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Health Care — Vaccines for kids clears key hurdle

We have our first peek at Ryan Gosling in his role as Ken for the new Barbie movie set to come out next year. 

Today in health care, parents of kids under 5 are one step closer to a vaccine (likely available next week). And Anthony Fauci has COVID. 

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, Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

FDA advisers back COVID vax for kids 5 and under

Long-awaited COVID-19 shots for the youngest children are one step closer to being available after a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Wednesday recommended the agency grant emergency authorization to vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. 

• The agency’s vaccine advisers Wednesday unanimously recommended the shots should be authorized.
• Moderna’s vaccine is for children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years, and Pfizer’s is for kids 6 months to 4 years old.  

Next up: The FDA will need to follow the recommendation. 

Then an advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet this weekend to issue its own recommendation. If the panel votes in the affirmative and the CDC director signs off, children could start to get vaccinated next week. 

Key difference: While the vaccines are largely interchangeable for adults, the pediatric versions are very different. The shots also haven’t been tested against each other, so there’s no way to tell parents if one is superior. 

Moderna’s two-dose mRNA vaccine is intended to be administered four weeks apart, and is one quarter the strength of an adult dose. Pfizer’s vaccine is three doses, spread much further apart. 

• The FDA previously said the vaccines are safe and effective, though neither performed very well in preventing symptomatic infection, mainly against the omicron variant. 
• Moderna found its vaccine was 51 percent effective in preventing symptomatic infection in children 6 months to 2 years old, and 37 percent effective in children 2 through 5. Pfizer was only about 28 percent effective.  

Read more here.

Fauci tests positive for COVID-19

Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases expert, tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday but is experiencing “mild symptoms,” the National Institutes of Health said.   

“He is fully vaccinated and has been boosted twice,” the agency said. “He is currently experiencing mild symptoms. Dr. Fauci will isolate and continue to work from his home. He has not recently been in close contact with President Biden or other senior government officials.” 

Fauci has been the face of the government’s response to COVID-19 for more than two years and has previously avoided testing positive for the virus.  

• Biden is so far one of the few top government officials who has avoided getting it, though the White House acknowledges he could.   
• Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra tested positive a second time in less than a month this week.  

Advanced age, but new tools: While Fauci is 81, cases are significantly less worrisome today than they were in the early days of the pandemic, before vaccines and booster shots were available, though there remains some risk.   

The Pfizer treatment pills called Paxlovid also lower the risk for high-risk people who test positive. 

Fauci’s positive case illustrates how widespread infections have become, with many people having tested positive at least once.  

Read more here.

MOST OLDER AMERICANS SEE HEALTH CARE AS FINANCIAL BURDEN

At least two-thirds of older Americans see health care costs as a financial burden, according to a new West Health-Gallup survey published Wednesday. 

• About 24 percent of Americans ages 50-64 — also known as “baby boomers” say health care costs are a major financial burden, compared to 48 percent who say the costs are a minor burden, according to the survey.
• Implications for the future: About 10,000 boomers a day cross the age threshold. By 2030, all boomers — about 77 million people — will be at least 65 years old, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 

At the same time, health care costs are expected to increase. The out-of-pocket costs for older Americans averaged $6,883 in 2019, up 41 percent from 2009, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported. 

Although most older Americans are covered under Medicare, they pay more than $1,000 on average than the general population because Medicare does not cover all expenses, such as dental, vision and hearing services. Increased demand because of the high number of older adults is also pushing up costs. 

Read more here.

ASSOCIATION SAYS ABORTION BANS ‘VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS’

The largest medical association in the country has declared it will take any necessary legal steps to protect patients and doctors that seek and administer reproductive health services — including abortion and contraception.  

The American Medical Association (AMA) announced Tuesday it was implementing a new policy that will expand legal protection for patients and physicians against government systems of control and punishment that criminalize reproductive health services.   

It’s taking direct aim at multiple states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Idaho, Mississippi and more, that have enacted strict abortion bans. Many do not include exceptions for rape or incest and allow abortion providers to be sued and charged.   

The AMA described governments intruding into medicine and impeding access to reproductive health services as “a violation of human rights.”  

Read more here.

Why have US COVID-19 cases hit a plateau?

Coronavirus cases in the U.S. have hit a plateau of around 100,000 new cases per day with little indication on whether they will rise or fall in the coming weeks and months of summer.  

• The current wave of cases began in April with the spread of the BA.2 “stealth” variant. Cases began to hover at the 100,000 per day mark in mid-May.
• Previous waves in the U.S. have typically declined a few days after reaching a peak, but the current plateau has now lasted more than a month.  

A possible look at what’s to come: For the past few weeks, cases have undulated only slightly up and down and public health experts say this trend may be indicative of what we can expect going forward. 

“I do think that there will be ups and downs, but I think they’ll be increasingly less dramatic. The highs won’t be as high and I don’t think the lows will be as low, at least for the foreseeable future,” said Eric Toner, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.  

The world at large: Globally, COVID-19 cases and deaths have been trending downward, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).  

“The global decline in reported COVID-19 cases and deaths is continuing. Reported cases and deaths have now both fallen more than 90 percent from their peaks earlier this year. This is a very welcome trend,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.  

Read more here.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Many Blue Cross Blue Shield plans aren’t paying taxes — and instead are swimming in refunds (Stat) 
• Supreme Court sides with hospitals on Medicare reimbursement (Bloomberg) 
• When Covid came for Provincetown (Wired)

STATE BY STATE

• Court hears arguments on Arkansas trans youth treatment ban (Associated Press) 
• New fast-spreading COVID strain detected in Maine (Portland Press Herald) 
• Minnesota’s latest COVID-19 surge continues slow decline (St. Paul Pioneer Press) 

OP-EDS IN THE HILL

• Senate gun bill includes solid mental health policies — but must focus on serious illness 
• Lessons from a rare case of shingles and a pop icon

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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Equilibrium/Sustainability — Scientists rush to save ancient Colorado River fish

Scientists are on a mission to save the “humpback chub” — an ancient fish under attack from not only invasive predators, but also from the impacts of climate change on the Colorado River.  

The chub, revived from near extinction decades ago, has increasingly become the prey of smallmouth bass, The Associated Press reported.  

Originally introduced as sport fish, smallmouth bass typically feast on the chub in the Colorado River’s upper section. The native fish has found refuge below Glen Canyon Dam, which obstructs the bass’s path to the Lower Colorado River, according to the AP.  

But as the water levels in Lake Powell — a key Colorado River reservoir — continue to plummet, the smallmouth bass have been edging closer to the dam and its penstocks, the pipes that deliver water to hydropower turbines, the AP reported.  

“If large numbers of bass and other predator fish are sucked into the penstocks, survive and reproduce below the dam, they’ll have an open lane to attack chub and other natives,” according to the AP.

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 continue with the Colorado River theme and look at possible water cutbacks in store for next year. Then we’ll return to Iceland to see how it’s used geothermal energy to solve a key problem with renewable energy.

Colorado River states may face big cutbacks

The Colorado River’s reservoirs have plunged to such alarming lows that significant water reductions across the basin may be necessary next year, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

Greater cutbacks imminent: Officials now recognize that preserving “critical levels” in the Lake Mead and Lake Powell reservoirs will require greater cutbacks in water deliveries, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, as reported by the Times. 

“A warmer, drier West is what we are seeing today,” Touton said. “And the challenges we are seeing today are unlike anything we have seen in our history.” 

• Touton said that between 2 million and 4 million acre-feet worth of reductions will need to occur next year, according to the Times.  
• These cuts will make a sizable dent in basin-wide water allocations. For the sake of comparison, California’s total Colorado River allotment is 4.4 million acre-feet per year, while Arizona’s is 2.8 million, the Times reported.  

An acre foot is a standard measure that describes the amount of water needed to cover an acre of land one foot deep.

Three million football fields: Describing these reductions as “a mind-boggling amount of water,” an Arizona Republic op-ed said that this amounts to “enough to flood 1.5 million to 3 billion football fields with a foot of water” — or about 38 billion to 76 billion average showers.  

Even if Arizona, California and Nevada were to implement every cut delineated in the Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan — which defines voluntary reductions that should occur in the case of shortages — doing so would only save 1.1 million acre-feet of water, the op-ed attested. 

Salton Sea could disappear: An official from California’s Imperial Irrigation District, which holds rights to 70 percent of the state’s Colorado River water, told the Palm Springs Desert Sun that although cutbacks are necessary, they could have detrimental effects on the Salton Sea.  

The sea, which is the state’s biggest inland body of water, depends on Lake Mead runoff from farmers for its survival, district director J.B. Hamby told the Sun.  

Can’t save both: Hamby described the situation as a “Sophie’s choice” between preserving Lake Mead or the Salton Sea, according to the Sun.  

“You’ve got two lakes, you can’t save them both,” Hamby said.

For Iceland, geothermal key to replacing coal

Geothermal energy — which taps heat deep within the Earth for power — has been the key to Iceland’s renewables push for more than a century and now provides the majority of the country’s electricity and heat.  

• Geothermal energy involves drilling into subterranean chambers of superheated and highly pressurized water or steam, then tapping the released power for either electricity or heat.
• This is well-suited to Iceland, a country straddling — and created by — the fault line between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, which forms a molten inverted Y-shape beneath its center. 

While Iceland is behind China and the U.S. in terms of sheer geothermal capacity, in no other country does this source provide such a large percentage of total power or heat. 

Now the country’s business and political leaders see big opportunities in exporting their technological know-how to countries where the technology is far more marginal. 

Securing the base: The biggest benefit of geothermal energy to the country is that — unlike wind and solar energy — it provides round-the-clock “base load” power,” Jóhann Snorri Sigurbergsson, of the country’s largest private geothermal plant, told Equilibrium. 

“We produce the same amount of energy every day of the year,” he added. 

A fine balance: While geothermal power is renewable, there are limits. Drawing steam for power lowers the pressure that forces it toward the surface, and therefore reduces the potential energy, Sigurbergsson said. 

• That pressure can be replenished by injecting more water, but that risks cooling the hot spot below.  
• That powerful pocket “can sustain itself forever — theoretically,” according to Sigurbergsson, who stressed that “you have to have your balance right.” 

Fixing intermittency: The continuous heat from beneath allows geothermal energy — along with hydropower — to provide the consistent power that  must otherwise come from fossil fuels, in systems that incorporate wind and solar power.  

Are there any other downsides? Yes, although proponents note they are small in comparison to the problems with fossil fuels. 

Geothermal energy still releases small amounts of carbon dioxide — 99 percent of the carbon earth is within it — and hydrogen sulfide.  

The steam also tends to smell faintly of sulfur, which gives Reykjavik a distinctive smell in winter months.

SUSTAINABILITY BEYOND CLIMATE

Iceland’s renewable energy campaign began in the 1920s — long before climate change was a policy concern — and sped up during the surging energy prices of the 1970s Arab oil embargo. 

• Geothermal proved crucial in Iceland’s 20th century push to ditch coal and fuel oil, Halla Hrund Logadottir, director general of the National Energy Agency, the state energy regulator, told Equilibrium.  
• Because the volcanic island is only roughly 20 million years old, it has no fossil fuels, which largely formed more than 200 million years ago. That forced the country to look elsewhere for cheap energy, Logadottir said. 

“We were lucky in the sense that we could develop the geothermal system from scratch,” she added. “We were not replacing another system.”  

Big savings: Replacing oil means “we are actually saving $1 billion every year in heating costs,” Árni Magnússon of Iceland Geo Survey, which consults with foreign companies on geothermal energy, told Equilibrium.  

Direct versus indirect: Iceland’s geothermal plants tap steam for electric power — but also use heat from the process directly for industrial purposes or to heat homes and businesses. 

“We are preaching the gospel of that direct use,” Magnússon said, noting that use in the U.S. is “not nearly as much as it probably could be.” 

Pilot in New York: On Tuesday, Cornell University began drilling on a geothermal borehole that it plans to tap for heat, according to the Cornell Daily Sun, a campus paper.  

That project was supported by Iceland’s Geothermal Research Park, the Cornell Chronicle reported. 

Lagging behind: Today the world currently uses about 16 gigawatts of geothermal energy — about 20 percent as much as global wind and solar, and 13 percent as much as hydropower, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. 

With just 2 percent growth every year, that lags far behind the 13 percent annual increase needed to keep the world on track to reach net zero by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency. 

The Hill this week is taking a front-row look at the push for new energy technology, with reporting supported by Green by Iceland, a public-private partnership. To view Tuesday’s edition on energy grids, click here. Tomorrow, we’ll look at how the country is building a business ecosystem that turns geothermal waste products into profit.

Kids more vulnerable from climate change: analysis

Infants and children are particularly vulnerable to the threats of both climate change and air pollution, experts argued in a new scientific analysis. 

Unequal burden: While all children are at risk, the greatest burden from these impacts falls on those who live in socially and economically disadvantaged communities, according to the authors, who published their evidence review in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. 

But every child is at risk: “While there has been significant progress in reducing poverty-related environmental risks in recent decades, industrialization-related pollution has steadily increased,” co-author Kari Nadeau, of Stanford University, said in a statement. 

“Every single child in the world is expected to suffer from at least one climate change-related event in the next 10 years,” she added. 

Understanding the harms: Combining through dozens of research studies about the interplay between fossil fuel combustion and childhood health, Nadeau and her colleague Frederica Perera, of Columbia University, determined that health professionals must recognize the multiple harms that their patients are facing.  

And those harms are? The scientists identified a variety of issues: 

• Extreme heat: linked to increased risk for preterm birth and low birth weight, hyperthermia and death in infants, as well as kidney disease in children.  
• Displacement: climate-related events have already contributed to more than
  50 million children being forced from their homes worldwide.  
• Air quality: 7.4 million children in the U.S. were exposed to lung-damaging wildfire smoke every year between 2008 and 2012 — a number that has only risen in recent years.  
• Food insecurity: Developing countries are confronting ongoing climate change-related food insecurity issues, leading to a sharp rise in malnutrition.  
   
• Diseases: The U.S. has encountered a considerable increase in Lyme disease, while the infection of pregnant individuals with Zika virus can lead to microcephaly and severe brain malformations.

Paying attention to disparities: Examining these climate-induced harms to children, the scientists also emphasized the disparities that exist among different populations.  

“Climate change and air pollution are exacerbating existing socioeconomic and racial and ethnic inequities in children’s health that are associated with structural racism,” they stated. 

To read the full story, please click here.

Water Wednesday

Thousand-year Yellowstone flood sign of things to come: expert 

• All of Yellowstone National Park’s entrances were closed on Tuesday after downpours from an atmospheric river caused what the park superintendent described as a potential “thousand-year event,” The Hill reported.

EPA lowers safety threshold for ‘forever chemicals’ 

• The Environmental Protection Agency is lowering its health advisories for two of the most notorious types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — PFOS and PFOA — to “near zero” levels: from 70 parts per trillion to 0.02 and 0.004 parts per trillion respectively, The Hill reported. 

Deepwater Horizon spill devastated the Gulf, but not BP’s stock 

• While the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill did serious damage to both the Gulf of Mexico and the reputation of British Petroleum — the company that caused the disaster — it did not cause long term damage to the company’s stock returns, a study in PLoS One found on Wednesday.

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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Energy & Environment — Biden pushes oil CEOs on gas prices

President Biden calls for oil companies to step up production, the EPA says “forever chemicals” are more dangerous than previously thought and Democrats who want a tax on oil profits are encouraged by the White House. 

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

Biden presses oil companies to boost supply

President Biden is demanding top oil executives boost the supply of gasoline, diesel and other refined products on the market to combat rising prices.   

• Biden told the executives in a letter this week that historically high profit margins for refining oil into gasoline and diesel were “not acceptable” during a time of war and called on the companies to work with his administration to address price increases caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to copies of the letter shared with The Hill.   
   
• Biden also said he was directing Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to convene an emergency meeting on gas prices with industry leaders in the coming days. And he warned that he is prepared to use his emergency powers to increase refinery output and capacity. 

“There is no question that Vladimir Putin is principally responsible for the intense financial pain the American people and their families are bearing. But amid a war that has railed the gasoline prices more than $1.70 per gallon, historically high refinery profit margins are worsening the pain,” Biden wrote in the letter, copies of which were sent to executives at Exxon Mobil, Shell, Valero, Marathon, Phillips 66, BP and Chevron.  

“Your companies and others have an opportunity to take immediate actions to increase the supply of gasoline, diesel, and other refined product you are producing and supplying to the United States market,” the president wrote. 

• Biden also asked the companies to submit “an explanation of any reduction of your refining capacity since 2020” to Granholm as well as any proposals to address current challenges with supply, price and refining capacity.   
• The letter represents the latest effort by Biden to address record-high gasoline prices, which topped $5 per gallon on average nationally over the weekend.   

Biden has limited options to address high gas prices unilaterally and has taken a handful of actions, including ordering an unprecedented release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve earlier this year.  

Gas prices were already elevated earlier this year but have been severely exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine, which began at the end of February and disrupted the global energy supply.   

Read more from The Hill’s Morgan Chalfant.

EPA lowers safety level for ‘forever chemicals’

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is saying that certain types of “forever chemicals” are more dangerous than previously thought and is considering regulating these compounds in groups instead of individually.  

“Forever chemicals,” a nickname for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are a class of toxic chemicals that have been linked to illnesses including testicular and kidney cancers and thyroid disease.  

• A Biden administration official told reporters on Tuesday night that the agency was lowering its health advisory — meant to inform the public about how much is considered safe to drink — for the two most notorious types of PFAS, known as PFOA and PFOS to “near zero” in new interim advisories. 
• It is also setting new final drinking water advisories for two other types of PFAS, called GenX and PFBS. Previously, it did not have advisories for these substances. 

What does this mean? These health notices aren’t regulations and don’t set enforceable limits on the substances. There is not currently a federal drinking water limit for PFAS, but the EPA is expected to propose the first-ever regulations this year. 

The agency has previously announced that it planned to set drinking water limits for PFOA and PFOS, but an official told reporters on Tuesday that the administration was also considering regulating them in bigger groups.  

Meanwhile: As the EPA weighs its anticipated regulation, it is also looking at its options for setting limits on more types of PFAS in groups, the person said, noting that GenX and PFBS could be part of these groups.  

• Health advocates have called for regulating more than just the two types of PFAS, instead saying they should be regulated as a class of chemicals. This is because, in the past, industry has swapped out one type of PFAS for another. The chemicals also often occur together in mixtures instead of one single type appearing by itself.  
• The advisories issued on Wednesday are expected to inform the agency’s future regulation.  

“People on the front-lines of PFAS contamination have suffered for far too long. That’s why EPA is taking aggressive action as part of a whole-of-government approach to prevent these chemicals from entering the environment and to help protect concerned families from this pervasive challenge,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement on the new advisory levels. 

Read more about the announcement here.

Big Oil windfall tax proponents ‘encouraged’ by letter

Congressional Democrats who have pushed for a windfall profits tax on oil companies said Wednesday that they’re encouraged by similar rhetoric coming from President Biden.  

• Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), the House sponsor of one of two such bills, said on a press call that he was “encouraged by the president’s leadership on this, and we’ve had people in the White House say they’re considering the idea.”  
• “The president has written a strong letter recently to the oil executives and become more vocal on the issue,” Khanna added. “So I see momentum for the idea.”  

In a letter this week, Biden called on oil executives to increase production of refined products, saying the industry’s historically high profits are “worsening the pain” caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to energy markets.  

“Your companies and others have an opportunity to take immediate actions to increase the supply of gasoline, diesel, and other refined product you are producing and supplying to the United States market,” Biden wrote. 

Khanna called the idea of a windfall profits tax “common sense” and a “mainstream, reasonable proposal.” Although the progressive wing of the Democratic Party has spearheaded the proposals, he noted that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government has imposed a similar tax in the United Kingdom. 

“There’s no reason we can’t do this in the United States,” he said. “When we did something similar in 1980, it led to a decrease in prices, and actually an increase in production for the first few years in the 1980s. If you look at the graphs of the prices and production in the early 1980s, this argument of how it’s going to have a negative effect is just not true.” 

Read more about the call here.

HOUSE PASSES BIPARTISAN WILDLIFE BILL

The House on Tuesday evening passed bipartisan legislation that would put nearly $1.4 billion a year toward wildlife protection efforts. 

The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act passed the chamber 231-190 Tuesday, sending it to the Senate, where it has already passed the Environment and Public Works Committee on a bipartisan basis. 

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) in a statement described the bill as the biggest infusion of funds toward wildlife and habitat conservation in several decades. It is projected to aid in the recovery of 1,600 threatened or endangered species. 

“The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act is landmark legislation that takes long-overdue action to address this crisis by using innovative, on-the-ground collaboration that will protect our nation’s environmental heritage,” Dingell said in a statement. “We have a conservation, economic, and moral obligation to act in order to protect and recover America’s wildlife for future generations. Grateful to the broad, bipartisan coalition that has fought for this legislation, and I urge the Senate to act on this bill right away.”

SOLVE FOR X

A group of bipartisan centrists known as the Problem Solvers Caucus met with energy industry representatives on Wednesday morning as the government scrambles to try to lower soaring gasoline prices.  

Attendees on Wednesday morning included members of the bipartisan group as well as Amanda Eversole, executive vice-President and chief advocacy officer for the American Petroleum Institute; Karen Harbert, CEO of the American Gas Association and Heather Zichal, CEO of American Clean Power, which represents renewables.  

After the meeting, caucus co-chair Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) said that the meeting was about hearing about “potential steps” lawmakers can take to get gas prices down.  

He added that he’d also like to see the Biden administration huddle with oil and gas executives to address short term issues, and would like to see climate legislation to address longer term problems.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Leaked list: EPA eyes closure plans for 160 coal ash ponds (E&E News) 
• More than 165,000 people in Odessa still without water after aging line breaks (The Texas Tribune) 
• $1.9 billion oil and gas merger targets Permian Basin amid growing energy prices (The Carlsbad Current-Argus) 
• Dust from the Sahara Desert is bringing heat and dry air to Tampa Bay (The Tampa Bay Times) 
• Climate change could trigger toxic disasters in Illinois, new report finds (The Chicago Sun-Times)

ICYMI

• Park officials warn Yellowstone flooding could be ‘thousand-year event’ 
• These are the factors that go into gas prices 
• Environmental groups sue Biden administration over western drilling permits

And finally, something offbeat and off-beat: Another member of the 27 Club. 

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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Republicans want to ‘reform’ Social Security behind closed doors — beware!

Republican politicians are scared to death. They seek to create a smoke-filled room to provide political cover. Of what issue are they so terrified? Social Security.

Republican politicians say they support Social Security. They say they want to eliminate its projected shortfall. But do they offer a substantive proposal? Absolutely not. Instead, they hide behind process to avoid political accountability.

They want Democrats to hide with them behind closed doors. The goal is to come up with an unamendable package, supported by Democrats, that is full of benefit cuts and gives Republicans political cover to rob working families of their earned benefits. Fortunately, the Democrats will have no part of it.

Democratic policymakers are offering concrete proposals for all the world to see. They are begging their Republican colleagues to release a proposal of their own.

The Democrats are calling the Republicans’ bluff, but the Republicans are refusing to show their cards. Why? Because they are afraid. The reason they are so afraid is not hard to see. They are radically out of step with their own voters.

As polarized as Americans are over many issues, poll after poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans — Republicans, as well as Democrats and Independents — believe that Social Security is more important than ever. They strongly oppose any and all cuts. They want to see benefits expanded. And they want the wealthiest to pay their fair share.

Of course, Republicans never acknowledge that they support slashing and even ending Social Security. Instead, they offer vague platitudes, professing their love for Social Security; they attack Democratic proposals; and they seek, as Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) proposes in his so-called TRUST Act, to create closed-door, smoke-filled rooms to do their dirty work without political accountability.

Or, they propose, as Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has, to require Congress to reauthorize Social Security every five years. That would undermine the Social Security guarantee, causing enormous insecurity for millions of beneficiaries. It would offer Social Security’s opponents in Congress enormous leverage to make draconian cuts even when they are not in control, thanks to the non-constitutional requirement of 60 votes in the Senate for nearly everything.

In true Orwellian fashion, Scott proposes, as part of his plan, “Force Congress to issue a report every year telling the public what they plan to do when Social Security and Medicare go bankrupt.” It is as if he is not part of Congress, at all. In truth, Social Security cannot go bankrupt but it is projecting a manageable shortfall, still over a decade away. The Democrats have put several plans on the table. What is your plan, Sen. Scott?

Republican efforts to hide their desire to cut benefits were on full display at last week’s Senate Budget Committee hearing on Social Security.

On the same day as the hearing, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and six of their colleagues introduced the Social Security Expansion Act. That legislation increases benefits by $200 a month for current and future beneficiaries. Among other provisions, it updates the minimum benefit, so no one will retire into poverty after a lifetime of work. It also updates the way the cost-of-living adjustment is calculated to make it more accurate — so important in this time of high inflation.

The Social Security Expansion Act pays for every penny of those benefit increases. It completely eliminates Social Security’s projected shortfall, so that all benefits will be paid in full and on time for the next three quarters of a century and beyond.

How does it accomplish all of this? Not by crouching in the shadows. It openly proposes requiring those with incomes over $250,000 to pay their fair share.

During the hearing, Republican senators were eager to state their opposition to the Social Security Expansion Act. Romney proudly proclaimed, “This bill has no chance whatsoever of receiving a single Republican vote in either House.”

So what do Romney and his fellow Republicans propose instead? The so-called TRUST Act: A commission, whose recommendations would be unamendable, subject to a simple up-or-down vote, that Romney wants us to trust with our earned benefits.

Disingenuously, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested a Senate vote pitting the Social Security Expansion Act against the TRUST Act. These are not in any way comparable measures. One is a comprehensive plan for Social Security’s future, the other is a cowardly retreat behind closed doors.

During the hearing, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) politely but forcefully called out the hypocrisy which all could see:

“What Sen. Sanders has done is put together a plan. On the table, open to everybody firing at it. if people don’t like it, they can say why they don’t like it. But it seems to me the beginning of this conversation needs to be an alternative plan from our Republican colleagues. Put your plan on the table so we can discuss it. Not something discussed behind closed doors.”

The last Republican to offer a substantive bill was the late Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas). He introduced his proposal in the lame duck session, when he was retiring. How many co-sponsors did he get? None.

Why? Because the bill was transparent and honest. It slashed benefits while transforming the program from wage insurance where benefits are related to earnings to a program where benefits are low and subsistence level for all. Revealingly, the Johnson plan cuts benefits by a larger amount and a decade and a half sooner than if Congress took no action whatsoever.

This plan isn’t just a relic of 2016. Sixteen Republicans from extremely safe congressional districts have just released a budget that essentially incorporates the Johnson Social Security plan, massively slashing Social Security benefits (notwithstanding that Social Security, by law, is not part of the federal budget, but its own, self-funded pension plan). 

They call for a vote on the entire budget. If they really mean what they say, they should introduce their Social Security plan as a stand-alone bill. Then, the House should vote on competing proposals for Social Security: The Republican plan to cut benefits, and Rep. John Larson’s (D-Conn.) plan to expand benefits.

Larson is the author of the Social Security 2100 Act, which is co-sponsored by over 200 of his colleagues. Like the Sanders bill, the Larson bill provides an across-the-board benefit increase, and a number of targeted increases. It pays for every penny of improvement, and cuts the projected shortfall in half. It does all of this by requiring only those earning over $400,000 to pay more.

The public deserves to know where their representatives stand before they head to the polls in November. If I were the Speaker, I would issue a public challenge to the 16 conservative Republicans: Introduce your Social Security proposal as legislation, and let’s have a vote on it and the Larson bill, head-to-head. 

I would be surprised, though, if the Republicans accepted the challenge. They know that, while their donors would be happy, their voters would not.

Nancy Altman is president of Social Security Works.

Source: TEST FEED1

House Democrats double down on claims of reconnaissance tours following Loudermilk video release

House Democrats are doubling down on claims that lawmakers may have led reconnaissance tours before the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, citing newly released footage of Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) giving a tour the day before the riot to a man who took photos of Capitol complex hallways before attending the rally the next day.

“With what that person had been looking for, the pictures he was taking, and then certainly what he did the next day, it certainly seems as if he was preparing for Jan. 6,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat from New Jersey who first sounded the alarm about “suspicious behavior” from visitors at the Capitol complex days before the riot, told reporters on Wednesday.

The footage, released Wednesday morning by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, depicts Loudermilk giving a tour to a group of people on Jan. 5 — including a man who is seen taking photos of hallways and staircases in the Capitol complex.

The clip from the congressional panel also features footage of the same man marching to the Capitol on Jan. 6 and threatening a number of Democratic lawmakers.

“There’s no escape Pelosi, Schumer, Nadler. We’re coming for you. We’re coming in like white on rice, for Pelosi, Nadler, Schumer, even you AOC. We’re coming to take you out, and pull you out by your hairs,” the unarmed man says in the video, referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

The committee released the video in renewing its request for information from Loudermilk regarding the tour he gave. The congressman was first approached by the panel for information last month.

Sherrill, along with 33 other lawmakers, penned a letter to the House and Senate sergeant at arms a week after the Jan. 6 riot asking for an investigation into “suspicious behavior and access given to visitors to the Capitol Complex” on Jan. 5. The lawmakers said some of the visitors “appeared to be associated with” the rally that migrated to the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“Members of the group that attacked the Capitol seemed to have an unusually detailed knowledge of the layout of the Capitol Complex. The presence of these groups within the Capitol Complex was indeed suspicious. Given the events of January 6, the ties between these groups inside the Capitol Complex and the attacks on the Capitol need to be investigated,” the letter reads.

Sherrill would not confirm on Wednesday if she was referring to Loudermilk’s tour in the letter.

U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, however, has since shot down speculation that suspicious activity took place at the Capitol the day before the riot, writing in a letter on Monday that authorities did not perceive any questionable activity during the Loudermilk tour.

“We train our officers on being alert for people conducting surveillance or reconnaissance, and we do not consider any of the activities we observed as suspicious,” Manger wrote to Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), the ranking member of the House Administration Committee.

Loudermilk’s office cited that letter on Wednesday, arguing that the statement “already put this false accusation to bed.”

“This false narrative that the Committee and Democrats continue to push, that Republicans, including myself, led reconnaissance tours is verifiably false. No where that I went with the visitors in the House Office Buildings on Jan. 5 were breached on Jan. 6; and, to my knowledge, no one in that group was criminally charged in relation to January 6th,” Loudermilk said.

But the release of the video by the Jan. 6 committee on Wednesday is prompting some Democratic lawmakers to re-up claims that reconnaissance tours may have taken place at the Capitol prior to the riot.

“The smoke is starting to clear. And to see this evidence it’s just so obvious that these were, indeed, reconnaissance tours — there’s no other way to look at it,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) told The Hill on Wednesday.

Huffman signed the January 2021 letter expressing concern about tours that occurred the day before the Capitol riot.

On Twitter Wednesday, the California Democrat said Loudermilk’s walk through the Capitol complex “is NOT just an average tour.”

“This clip appears to be insurrectionists conducting reconnaissance for January 6. The truth is coming out,” he said.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) wrote on Twitter Wednesday that the behavior in the video released by the Jan. 6 panel “doesn’t look normal at all,” adding “It looks like reconnaissance.”

Asked about his comments, he told The Hill that he was “astonished by the video.”

“Having previously [been] skeptical, it just sort of affirmed the astonishment that this could actually happen,” he said.

“​​It was pretty disturbing to see, you know, all the pictures being taken, and that paired with various pretty fiery comments,” he later added, saying it “clearly is possible” that the tour was a reconnaissance mission.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) in a Wednesday tweet said he was “deeply disturbed” a sitting lawmaker “is shown giving what appears to be reconnaissance tours to those who took part in the insurrection,” referring to the Jan. 6 committee’s video.

He told The Hill he has a “credible suspicion” that Loudermilk’s tour was reconnaissance, noting that the video enhanced that thought.

At least one Democrat is directing his frustration at Manger, questioning why the police chief would say no suspicious behavior took place amid an investigation. Huffman told The Hill that Manger “has some serious explaining to do.”

“I want to find out why the hell the Capitol police chief would do what he did, which is deeply concerning: To try to put his thumb on the scale in this issue, while an investigation was pending, and to do it in a way that is totally contrary to the evidence that we all can see,” Huffman said.

The California Democrat said Manger’s conduct “undermines our confidence in the leadership of the Capitol Police at the worst possible time.”

“I thought we were past this kind of nonsense,” he added.

Mike Lillis contributed.

Source: TEST FEED1

Who is Jim Marchant, GOP candidate for Nevada secretary of state?

Nevada State Assemblyman Jim Marchant’s victory in the Republican primary for secretary of state has sparked new interest in his background, especially as concerns grow over his position on the 2020 election.

Marchant, who moved to the Silver State in 2005, was elected to the Nevada Assembly in 2016, later making an unsuccessful congressional bid for the state’s 4th Congressional District after winning the Republican primary in 2020.

Marchant, considered a loyalist to former President Trump, is now vying to be the top elections official in Nevada, but his previous comments following the 2020 election and his campaign platform are drawing considerable attention. 

The former Nevada state lawmaker is set to take on Democrat challenger Cisco Aguilar, a former staffer to the late Sen. Harry Reid (D-N.V.), in November. 

Here’s a quick rundown on everything you need to know about the Nevada Republican. 

Why is he important and what does the secretary of state’s role entail?

Marchant just won the Republican nomination for Nevada’s secretary of state primary, which means he has a closer shot to becoming the state’s top elections official. The office oversees state and local elections and files and registers candidate expenditure and contribution reports, among other duties.

Barbara Cegavske (R) is the current secretary of state for Nevada; the top Nevada elections official is term-limited, and she was censured by the Nevada Republican Party last year amid baseless claims the party espoused about the 2020 election.

What has he said about the 2020 election?

Marchant alleges on his campaign website that he was “a victim of election fraud” during the 2020 election and has outlined in this upcoming secretary of state race that “his number one priority will be to overhaul the fraudulent election system in Nevada.”

“Your vote hasn’t counted for decades,” Marchant said during a candidate forum in February, according to The Associated Press. “You haven’t elected anybody. The people that are in office have been selected. You haven’t had a choice.”

Marchant was involved in alternative elector efforts in the state as Republicans sought to change the 2020 election results, The Washington Post reported. Then-candidate Joe Biden won the state, albeit by just over 2 percentage points. 

The Nevada Republican helped establish the America First Secretary of State Coalition, whose Republican candidates running for secretary of state races across the United States include Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) and state Rep. Mark Finchem (R-Ariz.). Its objectives are focused on voter integrity and to “counter and reverse electoral fraud.”

Aspects of the coalition’s agenda include voter ID, using paper ballots, getting rid of mail-in ballots while keeping absentee ballots and single day voting, among others.

Richard Semiatin, assistant professor emeritus of government at American University, said that Marchant’s success in the GOP primary is likely because “he’s preaching to the choir in Nevada in terms of where the Republican electorate is in the state.”

“I don’t know how that plays out in Reno and Las Vegas, but I’m sure in places where they’ve been very anti-government in the state, such as … in places like Elko, Nev., where they’ve always been a lot of claims of government conspiracies in places like that, in the more rural areas,” he said.  

“And that’s not .. unusual in the West … these rural areas and conspiracies are a big thing …. I think that that’s, you know, there’s a real home for that in that state, it’s just been awoken. That’s part of what this is about.

What are the odds he wins in November?

Semiatin says don’t write off Marchant’s chances.

“If you look at states across the country and you look at where the primary electorate is, that gives you a good signal of where the votes are. So I think that that’s really what you look at,” he said. 

“And I think this is one of the most important things that people …  often miss out. They look at, for example, the general election voters, where the election voter in the state … as sort of representative of the entire party, and it probably is,” he noted, “but the primary electorate isn’t necessarily that – they are the activists in the party.”

At the same time, Semiatin said that other factors could help motivate voters to vote Republican, including high inflation. 

His primary victory also comes as other candidates across the country who have hewed close to Trump’s election claims prove to be competitive. In Pennsylvania, for instance, Doug Mastriano shocked many in the Republican establishment when he won the party’s nomination for governor last month. Mastriano supports Trump’s unfounded assertions about the 2020 election and participated in the Jan. 6 events at the Capitol. Many Democrats have suggested he would be a weak candidate against Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro.

Yet a poll released earlier Wednesday showed Mastriano trailing Shapiro by just four points — within the margin of error.

Source: TEST FEED1

We will soon find out if FERC is serious about climate and environmental justice

In February, the obscure, but powerful, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) adopted draft policy statements that would require the agency to consider foreseeable greenhouse gas emissions before approving proposed interstate gas pipelines or liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals. These statements would also require consideration of the construction impacts of these projects on historically marginalized communities and communities of color that have long been ignored by FERC and by many other government agencies.

The policies outlined in FERC’s draft documents are not only right, but have been mandated by a number of federal courts, including one ruling last summer that said FERC was wrong for not examining the climate and environmental justice impacts of two fracked gas export terminals proposed for the lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. So, it is critical that FERC not succumb to pushback from the gas industry and its allies in Congress and make these court-backed rules final as soon as possible.

As a son and daughter of Puerto Rico, an island inhabited overwhelmingly by persons of color and which has been devastated by climate disasters such as Hurricane Maria in 2017, we have a special concern related to FERC and its oversight.

One company, New Fortress Energy, built a natural gas terminal in San Juan without receiving FERC approval. It’s hard to believe that a facility of that size could fly under the radar of the relevant regulatory agency during the time it was under construction, yet FERC never asserted jurisdiction over the terminal until after it was already up and running. That means FERC never considered either local or national environmental impacts before the terminal was built. 

While we appreciate that FERC has now stepped in, and that the D.C. Circuit Court recently upheld their power to regulate the new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, the reality is it was able to be built beside a cluster of pollution-emitting facilities and proximate working-class communities without any consideration of the impacts. 

The policy changes proposed in FERC’s draft statements would help other communities not have to face what the people of San Juan have regarding the unstudied and unsupervised construction of an LNG terminal.

Last year, we called on President Biden to nominate a climate justice champion to serve on the commission. With the confirmation of Willie Phillips, there is now a 3-to-2 Democratic majority on FERC that can advance the commission’s commitment to environmental justice, address the shortfalls that the courts have repeatedly identified and work to ensure that vulnerable communities don’t continue to be disproportionately harmed by fossil fuel infrastructure. 

Historically, the commission seemingly had never met a gas pipeline or an LNG terminal that it didn’t like. This was the case regardless of local impacts, regardless of whether the facilities were necessary and regardless of the extent to which the facilities would increase greenhouse gas emissions for many decades to come. FERC’s record on these issues was so awful that it was repeatedly admonished in court. 

We had hoped that swift and permanent approval of the policy statements would at least indicate a modest, but positive shift in FERC’s stance on the impacts of gas infrastructure projects on the land and communities surrounding them. As Phillips said during the hearing that earned him his seat, “But to be clear, the D.C. Circuit has been clear to FERC that they have a responsibility to consider climate change and environmental justice. And this is something that, if confirmed, I will also be focused on.”

Unfortunately, even that modest shift is now in jeopardy. Pushback from gas industry allies regarding the proposed policy changes was intense. The Wall Street Journal editorial board also criticized Phillips and two of his FERC colleagues immediately after they made their decision in February. The fact that new domestic gas infrastructure isn’t necessary to address Europe’s need for gas or high domestic energy prices seems irrelevant to those who front for the gas industry. 

There is still time for FERC to defy this political pressure and demonstrate that they are climate and environmental justice champions. They can’t possibly do so unless they take a first step by finalizing the two gas policy statements as soon as possible.     

Ramón Cruz is president of the Sierra Club.

Ruth Santiago is a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Bill Gates says NFTs and cryptocurrency based on 'greater fool theory'

Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Tuesday said that non fungible tokens or NFTs are “100 percent based on greater fool theory,” the idea that people can make money by purchasing assets that are overvalued and later selling them at a profit.

Gates, speaking at the Tech Crunch conference, said that he is not involved in cryptocurrency and added he’s used to asset classes such as “a farm where they have output or a company where they make products.”

He added that NFTs and cryptocurrencies are 100 percent based on “sort of greater fool theory that somebody’s going to pay more for it than I do.”

According to Gates, at the heart of the crypto and NFT movement is an anonymity allowing buyers to avoid taxation or government rules about “kidnapping fees or things.”

The billionaire also took aim at the “Bored Apes” Ethereum NFTs, jokingly added that “digital images of monkeys are going to improve the world immensely.”

Cryptocurrencies gained popularity during the pandemic and have been integrated into more asset portfolios, with banks and brokers now offering purchasing and custody services. Various celebrities have also offered celebrity endorsements for cryptocurrencies and a number of them, including former First Lady Melania Trump, have entered into the world of NFTs.

Gates’s comments come as Bitcoin plunged nearly 23 percent over the weekend, hitting its lowest point since late last year. Ethereum, the second most popular cryptocurrency, dropped 32 percent as well.

The total crypto market cap dropped below $1 trillion for the first time since January as investors unloaded their digital coins.

Source: TEST FEED1

Jan. 6 panel to focus on Trump pressure campaign on Pence

The relationship between former President Trump and Mike Pence will take center stage at the Jan. 6 committee’s third hearing as it examines the “pressure campaign on Vice President Pence driven by the former president.”

“Tomorrow’s hearing is going to focus on former President Trump’s attempts to pressure former Vice President Pence to unilaterally change the results of the election in the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6,” a select committee aide told reporters.

“Even as advice was swirling around the White House saying that this scheme was illegal, it was totally baseless, the president nevertheless continued publicly to apply pressure on Mike Pence,” the aide added, something that “directly contributed to the attack on the Capitol. And it put the vice president’s life in danger.” 

The committee has already shown video of a noose brought to the Capitol that day, and relayed that when Trump was informed about chants to ‘hang Mike Pence,” he reportedly responded, “maybe our supporters have the right idea.”

The committee has pledged to highlight not just the way Trump both privately and publicly put pressure on Pence to reject the election results, but the fallout that occurred afterwards, something that has resulted in a fractured relationship as both have eyed runs in 2024.

In Thursday’s hearing, the third by the Jan. 6 panel, viewers will hear from Greg Jacob, then senior counsel to Pence, as well as Michael Luttig, a former judge on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and conservative legal icon who was an informal advisor to Pence. 

Clips of the committee’s deposition with Pence chief of staff Marc Short are also likely to be played.

Luttig wrote ahead of the attack that the vice president’s role in certifying the election is only “to faithfully count the electoral college votes as they have been cast.” 

Both men will be questioned by Luttig’s former clerk, John Wood, a former U.S. attorney appointed by George W. Bush who now serves as senior investigative counsel for the committee. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) will also play an elevated role in the hearing.

Much of the hearing is likely to focus on Trump campaign attorney John Eastman, a conservative law professor who wrote two memos for the Trump campaign, including one that encouraged Pence to buck his ceremonial duty to certify the election results.

The committee’s battle with Eastman has already provided a win for the panel. The federal judge in the case denied Eastman’s attempt to shield some of his emails due to attorney client privilege – a protection that can be invalidated by criminal activity.

The judge called Eastman’s advice “a coup in search of a legal theory.”

Through that battle, the committee has already detailed the extent that Eastman’s plans upset lawyers both for Pence specifically and White House counsel in general.

“He came in and said, ‘I’m here asking you to reject the electors.’ That’s how he opened at the meeting” on Jan. 5, Jacob said of Eastman, according to his deposition before investigators for the House select committee shared in court filings in March.

Jacob recounts two meetings with Eastman, one on Jan. 4 and another on Jan. 5, where the Trump attorney outlined a number of scenarios, including having Pence declare Trump the winner or reject state electors as a way to kick the matter back to the states.

“I was surprised that we instead had a stark ask to just reject electors,” Jacobs said. 

After the riot, White House staff were furious at Eastman.

“I said to him, ‘Are you out of your effing mind? Because I only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth from now on: ‘orderly transition,’” White House counsel Eric Herschmann said he told Eastman when he called Jan. 7.

Herschmann pushed the phrase until Eastman himself repeated it and then told him: “Now I’m going to give you the best free legal advice you’re ever getting in your life. Get a great effing criminal defense lawyer. You’re going to need it.”

Jacobs and Eastman would also go on to have a heated email exchange amid the riot at the Capitol, with Jacobs criticizing him for forwarding legal advice that “functioned as a serpent in the ear of the President of the United States.”

“Thanks to your bullshit we are now under siege,” Jacobs said at one point in the exchange.

“Respectfully it was gravely, gravely irresponsible for you to entice the President with an academic theory that had no legal viability, and that you well know would lose before any judge who decided the case,” Jacob wrote.

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden bashes Florida, Texas bills targeting LGBT youth

President Biden on Wednesday bashed Florida and Texas for state laws that target LGBT youth, calling them discriminatory at a celebration of Pride Month at the White House.

“I don’t have to tell you about the ultra-MAGA agenda attacking families and our freedoms,” he said, noting that “300 discriminatory bills” where introduced in conservative states.

State bills in Florida and Texas have banned discussion in elementary schools about gender and sexual orientation and restricted access to health care for transgender youth, respectively.

“In Texas, knocking on front doors harassing, investigating parents who are raising transgender children. In Florida, going after Mickey Mouse for God’s sake,” he said to laughter in the East Room, which was full of members of Congress, advocates and others.

The hallway leading into the East Room was lit up with rainbow colors, and a digital rainbow flag was displayed behind the president. First lady Jill Biden, Vice President Harris, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay Cabinet official, joined the president on stage.

The president signed a sweeping executive order earlier on Wednesday that aims to protect LGBT youth from these laws and address barriers they face to health care and housing. The order will direct the Department of Health and Human Services to release new guidance for states on how to expand access to comprehensive health care for LGBT patients and order the Education Department to release a sample school policy that is inclusive of LGBT students, among other actions. 

The first lady also spoke at the event, noting that LGBT rights are under attack in conservative-leaning states.

“We know that in places across the country, like Florida, Texas or Alabama, rights are under attack. And we know that in small towns and big cities, prejudice and discrimination still lurk,” she said.

She also touted her husband’s history supporting LGBT rights.

“What Joe said 10 years ago was right. Love is love,” she said.

Biden was introduced by Javier Gomez, an 18-year-old from Florida who helped organize student walkouts over the legislation that critics have deemed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. 

“I’m fighting for the next little Javier. So, he doesn’t have to cry himself to sleep every night, aching that he wakes up normal,” Gomez said.

He called Biden “a true leader” on LGBT issues, adding that Biden is “standing up for us with action against these extreme attacks by the governor of my state [who] has turned his back on young LGBTQ+ people and our families,” referring to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

While at the event, Biden signed the executive order, which will also launch a new federal government initiative to crack down on “conversion” therapy, which aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Biden will call on the Federal Trade Commission to consider whether “conversion” therapy constitutes an “unfair or deceptive act or practice.” 

Biden spoke about the attacks on LGBT individuals in the U.S., specifically mentioning the 31 members of a white nationalist group who were arrested near an Idaho Pride event on Saturday.

“These attacks are real and consequential for real families, for real families,” he said.

“Violent attacks on the communities, including ongoing attacks on transgender women of color, make our nation less safe. These attacks were more than ever last year and they’re on pace again this year. They’re disgusting and they have to stop,” Biden added.

Biden called out LGBT members of his administration, including Buttigieg, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and assistant secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services Rachel Levine.

Biden said that Buttigieg is helping to rebuild America in his official role, which is focused on the infrastructure law, but that he’s also “helping rebuild pride in America.”

“My message to all the young people: just be you. You are loved, you are heard, you are understood, you do belong. I want to know that as your president, all of us on this stage have your back,” Biden added.

He reiterated his calls for Congress to pass the Equality Act, a bill that would ban discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. The bill passed the House last year, but stalled in the Senate, where Democrats don’t have enough votes to prevent a GOP filibuster.

Biden has made the rights of the LGBT community a focus of his administration, including protecting these groups against discrimination. He has reversed a Trump-era ban on transgender individuals serving in the military, and the State Department now offers the “X” gender marker on U.S. passports. 

Source: TEST FEED1