Senate set to advance Ukraine aid after rollercoaster House battle (“Senators will hold the first procedural vote on the $95 billion aid package on Tuesday afternoon, starting a 30-hour clock toward a vote on final passage. That would take place on Wednesday night absent a deal on amendments…”)
Opinion: Who has the upper hand after Trump trial opening? (“My takeaway: The prosecution has the upper hand based on the evidence and the law, and Trump knows it. He was visibly bowed by the weight of the day. Still, the case is no slam dunk and the defense has plenty to work with.”)
From Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, who had been running for governor but now has decided to do what a lot of people had been recommending he do and “drop down” to run for Lt. Governor. This move pretty much guarantees that Abigail Spanberger will be the Democrats’ 2025 Virginia gubernatorial nominee – probably against Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, or possibly AG Jason Miyares (but I’m betting on Sears geting their nomination). As for LG, other Dems running or likely to run include Prince William County School Board Chair Babur Lateef, State Senators Ghazala Hashmi and Aaron Rouse…and presumably others (Del. Sam Rasoul? possibly one or more of the candidates who don’t win the VA07 or VA10 Dem nominations?). Stay tuned!
RICHMOND MAYOR LEVAR STONEY TO RUN FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA – Today, Democratic Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney released the following statement:
“After growing up in a working poor family, I got into public service to make sure families like mine could get a fair shot at success. That’s been my guiding principle as the Mayor of Richmond, and it’s why I got into the race for Governor. Right now, we have a Republican administration that puts a radical political agenda ahead of what’s right for Virginia families. That must change. After careful consideration with my family, I believe that the best way to ensure that all Virginia families do get the change they deserve is for our party to come together, avoid a costly and damaging primary and, for me to run instead for Lieutenant Governor.
The greatest thing to happen to me was the birth of my daughter, Sunday, this past March. I was able to spend the past few weeks with her and my wife Brandy. And during this time, I thought long and hard about the future I wanted for her and all Virginia families. This was not an easy decision – especially given that my campaign has received a lot of support from all corners of the Commonwealth and I am so appreciative of that support. And while there was a path to victory it was a narrow path and, after consideration, I firmly believe that running for LG is the right move for me and my family, the right move for the Democratic Party, the right move for the future of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
As LG, I believe I can be an effective advocate for Virginia families to ensure that everyone in our state does in fact get that fair shot at success. Given everything at stake in the next Governor’s race – from reproductive rights to education funding and tax fairness – I believe this is a time when Democrats must stand united and avoid an ugly primary for Governor.”
Virginia NAACP Condemns Efforts to Name Schools after Confederate Generals
RICHMOND, VA – The NAACP Virginia State Conference NAACP (Virginia NAACP) condemns all efforts to add or retain the names/images of Confederate leaders on public property. Our reasoning is sound: Military leaders of the Confederate States of America took up arms against the United States of America and fought to preserve and expand the peculiar institution of slavery. These hateful, white supremacist ideals should not be memorialized anywhere the public–which includes descendants of enslaved Africans–is required to support financially. The mission of the NAACP requires us to work to eliminate discrimination. Returning names of Confederate leaders to public buildings runs counter to this mission.
Shenandoah County’s “Coalition for Better Schools” wants to change the names of Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School back to Stonewall Jackson and Ashby-Lee, respectively. In 2020, the Shenandoah County School Board voted to change schools named after Confederate leaders and to remove the rebel mascot from North Fork Middle School. The subject of restoring the names came before the school board again in 2022, the decision was split 3-3, and the Confederate names were not restored. November 2023 brought new members to the school board. Confederate sympathizers have declared their desire to change the names of the public schools. The Virginia NAACP vehemently opposes this effort and hopes that all citizens committed to racial justice will do the same.
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ABOUT THE VIRGINIA NAACP
Founded in 1935, the Virginia State Conference of NAACP Branches (Virginia NAACP) is the oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization in the Commonwealth, overseeing over 100 NAACP branches, youth councils, and college chapters. The Virginia NAACP is focused on being the preeminent voice of Black Virginians and advocating for policies and programs to benefit Blacks and people of color. You can read more about the Virginia NAACP’s work and our six “Game Changer” issue areas by visiting NAACPVA.org.
Dr. John Gartner, a former Johns Hopkins University professor of psychiatry, has gathered a boatload of evidence that Donald Trump is currently in the advanced stages of dementia. When you consider the realistic odds that this guy could be put back in charge of our nuclear arsenal, our military, our economy, our foreign policy – our entire government – this reality should terrify voters, be they Democrats, Republicans or independents.
And yet we AREN’T talking much about this very real issue, for the worst of reasons: because Republicans and their propaganda arms have quite deliberately muddied the waters by spreading the lie that President Biden is the one who’s losing it. It’s the insidious approach of pushing the media to downplay Trump’s dangers and pathologies by turning it into yet another boring “both sides” snoozer.
We need to overcome this disinformation campaign by getting the truth out. So kudos to author Jay Kuo, who interviewed Dr. Gartner for his Substack and let him unload the substantial evidence of Trump’s mental decline in detail, which I quote below.
These behavioral clues include: “marked progressive deterioration in 4 areas: memory, ability to use language, behavior, and gross and fine motor skills.”
Watch some old videos of the younger Trump speaking (like, say, this 1998 interview with Oprah Winfrey) – while he most certainly came across as the shyster he is, he was clearly much sharper, using a more varied vocabulary and showing the ability to think about matters calmly and not just babble and rage.
Dr. Gartner quotes an analysis by science writer Sharon Begley all the way back in 2017 about how Trump’s vocabulary has shriveled to an estimated 4th grade level, with a few words like “big”, “beautiful” and “strong” getting a workout but more complex words nowhere in sight. And the decline has clearly accelerated since then.
“Nikki Haley, you know they, do you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it, because of lots of things like Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guard, whatever they want. They turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that. These are very dishonest people,” Trump said.
It’s also the many words that Trump is garbling or making up. The Daily Show did a supercut of many of the non-words coming out of his mouth, from “space capsicule” to “the Yoonayded Nations”. The technical terms Dr. Gartner uses for this symptom of dementia are “phonemic aphasia” for making up new words and “semantic aphasia” for substituting a real word where it doesn’t fit, like “the oranges of the investigation.”
Indeed, calling Trump’s extended rants “rambling”, as the press so politely likes to do, hardly tells the full story. He is increasingly making statements that are literally incomprehensible, like: “They’re weaponizing law enforcement for high-level interference against Joe Biden’s top and only political appointment. A guy named me. A guy named me.”
There are also signs of decline in his motor skills, from how he walks and stands to needing two hands to hold a glass of water. But surely most obvious and most concerning is his growing inability to control his behavior, a problem that all of the judges on his criminal and civil cases are now having to deal with. Imagine having someone in the White House who literally cannot control himself.
And the biggest problem is that all of this will only get worse, as Dr. Gartner explains:
“People need to understand dementia is a progressive illness, which means the Trump you see today is the best Trump you’re ever going to see. It’s all downhill from here. Trump’s rate of decline is accelerating, and if he’s typical, at some point, he will “fall off a cognitive cliff” and become completely disabled.”
“Trump could be found wandering the lawn of the White House in his pajamas confused about where he is. I’m not joking. I honestly believe that will happen if he’s reelected.”
Yet, despite all of this, you don’t see Democrats or the media talking much about the issue – for reasons both obvious and depressing. The right-wing propaganda machine has done such an effective job spreading the lie that Biden is the one going senile that folks fear raising the actual truth of Trump’s dementia will work against them.
In fact, the opposite is true. We just need to shout the truth louder than they scream their lies. Granted, they have a media machine in the form of Fox, etc., that we haven’t been able to match. But we don’t need to persuade everyone – just enough people to allow the Democrats to win.
And – call me a starry-eyed optimist – I have to believe that there are some reasonable Republicans who will reconsider whether they really want to pull the lever for Donald Trump when they hear all the evidence of how badly his mind has degenerated. It is at least a legitimate issue that deserves to be front and center in this year’s campaign.
Jared Kushner Has Big Plans for Delta of Europe’s Last Wild River (“Albania’s Vjosë River is known as Europe’s last wild river, and its pristine delta is a haven for migratory birds. As plans for luxury developments there—spearheaded by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner—move ahead, conservationists are sounding the alarm.” Kushner is evil.)
UPDATE 3 pm – See below for video of remarks by President Joe Biden and others at Prince William Forest Park in Triangle:
From the White House:
FACT SHEET: President Biden Marks Earth Day 2024 with Historic Climate Action
President Biden will travel to Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, VA, a national park system site developed by FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps, to announce $7 billion in awards through EPA’s Solar for All program and unveil major steps to advance the American Climate Corps
When President Biden took office, he pledged to restore America’s climate leadership at home and abroad. On his first day in office, the President signed the United States back into the Paris Agreement. And each day since, the Biden-Harris Administration has continued to lead and deliver on the most ambitious climate agenda in history, including securing the largest ever climate investment and unleashing a clean energy manufacturing boom that has attracted hundreds of billions in private sector investment and created over 270,000 new clean energy jobs. The President’s agenda is also advancing environmental justice and ensuring that the benefits of climate investments reach overburdened communities, mobilizing the next generation of clean energy workers through the American Climate Corps, and delivering historic investments in our nation’s climate resilience. At the same time, the Administration is protecting America’s natural wonders, conserving more than 41 million acres of lands and waters.
Building on his climate, clean energy, and environmental justice agenda, President Biden will travel today to Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Virginia, to celebrate Earth Day 2024, and highlight his Administration’s unprecedented progress in tackling the climate crisis, cutting costs for everyday Americans, and creating good-paying jobs.
Expanding Access to Affordable Solar Energy
The President will announce $7 billion in grants through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Solar for All grant competition, a key component of the Inflation Reduction Act’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Selectees under the Solar for All program will serve every state and territory in the nation and deliver residential solar power to over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities, saving overburdened households more than $350 million in electricity costs annually – approximately $400 per household – and avoiding more than 30 million metric tons of carbon pollution over the next 25 years.
The selectees will provide funds to states, territories, Tribes, municipalities, and nonprofits across the country to develop long-lasting solar programs that enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from distributed residential solar. In total, solar projects funded by this program will create nearly 200,000 jobs. The program also advances the President’s Justice40 Initiative, which set a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
Mobilizing the Next Generation of Climate Leaders through the American Climate Corps
Joined by future members of President Biden’s American Climate Corps, including current AmeriCorps members, President Biden will also announce several new actions to stand up the American Climate Corps – a groundbreaking initiative modeled after FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps that will put more than 20,000 young Americans to work fighting the impacts of climate change today while gaining the skills they need to join the growing clean energy and climate-resilience workforce of tomorrow. The President will announce these actions at Prince William Forest Park, a national park system site developed by FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps and stewarded by the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service.
Nearly a century after FDR established the Civilian Conservation Corps, President Biden will announce today that Americans can now apply to join the American Climate Corps through a newly launched website, ClimateCorps.gov. The website will feature nearly 2,000 positions located across 36 states, DC, and Puerto Rico. These positions are hosted by hundreds of organizations advancing clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience. The website, which is launching in its beta form, will be regularly updated with new American Climate Corps positions. Its goal is to make it easy for any American to find work tackling the climate crisis while gaining the skills necessary for the clean energy and climate resilience workforce of the future. The first class of the American Climate Corps will be deployed to communities across the country in June 2024.
The Biden-Harris Administration is also announcing a new partnership with the North America’s Building Trades Unions’ nonprofit partner TradesFutures. Beginning this summer, every American Climate Corps member will have access to TradesFutures’ industry leading apprenticeship readiness curriculum during their term of service in the American Climate Corps, providing members with the opportunity to be trained in the foundational skills necessary for careers in the clean energy and climate resilience economy and putting them on a pathway to good paying, union jobs.
Many American Climate Corps members will also have access to a streamlined pathway into federal service after a recent update to modernize the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s Pathways Programs. The update will expand applicant eligibility for the Recent Graduates program to include individuals who have completed qualifying career or technical education service within designated American Climate Corps programs.
Today, three states – Vermont, New Mexico, and Illinois – are launching new state-based climate corps programs, building on 10 states that have already launched successful climate corps programs, demonstrating the power of skills-based training as a tool to expand pathways into good-paying jobs. These states will work with the American Climate Corps as implementing partners to ensure young people across the country are serving their communities, while participating in paid opportunities and working on projects to tackle climate change.
Additionally, beginning as a collaboration between the Department of the Interior, the Energy Communities Interagency Working Group, and AmeriCorps VISTA, a new interagency public private partnership – Energy Communities AmeriCorps – will place American Climate Corps members in priority energy communities across the country. The program will help support community-led projects, including environmental remediation, in the places that have powered our nation for generations.
Conserving America’s Lands, Waters, and Wildlife
These announcements come on the heels of a series of major conservation actions by the Biden-Harris Administration. Just last week, the Department of the Interior published a final rule to maximize protections of significant surface resources such as irreplaceable wildlife habitat for caribou and migratory birds on more than 13 million acres in the western Arctic while supporting subsistence uses and needs of Alaska Native communities. This action brings the number of acres of America’s lands and waters conserved under President Biden to 41 million. Additionally, the Interior Department released a final environmental analysis last week recommending denial of a right of way for the Ambler Road project; the proposed road, which would cross more than 200 miles of pristine lands, would have significant impacts on caribou and other subsistence resources upon which more than 60 Alaska Native communities rely.
In addition to these landmark conservation announcements in Alaska, the Interior Department released a rule to help guide the balanced management of all 245 million acres of America’s public lands that are overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. The rule will help to ensure the BLM continues to protect land health while managing other uses of public lands, such as clean energy development and outdoor recreation.
Throughout Earth Week, the Biden-Harris Administration will announce additional actions to build a stronger, healthier future for all: Tuesday will focus on helping ensure clean water for all communities; Wednesday will focus on accelerating America’s clean transportation future; Thursday will focus on steps to cut pollution from the power sector while strengthening America’s electricity grid; and Friday will focus on providing cleaner air and healthier schools for all children.
Biden-Harris Administration’s Top Climate Accomplishments
Deploying Clean, Affordable Electricity and Strengthening America’s Power Grid –
President Biden has secured unprecedented investments in a clean power sector, unleashing a boom in American solar, wind, battery storage, and other clean energy technologies that are creating good-paying jobs and saving families money on utility bills. Through the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, U.S. solar generation is projected to increase up to eight-fold and wind generation is projected to triple by 2030. President Biden has jumpstarted the U.S. offshore wind industry, with 10 gigawatts of commercial-scale projects now approved, enough to power nearly four million homes, including two projects that are already delivering power to the grid and others with construction underway. The President’s Investing in America agenda is also supporting transmission buildout and other power grid upgrades, deployment of distributed energy resources in disadvantaged communities, investments in clean electricity across rural America, and American manufacturing of clean energy technologies – all in pursuit of the President’s goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035. Through the President’s Federal Sustainability Plan, the U.S. Government is leading by example and has already signed agreements to provide federal facilities in 18 states with 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030.
And thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, clean energy project developers get access to expanded tax incentives if they pay workers prevailing wages and employ registered apprentices, helping make more clean energy jobs good-paying and union jobs.
Accelerating a Clean Transportation Future – President Biden is taking a whole-of-government approach to position the U.S. as a global leader in innovative and sustainable transportation. The Administration’s National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization is a landmark strategy for cutting all greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. transportation sector by 2050. The President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act invest tens of billions to decarbonize shipping, trucking, transit, rail, and aviation, all while making communities more walkable, bikeable, and connected. And through the President’s Federal Sustainability Plan, the federal government has ordered over 58,000 zero-emission vehicles and has begun installing more than 25,000 charging ports, adding to the 8,000 already in use across the government.
In addition, the President rallied automakers and autoworkers around a historic goal of having electric vehicles (EVs) account for at least 50% of new passenger vehicles sold by 2030. To support this goal while driving down consumer costs, the Administration secured tax credits that reduce the cost of new or used clean vehicles by thousands of dollars directly at the dealership and is investing $7.5 billion into building out a national EV charging network. Since President Biden took office, EV sales have quadrupled, prices have come down by more than 20%, the number of charging stations has grown by over 80% – putting us on track to deploy 500,000 chargers by 2026 – and the U.S. auto industry has added more than 100,000 jobs. Driven by Biden-Harris Administration policies, the sector is experiencing a manufacturing renaissance with more than $160 billion of investments in EVs, batteries, and their supply chains. And just last month, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized the strongest-ever vehicle emission standards for light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles.
Cutting Energy Costs and Pollution at Homes, Schools, and in Communities – Reducing building emissions through efficiency improvements and electrification lowers energy bills for families, improves resiliency, and creates good-paying jobs. The President has created new programs to save American families on their energy bills through the Department of Energy’s Home Energy Rebates, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, and Treasury’s Home Energy Tax Credits. The Biden-Harris Administration is also strengthening energy efficiency standards to save households and businesses money, with standards updated by DOE for dozens of appliances expected to provide nearly $1 trillion in consumer savings over 30 years, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2.5 billion metric tons – equivalent to the emissions of 18 million gas-powered cars over 30 years. By invoking emergency authority, the President is expanding domestic heat pump manufacturing, which will cut the costs of heat pumps. To ensure that the 10 million new homes that will be built by 2030 are efficient and resilient, President Biden’s National Initiative to Advance Building Codes is accelerating adoption of modern building codes that protect people from extreme-weather events and help contribute to avoiding an estimated $1.6 billion a year in damages.
Revitalizing American Manufacturing for the Clean Economy – President Biden’s Investing in America agenda has helped catalyze historic manufacturing growth, with factories opening across the nation. To date, the private sector has announced nearly $700 billion in investments in manufacturing and clean energy. The President’s agenda is helping to make U.S. manufacturing the cleanest and most competitive in the world. The Inflation Reduction Act is investing more than $6 billion to slash climate pollution and support worker and community health at U.S. factories producing the steel, aluminum, cement, and other materials that form the backbone of our economy. To further support U.S. industrial competitiveness, the Biden Administration’s landmark Buy Clean initiative is leveraging the government’s sway as the largest purchaser on Earth to spur demand for low-emissions manufacturing and construction products.
Advancing Environmental Justice – Since Day One, the Biden-Harris Administration has prioritized a whole-of-government approach to environmental justice. The President signed a historic Executive Order that calls on the federal government to bring clean energy and healthy environments to all and mitigate harm to those who have suffered from pollution and environmental burdens like climate change. Through the Justice40 Initiative, over 500 programs across 19 federal agencies are being reimagined and transformed to maximize the benefits of President Biden’s unprecedented investments – from clean energy projects to floodwater protections to wastewater infrastructure – to communities that need them most. At the same time, the Administration is taking unprecedented action to protect communities from PFAS pollution, accelerate Superfund and brownfield cleanups, tighten standards for hazardous air pollutants, and enhance air quality enforcement.
Delivering Clean Water and Replacing Lead Pipes – President Biden and Vice President Harris are fighting to ensure a future where every American has access to clean, safe water. The President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests over $50 billion in upgrading the nation’s water infrastructure – the largest investment in clean water in American history. This funding is going towards expanding access to clean drinking water, replacing lead pipes, improving wastewater and sanitation infrastructure, and removing PFAS pollution in water. President Biden has also made a historic commitment to replace every toxic lead pipe in the country within a decade, protecting families from lead poisoning that can irreversibly harm brain development in children. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency issued proposed improvements to the Lead and Copper Rule that would require water systems to rapidly replace lead service lines.
Conserving our Lands and Waters –The Biden-Harris Administration has taken historic action to conserve and restore America’s lands and waters, including signing an Executive Order to set the first-ever national conservation goal to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 through the America the Beautiful Initiative. Last week the Administration launched Conservation.gov and the American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas, a new website and data portal that will help connect people with information, tools, resources, and opportunities to support land and water conservation projects in communities across the country. The Administration has already protected more than 41 million acres of lands and waters, and President Biden is on track to conserve more lands and waters than any President in history. This includes establishing five new national monuments and restoring protections for three more; creating four new national wildlife refuges and expanding five more; protecting the Boundary Waters of Minnesota, the nation’s most visited wilderness area; safeguarding Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska; and withdrawing Chaco Canyon in New Mexico and Thompson Divide in Colorado from further oil and gas leasing to protect thousands of sacred sites and pristine lands.
To conserve and steward old growth forests, USDA announced a proposal to amend 128 forest land management plans to conserve and steward old-growth forest conditions on national forests and grasslands nationwide. This builds upon the Biden-Harris Administration’s protection of Tongass National Forest, the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. The Administration is also taking continued action to protect and conserve our nation’s rivers and watersheds for the people and communities that depend on them, protecting the stability and sustainability of the Colorado River Basin in the face of an ongoing megadrought, and beyond. This includes taking historic action to restore healthy and abundant wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin, part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s unprecedented commitment to honor the United States’ obligations to Tribal Nations.
Investing in Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry – President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is supporting America’s farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners, who play a critical role in addressing the climate crisis through the deployment of climate-smart practices and systems. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA has supported 80,000 farms in implementing climate-smart practices on over 75 million acres. In Fiscal Year 2023, USDA made record investments in private lands conservation, totaling nearly $3 billion in financial assistance to producers. Leveraging both climate impact and economic opportunities, the Administration is creating new market opportunities through the groundbreaking Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities and efforts that are part of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge.
Rallying Leaders of the World’s Largest Economies to Raise Global Climate Ambition –President Biden has restored America’s climate leadership at home and abroad. Under his leadership, the Administration is securing commitments from more than 155 countries to reduce methane emissions by at least 30 percent by 2030; successfully galvanizing other countries at COP28 to commit, for the first time, to transition away from unabated fossil fuels, stop building new unabated coal capacity globally, and triple renewable energy globally by 2030 and nuclear energy by 2050; launching a new Clean Energy Supply Chain Collaborative to work with international partners to diversify supply chains that are critical to a clean and secure energy transition; mobilizing other governments to follow the U.S. lead and commit to achieve net-zero government emissions by 2050 through a new Net-Zero Government Initiative; and becoming a world leader in innovative debt-for-nature swaps that have helped countries restructure over $2 billion in debt and unlock hundreds of millions of new financing for nature and climate.
On “Face the Nation” this morning, Sen. Mark Warner discussed a number of subjects, including aid to Ukraine; sanctions against Russia; TikTok; Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA); etc. According to Sen. Warner:
“Well the great news is, this is finally happening. It should have happened six months ago, but the next time is right now…We’ve seen the Ukrainians overperform…Getting this additional equipment as quickly as possible…I hope once the President signs, we’ve been told…that these materials will be in transit by the end of the week…If they don’t have the materials, they can’t carry this fight to the Russians…Yes…the ATACMS [will be provided to Ukraine]…It is written into this legislation.”
The U.S. sanctions regime against Russia “has not been as tight as we’d have liked to see it”; China has been “the worst offender, with direct military support” to Russia (also India purchasing Russian oil); Russia, China, North Korea and Iran “may be the 2024 Axis of Evil combination of nations.”
On TikTok, Sen. Warner said it has “more than the power of eyes that your network reaches on a daily basis” and where a lot of young people “get their news”; “the idea that we would give the Communist Party this much of a propaganda tool, as well as the ability to scrape 170 million Americans’ personal data, it is a national security risk”; also a risk to U.S. elections…
On Section 702 of FISA, Sen. Warner said this gives the U.S. the ability to surveil foreigners who are abroad, including fentanyl drug cartels…”this ability to listen in on the bad guys’ communications is extraordinarily powerful.”The screw-up level [by the FBI] has dropped from about 30% to less than 1%…We think we’ve got a very strong reform bill.”
The U.S. shipments of long-range ATACMS missiles “will be in transit” next week, once Pres. Biden signs the Congress-approved foreign aid package for Ukraine, Senate Intel Chair @MarkWarner says.
“If they don’t have the materials, they can’t carry this fight to the Russians.” pic.twitter.com/J1VN9XRirt
The U.S. sanctions regime “has not been as tight as we like to see,” Sen. @MarkWarner says, calling China “the worst offender, with direct military support” to Russia. Warner adds that Russia, China and North Korea “may be the 2024 Axis of Evil combination of nations.” pic.twitter.com/qjjvLEMqja
A bill passed by the House that could lead to a ban of TikTok in the U.S. allows up to a year for a forced sale. The timeline, which extends beyond the 2024 U.S. elections, is one that “from a business standpoint, makes sense,” Senate Intel Chair @MarkWarner tells @margbrennan. pic.twitter.com/vjfzQsdMoS
Good overview/summary by VA State Sen. Barbara Favola (D-Arlington) of the “lay of the land” with the Virginia budget, the General Assembly and Glenn Youngkin. That includes her 100% accurate comment, “Youngkin’s actions to put healthcare providers and women in Virginia at risk of being criminalized is unconscionable.”
The veto session drove home a very important point. That point is: There is a strong but slim “blue wall” in the General Assembly protecting the progress we have made. Unfortunately, with the current governor, we are unable to make much more additional progress. We did not have the two-thirds vote needed in each chamber to override Governor Youngkin’s vetoes.
To learn more about the veto session in a discussion format, tune into the virtual town hall I am hosting on April 25th. The link to the town hall is below.
Status of My Bills: Governor Youngkin vetoed three of my bills: 1) my anti-extradition bill described below; 2) a bill to ensure that convicted domestic abusers actually turn over their firearms, as the law requires; and 3) a bill to help reform our probation process. But the governor did sign 20 of my bills. These new laws will—among other things: improve access to mental health services (SB 87), provide oversight over recovery homes (SB 19), require state psychiatric facilities to develop a plan for appropriate care of those with neurocognitive disorders (SB 176), reform special education services (SB 220), and help those with disabilities to better integrate into our communities (SB 51). You can read about all of my signed legislation here.
Reproductive Health: Bills on issues like universal access to contraceptive care without copayments and the right to sue if such access is denied, were gutted by the governor’s amendments. Although we defeated the amendments, I expect these bills will now be vetoed. Of course, my bill to protect Virginia healthcare professionals who provide abortion care and their out of state patients from extradition was also vetoed. This veto was particularly perplexing since the governor’s message focused on out-of-state healthcare providers but the bill only protected Virginia practitioners who were abiding by Virginia law, not out-of-state practitioners.
Gun Safety: The commonsense gun safety bills that the Democratic majorities passed were nearly all vetoed by Governor Youngkin, even though 80% of Virginians support the restrictions that these bills contained, like banning assault weapons and requiring a cooling off period before an individual may purchase a firearm. The cooling off period ensures there is time to conduct background checks and is a best practice in the effort to prevent suicides by firearms.
According to the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, firearms are used in half of all suicide deaths. Suicides make up 3 out of every 5 gun deaths and suicide by firearm is almost always deadly — 9 out of 10 firearm suicide attempts result in death. Every day, 64 Americans die by firearm suicide — one every 22 minutes.
Other Topics: The governor also vetoed bills passed by the Democratic majorities to raise the minimum wage, protect tenant rights, and advance environmental policies. It was clear that Governor Youngkin was working to maintain the status quo. He exercised his veto pen 153 times and offered 233 budget amendments. He drew a stark contrast between his narrow-minded and ideologically driven policies and the more progressive policies aimed at helping real people that the Democrats offered.
Budget Amendments: The stark contrast was particularly bright in Governor Youngkin’s budget amendments. Two examples best illustrate this point: the removal of extra funding for the K-12 public education budget to be redirected to privately run laboratory schools, and language to remove Virginia from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
RGGI is a cap and trade program designed to limit carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector. The program yields approximately $200M a year, and these funds are used for flood prevention strategies, among other environmental initiatives. It is important to note that flooding is the most common and costly natural disaster in Virginia, so it is mind-boggling why the governor would attempt to withdraw Virginia from a program that is a win-win. Virginians get cleaner air and more flood control.
Going Forward: I feel very strongly that some step forward on the tax modernization front must be part of the final budget. If some digital downloads are taxed, that money will enable us to more generously fund the public schools, add dollars to the schools with a high percentage (40% or more) of students on free or reduced lunch, fully fund Metro and increase the Medicaid reimbursement to our providers, among other important things.
We concluded the special session on a cordial note with the governor. He came to the General Assembly to meet with key lawmakers and made overtures about his willingness to entertain compromises in a newly crafted budget. I am hopeful that an agreement can be reached and a biennium budget adopted sooner rather than later. The governor has called a special session on May 13 in the hope that the General Assembly will be in a position to adopt a compromise budget. I will keep you posted.
Report: 2023 a record year for wind installations (“The world installed 117 gigawatts of new wind power capacity in 2023, a 50% increase from the year before, making it the best year for new wind projects on record, according to a new report by the industry’s trade association…But the authors warned that the wind industry must increase its annual growth to at least 320 gigawatts by 2030 in order to meet the COP28 pledge to triple the world’s installed renewable energy generation capacity by 2030, as well as to meet the Paris Agreement’s ambition of capping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”)
Trump Deflates (“It wasn’t just Putin who lost in the House vote on Ukraine aid. — Ukraine won. Trump lost. — The House vote to aid Ukraine renews hope that Ukraine can still win its war. It also showed how and why Donald Trump should lose the 2024 election.”)
How Mike Johnson Got to ‘Yes’ on Aid to Ukraine (“Intelligence, politics and personal considerations converted the Republican speaker, who had largely opposed aid to Ukraine as a rank-and-file member, into the key figure pushing it through Congress.”)
Great job by both Representatives Don Beyer (D-VA08) and Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) today on the US House floor, as debate proceeds on supplemental aid packages for Ukraine – by FAR the most important, urgent one – and for our other allies (Taiwan, Israel) as well humanitarian assistance to Gaza, Sudan, Haiti, etc. According to Rep. Beyer:
“Today moral courage and sound strategic thinking finally defeat the partisan cynicism and political calculation of a small minority of this body who hold our national interest hostage. Some of my colleagues say America should hide from our role as the world’s dominant power, ignoring our geopolitical foes as they move aggressively against our interests and menace our allies. They are wrong.”
And according to Rep. Connolly:
“…the Ukrainian-Russian border is OUR border. It’s the the border between depraved autocracy and freedom-loving people seeking our democratic way of life. Do we have a stake in that outcome? Yes. Undeniably yes. Will we rise to the occasion? Will we stand shoulder to shoulder with our Ukrainian brothers and sisters, who for 1,151 days have been holding off the depraved, thuggish dictator, Vladimir Putin, who has respected no norms of warfare?…We must meet this test today. We must stand with Ukraine. Slava Ukraini!”
The border between Russia and Ukraine is the border between depravity and democracy. Between autocracy and freedom.
We undeniably have a stake in that outcome of that fight.
Today, we must stand shoulder to shoulder with our Ukrainian brothers and sisters. pic.twitter.com/quM8sOUl9Y
