Latest news with #Biden-era
The Hill
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
One year after Chevron's demise, gun regulation is unraveling
Just over a year ago, the Supreme Court struck down one of the main pillars of how modern federal regulation works — the Chevron doctrine. This rule, whose name was taken from a 1980s Supreme Court case, had required federal judges to defer to federal agency interpretations of their own authority in cases where the underlying laws were vague. The Loper Bright ruling that ended so-called 'Chevron deference' last June was described as a 'return to judicial balance' — a technical correction. But its consequences are now impossible to ignore. This decision gas hit gun regulation especially hard, stripping the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms of one of its key tools for enforcing gun control. Between Loper Bright and the Supreme Court's striking down of the ban on bump stocks in Garland v. Cargill, courts across the South have begun systematically overturning rules. Before Loper Bright, the ATF claimed the authority to decide what counts as a firearm — including whether modifications or added parts fell under regulation. The agency used that flexibility to slow the spread of dangerous modifications. After the demise of Chevron, however, courts are no longer required to defer to agency interpretations, meaning that agencies like the ATF can no longer count on winning if they 'fill in the blanks' where Congress was vague. That means every new restriction must be clearly written into law, and older rules are now being challenged in court. The ATF is left watching from the sidelines as Loper Bright has become a standard reference in gun-related cases. Southern states didn't waste time. Immediately after the decision, judges began citing it, and one year later we're seeing regional changes. For example, efforts are now underway to draft looser rules on pistol braces — add-ons that effectively turn pistols into rifle-style weapons — after the stricter Biden-era rule was struck down as impermissibly vague. A judge in Texas also blocked ATF's attempts to regulate forced-reset triggers — devices that let semi-auto rifles fire almost like automatics — on the grounds that only Congress can decide what counts as a machine gun. This ruling shows how, after Chevron ended, agencies lost their ability to stretch unclear laws into gray areas. The argument is clear and consistent: If something isn't explicitly defined as a firearm in the law, the agency cannot necessarily count on its claims of authority over it holding up in court. Without Chevron, regulators can't just interpret or assume provisions 'in the interest of public safety' and expect their interpretations to carry the day by default. Chevron's fall didn't just weaken the ATF — it shook the foundation of how regulation works. Now, every gun rule must be spelled out. Until that happens, loopholes remain open. Meanwhile, Congress's continued silence has opened the door to a wave of new weapon variations and modifications. The market is drifting into chaos, making rules hard to enforce and define. By striking down Chevron, the court removed one of the few tools still keeping gun regulation alive. Without new laws from Congress, legal chaos becomes the norm. More weapons, more loopholes, less clarity. The court made its choice. Now it's up to Congress. And as long as politicians stay quiet, the law is being written by those with guns in their hands. Artem Kolisnichenko writes on crime, immigration, and border policy across the American South and Southwest.
CNBC
5 hours ago
- Business
- CNBC
How much Trump's 'big beautiful' bill could raise electricity costs in every U.S. state over the next 10 years
Electricity prices are expected to surge higher throughout the next decade due to energy policy changes in President Donald Trump's "big beautiful" bill, according to a new analysis from Energy Innovation, a non-partisan energy and climate think tank. Signed July 4, the bill mandates expanded oil and gas leasing, caps clean energy subsidies and rolls back tax credits that helped to make wind, solar and other clean power cheaper for manufacturers and more affordable for consumers, says Robbie Orvis, senior director for modeling and analysis at Energy Innovation. When the clean energy tax credits phase out at the end of 2025, that will bump up electricity costs for ordinary Americans, Orvis says. That's largely because higher costs for clean energy development will slow the pace of new supply, just as U.S. energy demand hits record highs, he says, resulting in higher electricity bills and increased reliance on natural gas, which will also become more expensive with rising demand. Electricity costs in some states will go up more than others due to the budget bill's provisions, Orvis says — particularly in states with the greatest future potential for clean energy development. Oklahoma's windy conditions, for example, make the state a prime candidate for powering wind turbines, which has historically allowed residents to benefit from cheap, clean energy, Orvis says. But without the tax break for new wind power infrastructure, the average household electricity bill in the state will rise by $540 by 2035, according to Energy Innovation's analysis. Overall, household energy costs will rise by $170, on average, by 2035, researchers found. And that estimate may be conservative. A report from Princeton University's Rapid Energy Policy Evaluation and Analysis Toolkit pegs the average increase at $280 a year by 2035. Energy Innovation's report factors in the near dozen Biden-era clean energy incentives that Trump's legislation terminates or phases out, along with a few clean energy policies the bill affects that predated former President Joe Biden's administration, Energy Innovation says. It compares projected energy costs in 2035 under two scenarios: one where Trump's budget bill passed, and one where it didn't. The data accounts for changes in spending on all fuel types for powering homes and vehicles, including natural gas and gasoline, although most of the cost increases are related to electricity and natural gas, Energy Innovation says. The report did not include Alaska or Hawaii. Here's how much more households in every state could pay annually, on average, by 2035, due to changes in energy policies under the "big beautiful" bill, according to Energy Innovation's research.
Axios
5 hours ago
- Automotive
- Axios
Exclusive: Ron Swanson helps jump-start big new EV push
Electric vehicle advocates on Monday are launching a $43.5 million campaign that touts EVs' benefits — and has a star pitchman in actor Nick Offerman. Why it matters: The nonprofit EV group Veloz's effort lands as the new budget law ends federal consumer tax credits this fall and Trump 2.0 dismantles other Biden-era EV policies. The advertising and public awareness push, funded by charging network Electrify America, marks a major effort by Veloz to expand its work beyond California. "Electric for All" is the "first and largest nonprofit-led EV education campaign in the U.S.," an announcement to be released Monday states. The big picture: Veloz executive director Josh D. Boone tells Axios exclusively there's no direct tie to the recent legislation, noting Veloz has eyed going national since its launch almost nine years ago. But he said it's "good timing" because "more Americans are interested in EVs than ever" and need factual info. He said Veloz is encouraging people to tap federal incentives before they vanish. But it's also highlighting local and state incentives that remain, and more broadly making the case for moving from gasoline to electrons. "They have long-term benefits beyond just getting a federal tax credit," Boone said in an interview. "There's cost savings from gas. There's total cost of ownership — they're just cheaper to own and operate and fuel than gas vehicles," he said. How it works: It's a 50-state campaign that targets people seeking their next vehicles within six months to two years, Boone said. It includes TV, radio, search results, podcasts, social media and more, and it's aimed at buyers across income levels. The spots steer people toward a multilingual Veloz site that helps them find incentives and browse models, among other features. Zoom in: One spot shows the deconstruction of a gas-powered engine with the overlay of Offerman's voice making the case for EVs. "When you take away the spark plugs, the oil filter, belts, the alternator, and, oh yeah, the gas tank, you tend to take away other stuff, like headaches," he says. "EVs have fewer parts, fewer repairs and are less expensive to drive," adds the comedian, best known as the irascible Ron Swanson of "Parks and Recreation." Threat level: U.S. EV sales growth was slowing even before the new federal law. EVs (including plug-in hybrids) were 9.6% of light-duty sales in Q1, per the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an auto trade group. Q1 sales commonly drop from Q4, but the 1.3% decline was steeper than prior dips, the group's latest report states. Flashback: Volkswagen created Electrify America in 2017 under the settlement of its diesel emissions cheating scandal. It agreed to invest $2 billion over 10 years in infrastructure, access, and education initiatives. The intrigue: The Veloz campaign will feature in-person events. "You've ... got to give people the opportunity to touch electric vehicles, get in an electric vehicle, take a ride and drive, because that's where you really start getting the 'aha moment' when people's faces light up and they get excited about electric vehicles," Boone said.
National Observer
9 hours ago
- Politics
- National Observer
Republicans complain about smoke. But they voted for fire
It had to be a joke, right? A group of MAGA lawmakers moaning about 'suffocating Canadian wildfire smoke' in a complaint fired off to Canada's ambassador to the US. Someone at The Beaverton or Walking Eagle News must have been feeling especially snarky. But, no. Turns out that six of Trump's besties in Congress spent their July 4 weekend coordinating grievances and writing up a joint letter of protest, demanding action from the Canadian government. Their constituents have been 'limited in their ability to go outside … to spend time recreating, enjoying time with family and creating new memories,' the complaint reads. It makes no mention of the tens of thousands of Canadians forced to evacuate this year or those who have died. The signatories conveniently ignore the fact that smoke from the US side of the border regularly smothers those of us who live north of it. In fact, the complaint does not mention fires in the US at all, even though more than two million acres have burned so far this year, and Canadian firefighters have deployed to assist their US colleagues, just as US wildland firefighters have been helping in Canada. Given the MAGA credentials of the complainants, you may not be surprised to hear their complaint blames a 'lack of active forest management' (a nod to Donald Trump's weird conviction that countries like Finland rake their forests to remove fuel), admonishes Canada for not preventing arson and makes no mention of climate change whatsoever. It most certainly does not mention that the signatories just passed Trump's 'big beautiful bill' that will add an extra seven billion tonnes of fossil fuel pollution to the atmosphere over the next five years, compared to the Biden-era climate targets. The irony is what's suffocating — while MAGA lawmakers rage at the north for spoiling their barbecues, they're voting to supercharge the very crisis they refuse to name. The sharpest response to the US congresspeople came from Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew. He didn't mince words in his response. He called the GOP lawmakers 'ambulance chasers.' It had to be a joke, right? A group of MAGA lawmakers moaning about 'suffocating Canadian wildfire smoke' in a complaint fired off to Canada's ambassador to the US. Someone at The Beaverton or Walking Eagle News must have been feeling snarky. "This is what turns people off politics," Kinew said. "A group of congresspeople trying to trivialize and make hay out of a wildfire season where we've lost lives in our province." That group of congresspeople included Tom Emmer, the GOP's third-highest ranking member and majority whip in the House of Representatives. You might think he'd have been preoccupied over the long weekend — dealing with the horrendous floods that killed at least 120 people in Texas, sweeping away children at summer camp. In that situation, too, politicians and officials are contorting themselves to avoid acknowledging the obvious fact that catastrophes are hitting harder and more frequently. Terms like a one-hundred-year flood or one-thousand-year flood have become meaningless (the US has just been rocked by four one-in-1,000-year storms in less than a week). In Texas, the rain bomb struck at night. In about 45 minutes, the Guadalupe River surged from a stream you could wade across to a torrent two-storeys high. At its crest, more water was churning down the Guadalupe than the average flow rate over Niagara Falls. Yes, we can say climate change did this Governments should be ready for "more, bigger, extreme events," said Andrew Dessler, director of the Texas Center for Extreme Weather at Texas A&M. Ever-bigger floods are 'exactly what the future is going to hold.' Other climate scientists described the Texas floods as 'precisely' the kind of disaster being supercharged by global heating. 'This kind of record-shattering rain (caused by slow-moving torrential thunderstorms) event is *precisely* that which is increasing the fastest in a warming climate. So it's not a question of whether climate change played a role — it's only a question of how much,' said Daniel Swain. That last point is a key one. Far too much coverage of fire, flood and extreme weather still operates on the old trope that you can't attribute any particular event to climate change. But, scientists like Dessler emphasize that 'the role of climate change is like steroids for the weather — it injects an extra dose of intensity.' 'We have added a lot of carbon to the atmosphere, and that extra carbon traps energy in the climate system,' Dessler wrote after the tragedies in Texas. 'Because of this extra energy, every weather event we see now carries some influence from climate change. The only question is how big that influence is.' 'Measuring the exact size takes careful attribution studies, but basic physics already tells us the direction: climate change very likely made this event stronger.' The first attribution studies have already been published. These rapid response analyses don't have time to undergo peer-review and instead apply peer-reviewed methodologies to the conditions for a specific event. EU-based ClimaMeter has released just such a rapid-response study which concluded that the heavy rain that caused the floods in Texas 'cannot be explained alone by natural variability and points to human-caused climate change as one of the main drivers of the event.' Davide Faranda of ClimaMeter summarized the organization's findings: The flash flood that tore through Camp Mystic at night, when people were most vulnerable, shows the deadly cost of underestimating this shift. We need to rethink early-warning systems, land-use planning, and emergency preparedness. And above all, we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit future risks.' The basic pattern is that hotter air can hold more water vapour. And warmer oceans evaporate more water into the atmosphere. The rain bomb in Texas resulted from a tropical storm fuelled by an overheated Gulf of Mexico. The US-based organization Climate Central calculated that these unnatural early-July sea surface temperatures were made 10 to 30 times more likely by climate change. Fossil-fuels triple heat deaths As heart-breaking as the US floods have been, the death toll is many times lower than attribution studies are finding for heat waves. The early attribution studies are now rolling in for the heat wave that has been searing Europe. And for the first time, scientists are now taking the step of estimating the number of deaths linked to climate change. About 1,500 people died because of supercharged heat in just 10 days, across 12 cities, according to the team of scientists led by Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The researchers found that 65 per cent of the estimated heat deaths resulted from the extra heat caused by climate change, 'meaning the death toll was tripled due to the burning of fossil fuels.' The science is not subtle: fossil fuel pollution is killing people. The question is no longer if climate change is making disasters worse — it's how many lives it's already taken. When scientists can now calculate the number of deaths resulting from human-caused heating, we're witnessing the emergence of a macabre new metric: bodies per barrel. This isn't hyperbole, it's attribution science. The same methodology that can trace Texas floods to an overheated Gulf of Mexico can now count the bodies piling up from burning fossil fuels. And while the MAGA lawmakers may be insufferable, the deeper truth is harder to face: that same macabre math applies across the board, and border. The metric isn't confined to one political party or one country. In Canada, politicians continue to propose and celebrate new fossil fuel infrastructure, from LNG export terminals to new pipelines, gas networks to gas-guzzling vehicles. We can pretend to look away from the gruesome side of the ledger, but the bodies keep piling up.
Politico
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Politico
A tough week for Susan Collins
IN TODAY'S EDITION:— Vought to pitch senators on rescissions — House eyes Russia sanctions vote— Big week for Trump's crypto agenda, judicial picks It's grind time for Republicans. They have until Friday to deliver on President Donald Trump's rescissions request as they also try to salvage government funding talks that are spiraling out of control. With several senators insisting on changes to Trump's proposal to claw back $9.4 billion for foreign aid and public media, White House budget director Russ Vought will head to the Hill tomorrow to talk with senators about the plan, our Jordain Carney reports. Tuesday is also when the Senate is expected to take its first procedural vote on the rescissions bill. One of the week's main characters is shaping up to be Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins. She's among the senators resisting Trump's rescissions request in its current form. She's also trying to get the Senate's bipartisan funding negotiations back on track, after a fiscal 2026 Commerce-Justice-Science amendment from Sen. Chris Van Hollen targeting the relocation of FBI headquarters triggered a rift among Sen. Lisa Murkowski and other committee Republicans. In the House, Republicans are less concerned with salvaging bipartisanship as they gear up to pass fiscal 2026 Defense Department appropriations this week. Though Pentagon funding has long enjoyed backing from both parties, Connor O'Brien reports that Speaker Mike Johnson can't bank on much Democratic support for the bill and will need to keep the GOP conference united to pass it. The $831.5 billion bill cleared House Appropriations last month almost entirely along party lines, as Democrats decried conservative policy provisions that would block funding for troops to travel to seek abortions — a rolled-back Biden-era policy — and Pentagon diversity efforts. Democrats will push for votes to remove those and other GOP policy riders they consider non-starters, as well as to undo the Trump administration's policy barring transgender people from serving in the military. Many Republican hawks had hoped for a larger price tag for the defense bill, which would keep annual Pentagon funding static. But expect hard-liners, whose votes Johnson will need to keep the bill on track, to continue to try to put their stamp on the plan. Several Republicans including Reps. Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Scott Perry have filed amendments to block funding, foreign military sales or munitions transfers to Ukraine. GOOD MONDAY MORNING. Anyone else heading to the Congressional Women's Softball Game at Audi Field this Wednesday? Reach your Inside Congress crew at crazor@ mmccarthy@ and bguggenheim@ Follow our live coverage at WHAT WE'RE WATCHINGWith help from Alec Snyder The House will vote on legislation including a wetlands conservation bill and a sinkhole mapping bill at 6:30 p.m. The Senate will vote to confirm Whitney Hermandorfer to be a U.S. circuit judge for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and to advance the nomination of Luke Pettit to be an assistant secretary of the Treasury at 5:30 p.m. — Republican and Democratic leaders in both chambers will hold private meetings shortly before evening votes. — House Rules will consider the fiscal 2026 Defense appropriations bill and cryptocurrency legislation at 4 p.m. — House Appropriations will have subcommittee markups of the Transportation-HUD bill at 5 p.m. and the Energy-Water bill at 6 p.m. The rest of the week: The House will take up crypto legislation and move through appropriations bills. The Senate will work through Trump's rescissions package and more of his nominees, including Joseph Edlow to be the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at DHS. Pro subscribers receive this newsletter with a full congressional schedule and can browse our comprehensive calendar of markups, hearings and other notable events around Washington. Sign up for a demo. THE LEADERSHIP SUITE Trump poised for big crypto win, but new House drama looms House Republicans are set to make history this week when they send a landmark crypto policy revamp to Trump for his signature. But they're facing major snags in their quest to go further with a second big bill, our Jasper Goodman writes in. As soon as Tuesday, the House is expected to pass a bill with bipartisan support that would create new federal rules for so-called stablecoins – in effect treating them as a legitimate piece of the broader financial system. The bill, which originated in the Senate but follows years of work launched by the House, marks the first time that Congress has pulled off a major rewrite of regulations to enshrine crypto. As part of a 'crypto week' on the floor, the House will also vote on a broader bill to overhaul crypto rules – a market structure proposal targeting regulations for securities and commodities. It still has a long way to go before becoming law, and House Republicans are scrambling to lock down Democrats. A bipartisan show of force is key for House Financial Services Chair French Hill – a leading figure on crypto policy the last few years – to show that the bill is viable in the Senate. Seventy-one House Democrats voted for a similar crypto market structure proposal last year, but new concerns over the Trump family's business entanglements in crypto are making it a heavier lift this time around. House eyes next week for Russian sanctions vote The House is expected to vote on a bipartisan Russian sanctions bill next week. In the Senate, Majority Leader John Thune is eyeing next week or potentially the following week to take up the bill, even as it hits a snag with Democrats over Trump's insistence that it give him more flexibility. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal, the bill's lead sponsors, will meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte for dinner tonight with other senators as the two try to shore up support. Trump has been hinting at a 'major statement' on Russia this week, as he ramps up critcism over its operations in Ukraine. 'A turning point regarding Russia['s] invasion of Ukraine is coming,' Graham said in a joint interview with Blumenthal on CBS' 'Face the Nation' Sunday. Thune, Schumer and the 2026 map Can Democrats get their dream recruits? Can a bloody Republican primary in Texas put the state on the map? Read Aaron Pellish, Jordain and Elena Schneider on the key questions that could decide who will win the Senate in 2026 – and what Senate leaders are doing about it now. POLICY RUNDOWN HOSPITALS PRESS GOP TO SOFTEN MEGABILL MEDICAID CUTS — State-based hospital associations are ramping up a lobbying campaign to block Medicaid cuts from the GOP megabill, our Robert King, David Lim and Amanda Chu report. They're warning that slashing $340 billion from hospital budgets over a decade to offset parts of Trump's domestic policy agenda could have painful political consequences. 'Are they really going to want to cut rural hospitals in an election?' asked Chris Mitchell, head of the Iowa Hospital Association. In related megabill fallout, our Liz Crampton and Nick Reisman report that the 'big, beautiful' law's cuts to health care and food assistance for low-income Americans are threatening to impose major costs on states and create budget nightmares for governors who face elections next year. New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, for example, is contending with an $11 billion budget hole ahead of a potential faceoff against Trump ally Rep. Elise Stefanik. On the energy side of the megabill saga, Zack Colman reports that Democrats are gearing up to make the case that clean energy cuts will drive up electricity prices. 'Democrats now have the high ground of price and Republicans are now the party of electricity shortages,' Sen. Brian Schatz said in an interview. Republicans are also re-engaging with the energy cuts. Sen. John Curtis worked to ensure Biden-era clean-energy tax credits weren't totally decimated in the megabill, including by softening some of the phase-out dates for certain programs. Now, he's trying to keep Trump from undoing that work. Curtis told Benjamin he's in talks with the administration about the implications of a new executive order that could undo an agreement allowing companies to access credits if they spend 5 percent of the costs of eligible projects by mid-2026. 'The word we have from the White House is they'll follow the law,' Curtis said. But he added that it is 'yet to be determined' how the executive order is going to be interpreted. TRUMP JUDGES BEGIN TO MOVE — It's shaping up to be a big week for Trump's second-term remake of the federal judiciary, our Hailey Fuchs writes in. The Senate is poised to confirm Whitney Hermandorfer tonight, making her the first new judge of Trump's second term. Hermandorfer, who is expected to receive party-line support, is the president's pick to serve on the 6th Circuit, the federal court that hears appeals from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. On Thursday, Senate Judiciary is scheduled to vote on advancing the nominations of Emil Bove and Jeanine Pirro. Democrats say Bove, the principal deputy attorney general nominated for the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, is unfit for the position, citing allegations from a whistleblower that he suggested defying court orders in order to carry out the administration's deportation agenda. Pirro is a former Fox News host Trump selected to be U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. The previous nominee, Ed Martin, failed to gain enough support among Senate Republicans. Sen. Thom Tillis, who helped tank Martin's nomination, has said he'll support Pirro in committee and suggested he'll back Bove, too. Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E: CAMPAIGN STOP FIRST IN INSIDE CONGRESS: NEW DEMS' MIDTERM PICKS — The New Democrat Coalition's political arm is endorsing its first slate of candidates for the 2026 midterms, our Nicholas Wu writes in. The centrist bloc is backing Christina Bohannan in Iowa's 1st District, Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin's 3rd District and Janelle Stelson in Pennsylvania's 10th District. They're all candidates seeking rematches in purple districts, and they picked up the backing of the New Democrats last cycle, too. Stelson hasn't formally announced her bid yet but is widely expected to do so soon. THE BEST OF THE REST Bannon warns GOP could lose 40 House seats over Epstein files, from Ashleigh Fields at The Hill The exclusive Capitol subway that keeps trapping US senators, from David Sivak, Samantha-Jo Roth and Ramsey Touchberry at Washington Examiner CAPITOL HILL INFLUENCE William Shelby has joined AxAdvocacy as a government relations associate. He previously was an intern for former Rep. Mike Waltz and former Sen. Richard Shelby. Brittney May is joining Ameren Corporation as a federal government relations representative. She most recently was senior legislative affairs manager at the National Hydropower Association and is a State Department and Ways & Means Committee alum. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Former Reps. Patrick Kennedy and Tom Latham … Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick … Washington Free Beacon's Eliana Johnson … National Retail Federation's Matthew Shay … Chicago Sun-Times' Tina Sfondeles … Ammon Simon … Mike Panetta of the Beekeeper Group … James Davis … Meta's Nkechi Nneji … Axios' Caitlin Owens … David Weissman … Tigercomm's Mike Casey … Corey Solow … Tony Hanagan … Dana Youngentob of Sen. Angus King's office TRIVIA FRIDAY'S ANSWER: Claude Marx correctly answered that the last time someone successfully succeeded a family member in an Arizona special election was Mo Udall succeeding his brother Stewart Udall in 1961. TODAY'S QUESTION, from Claude: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is the son of which former U.S. senator? Who was his predecessor? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@ CORRECTION: Friday's newsletter misspelled Potter Stewart's name in trivia. Our apologies.
