Tag Archives : Build House

Health Care — The GOP’s abortion messaging challenge

Starbucks’ fall drinks have officially returned as of today. Is it too soon? Does this mean summer is officially over? And most importantly, what will you be ordering?  

The Republican Party is reimagining its messaging on abortion as the overturning of Roe by the Supreme Court has energized Democratic voters in the upcoming midterm elections.

Welcome to Overnight Health Care, where we’re following the latest moves on policy and news affecting your health. For The Hill, we’re Peter Sullivan and Joseph Choi. Subscribe here.

Republicans scramble to tweak abortion messaging

Republican candidates are shifting their message on abortion after several recent elections have shown the issue energizing Democrats. 

Some candidates for House, Senate and governor have either reworked sections on their websites or released ads that have sought to downplay, reverse or clarify some of their anti-abortion stances. 

“I think the concept that for decades, you know, a Supreme Court fight energized the conservative base because they wanted to overturn Roe, right?” said GOP strategist Barrett Marson, who previously worked on Arizona Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters’s campaign. 

“I think you’re gonna see a flip on that, that the liberal base will get more energized about this issue because they got it taken away from them,” he added. 

• Voters in the red state of Kansas earlier this month resoundingly rejected a ballot measure that would have given the legislature more authority to restrict the procedure.
• Last week, Democrat Pat Ryan won a New York special election seen as a bellwether after focusing his campaign on abortion rights. 

Taken together, the developments have seemingly pushed Republicans to reassess how they approach an issue that has already shown it can help swing elections and for some to step back from support for outright abortion bans.

Read more here.  

Admin to boost monkeypox jabs at LGBTQ events

The Biden administration on Tuesday announced plans of expanding the response to the monkeypox outbreak by providing vaccinations and education at large LGBTQ-centered events around the country following a recent pilot program carried out in Charlotte, N.C.

Demetre Daskalakis, deputy director for the White House’s national monkeypox response, stated during a briefing that the administration was aiming to make its response more “intentional and targeted.” 

• “Given the progress we’ve made toward making the tools available to end this outbreak, our vaccine strategy is to meet people where they seek services, care or community — especially in communities of color. We know that Prides and other large LGBTQI+ focused events can do just that,” Daskalakis said.
• Daskalakis said the pilot program that recently took place at Charlotte Pride was a “great success.” Similar programs will be carried out at upcoming events like Atlanta Black Pride Weekend and at Southern Decadence, a nearly week-long annual LGBTQ festival in New Orleans. 

More targeted action: The White House also announced it was launching a new “equity intervention pilot program” that will aim to directly reach queer communities of color in smaller scale communities that may face obstacles to obtaining vaccines. This program will “earmark” an additional 10,000 vials of vaccines to be allocated to smaller equity intervention programs. 

“We know jurisdictions have already centered equity in their work, but we want to provide additional support to foster even greater innovation in vaccine outreach and education of the communities most at risk,” said Daskalakis. 

Read more here.

PREGNANT WOMEN EXPOSED TO CHEMICALS IN HOUSEHOLD ITEMS

Pregnant people are being exposed through various household products to toxic compounds that can increase the risk of cancer and harm child development, a new study has found. 

• Scientists identified two such compounds — the industrial chemical melamine and its byproduct cyanuric acid — in the urine of almost all the pregnant subjects they tested, with the highest levels occurring in women of color and in those with greater exposure to tobacco.
• Four types of chemicals used in dyes, called aromatic amines, were also present in the urine of nearly all pregnant participants, according to the study, published in Chemosphere on Tuesday. 

“These chemicals are of serious concern due to their links to cancer and developmental toxicity, yet they are not routinely monitored in the United States,” co-senior author Tracey Woodruff, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said in a statement. 

Read more here.  

JILL BIDEN TESTS NEGATIVE FOR COVID AFTER REBOUND CASE 

First lady Jill Biden has tested negative for COVID-19 after a rebound case last week. 

The White House confirmed on Monday the first lady’s negative test, adding that she plans to return to Washington on Tuesday after being in isolation, her communications director Elizabeth Alexander said in a statement.

Biden had tested negative last week on Tuesday but ended up testing positive again the next day. President Biden tested positive for about a week after initially testing negative in his rebound case. 

• Like the president, Jill Biden experienced mild symptoms and was given the antiviral drug Paxlovid as treatment for her case.
• She first tested positive Aug. 16 while on vacation with President Biden and their family in South Carolina. The first lady had mild symptoms and remained there until receiving a negative test and then joined the president in Delaware, where he had continued his vacation. 

Read more here. 

WHAT WE’RE READING

• In a new lawsuit, pharma-backed patient groups fight federal rule around copay coupons (Stat) 
• COVID cases among students during the 1st week at Chicago schools are triple compared to last year (ABC News) 
• FDA chief says long-awaited opioid review still in the works (AP) 

US death in person with monkeypox confirmed in Texas

Texas has confirmed what appears to be the first death of a person diagnosed with monkeypox in the United States.  

• The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) said in a release on Tuesday that the patient was an adult living in Harris County who was severely immunocompromised. Officials are investigating what role the virus played in the person’s death. 
• Texas Health Commissioner John Hellerstedt said in the release that monkeypox is a particularly serious disease for those with weakened immune systems. The department said the virus is painful for most people but not life-threatening.  

“We continue to urge people to seek treatment if they have been exposed to monkeypox or have symptoms consistent with the disease,” Hellerstedt said.  

Global context: The World Health Organization (WHO) has so far confirmed 15 deaths in the current monkeypox outbreak, mostly in the WHO’s African Region. Other deaths have been reported in the Americas, the WHO’s European Region. 

Deaths due to monkeypox are extremely rare, with most cases lasting about two to four weeks with no lasting effects apart from scars left over from the characteristic lesions. 

During a briefing Tuesday, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they have been in contact with both Texas and Harris County regarding the death. 

Read more here. 

STATE BY STATE

• COVID in California: Bill to combat medical misinformation advances in legislature (San Francisco Chronicle) 
• Jackson water failure impacts ability of state’s largest hospital to fight fires (Mississippi Today) 
• Citing ‘significant danger to public health,’ Utah regulators shutter pain clinic (KSL-TV)

OP-EDS IN THE HILL

To preserve US contraception rights, lawmakers must step up now

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Health Care page for the latest news and coverage. See you tomorrow.

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Energy & Environment — Court rules two Trump-era Gulf oil leases unlawful

An appeals court rules two Trump-era oil lease sales were illegal, a major evangelical group calls for climate action and wooden cities could shield residents from climate change. 

This is Overnight Energy & Environment, your source for the latest news focused on energy, the environment and beyond. For The Hill, I’m Zack Budryk. 

Two 2018 Gulf lease sales unlawful, judge says

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled two Trump-era Interior Department oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico were unlawful.  

In the ruling, Judge Gregory C. Katsas of the Washington, D.C., Court of Appeals found the department in 2018 leased more than 150 million acres for oil exploration without properly analyzing the risk under the National Environmental Policy Act. The lease sales, 250 and 251, were among 11 proposed by the department in its 2017 five-year plan.   

How we got here: In a lawsuit following the sales, a coalition of environmental groups argued the Trump administration’s evaluation had erroneously presumed adequate endorsement of safety and environmental procedures in the Gulf. A D.C. court sided with the Interior Department on April 20, prompting an appeal by the plaintiffs. 

Plaintiffs in the case include Earthjustice, the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity.  

What he said: In his ruling, Katsas said the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) failed to consider whether the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s (BSEE) “work was in fact rigorous, despite some evidence that it was not” when it came to inspection and enforcement. He noted a Government Accountability Office report said BSEE procedures are outdated and inconsistent. 

“We agree with the environmental groups that BOEM’s failure to address the report was arbitrary. To engage in reasoned decision-making, an agency must respond to ‘objections that on their face seem legitimate,’” he wrote.  

Katsas agreed with the Interior Department on other arguments, rejecting the plaintiffs’ claims that the BOEM failed to consider possible rule changes.  

“Today’s ruling is a win for Gulf communities who are on the frontlines of climate change and our global dependence on oil and gas,” Earthjustice senior attorney Chris Eaton said in a statement. 

Read more about the ruling here. 

Evangelical org: Christianity demands climate action 

The National Association of Evangelicals called climate action a Christian responsibility in a 50-page report this week, a call to action for a demographic that is less likely than the general population to consider climate change a threat.  

The basics: The NAE’s report, “Loving the Least of These,” addresses the scientific evidence for the reality of climate change and the role of greenhouse gas emissions in driving it, as well as examining and debunking common arguments against the objectivity of climatologists.  

The report goes on to address the issue from a theological and personal perspective, outlining biblical arguments for environmental stewardship.   

“The earth brings glory to God, and God continues to care for and sustain the natural processes of the world. The psalmist says: ‘Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the LORD, my soul’ (Psalm 103:22),” it reads. “Because God’s glory is revealed in creation, we should be intentional about caring for his artistry.”  

The report also cites Matthew: 22’s edict to “Love your neighbor as yourself” in the context of the human suffering caused by climate change and environmental disasters, and outlines personal experiences and examples of the human toll of those ongoing disasters. 

It uses the case of Alliuddin, a Bangladeshi farmer whose livelihood depends on the continuing availability of an irrigation stream he uses to farm.   

The NAE, which represents 45,000 evangelical churches, has acknowledged the existence of climate change, notably in a 2011 edition of the same report. However, the faith itself is less likely to consider it a major issue than both the public at large and other denominations like mainline Protestants and Catholics. 

Read more about the report here. 

Wooden cities could fight fire, climate change 

Future cities composed of fire-resistant, high-tech wooden buildings could help counter the climate impacts of the coming urbanization boom, a new paper suggests.

The study in Nature Communications builds on a growing architectural and engineering movement that sees wood as not only a more sustainable building material than concrete and steel — but in many ways a superior one. 

Half of the world population currently lives in towns and cities, a number that is expected to increase to 85 percent by 2100. 

Housing those people in 20th century-style mid-rise buildings would mean a staggering hike in carbon emissions, as it would lead to huge increases in the production of concrete and steel — the production of which is already the source of large amounts of greenhouse gasses. 

“But we have an alternative: we can house the new urban population in mid-rise buildings — that is four to ten stories — made out of wood,” Abhijeet Mishra of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research said in a statement. 

Read more from The Hill’s Saul Elbein. 

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Canada invokes pipeline treaty with U.S. over Wisconsin Line 5 dispute (Reuters) 
• This Remote Mine Could Foretell the Future of America’s Electric Car Industry (The New York Times) 
• U.N. chief calls Pakistan floods a ‘climate catastrophe’ (The Washington Post) 
• Can the Lake Powell pipeline still happen? (The Salt Lake Tribune) 
• Incoming heat wave could be California’s hottest and longest this year, forecasters say (USA Today) 

Lighter click: Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the Tom. 

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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China: A nuclear nonproliferation deadbeat

It’s gone unnoticed, but the Biden and Trump administrations agree on something important: By refusing to join arms control talks, China is flouting the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), a nuclear arms control cornerstone. And they aren’t the only ones saying so. Japan’s prime minister, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are too. 

Sound weird? It is. But so is Beijing’s nuclear behavior. Last year, U.S. commercial imagery satellites spotted breakneck work on 350 Chinese missile silos. Each could hold a three-to-10 warheaded missile. That foreshadows 1,050 to 3,500 Chinese intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) warheads. By contrast, the United States has 400 silos with missiles carrying only one warhead each. 

More recently, evidence emerged that China is significantly expanding its nuclear test facilities at Lop Nur. Combined with Beijing’s construction of two “peaceful” breeder reactors (which produce super-weapons grade plutonium, which makes creating smaller, lighter warheads for missile delivery much easier) and two reprocessing plants (which extract plutonium from spent reactor fuel), and China is already off the starting blocks to a nuclear arms race.  

In autumn 2020, President Trump’s Pentagon estimated China had a nuclear arsenal in the “low 200s,” poised to “at least” double by 2030. A year later, Biden’s Pentagon upped this projection: China will have “at least 1,000” warheads by 2030. 

Trump officials, having sounded alarms about China’s nuclear weapons efforts in 2020, in 2021 publicly demanded China live up to its NPT Article VI obligation to “to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date.” They also briefed America’s key allies and asked China to join nuclear arms negotiations with Washington and Moscow. China refused, asserting that it doesn’t have enough weapons to justify negotiating about. 

With Biden’s election, some, including us, feared Washington’s spotlight on China’s nuclear weapons fixations would dim. The State Department, in its annual arms control compliance report, said nothing about China’s noncompliance with Article VI. The administration was also reticent toward China’s nuclear test-related activities. In short, it looked like Biden would turn a blind eye to China’s nuclear misbehavior. 

We were wrong. President Biden made good use of the otherwise faltering NPT Review Conference this summer to call on China to embrace its “responsibility as an NPT nuclear weapons state and a member of the P5 to engage in talks that will reduce the risk of [nuclear] miscalculation and address destabilizing military dynamics.”

He also criticized Beijing for resisting “substantive engagement on arms control and nuclear non-proliferation.” Thus, Biden effectively joined Trump officials who had taken China to task in 2020 and 2021. 

But China continues to insist there’s no ground to negotiate until the United States reduces its arsenal. This is an evasion. From 1968, when the NPT entered into force, to 2020, the United States reduced its nuclear arsenal by nearly 90 percent. Moreover, Article VI requires nuclear-armed states to negotiate right away, not stall until conditions suit one negotiating party best. 

What, then, is to be done? First, almost no one in Congress has objected to China’s Article VI noncompliance. A hearing on the latest NPT Review Conference could help. 

Second, Washington has yet to spell out what nuclear arms control initiatives China and others should consider. An easy candidate would be nuclear hotlines. Washington already has one with Moscow. The UK and France would quickly agree to create one. China should too. 

Yet another step would be to clarify the norm against nuclear tests. The NPT nuclear weapons states have agreed not to conduct nuclear tests — but they disagree on what a nuclear test is. Negotiating a definition would be valuable. 

China also could be encouraged to adhere to its 1997 voluntary agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to file annual reports on its civilian plutonium holdings, production and plans. Beijing has not reported since 2017. 

Other initiatives are possible but only if the surprising, and welcome, consensus between the Trump and Biden administrations on China and the NPT continues and grows. 

Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, served as deputy for nonproliferation in the Defense Department and is author of “Underestimated: Our Not So Peaceful Nuclear Future” (2019). Thomas D. Grant, a senior fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge and a visiting fellow of the National Security Institute at George Mason University, served as senior adviser for strategic planning in the State Department Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation during the Trump administration. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Equilibrium/Sustainability — An eco-friendly dishwashing solution

Powering dishwashers with “superheated steam” could provide an effective way of killing harmful germs without polluting the environment, a new study has found. 

A team of scientists from Germany’s Technical Universities of Dortmund and of Munich have devised a method that they say kills 99 percent of bacteria on a plate in just 25 seconds — with steam alone. 

The researchers, who published their findings in Physics of Fluids on Tuesday, created a model of what they described as “an idealized dishwasher”: A box with solid side walls, a top opening and a nozzle at the bottom.  

After placing a plate covered in heat-resistant bacteria directly above the nozzle, the scientists found that the microorganisms were inactivated at a specific threshold temperature.

Conventional dishwashers, which require long cycle times and consume large amounts of electricity, often do not eliminate all of the microorganisms left on plates, bowls and cutlery, according to the study.  

The soap pumped in and out of such dishwashers is also released into nearby water sources, contaminating the surrounding environment. 

While the superheated dishwasher would at first cost more than a traditional system, such an appliance would generate savings on water, electricity and detergent, the authors said.

The researchers suggested the system would be ideal for use in restaurants, hotels and hospitals — facilities that must meet strict hygienic standards.

Welcome to Equilibrium, a newsletter that tracks the growing global battle over the future of sustainability. We’re Saul Elbein and Sharon Udasin. Send us tips and feedback. A friend forward this newsletter to you? Subscribe here.

Today we’ll start by exploring why Mississippi has gone from too much water to not enough. Then we’ll look at Russia’s decision to temporarily pause gas flow through Europe’s Nord Stream pipeline and examine a new study on household toxins.

Mississippi trades one water emergency for another

Nearly 200,000 people lack safe drinking water in Jackson, Miss., as state officials scramble to address a burgeoning water crisis across the city. 

• Flooding from the nearby Pearl River knocked out a crucial water treatment plant in Jackson and left residents without safe drinking water.
• The water emergency follows a long weekend of floods that otherwise left homes unscathed. 

The city’s O.B. Curtis Water Plant had only recently been repaired after a breakdown of its main pumps in July, at which time residents were forced to boil water.

“Mississippi had prayed that we would have more time before their system ran to failure. Unfortunately, that failure appears to have begun today,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) said at a press conference on Monday evening.

Deliveries by hand: Jackson’s water system serves 180,000 people — all of whom still need water, Reeves noted.

• “Replacing our largest city’s infrastructure of running water with human distribution is a massively complicated logistical task,” the governor said.
• Reeves declared a water emergency on Monday night and announced that the National Guard would help deliver water, CNN reported. 

What happened? The details aren’t clear, but the Jackson water system appears to have lost pressure, which is needed to move water from one place to another, The Associated Press reported.

• “What I liken it to is if you were drinking out of a Styrofoam cup, someone puts a hole in the bottom of it, you’re steadily trying to fill it while it’s steadily running out at the bottom,” Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba (D) told reporters.
• A similar problem happened in July and after a February 2021 winter storm.

LONG RECOVERY

How comparatively minor damage from the Pearl River flooding could knock out Jackson’s beleaguered municipal water system underscores the danger and damage that persists after the disaster passes. 

Nowhere is that clearer than in eastern Kentucky, where devastated communities have grappled with a combination of extreme flooding, climate change and the landscape-altering legacy of coal.

• Deadly flooding in Kentucky in early August killed 39 people, and residents are still struggling to put the pieces back together, according to media reports.
• In Kentucky, where many didn’t have flood insurance, even those who do are struggling to get claims paid, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. 
• Teachers are improvising teaching outside after floods destroyed classrooms and curriculum materials alike, The New York Times reported. 

Seeking redress: Residents of the small community of Lost Creek in eastern Kentucky are suing a local coal company, which they say caused environmental damage that substantially worsened the flood, Grist reported. 

• The coal operations, which blasted the tops off mountains and thereby left steep gullies from which rain runs right off, created “ticking time bombs ready to explode with any type of heavy rainfall,” the lawsuit argued.
• “They won’t have water for six months. All the power lines are down,” an attorney representing the group told Grist. Many are now living in tents, he noted. 

Russia to suspend Nord Stream gas flow Wednesday

Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom is planning to shut down the Nord Stream gas pipeline to Europe on Wednesday for several days of maintenance — raising fears about the continent’s energy security, Reuters reported. 

A risky stand-off: The closure, scheduled Wednesday through Saturday, builds on what Reuters described as “an energy stand-off between Moscow and Brussels” that has accelerated inflation and heightened the risk of recession.  

The pipeline is already operating at 20 percent of its capacity, which Gazprom blames on faulty equipment, according to Reuters. 

Uncertainty abounds: Gazprom previously shuttered Nord Stream for 10 days of maintenance in July — prompting concerns about whether Russia will restart the flow this time at all, Reuters reported.  

Europe has been left “guessing again about whether supplies will restart, as temperatures fall and demand for the fuel grows,” according to The Wall Street Journal.  

Winter is coming: Even if Gazprom resumes gas flow on Saturday as promised, few experts believe that Europe will receive enough Russian gas to fulfill its needs next year, due to expectations that the economic war with Moscow will get worse, the Journal reported.  

• Europe will likely be able to avoid rationing this winter due to a drop in consumption, as well as success in securing enough gas temporarily.
• But leaders are facing difficulties finding supplies for next year and beyond, despite attempts to acquire resources from the U.S., Canada and Qatar.  

The U.S. is concerned: A top White House aide on Monday said that the U.S. is concerned about a potential energy shortage in Europe, stressing that Washington will work to help mitigate this threat, Bloomberg reported.

• “We’ll be latched up with allies and partners to try to do what we can to alleviate any shortages coming through,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
• The Biden administration, however, is walking what Bloomberg described as “a difficult line” in expanding supplies for Europe while also maintaining sufficient resources at home.  

Preparing for the worst: France accused Russia on Tuesday of using gas as “a weapon of war” — a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the behavior as “economic terrorism,” according to Reuters. 

“Very clearly Russia is using gas as a weapon of war,” France’s Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told France Inter radio, cited by Reuters.  

“We must prepare for the worst case scenario of a complete interruption of supplies,” she added.

Pregnant women exposed to household toxins: study

Pregnant women are being exposed through various household products to toxic compounds that can increase the risk of cancer and harm child development, a new study has found.

Scientists identified two such compounds — the industrial chemical melamine and its byproduct cyanuric acid — in the urine of almost all the subjects they tested.

• The highest levels of these compounds occurred in women of color and in those with greater exposure to tobacco.
• Four types of chemicals used in dyes, called aromatic amines, were also present in nearly all participants, according to the study, published in Chemosphere on Tuesday. 

Toxic but not monitored: “These chemicals are of serious concern due to their links to cancer and developmental toxicity, yet they are not routinely monitored in the United States,” co-senior author Tracey Woodruff, of the University of California, San Francisco, said in a statement. 

• Woodruff and her colleagues decided to investigate the presence of melamine, its derivative cyanuric acid and aromatic amines. These are all nitrogen-containing compounds with known toxicity and widespread commercial use. 

Many paths to exposure: Melamine is found in dishwater, plastics, flooring, kitchen counters and pesticides, while cyanuric acid is used as a disinfectant, plastic stabilizer and cleaning solvent in swimming pools, the scientists noted. 

Aromatic amines, meanwhile, are present in hair dyes, mascara, tattoo ink, paint, tobacco smoke and diesel exhaust. 

Who did the study monitor? The researchers measured 45 chemicals linked to cancer and other health risks in urine samples from a small but diverse group of 171 pregnant people.

• The subjects had participated in the National Institutes of Health’s Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes Program between 2008 and 2020.
• About 34 percent were white, 40 percent were Latina, 20 percent were Black, 4 percent were Asian and the remaining 3 percent were from other or multiple ethnicities. 

Certain populations were more affected: Levels of one aromatic amines were more than 100 percent higher among Black and Hispanic women in comparison to white women, the study found. 

“It’s disconcerting that we continue to find higher levels of many of these harmful chemicals in people of color,” study co-senior author Jessie Buckley, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a statement. 

To read the full story, please click here.

Wooden cities to fight climate change 

Future cities composed of fire-resistant, high-tech wooden buildings could help counter the climate impacts of the coming urbanization boom, according to a new paper.

• As urban populations dramatically increase throughout the century, “more homes will be built with steel and concrete, most of which have a serious carbon footprint,” study co-author Abhijeet Mishra, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research, said in a statement.
• “But we have an alternative: we can house the new urban population in mid-rise buildings — that is four to 10 stories — made out of wood,” Mishra added. 

A superior building material: The study in Nature Communications builds on a growing architectural and engineering movement that sees wood as not only a more sustainable building material than concrete and steel — but in many ways a superior one.

Not just any wood: Like all wood products, the “engineered wood” in question  — found in “mass timber” products like glulam and cross-laminated timber — would store carbon, rather than emitting it. 

• Cross-laminated timber is made from layers of perpendicular wood — rather like a compressed Jenga set.
• Glulam is a laminate of thinner boards glued together to make a much stronger whole. 

Fire resistant: Such products could help create lucrative markets that could finance the costly work of fireproofing forests, Reuters reported. 

• The products themselves are also more fire-resistant than conventional wood. When exposed to flames, mass timber chars around the edges but does not ignite, architect Tom Chung told finance journal Banker and Tradesman. 

This future is already underway: Architects are turning to mass timber as a building material with practical — not simply environmental — benefits, according to construction trade publication the Engineering News-Record.

• The Ascent residential high-rise in Milwaukee opened this summer at 25-stories and 282 feet tall. That building has a reinforced concrete core.
• The nearest runner up, the 280-foot tall Mjøstårnet in Norway, is all-wood. 

For the rest of this story — which includes wooden skyscrapers, airports and an office building intended to last into the 2500s — please click here.

Tech Tuesday

Focus on China: Semiconductor hub escapes heatwave, high-tech center closes  over COVID concerns and Beijing claims a carbon capture distinction.

Sichuan, Chongqing manufacturing hubs to resume power supplies 

• China’s Sichuan province and Chongqing city — hubs for semiconductor and electric vehicle battery production — have turned the lights back on at the region’s factories, where power had been rationed amid a record heatwave, according to Reuters. During the outages, production of energy-intensive refined metals had been paused, impacting about 10 percent of China’s monthly average lithium salt output, Reuters reported. 

Beijing shutters world’s largest electronics market  

• Just as Sichuan factories resumed production, Chinese officials shut down the world’s largest open air electronics market in the high-tech center of Shenzhen due to a few dozen coronavirus cases, CNN reported. The Huaqiangbei market — to which Metro service was also temporarily canceled — hosts thousands of stalls selling everything from microchips to mobile phones, according to CNN. 

World’s largest carbon capture facility in China 

• Chinese state-owned oil company Sinopec announced on Monday that it had built the world’s largest carbon capture and storage facility and had two more of similar size planned by 2025, Reuters reported. Acknowledging that China’s use of the frontier technology — which serves to trap and permanently store carbon emissions — is  “at an experimental stage,” the company stressed that “it is on a par with the levels of global peers,” according to Reuters.

Please visit The Hill’s Sustainability section online for the web version of this newsletter and more stories. We’ll see you tomorrow.

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DEA warns of 'rainbow fentanyl' being used to target young people

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said it has observed an “alarming” trend of brightly-colored fentanyl made to look like candy that is being used to attract children and young people.

The agency said its law enforcement partners began seizing brightly colored “rainbow fentanyl” earlier this month. This new form of fentanyl has been seized in 18 states so far.

Rainbow fentanyl is being sold in multiple forms, according to the DEA, including as pills, powder and blocks that resemble sidewalk chalk. While some reports have claimed that different colors indicate differing levels of potency, laboratory testing has not found a correlation.

“Rainbow fentanyl — fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes — is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement.

Authorities recently made two seizures of rainbow fentanyl resembling sidewalk chalk in the Portland, Oreg. area. Another large batch of the drug was recently recovered in West Virginia, where authorities seized about 15,000 multi-colored pills from one individual.

Similar seizures have also been made in California and Washington.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate that 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. It is often mixed in with other drugs like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, with buyers often unaware that they are ingesting it.

In recent years, synthetic opiates like fentanyl have become the most common drugs associated with overdose deaths in the U.S.

Of the more than 107,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. that were reported in 2021, 66 percent were due to synthetic opiates like fentanyl.

Source: TEST FEED1

Extreme heat kills inequitably: Reflective pavements can help, but city action is required

Extreme heat is the deadliest natural hazard in the United States. 

Between 1992 and 2021, it killed an average of 148 people every year. In the same 30-year period, floods killed about 88 annually while hurricanes killed 45 yearly.

This figure is likely an underestimate, as potential problems have been found with the way deaths due to extreme heat are counted. For instance, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) originally counted 200 deaths due to a heat wave that struck the Pacific Northwest in June 2021, but has since amended its description of the event to note the potential for hundreds of excess deaths during the period.

The consequences of extreme heat have an outsized impact on vulnerable groups. Immigrant workers have a tripled risk of heat-related death compared to U.S. citizens, with over 85 percent of non-citizen deaths occurring among Hispanics in one study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found that Black residents died at twice the rate from extreme heat as did white residents.

Cities can combat extreme heat and cool the climate by implementing more reflective pavements, surfaces high in albedo, a measure of reflectance that ranges from 0 (reflects no sunlight) to 1 (reflects all sunlight): Think of the deepest black and the brightest white as comparable to each end of the spectrum. 

Surfaces with high albedo stay cooler in the sun. As a practical example, imagine you are at the beach on a hot day and are walking on the light-colored sand barefoot. Would you dare to step onto the asphalt parking lot without sandals? If not, you intuitively understand that the higher-albedo sand feels cooler than the lower-albedo asphalt. 

A cooler, high-albedo surface warms the air less than a hotter low-albedo surface, helping reduce local air temperatures. The MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub found that if Houston increased the albedo of its pavement by 0.20, maximum summer air temperatures would decrease by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius). While this may not sound impressive, climate simulation studies suggest that the lowered air temperatures would result in 59 percent fewer heat waves affecting the city. 

A study conducted by the MIT Joint Program on he Science and Policy of Global Change found that increasing the average albedo of roofs, building walls, and hardscapes (including pavements) by 0.20 across the United States would result in a 22 to 50 percent decrease in the number of days exceeding heat index thresholds for “extreme caution” and “danger.”

Climate change may be viewed as a “symptom” of Earth’s energy imbalance in which the planet absorbs more radiation than it emits to outer space. This process of positive “radiative forcing” is raising surface temperatures and melting highly reflective sea ice at the poles. This, in turn, creates a cycle of worsening energy imbalance.

Raising pavement albedo is one way that cities can begin to break this cycle and reduce energy accumulated on the surface by reflecting more of it back to outer space. If the United States increased its average albedo of all pavements by 0.20, the country could attain a global warming impact savings equivalent to taking about 3.75 million cars off the road for one year due to the lowered atmospheric temperature. This one-time benefit would remain as long as the increased average albedo is maintained.

Implementing reflective pavements is one of many tools available to adapt to climate change and extreme heat, but one that could be especially helpful in cities because roughly 30 to 45 percent of the U.S. urban area is paved and 94 percent of U.S. roads are surfaced with asphalt.

Cities must consider the many options at their disposal to boost pavement reflectance. For instance, cities could add reflective coatings to asphalt streets to increase their albedo to 0.48 from 0.11, or install concrete pavements, which naturally have an albedo of 0.30 and do not require frequent maintenance to maintain high reflectance. Alternatively, they could pursue one of many new approaches to increase pavement reflectance.

There are limits to how high of albedo we should strive for — surfaces with values above 0.50 may cause thermal discomfort for pedestrians due to the amount of sunlight reflected. Careful attention must be paid to how local climate and the layout of neighborhoods influence the efficacy of reflective pavements. Materials research is also needed to reduce the energy and carbon footprints of reflective pavement technologies.

While there is an upfront cost involved in implementing high-albedo pavements, it is worth it in the long run to reduce the frequency of deadly heat waves and mitigate the impact of global warming.

Extreme heat kills, and it kills inequitably. Inaction threatens the lives of city residents, and this danger falls disproportionately across the city. 

To protect vulnerable communities, federal and local officials must cool cities with high-reflectance pavements before the opportunity to limit the impacts of global warming vanishes. 

Hessam Azarijafari, Ph.D., is the incoming deputy director of the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub). He studies the economic and environmental implications of infrastructure systems.  

Ronnen Levinson, Ph.D., is a staff scientist and leader of the Heat Island Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, California. He develops cool roof, wall and pavement materials and quantifies the energy and environmental benefits of cool surfaces.

Andrew Laurent is the communications administrator of the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub).

Research from the MIT CSHub is sponsored by the Portland Cement Association and the RMC Research and Education Foundation. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government.

Source: TEST FEED1

Defense & National Security — Austin says work ‘is not done’ one year after Afghanistan withdrawal

Tuesday marked one year since the last U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan, but Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says America’s counterterrorism work is “not done.” 

We’ll break down the Pentagon chief’s message to the department. Plus, we’ll talk about the “numerous failures” of the Iranian drones being used by Russia against Ukraine.  

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 Jordan Williams. A friend forward this newsletter to you? Subscribe here.

DOD chief marks Afghanistan withdrawal anniversary

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin marked the first anniversary of the U.S.’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, acknowledging that America’s work “is not done” in the country. 

In a memorandum to all Department of Defense personnel, Austin said the U.S. went to Afghanistan in 2001 to “wage a necessary war of self-defense” in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. 

But since then, “no enemy has been able to launch such an attack on our homeland” due to the department’s efforts to defend citizens against terrorist threats, he added. 

One year since the withdrawal: Tuesday marked one year since the last U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan, ending America’s longest war. 

The withdrawal has been seen as a stain on the Biden administration, as reports revealed that the U.S. was unprepared for how quickly the Afghan government would collapse, allowing the Taliban to rapidly seize power. 

But President Biden and his officials have stood by the effort, noting that the U.S. evacuated over 124,000 refugees, mainly Afghan civilians. The president has also argued that staying in Afghanistan would have cost more U.S. lives. 

Work is ‘not done:’ “Still, we know this work is not done. We must keep a relentless focus on counterterrorism—and we are,” Austin said. “We’re committed to supporting a whole-of-government effort to address the root causes of violent extremism. No one should doubt America’s resolve to keep our people safe.” 

‘Profound gratitude: In Tuesday’s memorandum, the Pentagon chief mainly expressed “profound gratitude” to all who served in Afghanistan for the prior two decades — including American service members, veterans of the war and their families. 

Austin, who noted that he is also a veteran of the war, said he witnessed “firsthand the bravery, selflessness, and compassion that our men and women brought to the fight.” 

The Pentagon chief concluded his letter by addressing those who have “hard questions” about the war and what their sacrifices in Afghanistan meant. 

“Last year, I said that although the Afghanistan war has ended, our gratitude to those who served never will. Today, I renew that pledge,” he continued. “To every man and woman who served in Afghanistan: This country will never forget what you did and what you gave.” 

Read the full story here.

Vets grapple with ‘moral injury’ a year on

Scott Mann, a retired Green Beret, followed a strict code during his three combat tours in Afghanistan. 

“We were taught in special operations, for example, that everything we do is by, with and through the indigenous populations of the places we work,” Mann told The Hill. “You do not abandon them, you do not leave them. 

A year ago today, President Biden pulled the final United States soldiers out of Afghanistan, ending America’s longest war. Tens of thousands U.S. allies — Afghans who fought alongside or supported American troops or civilian programs — were left behind. 

Mann said he feels a “moral injury” caused by “a violation of your own moral code by those in charge.” And he is among many veterans of the Afghan war who has made it his mission to continue helping Afghans who risked their lives for America’s war.  

Read more here.  

Iranian drones used by Russia seeing failures

Iran has sent its first shipment of drones to Russia that Moscow aims to use in attacks against Ukraine, according to a Biden administration official who said U.S. intelligence indicates the drones have already seen “numerous failures.” 

The U.S. believes that Iran transferred Mohajer-6 and Shahed-series drones to Russia earlier this month on a Russian flight between the two countries, according to the administration official. 

Backstory: The White House warned back in July that the Iranian government was preparing to sell hundreds of drones to Russia to use on the battlefield in Ukraine, but at the time officials couldn’t say whether any drones had actually been transported to Russia.   

The Iranian drones could help address weaponry shortfalls Russia is experiencing as it continues its military campaign in Ukraine, which has exceeded six months. Export controls imposed by the U.S. and other countries have also been designed to wear down Russia’s military capabilities in the long run.   

Complicating the nuclear deal? The closer partnership between Iran and Russia comes as the Biden administration tries to revive the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).   

There have been positive signs of the parties moving toward some kind of agreement in recent weeks, with Iran dropping some of its demands, though a deal has yet to be reached.   

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre indicated the drone shipments would not impact the ongoing talks about reviving the deal, to which Russia was a party along with Iran and five other nations.   

Read the full story here.

Navy thwarts attempt to capture unmanned drone 

The Navy said on Tuesday that it foiled an attempt from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) to capture an unmanned drone in the Arabian Gulf. 

In a statement, the U.S. 5th Fleet said it observed the Shahid Bazar, an IRGCN support ship, trying to detain a Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessel (USV) while transiting international waters at around 11 p.m. local time. 

The Saildrone Explorer was equipped with sensors, radars and cameras for navigation and data collection, though it doesn’t store classified information, the statement noted 

U.S. Navy patrol coastal ship USS Thunderbolt, which was operating nearby, “immediately responded” to the incident, the statement said. 

The Fleet also launched an MH-60S Sea Hawk from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 26, based in Bahrain. 

Read more here.

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW

• The National Defense Industrial Association will continue its “Electronics Division Meeting & Trust & Assurance Subcommittee Meeting” at 7 a.m. 
• The National Training and Simulation Association will host a webinar on “SPACE Force: A 360 View on Training, Simulation and Logistics” at 11 a.m. 
• The Wilson Center will host a discussion on “Pioneering Space Force: A Fireside Chat with General John W. “Jay” Raymond” at 1 p.m. 
• The Hudson Institute will host a discussion on “The Causes and Consequences of War: A Conversation with Professor Hew Strachan” at 2 p.m. 
• The Atlantic Council will hold a conversation with Danish Minister of Defense Morten Bødskov at 2:45 p.m. 

WHAT WE’RE READING

• No way out: Afghan allies hiding from Taliban hit dead ends in quest to reach US 
• Secret Service official at center of Jan. 6 hearing departs agency 
• The Hill Opinion: Replace Navy ship’s Confederate name with that of an immigrant oceanographer

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

Source: TEST FEED1

NotedDC — How Biden is trying to flip the script on GOP

President Biden is targeting the GOP’s pro-law enforcement message after some Republicans called to defund the FBI in the wake of the agency’s search of former President Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago estate this month.

“I’m opposed to defunding the police, but I am also opposed to defunding the FBI,” Biden said during his speech in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on Tuesday.

While White House staff have previously pushed back on calls for defunding the agency, the speech marked the first time Biden directly addressed the increase in the rhetoric against the law enforcement agency.

Some have been concerned that the rhetoric against the FBI could cause a rise in political violence, as The Hill has previously reported.

“You hear some of my friends in the other team talking about political violence and how it’s necessary,” Biden said Tuesday. “No one should be encouraged to use political violence.”

He also amplified his attacks against Republican lawmakers who continue to defend the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

“Cops attacked and assaulted, speared with flagpoles, sprayed with mace, stomped on, brutalized. Police lost their lives as a result of that day,” Biden said. “You can’t be pro-law enforcement and pro-insurrection.”

Welcome to NotedDC: Your guide to politics, policy & people of consequence in D.C.

In today’s issue: The midterm angle to Biden’s Tuesday speech.

Plus: House Republicans preview targets should they reclaim the majority in the fall.

👮‍♂️  Biden touts pro-cop message

President Biden is doubling-down on public safety less than 100 days until the midterm elections, as many GOP candidates have centered their campaigns on supporting law enforcement and blaming Democrats for increases in crime across major cities.

• The strategy directly contrasts the one Democrats employed in 2020, when many were calling to “defund” the police in the wake of the murders of Black Americans such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
• Some in the party argue the prior messaging cost Democrats competitive seats, and a number of figures in the party have moderated their tone on the issue over the past year.

“When it comes to public safety in this nation, the answer is not to defund the police, it’s to fund the police,” Biden said Tuesday. “I’ve not met a good cop that’s liked a bad cop.”

Biden touted his recent accomplishments to showcase the party’s commitment to law enforcement, including his Safer American Plan, which would invest in 100,000 more cops to advance community policing. 

“We expect them to protect us, to be psychologists, sociologists…we expect them to do everything,” Biden said. “I’m tired of not giving them the help they need.”

The shift in messaging also comes at a time when Republicans are tweaking their messages on abortion rights since it seems to be a winning issue for Democrats, suggested by recent victories in Kansas and New York elections, as our colleague Caroline Vakil reported Tuesday.

🎯  GOP eyes Biden in setting post-midterm agenda

As Republicans attempt to take back the House in November, they’re already coming up with plans to go after top Democrats, including President Biden.  

Several rank-and-file Republicans have introduced impeachment articles against Biden. Those resolutions will never see the light of day in the current Democratic-led Congress, but Republicans are vowing to follow through if they win a majority.

• It could present a headache for House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), our colleague Mike Lillis reports.
• “On the one hand, impeaching Biden could alienate moderate voters and hurt the GOP at the polls,” Lillis writes. “On the other hand, ignoring the conservatives’ impeachment entreaties might spark a revolt from a Republican base keen to avenge the Democrats’ two impeachments of Trump, who remains the most popular national figure in the GOP.” 

McCarthy and former President Trump remain close allies. On Tuesday, the former president responded to an image that identified McCarthy as a “RINO” (Republican in name only), posting on Truth Social that the House leader is “fighting hard for Republican victories in the House.” 

Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), the No. 3 House Republican, is also walking a fine line by calling Biden “unfit” to serve but not endorsing his impeachment. Neither her office nor McCarthy’s responded to Lillis’s request for comment.

McCarthy and other top Republicans have suggested they could also take the route of going after high-ranking officials in the Biden administration instead of the president himself.

📝  The Biden officials conservatives want to impeach

House Republicans have identified several members of the Biden administration they would seek to target for impeachment should they win the chamber in the fall:

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas 

• McCarthy floated the idea of impeaching Mayorkas if he is found to be doing a poor job in securing the border — an idea supported by many conservatives.

Attorney General Merrick Garland 

• Top Republicans, including McCarthy, immediately threatened to probe Garland for authorizing the FBI’s search of Trump’s Florida estate.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken

• Two GOP members — Reps. Ralph Norman (S.C.) and Andy Harris (Md.) — introduced a resolution to impeach Blinken following the U.S.’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.

And despite conservatives’ impeachment wishlist, the midterms remain two months away, and the results are far from certain.

The Hill’s Emily Brooks reported on Sunday that analysts who had previously predicted a “red wave” are growing more wary of the GOP’s potential gains.

“The enthusiasm is just not there,” GOP strategist Rick Tyler said. “Last time Republicans had a good year, they were 6 points ahead in the generic poll. Now we’re barely 2 points ahead. So it’s definitely not going to happen.” 

Read more from Brooks on the now-bleaker predictions for the GOP. 

〰 ELECTION PULSE 〰

There’s a lot at stake this fall as the GOP tries to wrangle control of the House and Senate and Democrats try to keep their grasp of both. The Hill’s NotedDC crew will keep you up-to-date on what the polls are showing:

ARIZONA: In the heated Arizona Senate race, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly is ahead of his GOP challenger, venture capitalist Blake Masters, in a new poll from the Atlanta-based Trafalgar Group. A Fox News poll earlier this month found Kelly 8 points ahead of Masters. Read more on the race here.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Retired Army Gen. Don Bolduc has a big lead in the Republican Senate primary, according to a new poll. The GOP victor will take on will Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) in November. 

MAJORITY RULE: The GOP’s chances of taking control of the House have been slightly shrinking, according to a new general poll. The CBS News poll out this weekend estimates that Republicans will win 226 House seats in November — down from 230 seats estimated last month. Read more here.

POTUS: More than half of Democratic voters in a new poll think President Biden should not seek a second term in 2024. The USA Today/Ipsos poll found that 56 percent of Democratic voters are against a reelection bid from their party leader, despite approving of his government experience, policy knowledge and focus on country unification. BUT… Biden also saw his highest approval in a year in a new Gallup poll that saw his approval rating climb to 44 percent.

MEDIA MOVES

Longtime Washington reporter Alan Fram is retiring from The Associated Press after nearly 40 years of covering Congress.

In his farewell article published Tuesday, Fram voiced his concerns about diminishing bipartisanship on the Hill, chronicling how the relationship between Republicans and Democrats has evolved since he began. 

“I still overhear Democrats and Republicans making dinner plans. The sorrow over this month’s traffic accident death of Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) and two aides was bipartisan and heartfelt,” Fram wrote. “Yet today’s common ground seems narrower, the atmosphere darker, the stakes higher.” 

📚  National Book Festival

Labor Day weekend means the National Book Festival (via the Library of Congress) is heading back to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Saturday.

• The gathering of authors and booklovers has been running for more than two decades, offering free talks with authors and live-streamed activities.
• Fan favs like “Parks and Recreation” resident curmudgeon Nick Offerman and COVID-19 TikTok darling Leslie Jordan are part of this year’s lineup. 

Find this year’s schedule here and keep up with even more updates on the Library of Congress blog. 

Have some news, juicy gossip, insight or other insider info? Send us tips: Elizabeth Crisp and Kelsey Carolan. And encourage friends to sign up here: thehill.com/noted.

We’ll see you tomorrow!

Source: TEST FEED1

NBA star John Wall says he thought about suicide during recent struggles

NBA star John Wall opened up about experiencing mental health struggles in a new interview, saying he has had suicidal thoughts in the past two years.  

In an interview published by ClutchPoints on Monday, Wall, who recently signed with the Los Angeles Clippers, said that recent years have been tough for him mentally, adding that personal events led him to “darkest place” he’s ever been in. 

“At one point in time, I thought about committing suicide,” Wall said during an event hosted by his John Wall Foundation in Raleigh, N.C. “I mean, just tearing my Achilles, my mom being sick, my mom passing, my grandma passing a year later — all of this in the midst of COVID-19 at the same time.” 

“Me going to the chemotherapy and sitting there. Me seeing my mom take her last breath. Wearing the same clothes for three days straight and laying on the couch sobbing,” he added. “Looking at all that, I’m like, if I can get through this, I can get through anything in life.”

The former University of Kentucky standout also said that going through therapy sessions helps him to be in the right mental space, adding that his two children are his motivation to push forward.

“You know a lot of people think, ‘I don’t need help, I can get through any times,’ but you’ve got to be true to yourself and find out what’s best for you, and I did that,” the five-time NBA All-Star added. 

Wall joins other prominent athletes in the past year who have opened up about struggles with mental health. 

Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka and U.S. gymnast Simone Biles both garnered national headlines last summer for sitting out of competitions to focus on their mental health and using their platforms to speak up on the issue. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health problems, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) at 988 to connect with a trained professional or visit the NSPL website for more information.

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden condemns 'sickening' attacks on FBI after Mar-a-Lago search

President Biden on Tuesday forcefully condemned attacks on the FBI from some Republicans in the wake of the bureau’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property.  

Speaking at an event on public safety in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Biden vowed his own support for law enforcement while casting conservatives as anti-police due to their stances on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol and more recently the events at Mar-a-Lago.  

“Let me say this to my MAGA Republican friends in Congress: Don’t tell me you support law enforcement if you won’t condemn what happened on the 6th. Don’t tell me. Can’t do it. For God’s sake, whose side are you on?” Biden said, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. “You’re either on the side on the mob or the side of the police.”  

“Now it’s sickening to see the new attacks on the FBI, threatening the life of law enforcement agents and their families for simply carrying out the law and doing their job,” he continued.  

“Look, I want to say this as clear as I can: There’s no place in this country, no place for endangering the lives of law enforcement. None, never, period. I’m opposed to defunding the police, I’m also opposed to defunding the FBI,” Biden said. 

The rhetoric was an attempt at showcasing strong support for law enforcement to push back on the narrative that Democrats are in favor of scaling back police funding, while using current events to call into question conservatives’ own support for law enforcement. 

Republicans have heaped criticism on the FBI over the decision to execute a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month as part of an investigation into classified documents Trump took with him after leaving the White House. The GOP has accused the FBI of having political motivations, and some candidates have even called for cutting funding to the bureau, throwing a wrench into their midterm messaging.  

And while Republicans have condemned the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, most have stopped short of rebuking Trump for his actions leading up to the riot.

Biden doesn’t often discuss the events of Jan. 6 and has made a point to keep distance from the revelations of the congressional investigation into the assault on the Capitol.  

But he’s been stepping up his criticisms of Republicans and particularly those on the ballot who are aligned with Trump in order to make the case to voters to cast their votes for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections.  

The president is slated to deliver a prime-time address from Philadelphia on Thursday that will emphasize protecting democracy and defending what he calls the “soul of the nation,” returning to a key theme of his 2020 presidential campaign.

Source: TEST FEED1