The Octagon, The Cuts, and The Tiny Desk Tribute

Mimi Brown breaks down the day. Construction crews are bolting together a UFC octagon on the South Lawn of the White House for President Trump's eightieth birthday. While federal cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and student loans hit millions of Americans this summer. And NPR Tiny Desk is paying homage to BET for Black Music Month. Plus, The Headlines We Didn't Take Seriously Enough. 

From the Black Effect Podcast Network.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
A USC octagon is being built on the White House
lawn for President Trump's birthday. I'm not a fan, but
this is me and millions of Americans are preparing for
cuts to snap medicaid and student loans.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
The minimum payment that any bar will have to make
is at least ten dollars per month.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
And NPR Tiny Desk is giving bet its flowers for
Black Music Month.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
So would love to be et we played those games.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
It's Thursday, May twenty eighth, from the Black Effect Podcast Network.
I'm Mimi Brown. This is front page, and here are
the day's biggest stories. Plus today on headlines, we didn't
take seriously enough the nineteen ninety six law that helps
shape the safety net. Fights happening right now, Stay with me.

(00:52):
Construction crews are building a UFC fighting cage on the
south lawn of the White House. The lawn is being
transformed into a full fight venue expected to hold thousands
of spectators. The event is called UFC Freedom two fifty,
scheduled for June fourteenth, President Trump's eightieth birthday, and reaction
to the event is mixed.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
I think it'd be awesome, I really do.

Speaker 4 (01:14):
Oh if it wasn't Trump, I might like it.

Speaker 5 (01:16):
I mean, UFC has always been a fun thing.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
I guess, so how's wanna make a.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Big I'm not a fan, but does mean. UFC President
Dana White says the company will pay to repair the
lawn afterward. But what's really getting attention is the bigger
picture around all of this. This is all happening while
the White House is also in the middle of a
massive billion dollar renovation project involving a brand new East
Wing ballroom and expanded security infrastructure. The administration originally said

(01:44):
private donors would help cover costs tied to the ballroom project,
but lawmakers later approved hundreds of millions of dollars connected
to security and construction through federal legislation, meaning taxpayers are
now helping fund parts of the expansion, and now critics
are questioning everything from the cost the symbolism to whether
the White House is starting to blur the lines between

(02:06):
government entertainment and political branding. Meanwhile, supporters say the UFC
event is simply part of a larger celebration tied to
America's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. Millions of Americans are
about to feel the impact of major changes to student loans,

(02:26):
food assistants, and healthcare first student loans. Starting July first,
a new Department of Education rule will pap how much
graduate students can borrow and federal loans and eliminate the
graduate plus loan program entirely.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
It's a maximum of twenty thousand dollars per year per
child and a lifetime maximum of sixty five thousand per child.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
That could hit students in fields like nursing, social work,
physical therapy, occupational therapy, and public health especially hard, and
advocates say black women could feel the impact disproportionately because
they are heavily represented in many of those professions. Second,
snap food assistants. New restrictions and work requirements tied to

(03:08):
the Trump backed tax and spending package are expected to
reduce or eliminate food assistants for millions of Americans over time.

Speaker 4 (03:16):
The folks who are going to be impacted by these
changes are families with children under eighteen, older Americans of
the ACC five. And what these work requirements are going
to do is basically make that population was the population
that typically is the hardest to try to find a
steady employment to now be burdened with trying to prove
that they are working twenty hours a week just to

(03:37):
be able to be fed.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Advocates warned states across the South, especially poor states with
high SNAP usage, may feel the impact the most. And
third Medicaid federal projections estimate millions of Americans could eventually
lose health care coverage under the new medical changes, tied
to work requirements, eligibility reviews, and reduce federal support to stay.

(04:00):
Critics also warn rural hospitals, low income families, seniors, and
black communities could be hit especially hard. Every Thursday on
Front Page, we pulled back to look at a story
that was treated as small or popular at the time,
but ended up shaping the world we live in right now.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
Today's pick.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
August twenty second, nineteen ninety six, President Clinton walked into
the Rose Garden and signed a bill called the Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. You probably remember the
slogan Clinton said it was time to quote in welfare
as we know it. The reaction was mostly positive. Both
parties celebrated. The bill imposed strict work requirements on welfare recipients,

(04:48):
It capped lifetime benefits at five years, and turned cash
assistance from a federal entitlement into a block grant to states.
The political class that it was tough, it was smart,
and it was bipartisan. But the civil rights community said
something else. They said this bill would punish poor families,
particularly black poor families, for being poor. They said work

(05:09):
requirements were a trojan horse for cutting the safety net.
The country mostly did not listen, And thirty years later,
let's check the map. The work requirements expanded in nineteen
ninety six are the same template the Trump administration is
now applying to snap and to medicate. Those new requirements
we just walked you through in story two look exactly

(05:31):
like the ones from nineteen ninety six. The lifetime caps
from nineteen ninety six are now the model for limiting
eligibility on other programs. The block grant structure from nineteen
ninety six made it possible for states to refuse to
serve their poorest residents, and now those same states had
the highest uninsured rates and the highest food insecurity. The
nineteen ninety six bill did not stop poverty. It hid

(05:54):
the cost of poverty inside families, inside churches, and inside
food banks. And it built the legal infrastructure for everything
happening to the safety net this summer. That's the throwback.
Let's end the show with something good. NPR, Tiny Desk
and b Et are teaming up for Black Music Month,

(06:16):
and honestly, for a lot of people who grew up
on one O six in Park in rhyp City, this
is going to fail a little nostalgic. NPR just announced
a Tiny Desk concert series honoring be ET's impact on
black music and culture, and Big Tigger himself announced the lineup.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
I've got a newsflash.

Speaker 5 (06:33):
Newsflash, it reads, coming soon to NPR in the Black
Music Month of June.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
We got Gina would.

Speaker 5 (06:40):
Live in Kareem Riggins the Star, followed by Shaboozie Joe
and Ira Star Pup, next the Paradox in eve E
and we shut it down with Fred.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
Hammond, Bow Wow and Flowtry.

Speaker 5 (06:53):
They'll all be right here and they'll be live in
the flesh representing Black Music Month behind this Tiny Desk.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
The performances will roll out throughout the month of June.
So if you grew up in Alaska like I did,
rushing home to watch one oh six in Park after school,
this one is probably for you too. That's your front page.
I Mimi Brown. This podcast was brought to you by
the Black Effect Podcast Network.