Latest news with #GlennThompson
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Climate watch: Why Congress must not pull the plug on PA's clean energy progress
On May 22, the House of Representatives voted to pass a budget bill that drastically cuts America's clean energy tax credits. I'm disappointed to see that the House advanced this legislation. Make no mistake: These cuts will hurt Pennsylvania if they go on to become law. Experts are already warning that these changes would raise energy costs for American households, increase pollution, and threaten growing economic investments in the commonwealth. The House passage of this bill just put these investments at risk. Federal tax credits — designed to boost clean energy manufacturing in the U.S. — have been working. Since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022, Pennsylvania has benefited from just under $3.5 billion in investments in 34 clean energy projects to create more than 7,900 jobs. That's according to an analysis by Citizens' Climate Lobby. An outsized chunk of that investment is in the state's 15th Congressional District, represented in Congress by Glenn Thompson. Nine projects — eight solar and one for electric transmission lines — have spurred $1.7 billion in investments in PA15 with an estimated 2,550 jobs to be created. The tax credits were passed by Democrats, so they have been an easy target for Republican attacks. But the legislation has overwhelmingly benefited Republican-held districts — 78% of the funding has gone to rural and suburban areas held by the GOP. That success story, however, could unravel quickly. The legislation is now in the Senate's hands, and the House passage has set them on a path toward drastic cuts. If the cuts become law, energy prices will rise. Manufacturing will slow. Phasing out tax credits that support clean energy manufacturing will jeopardize long-term projects. Eliminating clean vehicle tax credits could put up to 100% of planned EV plant construction and a significant portion of existing capacity at risk, according to industry analysis. Households and local businesses will take a huge hit. A rollback of tax credits for home energy upgrades such as rooftop solar is a blow to Pennsylvanians who've been using these tools to cut energy bills. Incentives have made it easier for homeowners to install solar panels, save money, and even help stabilize America's power grid. But those benefits — and the local businesses that depend on them — are in jeopardy if Congress moves forward with these cuts. By contrast, if Congress protects clean energy tax credits, it would be a giant boost to the commonwealth's economy over the next decade. Analysis by American Clean Power and ICF estimates that continuing clean energy incentives will be a $65 billion economic boost to our state in the next 10 years and support more than 35,000 in full-time jobs in Pennsylvania annually. Encouragingly, a growing number of Republican members of Congress are vocalizing their support for the clean energy tax credits. Four Republican Senators recently sent a letter to leadership last month saying repeal would 'lead to significant disruptions for the American people and weaken our position as a global energy leader.' The numbers are clear: clean energy tax credits work for Pennsylvania. Undoing them now — as the House just voted to do — would be reckless and harmful. I urge Senators David McCormick and John Fetterman to work with their colleagues in the Senate to protect these tax credits. Lisa Richardson is co-leader of the State College chapter of Citizens' Climate Lobby.
New York Times
22-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Sleep-Deprived Lawmakers Stay Up All Night to Pass the ‘Big, Beautiful' Bill
As they arrived at the Capitol not long after dawn on Thursday to vote on a sweeping domestic policy bill to deliver President Trump's agenda, members of the House of Representatives were divided by more than just partisan lines. The far more visible split was among those who had managed to get some sleep and those who hadn't. 'Here come the troops,' Representative Glenn Thompson, Republican of Pennsylvania, said cheerfully as he welcomed a bleary-eyed procession of lawmakers to the marble corridors just after 6 a.m. 'Clock in on your left,' he added with a smile, gesturing toward the House chamber, where members would soon cast their votes on the wide-ranging bill overhauling key government programs. Many arrived clutching coffee cups or cans of energy drinks, struggling to stay alert after a week's worth of all-night committee sessions capped off by an overnight floor debate that unfolded as House Republican leaders raced to deliver Mr. Trump a major victory on what he calls the 'big, beautiful bill' before a self-imposed Memorial Day deadline. As party leaders delivered their final remarks, some lawmakers stood at attention, clapping and cheering the concluding arguments for and against the bill. Others slumped in peripheral seats or disappeared into the far corners of the chamber, barely awake and struggling to stay that way until the final vote. In a room near the floor, Republican leaders had laid out provisions — not the legislative kind — that would have to suffice for breakfast: dozens of boxes of pizza and a polished silver bowl of fruit snacks, pretzels and chips. In the chamber, one Republican lawmaker, seated off to the side, wore a single AirPod, his phone screen showing highlights from Game One of the Eastern Conference matchup between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks. The Knicks had lost in overtime. His feelings on the outcome were unclear as he remained stoic, concealing from anyone nearby that his attention was elsewhere. Across the way, two Democratic lawmakers huddled under a shared blanket, fighting off exhaustion and an unseasonably cold and rainy morning. Even Speaker Mike Johnson sipped from a can of Celsius energy drink before delivering his final remarks and opening the vote. Though Congress is frequently criticized for its aging members, two octogenarians displayed remarkable stamina. Near the front of the chamber sat Representative Danny K. Davis, the 83-year-old Democrat from Illinois, offering enthusiastic support to Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader who delivered the final remarks castigating the Republican-led bill. (Mr. Davis was seated just behind a chair draped in black cloth to honor Representative Gerald E. Connolly, who had died the day before at 75.) The most formidable show of endurance came from Representative Virginia Foxx, 81. The North Carolina Republican and chairwoman of the powerful Rules Committee, who presided over more than 22 hours of deliberations beginning at 1 a.m. on Wednesday, was dubbed 'the Iron Lady' by Mr. Johnson. Even after the bill's passage, her brisk pace remained undiminished. When asked about her plans for the upcoming recess, she forcefully replied, 'I'm going home!' Of the two Republican lawmakers who missed the vote, one blamed exhaustion. Representative Andrew Garbarino of New York, a politically vulnerable lawmaker from a competitive district who had previously suggested he might oppose the measure, never turned up. His staff later said he had nodded off, a relatable turn of events — but also a politically convenient one that would deprive Democrats of the opportunity to attack him for voting for a bill that would cut Medicaid and roll back clean energy tax credits that provide jobs for his constituents. 'I'm going to just strangle him,' Mr. Johnson joked afterward. The speaker said he had assurances that Mr. Garbarino would have voted in favor of the measure despite his previous concerns. In the end, there was no need to rouse him; the bill passed by a single vote. For those who did make it to the floor, there was a sense of celebration after the legislation passed. 'I tried to play 'We Are the Champions,'' Representative Daniel Crenshaw of Texas told Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the majority leader, after the vote, the morning cigarette Mr. Crenshaw had just finished announcing itself to all in proximity. 'But I couldn't get the Bluetooth speaker to connect.' Mr. Scalise first appeared confused, then visibly relieved.
E&E News
15-05-2025
- Business
- E&E News
House Agriculture panel plugs farm programs into budget bill
House Agriculture Committee Republicans on Wednesday approved their portion of the GOP's big tax and spending measure, advancing some farm conservation programs but leaving many aspects of a long-overdue farm bill unresolved. Farm policy was largely an afterthought as committee Democrats zeroed in on Chair Glenn Thompson's proposal to cut as much as $300 billion from low-income nutrition programs through new cost-sharing requirements for states and other adjustments. The vote was 29-25 along partisan lines after a markup that began Tuesday night and resumed Wednesday morning, lasting all day and into the night. Advertisement Thompson said the measure would preserve the nutrition programs' mission, and 'at the same time, we're strengthening the farm safety net and delivering critical support to the farmers, workers, and communities that keep America fed.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The GOP wants to cut SNAP benefits in a most cowardly way
House Republicans are spending this week finalizing their partisan budget plan, looking for places to cut spending to pay for its massive tax cuts bill. Alongside Medicaid, Republicans have made the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) a prime target of their fiscal chainsaw. Over 42 million Americans benefit from SNAP, using federally provided funds to buy groceries each year. And after two days of debate, the House Agriculture Committee approved more than $300 billion in cuts to the program over the next ten years. That the GOP is even willing to take such a large chunk out of a vital lifeline for millions of Americans is abominable. But the way that they've decided to enact these cuts to finance a tax cut for millionaires and billionaires is downright cowardly. By shifting some of the costs of the program to the states, House Republicans are punting the problem, leaving it to cash-strapped governors and state legislators to do the dirty work of kicking people off the program. Though Republicans have long eyed major cuts to SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, substantial shifts to the program would be a political minefield, particularly as inflation has kept food prices high. It was clear that for the committee to hit its target of $230 billion in reductions to offset the Ways and Means Committee's tax cuts, it would have to take a hatchet to SNAP. But the White House has worried about the political 'one-two punch' of cuts to SNAP alongside planned cuts to Medicaid. Even Agriculture Committee Chair Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., knew it would be a hard sell to directly cut off millions of people from SNAP, especially given the pushback from some more moderate members of his caucus. The GOP's solution is as inelegant as it is shameful. Rather than simply reducing the amount of money allocated to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA to run SNAP, they're instead enacting a new formula to shunt some of its cost to the states for the first time. At minimum, alongside the administrative costs that states already covered, states would be required to pay at least 5% of the total cost of the SNAP benefits their citizens receive each year. From there, the percentage a state will be on the hook for will rise based on its payment error rates, or the amount it accidentally overpaid or underpaid its beneficiaries. Those with payment errors of 10% or higher will be forced to cover a full 25% of the program's costs. Even at the base rate, that will add major costs that states can't absorb easily — and it isn't just Democrat-controlled states that would be paying the top rate out of their coffers. The most recent figures from the USDA, which cover fiscal year 2023, show that red states like Alaska, Florida, Missouri and South Carolina would be among those forced to pay a quarter of the total cost for their constituents' SNAP benefits. Based on an analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, that would add roughly $3 billion to state budgets in Missouri and South Carolina over the next 10 years and a whopping $15 billion to Florida's balance sheet. As the Center for American Progress noted in a recent report, there's already a system in place to deal with error rates that was working just fine even without the cost sharing factor. The introduction of the new scheme is likely to undo the progress that states have made in improving their SNAP distribution programs. And there's no provision included in the bill as written to provide a federal stopgap should a state not be able to meet its portion of the program's costs. There are other major cuts and policy shifts in play as well. The committee's bill ups the maximum age for SNAP's work requirements to apply from 54 to 64 while also significantly raising the threshold for getting a waiver for those requirements. It's previously been shown that work requirements are not a substantial boost to employment rates. At the same time, the bill also removes a Biden-era provision that allows beneficiaries to factor internet service into their utility costs. It's hard to find a job without internet access these days, especially as libraries are themselves facing major budget cuts, making the decision seem counterproductive at best. The Congressional Budget Office's scoring of the GOP plan shows that the bill as written would cut SNAP spending by $300 billion over the next decade — well above and beyond the GOP's goal. But beneficiaries wouldn't feel the effects of the bill immediately should it become law. Instead, in a particularly shady move, the new formula wouldn't come online until fiscal year 2028 — in other words, after the next midterm elections in 2026. The clear hope is to reap the benefits of being cost cutters now without having to face the political consequences in a year and a half. Even though the bill has cleared the Agriculture Committee, there's still a chance that the GOP changes up the details before final passage. Politico reported last week that former governors among the Senate GOP caucus are skeptical of the new cost-sharing schemes for SNAP and Medicaid. The whole package could be derailed at any point by just a handful of Republican legislators, re-opening the entire thing for negotiations again. But even supposedly moderate House Agriculture Committee members have gotten on board with the draconian plan. As of now, this bait-and-switch that will leave states on the hook will be included in Trump's big, beautiful bill. And the hundreds of thousands of people whose SNAP benefits may be reduced or taken away all together will take little solace that their empty bellies helped feed the wealthiest Americans' bank accounts. This article was originally published on
E&E News
13-05-2025
- Business
- E&E News
House GOP pushes farm bill priorities in reconciliation
When Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee mark up their big tax and spending measure Tuesday, they'll also be trying to advance parts of a five-year farm bill. The measure released by committee Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) includes mandatory funding for major conservation programs and some agricultural research, and it would extend through 2026 the Secure Rural Schools program that supports communities around national forests. Further, it would rescind conservation money from the Inflation Reduction Act and wrap it into farm bill programs. Advertisement It also dabbles in some farm safety net policies, proposing increases in certain types of coverage for farmers hit with weather-related disasters. And it would boost the support payments farmers receive for certain crops, as when commodity prices tumble.
