A group of Senate Democrats are pressing for language in legislation funding the State Department that would require the administration to determine if U.S. assistance to Israel should be blocked if the administration finds Israeli forces committed human rights violations or war crimes related to the killing of an Al Jazeera journalist.
The language would require the Secretary of State to submit a report to Congress detailing administration efforts to support an independent investigation into the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, the veteran Al Jazeera journalist and U.S. citizen shot and killed in May while reporting on a security raid by Israeli forces in the West Bank.
The language backed by the Democrats says any report should include a determination on “whether section 620M of the [Foreign Assistance Act] applies to such case.”
Section 620M says that U.S. assistance should be blocked for foreign security forces if there is “credible information that such unit has committed a gross violation of human rights or war crime.”
The legislative text was introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the chair of the Appropriations Committee, as well as Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
“The United States must ensure an independent, credible, and transparent investigation into the shooting death of American citizen and journalist Shireen Abu Akleh,” the group said in a statement.
“Our report language requires the Secretary of State to submit a report to Congress on steps taken to support such an investigation and provide further details on the findings. We will continue working to get the full truth about this tragedy, ensure accountability, and make clear our unwavering support for freedom of the press and the safety of journalists around the world.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently met with the family of Abu Akleh in Washington, but the family and their supporters have been extremely critical of President Biden and his administration. They say it has not done enough to push for an independent investigation and accountability for the journalist’s death.
“For far too long, the United States has enabled Israel to kill with impunity by providing weapons, immunity, and diplomatic cover,” members of Abu Akleh’s family said in a recent statement, according to the Times of Israel.
“If we allow Shireen’s killing to be swept under the rug, we send a message that the lives of U.S. citizens abroad don’t matter, that the lives of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation don’t matter, and that the most courageous journalists in the world, those who cover the human impact of armed conflict and violence, are expendable.”
An analysis by the U.S. Security Coordinator (USSC) in the region of Israeli and the Palestinian Authority investigations concluded “that gunfire from [Israel Defence Forces] positions was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh,” but said that the recovered bullet was too badly damaged to reach a definitive conclusion.
State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement on July 4 that USSC found no reason that Abu Akleh’s death was intentional but “rather the result of tragic circumstances” during an Israeli military operation.
Several investigations by media outlets said Abu Akleh was likely shot by Israeli forces, and witnesses at the scene said there was no active conflict with Palestinian militants.
Lawyers representing Caitlin Bernard, the Indiana OB/GYN who garnered national attention after providing abortion services to a 10-year-old Ohio girl who was raped, decried the “consumer complaint” investigations Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) has initiated against her.
The law office representing Bernard, DeLaney & DeLaney, released a statement on Thursday saying Rokita had forwarded six letters to the doctor on Tuesday informing her that six “consumer complaint” investigations had been started.
The law firm asserted that none of individuals involved in the complaints ever had any direct interactions with Bernard. The complaints appear to have come from people living in California, Kentucky, Missouri and Ohio. Only one complaint involved a person from Indiana, where Bernard is based.
“None of the complaints came from a ‘consumer’ who purchased any goods or services from Dr. Bernard or even from a person who has had direct communication with Dr. Bernard. The complaints are riddled with inaccuracies and rely on no first-hand knowledge,” said the law firm.
Among the “inaccuracies” it said it found in the complaints, the law firm noted that Bernard’s phone number on one complaint was listed as “555-555-5555,” which is not a real phone number. It also noted that one person who submitted a complaint against her had a “significant criminal history,” though it did not go further into detail.
“Unfortunately, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita continues to use his office to try and intimidate Dr. Caitlin Bernard. We urge Mr. Rokita to stop wasting taxpayer money and our time on his nonsensical campaign against Dr. Bernard for doing her job as a physician properly and in accordance with the law,” wrote DeLaney & DeLaney.
The Hill has reached out to Rokita’s office for a response.
After Bernard told the Indianapolis Star that she had provided abortion services to a 10-year-old girl from Ohio who had been denied an abortion after she was raped earlier this year, a storm of media coverage arose. This story occurred shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and abortions were severely restricted or banned in a number of states.
Rokita claimed on national TV that Bernard had failed to follow Indiana’s abortion reporting requirements and further claimed that she had a history of failing to properly file reports.
Bernard’s employer came forward saying it had found no evidence of her failing to follow procedure and the Star later reported that it had obtained documents proving she had filed the reports.
Earlier this month, Bernard announced that she had filed a tort claim notice against Rokita for making “false and misleading” statements about her in the media.
“Mr. Rokita’s false and misleading statements about alleged misconduct by Dr. Bernard in her profession constitute defamation per se,” a statement from Bernard read, adding that Rokita’s actions “exceed the general scope of Mr. Rokita’s authority as Indiana’s Attorney General.”
“We continue to explore legal remedies to hold Mr. Rokita accountable for his conduct,” DeLaney & DeLaney said in their statement on Thursday.
Board members of the Central Bucks School District this week approved a policy to weed out “inappropriate” content in school libraries.
The policy has been criticized by community members and school district parents who say it only serves to benefit a vocal minority aiming to insert their personal beliefs into the classroom.
The policy is representative of a larger trend, and school districts and state houses across the nation this year have introduced measures to restrict classroom discussions of race, religion and LGBTQ+ identities.
A Pennsylvania school district this week voted to adopt a controversial policy restricting “sexualized content” in libraries, despite fierce opposition from community members and free speech and LGBTQ+ advocates.
In a 6-3 vote during a Tuesday evening meeting, board members of the Central Bucks School District approved a policy that will allow for the removal of library books considered inappropriate for children and teenagers.
A committee of selectors will be appointed by the superintendent and will work cooperatively with library staff, faculty and school administrators to select materials consistent with the policy. The committee’s work will also be posted on the school district’s website to promote “parental engagement.”
According to the policy, selectors for middle and high school libraries will prioritize the selection of materials that do not contain “implied” or explicit written descriptions or visual depictions of sexual acts or nudity. The policy specifies that restrictions on “visual depictions of nudity” do not apply to learning materials with diagrams about human anatomy for science courses or content relating to classical works of art.
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Parents under the new policy are also given greater authority to challenge library books “on the basis of appropriateness,” which is not clearly defined in the policy.
The document does, however, specify that materials may be challenged and removed based on a lack of educational suitability or prevalence of “sexualized content” or “pervasive profanity or vulgarity.”
“It need not rise to the levels of obscene material or material which would violate criminal laws in order to warrant replacing the material with better options,” the policy says.
School board members who voted to adopt the policy on Tuesday said it was developed to protect minors from engaging with inappropriate and sexually explicit content and does not constitute censorship.
Abram Lucabaugh, the district’s superintendent, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the policy was not designed with any specific titles in mind. The intent, he said, is to create a streamlined process for the selection of new materials and create a pathway for parents to challenge “gratuitous, salacious, over-the-top, unnecessary, sexualized content [in library books] that would not be age-appropriate.”
A majority of community members present at the Tuesday meeting disagreed, accusing the policy of being intentionally vague and discriminatory. A petition organized by a Central Bucks school district parent opposing the policy has been signed more than 3,000 times.
In an op-ed published last week in The Intelligencer and Wheeling News Register, Kate Nazemi, the petition’s organizer, wrote that the policy was designed to “sow confusion, uncertainty, and fear, only to appease our resident alarmists.”
According to Nazemi, most of the titles challenged by parents backing the new policy reference LGBTQ+ issues or identities or are written by authors of color.
During a press conference on Tuesday before the school board’s vote, Julie Zaebst, a senior policy advocate at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania, said the district would be “caving to a small group of vocal parents” if it chose to adopt the policy, which she said will target books that focus on marginalized communities.
“It’s not very hard to connect the dots between this policy and other school district actions that have a clear LGBTQ bias,” Zaebst said. In May, the district instructed staff to remove Pride flags from classrooms.
The school district’s policy – considered one of the most restrictive in the state by the Pennsylvania Library Association, according to the Inquirer – is reflective of a national trend aiming to limit talk of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.
Dozens of restrictive curriculum bills have been introduced in states across the country this year, including one in Florida that has been challenged in a number of lawsuits filed by LGBTQ+ and civil rights groups. According to the Movement Advancement Project, 80 percent of the nation’s youth live in states that considered restrictive curriculum bills last year, with most measures seeking to limit classroom discussions of race, religion and LGBTQ+ issues and people.
Jonathan Friedman, the director of the nonprofit PEN America’s free expression and education program, told Changing America that he expects more education battles to be fought at the district level.
“The Bucks County policy is opening the door to make it easier for censorship to happen,” he said. “After banging on that door for a long time, we’re seeing a lot of activists now shift their tactics toward changing the way that that door can be closed to them.”
UPS workers in New York City took to the streets on Thursday to protest unsafe working conditions.
Workers rallied outside of a UPS distribution center in Brooklyn and called on leadership to provide air conditioning in delivery trucks.
Unlike Amazon and the USPS, UPS trucks do not have AC and workers need to request fans.
New York UPS workers called out unsafe working conditions during a rally on Thursday a week after a sizzling heat wave scorched the five boroughs.
Temperatures stayed well above 90 degrees in the city for five days with the heat resulting in one death, according to The New York Post.
Workers represented by Local 804 and Teamsters Joint Council 16 protested outside of UPS’ Foster Avenue warehouse in Canarsie, Brooklyn.
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Ralliers — who gathered next to an inflatable “fat cat” holding a worker by the neck — demanded that employers provide them with air conditioning in their trucks, according to The City.
Delivery workers are not the only UPS workers forced to work in the heat, union leaders told CNBC that UPS distribution centers are “infernos” with limited air conditioning.
“The health and safety of our employees is our highest priority,” a UPS spokesperson told Changing America. “UPS drivers are trained to work outdoors and to manage the effects of hot weather. Preparation, rest, hydration and maintaining good health practices are key to working outdoors.”
The spokesperson added that UPS trucks make frequent stops, about 130 times a day, which requires the engine to be turned off and doors to be opened and closed.
“We have studied heat mitigation with our vehicles and integrated forced air systems with venting to create air flow around the driver and cargo areas,” the spokesperson said. “We optimize the roof of vehicles to minimize heat in the cargo area, alongside insulating the roof of the cab. We also offer fans to drivers upon request.”
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The deal crafted by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) would result in historic investments in combating climate change if the package is signed into law by President Biden.
Climate activists, who earlier this month were in despair after Manchin seemingly torpedoed an earlier deal, generally have praised the new agreement as a meaningful step in protecting the planet — even if it would still leave plenty of more work to do.
“It’s going to be the largest climate investment in American history by far,” Leah Stokes, an environmental politics professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told The Hill.
The bill also comes as Democrats have little time to spare. With Republicans favored to win back the House majority in the fall, losing an opportunity to pass meaningful climate legislation with Democrats in the White House and holding power in the House and Senate would be devastating.
Meanwhile, scientists have warned that time is limited for the world to get global climate change under control.
“It’s a make-or-break moment for a livable planet, and we have to get this bill over the finish line,” Stokes added.
The package contains a series of investments in clean energy and other programs that are expected to help the U.S. reduce its emissions.
And while the nearly $370 billion in climate and energy investments are pared down from the $555 billion passed by the House last year, they are still expected to make significant cuts to global warming.
Ben King, associate director of Rhodium Group, which has modeled the potential emissions reductions of past iterations of Democrats’ climate proposals, said his initial reaction was that the projection from Democrats that the package could cut 40 percent of emissions was plausible.
Combined with additional regulations, he said the U.S. may now be on track to meet Biden’s goal of cutting U.S. emissions at least in half by 2030 when compared to 2005 levels.
“While we are still analyzing the full text, the deal announced on Wednesday includes a long-term extension of clean energy tax credits in line with what we’ve previously modeled, which means it could plausibly put the U.S. on track to reduce emissions by 40 percent in 2030,” King said in a statement.
“Additional action by the Biden administration and states can help close the rest of the gap to the target of a 50-52 percent cut in emissions by 2030,” he added.
Rhodium Group’s modeling has shown that without any legislative action, the U.S. would be expected to reduce its emissions by between 24 and 35 percent.
The bill would provide $30 billion in tax credits for the manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and critical minerals processing. It includes an additional $10 billion in tax credits for clean energy technology manufacturing facilities that make electric vehicles, wind turbines, and solar panels.
It would create another program to give financing to the oil and gas industry to cut down on their emissions of planet-warming methane and charge them for excess emissions. Methane is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period and is frequently released during oil and gas production.
Other provisions include $30 billion in loans and grants to help states and electric utilities transition to clean energy and $27 billion for a green bank that would provide more incentives for clean energy technology.
The bill would also expand royalties that companies pay for public lands drilling to include planet-warming natural gas that is burned off or otherwise released into the air.
And, while not directly related to climate change, the bill also puts $60 billion towards environmental justice — addressing disproportionately high pollution levels faced by people of color and low-income communities.
The bill is far from perfect from a fighting climate change point of view, and some provisions would further lock in fossil fuel use and add to planet-warming emissions.
Specifically, it would require the federal government to hold oil and gas lease sales as a condition for selling leases for renewable energy on public lands and waters.
In order for the government to allow new wind or solar energy development on federal lands, it will be required to hold onshore drilling lease sales. In order for the government to hold a lease sale enabling new offshore wind energy, it will need to have held a lease sale for new offshore oil and gas.
The legislation would also reinstate the results of a November lease sale for new offshore drilling that sold the rights to drill on 1.7 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico and was later struck down on environmental grounds. It would also require the Interior Department to hold other lease sales in the near future.
Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, expressed outrage at the pro-fossil fuel provisions, arguing that they made the package a “bad deal” for Democrats.
“Ten more years of massive offshore and onshore drilling versus paltry tax incentives that may or may not move the needle, it’s just ludicrous to think that this is a good deal,” Hartl said.
Some environmentalists have also expressed concerns about an agreement Manchin said he reached with Democratic leaders to pass “comprehensive permitting reform.” Opponents fear that lawmakers could adopt reforms that weaken environmental reviews meant to protect communities from pollution in favor of expediting permits for infrastructure, energy and other construction projects.
But John Larsen, a partner at Rhodium Group, said that the pro-climate pieces of the new legislation outweigh the additional greenhouse gases that will come from its pro-fossil provisions, and noted that the oil and gas pieces are similar to the current status quo.
“It’s not any different than the historic average of lease sales,” he told reporters on a press call. “This isn’t some historic expansion of leasing compared to what’s happened over the last five to 10 years.”
“The $300-plus billion in additional incentives and investments on the clean energy side are probably a much more significant influence on emissions than the leasing components,” he added.
Stokes, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, made similar comments, noting that while the package isn’t perfect, it does significantly more on climate than not having a deal.
“There will be some concessions, but we need to be clear-eyed: without this package, we do not have a plan to cut carbon pollution by half by 2030 and scientists tell us that’s absolutely necessary to have a chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees,” she told The Hill.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) announced Thursday that he has filed a lawsuit against the Republican-led state General Assembly for what he says is the General Assembly’s “unconstitutional attempt to ban abortion in Pennsylvania.”
Wolf writes in the court filing that the commonwealth’s constitution expressly recognizes an individual’s right to privacy, which Wolf says includes the right to terminate a pregnancy. Therefore, Wolf states that the General Assembly’s amendments are a violation of Pennsylvania’s constitution.
The Pennsylvania governor also claimed in his statement that when the General Assembly packaged multiple amendments together in a joint resolution that they were pushed forward without permitting them to be voted upon separately, which Wolf called unconstitutional.
Today I filed a lawsuit against the Republican-led General Assembly for their unconstitutional attempt to ban abortion in PA.
To try to get around my veto, they loaded proposed constitutional amendments into Senate Bill 106 and rammed it through during budget negotiations.
— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) July 28, 2022
“Frustrated that their legislation may face my veto pen again, [the General Assembly] instead loaded multiple unrelated constitutional amendments into a joint resolution and rammed the bill through during the budget process,” Wolf said in his press release.
“As long as I remain governor, I will take every step to ensure that abortion remains legal, safe, and accessible in Pennsylvania,” the governor added.
The proposal, advanced by the Republican-led upper chamber, states that there is no constitutional right to a taxpayer-funded abortion or any right whatsoever to abortion in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania state constitution does not give the governor the power to veto constitutional amendments, which also include joint resolutions, nor do constitutional amendments require the governor’s support to be enacted.
Wolf also signed an executive order this month protecting the right to an abortion and other reproductive health care, such as contraception, in Pennsylvania for both in-state residents and out-of-state visitors seeking care.
“Here in Pennsylvania, I will not stand for this attack on women and pregnant people. By signing this executive order, I am affirming that individuals seeking and providing reproductive health services are safe in the commonwealth from discipline and prosecution. Everyone, whether a resident of Pennsylvania or elsewhere, deserves access to health care. As long as I am governor, I will do everything in my power to protect that right,” Wolf said earlier this month.
Arctic ice melts while drought dries out the Southwestern states and drains reservoirs in California. A toxic brew of heat and drought created the perfect conditions for the wildfires that rage widely and ravage forests in the American west and in Mediterranean Europe.
The climate crisis struck back hard after efforts to turn back the tide of global warming failed in the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court overruled efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate the coal-fired energy plants that produce carbon emissions. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) rebuffed President Biden’s efforts to get congressional action on legislation to fight climate change.
Then Manchin suddenly changed course. Was it the stifling heat wave that changed his mind or was it the political heat that he got from fellow Democrats?
Manchin just cut a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) that would provide just north of $300 billion to develop clean energy sources to replace fossil fuel usage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly over the next decade.
When former President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, then-Vice President Biden said that it was a “big f—ing deal.” The passage of this Senate proposal would also be a significant presidential masterstroke.
The agreement is great news for hard-pressed middle-income taxpayers. The revenue source for clean energy development is a 15 percent minimum corporate income tax that would require companies that pay little or no federal taxes to pay their fair share. Taxpayers would get the benefits of new clean energy jobs and protection against environmental carnage.
While working families struggle, big business enjoys record profits, so they can afford to pay the freight. The agreement would also allow the federal government to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies — a change that could save billions of dollars for millions of Medicare recipients.
If the proposal becomes law, it will boost Biden’s standing before the midterm elections. He has already succeeded in getting Congress to pass significant legislation to fight COVID-19, improve infrastructure and to combat gun violence.
This legislation would enhance an impressive presidential resume that would in turn boost the fortunes of Democratic congressional candidates, meanwhile, Republican congressional candidates who oppose the groundbreaking legislation will be in the hot seat. Passage of the bill Schumer and Manchin agreed on might also help Democrats gin up turnout among young voters who are unenthusiastic about the midterms, but who are horrified about the onslaught of climate change.
Even with Manchin on board, there are still obstacles to passage in the Senate. All 50 Senate Democrats must support the legislation and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the maverick Democrat from Arizona, is on record in opposition to corporate tax increases. The deal between Manchin and Schumer has enraged corporate America, which is expected to lobby intensely against the legislation.
If the deal falls through, Biden must act.
The president came close to declaring a climate emergency last week at a defunct coal-fired energy plant in Somerset, Mass. that is now part of an offshore wind project. It might have been a signal to Manchin that there would be executive action if there wasn’t legislative action.
The declaration of a climate emergency would streamline and legitimize the president’s ability to stop exports of crude oil, ban offshore oil drilling and direct private industry to produce clean transportation and infrastructure projects.
Decisive presidential action to protect the world would elicit howls of protests and shrill chants of “Drill Baby Drill” from the fossil fuel industry and their backers in Congress. The president may not score many political points, but it would solidify his legacy as a truly transformative chief executive who acted decisively to save the world for future generations. This stitch in time would be a clear signal and a clarion call that could focus Americans on the looming existential threat.
Biden could use his bully pulpit to draw attention to the crisis and at the same time remind Americans that clean energy could be a powerful engine for economic growth with massive public projects to produce clean energy infrastructure and millions of good-paying jobs. The threat of a declaration might light a fire under those senators who are reluctant to support the current legislative proposal.
If the Senate refuses to act, it’s up to Biden to break the deadlock. He wants to be a transformative president like Franklin Delano Roosevelt — but it’s difficult to be an FDR when you only have a wafer-thin majority in Congress.
If the Senate fails to act, the more the threat of climate change becomes reality. If the Senate balks and the president fails to use his emergency powers, he loses the power to be a transformative figure.
Bannon is a Democratic pollster and CEO of Bannon Communications Research. His podcast, “Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon,” airs on Periscope TV and the Progressive Voices Network. Follow him on Twitter: @BradBannon
The Democratic Attorney Generals Association (DAGA) launched a five-figure digital ad buy on Thursday targeting GOP attorneys general candidates in key states over their stances on abortion.
The ads use quotes from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), Michigan Republican attorney general candidate Matt DePerno and Nevada GOP attorney general nominee Sigal Chattah in which they discuss wanting to make abortion illegal in their respective states.
The Hill was the first outlet to report on news of the ad buy.
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has effectively punted the issue of abortion back to the states. So far, abortion is illegal in seven states, while others put major restrictions on the procedure.
Both sides of the abortion debate argue state attorneys general are often the last line of defense for maintaining access to the procedure. Democrats are using the issue to galvanize their base, seeking to make abortion a major issue ahead of the midterms.
“When we said we are going to fight like hell to elect Democratic AGs across the country who will protect abortion access, we meant it,” DAGA communications director Emily Trifone said. “We cannot allow these Republican extremists to hold the office and pursue their anti-abortion, dangerous agenda of controlling people’s bodies. We’re already seeing the devastating impact in states like Texas with AG Paxton and his far right-wing extremism. Let me be clear: Democratic AGs and candidates trust Americans to make their own personal medical decisions. Republicans do not.”
DAGA has pledged to spend $30 million on attorneys general races going into November. The committee reported seeing a 70 percent increase in donations during the second quarter of the year.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday the U.S. economy doesn’t appear to be in a recession despite two straight quarters of negative gross domestic product (GDP).
During a Thursday press conference after the release of GDP data, Yellen said she did not see signs of an economy in decline as job growth and consumer spending remained strong throughout the year.
“Most economists and most Americans have a similar definition of recession: substantial job losses and mass layoffs, businesses shutting down, private sector activity slowing considerably, family budgets under immense strain, and a broad-based weakening of our economy,” Yellen said Thursday at the Treasury Department.
“That is not what we’re seeing right now. When you look at the economy, job creation is continuing, household finances remain strong, consumers are spending and businesses are growing.”
U.S GDP fell at an annualized rate of 0.9 percent over the past three months, marking the second straight quarter of negative economic growth. While two negative quarters has long been a rule of thumb for figuring out when the U.S. is in recession, economists also consider job growth and other areas of the economy when making that judgment.
Yellen acknowledged that households still face “great stress” from high inflation, which reached an annual rate of 9.1 percent in June, according to Labor Department data. While national measures of household spending and wealth remain sturdy, high inflation has taken a serious toll on low and middle-income families, who are struggling to keep up with rising food and fuel prices.
“We simply haven’t seen anything like this since the 1970s,” Yellen said.
“What’s happening to food prices and energy prices and rent and other prices in the economy is making families very concerned about their household budgets,” she continued. “This is pressure that’s real, that we recognize and it’s the President’s top priority to bring inflation down.”
Even so, Yellen said the slowdown in GDP showed the U.S. transitioning to “more steady, sustainable growth” after the economy grew rapidly through 2021.
The Federal Reserve has ramped interest rates aggressively this year to slow the economy and curb inflation, but the U.S. still added 1.1 million jobs during the second quarter. Consumer spending has also continued to rise throughout the decline in GDP, and wages rose 5.1 percent last month alone.
While the administration’s $1.9 trillion March 2021 stimulus bill likely played a role in fueling high inflation, economists say it is only one of many factors — most of which are related to the COVID-19 pandemic — that have caused high price growth around the world.
Republican lawmakers have nonetheless accused Biden of driving the economy into a recession.
There is no official threshold set by the federal government to determine when the U.S. is in recession. Instead, economists turn to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a think tank not affiliated with the government, to make that call.
The White House has insisted for days the U.S. is not in a recession simply because of two straight quarters of decline, citing NBER’s standards for making the call. Yellen, however, said the administration should avoid “a semantic battle” over the economy and focus on how to fix it.
“We have a slowing economy. We have a whole variety of risks to the outlook that I’ve tried to enumerate, but we have great strengths in the economy too,” Yellen said.
“We shouldn’t just get involved in the semantics. Let’s talk about what’s going on.”
Smoke streams from wildfires in the West are growing taller, researchers have found.
he plumes are most likely increasing in size due to hotter temperature, smaller snowpack and an increase in aridity stemming from climate change.
In at least one area, the average height of smoke plumes increased about 720 feet per year, researchers found.
Smoke streams from Western wildfires have grown taller and climate change is most likely to blame.
In a new study published in Scientific Reports, researchers at the University of Utah found that maximum smoke plume heights have increased on average every year, with some places averaging a 750 foot increase every year since 2003.
Taller smoke plumes means that more harmful fine particles can travel farther from their wildfire source, potentially hurting more people.
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Wildfire smoke is made up of a mix of gases and fine particles which penetrate deep into the lungs causing numerous health problems from burning eyes to chronic heart and lung disease, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
For the study, researchers studied trends in smoke plume height and modeled plume activity for roughly 4.6 million smoke plumes in the Western United States and Canada between 2003 and 2020.
Researchers then divided the plume data along EPA ecoregions to compare maximum smoke plume height measured during August and September of each year.
In four regions, researchers found that maximum plume heights increased by an average of 320 feet per year and in the Sierra Nevada ecoregion of California, maximum plume height increased by 750 feet per year.
“Should these trends persist into the future it would suggest that enhanced Western U.S. wildfire activity will likely correspond to increasingly frequent degradation of air quality at local to continental scales,” Kai Wilmot, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Utah, said in a statement.
Wildfires in the United States particularly in the western part of the country have gotten more deadly. Already this year, wildfires have burned through 5.6 million acres, roughly twice the amount of land burned last year, according to data from the National Interagency Fire Center.
