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Bengals quarterback pushes for new gun control: 'You've gotta at least make it harder'
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow on Tuesday called for new gun control legislation, saying lawmakers should “make it harder” for people to obtain some firearms.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Burrow, who led the Bengals to their first Super Bowl in 33 years last season, suggested that those seeking to own a firearm should go through a “rigorous process” to purchase “crazy guns,” likely referencing an assault-style weapon.
“With everything that’s going on, if you’re not going to outlaw everything, you’ve gotta, at least, make it harder to get those crazy guns that everybody is using. I don’t think you should be able to just walk in there and buy one, you gotta be able to go through a rigorous process to buy something like that, I think,” the 2019 Heisman Trophy winner said in response to a reporter’s question.
“Hopefully, the people who get paid to make those decisions figure that out. My job is to play football, but hopefully the politicians can figure that out,” Burrow concluded.
The U.S. has seen a recent string of fatal mass shootings, including in Uvalde, Texas; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Tulsa, Okla.
Burrow, who’s entering his third season in the NFL, follows other prominent sports figures such as Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott who have called for new gun control legislation in response to the massacres.
A bipartisan group of senators announced Sunday they have reached a framework on potential legislation to curb the surge of gun violence in the country.
The framework includes funding for school safety resources, expanded background checks for buyers under the age of 21, incentives for states to implement their own “red flag” laws, penalties for straw purchases of firearms, and new protections for domestic violence victims.
President Biden said in a statement that he plans to sign the proposed legislation into law if it passes.
Source: TEST FEED1
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These are the factors that go into gas prices
U.S. officials are looking at various options to bring prices down at the pump as prices soar to a record national average of over $5 per gallon.
Some states have sought a reprieve by implementing temporary gas tax suspensions and sources told The Hill Monday the White House is weighing a federal gas tax holiday. President Biden has also ordered an unprecedented release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and pressured oil companies to ramp up production.
Experts also say Biden’s recently-announced trip to Saudi Arabia could be used to urge the country to ramp up production of oil.
Prices spiked after the U.S. sanctioned Russian oil during Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine which began in February.
By April, the U.S. was producing 300,000 more barrels of oil per day than it was in mid-March. That production has leveled off since, and now some companies are hesitant to invest more in oil given how much could change in the time it takes for oil to come out of the ground and industry concerns about the effect of a possible transition away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy.
But prices have continued to climb.
While Republicans point the finger at Biden and Democrats, the president’s defenders point out a president has relatively little control over gas prices.
Here’s a closer look at the breakdown of what goes into gas prices:
Crude oil prices
The majority of gas prices, or 53.6 percent, comes from the price of crude oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2021 gasoline and diesel fuel update.
Federal and state taxes
The next largest portion comes from federal and state taxes which account for just over 16 percent of gas prices, the EIA said.
In the U.S., the federal motor fuel tax for gasoline is currently $0.184 per gallon. State taxes on gasoline range from around $0.576 per gallon in Pennsylvania and $0.511 per gallon in California to $0.0895 per gallon in Alaska and $0.16 in Hawaii.
When prices skyrocketed amid sanctions on Russian oil because of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, several states, including Connecticut, Maryland and Georgia, suspended their state gas taxes.
New York state also suspended its gas tax as recently as this month.
“Inflation is really hurting our families and they’re struggling to make ends meet so we said we need to provide relief for families,” Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said of that decision.
Distribution and marketing
Another 15.6 percent of gas prices comes from distribution and marketing. That figure includes shipping costs needed to move gas from the refinery to the terminal and other factors like the prices of local competitors and the fueling location.
Refining costs and profits
The smallest percentage of the gasoline’s price, or 14.4 percent, comes from refining costs and profits, which varies by season and can change depending on demand and the type of technology used to refine the oil.
Rachel Frazin contributed to this report.
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Former Atlanta mayor to join Biden's White House staff
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) will join the White House in the coming days as director of the Office of Public Engagement, a White House official confirmed to The Hill on Tuesday.
Bottoms will replace Cedric Richmond, who left the White House last month, as one of President Biden’s top advisers in the West Wing. The Office of Public Engagement is tasked with engaging with the public about the White House’s agenda.
Elected in 2017, Bottoms served one term as mayor of Atlanta and gained prominence for her handling of the coronavirus pandemic in the city before opting not to run for re-election.
Bottoms was floated as a potential running mate for Biden before he picked Vice President Harris.
Biden in 2021 appointed Bottoms to serve as the vice chair of civic engagement and voter protection at the Democratic National Committee.
Axios reported that Bottoms has committed to serve at least through the November midterm elections.
The White House is seeking to convince voters its agenda is working and and that it will chart the right path as the country deals with significant inflation, and high gas prices in particular.
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Flight set to take asylum seekers from UK to Rwanda halted after court ruling
A flight that would have taken asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda on Tuesday night was halted before it took off after an 11th-hour judgment from European courts.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) published a decision hours before the flight was due to depart, and the seven passengers were removed from the aircraft, the BBC first reported.
The UK’s controversial partnership with Rwanda, backed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, aims to send immigrants who enter Britain illegally to the East African country while their asylum claims are assessed.
The decision by the ECtHR, an international court that is unaffiliated with the European Union, found that one of the passengers on the flight was at “risk of irreversible harm” if deported to Rwanda, contradicting an earlier ruling in a UK court that found no risk.
The initial passenger count of 200 dwindled down to seven after many asylum seekers were granted by courts to stay in the UK because of risk of some kind in Rwanda.
Johnson argues that the deportation plan, which his opponents have called unethical, will dissuade asylum seekers from traveling to Britain in an unsafe manner and from making deals with smugglers to get them into the UK.
“Vile people smugglers are abusing the vulnerable and turning the Channel into a watery graveyard,” said Johnson in support of his plan in April.
Asylum seekers have often crossed the English Channel using unsafe equipment, including the 27 who died in November when their boat was upended.
Home Secretary Priti Patel responded to the interference with the UK-Rwanda plan by saying that “preparation for the next flight begins now.”
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Live results: North Dakota primary
The Associated Press is following the election in North Dakota.
Follow the live results below.
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Live results: Texas special election
The Associated Press is following the election in Texas District 34.
Follow the live results below.
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Energy & Environment — Explosion leaves uncertainty in global energy market
An explosion last week at a natural gas terminal is impacting the market, and President Biden prepares to visit Saudi Arabia.
This is Overnight Energy & Environment, your source for the latest news focused on energy, the environment and beyond. For The Hill, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.
Explosion jolts natural gas market
Last week’s explosion at Texas natural gas terminal Freeport LNG has injected further chaos into international energy markets as the U.S. has stepped up to replace Russian gas exports to Europe.
- Experts said that while the facility is offline, it will likely keep about
1.33 billion cubic feet (bcf) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per day off the market for the next three weeks. - Before the explosion, it had a daily capacity of about 2 bcf.
The new news: On Tuesday, the facility lengthened the forecasted shutdown period, saying it was aiming for a partial restart in 90 days, with full-service restoration not expected until late 2022.
Freeport, which said no one was injured in the incident, has attributed the explosion to a fire caused by the rupture of an over-pressurized pipeline.
This “will contribute to a possible tightening of the market as it coincides with some Asian and South American buyers coming to market for volumes,” said Eugene Kim, research director for American Gas at the energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie.
The incident, which remains under investigation, comes at a pivotal moment for U.S. natural gas production in the international market.
- The European Union sanctioned Russia’s gas industry in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- As a result, European nations have grown increasingly reliant on the U.S. to make up the difference.
- And the EU’s final agreement on an embargo of Russian oil, reached in early June, is likely to further heighten the need.
Natural gas prices plummeted Tuesday after the extension of the timeline. American natural gas dropped about 16 percent to $7.22 per million British thermal units.
Meanwhile, European gas prices increased by about 21 percent.
Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, said on a press call Tuesday that even in the absence of the Freehold terminal, other LNG producers may be able to fill in the gap.
However, Frank Macchiarola, the American Petroleum Institute senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs, added that Freeport is “a significant location” for LNG production.
“It’s about 17 to 18 percent of our current capacity, so that certainty is important in the tight market that we face right now,” he said.
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Biden heads to Saudi Arabia amid high gas prices
President Biden will visit Saudi Arabia in July on a trip that will include a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a senior administration official told reporters Monday night.
- The announcement that the president would meet Mohammed had been expected for weeks and has drawn scrutiny from human rights advocates and tacit approval from Democratic allies in Congress.
- The meeting is part of a wider trip to the Middle East, from July 13-16, where the president will also travel to Israel and the West Bank before flying to Jeddah for a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The senior official said that Biden’s meeting with the crown prince will take place as part of engagement with “over a dozen leaders,” to include Saudi King Salman, the official leader of the Kingdom.
The energy angle: The meeting comes as gasoline prices continue to rise, having reached a $5 national average in recent days. Although presidents tend to have little influence on gasoline prices, the situation has put pressure on the Biden administration as consumer feel pain at the pump.
During a White House press briefing on Monday, prior to the trip’s official announcement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that a trip would be about “diplomacy” and to “bring stability to the Middle East region.”
- Asked more specifically about energy, she said: “To view engagement with Saudi Arabia on energy security as asking for oil is simply wrong and a misunderstanding of both the complexity of that issue and our multi-faceted discussions with the Saudis.”
- But, she also said that the administration talks about oil with the Saudis. She said that given its role in OPEC+ and as a major exporter, “of course we discuss energy with [the] Saudi government as we do with oil producers around the world.”
The foreign policy piece: The president’s face-to-face with Mohammed marks a stark reversal from Biden’s promise on the campaign trail to make the kingdom a “pariah” and to make them “pay the price” over the gruesome killing of the dissident
Saudi writer and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Biden approved the release of a U.S. intelligence report concluding that Mohammed had approved a plot to “capture or kill” Khashoggi — who was lured to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where he was killed and dismembered. The president imposed bans on dozens of Saudi officials for the writer’s death.
The senior official on Monday night said that while the administration sought accountability for Khashoggi’s death, it did not seek to “rupture” relations with the kingdom completely. The official called the crown prince “critical” to extending a cease-fire agreement until at least August in Yemen’s catastrophic seven-year civil war.
Read more here from The Hill’s Laura Kelly.
POLLUTION CUTS GLOBAL LIFE EXPECTANCY, REPORT FINDS
Particulate air pollution is reducing life expectancy by 2.2 years globally compared to a hypothetical world that meets international health guidelines, a new report has found.
- Worldwide exposure to fine particulate patter — PM 2.5, or particles with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less — has an impact on par with that of smoking, more than three times that of alcohol use and unsafe water, according to the University of Chicago’s 2022 Air Quality Life Index.
- The life expectancy effect of this type of pollution amounts to six times that of HIV/AIDS and 89 times that of conflict and terrorism, researchers observed.
“It would be a global emergency if Martians came to Earth and sprayed a substance that caused the average person on the planet to lose more than two years of life expectancy,” Michael Greenstone, index co-creator and an economics professor at the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute, said in a statement.
“This is similar to the situation that prevails in many parts of the world, except we are spraying the substance, not some invaders from outer space,” Greenstone added.
Despite the fact that the economy incurred significant losses during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, average PM 2.5 pollution remained largely unchanged from the year before, the researchers stressed. Meanwhile, growing evidence has emerged that even low levels of air pollution can damage human health, the authors added.
Read more from The Hill’s Sharon Udasin here.
ON TAP TOMORROW
- The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee will hold a hearing to examine a series of coastal and habitat conservation bills
- The House Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing titled “The Role of Climate Research in Supporting Agricultural Resiliency”
WHAT WE’RE READING
- Wind and solar power are ‘bailing out’ Texas amid record heat and energy demand (CNN)
- Wall Street firms face W.Va. boycott over alleged fossil fuel bias (Politico)
- Exclusive: OPEC sees global oil demand growth slowing in 2023, sources say (Reuters)
On Climate Change’s Front Lines, Hard Lives Grow Even Harder (The New York Times) - ‘Delusional’: UN chief slams new fossil fuel funding and warns of climate chaos (CNBC)
And finally, something offbeat but kind of on beat: Elephants aren’t people, apparently.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Energy & Environment page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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José Andrés goes after Ben Shapiro on gay rights, Disney tweet
Celebrity chef José Andrés on Tuesday called out conservative media figure Ben Shapiro over his tweet on Disney’s new film “Lightyear,” which features a same-sex relationship.
“Disney works to push a ‘not-at-all-secret gay agenda’ and seeks to add ‘queerness’ to its programming, according to executive producer Latoya Raveneau,” Shapiro wrote in a tweet on Monday. “Parents should keep that in mind before deciding whether to take their kids to see ‘Lightyear,’ which hits theaters this week.”
Andres hit back at the Daily Wire editor in a tweet Tuesday.
“Ben stop spreading non sense stories!Good parents are good parents period! Why do you care who sleeps with who?look for the good in the people…you want to have a bite with me and we talk about it?” Andrés said.
“I’m ready..Gay people are good people too….and they can and are great parents!”
Andrés, who recently announced plans to open a chain of his restaurants at the Old Post Office, the location of former President Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel, mentioned to Shapiro that openly gay people can be “good parents,” telling him to stop spreading “nonsense stories.”
Fourteen Middle East and Asian countries have backed off from showing the new Pixar film adaptation of the popular Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear, which features the voices of actors Chris Evans and Keke Palmer, due to the film depicting a same-sex female couple who shares an on-screen kiss, Reuters reported.
A “Lightyear” producer told the news outlet that China is also considering not airing the film due to the scene as well.
The Walt Disney Co. has been embroiled in a public feud with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) over the company’s opposition to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, also referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
In response to the opposition, DeSantis signed into law in April a bill that strips Disney’s long-held municipal autonomy at their Orlando-based theme parks.
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Navy fires five officers in less than a week
The Navy has announced a string of five officer firings in the span of less than a week, the most recent on Tuesday with the commanding officer of USS Preble guided missile destroyer.
Cmdr. Peter Lesaca was relieved of his role “due to loss of confidence in his ability to command,” according to a Navy statement.
The service did not offer details on his firing, only noting that “Navy commanding officers are held to high standards of personal and professional conduct” and are “expected to uphold the highest standards of responsibility, reliability and leadership, and the Navy holds them accountable when they fall short of those standards.”
Capt. Larry Repass, deputy commodore of Destroyer Squadron 23, will assume the duties as commanding officer until the permanent and qualified relief arrives, the Navy noted.
Prior to that, on June 11 the Navy relieved Capt. Jeffry Sandin, the commanding officer of the Recruit Training Command, “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.”
The service also did not offer details of Sandin’s firing, and only said he had been reassigned to Naval Service Training Command headquarters.
Capt. Kertreck Brooks, chief of staff of Naval Service Training Command, took over Sandin’s responsibilities.
And on June 10, the USS Bulkeley destroyer commanding officer Cmdr. Devine Johnson and Command Master Chief Earl Sanders were both relieved “due to a loss of confidence in their ability to effectively function as a command leadership team,” according to a separate Navy statement.
Johnson had been the ship’s commanding officer since July 2020, while Sanders served as the command master chief since June 2021.
Capt. William “Mac” Harkin, currently Deputy Commodore, Destroyer Squadron Two was temporarily assigned as commanding officer “until a permanent relief is identified.”
Sanders, meanwhile, was temporarily replaced by Master Chief Petty Officer Christy Reed, also of CDS-2.
Both Johnson and Sanders will be temporarily reassigned to the staff of the commander of Naval Surface Force Atlantic.
“There is no impact to the command’s mission or schedule due to this relief,” the statement noted.
The Navy’s Air Wing was also shaken up by a firing last week, after the commanding officer of Electronic Attack Squadron 137, Cmdr. Matthew McCormick, was relieved on June 8 due to loss of confidence in his ability to command.
McCormick, who had been commanding officer of VAQ-137 since September 2021, was temporarily reassigned to Electronic Attack Wing Pacific at Naval Station Whidbey Island, Wash.
Cmdr. Scott Maynes, the executive officer of VAQ-137, is currently serving as the acting commanding officer until a permanent replacement is identified.
Source: TEST FEED1