Fire and fury over Texas
In today's edition … The Senate is going forward on DOGE cuts … Epstein remains on Republicans' minds … but first …
Texas is looking at redoing its congressional map, and it's turning into a national battle over the control of Congress and President Donald Trump's hold on the Republican Party.
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Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Will the Big Beautiful Bill Make Your Utility Bills More Expensive? Experts Weigh In
Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law on July 4, rolls back clean energy tax credits, repeals climate-focused funding and expands oil and gas development. While some Senate Republicans claim the bill is pro-growth, energy experts warn it could raise utility bills across the U.S. and make long-term power costs more volatile — below is what they had to say. Also here's ChatGPT's simple explanation of what the Big Beautiful Bill is. Explore More: Read Next: Power Bills Could Jump According to a report from Energy Innovation, households across the U.S. could pay a combined $170 billion more for energy between 2025-2034 due to the Big Beautiful Bill. Patrice Williams-Lindo, a workforce futurist, visibility strategist and CEO of Career Nomad, who has advised energy firms on digital adoption and job transitions, said the Big Beautiful Bill doesn't support the energy systems people actually rely on. 'Consumers might see temporary dips in prices if domestic oil and gas production is amped up,' she said. 'But that's a supply illusion. Without long-term investment in resilient grids, diversified energy sources or consumer subsidies, bills will spike again — especially in disaster-prone regions.' Owen Quinlan, head of data at Arbor, said households are already feeling it. 'In many cities, rates have jumped 10% to 45% this summer,' he said. 'And that's before factoring in the potential impact of this bill.' Quinlan's team tracks real-time energy prices across the country. He warned that pulling back on clean energy now could make things more difficult for households already feeling the strain of higher bills. For You: Clean Energy Keeps Prices Down, but That Could Change Quinlan pointed out that solar already plays a big role in keeping daytime prices low. 'The challenge comes when the sun goes down and demand stays high — that's when the grid relies on costly backup power and prices can spike dramatically,' he explained. 'Without more investment in clean energy and the infrastructure to support it, those price spikes could become more common and expensive.' Williams-Lindo said rolling back clean energy also hits the workforce. 'Rolling back climate-forward policies will stall the growth of future-ready jobs in solar, wind, grid optimization and green infrastructure,' she said. She added that it could mean fewer affordable energy options for consumers and fewer high-wage jobs in underserved regions. What's Missing From the Energy Conversation Williams-Lindo shared what she called the RNA framework: Rebrand, Network, Achieve Recognition and said that consumers and industry leaders will need to rebrand how they engage with energy, moving from passive users to educated advocates. 'Utilities will need to network across sectors — tech, policy, labor — to build smarter, equitable pricing models,' she said. 'And marginalized communities, especially Black and brown households often hit hardest by utility hikes, must be recognized in energy policy as stakeholders, not just line items.' According to Lindo, patriotic branding doesn't pay your power bill. Without transparency, equity and investment in energy innovation, the Big Beautiful Bill could lead to big ugly bills for everyday Americans. Editor's note on political coverage: GOBankingRates is nonpartisan and strives to cover all aspects of the economy objectively and present balanced reports on politically focused finance stories. You can find more coverage of this topic on More From GOBankingRates 3 Reasons Retired Boomers Shouldn't Give Their Kids a Living Inheritance (And 2 Reasons They Should) This article originally appeared on Will the Big Beautiful Bill Make Your Utility Bills More Expensive? Experts Weigh In
Axios
21 minutes ago
- Axios
Padilla to propose bill easing immigrant residency rules
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) is introducing a bill that would amend decades-old requirements for immigrants seeking permanent status — another long-shot proposal amid the Trump administration's immigration raids. The big picture: Congress has not passed a major immigration overhaul since 1986, resulting in residency requirements that are now over 50 years old. Zoom in: Under a bill that Padilla will announce Friday, the Immigration Act of 1929 would be amended so some immigrants may qualify for lawful permanent resident status if they have lived in the U.S. continuously for at least seven years. The current registry cutoff date is January 1, 1972 — more than 50 years ago. The change would provide a pathway to a green card for DACA recipients and those who had temporary protective status (TPS) State of play: The proposal comes as the Trump administration is letting TPS deals expire and going after what could be hundreds of thousands more immigrants who were given humanitarian "parole" under former President Biden. Many of those immigrants are being detained at immigration court hearings and are being placed in removal proceedings. What they're saying:"Roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States today, yet most have no way to earn permanent legal status," Padilla's office said in a statement. "The overwhelming majority of these undocumented immigrants have established roots in the U.S. They work in essential jobs and pay taxes." His office said Padilla will formally introduce his bill on Monday. Reality check: Republicans control both chambers in Congress and such immigration proposals are hardly getting heard. Reps. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) and Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) have introduced the DIGNITY Act of 2025, a bill that is lingering in the House, which focuses on border security, mandatory E-Verify, asylum reform and legal immigration reform. Zoom out: Padilla's latest bill comes after he and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) introduced a bill that would ban federal immigration agents from wearing most face coverings but require them to wear visible ID during public enforcement operations. That long-shot proposal comes following images of masked, heavily armed immigration agents snatching people off the streets and taking them away in unmarked cars have shocked many Americans. What we're watching: The pressure to rein in some of ICE's enforcement tactics does have support among some conservatives worried over policing.
USA Today
21 minutes ago
- USA Today
We're creating AI that could surveil US citizens. And the government is in on it.
Tech companies' lack of transparency and accountability in developing surveillance tools that governments can use is unacceptable. President Donald Trump recently gathered CEOs for a summit about renewing the United States 'spiritually and financially.' At the top of the agenda was a closer look at 'American values' such as faith and freedom. There is cause for alarm, however. Centuries after Americans declared independence from the British monarchy, our freedom and liberty are under threat − not only from foreign governments like China, but potentially our own. America's surveillance state is spreading as the federal government collects personal data of hundreds of millions of Americans. In the age of artificial intelligence, with data collection accelerating at an unprecedented rate, our privacy has never been more vulnerable. Who is the culprit? The data collectors range from the National Security Agency to Silicon Valley's cadre of data-hungry technology companies. Add to that list a new organization: Palantir. While it is not a household name like Google or Netflix, it is soon to be a common domestic concern. The technology company's surveillance operation has exploded in recent months, raising the possibility of creating a full-fledged surveillance state. Opinion: AI knows we shouldn't trust it for everything. I know because I asked it. Since January, Palantir has received more than $113 million in federal funds, according to The New York Times, not including a $795 million Defense Department contract awarded in May. While the federal government increased data sharing across agencies (with Palantir's help), the company continues to shop its technology to the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. AI technology could be repurposed for sinister uses We are talking about technology that can be weaponized. While Palantir's current focus is to identify people in the United States illegally, tracking movements in real time, the company is also building the infrastructure that could be used for a massive surveillance state. Former Palantir employees have warned about the potential for the company's AI tools to surveil American citizens with a disregard for personal privacy. It is not so far-fetched. Palantir's AI software is used by the Israeli Defense Forces to strike targets in Gaza. It is used to assist the U.S. Defense Department in analyzing drone footage. And it has been used by the Los Angeles Police Department to forecast crime patterns. This is called 'predictive policing.' If "Minority Report"was not a horror movie before, it is now. Given the government's penchant for abusing power (see: COVID-19 censorship or the NSA spying scandal), does this not seem like an obvious move against our civil liberties? For years, the NSA engaged in the mass surveillance of Americans' telephone records, as was exposed in 2013. Between 2001 and 2007, government wiretapping − executed without warrants − affected millions of U.S. citizens. Now, the same agencies are tapping into the power of AI to expand government surveillance in once unimaginable ways. Opinion: AI is changing our world. At what point will it change our reality? Of course, the federal government can already access a wide range of our personal data, but it is often separated by agency. Washington, DC, can create exponentially more detailed profiles on all of us by sharing data with the help of Palantir's AI tools. Even when surveilling noncitizens, the government's data collection inevitably tracks individual Americans based on their own interactions with these noncitizens. The government's data collection is based on information from police departments, financial institutions and other entities, like Palantir. Big government and big tech partnership raises concerns Even if the alliance between the government and Palantir works as intended, it is a potential threat to our civil liberties. Political dissidents could become targets. Not even those with limited public personas are safe from the state's detailed profiling machine. These systems are not perfect, and neither are our leaders. What happens when AI systems fail? What happens when data collection goes haywire? Palantir is hardly alone. OpenAI recently launched OpenAI for Government, which aims to equip federal, state and local leaders with advanced AI tools. OpenAI claims to serve the 'public good' and 'bolster national security readiness,' but why would private citizens take that at face value? What does 'readiness' actually mean, in practice? At the moment, many of our elected officials do not have answers to these questions, or they are just ignoring them. The same goes for OpenAI and Palantir, which are all too comfortable amassing ever-larger federal contracts and greater market share. This lack of transparency or accountability is unacceptable. The only thing worse than the overreach of Big Government is Big Tech in bed with Big Government. For those who care about freedom and liberty, now is the time to speak up, before it is too late. Peyton Hornberger serves as communications director at The Alliance for Secure AI, a nonprofit organization that educates the public about the implications of advanced artificial intelligence.
