Archive by Author

Air Force says it successfully tested hypersonic weapon

The Air Force announced on Monday that it successfully tested a hypersonic weapon over the weekend.

The service said in a statement that a B-52H Stratofortress bomber released an AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) off the Southern California coast on Saturday.

After the weapon separated from the aircraft, its booster ignited and burned for duration, the statement said. The weapon achieved hypersonic speeds five times the speed of sound.

The test comes as the U.S. races to develop hypersonic weapons, which can travel faster than the speed of sound, to counter adversaries like Russia and China.

The ARRW, developed by Lockheed Martin, was designed to destroy flexible time-sensitive targets at risk in contest environments, the Air Force said. It added that the weapon would “expand precision-strike capabilities by enabling rapid response strikes against heavily defended land targets.”

The Air Force has previously tried to test this weapon, but in April the missile did not launch. The service decided to delay the program by up to a year after the failed test in April and subsequent failed tests, CNN reported in April.  

Saturday’s test was conducted in California by the 419th Flight Test Squadron and the Global Power Bomber Combined Test, both of which are based at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Michael Jungquist, 419th FLTS commander and GPB CTF director, said in a statement that the team made sure the test was executed “flawlessly.”

“Our highly-skilled team made history on this first air-launched hypersonic weapon,” Jungquist said. “We’re doing everything we can to get this game-changing weapon to the warfighter as soon as possible.”

Source: TEST FEED1

FDA rolls out new import guidelines, manufacturer flexibilities to boost infant formula supply

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday announced a series of measures aimed at increasing the domestic U.S. supply of infant formula to counteract the current shortage, including temporary import guidelines and flexibilities for companies that don’t normally sell formula.

The FDA said it will temporarily “not object” to the importation of certain infant formula products or the distribution of formula products that are manufactured in the U.S. but are meant to exported to foreign countries.

“We’ve set up a mechanism that streamlines the ability for companies that do not normally sell infant formula in this country to do so. And it provides other flexibilities to domestic distributors who can help increase availability,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a press call.

When asked if these measures could signal the FDA permanently opening the U.S. up to infant formula products that previously had not been allowed in, the officials stressed that these measures are meant to be temporary.

The new guidances announced on Monday are set to last for the next 180 days. Califf said the question over whether the U.S. needed more diversity in its product availability would be discussed when the supply chain is normalized and stable.

Susan Mayne, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, noted that there are regulatory differences between products that are permitted to be sold in the U.S. and those that are sold abroad.

“We’re casting a broad net. We are seeking manufacturers from around the globe who they have available product that could meet our regulatory standards for both nutrition and food safety — to reach out to us let us know what they have available and we can discuss with them what that might look like to get that product into the U.S.,” Mayne said.

Companies interested in taking advantage of these temporary flexibilities are asked to “quickly” submit information to the FDA for evaluation. Mayne noted that it is important that the labelling for these products be in English so that consumers in the U.S. are able to read the instructions.

News of these measures came shortly after it was announced that baby formula manufacturer Abbott Nutrition had reached an agreement with the FDA to restart operations at its plant in Michigan after three months of being shuttered.

Operations at the plant had been halted while the FDA investigated whether powdered infant formula made at the facility was linked to four cases of infants contracting rare bacterial infections.

Part of what contributed to the current shortage in the infant formula supply is due to the recall that was issued following the reports of bacterial infections in infants. Frank Yiannas, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for food policy and response, said discussions on how to boost supply began as soon as the recall was issued.

The FDA officials on Monday noted the “treachery” of trying to give exact timelines, but referred to Abbott’s own estimations that it will be able restart operations within about two weeks and back to full capacity within two months.

Source: TEST FEED1

Chicago mayor imposes curfew for unaccompanied minors to curb violence

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) announced that a 10 p.m. weekend curfew would apply for unaccompanied minors following the fatal shooting of a teenager at the city’s iconic downtown park. 

“Anyone coming into our public spaces should be able to enjoy them safely,” Lightfoot said Monday, according to The Chicago Tribune. 

“Young people are absolutely welcome downtown but in the evening hours they must be accompanied by a responsible adult,” she added.

The mayor had already imposed a curfew in Millenium Park, where the fatal shooting took place. Starting this weekend, minors in the park after 6 p.m. must be with an adult from Thursdays through Sundays.

“It gives me no pleasure to impose these rules and restrictions. But having exhausted every other opportunity, every other tool and remedy, we’ve got to go to this next step to make sure that our jewel of Millennium Park is available and open to everyone,” she said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Lightfoot also noted that Chicago has long had an 11 p.m. curfew in place for minors, and she simply moved it up to 10 p.m., saying the city must “end this pipeline of young people to the graveyard,” the Tribune reported.

The ACLU of Illinois has objected to the restrictions in Millennium Park, saying “curfews and bans are neither ‘surgical’ nor ‘narrow’.” 

“They hold an entire class of people accountable for the actions of some. Young people should not be banned from Millennium Park, a symbol of Chicago,” the group said in a tweet on Monday.

The ban follows the death of a 16-year-old boy who was shot and killed near the Bean.

Days before the 16-year-old’s shooting death, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed into law the Murdered Children Funeral and Burial Assistance Act, which covers up to $10,000 in funeral expenses for families that lose a child to gun violence. That law is set to take effect in July 2023.

It comes after researchers from the University of Michigan analyzed mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and found that guns were the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in 2020, after more than 4,300 children from ages 1 to 19 died from a range of firearm-related deaths.  

Source: TEST FEED1

House GOP leaders say white nationalism accusations are all politics

House Republican leaders are rebutting accusations from Democrats, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and others that their rhetoric has contributed to white supremacy in light of Saturday’s Buffalo shooting, in which a white shooter targeted Black victims, killing 10 people. 

“Same thing Cheney always does, just trying to play a political game when she knows something’s not true,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters Monday evening.

Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) similarly said that those accusing Republicans of racism are “trying to promote their own political agenda.”

Cheney, who was the No. 3 Republican in the House before being ousted over her vocal criticism of former Presiden Trump, wrote on Twitter Monday morning that “House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism.

“History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse,” Cheney tweeted. “@GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them.”

In the wake of the Buffalo shooting, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) also accused Republicans of legitimizing racist views on the Senate floor on Monday.

“Every time MAGA Republicans or pundits vilify wrongly immigrants and call them invaders, every time they falsely claim that millions of undocumented people cast ballots in our elections, and every time loud bigoted voices bemoan the disintegration of an imagined ‘classic’ America, the subtext is clear: these hard-right MAGA Republicans argue that people of color and minority communities are somehow posing a threat — a threat — to the American way of life,” Schumer said.

McCarthy and Scalise vehemently denied doing so. 

“We’ve been very vocal against white nationalism,” Scalise said.

“We have never supported white supremacy. And you know, what happened in New York is horrific. And I think everybody should be there to be uplifting the community. The suspect is the very worst of humanity,” McCarthy said. “For political individuals to try to make some political game out of this shows how little they are from that aspect.”

Scalise referenced his own experience with violent crime, when he was shot and critically injured during a 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball game practice.

“This is a time when you need to be praying for the victims and ratcheting down the rhetoric and not trying to blame other people than the people directly responsible for the shooting,” Scalise said. “I’ve seen that firsthand. And this is a time when we need healing, not people trying to promote their own political agenda.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), the No. 3 House Republican, is also defending her leadership team amid the onslaught of accusations.

The congresswoman got caught up in media coverage in recent days after Kinzinger, a regular critic of his colleagues close to former President Trump, resurfaced an article on Twitter Saturday about her Facebook advertisements in September that accused Democrats of plotting a “permanent election insurrection” through amnesty to undocumented immigrants for political purposes. Those statements, Kinzinger and others argued, echoed the racist replacement theory allegedly espoused by the Buffalo shooter.

Stefanik senior adviser Alex DeGrasse, however, went on the defensive on Monday, asserting that the congresswoman “has never advocated for any racist position or made a racist statement.”

She also slammed reports and comments that connected Stefanik to the shooting.

“Any implication or attempt to blame the heinous shooting in Buffalo on the Congresswoman is a new disgusting low for the Left, their Never Trump allies, and the sycophant stenographers in the media,” DeGrasse wrote in a statement. “The shooting was an act of evil and the criminal should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Defense & National Security — US troops to return to Somalia

President Biden will redeploy up to 500 U.S. troops in East Africa to Somalia as the administration looks to reestablish a small presence in the country to counter al Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab. 

We’ll break down why this is significant and what it will entail, plus more on the Navy secretary’s upcoming visit the USS George Washington amid a string of sailor suicides and how the military is dealing with the nationwide baby formula shortage. 

This is Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. For The Hill, I’m Ellen Mitchell. Subscribe here. 

Biden to redeploy up to 500 troops to Somalia

In a reversal of former President Trump’s December 2020 order to withdraw U.S. forces from Somalia, American troops will be repositioned from neighboring countries to help establish a “small, persistent U.S. military presence in Somalia,” a senior administration official told reporters on Monday. 

Some background: The U.S. had 750 troops stationed in Somalia in 2020 when Trump made his decision, a move he framed as his effort to end “forever wars.” Those troops had been repositioned to neighboring countries and would move in and out to try to help with counterterrorism operations. 

But the move allowed Al-Shabaab — al Qaeda’s largest and best-financed global affiliate — to grow stronger and increase the tempo of its attacks in the region, including on U.S. personnel, the senior administration official told reporters. 

Other issues: Having U.S. forces rotate through Somalia created a “very real force protection risk,” the official said. It also created efficiency challenges by transporting and unpacking equipment back and forth when operators could have been working. 

“This is a step that rationalizes what was essentially an irrational arrangement that we inherited,” the official said. 
 

More on the move: The move won’t reestablish the full U.S. military presence prior to the withdrawal and won’t “significantly change” the Pentagon’s overall posture and resource dedication in East Africa, the official said. 

The official acknowledged that the U.S. military presence is only part of the administration’s approach to Somalia, which also includes diplomacy, security assistance and stabilization programming to counter al-Shabaab. 

The Pentagon’s response: Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters that the American forces won’t directly fight in combat operations, and will instead train, advise and equip Somali forces. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s view “was that the episodic engagement model was inefficient and increasingly unsustainable,” Kirby said. 

Read the full story here.

Navy chief visiting ship linked to string of suicides

Navy Secretary Carlos del Toro will visit the USS George Washington on Tuesday, making him the most senior official to visit the ship amid a string of suicides among sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier. 

Capt. J.D. Dorsey, a Navy spokesperson, told The Hill that del Toro and Chief of Naval Operations Michael Gilday will visit the ship to “hear firsthand” from the ship’s crew and leadership. 

They will also “determine how things are going, and determine if there are other actions that need to be taken” to make conditions on the ship better for the crew. 

A crisis: The George Washington has been docked in Newport News since 2017 for a midlife refueling and complex overhaul. The service has been under pressure to address conditions aboard the aircraft carrier, specifically after three sailors died by suicide within a week in April. 

Crew members assigned to the ship have spoken out about the harsh conditions onboard. An 18-year-old sailor assigned to the ship attempted suicide last week, his mother told The Hill. 

Navy efforts: The Navy says it has moved about 200 crew members off the ship and it has provided mental health resources to sailors. Two investigations are also underway into the suicides among the George Washington crew. 

Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, del Toro said the Navy needs to do a better job in providing a higher quality of life for sailors working on the ship. 

“We need to develop a plan that’s more robust than what we’re currently doing for especially aircraft carriers because you’re introducing upwards of 2,500 sailors into an already challenging environment,” he said. 

Read more here.

Pentagon: Bases ‘not immune’ to formula shortage

The nationwide baby formula shortage is taking its toll at U.S. military bases across the globe, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson said Monday.  

“We’re not immune to the same supply chain problems that other families across America are experiencing,” press secretary John Kirby told reporters.  

Current stock levels: He said that current stock levels of available baby formula in the continental United States is at 50 percent at base commissaries — neighborhood grocery stores located on military installations — while overseas it stands at 70 percent.   

Kirby added that the Defense Commissary Agency (DECA) is monitoring the current market situation and “doing everything they can to keep things on the shelf as best they can,” including “working daily with distributors.”   

A shortage: Supply chain and workforce issues, along with a recent safety recall and closure of a major plant, have caused a nationwide shortage of baby formula, with parents and guardians scrambling to find food for their infants.  

The House will take up a pair of bills this week to address the shortage, but the Biden administration has come under pressure from parents and lawmakers who are demanding more action.   

Read the full story here.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Senate advances $40 billion Ukraine aid package 
• NATO chief says Ukraine can win war against Russia 
• Sweden says it has decided to apply for NATO membership 
• UFO hearings set for Tuesday morning in House Intelligence subcommittee 
• Putin: Finland, Sweden joining NATO ‘does not pose a direct threat to Russia’ 
• UK: Russia has likely lost one-third of ground combat forces in Ukraine 
• Finland, Sweden’s NATO moves prompt fears of Russian cyberattacks 
• The Hill: Opinion: War at sea is critical to Ukraine’s survival against Russia 

ON TAP TOMORROW

• Elizabeth Allen, the State Department’s top official for public diplomacy and public affairs, will travel to Paris, while State Department counselor Derek Chollet will lead an interagency delegation to Chisinau, Moldova 
• The Atlantic Council will host “NEXUS 22: A Symposium at the Intersection of Defense, National Security and Autonomy,” at 8:45 a.m. 
• The U.S. Institute of Peace will host a discussion on “China, India and Pakistan: Standing at the Brink of Crisis,” at 11 a.m. 
• The Potomac Officers Club will host its “Second Annual Industrial Space Defense Summit,” at 12 p.m. 

HOUSE

• NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will testify before an Appropriations subpanel on “Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,” at 9 a.m. 
•  The Intelligence Committee will hold a hearing on “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,” at 9 a.m. 
• Army Secretary Christine Wormuth and Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville will appear before an Appropriations subcommittee on “Fiscal Year 2023 United States Army budget,” at 9:30 a.m.  
• An Armed Services subcommittee will hold a hearing on “Fiscal Year 2023 Army Modernization Programs,” at 2 p.m.
• Another Armed Services subpanel will hold a hearing on “Fiscal Year 2023 Budget for Nuclear Forces and Atomic Energy Defense Activities,” at 4:30 p.m. 

SENATE

• The Appropriations defense subcommittee will hold a hearing on “Fiscal Year 2023 Funding Request and Budget Justification for the Air Force and Space Force,” at 10 a.m. 
• The Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on “Modernization Efforts of the Department of the Air Force in Review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2023 and the Future Years Defense Program,” at 2:30 p.m.

That’s it for today. Check out The Hill’s Defense and National Security pages for the latest coverage. See you tomorrow!

VIEW THE FULL EDITION HERE

Source: TEST FEED1

On The Money — Bezos bashes Biden over inflation

The White House and President Biden’s favorite corporate foil are fighting over fiscal policy. We’ll also look at how Washington is responding to the plunge in cryptocurrency values and promising news on the baby formula front. 

But first, read about why lawmakers will discuss UFOs on Tuesday. 

Welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. For The Hill, we’re Sylvan Lane, Aris Folley and Karl Evers-Hillstrom. Subscribe here.

White House hits back over Bezos’ inflation tweet

The White House on Monday fired back at criticism from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos over its economic policies in the latest back-and-forth between the administration and the tech and retail magnate. 

“It doesn’t require a huge leap to figure out why one of the wealthiest individuals on Earth opposes an economic agenda for the middle class that cuts some of the biggest costs families face, fights inflation for the long haul, and adds to the historic deficit reduction the President is achieving by asking the richest taxpayers and corporations to pay their fair share,” deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.

“It’s also unsurprising that this tweet comes after the President met with labor organizers, including Amazon employees,” Bates added.

The background: Monday’s jabs mark the latest escalation in what has been a tense relationship between the Biden administration and Amazon.

President Biden routinely singles out Amazon for not paying federal taxes in speeches calling for higher tax rates on corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

And he met earlier this month with labor leaders who led efforts to unionize an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island in New York, a first for Amazon workers.

The Hill’s Brett Samuels has it all here.

TERRA-BLE 

Plunge in crypto values boosts calls for regulations 

A plunge in cryptocurrency values and the collapse of popular tokens are stoking panic among some investors and boosting pressure on Washington to act.  

Rising interest rates and recession risks have caused sharp sell-offs across financial markets, including the stock market. Many crypto investors have seen their holdings evaporate — along with major players in the burgeoning digital asset space.

• The value of one bitcoin plunged 12 percent last week alone to roughly $29,700, its lowest level since July 2021 and just half the all-time high of $64,440 set in November.
• Ethereum, another popular cryptocurrency, is down 24 percent this week alone and nearly 50 percent on the year as well. 

But their steep recent declines have sent shockwaves through the broader crypto market, knocking out the Terra network entirely. Sylvan has the latest here. 

HOUSING BOOST 

White House releases plan to boost housing supply 

 
The White House on Monday outlined a plan to boost housing availability and lower costs for renters and homeowners, portraying it as part of a broader effort to combat inflation for Americans.

The administration released a “Housing Supply Action Plan” that officials said would produce more housing supply, including affordable units, in the next five years. 

• The plan introduces new financing mechanisms to build and preserve more housing and increase the availability of federal loans for multifamily developments, among other measures. 
• The White House aims to improve supply chain issues that hamper construction and finish construction on more new homes this year than in any year since 2006.

The White House also urged lawmakers to pass President Biden’s Unlocking Possibilities Program, which was passed last year by the House and would establish a new $1.75 billion grant program through the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Brett has more here. 

BABY BACK?

Abbott says deal reached to restart baby formula plant

Baby formula manufacturer Abbott Nutrition said it has reached an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on a path to restart operations at its Sturgis, Mich., plant. 

 
The facility has been shuttered for more than three months while the FDA investigated whether powdered formula from the plant caused four babies to contract a rare bacterial illness. Two of them died, and a subsequent FDA inspection found unsanitary conditions at the plant.

• Abbott said the FDA has not been able to definitively link its formula to the illnesses. The company said it has been making corrective improvements to address the FDA’s concerns.   
• The shutdown has significantly worsened an already strained supply chain of infant formula but has hit the parents who rely on specialty formulas the hardest.  
• Still, the formula from the shuttered plant won’t be on shelves until six to eight weeks after the plant restarts operations.  

The Hill’s Nathaniel Weixel has more here.

Good to Know

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank made a “mistake” by responding too slowly to surging inflation. 
 

In a Monday interview with CNBC, Bernanke said the Fed should have started the process of hiking interest rates sooner than it did as inflation began to rise last year and the Biden administration pumped another $1.9 trillion in stimulus into the economy. 

Here’s what else we have our eye on: 

• A group representing the nation’s largest tech companies is rolling out a seven-figure TV ad campaign slamming a key antitrust proposal that seeks to curb tech giants’ power, warning it could raise already soaring prices on consumers. 
• Goldman Sachs senior chairman and former CEO Lloyd Blankfein said on Sunday that the U.S. should prepare for a recession. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow. 

VIEW THE FULL EDITION HERE

Source: TEST FEED1

DeSantis signs ban on protests in front of homes

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — People who protest in front of private residences in Florida can face jail time and fines under a bill signed Monday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

He said it would prevent protests in Florida like those waged by abortion rights protesters in front of U.S. Supreme Court justices’ homes in Virginia.

The new law will make it a second-degree misdemeanor to protest in a manner that is meant to intentionally harass or disturb someone in their home. Violators face 60 days in jail and fines up to $500.

But protesters may only be arrested after ignoring law enforcement’s orders to disperse.

The new law will take effect Oct. 1.

Source: TEST FEED1

Energy & Environment — Canceled leases leave Biden admin at crossroads

The cancellation of three oil lease sales injects uncertainty into the Biden administration’s energy strategy, a solar investigation makes strange bedfellows, and a study says reducing air pollution could save hundreds of thousands of lives. 

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. Subscribe here. 

Nixed sales raise new questions for offshore drilling

The cancellation of three offshore drilling lease sales this week has injected a degree of uncertainty into the future of offshore drilling.

The canceled auctions mean there are no sales now scheduled, and it’s unclear precisely when that will change. The Interior Department is working on a new leasing plan, but it has not said when that will be issued.  

The decision to cancel the sales comes as the nation is focused on high gasoline prices. Republicans, who hope to win back congressional majorities this fall, have seized on the price hikes to blast the administration for its energy policies. 

Where does that leave the White House? The administration is conscious of those political attacks, even as it separately gets the squeeze from the left to uphold President Biden’s campaign pledge to ban new oil and gas permitting on public lands and in public waters.  

It’s all created an uncertain outlook for energy firms, which don’t feel positive about the future of lease sales under the Biden administration.  

“It’s clearly not very optimistic as we look to the near term,” said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, an energy trade group. 

How we got here: The administration announced late Wednesday that it was canceling the three scheduled auctions that would have opened up space in Alaska’s Cook Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico for drilling. 

Spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz said in an email that the sale near Alaska was being canceled because of a “lack of industry interest,” while the Gulf of Mexico sales would not be held because of factors including “conflicting court rulings.” 

This cancellations don’t impact any activities related to current oil production, but they do block the industry from getting new leases, which kick off the lengthy process for getting fuel out of the ocean. 

The announcement erased the only offshore sales the department had on its agenda. The Interior Department is now putting together a new five-year plan.  

Asked for an update, Schwartz said that the department is “actively developing its five-year plan for the offshore program” and noted that the industry is already leasing 10.9 million acres in federal waters.  

The law governing the offshore leasing requires the Interior secretary to “prepare and periodically revise, and maintain an oil and gas leasing program.” 

Read more about the dilemma here. 

Lawmakers battle over Commerce’s solar tariff probe

Lawmakers are battling over a Commerce Department investigation into solar panel imports that could lead to heavy tariffs on Chinese imports that are critical to the solar panel industry. 

The issue is not a partisan one: Democrats and Republicans stand on both sides of the issue, with one bipartisan group arguing the investigation itself and the tariffs that could eventually come would devastate the solar sector. 

In an interview with The Hill, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) said that both the investigation and the tariffs themselves are “causing massive disruption” in the solar industry, particularly Nevada, which has the most per capita solar jobs of any state. 

“We are only able to supply about 15 percent domestically of the demand for solar panels. So we don’t have the capacity here right now to fulfill all the orders there are and even finish the projects that are already bid out,” Rosen said.     

Meanwhile, on the other side: Other Republicans and Democrats say Commerce was right to launch the investigation to protect U.S. jobs and prevent Chinese companies from circumventing existing laws meant to prevent the dumping of cheap products. 

“A strong commitment to American manufacturing must be paired with proper trade enforcement so that investments in American production, workers, and innovation are not undermined by unfair trade practices,” Sens. Sherrod Brown (D) and Rob Portman (R) wrote in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in March asking that the petition for the investigation be accepted. 

Brown and Portman framed the investigation in terms of American jobs at stake, writing, “if legitimate circumvention allegations go unaddressed, entire domestic industries and thousands of American manufacturing jobs are at risk.” 

Commerce accepted the petition from Auxin Solar, a San Jose, Calif.-based solar company, in March. It is investigating whether several solar panel part companies in Southeast Asia are using those companies as fronts to circumvent U.S. tariffs in place on Chinese companies.

Read more about the fight here.

CURBING POLLUTANTS COULD SAVE THOUSANDS OF LIVES: STUDY

Eliminating air pollutants generated by energy-related activities in the U.S. could prevent more than 50,000 premature deaths and save the economy more than $600 billion each year, a new study has found.

The study, published in GeoHealth on Monday, explored the potential gains of removing the fine particles that are emitted into the atmosphere through electricity generation, transportation, industrial operations, heating and cooking. These activities, the authors noted, are also major contributors to climate change, since they burn fossil fuels that release greenhouse gases — in addition to generating fine particulate matter. 

Exposure to fine particulate matter — particles with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less — can contribute to health issues like heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and lower respiratory infections that can shorten life expectancy, according to the study. 

The scientists determined that cutting these pollutants would save about 53,200 lives annually, while boosting the economy with about $608 billion from avoided health care costs and loss of life. 

“Our work provides a sense of the scale of the air quality health benefits that could accompany deep decarbonization of the U.S. energy system,” lead author Nick Mailloux, a graduate student at University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, said in a statement. 

“Shifting to clean energy sources can provide enormous benefit for public health in the near term while mitigating climate change in the longer term,” he added. 

Read more from The Hill’s Sharon Udasin. 

ON TAP TOMORROW

• The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold hearings to examine ways to strengthen the energy and mineral partnership between the U.S. and Canada to address energy security and climate objectives. 
• EPA Administrator Michael Regan will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the agency’s budget request for fiscal year 2023.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Buffalo shooting suspect embraced ‘eco-fascist’ label (E&E News) 
• Texans asked to limit electricity use after six power plants go down ahead of a hot weekend (The Texas Tribune) 
• Newsom wants billions for electric grid to avoid CA blackouts (The Sacramento Bee)
• 1 in 6 Americans live in areas with significant wildfire risk (The Washington Post) 

 And finally, something offbeat and off-beat: Much-needed advice.

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.  

VIEW THE FULL EDITION HERE

Source: TEST FEED1

Manchin pushes for his gun reform bill in wake of Buffalo mass shooting

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Monday reiterated his support for legislation aimed at expanding gun background checks while also calling for “mental illness reform” in the wake of the weekend’s mass shooting in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo.

Manchin cited the bipartisan legislation he and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) first brought up years back when pressed by The Hill on Monday about recent calls made by lawmakers for gun reform in the days since the Saturday shooting, which left 10 people dead and three wounded.

“We can’t even get Manchin-Toomey, which didn’t violate anyone’s rights. It just said there should not be a commercial transaction unless there’s a background check,” Manchin said. “It’s the most, I think it’s the most agreed upon, it’s the most accepted in the country and we can’t even get that done.”

“So, I don’t even know what to expect. Are we going to another vote for the sake of taking a vote? Let’s do some mental illness reform.  My goodness,” he said, before emphasizing he is “for Manchin-Toomey.”

Manchin is referring to legislation he and Toomey first introduced roughly a decade ago — just months after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting — that sought to mandate background checks for all gun commercial sales.

His comments come after Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced on Monday that he would be heading to Buffalo along with President Biden following the shooting. Schumer said he’ll also be visiting the families of the victims and local officials still investigating the attack.

Schumer called the shooting the deadliest in the history of the city, and the “worst mass shooting in America this year.”

Officials have said the shooting was motivated by racist hatred, after the suspect, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, was found to have pointed to the so-called great replacement theory in writings ahead of the shooting.

Eleven of the victims were identified as Black in the shooting, while Gendron is white.

Source: TEST FEED1