California Governor Gavin Newsom has been making a desperate bid for both money and relevance before he is term-limited and out of office just ahead of the next presidential cycle. The state is looking at a $68 billion deficit.
To begin with, Newsom has filed a landmark lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration, challenging Trump’s authority to impose sweeping tariffs on imports without congressional approval. This legal action marks the first time a state has directly contested the federal government’s use of emergency powers to enact tariffs.
The legal action argues that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act that Trump cited to impose tariffs does not grant the president the ability to unilaterally adopt tariffs on goods imported to the U.S. The suit from California is the first challenge from any state against Trump’s trade policy.“No state is poised to lose more than the state of California,” Newsom said about Trump’s tariffs. “That’s why we’re asserting ourselves on behalf of 40 million Americans.”The case marks the first time Newsom has taken a lead role in any of the now 15 lawsuits that California has filed against the current Trump administration, signaling a deviation from his more reserved approach to the president during Trump’s second term. Until now, state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has acted as the face of California’s legal battles against the federal government, while Newsom has generally maintained a distance from the back-and-forth court tussles.
Next, Newsom has recently sought billions of dollars in loans to address a significant budget shortfall in the state’s Medi-Cal program, California’s Medicaid healthcare initiative for low-income residents.
By “low-income residents,” we mean illegal aliens. California was the first state in the U.S. to offer comprehensive, state-funded health insurance (Medi-Cal) to all eligible undocumented immigrants, regardless of age. This expansion, which took full effect on January 1, 2024, makes undocumented adults ages 26 to 49 eligible for Medi-Cal.
Now, Newsom hopes the rest of the nation will pick up the tab.
Liberal Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a $2.8 billion bailout Monday to close the state’s bloated deficit in California’s Medicaid program, which surpassed projections due to the program’s expansion last year to include illegal immigrants.The move, confirmed by Newsom’s office to Fox News Digital Monday afternoon, comes after the Democratic governor asked lawmakers last month for a $3.4 billion loan from the state’s general fund to cover some $6.2 billion in outstanding costs for Medi-Cal, one of the state’s primary healthcare programs that takes both federal and state taxpayer dollars. The additional funds will help keep the program running through June for some 15 million Californians, including noncitizens.
And, as a finale, Newsom has launched a high-profile campaign encouraging Canadian tourists to return to California, directly addressing the sharp decline in Canadian visitors amid rising political and economic tensions between the U.S. and our northern neighbor.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, in a video this week, is urging the two million Canadians who visited last year to look past U.S. President Donald Trump and return to enjoy the Golden State’s wine, sun and surf.Newsom, without calling out Trump by name, says Canadians should not let a dust-up with Washington stop them from renewing their love affair with his coastal paradise.”Sure, you-know-who is trying to stir things up back in D.C., but don’t let that ruin your beach plans,” Newsom says in the video, which is part of a $5.2-million US advertising effort to lure Canucks back over the border.
The comments to this video feature the homelessness, drug abuse, and rampant crime that has tarnished the image of the Golden State.
I suspect that these will not be the last, sad attempts for Newsom to bitterly cling to the power and prestige he has enjoyed over his entire career. I suspect his career will go just about as far at this point as the bullet train to nowhere has gone.
One last note of caution:
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