Naomi LaChance, Alternet

As Republicans debate a way to cut spending to implement President Donald Trump’s tax cuts, they are considering adding work requirements to Medicaid. To support the idea, one GOP lawmaker cited two examples: However, those were instances in which Medicaid work requirements went wrong.

“There are already tens of millions of Americans who are subject to work requirements. This is not a new concept,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) told NOTUS in a piece published Monday. “[Work requirements] are fantastically effective in helping people… The evidence suggests that overwhelmingly, the impact, on average, is positive.”

He listed Maine and Arkansas as examples of where work requirements went well. But in Maine, NOTUS’ Emily Kennard pointed out the potential work requirements were actually rejected. Republican Gov. Paul LePage had requested them, and then-President Trump approved them. Later, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills put a stop to the plan. And in Arkansas, a judge ended up blocking the program.

ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight

“Maine’s low unemployment rate, its widely dispersed population, and our lowest per capita income in New England make mandates – without appropriate supports like vocational training and specific exemptions for groups like people undergoing treatment – problematic,” Mills wrote a 2019 letter to U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “We believe that the likely result of this [requirement] would leave more Maine people uninsured without improving their participation in the workforce.”

In Arkansas, data “tells a much different story than the case Johnson made,” Kennard writes. The only state to implement such requirements, Medicaid recipients age 30 to 49 were notified in 2018 that they were required to work 80 hours per month. Almost 17,000 people lost their coverage as a result. However, a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine found that 97 percent of respondents were eligible under these new requirements.

“Studies found that beneficiaries were confused by the policy, and some lacked internet access to report their work hours,” Kennard adds.

By 2019, a federal judge had stopped the Arkansas program. An appeals court struck down the requirements in 2020. “Failure to consider whether the project will result in coverage loss is arbitrary and capricious,” the 2020 ruling said.

Kennard writes: “While it did not increase beneficiaries’ workforce participation, it did increase medical debt, and delay care for more than half of those disenrolled: 64% of people affected delayed taking medication because they couldn’t afford it. The CBO [Congressional Budget Office] concluded in 2023 that “the employment status of and hours worked by Medicaid recipients would be unchanged” by work requirements, but it would lead to more uninsured Americans. The CBO came to that conclusion in part thanks to data from Arkansas.”

But when presented with that information, Johnson said the CBO should not “draw conclusions on the basis of one state’s experience.”

Companies are feeling pressure as they prepare for Trump to implement tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, the New York Times reported Monday.

“Company executives and foreign officials are scrambling to avert the consequences of another tight deadline from Mr. Trump, who has threatened to put stiff tariffs on goods coming in from China, Canada and Mexico starting just after midnight Tuesday,” write Ana Swanson, Danielle Kaye, Jack Ewing and Rebecca F. Elliott.

“I’m basically in Hail Mary mode,” Logan Vanghele told the Times. He is the head of a small company that sells products for aquariums that are made in China. Last week, he begged for his shipment to be unloaded at its Friday stop in Virginia. “While it is possible that Mr. Trump’s new tariffs will include an exemption for goods that are already on the water, there is no guarantee,” the Times reported. Vanghele is looking at potentially paying about $25,000 in tariffs.

ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight

Trump has threatened a 25 percent tariff on Canada and Mexico as well as a 10 percent tariff on China. He also implemented a 10 percent tariff on China earlier.

“There are going to be tariffs on Tuesday on Mexico and Canada,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in an interview on Fox News over the weekend. “Exactly what they are, we’re going to leave that for the president and his team to negotiate.”

“Canada and Mexico are both deeply dependent on exports to the United States, and Mr. Trump’s threats have whipped their governments into action,” the Times reported. “Delegations of officials have made trips to Washington in recent weeks, including to meet with Mr. Lutnick.”

“Although tariffs do not go into force until mid-March, spot commodity prices have already risen about 20 percent,” Timothy Fiore of the Institute for Supply Management told the Washington Post.

Experts predict the automotive industry will be hit the hardest. “Our American automakers, who invested billions in the U.S. to meet these requirements, should not have their competitiveness undermined by tariffs that will raise the cost of building vehicles in the United States and stymie investment in the American work force,” Matt Blunt, the president of the American Automotive Policy Council, told the Times.

“You don’t have to be an expert in autos to see how detrimental this would be,” said John Helveston, an assistant professor at George Washington University.

Still, some people are waiting to see what happens, like Ron Baumgarten, who was a trade official in Trump’s first term. “If the signals we are seeing are correct, there could be a further postponement, or potentially a reduction from the proposed level of 25 percent. As is usual with President Trump, we will be kept guessing until the last minute,” he told the Post.

Looming tariffs and sweeping firings of federal workers are “chilling” the economy, ABC News reported Thursday. Thousands of government employees have been laid off as President Donald Trump and South African centibillionaire Elon Musk seek to shrink the federal government.

“It’s a very difficult business environment, because they can’t plan for what their cost structure is going to be,” Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the think tank the Center for a New American Security, told ABC News. “It’s adding to investment uncertainty, and some people are holding back on investments.”

Trump said that he will impose 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada on March 4. He also plans to impose a 10 percent tariff on China on top of the 10 percent tariff he already put in place. He says that the tariffs are in response to the drug trade.

ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight

“Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “A large percentage of these Drugs, much of them in the form of Fentanyl, are made in, and supplied by, China.”

“Every time a car part crosses the border, 25% tariffs could be very onerous,” Ziemba said. “We could see the cost of building a house go up quite substantially.”

These tariffs could also lead to layoffs. “If one of the inputs of your factory goes up by 25%, you might cut your production and say maybe we’ll have to fire some people,” she added.

And Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency “also impacts consumption, because people are losing their jobs or are afraid of losing their jobs, so that might cause them to save more money,“ Ziemba said.

A survey from the Conference Board, a business membership and research nonprofit, found this week that consumer sentiment is the lowest it’s been since August 2021.

“Views of current labor market conditions weakened,” said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist for global indicators at The Conference Board. “Consumers became pessimistic about future business conditions and less optimistic about future income. Pessimism about future employment prospects worsened and reached a 10-month high.”

Inflation is also hurting buyers. “Average 12-month inflation expectations surged from 5.2% to 6% in February. This increase likely reflected a mix of factors, including sticky inflation but also the recent jump in prices of key household staples like eggs and the expected impact of tariffs,” Guichard said.

Click here to read ABC's full report.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are getting along well so far, but their first meeting at the Oval Office five years ago in 2020 was not as friendly. A source who was at the meeting shared the details with Politico on Tuesday.

“That Musk later became Trump’s biggest financial backer — giving $288 million to his 2024 presidential bid — and then one of his closest advisers, is the latest example of how both men make decisions and build relationships based on a real politik calculus. And how both see themselves as engaging in a transactional relationship,” writes Politico’s Adam Wren.

Musk and Trump were meeting to discuss building a Tesla gigafactory in Mexico rather than Texas. Wren reports that Musk also met with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, before the meeting.

READ MORE: 'Flood the zone': Donald Trump's relentless lying explained by scholars

“A person who was within earshot of Musk — who West Wing Playbook granted anonymity to describe a private conversation — later recounted that Musk called Trump ‘a f------ moron’ behind his back while in the White House,” Wren writes.

“We walk into the Oval, and he kind of looks around, and he’s looking around,” the source said. “He’s like, ‘Gosh, I tell you. I mean, I was just in China and man, their palaces just make the White House kind of look more like an outhouse.’”

Trump “fumed,” the source said.

They discussed Teslas; Trump said he had two. But he seemed confused as to how the car’s supercharging network works.

READ MORE: 'This will kill people': GOP blasted for gutting Medicaid to pay for $4.5 trillion tax cut

Musk was on three Trump advisory councils in 2017, but he left when Trump said he would pull out of the Paris Climate Accords. “Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world,” he tweeted.

In 2022, Musk tweeted, "I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset."

Trump posted a picture of himself sitting at his desk in the Oval Office with Musk standing to his right. “When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, “drop to your knees and beg,” and he would have done it…” he posted on Truth Social.

Fox News host Mark Levin offered a rebuttal of President Donald Trump’s misleading claims about the war between Russia and Ukraine on his radio show Wednesday, voicing his support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“While Levin did not present his argument as being a rebuke of Trump, most of his points seemed to be aimed at debunking Trump’s claims over the last few days,” writes Mediaite’s Isaac Schorr.

“Now look, I don’t have a problem if it’s the position of our administration to cut back on support for Ukraine — which I oppose, by the way — then so be it,” Levin said. “Elections have consequences, so be it. But I want to make sure the facts are on the table and you, the American people, draw your own conclusion.”

READ MORE: 'Not just blood that they’re after': Expert says Christian Nationalists 'want a show'

“MAGA doesn’t support Putin,” he said.

Trump recently claimed that Zelenskyy’s approval rating was at 4 percent and suggested that Ukraine started the war.

“Zelenskyy’s latest poll, he’s at 57 percent,” Levin said.

“The parliament — with all parties in the parliament — support what he’s doing,” he added. “They’re trying to survive. Ukraine did not invade Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine.”

READ MORE: 'Cowardice': GOP faces backlash after report suggests death threat may have swayed vote

"He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden 'like a fiddle,'" Trump posted on Truth Social Wednesday. "A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left. In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only 'TRUMP,' and the Trump Administration, can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the 'gravy train' going. I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues."

Levin defended Zelenskyy’s actions. “Zelenskyy ordered martial law — that’s what the constitution there compelled,” he said. “Zelenskyy hasn’t called for an election — that’s what the constitution there compels. Now, I’m waiting for the first free election for Vladimir Putin. I mean, this is almost comical in a sick way that Putin is demanding an election. Why is he demanding an election in Ukraine when he doesn’t have free and real elections in his own country? And why does he — why does he get to call the shots when in fact, he murders people who dare to challenge him?”

“This is what we’re dealing with. Again, old KBG, and not just KBG, [Putin] was in like Flynn with the Stasi in East Germany. So, I don’t know why there are people that not only oppose Zelenskyy, but seem to support Putin,” said Levin.

People with this position are pushing “policies that in many ways are un-American in my view, and policies that if they had espoused these policies not that long ago, people would have wondered if they were on the take, or who they’re working for, something like that," he added. "Not that they are, but they would wonder.”

READ MORE: 'The time is now': Trump critics call out 4 ex-presidents for their silence

“Ukraine doesn’t have the industrial might that a Russia has — or a China. A relatively small population of around 40 million people, mostly an agricultural country. They didn’t start this war. What were they supposed to do? Roll over and play dead?” he asked.

“If Ukraine is making preposterous demands that cannot be met, that’s another problem, that’s another problem. But the idea that Ukraine must hold elections in violation of its own constitution as a condition for peace, or that Ukraine must give up more territory as a condition for peace… you have to understand the Ukrainian people don’t want to do that. That’s why Zelenskyy at 57%, higher than most politicians in our own country!” he said.

Last Thursday, as many as 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration were laid off, drawing condemnation from those concerned with national security. Some workers even lost access to their email before they saw the email that they were fired. But on Friday, the agency’s acting director rescinded the firings for nearly all of the staff.

“This letter serves as formal notification that the termination decision issued to you on Feb. 13, 2025 has been rescinded, effective immediately,” said the memo, the Associated Press (AP) reported Sunday.

The Department of Energy said that the NNSA workers who were fired "held primarily administrative and clerical roles. But three officials told the AP otherwise. Some of the workers were in charge of building warheads, an extremely sensitive job with the highest levels of clearance. Others managed radioactive waste sites, including a Superfund site where work on the Manhattan Project took place. The almost-layoffs took place as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (which is not yet an official federal agency authorized by Congress) looks to cut thousands of employees, including about 2,000 at the Department of Energy, which oversees the nuclear stockpile.

ALSO READ: 'Gotta be kidding': Jim Jordan scrambles as he's confronted over Musk 'double standard'

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the nonpartisan Arms Control Association, told the Associated Press that DOGE did not seem to be aware of what they had done.

“The DOGE people are coming in with absolutely no knowledge of what these departments are responsible for,” he said. “They don’t seem to realize that it’s actually the department of nuclear weapons more than it is the Department of Energy.”

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said the firings were “utterly callous and dangerous.”

Deputy division director Rob Plonski wrote on LinkedIn that these cuts were a bad idea.

“This is a pivotal moment. We must decide whether we are truly committed to leading on the world stage or if we are content with undermining the very systems that secure our nation’s future," he wrote, adding, “Cutting the federal workforce responsible for these functions may be seen as reckless at best and adversarily opportunistic at worst.”

It’s unlikely that all of the fired workers will come back.

“The NNSA staff who had been reinstated could not all be reached after they were fired, and some were reconsidering whether to return to work, given the uncertainty created by DOGE,” wrote the AP's Tara Copp and Anthony Izaguirre.

Click here to read the AP's full report.

President Donald Trump’s wife, Melania, is not concerned with political commitments or appearances, a source told People in a piece posted on Friday.

“She doesn’t believe she has obligations in the political world," the unnamed “social source” said. "But she does care about children and their well being."

“Anything she may do in this administration will happen if she has the time and interest to pursue it," the source said.

READ MORE: Melania 'wants nothing to do with' Trump White House — 'don’t expect her full-time' in DC: CNN

“Politics is not her world,” they added.

Last month, the First Lady described her role on Fox News. "Maybe some people, they see me as just the wife of the president,” she told Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt, "but I’m standing on my own two feet, independent. I have my own thoughts, I have my own yes and no. I don’t always agree what my husband is saying or doing, and that’s okay."

“I give him my advice. And sometimes he listens. Sometimes he doesn’t. And that’s okay,” she said.

“Donald does his thing, and she does hers,” the source affirmed. “She tells it like it is when they talk and he listens. Does he do what she says? Not necessarily, but it has happened.”

READ MORE: 'Spine-tingling' interviews show Melania 'even more of a grifter than her husband': writer

Melania and Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, recently made headlines because they had previously promoted the work of USAID, which the president is now looking to eliminate.

Melania also told Fox that she would expand her "Be Best" anti-bullying initiative. She is also in the process of shooting a documentary -- Amazon gave her a $40 million deal to create a piece about her life. "I had an idea to make a movie," she told Earhardt.

The source said that while the president cares about how he is perceived, but Melania “couldn't care less how she looks politically.”

That doesn’t always mean she is completely detached. “Just because she is quiet in a crowd doesn’t mean she is aloof, not listening, or necessarily disinterested,” the source said. “Her mind is filled with what she does every day, her own life, and what interests her.”

READ MORE: $40 million Amazon documentary deal for Melania Trump slammed as corporate 'pandering'

Melania said in the Fox interview that she would be splitting her time among Washington, D.C., New York, and Palm Beach. "I will be in the White House. And when I need to be in New York, I will be in New York. When I need to be in Palm Beach, I will be in Palm Beach. My first priority is to be a mom, to be a first lady, to be a wife," she said.

About 30,000 tons of food is stuck at a port in Houston after Trump halted foreign aid for 90 days. The food, intended to feed people overseas, is stalled at a warehouse, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The food was being distributed by the Food for Peace program, which is part of the U.S. Agency for International Development, part of the government overseeing aid to more than 100 countries that the Trump administration is looking to shut down.

“The food stuck in Houston totaled more than 31,000 tons and was part of more than 500,000 tons of food valued at $450 million now at risk of going to waste,” writes the Chronicle’s James Osborne. USAID food shipments are also being held up in Boston, New York, and Miami, as well as four other ports.

READ MORE: Ex-GOP and Dem USAID leaders condemn Trump’s aim to demolish agency: report

The freeze is hurting American farmers. According to a 2021 report by the Congressional Research Service, American farms supply about 40 percent of the food that USAID distributes.

"Purchases of commodities from farmers that power Food for Peace have stopped. Hundreds of tons of American-grown wheat are stranded in Houston right now," U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D-AR) told the Chronicle. Craig is a ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee.

"This hostile takeover of USAID is illegal and unacceptable and creates uncertainty and instability for the agricultural economy,” she said.

“You’re talking about a direct impact on American products and American jobs,” George Ingram, a senior fellow at the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution, told the Post.

READ MORE: 2 USAID officials put on leave after refusing DOGE access to classified docs 2 USAID officials put on leave after refusing DOE access to classified docs

A White House spokesperson told the Chronicle that the move was "ensuring that taxpayer-funded programs at USAID align with the national interests of the United States, including protecting America’s farmers."

Trump "will cut programs that do not align with the agenda that the American people gave him a mandate to implement and keep programs that put America First," the spokesperson said.

“USAID plays a critical role in reducing hunger around the world while sourcing markets for the surplus foods America’s farmers and ranchers grow,” Dave Salmonsen, senior director of government affairs at the American Farm Bureau Federation, said in a statement.

Republican members of Congress are critical of President Donald Trump’s suggestion to “take over” Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” displacing Palestinians, the Hill reported Thursday.

The Israeli government has backed Trump's proposal. "I instructed the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] to prepare a plan that will allow any resident of Gaza who is interested to leave to any place in the world that agrees to accept them," Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. "The plan will include options for exit at land crossings as well as special arrangements for exit by sea and air."

“I think it’s a really dumb idea to talk about having U.S. troops in Gaza. It’s the last place on earth I’d send U.S. troops and I won’t support it,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told the Hill.

READ MORE: 'He does not want war': Fox News host downplays Trump’s plan to take over Gaza

“All I can say is I want to destroy Hamas, but I’ve been on the phone with Arabs all day. That approach I think will be very problematic, said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). "The idea of Americans going in on the ground in Gaza is a nonstarter for every senator.

“I would suggest we go back to what we’ve been trying to do: Destroy Hamas and find a way for the Arab world to take over Gaza and the West Bank in a fashion that would lead to a Palestinian state Israel could live with,” Graham added.

On Thursday, Trump said that American soldiers would not be involved, saying: “The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting."

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, also backpedaled on the idea Wednesday.

READ MORE: 'Like 25 percent tariffs': Trump team heard him talk Gaza takeover for months and made no plan

“Steve Witkoff was just talking about that in there, and what he said was the president doesn’t want to put any U.S. troops on the ground … and he doesn’t want to spend any U.S. money, dollars, at all,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) said.

“My view is that I’m very opposed to any U.S. troops on the ground there and I don’t want to spend taxpayer dollars in Gaza. I want to spend taxpayer dollars cleaning up St. Louis, Missouri, cleaning up our nuclear radiation, helping our victims,” he added.

The U.S. is already spending taxpayer dollars in Gaza.

Click here to read the Hill's article in full.

President Donald Trump’s administration was sending undocumented immigrants apprehended at the Southern border to the U.S. Naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on Tuesday.

CNN is reporting that the Pentagon has also begun constructing a tent city intended to detain up to 30,000 migrants and asylum seekers. Experts, politicians, and activists are condemning the move.

“It’s the perfect place to provide for migrants who are traveling out of our country ... but also hardened criminals,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday.

READ MORE: Trump’s war on migrants could make an enemy of the country he needs most

Guantánamo Bay is notorious for human rights violations and torture of suspected terrorists during George W. Bush’s presidency. As of January 2025, 15 detainees remained out of 780.

“We have 30,000 beds in Guantánamo to detain the worst criminal aliens threatening the American people,” Trump said last week.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the move. “For Cuba, the violent and indiscriminate deportation of immigrants by the United States, arbitrary detentions and other human rights violations are unacceptable ... The establishment of a detention center at the American naval base in Guantánamo, where it is intended to imprison tens of thousands of people, constitutes a barbaric act.”

One former Homeland Security official told CNN they were unsure of the legality of the move. “They’d be pushing the limits of where the (Immigration and Nationality Act) applies,” they said — it is unclear whether American immigration law would be in effect. CNN also reported that it was unclear as to whether detainees would have access to legal or social services.

READ MORE: 'We will fight back': Aid workers fear closing camp on AZ border will endanger migrants

Advocates are outraged. “Sending immigrants to Guantánamo is a profoundly cruel, costly move,” Amnesty International’s Director of Refugee and Migrant Rights, Amy Fischer, posted on X. “It will cut people off from lawyers, family and support systems, throwing them into a black hole so the U.S. government can continue to violate their human rights out of sight. Shut Gitmo down now and forever!”

“Use of Guantánamo Bay to detain people is the latest in a shocking plan to expand the immigration detention system,” Stacy Suh, program director of Detention Watch Network, said in a statement.

“Guantánamo Bay’s abusive history speaks for itself and in no uncertain terms will put people’s physical and mental health in jeopardy," Suh said. "If realized, Trump’s immigration detention expansion will tear apart families, put people’s lives in danger, and cost taxpayers greatly ... This moment demands a national outcry — our elected officials cannot afford to remain silent on Trump’s excessive cruelty."

Click here to read CNN's report in its entirety.

After President Donald Trump offered a buyout for federal workers, one employee who works at a federal agency decided to take the deal — and has not heard back, despite the deadline being Thursday. The employee shared their experience with ABC News on Monday.

The “Fork in the Road” program offers federal employees the option to resign but continue receiving pay until September. The move is part of an attempt by the Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk to shrink the government. Some experts have said this move would be illegal because it is promising funds for a budget that Congress has not yet approved.

"This is happening," the anonymous employee thought when they decided to resign. "I was scared, nervous, and excited all at the same time. Thought about it for a day I think. ... And I just told myself that I'm going to do it."

They emailed the word “resign,” following the Office of Personnel Management’s instructions. They soon got a response: "We received your email response. We will reply shortly."

Almost a week later, the employee has not heard anything else, and the deadline is fast approaching.

Colleagues at their agency, they said, have been confused about the deal. Management, they said, had been silent; when they told management about their decision to resign, management apparently did not respond. The worker went to management again, and they were told “they should have waited for more guidance before accepting the offer,” ABC News’ Will Steakin wrote. Management also told them that they would still have to do their job after they resigned, although they later walked back that claim.

Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that this program is a way to get people back into the workforce.

"We're all here at work, at the office," Leavitt said. "There are law enforcement officers and teachers and nurses across the country who showed up to the office today. People in this city need to do the same. It's an overwhelmingly popular policy with people outside of Washington, D.C."

Some experts have suggested that taking a second job would violate ethics rules.

The worker said that they had been considering quitting for some time. "I've been telling myself for the last five years that I was going to quit. But it's a good job, I like the job. ... I love my job,” they told ABC News.

They added: "This is just the nudge that I needed to take that leap.”