Washington Post - 9.8.26

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1:01Welcome to the reading of The Washington Post for Tuesday, September 8, 2026. As a reminder, radioI is a reading service intended for people who are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material. Your reader for today is Cindy Fraser. Today's front page headlines from The Washington Post are, election results shake up Germany. Nationalist big win sounds alarm for Europe's mainstream politicians. Next, New Mexico's free child care plan has rocky start. First in the nation experiment faces demand cost issues. Next, GOP's no tax stance tested, Social Security funds running dry. Some Republicans say it's time to raise taxes. The next headline, Democrats' novel ploy to win California House seat. Progressive candidate Villegas is latest hope to finally

2:02unseat Validau. The next headline, making a massive handover of history. Peter Bergen spent years reporting on al-Qaeda for the 25th anniversary of 9-11. He's donating more than 150,000 pages of documents to Georgetown University. And the final headline from today's front page, Ohio's toxic race for governor turns violent. Now let's turn to our first item entitled election results shake up Germany. Nationalist big win sounds alarm for Europe's mainstream politicians by Megan Vasquez and Mary Ilishina from Berlin. Savely inside the quarter of Chamberlainc fences, carbon and campaign posters outside the alternative for Germany's Berlin headquarters. A crowd of supporters had gathered with beer and brought first to await and celebrate the results of the biggest election night in the nationalist

3:03anti-immigrant party's history. The angry chance of protesters beyond the fences were drowned out by TV news coverage of projections from the eastern state of Saxony Unhut, where the party, known as the AFD, instantly posted a huge, insurmountable lead with more than 40% of the vote. We have achieved exactly what we wanted. We have made history. Ulrich Sigmund, a 35-year-old former salesman, turned social media star who led the AFD's campaign, declared in a victory speech at the party's headquarters in Magdeburg, the state capital. The result he added would shake all of Germany. And not just Germany. In Berlin, Brussels and capitals across Europe and the Western world, the meteoric rise and first place finish of the AFD, a party labeled extremist by German intelligence, sent tremors through establishment political circles, suggesting that politics

4:04once derided as far right had moved decisively into the mainstream of the electorate in the state of more than two million people. The AFD on Sunday fell short of winning the outright majority in the Saxony Unhut parliament, which would have brought an extremist party to power in Germany for the first time since World War II. But the political trend AFD represents is evident, not just in the former East Germany, but also France, where Marine Le Pen, a mainstab nationalist anti-immigrant politics, is polling at the top of a crowded field in next year's presidential election. As the results in Germany rolled in Sunday night, President Donald Trump, whose MAGA movement has built strong ties to the AFD, made clear that he was watching, posting an image on truth social that showed the AFD far ahead of other parties, including Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union, CDU, which finished a distant second with just 17.1%. The outcome hit hard

5:10at the chancellery in Berlin. This has shaken us, Merz told reporters on Monday afternoon, it has shaken me personally, and I have to admit this is the most difficult electoral defeat for the CDU that the party has suffered in a very, very long time. Merz sought to reassure Germans that the country's institutions were stable, but also said that the CDU cannot simply return to business as usual, and urged sweeping national reforms. A lot of credit for the AFD's strong performance is directed at Seagmund. We have a very young main candidate who is very enthusiastic, and the people love him a little bit. Like JFK's image, the young JFK, or Charlie Kirk, said Christian Buchholz, an AFD politician who previously served in Berlin State Parliament. He makes for a really fantastic publicity for us, and so we expect a boost, support, and good pictures, and of course a lot of votes. Even without an absolute majority,

6:13the AFD in theory could still end up controlling the state government, should cracks emerge in a pledge by other parties not to join a coalition with the AFD, which for years has been accused of xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia. In and of itself, the possibility of the AFD's easing power marks a seismic shift in Germany. Since the last state election in 2021, the AFD more than doubled its support, an outcome attributed to Seagmund and other party leaders, who largely bypass traditional media and embraced social media platforms like TikTok to speak directly to voters. Historical grievances and longstanding economic challenges in the former East Germany helped the AFD gain traction among voters who feel alienated by traditional politicians. This included deep fatigue with Merser's CDU, which has led the state government since 2002.

7:14Across the Atlantic, some politicians on their right also celebrated the AFD's success. Republicans in Congress, including Senator Mike Lee from Utah and Representative Anna Paulina Luna from Florida, congratulated the AFD for its win. They also discouraged the German government from banning the party or its leaders. Germany's chancellor is treating a major opposition party as something to be walled off from democratic competition, Lee posted. Is he really that blind to the German stereotype he's feeding? Trump's mega movement has widely embraced the AFD, AFD members of the Bundestag, Germany's federal parliament, visited the United States to meet with Republicans last year and also attended a New York Gala for young Republicans. State Department officials have also met with party members. One factor that has complicated the growing alliance, however, has been the U.S.-led war against Iran, which is deeply unpopular among Germans.

8:16While campaigning in the state election, Sigmund largely refrain from discussing U.S. connections. But some AFD members in Berlin said they believe that the state-level win could lead to stronger U.S. ties. As our party gets stronger, said Ronald Glazer, a Bundestag member and spokesman for AFD for Berlin, every foreign government will turn to AFD since we are an important factor in German politics. Eric Langemacher, the director of the Society Culture and Politics Program at the American German Institute, said he anticipates Trump's allies will feel vindicated by Sunday's outcome. And though Langemacher cautioned against reading too much into Sunday's outcome, he said it could serve as a barometer of AFD's national appeal. We shouldn't overinterpret any of these results. But this, unlike many other elections, is something that can be interpreted because it's going to matter if the AFD does really well.

9:20Langemacher said, is going to matter for the momentum of the national party. The AFD's national co-leader, Alice Vidal, on Monday rejoiced in what she called a dream result for the party, and urged other parties to reconsider their attempt at maintaining a far while, which she described as failed concept. Speaking on a news conference, Vidal said other parties should respect voters' wishes and help the AFD form a government in the state. Vidal, her co-chair, Tina Krupela, and Seamund all lashed out at merits. No chancellor before him was as unpopular, Vidal said, adding that Germans had lost trust in federal politics. During the campaign, Seamund quickly boosted the AFD's public image. While the party had long leaned on anger-laden slogans like, enough is enough, Seamund projected an approachable social media-friendly persona and ran on a more upbeat campaign slogan,

10:23Alice is mugglish. Everything is possible. He was born in 1990, just a few weeks after German reunification, when the formerly Communist East was reunited with the capitalist West, and grew up in Tango-Munda, a small, picturesque town in Saxony-onholt against the backdrop of the region's struggles. Many East Germans remained disgruntled over lasting economic gaps compared with the West, and a deep-rooted sense that they are second-class citizens. Seamund became a millennial face for the party, decades younger than the average member of CDU, which was his first political affiliation. He joined the party, then led by Angela Merkel, in the early 2010s, before later switching to the AFD. He rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, using social media to rally against lockdowns and mask mandates, which he called, crazy, quickly gathering a loyal supporter base. He then carried

11:23that image into his campaign, posting endless TikTok clips of himself riding motorcycles with supporters across the state, footage later edited into sleek cinematic campaign trailers, and turning campaign events into celebrity-like meat and greets, handing out hugs, signing autographs, and posing for selfies with supporters who lined up for hours. What happens next in Saxony-onholt remains uncertain. Seamund has said he has ruled out a minority government, but AFD leaders have signaled openness to coalition negotiations and suggested that other parties might accept an AFD minority government. Saxony-onholt's incumbent minister president Sven Schultzö conceded to feed on Monday and said his party, the CDU, no longer has, a mandate to govern. We are in the opposition, Sat Shultz, who will remain as Saxony-onholt's caretaker premiere until the new government is formed. State governments in Germany have broad powers over domestic

12:27security, education, and culture, and the AFD has said it wants to drastically overhaul Saxony-onholt's policies related to education and immigration. Its platform includes allowing homeschooling, and Seamund has described a deportation offensive to remove a regular migrants, as one of his top priorities. Our frequent antagonist of mainstream news media, Seamund has also said he wants to withdraw the state from a regional public broadcaster. If other parties ultimately decide to work with the AFD in Saxony-onholt, it would represent a break in the so-called firewall that establishment political forces have used to keep extremist parties out of power since the end of World War II, that also could have major implications for Germany, which is scheduled to hold its next federal elections in 2029. A national vote could happen sooner if Marxist coalition collapses. Whenever a vote occurs, AFD leaders say it will present

13:30another decisive moment for the party, allowing it to demonstrate rising strength across the entire country. This item is accompanied by a photo captioned, top candidate of the far-right alternative for Germany, AFD, Urich Seamund poses for a selfie with a supporter following a news conference Monday in Berlin, for Brisio Bench Reuters. The next item from today's front page is entitled New Mexico's Free Child Care Plan has a rocky start. First in the nation experiment faces demand, cost issues, by any going, from Santa Fe. A year after New Mexico launched Free Child Care for All Families, Dakota Rivera still can't find a place to send her kids. The mom of two was ecstatic when the state's Democratic governor, Michelle Luhon-Grichum, announced last September that New Mexico would expand its daycare assistance program to any family who wanted it.

14:31But Rivera lives in a city with an acute shortage of childcare centers. She still spends her days piecing together care with help from family members, canvassing social media, and searching for babysitters. She's on 10 different waiting lists. I think the systems they put in are great, sure, but it's just not there yet, Rivera said, as she tried to answer work emails while holding her eight-month-old daughter who was cooling and waving a plastic giraffe. In five years, maybe, for parents trying to do it now, it's impossible. When Luhon-Grichum first announced the program in a state with a majority female legislature, it was widely praised as a historic step to address an issue that consumes the lives of parents everywhere and their incomes. Cos for caring for an infant can often exceed a year's rent according to the U.S. Department of Labor. But the groundbreaking program, in part funded by the state's sizeable oil and gas revenue, has had a rocky debut.

15:36The number of children who have enrolled has skyrocketed, far outpacing the capacity of daycare centers in the state. Luhon-Grichum has had to grapple with legal challenges, including a whistle-blower case from the program's chief financial officer who said she was fired after flagging an $83 million budget deficit. Critics have raised concerned that the annual cost could balloon to more than $800 million, nearly $400 million more than when the program debuted. State legislative analysts have also found that newly eligible higher income families may be squeezing out some of the lowest income recipients. The state's GOP leaders dubbed the program Nannies for Millionaires. The states could not be higher as more Americans say raising children is too expensive, and as political leaders looked to New Mexico as they tried to address overwhelming childcare needs. Vermont and Connecticut already have smaller scale programs, and New York mayors O'Ran Momdani,

16:42a Democrat, is rolling out free daycare for thousands of the city's two-year-olds, a move that has also had a bumpy start. Sarah Michelson, an early childhood policy expert, and former Deputy Cabinet Secretary for New Mexico's early childhood education and care department, ECECD, said the state got two big things right when rolling out its plan, the money and the vision, but a subsidy doesn't help parents if there's no program to take it, she said. Families there are still calling around and finding no openings, she said. Lou Hangrisham has acknowledged the challenges, telling MSNBC, we're building a rocket ship as we fly it. The governor said in an interview with a Washington Post that she sees a plan as a game changer for her state and a blueprint for the rest of America. She said the program would need more than one billion dollars from the state's early childhood fund over the next five years,

17:44$300 million more than the legislature initially allocated. No one said it was an inexpensive enterprise and likely it shouldn't be, she said. It should be something that invests in child well-being and development, and that's what we're doing. A report Tuesday from ECECD touted its successes, citing dramatic gains in child care enrollment, growth in higher quality care, and wages for workers topping $19 an hour, $3 more than the national median. We've stabilized and really strengthened the child care sector in New Mexico in ways that are critical. It's critical that families have choices, and these choices reflect the kind of care they need, said Elizabeth Groginski, the ECECD cabinet secretary. But she said, there's more work to be done. This felt too good to be true. The move to universal child care was a culmination of a decade-long journey for advocates in New Mexico, a poor majority minority state of two million, whose fourth

18:50graders ranked last in both reading and math, according to the biennial national assessment of educational progress, the nation's report card. In 2020, the state legislature created a trust fund with about $300 million in oil and gas revenue to support early childhood education and care, a pot that is since ballooned to about $11 billion. New Mexico expanded income limits for the child care assistance program three times. In 2022, warm middle class families became eligible in a state that allowed 80 percent of families in the state to participate. Last September, Lujan Grisham took the final step, announcing that New Mexico would be the first to open its subsidized daycare to any family, a move estimated to save families $13,000 a year per child. That was always the vision, she said at the time. It took us this long to realize it, but by golly, we did. The announcement was met with applause and cheers, but behind the scenes state legislators

19:56who said they had not been informed that the program would become universal, were confounded, along with some members of the department's own staff. We were all shocked, said state senator George Munoz, a Democrat and chairman of the state finance committee. Nobody knew about it until the day it was in the paper. All of a sudden, we were all calling each other saying, where did this come from? Did anybody from the governor's office talk to you about it? Nope, we were all in the dark. Word of the expansion moved quickly through the young moms groups of Santa Fe, a picturesque city that is not always easy on parents with its high cost of living and long waiting lists for daycare that can stretch for years. Megan Montelebano-Gorman, 33, a mother of two, and a marketing consultant who runs an Instagram account called Santa Fam, moved with her husband back to Santa Fe in 2022 from Denver to be closer to family. She initially tried to work full-time doing marketing for the Santa

20:59Fe new Mexican newspaper, but managing a full-time job and the health of her older son Charlie, who has breathing and speech issues quickly took a toll. She recalled asing a presentation one day, but the elation she felt was sliced with guilt because she had to move Charlie's speech therapy to do it. Even if they had been able to get a spot for daycare, it would have gobbled up most of her $35,000 annual salary. It was untenable, she said, something had to give, and it was me. I broke through that process. With the support of her husband and engineer, she left her job to start her own marketing company. Creating her own flexible hours, she cared for her son and a second child, Max, now too, with help from family members. She said her life changed for the better when they were able to enroll both kids in universal daycare this summer before Charlie moved into pre-Kinner Garden. She was able to pay off Charlie's medical bills and triple her income. I was in shock this

22:04was happening, she said of the new state program. Happy, of course, ecstatic. I had been so in the trenches with the scheduling and negotiations wiggling into shapes I didn't fit into to make our life fit. This felt too good to be true. Now she said, I've reclaimed some of my joy because I'm not stressing out all the time. She later invited program organizers to resan to fam parent meetup to help spread the word. Capacity challenges. Enrollment has soared to $47,000 from $32,000, since the launch, but so are the costs. In February, the legislature passed a bill formalizing the program. Only afterward did lawmakers learn from the Luhan Grisham administration that it already faced a $60 million budget shortfall, Munoz said. The legislature's finance committee said in a report last year that the program could soon cost the state almost $849 million annually, a roughly

23:09$400 million increase from the fiscal year 2026 payouts. The governor disputed that finding, saying that the legislature's analysts did not factor in those who would remain in private care. Ismail Torres, the committee's chief economist, warned in a committee hearing last month that such a spike could put the trust fund that helps pay for the program in jeopardy. Jacob Kennallaria, a former Democratic state senator, is representing two former New Mexico early childhood education and care department staffers who said they were penalized after raising red flags about finances. He also represented a trio of Republicans who challenged a program in court and lost. He said Luhan Grisham, who is term limited and will leave offices year, has embraced universal child care as her legacy issue and a stepping stone to the national stage in 2028. She was eyed as a potential running mate for both former President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,

24:12and this year successfully pushed to have New Mexico become the fourth state to vote in the 2028 presidential primary, a prime slot. Whatever the governor has planned for the next steps of her career, this universal child care narrative is a central piece of it, Kennallaria said. My clients have had the unfortunate luck of getting in the way. The governor said she expects the whistleblower lawsuits to fail, like the GOP suit did. She also expects the issue of child care to be a topic during the presidential debates in 2028, she said. You're going to have this as a signature issue about where the country goes, the governor said. We need a universal approach supporting families who need care. Asked whether she expected to be on the presidential stage herself, she said, I hope I'm in the ears of people on the stages because I know we need this. The state has worked to address the capacity issues by offering low interest loans to providers

25:15and attempting to speed up approvals. New Mexico was short and estimated 15,000 daycare slots when the program was launched and added 6,700 cents then, an ECECD spokesman said. Ann Lillie, the director of the first Presbyterian Child Development Center in Santa Fe, said the majority of families at the center now use the universal system instead of paying privately. Most are families with two working parents whose incomes are just above the previous limit of $106,600. It has been huge for them, she said, when both people are working, trying to get by and you have two children, half your income is going to child care. More than 400 children are on her center's waiting list, so she's looking for a new space that would allow her to add about 85 infants and toddlers, a critical need. She's still trying to find the right building, which is difficult in Santa Fe with its many historical structures, she said.

26:18Critics have said allowing families who made more than $106,600 for a family of three last year to use the universal system has squeezed out low-income families who desperately need care. Sometimes they are seasonal workers who leave and then return, only to find a wealthier family has taken their slot, analyst said. The program serves 3,700 families who make above that amount according to the ECECD report this month. If you're making that kind of money, you really don't need this, since state representative Mark Duncan, a Republican. Are we keeping kids who really needed out because they didn't get their first? That's my concern. Lohan Grisham said they did away with the income requirements because the state is building for an equitable system. You don't make it for poor people, you don't make it for middle class, and you don't make it for billionaires. You make it for everybody, she said. We're really leaning into the developmental well-being aspect and family stability.

27:21When James Kranz, a tech executive and his wife, Caitlin, who owns a marketing company, had their son a little over a year ago, they too found lengthy daycare waiting lists in Santa Fe. He said the state is now paying for their babysitter after the couple made the argument that universal childcare should include private in-home care. Doesn't universal apply to everybody he asked? Having the full-time sitter has been magical for the couple, who can work with somebody to closely align with how we want to raise our child. Munoz said that going forward, the department needs to focus its efforts on at-risk kids, low-income kids, and special needs children, to really deliver on the transformational investment the state is making. When Rivera, 29, a legal assistant, gave birth to her son three years ago, she looked at the cost of daycare and was stunned by the price tag more than $20,000 a year. She and her husband,

28:22a technician, cobbled together a complicated schedule. She does her work from home and other family members are enlisted to help. She makes an online calendar to keep everyone on task. I'm constantly overwhelmed by the process, she said. My kids are seventh generation new Mexicans, to feel like we're not welcome anywhere when the family has been here so long is frustrating. She and her husband have completely lost hope on finding help for this school year and are looking to 2027 for relief. Maybe she can find a preschool for her son and a daycare for her daughter, then. This article is accompanied by photos. The first is caption, children are attended at the first Presbyterian Child Development Center in Santa Fe last week, Sophie Hect, for the Washington Post. The photo shows a daycare worker seated on a child's-size couch, reading to a boy in her lap while another child sits next to her, a third child is playing on the

29:24floor. The next photo is caption, the first Presbyterian Child Development Center has a waiting list of about 400, Sophie Hect, for the Washington Post. The photo shows three infants lying on the floor. The next photo is captioned, children's backpacks and belongings are stored in cubbies at the Child Development Center, Sophie Hect, for the Washington Post. The next photo is captioned, the center is one of the most highly regarded daycares in the state, Sophie Hect, for the Washington Post. The photo is shot from above and shows a daycare worker reading a book to a group of six children. The next photo is captioned, Colleen Pustovic, with her children at home in Santa Fe. Her children attend first Presbyterian Child Development Center and are enrolled in the state's free child care program, Sophie Hect, for the Washington Post. The next photo is captioned, Megan Montelebano Gorman with her two children, ages two and four in Santa Fe, Sophie Hect, for the Washington Post.

30:29The next photo is captioned, this year Montelebano Gorman was enabled to enroll both of her children in universal daycare, Sophie Hect, for the Washington Post. The next photo is captioned, children play at the first Presbyterian Child Development Center, Sophie Hect, for the Washington Post. The next photo is captioned, children's artwork is displayed at the center, Sophie Hect, for the Washington Post. The next photo is captioned, and Lily, director of the first Presbyterian Child Development Center, said the majority of families at the center now use the universal system instead of paying privately, Sophie Hect, for the Washington Post. The photo shows Miss Lily holding a child in her lap. The next photo is captioned, a caregiver reads to children at the first Presbyterian Child Development Center, Sophie Hect, for the Washington Post. The next photo is titled, GOP's No Tax Stands Tested, Social Security Fund's Running Dry. Some Republicans say it's time to

31:36raise taxes. By Steve Thompson. For decades, Washington has replayed the same fight over taming the soaring national debt. Democrats side a need for more taxes. Republicans refuse, and anyone who suggests cutting the biggest source of spending, federal retirement benefits, gets attacked. But a coming crisis in Social Security appears to be pushing at least a few Republicans off the GOP's longstanding pledge, never to raise taxes. This summer, Senator Bernie Moreno, Republican from Ohio, joined Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat from Massachusetts, in proposing to raise the payroll tax cap so people with higher incomes pay more into the program. Now the idea is emerging as an acceptable fix among other GOP lawmakers, including Representative Tom Cole, the influential chair of the House Appropriations Committee. We've got too many people who say, well, we'll have to stay within the current income level

32:40or stay at the current tax rate. Cole from Oklahoma said in an interview, I'm willing to look at the tax rate, I'm willing to raise the amount of income through tax. The rare GOP concessions on taxes come as lawmakers begin to confront a Social Security shortfall so large and so imminent that their party's traditional demand for curtailing benefits is unlikely to suffice. In just six years, millions of Social Security recipients will absorb a 22% cut in benefits unless lawmakers provide an immediate infusion of nearly $500 billion. 20 or 30 years ago, when the shortfall was far in the future, you could come up with a straight-face solution that solved the problem entirely by cutting future benefits. So Charles Blauhaus, a senior research strategist at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, who served from 2010 to 2015 as a Republican

33:41public trustee for Social Security. Now the problem is so big and urgent, Blauhaus said, I don't think you can look at it with a straight face and not do all of the above. Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform and the longtime enforcer of Republican and anti-tax orthodoxy, dismissed the crack in party discipline, arguing that Republicans should stick to demanding spending cuts. Otherwise, he said, they risk infuriating voters already angry about the high cost of living. When Republicans say no to tax increases, they win. When they say yes to tax increases, they lose. Norquist said, they don't get spending cuts at all, and they get smeared in the next election. But coal, at least, said he thinks the political blowback from Social Security benefit cuts would be far worse than a comprehensive solution that includes raising taxes. I love Grover, but you've got to deal with Social Security, call said,

34:44and believe me, you'll have a lot bigger problem if it goes bankrupt than you'll have keeping a hole because people will feel cheated. Created during the Great Depression, Social Security provides a monthly cash benefits to more than 70 million Americans. It is a single, largest program in the $7.4 trillion federal budget, paying out $1.7 trillion this year according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Medicare is a close second at $1.3 trillion. The program is funded by payroll tax on wages up to a cap of $184,500 a year, with workers and employers each paying 6.2%. Workers who pay into the system can receive monthly checks as early as age 62, though the full retirement age is 67. For years annual tax collections exceeded the cost of benefits, allowing the program to amass a surplus known as a Social Security Trust Fund. As a baby boom

35:47generation retired, however, the math flipped. Social Security now pays out far more than it collects and is draining the trust fund to make up the difference. The trust fund is projected to run dry in 2032. At that point, Social Security would have to rely solely on incoming tax collections, meaning monthly checks would shrink by $440 on average unless Congress acts according to the bipartisan policy center, a Washington think tank. Closing this shortfall would require $459 billion in cuts or fresh revenue in 2033 alone, according to BPC, and the sum would grow larger every year. Next in this article is a graph entitled Social Security Crisis Nears. The trust fund that helps pay retirement and survivor benefits is projected to run dry in 2032. The graph begins in the year 2021

36:48when the trust fund was $252,652,600,000,000 and shows a steep curve down to 0 in 2032. Chart, Steve Thompson, Source, Social Security Trustees 2026 Annual Report That relentless math persuaded Moreno, an ex-card dealership owner who wrote into office with President Donald Trump's endorsement in 2024, to break ranks with his party on tax hikes. In his proposal with Warren, Moreno calls for eliminating the payroll tax cap, so highly compensated workers pay the tax on their entire income. Why should a middle class nurse pay a larger share of her paycheck than a wealthy corporate lawyer? Moreno and Warren wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times, noting that one recent poll found that 62% of Republicans support lifting the cap. This is doubly unfair in an economy in which top earners' wages, over time, have pulled far ahead of those of the average worker.

37:53Moreno declined an interview request. His spokesperson, Reagan McCarthy, said in an email, Senator Moreno promised Ohioans he would fight for them in D.C. and make sure they get the benefits they were promised, and that's exactly why he's leading this effort. Removing the cap without increasing benefits for high-earning workers would close more than half the program's shortfall, according to the committee for a responsible federal budget, a nonpartisan group focused on deficit reduction. Bla House and others have cautioned against that approach, saying it would sever the connection between contributions and benefits that make Social Security different from, and more popular than other social welfare programs. Uncapping the payroll tax alone would push the top marginal federal tax rate over 50%, according to the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. Some Democrats would go further. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat from Rhode Island,

38:54argues not only for lifting the payroll cap, but also for taxing the investment income of wealthy households and closing a loophole that lets business owners shrink their personal tax bills. That proposal, which would fall entirely on the backs of the wealthy, would raise enough cash to fully fund Social Security for at least 75 years, according to a 2023 estimate by the program's chief actuary. The historic link between contributions and benefits makes changing Social Security politically perilous. That's why many in Congress want negotiations to be outsourced to a bipartisan commission or advisory board. Cole has introduced one of several proposals to form such a panel. He argues that more tax revenue, including from raising the payroll tax cap, ought to certainly be on the table, alongside adjustments that would reduce future spending, such as raising the retirement age. Next in this article is another graph in total,

39:55Social Security's costs will keep outrunning its income. When Social Security's combined retirement, survivor and disability trust fund runs out, benefits cannot be fully paid unless Congress takes action. The graph begins the year 2000 and shows Social Security's non-interest income, which is projected to be relatively flat. Also, the scheduled and payable benefits, which are shown to be peaking in 2030 and then decreasing to match the income. The graph also shows the scheduled but not fully payable benefits that are projected to increase to the end of the graph in the year 2100. Income and cost are shown as a percentage of the total wages tax by Social Security. Chartres from Figure 2D2, OASDI income cost and expenditures as a percentage of taxable payroll, source Social Security trustees 2026 annual report. A third

40:58GOP lawmaker, Representative Lloyd K. Smunker of Pennsylvania, has also said he sees more tax revenue as part of Social Security fix. You'll probably have to do something on the payroll half of the money being paid into the system. Smunker told roll call last week. Smunker said lawmaker should also consider means testing, so benefits are reduced for the wealthy, while low income retirees are protected. Smunker's office did not respond to requests for comment. The raising taxes is unpopular among Republicans, and has long been part of bipartisan plans to solve the Social Security Puzzle. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, and House Speaker Tip O'Neill, a Democrat, saved the program from its last bout with insolvency, agreeing to a mix of solutions that included increasing payroll taxes and gradually raising the retirement age. In 2005, the late Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina, argued for raising the payroll cap

42:00and trimming benefits. Weeks later, President George W. Bush said he was open to a variety of options, though his plan to curtail future benefits for all but low income retirees and diverge some tax dollars to new private retirement accounts was dismissed by Congress. And in 2010, several Republicans on a commission formed by President Barack Obama voted in favor of a debt reduction plan that included raising the payroll cap, raising the retirement age to 69, and trimming benefits for wealthy retirees. The plan offered by the so-called Bull Simpson Commission never received a vote in Congress. Senator Mike Krapow, Republican from Idaho, was among the commission's yes votes. Krapow now serves as chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over both taxes and social security. At a committee hearing last month, Krapow said the Bull Simpson plan has informed subsequent social security solvency discussions. His office did not respond

43:04to questions about his current position on tax hikes. Another home arc of social security reform has been deep involvement by the White House. Kohl said he has urged Trump to take on the hard work of fixing the program, calling it a potential crowning achievement. Since Trump is not running for office again, he could do it with no political risk, Kohl said, adding, I think he'll get enormous political credit for it. But while Trump has won Republicans not to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security, he has not said how he would raise the vast sums needed to bolster the program's deteriorating finances. White House spokesperson Liz Hudson did not respond to questions about fixing the program, saying the email only that there will be zero reductions to social security payments under Trump's leadership. This item is accompanied by photos. The first is captioned Senator Bernie Moreno, Republican from Ohio, leaves the capital on August 7th,

44:062026, Nathan Howard Reuters. The other photograph is captioned, Representative Tom Kohl, Republican from Oklahoma, speaks to the media as he departs a House Republican conference meeting on September 1st, 2026, Ben Gomez, Getty Images. Our next item is entitled Democrats Novel Ploy to Win California House See. Progressive candidate Villegas is hoped to finally unseed Valadeo by Dan Marica. For years, Democrats have been hellbent on asking Representative David G. Valadeo, putting up a series of more mainstream candidates to break the Republicans hold on a district that sweeps across California's verdant San Joaquin Valley. A state assembly member, the son of a union icon, a Senate Chief of Staff, all lost, and all reflected the belief that the way to defeat the entrenched Republican was to tack to the center and appeal to the district's swing voters. Democrats are,

45:10reluctantly, trying something new this year. Randy Villegas, an unabashedly progressive professor, has cast his defeat of an establishment Democrat in the primary, has not only a victory for progressives, but also a loss for the conventional wisdom around what it takes to win in a district long controlled by Republicans. House Democrats' main campaign arm endorsed 18 Democrats in primary contests this year. Villegas' primary opponent, Yasmeet Bains, was among them, making Villegas one of only three candidates who prevailed, despite the party's efforts to defeat him. There are a lot of assumptions about me. About this race, about our committees that I think have been proven wrong. Villegas told the Washington Post in Bakersfield, California this summer, after headlining an event on cuts to the Social Safety Net. This isn't a fight about left versus right. It's really us versus them. Villegas' win sets up an interesting political test of the

46:10viability of progressive politics in a district that President Donald Trump won in 2024. The test comes as a Democratic party grapples with calls for more anti-incephalism, often progressive candidates, to shake up the parties entrenched power and defeat Republicans. But it also represents a risky bet for the party in a district that nonpartisan prognosticators rate as a pure toss-up. One reason Valadeo is seen as vulnerable is his 2025 vote for the one big beautiful bill, which cut about $1 trillion from Medicaid and food assistance from millions of Americans. While the vote has put scores over Republicans on the defensive, it has been particularly potent against Valadeo. 64% of the residents in his district are Medicaid recipients, a higher proportion than for any other district held by a House Republican. 26% receive federal food assistance. People say he is too progressive.

47:12Rosie Kidwell, a voter in Valadeo's district, attended the Democrats' event outside the current County Public Services Building in Bakersfield, and discussed with Villegas the impact of food stamp cuts on her aging parents. She said she had previously voted for Valadeo. I believed in him, she recalled, but now plans to support Villegas despite acknowledging concerns that he may be too progressive. We need to educate voters, Kidwell said. People say he is too progressive. They need to learn how he will change things, how he will be good for our community. I believe in what he has to say. I know where he is coming from, Kidwell said, adding that she connected with his working class upbringing in the district. Flying by the Diablo range to the west, and this year in Nevada to the east, California's 22nd Congressional District is a valley of hundreds of farms that produce everything from fruits and tree nuts to dairy and cattle. Nicknamed the Food Basket of the World,

48:13the region gave rise to the American Farm Workers Movement and is home to some of the nation's largest agricultural corporations. That dominance has shaped the district's politics, making issues such as tariffs, water rights, and labor laws particularly potent. On paper, Valadeo's resilience is a political oddity. The district is one of the most Latino in the nation, and Democrats enjoy a double-digit registration advantage. But Republicans have held a foothold in the region for years, powered by a motivated base and Democratic-leaning voters willing to split their ticket. Valadeo, for example, took back the area in 2020 by less than a percentage point while Joe Biden carried the district by double digits. And Democrats were equally helpful they could defeat the Republican in 2024 before he won re-election by seven percentage points. What happened in 2024 was you had one party, the Democrats, who were saying the economy is great. Villegas said, meanwhile, who had somebody like Trump, has much of a grifter as

49:19he is, who was talking about how the system is rigged against people and who was speaking and tapping into some of the economic anxieties that people, including Latinos in my district, were facing. Establishment Democrats he argued, own that loss. We can't just offer people not Trump or not Valadeo, he said. We actually have to offer people something to believe in and something to fight for. The Agas, who co-owns his family's utter repair shop, has not shot away from his progressive politics. He supports Medicare for All, universal childcare, and has been an outspoken critic of Israel, which he labels a genocidal regime because of his actions in Gaza. Republicans have used these views to call him a socialist, and his Democratic opponent in the primary labeled him radical Randy. But Villegas argued that voters don't give a shit about these labels around progressivism or populism or moderate or conservative. That stride and see has given Republicans confidence.

50:24The GOP-backed Congressional Leadership Fund helped elevate Villegas during the primary, reflecting a belief that they would rather run against a progressive. But in a sign that Republicans know this rates could be tight, the group also plans to spend close to $8 million on ads backing Valadeo. That's because the Republican has lost before, and his district got slightly more Democratic as part of California's redistricting that was enacted by voters in 2025. Although the Republican first went to Congress in 2013, he lost his reelection to Democrat T.J. Cox during the 2018 midterms, a wave year when Democrats swept into control of the House two years after Trump was first elected. Though the Republican would later defeat Cox in 2020, party operatives in California and nationally know that the 2026 midterms, two years after Trump's 2024 win, could resemble the year Valadeo lost. Villegas shrugs off labels as GOP seeks to paint him as a radical.

51:30Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Villegas is lying to Central Valley families because he would rather protect benefits for criminal illegal immigrants than preserve Medicaid for those most in need. That's the difference Martinez said, Valadeo is protecting the vulnerable while Villegas is defending the radical. Valadeo, who declined multiple requests for comment on this article, was born and raised in Hanford, California, an agricultural hub in the district. His family owns two dairy farms, according to his congressional biography, Anne-Groes Almonds, Corn, and Wheat, to feed their dairy cows. A background that has helped him connect with voters in the heavily agricultural district. He attended college of the Sequoias, a community college where Villegas teaches political science, and spent two years in the state assembly before running to represent the Central Valley in Congress in 2012. The Democratic establishment has come around on Villegas. House Democrats campaign arm

52:32added the progressive to the same program they used to try to defeat him days after the primary this summer. And data from Add Impact and Add Tracking firm finds that House Majority Pack, the primary Democratic Superpack tasked with taking control of the House, plans to spend more than eight million dollars on ads in the district. The outside group told the post it will begin as television ad campaign in the district on Tuesday. CJ Warnke, a spokesperson for the group, said its campaign will focus on how Valadeo voted to raise costs and how Rending Villegas will make their lives more affordable. We are all in to elect Rending Villegas, said Anna Alsasser, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee who hit Valadeo as vulnerable after he voted for the Medicaid cuts. The contrast couldn't be clear, said Alsasser, and that's why this must win seat is primed to flip. This article is accompanied by photos. The first is captioned, Rending Villegas, a Democrat running to represent California's 22nd

53:37District campaigns in May in Bakersville, Myeong-Jae-Chun, Los Angeles Times, Getty Images. The photo shows Mr. Villegas outside the door to a home with a clipboard at a stack of campaign literature. The next photo is captioned, a dairy farm seen in 2016 in Porterville, California in the agricultural heavy Central Valley. Robin Beck, AFP, Getty Images. The next photo is captioned, represented David G. Valadeo at his farm in Hanford, California in 2024, located in the District he represents, Gen. Shohunfeld for the Washington Post. The next article from today's front page is entitled, Making a Massive Handover of History. Peter Bergen spent years reporting on Al-Qaeda. For the 25th anniversary of 9-11, he is donating more than 150,000 pages of documents to Georgetown University by Scott Nover. Peter Bergen has a unique collection,

54:39not stamps or coins or baseball cards, but something altogether more lurid, a comprehensive trove detailing the rise of Al-Qaeda. Bergen, 63, a journalist who has covered national security for CNN since the 1990s, produced the networks 1997 interview with Osama Bin Laden, Bin Laden's first television interview, and has been one of the foremost chroniclers of the US war on terror. In the process, Bergen has amassed stacks of papers, photographs, recordings, and artifacts. For the 25th anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001, planned and executed by Al-Qaeda, Bergen is donating his archive to Georgetown University's library so it can be a resource for scholars, students, and the public. I believe in history as being useful for people to try to understand Bergen said. Not that history repeats itself, but it does have a rhyme or two. Georgetown is getting 150,000 pages of printed and digital files, documentation from a lifetime

55:44of scouring them at least. And then there are some special items. Bergen holds a super rare paper copy of a fatwa issued by Omar Abd al-Raman, known as a blind chic, whom he's called the spiritual guide of the September 11 attacks. Abd al-Raman issued the theological order while incarcerated in the United States, and had it relayed by his lawyer. It was then distributed to attendees at what Bergen called the one and only Al-Qaeda press conference in Afghanistan in 1998. Kill them in the sea, on land, and in the air, it read. Bergen did not attend the press conference, but obtained the card with an Arabic message from an attendee afterward. He said the fatwa gave religious permission to Al-Qaeda's members to kill Americans and set the stage for the 2001 attacks. The other crown jewel of the collection is a complete run of Al-Jihad magazine, a publication that started in 1984 before Al-Qaeda was even formed, and was sold around the world,

56:50even in Brooklyn. Eventually became what Bergen called the In-Flight magazine of Al-Qaeda. When I teach about it, I say that it's like the vanity fair of terrorist publications, said Bruce Hoffman, a leading terrorism scholar and professor at Georgetown School of Foreign Service. It was glossy, it was colorful, it had a resting prose, really dramatic photographs. Hoffman, who helped connect Bergen with librarians at Georgetown, said the collection is one of a kind, and it's especially important, he said, for students who are too young to remember September 11. It makes history come alive, in essence, when you can look at these archival materials and trace history, this lineage that led to 9-11, Hoffman said, you can understand how earth shattering it was. Bergen first traveled to the Middle East in 1983 when he was 20 years old, a student in Oxford University, Bergen and two friends journeyed to Pakistan to film a documentary about African

57:52refugees. He worked for ABC News before moving to CNN in 1990. After the 1993 Wool Trade Center bombing, Bergen went to his bosses at CNN and said he wanted to investigate what was happening in Afghanistan since the bombers trained there. It was not until 1996 that he even heard the name of Somah bin Laden. He was trying to keep a low profile, Bergen said. He was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 Trade Center attacks, which his code for, we don't know what this guy did. He was in the ether. He was a name that came up. That year, a State Department analysis first identified bin Laden as a financier of radical Islamic groups. By 1997, a CNN team that included Bergen and correspondent Peter Arnett secured an interview with bin Laden. They agreed to be taken from their hotel in Jalalabad blindfolded to an unknown location in Afghanistan in one vehicle,

58:53then another, and then another, all under the cover of darkness. To meet bin Laden and interview him. Bergen was never scared, he said, because he was focused on the job, and not the potential danger. The photos, interview notes, and tapes from that day are part of the archive now in Georgetown's care. Bergen wears many hats these days. He's a CNN national security analyst, author of a new book called All the Presidents Wars, a vice president at a think tank new America, and is a professor at Arizona State University. Due to the constraints of time, we'll be unable to complete this item. This concludes our readings of the Washington Post. For today, Tuesday, September 8, 2026, you're ready for today has been Cindy Fraser. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program, please feel free to call us at 859-422-639-0. Thank you for listening, and now please stay tuned for continued programming on Radio I.