Tag Archives : Build House

Parrott defeats establishment-backed Foldi in Maryland House GOP primary

Maryland Del. Neil Parrott (R) was projected to win the GOP primary for Maryland’s sixth congressional district on Tuesday, setting up a rematch with incumbent Rep. David Trone (D-Md.).

The Associated Press called the race at 10:03 p.m. ET.

Parrott defeated five other candidates, including former Washington Free Beacon reporter Matthew Foldi in the primary. Foldi garnered a number of major endorsements including Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Parrott’s primary win comes nearly two years after he lost to Trone in 2020 by nearly 20 points. The non-partisan Cook Political Report rates the rave “lean Democratic.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

NASA awards launch contract for next space telescope to SpaceX

NASA on Tuesday awarded a new contract to SpaceX to launch the agency’s next telescope into space in 2026.

NASA is expected to pay SpaceX $255 million to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from its Falcon Heavy rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Flight Center in Florida, according to a press release from the agency.

The target date for the launch is October 2026.

The Roman is the next big space telescope for NASA after the popular James Webb, which just released dazzling images this month of the universe looking back billions of years in time. Webb is transformative technology that can capture stars and galaxies light-years away in the infrared.

According to NASA, the Roman Space Telescope is the space agency’s next adventure. The telescope will “tackle outstanding questions in cosmology, including the effects of dark energy and dark matter, and exoplanet exploration.”

The telescope was previously known as the Wide Field InfraRed Survey Telescope but was renamed to honor the first woman to hold an executive position at NASA.

Roman, who died in 2018, oversaw the design and production of the Hubble Space Telescope, the first telescope to launch into space.

Source: TEST FEED1

Georgia fake electors may face charges in election probe

ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia prosecutor who’s investigating whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally interfered in the 2020 general election in the state has informed 16 Republicans who served as fake electors that they could face criminal charges.

They all signed a certificate declaring falsely that then-President Trump had won the 2020 presidential election and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors even though Joe Biden had won the state and a slate of Democratic electors was certified. Eleven of them filed a motion Tuesday to quash their subpoenas, calling them “unreasonable and oppressive.”

Also Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, agreed to file any challenges to a subpoena in the investigation in either state superior court or federal court in Georgia, according to a court filing. He had previously filed a motion in federal court in South Carolina trying to stop any subpoena from being issued to him there on behalf of the prosecutor in Georgia.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last year opened a criminal investigation “into attempts to influence the administration of the 2020 Georgia General Election.” A special grand jury with subpoena power was seated in May at her request. In court filings earlier this month, she alleged “a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”

Willis’ office declined to comment Tuesday on the motion to quash the subpoenas.

A lawyer for Willis’s office said in a court filing Tuesday that each of the 16 people who signed the false elector certificate has received a letter saying they are targets of the investigation and that their testimony before the special grand jury is required.

In the motion to quash the subpoenas, lawyers for 11 of the fake electors said that from mid-April through the end of June, Willis’s office had told them that they were considered witnesses, not subjects or targets of the investigation. For that reason, they had agreed to voluntary interviews with the investigative team, the motion says. Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer and another of the fake electors appeared for interviews in late April.

On June 1, grand jury subpoenas were sent to all 11 of those fake electors. And on June 28, the district attorney’s office told their lawyers for the first time that their clients were considered targets, rather than witnesses, the motion says.

On Dec. 14, 2020, when Georgia’s official Democratic electors met to certify the state’s electoral votes for Biden, the fake Republican electors also met to certify a slate of electoral votes for Trump. They did that because there was a lawsuit challenging the election results pending at the time, and if a judge found that Trump had actually won their electoral slate would become valid, the motion says.

The district attorney’s office knew all that and properly labeled them witnesses, prompting them to agree to voluntary cooperation, the motion says.

“The abrupt, unsupportable, and public elevation of all eleven nominee electors’ status wrongfully converted them from witnesses who were cooperating voluntarily and prepared to testify in the Grand Jury to persecuted targets of it,” the motion says. As a result, their lawyers advised them to invoke their federal and state rights protecting them against self-incrimination, and they “reluctantly” accepted that advice, the motion says.

Their lawyers assert that the change in status from witnesses to targets was based on “an improper desire to force them to publicly invoke their rights as, at best, a publicity stunt.” Therefore, they should be excused from appearing before the special grand jury, the motion says.

The motion asks Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury to excuse the 11 electors from appearing before the panel. It also asks him to look into Willis’ actions “indicating the improper politicization of this investigatory process.”

And it asks him to grant a motion filed Friday by state Sen. Burt Jones seeking to remove Willis and her office from the investigation. Jones, who’s the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, alleged that the investigation is politically motivated because Willis is an active supporter of his Democratic opponent. McBurney on Tuesday set a Thursday hearing on that motion.

Willis’s office has said Jones’ claims are without merit and a lawyer representing the office wrote in a filing Tuesday that Jones has identified no actions that show political motivation.

Source: TEST FEED1

Quidditch announces name change amid furor over 'Harry Potter' author J.K. Rowling

Three major organizations that promote and manage the sport of quidditch announced on Tuesday they are changing the name of the game to quadball, partly to distance themselves from “Harry Potter” author and quidditch creator J.K. Rowling.

The International Quidditch Association (IQA) and US Quidditch (USQ), which are governing bodies for the sport, joined Major League Quidditch (MLQ), a semi-professional league with 16 teams in the U.S. and Canada, in announcing the official name change.

Quadball, which refers to the number of balls on the field as well as the number of positions, garnered enthusiastic support among the sport’s community in surveys, according to the groups.

IQA, USQ and MLQ made the decision to rebrand for two reasons. One was to distance themselves from Rowling, who has made several comments criticized as transphobic.

The second was to trademark a unique name because film and media production company Warner Bros. owns the trademark for “quidditch.”

In the U.S., both the USQ and MLQ will own the trademark for “quadball.” USQ is transitioning immediately to change its organizational name to swap out quidditch for quadball, while MLQ will officially adopt quadball into its name next month.

USQ Executive Director Mary Kimball said quadball has grown significantly and the organizations were “committed to continuing to push quadball forward.”

“In less than 20 years, our sport has grown from a few dozen college students in rural Vermont to a global phenomenon with thousands of players, semi-pro leagues and international championships,” Kimball said in a statement.

Both USQ and MLQ filed to change the name back in December after polling both players and fans on the idea.

The IQA expects to enter into a license agreement to use “quadball” and will adopt the term into its name in the near future.

Chris Lau, the chair of the IQA Board of Trustees, said he was “thrilled” to be a part of the movement to change the name.

“We are confident in this step and we look forward to all the new opportunities quadball will bring,” Lau said in a statement. “This is an important moment in our sport’s history.”

The game of quidditch was adapted from the “Harry Potter” series in 2005 at Middlebury College in Vermont. The sport has now grown to around 600 teams across 40 countries.

Source: TEST FEED1

Senate votes to proceed to bill to help semi-conductor industry

The Senate voted Tuesday evening to proceed to a legislative vehicle that will carry legislation to provide $52 billion to the domestic semi-conductor manufacturing industry and help the United States compete with China.  

The 64-34 vote sets up final Senate action on part of a bill the Senate passed more than a year ago, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. The legislation has been stalled for months in a Senate-House conference negotiation.  

The original Senate-passed bill provided $250 billion to help U.S. companies compete with China as well as a large package of trade provisions negotiated by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho). The bill coming to the floor this week has been whittled down substantially.  

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said at a minimum, it will provide $52 billion to domestic semi-conductor industry as well as an investment tax credit.  

Schumer told reporters the bill is something “our country desperately, desperately needs.”  

He said if the motion to proceed passes with a large margin, he will add tens of billions of dollars to reform the National Science Foundation.  

“This will be a test vote and the outcome will decide whether the science portion of USICA is included,” he said. “If we get enough to pass it, which means some comfortable room — 60 votes — I will put the science provision in.”  

“It is my preference for the Senate to include the science provisions in this bill because they are so important for the future of our country,” he said shortly before the floor vote.  

The science section would provide $20 billion to establish a tech directorate within the National Science Foundation.

The bill received pushback from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who took to the floor to criticize what he called “massive corporate welfare” for the profitable semi-conductor industry.  

“I hear a lot of concern about the deficit here in the Senate and I hear people say, ‘We can’t afford to feed hungry children, can’t afford to deal with climate change, we can’t afford to guarantee health care to all,” Sanders argued. “You might want to also take into account tax break and corporate welfare for large, profitable corporations.”  

Source: TEST FEED1

CDC endorses Novavax COVID-19 vaccine

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has officially endorsed the use of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, a day after the agency’s advisory committee voted unanimously to approve it.  

In a statement on Tuesday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said she supports the panel’s recommendation, calling the new vaccine an “important tool” in the ongoing pandemic that “provides a more familiar type of COVID-19 vaccine technology for adults.” 

Walenksy added that having multiple COVID-19 vaccines in use offers more options and flexibility for people, jurisdictions and vaccine providers. 

“Today, we have expanded the options available to adults in the U.S. by recommending another safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. If you have been waiting for a COVID-19 vaccine built on a different technology than those previously available, now is the time to join the millions of Americans who have been vaccinated,” Walensky said in a statement, adding that being vaccinated against the virus is still the best option. 

“With COVID-19 cases on the rise again across parts of the country, vaccination is critical to help protect against the complications of severe COVID-19 disease,” she added.

The White House has announced it will purchase up to 3.2 million doses of the Novavax vaccine. 

The Novavax vaccine, a plant-based alternative to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, isn’t expected to make a huge impact in the country’s vaccination campaign. But experts have noted that it could help lead vaccine-hesitant people to get the shot. 

As of now, 67 percent of people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, according to CDC data. 

In a statement, President Biden said the CDC’s and Food and Drug Administration’s decision to authorize the Novavax vaccine is a step in the right direction in the country’s battle against the virus. 

“Over the past 18 months, my Administration has left no stone unturned to ensure Americans have easy and convenient access to lifesaving tools, including vaccines, treatments, tests and more,” Biden said. “While we know COVID-19 isn’t over, we can manage this moment and continue to minimize COVID-19’s impact on our daily lives.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Georgia Republicans press MLB commissioner over All-Star Game response to election law

Republican Reps. Barry Loudermilk (Ga.) and Buddy Carter (Ga.) sent a letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday demanding answers about the organization’s decision to move its 2021 All-Star Game out of Georgia because of a more restrictive election law the state passed last year.

The Georgia congressmen said the MLB’s decision to move the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver last year cost the state more than $100 million and had a negative impact on Georgians financially.

“The MLB let the liberal mob dictate business decisions in a shameful and despicable manner,” they wrote in a letter shared on Twitter. “It is shameful that MLB caved to cancel culture and punished the residents and business owners of Georgia. This decision by the MLB was predicated on a lie — it is only right for you to make amends.”

Loudermilk and Carter said they want answers on when the MLB will return the All-Star Game to Atlanta, whether the organization will remedy the harm it caused, and if the MLB will commit to “depoliticize” baseball in the future and consult all parties involved before making future decisions with a big impact.

Georgia passed the Election Integrity Act last spring in response to former President Trump’s false claims the 2020 election was stolen. The law limited the use of ballot drop boxes and enacted photo ID requirements for absentee voting.

Opponents of the law called it an attack on voting rights and said it would disenfranchise minority voters.

In response to the law, the MLB in April 2021 officially moved that year’s All-Star Game from the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park to the Colorado Rockies’ Coors Field in Denver.

At the time, Manfred said the decision was “the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport.”

“Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” Manfred added.

Despite the law, the May primaries in Georgia this year actually saw record early voting turnout, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s office.

Loudermilk and Carter, who have both falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen, argued the record turnout showed the law did not disenfranchise voters.

They accused the MLB of pandering to “baseless attacks” from the left instead of reviewing the legislation and making an informed decision.

“Based on these facts and the lack of any specific criticism in your statements, it is evident that you either did not fully review the text of the Election Integrity Act or willfully mischaracterized the law,” the congressmen wrote.

“This carelessness contributed to the further politicization of sports — America’s ‘pastime’ that has long served as a unifying force — and harmed Georgians,” they said.

Source: TEST FEED1

Hillicon Valley — Twitter gets a win against Musk with fast-tracked trial

Twitter’s lawsuit against Elon Musk is heading to trial in October after a judge handed the company a win in its quest to force Musk to complete the $44 billion acquisition.

In other news, the Department of Justice and the FBI disrupted ransomware operations of a North Korean state-sponsored group that targeted U.S. medical facilities, recovering roughly a half-million dollars in ransom payments. 

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar, Chris Mills Rodrigo and Ines Kagubare. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Twitter-Musk trial scheduled for October

Twitter’s lawsuit seeking to force Elon Musk to complete his $44 billion acquisition of the company will take place in October, a judge ruled Tuesday. 

The social media platform’s lawyers argued in Delaware Chancery Court that Twitter is being harmed each day that its dispute with Musk continues without a resolution and asked for a court date in September. 

• Musk’s lawyers contended that that expedited timeline would not give his team enough time to evaluate the data they’ve been given about the prevalence of fake accounts on the platform. 
• Delaware Court of Chancery Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick ultimately ruled in Twitter’s favor, setting up a five-day trial for October. 

“The longer the merger transaction remains in limbo, the larger a cloud of uncertainty is cast over the company,” the judge said. 

Read more here.

US recovers half a million in ransomware

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI disrupted ransomware operations of a North Korean state-sponsored group that targeted U.S. medical facilities, recovering roughly a half-million dollars in ransom payments made to the country, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced on Tuesday. 

Speaking at the International Conference on Cyber Security, Monaco said the seizure of the ransom payments — which she said were laundered through cryptocurrency — is the latest example of the DOJ’s approach to prioritizing the prevention of cyber attacks. 

• “This approach has yielded real results,” she said. “In the last year, those results — reflected in actions and disruptions — many of which began with critical reporting from and cooperation with companies who have been victims of cyberattacks.” 
• Monaco said a medical center in Kansas, which she did not name, was targeted by the ransomware from the North Korean state-sponsored group, which encrypted the hospital’s servers that store data and operate equipment.  

Read more here.

RUSSIA MALWARE APP USED AGAINST UKRAINIAN HACKERS

Russian hackers apparently disguised and advertised a malware-infected Android app as a tool to fight back against Moscow in an effort to expose Ukrainian hackers. 

Google’s Threat Assessment Group (TAG) released a report Tuesday explaining that Russians disguised the malicious app as one that would launch Denial of Service attacks on certain Russian websites — and distributed the app from a domain masked as an extension of the Ukrainian National Guard’s Azov Regiment. 

The distributor, Turla, is a group TAG attributes to the Russian Federal Security Service. 

“Join the Cyber Azov and help stop russian aggression against Ukraine!” reads the advertisement on the third-party site distributing the apps, according to a screenshot shared by Google. “We have developed an Android application that attacks the Internet infrastructure of russia.” 

Read more here.

Amazon sues Facebook groups

Amazon said it filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against more than 10,000 Facebook group administrators for allegedly orchestrating fake reviews on Amazon in exchange for money or free products. 

Amazon said in a statement that it has reported more than 10,000 fake review groups to Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and Meta has already taken down more than half of those groups for policy violations as it investigates others. 

“Our teams stop millions of suspicious reviews before they’re ever seen by customers, and this lawsuit goes a step further to uncover perpetrators operating on social media,” said Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of selling partner services. “Proactive legal action targeting bad actors is one of many ways we protect customers by holding bad actors accountable.” 

Read more here.

GOP ANTI-TRANSGENDER TWEET TO REMAIN ON TWITTER

Twitter is allowing several anti-transgender tweets from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) that reference Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine to remain on its platform. 

In one tweet, Greene includes a clip of a video of Levine, who is transgender, during an MSNBC appearance in which the Biden administration official says, “We really want to base our treatment and to affirm and to support and empower these youth, not to limit their participation in activities to sports and even limit their ability to get gender affirmation treatment in their state.” 

In the tweet, Greene uses offensive language to refer to transgender reassignment surgery and also refers to Levine by her birth name. 

Read more here.

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: A stand-alone CHIPS bill helps China by limiting US innovation 

Notable links from around the web: 

Leaked salary data show huge pay disparities at Twitter (Input / Chris Stokel-Walker) 

Facebook Internal Memo on Rivals Undercuts Antitrust Defense (Bloomberg / Leah Nylen) 

Amazon C.E.O. Andy Jassy Breaks From the Bezos Way (The New York Times / David McCabe and Karen Weise)

One more thing: Data bill on deck

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will markup the bipartisan American Data Privacy and Protection Act Wednesday along with five other bills.  

The bill is backed by Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.). A Senate version of the bill is backed by Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) — but lack of support from Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) means its chances of moving forward in the Senate are slim.  

Last month the House Energy and Commerce Consumer Protection subpanel voted unanimously to advance the bill.  

The proposal aims to create national standard for how companies are able to collect and manage user data.  

Several changes have been made to the proposal ahead of Wednesday’s markup. One would allow for private right of action to be taken two years after the law is in effect, as opposed to the initially proposed four years. The four-year delay was a key criticism from Cantwell.  

The changes also give the California Privacy Protection Agency express authority to enforce the American Data Privacy Protection Act the way it would enforce the California Consumer Privacy Act.

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

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Energy & Environment — Biden mulls climate emergency declaration

President Biden is considering declaring a climate emergency, though he is not expected to do so this week.

We’ll look ahead to Biden’s speech in Massachusetts on Wednesday and also examine gas prices, which have fallen under $4.50 per gallon nationally.

This is Overnight Energy & Environment, your source for the latest news focused on energy, the environment and beyond. For The Hill, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk. Subscribe here.

Biden to announce other climate actions Wednesday

President Biden will make a climate announcement on Wednesday, but will not declare a climate emergency this week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday.

• What they’re saying: “He’s going to take, as I said, additional climate actions in that vein tomorrow, and he’s going to continue — he’s not going to just stop with the actions of tomorrow, but I would not plan [an] announcement this week on [a] national climate emergency,” Jean-Pierre told reporters during a briefing.
• “Everything’s on the table. It’s just not going to be this week on that decision,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that if the administration does declare the emergency it would unlock a certain “pot of funding,” but she didn’t give many specifics.

“Declaring a public health emergency is very different from declaring a climate emergency. Each unlocks a different set of priorities and a different pot of funding,” the White House spokeswoman said, contrasting the potential for an abortion emergency.

Some intrigue: Earlier in the day, two sources told The Hill that an emergency declaration could come as soon as Wednesday — the same day that Biden is expected to discuss climate during a trip to Massachusetts.  

One of those sources later told The Hill that while the White House had previously planned to declare the emergency as soon as Wednesday, it later advised that it would not do so on that day.

Read more on Biden’s consideration of an emergency declaration here

AN APPETITE IN THE SENATE 

Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) called on President Biden to use “the full powers of the executive branch” on climate, following Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) declaration that he would not back climate spending in a reconciliation bill.

Speaking to reporters at the Capitol on Monday, Merkley called on Biden to explore options ranging from declaring a national emergency on climate to continued use of the Defense Production Act. 

He also called for “an end to greenlighting new fossil fuel projects and a beginning to greenlighting every possible renewable energy project, from manufacturing solar panels to the deployment of renewable energy to energy conservation.”  

Read more here

Gas prices drop below $4.50 per gallon

Gas prices in the United States are easing despite high inflation and the continued Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the average cost per gallon hitting a two-month low on Tuesday.

• Data from AAA showed a $4.495 per gallon national average gas price on Tuesday, the lowest since mid-May. South Carolina was the only state on the AAA’s map that showed gas prices under $4.
• Prices are down more than 50 cents from their June high, when prices reached about $5.02 per gallon.  

The drop in prices comes as the nation still grapples with high inflation.

Labor Department data released last week showed that inflation had increased more than 9 percent from a year ago as the country navigates lingering supply chain issues and exacerbations due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Read more here from The Hill’s Caroline Vakil

States have role to play as federal climate push stalls

State governments could play a major role in cutting the nation’s planet-warming emissions, especially with Congress unable to unify on any major actions, according to public policy experts still stinging from Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) decision last week to back away from action.

While Manchin’s decision was a serious setback that likely dooms any action on climate by Congress, it doesn’t mean meaningful cuts to emissions can’t be made.   

It’s just that they’ll have to come from state, county and city governments.   

Sam Ricketts, a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, said he sees a few different areas where states can step up their ambition.   

Like what? These include requiring shifts to electric vehicles, mandating clean energy use for electricity and electrifying new buildings.   

State and city governments working with private business can get a “good amount” of the way toward President Biden’s goal of cutting emissions in half by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, said Nathan Hultman, a public policy professor at the University of Maryland who has served in the Biden and Obama administrations.   

“It would be a few percentage points away, probably, if it’s just cities, states and businesses,” he said. 

Hultman said states might see “pressure from their own constituencies to revisit” their climate policies, including to “crank up the number” as a result of new scientific information and the political situation.

Cities, too: Madison, Wis., Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway (D) told The Hill that her city was working on initiatives including subsidizing solar energy, requiring buildings to report their energy use in the hopes of improving efficiency and partnering with a local utility to put chargers in public parking garages.   

But state actions could limit what even mayors want to do on climate change. State laws can prevent mayors from taking certain actions, Rhodes-Conway said.   

“In order to reduce the emissions footprint of buildings, we need to be making our new building stock as energy efficient and as low emission as possible, and right now, we can’t require that in the city of Madison because we’re preempted on building codes,” Rhodes-Conway said.

Read more about the role of cities and states here

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Lake Mead forecast: Southwest should brace for more water cuts from Colorado River (CNN)
• Australia’s environment in ‘shocking’ decline, report finds (BBC News) 
• Russia seen restarting gas exports from Nord Stream 1 on schedule (Reuters) 
• Where Dalí Once Painted the Sea, Wind Turbines Are Set to Rise (The New York Times) 
• Conservation groups offer alternate plan for Colorado wolf reintroduction that limits killing after livestock losses (The Colorado Sun) 

ICYMI

• Buttigieg spars with GOP lawmakers over Biden’s EV goals 
• As US faces climate setbacks, Australia plows ahead on reform 

📹 Lighter click: Very emu-sing.

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Energy & Environment page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.  

VIEW THE FULL EDITION HERE

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On The Money — Biden tries to find policies Manchin will support 

The White House wants to pass whatever it can from President Biden’s Build Back Better plan. We’ll also look at the golden opportunity inflation has given some businesses and nosedive in housing starts. 

But first, it’s probably not a good idea to get in the route of the first lady’s motorcade. 

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

White House looks to salvage domestic agenda

The White House is hoping to salvage what it can of President Biden’s agenda after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) all but struck a fatal blow to talks on climate and tax provisions. 

Rather than publicly sparring with Manchin or going back to the drawing board for a reworked deal, the White House is hoping to take any wins it can get in the short time between summer and the midterms, when Republicans appear to have a good chance at retaking both chambers of Congress. 

• White House officials and their allies believe passing a slimmed down reconciliation bill that addresses prescription drug pricing and health care subsidies would still make for a strong record given the narrow majorities Democrats have in each chamber of Congress. 
• That would be combined with the bipartisan infrastructure law, the American Rescue Plan and the recently passed bipartisan gun safety bill as major achievements for Biden. 

“Don’t sleep on the health care pieces that will get done. If they get over the finish line, they will be significant wins,” said Eric Schultz, a former spokesperson in the Obama White House. “If you add that to the rest of the victories from the past two years, we’ll have an impressive story to tell.” 

The Hill’s Brett Samuels has more here. 

THE FIX IS IN

Inflation is providing cover for price fixing: economists 

Economists and lawmakers are warning that high inflation is providing companies with an excuse to telegraph price increases during earnings calls, reducing market competition and compounding the pain for consumers.  

“They’re profiteering, and they are using this moment and their monopoly power in many industries to raise prices on consumers,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said in an interview, ahead of dozens of companies reporting second-quarter earnings this week. 

• The worldwide trend of high inflation, which has led to unrest and labor protests in numerous countries, is caused by larger disruptions in the global economy resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.  
• However, it is being exacerbated by companies in concentrated sectors essentially acting in cahoots to further price increases, economists argue. 

“A bout of inflation creates an opportunity that didn’t previously exist for firms in concentrated industries to coordinate better their pricing decisions,” Hal Singer, managing director of Econ One Research and an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business, said in an interview. 

The Hill’s Tobias Burns explains here. 

R.I.C.O.

DOJ pitches Senate on use of anti-mafia laws to seize Russian assets 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked Congress for permission on Tuesday to use a sweeping set of laws originally designed to break up the mafia as part of their efforts to pursue the assets of the Russian elite following the country’s war in Ukraine. 

The DOJ wants to include violations of sanctions and export controls in its definition of racketeering under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO Act, which allowed federal prosecutors in the 1980s and 1990s to go after organized crime rings on charges of extortion and murder for hire. 

• Under current law, the DOJ can only freeze assets that are deemed to be illicit, which means it can only prosecute people for transacting with them. The proposed rule changes would allow authorities to actually take control of certain Russian assets, extending what it describes as a “powerful forfeiture tool against racketeering enterprises engaged in sanctions evasion.” 
• The DOJ’s request at a Senate Judiciary Committee won immediate support from some senators — including Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), the top Republican on the panel, who said beefing up the RICO statute would help prosecutors secure convictions. But some senators wondered how far laws originally built to piece together vast criminal conspiracies from smaller bits of evidence could be extended in the international realm. 

There’s more here from The Hill’s Tobias Burns. 

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?

New home construction falls to nine-month low 

New U.S. home construction slipped in June to the lowest level since September 2021, underscoring a housing market slowdown.   

Housing starts fell 2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.56 million units, according to Commerce Department data released Tuesday. The decrease was driven by an 8.1 percent decline in single-family housing construction. Residential construction permits for future projects fell 0.6 percent.   

• Higher mortgage rates stemming from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes has cooled down demand for houses as first-time homebuyers struggle with sky-high prices. The average 30-year rate was 5.51 percent last week, up from around 3.3 percent at the start of the year, according to Freddie Mac. 
• While weaker demand could bring down housing prices in the near term, an extended slowdown in construction could send prices soaring, as the U.S. faces a severe shortage of housing supply. 

The Hill’s Karl Evers-Hillstrom has more here. 

Good to Know

The Biden administration is considering the declaration of a climate change emergency in response to congressional inaction on the issue.  

It’s unclear when and if such an announcement will come, though the White House had been considering a move as early as Wednesday.  

Here’s what else we have our eye on: 

• Twitter’s lawsuit seeking to force Elon Musk to complete his $44 billion acquisition of the company will take place in October, a judge ruled Tuesday. 
• Social media platform Facebook is moving resources from its news initiatives and newsletters in an effort to build a more robust creator economy, according to a company memo.

🍺 Lighter click: Whoops

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

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