to withhold federal funds. Tony Thurmond, state superintendent of public instruction, said California school districts stand to immediately lose close to $1 billion. Actually it’s closer to $800 million.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes as the saying goes.

Education should be funded and run by states, not the federal government.

Seems to me California lawmakers have money to burn. They could start by reallocating the $25 million they approved to fight Trump administration policies in court at every turn and using that on education.

This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation.  How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com