The Lever - 🥣 Cereal Of The Damned 😈

This is Lever Weekly, a recap of our work from the past week. If you only read one email from us all week, this should be it.

Here’s what The Lever published this week:

Are Hopeful Parents Victims Of A Fertility Scam? Genetic tests promised parents healthy pregnancies. New class action lawsuits say they may be worthless.

The Looting Of America’s Affordable Housing Fund. Private equity firms are diverting billions from a Great Depression-era mortgage program — and making huge profits.

You’ve Already Paid $6 Billion For Weight-Loss Drugs You Can’t Afford. U.S. taxpayers spent billions developing Ozempic-type diabetes and weight-loss drugs — now those drugs’ markups could bankrupt the U.S. health care system.

🔒 BONUS: The Billion-Dollar Taxpayer Math Behind The Ozempic Boom. How Americans spent $6.2 billion to develop overpriced diabetes and weight-loss drugs.

The Plan To Make America Hazardous Again. Trump’s EPA could stop states from warning people about potentially dangerous chemicals sprayed on their food.

🔒 BONUS: The Devil In Your Cereal Bowl. Why a controversial chemical is tainting your foods — and what you can do to protect yourself.

The Cancer Gag Act Of 2025. The chemical maker behind Roundup weed killer is lobbying the government to unilaterally block cancer victims from suing them.

How The Fed And Trump Are Helping Banks Rob You. Banks just raked in $250 billion by charging borrowers more than they pay depositors. Trump’s moves could make the scam worse.

How Trump’s Crypto Move Will Mine Your Retirement. The president just pledged to sink millions of taxpayer funds into the ever-volatile world of cryptocurrencies.

The Trump-Perot Connection. New tariffs realize the dream of the original billionaire candidate, whose populism began reshaping working-class politics.

Musk’s Big Senate Vote. Lawmakers will decide on whether to deregulate payment apps, including the billionaire’s newest business venture.

GOP Megadonor Got Payday Before Rent-Fixing Charges. Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman reaped a $1 billion payout just before the Justice Department announced a landmark antitrust lawsuit.

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Do Democrats Have A Game Plan? The Democratic Party has lost the trust of working-class voters. This congressman says he has the key to winning them back.

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🪦 RIP Social Security (1935-2025). DOGE layoffs are soon expected to hit the Social Security Administration, which oversees benefits for 73 million Americans. New research finds that similar layoffs under Reagan led to a major gap in coverage for some 80,000 elderly and disabled Americans. The number of Social Security beneficiaries has nearly doubled since the ’80s. If you can, start saving now.

🚒 Musk cuts off federal firefighters. Bureau of Land Management firefighting staffers across multiple states told The Lever the Department of Government Efficiency put a $1 limit on their state-issued credit cards, preventing them from buying time-sensitive supplies to prepare for the fire season or even traveling to fight fires. Other agencies faced similar draconian measures.

💩 San Francisco and SCOTUS team up to make you eat shit. On Tuesday morning, the Roberts Court delivered a 5-4 ruling for San Francisco in the city’s fight to kill off the regulation of sewage discharge. The Environmental Protection Agency fined San Fran for dumping sewage into the ocean, but the city argued the rules were too vague. The court’s decision prevents the agency from holding a polluter “responsible for the quality of the water in the body of water into which (it) discharges pollutants.”

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Every week, we bring paid subscribers a newsletter full of policy wins, environmental victories, and initiatives improving your life. 

This week’s good news:

• Funding freezes are thawing.
• Vital care for youth moves forward.
• Tycoons get taxed for groundbreaking housing.
• Water gets revolutionized in the desert.

Lever Leaders provide us with our highest level of support and score additional perks in return, including an annual gift of limited-edition Lever merchandise, a yearly gift subscription for friends and family, and access to an exclusive Lever staff meeting for a sneak peek at our future plans. Every week, we highlight folks who’ve taken that step:

• Wing42

• Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) — The congressman calls out our reporting on a private equity affordable housing scheme to push the passage of the Stop Wall Street Landlords Act. 
• New York Times Dealbook — The column highlights our reporting about private equity firms exploiting a Great Depression-era program created to support affordable housing.
• The Daily Climate — The environmental publication references our reporting on the cuts to the national firefighting service.
• ecoRI – The New England-focused environmental outlet notes our reporting on Trump’s removal of safety rules for “zombie” carbon dioxide pipelines. 
• The Western News — The publication, focused on the Western U.S., featured our reporting on cuts to the national firefighting service.

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