Latest news with #Congress-approved
UPI
22-07-2025
- Politics
- UPI
Coalition sues Trump admin. for freezing billions in education funds
A coalition on Monday sued the Department of Education, under Secretary Linda McMahon, for freezing billions in education funding. File Photo by Al Drago/UPI | License Photo July 22 (UPI) -- A coalition of school districts, teachers' unions, nonprofits and parents has filed a lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of illegally withholding nearly $7 billion in Congress-approved education funding. In the lawsuit filed Monday, the coalition asks a U.S. District Court in Rhode Island to compel the Department of Education and the White House Office of Management and Budget to release the funding, which supports low-income students, teacher training, English learners, immigrant students and after-school programs. According to the lawsuit, the Department of Education is required to disburse Elementary and Secondary Education Act funds on July 1. But on June 30, states were informed that the department would not be disbursing nearly $7 billion in ESEA funds and that a new policy had been adopted requiring a review to first be conducted to ensure the money is spent "in accordance with the president's priorities," the lawsuit states, citing the letter. The Trump administration provided the states with neither a timeline nor assurances that the funds would be released, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit comes as the Trump administration has been dismantling the Department of Education, in line with President Donald Trump's March executive order seeking to shutter the department and return its authorities to the states. Last week, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court approved Trump's mass firings at the department. At the same time, 24 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration over its freezing of billions of dollars in education funds. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten described the Trump administration's freeze on Monday as throwing a "monkey wrench" at millions of U.S. educators. "These are long-term, school-based programs, already passed by Congress and signed into law by the president," she said in a statement. "Since day one, the Trump administration has attacked public education, undermining opportunity in America. Now it is trying to lawlessly defund education unilaterally through rampant government overreach. It's not only morally repugnant: the administration lacks the legal right to sacrifice kids' futures at the alter of ideology." Among the plaintiffs are Alaska's largest school district, Anchorage School District; Cincinnati Public Schools and Fairbanks North Star Borough, among others.
Indian Express
05-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Big, beautiful bill: US pulls back on solar, wind, EVs as China races ahead
US President Donald Trump has signed the Congress-approved 'One Big Beautiful Bill' Act (OBBBA), which marks a sharp break from his predecessor Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that drove billions into clean energy investments – from solar and wind to electric vehicles (EVs). Instead, the OBBBA accelerates the phaseout of federal incentives for these clean technologies, slashes royalty rates for domestic fossil fuel drilling, and expands oil and gas leasing through new provisions. The US House of Representatives passed the bill on July 3 without altering the Senate-approved version received earlier this week. While the final text modestly tones down the House's more aggressive cuts in support for hydrogen production and batteries, it still rolls back key benefits for solar and wind energy, as well as for both commercial and passenger EVs. Experts warn the legislation could drive up household energy bills over the next decade, slow the deployment of clean technologies on the US power grid, and – most importantly – cement China's dominance in the global clean energy race. The provisions of the OBBBA legislation signed by Trump are likely to push household energy bills by 2-7 per cent – an increase of $95-250 – in 2035, according to the New York-headquartered Rhodium Group. 'Most of this increase is driven by fewer electric vehicles on the road, leading to higher motor gasoline consumption and prices,' the think tank said in a note on July 2. Prior to the OBBBA, provisions under the IRA provided tax credits for purchase of new commercial and passenger EVs through 2032. Now, the benefits will end on September 30 later this year. To be eligible for clean electricity tax credits, wind and solar projects will now have to come online by the end of 2027. While the Senate also considered a new excise tax on upcoming wind and solar facilities with inadequate domestic content, the provision was removed from the final draft. 'Given that we expect far fewer EVs on the road and a meaningful reduction in clean energy deployment on the grid, there are also still considerable questions around the viability of new clean energy manufacturing in the US… lower levels of domestic demand for batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles could threaten the economic case for a number of manufacturing facilities that have been announced or, in some cases, that are already operating,' Rhodium said. As expected, the oil and gas industry – long a key backer of Trump's presidential campaigns – welcomed the OBBBA's push to expand fossil fuel production. But critics argue that US shale remains costlier than renewables, and that leaning on fossil fuels to meet rising electricity demand is both economically and practically unviable. In a statement on the legislation, David Widawsky, director of the World Resources Institute (WRI), US, said, 'Fossil fuels alone won't meet the skyrocketing energy demand from manufacturing, AI, electrification, and increasingly frequent and intense heat waves that prompt more AC usage. But America can create a more flexible, agile, and resilient power system with renewables and grid upgrades. Clean energy sources are better positioned to come online quickly to meet growing electricity needs and spur economic growth.' The final OBBBA text, while broadly scaling back clean energy support, is still less severe than the House version originally sent to the Senate. It gives clean hydrogen projects until end-2027 to qualify for tax credits – two years more than earlier proposed – and retains incentives for carbon capture, nuclear power, and clean fuels. Energy storage systems tied to solar or wind can also access full investment benefits through 2032, avoiding a sharper phaseout of benefits. Across the Pacific, China has ramped up thermal power to meet rising industrial demand – but a steady pivot to clean technologies remains central to its energy strategy. For instance, in 2024, while it started construction to add around 100 GW of coal power capacity, it added a whopping 420 GW of solar and wind. In comparison, the US added less than 55 GW in 2024, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Moreover, Rhodium estimates that China's push to electrify its vehicle fleet, particularly in trucking, is already displacing around 1 million barrels of oil per day – roughly equivalent to Oman's daily output. The perceived American retreat from solar, wind, and EVs will further strengthen Chinese dominance in these sectors.
The Hill
04-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Karl Rove: Big, beautiful bill will have ‘huge impact on 2026'
Republican strategist Karl Rove said Thursday the Congress-approved spending package will heavily influence the midterm election cycle next year. 'I think it'll have a huge impact on 2026, because remember, as these changes, particularly the Medicaid changes come into effect, they're going to have, people are going to be losing their coverage,' Rove said during an appearance on Fox News's 'America's Newsroom.' Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) decided to forego a re-election bid after voting against his party while urging lawmakers to strike the language regarding Medicaid provisions from the big, beautiful bill, marking a first major impact on the midterms. Rove lauded the Republican-backed 'big, beautiful bill,' however, cheering its new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for certain Medicaid recipients. 'The able-bodied, think about it, there was an interesting study done of able-bodied people on Medicaid, and that you know what their number one activity was if they weren't working? It was watching television, and number two was playing online games,' Rove told Fox News. The legislation is set to push millions off of Medicaid coverage and require twice-yearly eligibility check-ins instead of the previous annual evaluation. Rove encouraged GOP members to continue to lobby in favor of the bill as citizens prepare for sweeping cuts to take effect. 'Medicaid was meant for poor seniors, for children in poor families, and for the disabled, and we should not be paying for health care for people who are able-bodied, and can work, and are refusing to work. This is why they got to go on the offense. But yeah, it's going to be a big impact,' the Republican pundit said. 'And the work is just beginning. There's going to be always a tendency to say, 'We got the bill passed, oh let's all take the time off and good, we got it done.' Uh-uh, that's the requirement that you then go to work,' he added.
UPI
25-06-2025
- Business
- UPI
Judges orders Trump to unfreeze EV charging infrastructure funds
A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration must unfreeze funds Congress previously allocated for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. File Photo by Sarah Silbiger/UPI | License Photo June 25 (UPI) -- A federal judge has ordered President Donald Trump and his administration to release billions of Congress-approved dollars for electric vehicle charging infrastructure that they froze shortly after returning to the White House. In her 66-page ruling Tuesday, Judge Tana Lin in Seattle found that President Donald Trump violated the separation-of-powers doctrine enshrined in the Constitution and overextended executive authority when he halted the distribution of funds earmarked to expand the United States' EV charging network. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed in early May by 16 states and the District of Columbia. However, Lin, a President Joe Biden appointee, only awarded a partial preliminary injunction, ordering the Trump administration to disburse the money to 14 of the states. D.C., Minnesota and Vermont did not provide sufficient evidence demonstrating "the irreparable harm that would befall them absent injunctive relief." "Although these three Plaintiffs, like the other established sufficient injury to satisfy the ripeness requirement ... they have not provided any testimony, beyond what is alleged in the complaint, that demonstrates, say, a delayed or canceled project, a budget thrown into chaos or a withdrawn request for proposals," she wrote. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order titled Unleashing American Energy that directed federal agencies to pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through Biden's $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, including funds for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program. In early February, the Department of Transportation, directed under the executive order, rescinded guidance for the NEVI Formula Program and indefinitely suspended the approval of all current and future state EV infrastructure deployment plans. The states filed their lawsuit, accusing the Trump administration of not only illegally withholding the funds but also that doing so would inflict harm. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the freezing of the funds would cost the state more than $300 million while eliminating thousands of jobs. "The administration cannot dismiss programs illegally, like the bipartisan Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, just so that the President's Big Oil friends can continue basking in record-breaking profits," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement Tuesday in response to Lin's ruling. "We are pleased with today's order blocking the Administration's unconstitutional attempt to do so, and California looks forward to continuing to vigorously defend itself from this executive branch overreach." Lin's preliminary injunction will go into effect July 2 unless the Trump administration appeals.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Radio Free Europe still hopes for Congress funds after U.S. financing halt
By Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet PRAGUE (Reuters) -U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is seeking to build bi-partisan support in Congress to keep operating when approved financing ends later this year, its president Stephen Capus said. Started in 1950 to broadcast to communist-run countries during the Cold War, RFE/RL still reaches millions in eastern Europe, including Russia and Ukraine, as well as central Asia and the Middle East. However, it is caught in efforts to down-size government under U.S. President Donald Trump. The administration froze Congress-approved federal grants in March, leaving RFE/RL to fight in court for appropriated funds. RFE/RL received funds for May on Thursday after a court order, Capus said, and continues to seek over $50 million appropriated by Congress for its fiscal year ending September while seeking ways to fund operations ahead. "After September 30th, there is still a possibility of receiving funds from Congress," he told Reuters during the Globsec Forum in Prague on Thursday. "We've got very strong bipartisan support... We have confidence that can happen." The funding rows have forced the station to furlough about 350 staff, out of around 1,200, Capus said, and it has reduced some programming. It also let go "hundreds and hundreds" of freelancers and contractors, and some senior staff have left. The Czech Republic has searched for solutions with European Union partners and others to help RFE/RL. Last month, the EU said it would donate 5.5 million euros ($6.33 million). The station has so far not accepted outside funds and wants to see where talks and U.S. court decisions lead. Capus said some form of funding from U.S. and European sources might be an option, given Europe's rising focus on security, including in the information space. Nothing was on the table now, he said, but "it's an idea worth exploring." ($1 = 0.8692 euros)
