Secretary Pete Buttigieg in Birmingham to announce $14.5 million federal grant to revitalize Alabama’s ‘Black Main Street’
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came to Birmingham on Wednesday to celebrate a $14.5 million federal grant that will restore two-way traffic to Fourth Avenue North in the city’s historic Black business district. “We’re here because everybody recognizes all the ways in which infrastructure shapes our lives, and we feel it when something goes wrong,” he said. “Sometimes we don’t pay attention to it when everything goes right, but a lot of work goes into making sure that it goes right. And that’s what today is about.” The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program, which is designed in part to help reconnect underserved communities that were adversely affected by past transportation projects. Buttigieg was joined by Congresswoman Terri Sewell, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, community leaders, and Fourth Avenue business owners for an event outside the historic Carver Theatre, home to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and near the Birmingham Civil Rights District. The transportation secretary said his visit was “about better infrastructure for the future” and “about putting right things that have been done wrong in the past.” “Part of what brings me to Birmingham today is recognizing the consequences of infrastructure decisions that were made generations ago and our regard for a community’s vision,” Buttigieg said. The grant will restore two-way traffic along 15 blocks of Fourth Avenue and add additional features designed to revitalize the commercial district and help reconnect the important corridor to the broader neighborhood. “People are going to find it easier and more comfortable and safer to move on this quarter, whether walking, biking, riding the bus, or driving,” Buttigieg said. Sewell said many past infrastructure projects created barriers between people and adversely impacted neighborhoods, especially in African American communities. She said what happened to the Fourth Avenue business district – the city’s “Black Main Street” – is a prime example. “We know that the historic Fourth Avenue business district has a very rich legacy of African American ingenuity and entrepreneurship. We also know that we’ve seen the crippling effects of infrastructure policy that has sought to divide us,” she said. “Our people deserve better,” Sewell added, saying the project will “… help us right these wrongs and level the playing field for Fourth Avenue business district.” Woodfin said that to create a thriving downtown and thriving neighborhoods, “we need streets where a mother can safely push a stroller across a crosswalk.” “Our vision is to create a truly multimodal, model city, a city where people can walk, ride public transportation or ride a bike to get to their destination.” He said some of the changes won’t happen overnight, with many in the community still “trapped in a culture of car dependency.” “It will take us some time to undo this infrastructure and redesign our streets and systems,” Woodfin said, calling the Fourth Avenue project a “major step” in creating safer streets. Republished with permission from Alabama News Center. A version of this story originally appeared in The Birmingham Times.
Joe Biden announces new council, efforts to strengthen U.S. supply chains
By Casey Harper | The Center Square President Joe Biden on Monday announced the creation of a new council in an attempt he said is to strengthen and protect American supply chains. The COVID-19 pandemic led to major disruptions of the U.S. supply chain, in part causing notable increases in prices that helped propel already rising inflation in recent years. Inflation has since slowed, but Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the goal is to make the U.S. less vulnerable to those kinds of disruptions in the future. “Our goal is to make our supply chains more durably resilient and to bring more of their elements home to American soil to prevent disruptions and price spikes in the future,” Buttigieg said. The White House announced a series of actions, including the creation of the committee, to address the issue. That includes using the Defense Production Act to direct the production of more “essential medicines” in the U.S. The White House also said the Department of Defense will issue a report on pharmaceutical supply chain resilience to help reduce “reliance on high-risk foreign suppliers.” The federal investment in domestic medicine production will start with $35 million from Health and Human Services. “Before the pandemic, supply chains weren’t something that most Americans thought about or talked about,” Biden said. “But today after years of delay of parts and products, everyone knows why supply chains are so important.” During his remarks Monday, Biden emphasized the need to bring more of the supply chain home and pointed to the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS and Science Act, which included tax credits for those investing in chip manufacturing in the U.S. Currently, the U.S. manufactures a fraction of the global supply of microchips used in computers, cell phones, and more. Instead, the U.S. relies on production in Asia, notably China and Taiwan, further complicating China’s potentially imminent invasion of the island nation. Biden claimed semiconductor manufacturers are investing hundreds of billions of dollars on new plants in the U.S. “But these small computer chips the size of a fingertip, they affect nearly everything in our lives from cell phones to automobiles to refrigerators,” Biden said. “If you don’t have them, you don’t have those things. But over time, we went down from producing 40% of the world’s chips to just doing 10%. But not anymore.” Another part of Biden’s effort involves broad coordination between government and private entities on where goods are being supplied and produced. The White House also pointed to hundreds of millions of dollars being invested by the Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Defense to encourage and strengthen local production. The new council will also finish a quadrennial supply chain review” by the end of next year, an apparently holistic analysis of the U.S. supply chain and its weaknesses to be updated annually. Much of the White House’s announcement pointed to the enactment of a provision in the infrastructure law, which passed with bipartisan support. The plan also considers national security implications. “DOD is increasing supply chain visibility through the creation of a Supply Chain Mapping Tool to analyze supplier data for 110 weapon systems,” the White House said in a statement. “This capability will be used to develop defense industrial base wargaming scenarios to identify vulnerabilities and develop mitigation strategies.” The war in Ukraine, a major producer of wheat and fertilizer, has led to a global impact on the food supply chain. As always, Middle East oil suppliers also have outsized influence over U.S. energy costs. “Our competition with China will be the defining issue of the next several decades,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter Monday. “We need to achieve and maintain a competitive edge in AI, the critical mineral supply chain, and more.” Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Terri Sewell announces $1.4 Million SMART grant to improve transportation efficiency, safety
On Thursday, Congresswoman Terri Sewell announced that the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham will receive $1,492,204 from the Department of Transportation’s Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grants Program. “As the only member of Alabama’s Congressional Delegation to vote in favor of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, I am thrilled to see the outpouring of critical investments like these coming to our communities,” said Rep. Sewell. “I am even more proud that the SMART Program provides an innovative avenue to revitalize our current transportation system. I applaud Secretary [Pete] Buttigieg and the entire Biden-Harris Administration for their continued dedication to investing in a sustainable and more equitable future.” The SMART Program is based on the supposition that planning, prototyping, and team building are critical to advancing the state of the practice for data and technology projects in the public sector. The SMART program is currently appropriated at $100 million a year from fiscal year 2022 through 2026. The SMART Grants Program will fund projects that use technology interventions to solve real-world challenges facing communities today. The SMART program is divided into two stages. Stage 1 is the Planning and Prototyping Grants and determines eligible projects for Stage 2 Implementation Grants. During Stage 1, public sector project leaders should build internal buy-in and partnerships with public, private, academic, nonprofit, and community organizations and community networks to refine and prototype their concepts and report on results. This grant is intended to develop a fully integrated mobility system addressing the longstanding disinvestment in public transportation across Central Alabama. This funding was made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Terri Sewell is the only Democrat in Alabama’s congressional delegation. Since Democrats hold no elected offices statewide in Alabama, and the GOP holds a filibuster-proof majority in both Houses of the Alabama Legislature, she is effectively by far the most powerful Democratic officeholder in Alabama. She is the first Black woman to represent Alabama in the U.S. House of Representatives and the only member of Alabama’s congressional delegation to support President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Sewell is an attorney and a native of Selma. She presently resides in Hoover. Sewell is in her seventh term representing Alabama’s Seventh Congressional District. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Pete Buttigieg warns Norfolk Southern to support Ohio community
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg sent a letter Sunday to the CEO of Norfolk Southern, warning that the freight rail company must “demonstrate unequivocal support for the people” of East Palestine, Ohio, and surrounding areas after a fiery train derailment led to the release of chemicals and residents expressing concerns about their health. “Norfolk Southern must live up to its commitment to make residents whole — and must also live up to its obligation to do whatever it takes to stop putting communities such as East Palestine at risk,” Buttigieg wrote. “This is the right time for Norfolk Southern to take a leadership position within the rail industry, shifting to a posture that focuses on supporting, not thwarting, efforts to raise the standard of U.S. rail safety regulation.” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Friday that the chemicals that spilled into the Ohio River are no longer a risk, even as people in the community say they have constant headaches and irritated eyes. The state plans to open a medical clinic in the village of 4,700 to analyze their symptoms, despite repeated statements that air and water testing has shown no signs of contaminants. Still, uncertainty persists about the consequences of a derailment that occurred roughly two weeks ago. Peter DeCarlo, a professor of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins University, told ABC News on Sunday that more testing is needed to determine which chemicals are present. “We just don’t have the information we need to understand what chemicals may be present,” DeCarlo said. “We know it started as vinyl chloride, but as soon as you burn that, all bets are off. You have a lot of chemical byproducts that can happen from a combustion process like that.” Asked if he would move back to East Palestine if he were already living there, DeCarlo said: “I have two little boys. I would not.” Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw issued a statement on Saturday that he “returned to East Palestine today to meet with local leaders, first responders, and a group of Norfolk Southern employees who live in the area.” “In every conversation today, I shared how deeply sorry I am this happened to their home,” Shaw said. The Atlanta-based company has created a website with updates, NSMakingItRight.com. The transportation secretary’s letter on Sunday came across as a stern warning to Norfolk Southern, saying: “It is imperative that your company be unambiguous and forthright in its commitment to take care of the residents — now and in the future.” Buttigieg said the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the derailment and that the Federal Railroad Administration is also analyzing whether safety violations occurred and will hold Norfolk Southern accountable if violations did occur. The Environmental Protection Agency has said the company must document the release of hazardous contaminants and outline cleanup actions. But Buttigieg also said that Norfolk Southern and other rail companies “spent millions of dollars in the courts and lobbying members of Congress to oppose common-sense safety regulations, stopping some entirely and reducing the scope of others.” He said the effort undermined rules on brake requirements and delayed the phase-in for more durable rail cars to transport hazardous material to 2029, instead of the “originally envisioned date of 2025.” The transportation secretary said the results of the investigation are not yet know, but “we do know that these steps that Norfolk Southern and its peers lobbied against were intended to improve rail safety and to help keep Americans safe.” Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Daniel Sutter: A tale of two debacles
In December, a winter storm grounded Southwest Airlines for nearly a week, even though major airlines quickly resumed service. In January, all flights were temporarily grounded due to the crash of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) system. The consequences of these debacles illustrate accountability in markets and politics. A winter storm across the northern United States snarled air and ground Christmas travel. But days after Christmas, Southwest was still canceling about half of its flights, almost ten times more than any other airline. Southwest’s disruption must then have involved additional factors. One appears to be Southwest’s point-to-point route structure in contrast with other airlines’ hub-and-spoke systems. This seemingly left many planes and crews stranded in weather-impacted cities. Failure of an outmoded crew tracking system is a second culprit, as it kept available crews from being used. The FAA’s Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system crashed on January 11, causing 7,000 flight delays and 1,000 cancellations. NOTAM delivers safety messages to flight crews prior to takeoffs, prompting the FAA to suspend takeoffs until the aged computers were back online. Neither debacle was unexpected since out-of-date technology was bound to eventually crash when stressed. Timely investment in new systems could have avoided the debacle. Why did this not happen, and what consequences have Southwest and the FAA faced? Gary Kelly was Southwest’s CEO from 2004 until early 2022 when current CEO Bob Jordan took over. Mr. Kelley’s background was in accounting, and he reportedly was not convinced of a sufficient return on investing to modernize crew communications. An alternative interpretation here is that the potential for December’s meltdown was too hypothetical to register in a cost analysis. New CEO Mr. Jordan was talking in November about overhauling antiquated systems, but then it was too late. The FAA’s failure combines the government’s long-standing underinvestment in infrastructure with mindless bureaucracy. The NOTAMs have been called useless. One aviation group described them as presenting “information in a coded, upper case, incredibly un-human-friendly format” and “overloaded with irrelevant information.” The NOTAMS included items like grass cutting at airports, resulting in reports upwards of 100 pages. Reason’s Christian Britschgi reports how two Air Canada pilots in 2017 missed a notice about a closed runway buried in a report and almost collided with four other planes. Let’s turn now to consequences. Mess-ups cost businesses customers and stock value. Stock markets are forward-looking; investors evaluate everything about a company, its competitors, and the economy to project future profitability. Once all current information is digested, stock price changes should reflect new information. Not surprisingly, Southwest’s stock price fell 11 percent between December 23rd and 27th, yielding a $2 billion loss based on market capitalization. The stocks for American, Delta, and United fell by only 2 to 3 percent over these days. A formal event study would be needed to confirm attribution, but markets punish businesses for mess-ups. Politics produces criticism. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been ripped over the NOTAM failure and will likely face a Congressional hearing. Doing poorly as Transportation Secretary could degrade Mr. Buttigieg’s political prospects. But how many FAA bureaucrats will lose their jobs and pensions over this? Moreover, history shows that failure in the public sector frequently yields budget increases to “fix” the problem. Political “accountability” has produced continual technological obsolescence at the FAA. In the 1990s, the computers running America’s air traffic control system still used vacuum tubes, making the FAA scour the former Soviet bloc for spare parts. The FAA today tracks planes with paper flight strips instead of electronic slips like other developed nations; a partial transition may be completed by 2031. As Wired magazine noted, “Modernization, a struggle for any federal agency, is practically antithetical to the FAA’s operational culture, which is risk averse, methodical, and bureaucratic.” Every organization will make mistakes. Economic freedom necessarily entails the freedom for businesses to mess up. But because private businesses – unlike government bureaucracies – face financial penalties for their mistakes, businesses must improve or eventually face bankruptcy. Daniel Sutter is the Charles G. Koch Professor of Economics with the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University and host of Econversations on TrojanVision. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of Troy University.
Congress votes to avert rail strike amid dire warnings
Legislation to avert what could have been an economically ruinous freight rail strike won final approval in Congress on Thursday as lawmakers responded quickly to President Joe Biden’s call for federal intervention in a long-running labor dispute. The Senate passed a bill to bind rail companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached between the rail companies and union leaders in September. That settlement had been rejected by four of the 12 unions involved, creating the possibility of a strike beginning December 9. The Senate vote was 80-15. It came one day after the House voted to impose the agreement. The measure now goes to Biden’s desk for his signature. “Communities will maintain access to clean drinking water. Farmers and ranchers will continue to be able to bring food to market and feed their livestock. And hundreds of thousands of Americans in a number of industries will keep their jobs,” Biden said after the vote. “I will sign the bill into law as soon as Congress sends it to my desk.” The Senate voted shortly after Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg emphasized to Democratic senators at a Capitol meeting that rail companies would begin shutting down operations well before a potential strike would begin. The administration wanted the bill on Biden’s desk by the weekend. Shortly before Thursday’s votes, Biden defended the contract that four of the unions had rejected, noting the wage increases it contains. “I negotiated a contract no one else could negotiate,” Biden said at a news briefing with French President Emmanuel Macron. “What was negotiated was so much better than anything they ever had.” Critics say the contract that did not receive backing from enough union members lacked sufficient levels of paid sick leave for rail workers. Biden said he wants paid leave for “everybody” so that it wouldn’t have to be negotiated in employment contracts, but Republican lawmakers have blocked measures to require time off work for medical and family reasons. The president said Congress should impose the contract now to avoid a strike that he said could cause 750,000 job losses and a recession. Railways say halting rail service would cause a devastating $2 billion-per-day hit to the economy. A freight rail strike also would have a big potential impact on passenger rail, with Amtrak and many commuter railroads relying on tracks owned by the freight railroads. The rail companies and unions have been engaged in high-stakes negotiations. The Biden administration helped broker deals between the railroads and union leaders in September, but four of the unions rejected the deals. Eight others approved five-year deals and are getting back pay for their workers for the 24% raises that are retroactive to 2020. With a strike looming, Biden called on Congress to impose the tentative agreement reached in September. Congress has the authority to do so and has enacted legislation in the past to delay or prohibit railway and airline strikes. But most lawmakers would prefer the parties work out their differences on their own. The Senate took a series of three votes. The first was on a measure by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, that would have sent both parties back to the negotiating table. But union groups opposed an extension, as did the Biden administration. The proposal was roundly rejected, with 25 senators in support and 70 opposed. “An extension would simply allow the railroads to maintain their status quo operations while prolonging the workforce’s suffering,” leaders of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO said. The second vote the Senate took would have followed the path the House narrowly adopted the day before, which was to add seven days of paid sick leave to the tentative agreement. But that measure fell eight votes short of the 60-vote threshold needed for passage. The final vote was the measure binding the two parties to the September agreement. It passed with broad bipartisan support, as it had in the House. While lawmakers voiced consternation about having to weigh in, the economic stakes outweighed those concerns. “A strike of that magnitude would have a painful impact on our economy, and that is an unacceptable scenario as inflation continues to squeeze West Virginians and Americans heading into the holiday season,” said Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. Democrats have traditionally aligned themselves with the politically powerful labor unions that criticized Biden’s move to intervene and block a strike. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Democratic colleagues it was “with great reluctance” that Congress needed to bypass the standard ratification process for union contracts. She did, however, hold an additional vote that would have added the seven days of paid sick leave that union workers wanted. That gave Democratic lawmakers in both chambers the ability to show their support for paid sick leave for rail workers while also avoiding a crippling strike. The call for paid sick leave was a major sticking point in the talks, along with other quality-of-life concerns. The railroads say the unions have agreed in negotiations over the decades to forgo paid sick time in favor of higher wages and strong short-term disability benefits. The unions maintain that railroads can easily afford to add paid sick time when they are recording record profits. Several of the big railroads involved in these contract talks reported more than $1 billion profit in the third quarter. The Association of American Railroads trade group praised the Senate vote to impose the compromise deal that includes the biggest raises in more than four decades. Still, CEO Ian Jefferies acknowledged that many workers remain unhappy with working conditions. “Without a doubt, there is more to be done to further address our employees’ work-life balance concerns, but it is clear this agreement maintains rail’s place among the best jobs in our nation,” Jefferies said. Union groups were unhappy with the final result. “The Senate just failed to pass seven days of paid sick leave for rail workers. We are grateful to the 52 Senators who voted YES and stood with rail workers,” tweeted the Transportation Trades
Terri Sewell applauds $21+ million in funding for clean transit buses in Jefferson County and University of Alabama
This week, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell announced over $21 million in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for clean transit buses in Alabama. The funding is part of a $1.66 billion investment by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in 150 bus fleets and facilities across the nation to reduce pollution and meet Joe Biden’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. This year’s funding alone will nearly double the number of no-emission transit buses on America’s roadways. In Alabama, this funding will improve the safety and reliability of transit services for residents of the Birmingham and Tuscaloosa regions. According to Sewell’s press release, the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA) will receive $13,654,636 to build a new maintenance facility and buy compressed natural gas, hydrogen fuel-cell, and battery electric buses and charging equipment. This project and the new vehicles will improve the safety and reliability of transit service for residents in Jefferson County. The University of Alabama will receive $7,890,065 to replace diesel buses with new electric buses, buy charging equipment, and train maintenance workers to support the new electric bus fleet. The project will ensure continued service reliability, maintain a state of good repair, improve air quality, and advance environmental justice in the Tuscaloosa community. Rep. Sewell applauded the bipartisan funding. “It’s hard to overstate the transformational impact that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is having here in Alabama,” said Rep. Sewell. “Once again, we’re seeing much-needed funding coming to our communities to upgrade our infrastructure, connect our communities, and clean up our environment. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a true testament to what we can achieve when we put people over politics, and I was proud to be the only Member of Congress from Alabama to support it.” “With this announcement, we’re bringing millions of dollars to Jefferson County for brand new vehicles and a new maintenance facility to keep them running smoothly,” continued Sewell. “That means safer and more reliable bus services for the residents of the Birmingham region. For our University of Alabama campus community, this announcement means better, greener buses and a cleaner, healthier environment.” “BJCTA has a lot to look forward to in the coming years,” said BJCTA Executive Director and CEO Charlotte Shaw. “We are excited to be a part of positive change and growth. BJCTA’s Transit on the Grow mission is not only to connect people to places but also to provide life quality in our communities across the region.” “The transfer to electric Crimson Ride buses will reduce emissions and have an immediate impact on our area, thanks in great part to Rep. Terri Sewell and Sen. Richard Shelby’s strong support,” said University of Alabama President Stuart Bell. “This grant will improve air quality and promote well-being on our campus and will build a strong workforce to lead electric vehicle innovation consistent with our vision for the Alabama Mobility and Power Center.” “With today’s awards, we’re helping communities across America—in cities, suburbs, and rural areas alike—purchase more than 1,800 new buses, and most of them are zero-emission,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Funded through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this announcement means more good jobs for people across the country, cleaner air in our communities, and more affordable and reliable options to help people get to where they need to go.”
Steve Milloy: Joe Biden’s America-wrecking climate agenda
President Joe Biden is driving fossil fuel-powered America into a wall so that he can replace it with a “green energy”-powered America. The Biden administration euphemizes this as a “transition.” It is not. It’s just a collision that will result in America being totaled. Since Biden became president, he has done everything in his power to de-power America. On Day 1, he killed the Keystone XL Pipeline, halted new oil and gas drilling on public lands, and rejoined the Paris climate agreement, which commits America to cutting our greenhouse gas emissions but not China’s. Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency reinstated Obama-era rules to make it more expensive to produce oil and gas, issued rules to make internal combustion engine-powered cars more expensive, and gave “green” California the unprecedented (and probably unconstitutional) authority to dictate what kind of cars all Americans can drive. Biden has empowered the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with the authority to block new oil and gas pipelines on the basis of climate concerns and is continuing to halt new oil and gas drilling on federal lands in defiance of a federal court order. These and many other anti-fossil fuel actions have raised gasoline prices roughly one dollar per gallon since Biden took office. Then Russia invaded Ukraine, exacerbating an ongoing global energy crisis (worsened by European climate policies). Gasoline prices have increased another 60 cents since the Ukraine invasion and are not likely to stop rising any time soon. Normally in response to such an energy crisis, a U.S. president might at least temporarily put aside an unpopular political agenda to ease supply issues and alleviate pain at the pump. Not Joe Biden. He is doing anything but that. Biden first announced during his State of the Union address that he and other allied nations were going to release 60 million barrels of oil from national strategic petroleum reserves around the world, including 30 million from the United States. While that sounds like a lot, it isn’t. Given that the world burns about 100 million barrels of oil per day, it’s hard to see how a 15-hour supply of oil is going to accomplish anything other than fooling people who don’t know any better. Instead of encouraging the American oil and gas industry to produce more gasoline – remember that the U.S. essentially controlled global oil prices under President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies – Biden has gone hat in hand to despotic regimes in Iran and Venezuela and to the unreliable governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, asking them to produce more oil. Faced with the problematic politics of skyrocketing gas prices in a midterm election year, the president is desperately lashing out. He has falsely accused the U.S. oil industry of profiteering. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has incorrectly blamed the oil industry for failing to utilize existing leases on federal lands to produce more oil. Biden is even trying to point the finger at Vladimir Putin by promoting the Twitter hashtag #PutinPriceHike. The reason for not embracing the normal and reasonable solution to the current situation – allowing the U.S. oil and gas industry to produce as much as possible, as soon as possible – is that the Biden administration intends to use the gasoline crisis to advance its elitist climate agenda. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, for example, are touting electric cars (average price $56,000) as the solution to rising gas prices. Biden’s green supporters are advocating more wind and solar as the solution to the ongoing energy crisis because, well, “never waste a crisis.” Adding insult to injury, John Kerry said he hoped, despite the invasion of Ukraine, that Putin would keep his eye on the climate ball. The result? Americans are made to suffer unnecessarily, and national security is imperiled, all for an agenda that is junk science-fueled and impractical, regardless of how you feel about United Nations’ “climate science.” This is not rational policy. It is intentional nation-wrecking. Steve Milloy publishes JunkScience.com and is the author of “Scare Pollution: Why and How to Fix the EPA.”
As Kay Ivey attempts to re-write history, Donald Trump supporters see through it and a path to her defeat
Governor Kay Ivey’s supporters will tell you that the governor is untouchable based on favorability numbers that don’t paint a full picture of the current state of collapsing support for her election. State Auditor Jim Zeigler, one of the state’s most prolific campaigners, will tell you, “Governor Ivey’s support is a mile wide and an inch deep.” This is why she’s drawing primary opponents who are confident that she is beatable, not just for what she’s done, but for what they are quick to point out she hasn’t done: Pushed a Donald Trump agenda or stood by him strongly enough. In stark contrast to other supportive elected officials, specifically governors around the nation have done, Ivey’s official website reflects that she has put out only three formal statements in support of Trump through her official office. There is no record of a formal statement in support of him during his second impeachment hearings. As a matter of fact, rather than defending the President, according to AL.Com, “Ivey did not answer the question about whether Trump was to blame” for the events of January 6 at the U.S. Capitol. In her response to questions, instead of taking the opportunity to voice her support for Trump and his supporters, she echoed the chorus of their opponents who blamed them for the events that day, stating, “All Americans need to press pause on divisive rhetoric, take a step back and do some deep soul-searching on how we got to this point of pain, ugliness, and loss of life.” In the same interview, Governor Ivey gave a tepid response to Nancy Pelosi and Never Trumpers pushing for Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump from office. She stated, “One of the hallmarks of our system of government is the orderly transition of power after an election. Vice President Pence has stated that he has no intention of invoking the 25th Amendment, and I do not believe a partisan impeachment would do anything other than further divide our nation. Invoking the 25th Amendment would create more chaos and would only incite further violence.” Trump was not the only person Ivey refused to support outright, telling the outlet in response to U.S. Congressman Mo Brooks’s fiery speech that day, “Everyone should be held accountable for the words they use,” Ivey said. “I’ve long believed that as elected officials, we should be held to a higher level of accountability. If the people of the 5th District believe their views are not being properly represented, then they need to express their disappointment directly to Congressman Brooks and, if necessary, hold him accountable at the ballot box. Moreover, it should be noted, he does not speak for all Republicans, much less all Alabamians.” While Ivey has been cagey in her history of Trump support, rarely mentioning his name or supporting his policies before heading back into campaign season, she was quick to celebrate Joe Biden publicly and directly. In fact, Ivey has praised Joe Biden and celebrated his election. Pledging to work with him, a promise she has made good on this week by joining Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, and Vice President Kamala Harris in pushing electric vehicles, a key component of Biden’s big-government agenda Build Back Better. As Alabama Today reported in August, in a matchup of possible gubernatorial candidates, Ivey had only 41.5%, well below the threshold to win without a runoff at 50% plus one vote. Incumbents below 50% are considered vulnerable. The independent poll was conducted by Montgomery-based Cygnal August 17-18 among 600 likely Republican primary voters. It has a margin of error of +/- 4.0%. It was paid for by Alabama Daily News. Zeigler, who has filed to run for governor, says his campaign against Ivey would be “Zeigler and the Taxpayers vs. Ivey and the Insiders.” Though he’s one of the most vocal opponents, Zeigler has publicly hedged on getting into the race himself, citing his inability to finance the endeavor saying, “If I could keep the campaign about common sense and not about the millions of dollars and cents raised for Gov. Ivey by the Montgomery Insiders, I could win.” Tim James is rumored to be announcing a run for governor as well, a position he ran for in 2002 and 2010, when he narrowly missed making the GOP runoff. When asked about the difficulty of taking on an incumbent, James commented, “Look, I’ve lost. It didn’t kill me. But I think if we do it, I think I’ll win it.” When asked about a possible run for governor, Lynda Blanchard told Alabama Today exclusively, “I’ve been all over this state and the one thing I hear repeatedly is that the people want a conservative fighter like President Donald Trump at every level of government; someone who will not just talk the talk but has shown loyalty to President Trump’s agenda to make our nation the strongest it can be for America’s families and businesses. The America First agenda has been the cornerstone of my race for the U.S. Senate and will continue to be on the forefront of my mind as I prayerfully consider the options before me to serve the people of our state in the best capacity. I have great respect for President Trump and his supporters and will not let them down.” Don Wallace, President of the Alabama Republican Assembly, believes that Ivey can be beaten, even as an incumbent. “I do believe Kay Ivey is beatable based on the encouragement others are getting to run. Many people are looking for stronger leadership to push back against the very liberal Biden Administration,” Wallace commented. When asked if voters support Ivey, Wallace mentioned the I-10 plan, the prison plan, and other controversial issues that have shown a willingness of the people and elected officials to break ranks with her and push back against her plans or goals. “Many have also been concerned about Ivey’s governing decisions when it comes to the original I-10 plan, the faulty prison plan, and efforts to take
Joe Biden hails infrastructure win as ‘monumental step forward’
President Joe Biden on Saturday hailed Congress’ passage of his $1 trillion infrastructure package as a “monumental step forward for the nation” after fractious fellow Democrats resolved a months-long standoff in their ranks to seal the deal. “Finally, infrastructure week,” a beaming Biden told reporters. “I’m so happy to say that: infrastructure week.” The House passed the measure 228-206 late Friday, prompting prolonged cheers from the relieved Democratic side of the chamber. Thirteen Republicans, mostly moderates, supported the legislation, while six of Democrats’ farthest left members opposed it. Approval of the bill, which promises to create legions of jobs and improve broadband, water supplies, and other public works, sends it to the desk of a president whose approval ratings have dropped and whose nervous party got a cold shoulder from voters in this past week’s off-year elections. Democratic candidates for governor were defeated in Virginia and squeaked through in New Jersey, two blue-leaning states. Those setbacks made party leaders — and moderates and liberals alike — impatient to produce impactful legislation and demonstrate they know how to govern. Democrats can ill afford to seem in disarray a year before midterm elections that could give Republicans congressional control. Voters “want us to deliver,” Biden said, and Friday’s vote “proved we can.” “On one big item, we delivered,” he added. The infrastructure package is a historic investment by any measure, one that Biden compares in its breadth to the building of the interstate highway system in the last century or the transcontinental railroad the century before. He called it a “blue-collar blueprint to rebuilding America.” His reference to infrastructure week was a jab at his predecessor, Donald Trump, whose White House declared several times that “infrastructure week” had arrived, only for nothing to happen. Simply freeing up the infrastructure measure for final congressional approval was like a burst of adrenaline for Democrats. Yet despite the win, Democrats endured a setback when they postponed a vote on a second, even larger bill until later this month. That 10-year, $1.85 trillion measure bolstering health, family, and climate change programs was sidetracked after moderates demanded a cost estimate on the measure from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The postponement dashed hopes that the day would produce a double-barreled win for Biden with passage of both bills. But in an evening breakthrough brokered by Biden and House leaders, five moderates agreed to back that bill if the budget office’s estimates are consistent with preliminary numbers that White House and congressional tax analysts have provided. The agreement, in which lawmakers promised to vote on the social and environment bill by the week of Nov. 15, was a significant step toward a House vote that could ultimately ship it to the Senate. Elated by the bill’s passage, Biden held forth with reporters for over a half-hour Saturday morning, joking that his chances of getting the bill done had been written off multiple times, only for him to be able to salvage it. He said he would wait to hold a signing ceremony until lawmakers — Democrats and Republicans who voted for it — return to Washington after a week’s recess. The president acknowledged uncertainty surrounding his larger social and environmental spending package, saying “time will tell” whether he can keep popular provisions like universal paid family leave in the final version. He wouldn’t say whether he has private assurances from moderate Democrats in the House and Senate to pass the nearly $2 trillion bill, but said he was “confident” he would get the votes. Biden predicted Americans would begin to feel the impact of the infrastructure bill “probably starting within the next two to three months as we get shovels in the ground.” But the full impact will probably take decades to be fully realized. He added that he would visit some ports that would benefit from the legislation in the next week, as his administration tries frantically to ease supply chain disruptions that are raising prices on consumer goods before the holidays. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said there’s a pent-up demand to get going on public works. He told CNN he’s already got $10 billion worth of applications for a certain program that’s only got $1 billion in it. “This is not just a short-term stimulus bill.” Biden said the investment would be viewed in 50 years as “When America decided to win the competition of the 21st century” with a rising China. The president and first lady Jill Biden delayed plans to travel Friday evening to their house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Instead, Biden spoke to House leaders, moderates, and progressives. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Biden even called her mother in India, though it was unclear why. “This was not to bribe me — this is when it was all done,” Jayapal told reporters. The lawmaker said her mother told her she “just kept screaming like a little girl.” In a statement, five moderates said that if the fiscal estimates on the social and environment bill raise problems, “we remain committed to working to resolve any discrepancies” to pass it. In exchange, liberals agreed to back the infrastructure measure, which they’d spent months holding hostage in an effort to press moderates to back the larger bill. The day marked a rare detente between Democrats’ moderate and liberal wings that party leaders hope will continue. The rival factions had spent weeks accusing each other of jeopardizing Biden’s and the party’s success by overplaying their hands. But Friday night, Jayapal suggested they would work together moving forward. Democrats have struggled for months to take advantage of their control of the White House and Congress by advancing their priorities. That’s been hard, in part because of Democrats’ slender majorities and bitter internal divisions. “Welcome to my world,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters. “We are not a lockstep party.” Democrats’ day turned tumultuous early after a half-dozen moderates demanded the budget office’s cost estimate of the sprawling package of health, education, family, and climate change
Joe Biden’s ‘Jobs Cabinet’ to sell infrastructure
President Joe Biden set about convincing America it needs his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan on Thursday, deputizing a five-member “jobs Cabinet” to help in the effort. But the enormity of his task was clear as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s vowed to oppose the plan “every step of the way.” Speaking in Kentucky, McConnell said he personally likes Biden, and they’ve been friends a long time. But the president will get no cooperation from the GOP, which objects to the corporate tax increases in the plan and says they would hurt America’s ability to compete in a global economy. “We have some big philosophical differences, and that’s going to make it more and more difficult for us to reach bipartisan agreements,” the Republican leader said. White House chief of staff Ron Klain said the key to any outreach is that the proposal’s ideas are already popular. Americans want smooth roads, safe bridges, reliable public transit, electric vehicles, drinkable water, new schools, and investments in manufacturing, among the plan’s many components, he said. “We kind of think it’s just right,” Klain said in a televised interview with the news organization Politico. “But we’re happy to have a conversation with people, less about the price tag, more about what are the elements that should be in the plan that people think are missing.” Those conversations could be limited to Democrats as McConnell declared: “I’m going to fight them every step of the way.” Biden told his Cabinet at its first meeting that he is enlisting several of them to help with the push: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “Working with my team here at the White House, each Cabinet member will represent me in dealings with Congress, engage the public in selling the plan and help organize the details as we refine it and move forward,” Biden said. The task will involve lots of salesmanship for a legacy-making piece of legislation that Biden announced in a Wednesday speech. His administration must sway Congress. It needs to rally voters. It’s also looking to outside economists to back the plan. It’s monitoring Wall Street for any celebrations or jitters. It’s forming alliances with advocates while dealing with critics of the plan’s corporate tax hikes and project details. And Biden’s administration also intends, per the plan, to cajole other nations to stop slashing their own tax rates in what has been a race-to-the-bottom to attract and retain multinational businesses. Biden’s vehicle for financing his infrastructure plans is a key dividing line. Republicans object to raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, one of the many changes so that business taxes would fund infrastructure. Republicans had cut the corporate rate from 35% in 2017, a hallmark policy achievement of Donald Trump’s presidency. Within Washington and corporate board rooms, the administration is attracting its share of accolades and rebukes on his proposal. In Biden’s own party, liberal Democrats in Congress want him to go bigger. And Democrats representing high-tax states want to remove a 2017 tax code change that limited deductions of state and local taxes for individuals. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed no qualms about the proposal’s scope. “It was in the tradition of America — to think big,” Pelosi said at a press conference Thursday. “And now, in this century, President Biden is undertaking something in the tradition of thinking big, being transformational, and creating jobs for America.” While many leading business groups oppose the higher taxes, some major companies see reason for optimism because of the innovations that would be encouraged by the plan. Automakers Ford, General Motors, and Toyota endorsed the general concepts of Biden’s plan, which calls for the construction of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations by 2030 in what would be a shift away from gasoline-powered cars. But some environmentalists said the plan’s shift away from fossil fuels that cause climate change was not substantial enough. “Biden has pledged to cut carbon emissions 50% and decarbonize our electricity sector, but this proposal won’t even come close,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. The White House was quick to address the climate change concerns. Climate adviser Gina McCarthy said the administration expects the infrastructure package to include Biden’s pledge to set a national standard requiring utilities to produce 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035. The proposed electricity standard “is going to be fairly robust, and it’s going to be inclusive,” McCarthy said. “I think we can get to the results that we’re looking for in a number of different ways. If a clean energy standard can be done, we think it should be done.’’ For every criticism of the plan’s details, there were also plaudits for its broader approach. Harvard University economist Larry Summers, a former treasury secretary, endorsed Biden’s plan after previously criticizing the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan because of its size and debt-based financing. He downplayed any risks from corporate tax hikes since low-interest rates mean the costs of obtaining capital are already low for many companies. “I am excited,” Summers said on Twitter. “The economy’s capacity will go up.” The plan also carries a political dimension as organized labor is mobilizing to get the package passed, an important push given the steady recent Republican gains among working-class voters. Biden’s plan, with its focus on construction and manufacturing jobs, has the potential to reverse some of that slide — and the unions that backed him in 2020 are promising to help deliver votes on infrastructure. “Our members are an army a half-million strong, that will make calls, visit members of Congress and rally for good jobs building our nation’s infrastructure,” said Terry O’Sullivan, general president of Laborers International Union of North America, one of the largest construction trades unions. “We did it with boots on the ground to get President Biden elected.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Joe Biden eyes $3T package for infrastructure, schools, families
Fresh off the passage of the COVID-19 relief bill, President Joe Biden is assembling the next big White House priority, a sweeping $3 trillion package of investments on infrastructure and domestic needs. Biden huddled privately late Monday with Senate Democrats as Congress has already begun laying the groundwork with legislation for developing roads, hospitals, and green energy systems as part of Biden’s “Build Back Better” campaign promise. Much like the $1.9 trillion virus rescue plan signed into law earlier this month, the new package would also include family-friendly policies, this time focusing on education and paid family leave. The White House plans are still preliminary, with a combined $3 trillion in spending proposed to boost the economy and improve quality of life, according to a person familiar with the options who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations. While the goal is a bipartisan package, Democrats in Congress have signaled a willingness to go it alone if they are blocked by Republicans. “We need to get it done,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., ahead of the virtual meeting with Biden at the senators’ annual retreat Monday evening. Biden’s outreach to Senate Democrats comes as the White House is under fire for its handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. Migrant crossings are skyrocketing, with images of cramped holding facilities posing a humanitarian and political dilemma for the administration and its allies in Congress. The focus on infrastructure shifts attention back toward priorities that are potentially more popular with Americans and potentially bipartisan. An infrastructure package would include roughly $1 trillion for roads, bridges, rail lines, electrical vehicle charging stations, and the cellular network, among other items. The goal would be to facilitate the shift to cleaner energy while improving economic competitiveness. A second component would include investments in workers with free community college, universal pre-kindergarten and paid family leave. No part of the proposal has been finalized and the eventual details of any spending could change. The overall price tag first reported Monday by The New York Times has been circulating on Capitol Hill for weeks, since the start of the Biden presidency. With the House and Senate under Democratic control, the proposals are expected to draw support from all corners of Congress. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked Democratic committee chairmen earlier this month to start working with their Republican counterparts to begin “to craft a big, bold and transformational infrastructure package.” Pelosi said the goal is to build swiftly on the coronavirus rescue plan by developing an economic relief plan to help “people in every zip code by creating good-paying jobs for the future.” The administration is positioning its priorities at a politically and fiscally sensitive time, after funding its $1.9 trillion relief package entirely with debt. The Federal Reserve estimates that spending could push growth this year to 6.5%, and additional spending would only add pressure to an economy already expected to run hot. Biden’s campaign proposed higher corporate taxes and increases on people making more than $400,000 annually, effectively undoing much of the 2017 tax cuts by his predecessor, Donald Trump. A White House official said the president has been very clear about his agenda, even though the details are only just starting to surface. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations. On Monday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee debated a $300 billion-plus measure to invest in drinking water, broadband, and other priorities. On Thursday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is set to appear before the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Next week, the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to release a white paper revisiting the overseas tax code as a way to pay for some of the spending. Republican leader Mitch McConnell used his opening remarks Monday in the Senate to trash the infrastructure proposal, warning it would only lead to tax hikes and what he called “left-wing policies.” “We’re hearing the next few months might bring a so-called infrastructure proposal that may actually be a Trojan horse for massive tax hikes and other job-killing, left-wing policies,” he said. He derided the Democratic proposals as similar to the Green New Deal, a sweeping plan to address climate change that he said would cost “unbelievable sums.” Biden is expected to roll out his budget in the weeks ahead as Congress presses forward on the infrastructure package, which lawmakers have said could be ready by summer. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
