Natalie Foster

‘Incoherent’: Hegseth’s Anthropic ultimatum confounds AI policymakers Tech lawyers and AI policymakers warn that the Pentagon’s plans to compel Anthropic to abandon its ethical red lines are contradictory and could chill partnerships between the government and Silicon V...

Hegseth’s reckless demands are dangerous and unethical. I’m grateful to Dario and the team at @Anthropic for resisting the threats and pressures to give Hegseth unchecked power to surveil us or start a war www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

Why the biggest campaign buzzword ‘tapped into a broader political hunger’ “Affordability” is shaping the political conversation like never before as wages struggle to keep up with cost increases.

4 key expenses — groceries, housing, health care and transportation — have eaten up a larger fraction of Americans’ spending in recent years, leaving people feeling squeezed even under supposedly good economic conditions.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Two Visions of Government Power: What the White House Gets Wrong—and What Roosevelt’s Research Offers An analysis of the White House’s economic populism, contrasting its policies with Roosevelt’s structural approach to affordability, power, and market reform.

The State of the Union is in less than 2 weeks.

The president will claim he’s lowered costs—but many of his policies have done the opposite.

As we approach #SOTU, we’ll be comparing this administration’s rhetoric against the reforms our economy actually needs for citizens to have a #GoodLife. 🧵

Love is an action. Immigrants deserve safety, dignity, and joy—today and always. Join me in taking action to ensure we protect and stand up for immigrants. #ToImmigrantsWithLove #IStandWithImmigrants

Pluribus

These Young Voters Are Starting to Regret Their Vote for Trump A Wall Street Journal poll found 58% of voters under 30 disapproved of the job Trump is doing as president.

Young voters are part of Trump’s coalition that is showing signs of fraying ahead of the coming midterm elections, where history is already against the party that controls the White House, and the GOP has the barest of control in Congress.

www.wsj.com/politics/ele...

Teri Olle, VP at Economic Security California, underscores the urgent stakes of AI policy, asking who gets to decide what this technology means for people, and who it will serve.

✍️ @nathanheller.bsky.social in the @newyorker.com

🔗 www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

just want to reiterate that literally every D senator voted to claw back this money. (yes, including fetterman.) this is very much the mainstream view in the party right now.

Today, we honor the birthday of Franklin D. Roosevelt—a leader who guided the nation through crisis with bold vision and unwavering resolve.

While it may be his 144th birthday, FDR’s ideas still speak to our current economic and political moment. 1/6 🧵

Opinion | We Asked 300 People About Health Care Costs. The Numbers Are Shocking.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/o...

13/13 This approach is working. States don’t have to wait for Washington to bring down costs—they can lead.

12/ Whether it’s insulin, groceries, or broadband, public options can step in when markets are broken and give families real choices again.

11/ Public options offer an alternative to relying solely on private industries that have consolidated power, limited competition, and driven prices.

10/ It’s another example of how public options can help make life more affordable, especially in communities that have been written off by corporate power.

9/ In Illinois, the state recently broke ground on the nation’s first municipally owned grocery store in Venice, stepping in where the private market walked away, and making clear that access to food isn’t optional.

8/ Governments across the country are recognizing the power of public options to restore fairness to our economy.

7/ Our electeds’ decision to choose a different path forward and invest in public options to make life-saving medicine affordable is a big deal worth celebrating.

6/ CalRx’s new public option couldn’t have come at a better time. With Congressional Republicans cutting nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid, millions of families are facing enormous healthcare costs, while the costs of other essentials like groceries, utilities, and housing rise.

5/ For people living with diabetes, this means no more rationing this life-saving medication or being forced to decide which bill can wait until next month.

4/ Civica recently announced plans to deliver the low-cost option to pharmacies across the country.

3/ California partnered with Civica, a non-profit pharmaceutical company, to make low-cost insulin accessible to Californians, and while the Golden State is the first to adopt the new public option, others will soon follow suit.

2/ Through the #CalRx program, insulin will now be available for just $11 a pen, a nearly 90% reduction to save people thousands of dollars every year.

1/ On January 1, California became the first state in the country to sell low-cost insulin under its own label, breaking Big Pharma’s price stranglehold with a #publicoption.

Where Would We Be If Joe Lieberman Hadn’t Killed the Public Option? The government shutdown fight over Obamacare subsidies is a painful reminder of what the Democrats failed to accomplish 15 years ago.

Where Would We Be If Joe Lieberman Hadn’t Killed the Public Option? newrepublic.com/article/2025... via @newrepublic.com

7/7 Chris’ piece is an important read for understanding what’s at stake right now: foreignpolicy.com/2026/01/12/u...

6/ That risk is made apparent by how the Trump administration is leveraging economic power in Venezuela.

5/ When used accountably, the DFC can strengthen allied economies to serve the public interest. However, without strong guardrails, it can be misused to benefit private actors and weaken institutions.

4/ Unlike traditional foreign aid, the DFC deploys public capital, loans, and investments to shape industries, supply chains, and strategic projects abroad.

3/ They did this by expanding a little-known provision in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act called the "Development Finance Corporation (DFC)".

2/ In a new article for Foreign Policy, @c-hughes.bsky.social explains how Congress quietly laid the groundwork to fund massive foreign investments with U.S. taxpayer dollars.