Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), now controlled by an oil industry insider, has put out its own Newspeak-like manual in the form of an email to department employees which is focused on subtracting words and phrases.
The drama in Washington is all about the looming end of the federal fiscal year. All eyes are focused on House Speaker McCarthy and whether he can deliver enough votes to keep the government open come October 1st.
The major themes of Today’s Ten are the continuing conflicts between Democrats and House Republicans over spending and efforts by China to find a way to keep supplying the U.S. with the materials, e.g., the precious metals needed for electric vehicle batteries, and products, e.g., photovoltaic panels, despite efforts of the White House and Congress to build out domestic industries.
Too often in an effort to save Mother Nature, we forget about human nature. Solving problems with rolling out clean renewable energy is less a matter of the physical sciences than the social sciences—overcoming users’ habits and project resistance at the local level.
The budget battle brewing in Congress could see the US become a dead-beat debtor if the warring factions can’t come to some arrangement on raising the nation’s debt ceiling.
The two visions for climate policy tariffs involve different paths toward somewhat different goals, so they cannot easily be reconciled.
IRA projects and those climate-related provisions attributable to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs and the CHIPS and Science Acts are evidence of the economic and environmental benefits of a transition to a low-carbon economy.
Based on the 2022 midterm election results the nation appears tired of the partisan bickering and is ready for members of Congress and the White House to find common ground and get on with the business of governing. The next two years will tell the tale.
A Republican House majority is not simply about gross numbers. It is also about individual political philosophies and loyalties. In an age of very slim majorities, a relatively small group of members can have an outsized impact on what does and doesn’t get passed into law.
It now appears that Republicans can at least talk about climate change in non-derisive terms. However, as evidenced by the proposed policy platform, the GOP has hardly changed its tune. Only the lyrics are different.
As I’ll explain, Manchin’s torpedoing the Senate debate and vote on the House-passed version of the bill is contrary to the interests of the people of West Virginia—especially those who can no longer rely on the coal industry for their livelihood.
Progressives feel Manchin went back on his word about supporting a reconciliation package if Congress would first vote on the infrastructure bill. Trust within the Democratic caucuses is nearly non-existent.
