Daily Archives: August 28, 2023

Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., speaks at a news conference with members of the House Freedom Caucus outside the U.S. Capitol on July 25. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption

Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., speaks at a news conference with members of the House Freedom Caucus outside the U.S. Capitol on July 25.

While much of the nation tries to enjoy the last days of summer vacation, and Congress is taking its annual August recess, some members are already hard at work. They may not be physically present in the Capitol, or even in Washington, but their minds are on the mission they will undertake right after Labor Day.

Their goals are ambitious. So they want to make sure they have maximum leverage over the process when Congress makes its big budget and spending decisions at the end of the federal fiscal year.

And they are making no secret of how far they are willing to go. They see this next month as their window of opportunity to alter the policies and priorities of the federal establishment.

From their perspective, they have yet to deliver on the promises they made to the people who voted for them in 2022. They are especially focused on those who voted for them in the primaries first and then again in November, when their party won a narrow majority of the seats in the House (while falling short of control in the Senate).

Those all-important primaries were Republican primaries, of course, because we are talking here about members of the House Freedom Caucus a group of hardcore conservatives within the chamber's majority. Members of the caucus led the resistance to the election of Speaker Kevin McCarthy in January, which took 15 ballots to accomplish.

They have furiously protested the debt ceiling deal that kept the U.S. from defaulting on debt back in May. McCarthy had reached that deal with President Biden, and it passed the House with the votes of most members of both parties but not those of the House Freedom Caucus.

Caucus members were frustrated that the committee placements and rules changes they negotiated back in January when McCarthy became speaker did not seem to restrain him when it came to the debt-limit deal.

Now, caucus members want to declare a new day for the 118th Congress. They think they can force McCarthy to toe their line, because if he does not he will be subject to an effort to replace him. And they want September to be the month they shift the focus of Congress to their own aggressive agenda of opposing, investigating and even impeaching President Biden or members of his administration.

As a starting point, they are refusing to vote for a stopgap bill to keep the federal government operating past Sept. 30.

The stopgap, known as a continuing resolution, is a common fallback when the fiscal year ends and Congress has not finished all 12 of the regular spending bills that must pass both chambers. Without it, parts of the federal government shut down. At a July news conference, Rep. Bob Good of Virginia said McCarthy should seize the moment.

"We should not fear a government shutdown," Good said on the steps of the Capitol. "Most of the American people won't even miss it if the government is shut down temporarily."

Good, who opposed McCarthy's election as speaker, saw the choice in monumental terms for McCarthy and the country:

"Our speaker has the opportunity to be a transformational historical speaker who stared down the Democrats, that stared down the free spenders, that stared down the president and said, 'No, we're going to do what the American people elected us to do.' "

This month, the caucus members have been rallying around one of their own, third-term Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, who on Aug. 16 told a radio host in his home state he would "use every tool I have at my disposal to stop [McCarthy's temporary spending measure] and frankly to fight any efforts to continue to fund this government without radical reform for border security, at the Department of Justice and at the Department of Defense, at a minimum."

Roy and other members of the caucus have objected to Justice's prosecution of two criminal cases against former President Donald Trump and to the Pentagon's adoption of diversity programs and sensitivity training for military personnel.

But Roy, whose district lies south of Austin in rural Texas, also made clear his central objection is to the performance of Biden's Department of Homeland Security. He has called on Republicans to "put our entire careers" on the line to "stop funding that smirking son of a b**** Alejandro Mayorkas," referring to the current secretary of Homeland Security, with whom Roy has clashed in congressional oversight hearings.

Anyone who watched the 15 ballots it took to elect McCarthy speaker can visualize Roy, a towering presence in those long debates in the wee hours. But what is happening now is more than just rhetoric or intraparty intrigue. Government shutdowns have real effects on public employees and the public interest. The 2019 shutdown triggered by then-President Trump's demands for more border wall funding lasted five weeks.

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (right) talks to fellow Republicans then-Rep.-elect Chip Roy of Texas (center) and Rep.-elect Jim Jordan of Ohio in the House Chamber during the second day of elections for speaker of the House on Jan. 4. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption

Government shutdowns have never been popular with the public, at least in terms of opinion polling. But they are perfectly acceptable to the kind of partisans who often vote in GOP primaries.

So the prospect of a shutdown this fall is being taken seriously by serious people who know the system and its vulnerabilities. This week a former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican, told CQ Roll Call that "the odds are increasing every day that there will be a shutdown."

Cantor should know. Before he became an investment banker, he was in the House leadership with former Speaker John Boehner, who struggled with "Tea Party" hardliners in the fall of 2013. In that case, the sticking point was funding for Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act).

The blockade led to a shutdown of 16 days, one of the longest ever at that time. Negotiating an end to it was complicated by the involvement of first-term GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who personally rallied House members against him. Roy served as chief of staff to Cruz before getting elected to the House.

Boehner has since referred to Cruz as "the devil in the flesh." In the fall of 2015, once again clashing over the budget, Boehner threw in the towel. He resigned as speaker in mid-session, an ignominious end to a career that had brought him the Big Gavel when the GOP captured 63 previously Democratic seats in the 2010 midterms (the ones Obama called "a shellacking").

Boehner was replaced by Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan, who had been chairman of Ways and Means and the GOP's 2012 nominee for vice president. But Ryan too struggled to deal with the Freedom Caucus. Like Boehner, Ryan simply lacked the votes to prevail on the House floor without the caucus' support. Ryan retired voluntarily in 2019 after three years and three months as speaker.

More than two-thirds of the House Freedom Caucus today arrived in the House after the Obama presidency. But for those with longer memories of the partisan wars on Capitol Hill, the words "shutdown" and "impeachment" are closely associated with the last two GOP regimes that controlled the House.

Those Republican majorities, first elected in 1994 and 2010, are now remembered largely for their shutdowns (2005 and 2006 and 2013) and for impeaching Bill Clinton in 1998.

It must be noted that use of a government shutdown to pressure a Democratic president was a new tactic. Congress had always had the "power of the purse," as the Constitution requires legislation to move money out of the Treasury. But the world wars and Depression of the first half of the 1900s built a presumption that Congress would work with whoever was in the White House to maintain continuity of government. And presidents in both parties found ways to work with Capitol Hill, even when one or both chambers were controlled by the other party.

Then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks to the press on Capitol Hill in March 1995 about the upcoming vote in the Senate on the Balanced Budget Amendment. Renaud Giroux/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks to the press on Capitol Hill in March 1995 about the upcoming vote in the Senate on the Balanced Budget Amendment.

That came to an end with the election of 1994, a blowout win for Republicans that gave them control of the House for the first time in 40 years. It also changed the mood of Washington after two years of full Democratic control under first-term Democratic President Bill Clinton.

That win was engineered in the House by the party's No. 2 man, Newt Gingrich of Georgia, who would be elected speaker in January 1995 and last almost four years in the job. Gingrich's unified approach to the fall campaign got GOP incumbents and challengers nationwide to sign a pledge ("The Contract with America") to prioritize and vote on 10 specific issues. That amplified the party message and elevated its primary messenger.

The heady GOP expectations of that moment did not come to fruition in the short term. One reason was that the Gingrich team's first two years were marked by two government shutdowns and other dramatic confrontations that failed to derail Clinton's re-election in 1996.

Once in office, Gingrich made it clear he would use tools no speaker had used before. He was the first speaker to make a cudgel of the debt limit which must be raised periodically so the Treasury can issue new debt while paying off bonds and other U.S. obligations that come due. Gingrich wanted concessions in exchange for raising the debt limit, and the showdown threatened default and chaos in financial markets

Gingrich left the speakership late in 1998 after his party lost seats in that fall's midterms amid the controversy surrounding its effort to impeach Clinton.

In 2006, the GOP lost control of both chambers. But when Republicans stormed back into the House majority on the energy of the Tea Party in 2010, it was at first even more confident than the Gingrich crew. They believed the answer to resistance was to plow ahead and reject calls to slow down or compromise the big goals such as balancing the federal budget.

And that is the vision that the House Freedom Caucus of today wants to recapture, starting in September.

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The Freedom Caucus' shutdown threat recalls tactics of past House ... - NPR

Summary

This report to Congress is provided in accordance with section 608(a) of the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003, as amended, 22 U.S.C. 7701, 7707(a) (the Act).

The Act authorizes the provision of assistance for global development through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) for countries that enter into a Millennium Challenge Compact with the United States to support policies and programs that advance the progress of such countries to achieve lasting economic growth and poverty reduction. The Act requires MCC to take a number of steps in selecting countries with which MCC will seek to enter into a compact, including determining the countries that will be eligible countries for fiscal year (FY) 2024 based on (a) a countrys demonstrated commitment to (i) just and democratic governance, (ii) economic freedom, and (iii) investments in its people; (b) the opportunity to reduce poverty and generate economic growth in the country; and (c) the availability of funds to MCC. These steps include the submission to the congressional committees specified in the Act and publication in the Federal Register of reports on the following:

This report is the first of three required reports listed above.

The Act requires the identification of all countries that are candidate countries for purposes of eligibility for MCC compact assistance for FY 2024 and the identification of all countries that would be candidate countries for purposes of eligibility for MCC compact assistance but for specified legal prohibitions on assistance. Under sections 606(a) and (b) of the Act, candidate countries must qualify as low income or lower middle income countries as defined in the Act.

Specifically, a country will be a candidate country in the low income category for FY 2024 if it

A country will be a candidate country in the lower middle income category for FY 2024 if it

Under section 606(c) of the Act as applied for FY 2024, a country with per capita income changes from FY 2023 to FY 2024 such that the country would be reclassified from the low income category to the lower middle income category or vice versa will retain its income status in its former category for FY 2024 and two subsequent fiscal years (FY 2025 and FY 2026). A country that has transitioned to the upper middle income category does not qualify as a candidate country.

Pursuant to section 606(d) of the Act, the Board identified the following countries as candidate countries under the Act for FY 2024. In so doing, the Board referred to the prohibitions on assistance to countries for FY 2023 under the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023 (FY 2023 SFOAA) contained in Division K of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (P.L. 117-103).

Countries that would be considered candidate countries for purposes of eligibility for MCC compact assistance for FY 2024 but are ineligible to receive United States economic assistance under part I of the Foreign Assistance Act by reason of the application of any provision of the Foreign Assistance Act or any other provision of law are listed below. This list is based on legal prohibitions against economic assistance that apply as of July 25, 2023.

Countries identified above as candidate countries, as well as countries that would be considered candidate countries but for the applicability of legal provisions that prohibit U.S. economic assistance, may be the subject of future statutory restrictions or determinations, or changed country circumstances, that affect their legal eligibility for assistance under part I of the Foreign Assistance Act by reason of application of the Foreign Assistance Act or any other provision of law for FY 2024.

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Report on Countries that are Candidates for Millennium Challenge ... - Millennium Challenge Corporation

Joe Biden is president of the United States.

Sixty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and hundreds of thousands of fellow Americans marched on Washington for jobs and freedom. In describing his dream for us all, Dr. King spoke of redeeming the promissory note to which every American was to fall heir derived from the very idea of America we are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. While weve never fully lived up to that promise as a nation, we have never fully walked away from it, either. Each day of the Biden-Harris administration, we continue the march forward.

That includes a fundamental break with trickle-down economics that promised prosperity but failed America, especially Black Americans, over the past several decades. Trickle-down economics holds that taxes should be cut for the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations, that public investments in priorities such as education, infrastructure and health care should be shrunk, and good jobs shipped overseas. It has exacerbated inequality and systemic barriers that make it harder for Black Americans to start a business, own a home, send their children to school and retire with dignity.

Vice President Harris and I came into office determined to change the economic direction of the country and grow the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down. Our plan Bidenomics is working. Because of the major laws and executive orders Ive signed from the American Rescue Plan, the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Chips and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, my executive orders on racial equity and more were advancing equity in everything we do making unprecedented investments in all of America, including for Black Americans.

This administration will continue to prioritize increasing access to government contracting and lending. We awarded a record $69.9 billion in federal contracts to small, disadvantaged businesses in fiscal 2022. Were taking on housing discrimination and increasing Black homeownership. To date, weve invested more than $7 billion in historically Black colleges and universities to prepare students for high-growth industries. Weve approved more than $116 billion in student loan debt cancellation for 3.4 million Americans so that borrowers receive the relief they deserve. And a new student debt repayment plan is helping Black students and families cut in half their total lifetime payments per dollar borrowed. Were doing all of this by making sure the biggest corporations begin to pay their fair share, keeping my commitment that Americans earning less than $400,000 a year not pay a single penny more in federal taxes.

And to help guide these policies, I made it a priority to appoint Black leaders to my Cabinet, my staff, in the judiciary and to key positions in agencies such as the Federal Reserve to ensure policymakers represent the experiences of all Americans in the economy.

But we know government cant do it alone. Private-sector leaders have rightly acted to ensure their companies are more reflective of America, often in response to their employees, their customers and their own consciences. Right now, the same guardians of trickle-down economics who attack our administrations economic policies are also attacking the private sector and the views of the American people. A recent poll from the nonpartisan Black Economic Alliance Foundation shows overwhelming bipartisan support for promoting diversity as central to a company being more innovative and more profitable, and central to fulfilling the promise of our country for all Americans. Despite the attacks, we all must keep pushing to create a workforce that reflects America.

For generations, Black Americans havent always been fully included in our democracy or our economy, but by pure courage and heart, they have never given up pursuing the American Dream. We saw in Jacksonville, Fla., yet another community wounded by an act of gun violence, reportedly fueled by hate-filled animus. We must refuse to live in a country where Black families going to the store or Black students going to school live in fear of being gunned down because of the color of their skin. On this day of remembrance, let us keep showing that racial equity isnt just an aspiration. Let us reject the cramped view that America is a zero-sum game that holds that for one to succeed, another must fail. Let us remember America is big enough for everyone to do well and reach their God-given potential.

Thats how we redeem the promissory note of our nation.

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Opinion | Joe Biden op-ed: 60 years after March on Washington, we ... - The Washington Post

In 2020, Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang suggested Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a potential answer to job displacement from artificial intelligence. In those days, the general public had little idea of what OpenAI or ChatGPT could do.

Many didnt even know it existed. After all, GPT-3 didnt release until June of that year. The idea that a chatbot could write blogs, create PowerPoints, analyze data, and complete detailed reports with pie charts and bar graphs, all in a minute or two, was a foreign concept to the human workers doing those very jobs day in and day out.

Yang didnt come close to clinching the nomination, but he was the only candidate speaking about the looming near-term potential for job displacement as a result of this new technology. His suggestion supplement every American adult with a $1,000 per month Freedom Dividend sounded necessary to some and socialist to others. He proposed paying for it with a value-added tax (VAT). His ideas have since been adopted by several U.S. cities, including Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Oakland, and are dispensed to around 26 million Americans at the time of this article.

A recent poll found over two-thirds of respondents wanted UBI, with more Democrats than Republicans (82%-48%) and more GenZers than Baby Boomers (79%-63%) driving the results. Generation X was the least in favor at 61%, while 12% of the country was neutral and just 20% opposed the concept altogether.

Its difficult to say whether Yangs system could work on a national scale. The closest weve seen to the federal government running such a program is Social Security, and, according to the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds Annual Report, released on March 31, 2023, thats not going particularly well. The report postulates that the Medicare Trust Fund will become insolvent by 2031 and the Social Security Trust Fund will follow by 2033. In other words, recipients will no longer be able to receive their full benefits as promised if Congress doesnt take action.

Spoiler alert: they likely will.

If history is a guide, thats likely to result in your children and grandchildren working past the age of 67 (current age) before becoming eligible. Considering that life expectancy declined during the pandemic and has only recently inched up to 79.1 years (81 for females, 77 for males), thats not a lot of time to enjoy your Golden Years.

Following Yangs lead nationally would be a $3.132 trillion expense to a government that spent $1.45 trillion more in fiscal year 2022 than it took in. If you have faith in Washington to make the cuts required to accommodate UBI, then you might be a cockeyed optimist. Thats because our politicians have only logged surpluses five times in the last 50 years, with the last time being a relatively measly $128 billion in 2001.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued a new report on Aug. 2, 2023, that looked at the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas using data from the World Economic Forum and Bureau of Labor Statistics. Their findings found that more than 10 million jobs fell into the at-risk category from AI adoption. These were mostly administrative roles (i.e., record-keepers, cashiers), accountants, bookkeepers, factory workers, and traditional security roles. Las Vegas was the most at-risk with around 16% of its workforce in danger by the year 2027. Other high-rankers were Miami, Louisville, Orlando, Houston, and Grand Rapids.

The good news: AI could be a massive job creator, provided governments can regulate it without stifling innovation. A PwC report projects the technology to add an average of 14% to 16% to the global economy, the equivalent of a $15.7 trillion contribution. Our share of that could be around 14.5%, or $3.7 trillion, more than enough to pay for a UBI program at the scale Yang envisioned. Expect discussion of this possibility among regulators as they seek ways to temporarily address job displacement or aid in upskilling for those who are employed.

For now, elected officials seem to understand the enormous responsibility that rests on their shoulders. Even if theyre unable to fully grasp the complexity of the tech, their study into possible regulations that launched in April of this year demonstrates a grasp of whats at stake. Whether that understanding translates into the right action, however, is anyones guess.

Editors note: Aric Mitchell is an AI consultant and communications strategist, and produces the AI-focused newsletter, Innovation Dispatch. The opinions expressed are those of the author.

Continue reading here:

Universal Basic Income: Fiscal fantasy or AI necessity? - talkbusiness.net

Passengers board a Bay Area Rapid Transit train in Oakland, Calif. A bill to create some stopgap funding for public transit agencies like BART stalled on Monday in the Legislature. | Ben Margot/AP Photo

DRIVING THE DAY: Lawmakers in Sacramento today are convening for a joint hearing on Gov. Gavin Newsoms prized Mental Health Services Act reform bill. The Assemblys Housing and Health committees, chaired by Buffy Wicks and Jim Wood, respectively, will hold an informational briefing before the Health Committee takes a vote later in the day.

THE BUZZ The future of Bay Area transit agencies is once again in limbo after an effort to bridge a gap in funding stalled Monday.

A bill by state Sen. Scott Wiener to temporarily raise tolls on seven area bridges by $1.50 was paused by the author this week amid discord in the Bay Area delegation. Wiener said he plans to work with his regional colleagues through the fall in hopes of a consensus.

But Mondays decision to hold the bill does mean delaying a solution to a problem that is already running up against the clock.

The hope was to use the increased toll revenue to keep the buses and trains running as federal funds dwindle and agencies recover from the post-pandemic ridership slump. But some lawmakers, including members of Congress, balked at the idea of raising costs for commuters.

And others simply said they refuse to fund the agencies until they agree to more oversight and accountability.

They dont deserve a bailout until they can get their act together, said Democratic state Sen. Steve Glazer, who represents much of Contra Costa County. I want the transit agencies to thrive, but you cant just keep giving them money when they refuse to adhere to any basic standards of responsibility.

For months, agencies like BART and MUNI have been sounding alarms about a rapidly-approaching fiscal cliff as emergency federal relief funding runs out and ridership remains low. The situation reached a crisis level earlier this year when Newsom proposed slashing $2 billion from their budget. Advocates and Bay Area lawmakers were able to turn that around, eventually securing $400 million over the next four years. But Wiener and backers say its still far too short of the $2.5 billion needed to keep the trains running on time literally.

Without more money from the state, they said, the Bay Area could see a reduction in services in the next year or two.

Its very disappointing, and its a blow to our efforts to maintain Muni service after federal pandemic relief funds run out next year, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency spokesperson Erica Kato said n a statement.

At its core, this is a question about San Franciscos future. The citys downtown and entertainment districts have struggled to recover after the pandemic. Empty office spaces, the loss of high-profile retailers and sprawl of homeless encampments and drug use have painted an unsavory picture of one of Californias crown jewels.

A loss of public transit would not only delay the recovery, Wiener argues, but could reverse it altogether.

No matter how upset any of us might be with a particular transit system, the question is will the Bay Area be a better or worse place if BART falls apart and MUNI has to slash service, he said in an interview. And I think the answer is, unequivocally, itll be a worse place.

A message from Heat Pump Nation Inc.:

We need a plan NOW to fight the climate crisis and protect our communities from extreme heat. AB 593 directs California to develop a comprehensive emissions reduction strategy for homes and buildings that safeguards low-income households, supports clean energy jobs, and creates resilient communities. Learn more at https://theheatpumpnation.org/california-ab593/.

HAPPY TUESDAY. Thanks for waking up with Playbook.

PLAYBOOK TIP LINE Which bills are you hoping will make it off the suspense file later this month? Which ones are you expecting to fail? Let us know.

Now you can text us at 916-562-0685 save it as CA Playbook in your contacts now.

Or drop us a line at [emailprotected] and [emailprotected], or on Twitter @DustinGardiner and @Lara_Korte

WHERES GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: This evening, Los Angeles received another bus from Texas. That means that while we were urging Angelenos to stay safe, the Governor of Texas was sending a bus with families and toddlers straight towards us KNOWING theyd have to drive right into an unprecedented storm. Evil. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in a tweet Monday night.

POLITICO's light rail trail spotted in Downtown Sacramento. | Rachel Bluth/POLITICO

CAPTION THAT TRAIN You might have spotted the POLITICO train rolling around Sacramento! Its all part of our California expansion. CONTEST ALERT: We want your best photos of the POLITICO CA Express in the wild. Share them with your best creative caption using the hashtag #PoliticoCAExpress on X (Twitter) or Instagram so we dont miss them. You can also send them to [emailprotected] and [emailprotected].

The winner will get a MAJOR prize a VIP admission, including a special POLITICO swag bag, to our Sept. 12 launch event featuring a conversation with Gov. Gavin Newsom (Think open bar featuring specialty Cali Cocktails, tasty nibbles & apps and a chance to rub elbows with California power brokers and Playbookers.). Happy hunting!

Republican presidential candidate and radio show host Larry Elder stands on the grand concourse during the national anthem at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 10. Elders recent financial disclosures show how he makes his money. | Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo

ELDER ECONOMICS Presidential candidate Larry Elder fell a few polling points shy of qualifying for the first GOP debate Monday night, but a new document filed Monday showed us just how the Sage of South Central and perennial California candidate makes his moolah.

Per his own disclosure, Elder, who has spent decades building his brand as a bombastic conservative radio show host, columnist, author and film producer, gets most of his money as a consultant to the right-leaning media outlet, Epoch Times. Elder teamed up with the outlet in 2020 to launch a web series known as The Larry Elder Show. He lists earning between $1 million and $5 million from the outlet.

He also sits on the board of directors of an Oklahoma bank known as Old Glory, along with former HUD Secretary Ben Carson, earning a salary of more than $100,000.

He also is an adviser to an Ohio-based messenger app company known as Freedom Chat, and owns his own business, Laurence A. Elder & Associates Inc., which he started in 1979.

He lists over two dozen other avenues of income including earning between $100,000 and $1 million promoting the anti-inflammatory supplement Relief Factor (You mightve seen his commercial on Fox News.). He also made between $100,000 and $1 million as a consultant with his own PAC, Elder for America.

Two other California politicians also pop up in his disclosure state Sen. Shannon Grove and Republican Senate candidate Eric Early both gave up between $5,000 and $15,000 as an honorarium, which is often used to denote fees for speaking engagements.

SIGNING SEASON Want California voters to pass your policy? Its time to get going: Todays the last day to submit a ballot initiative if you want to maximize your chances at success, per the secretary of states recommended timeline. As of Monday, there were 26 in various stages of the process:

Four (4) qualified for the 2024 ballot: Two referenda, one challenging a fast food labor law and the other challenging a ban on new oil wells near homes; and two Legislature-passed constitutional amendments, one on public housing and one on same-sex marriage.

Five (5) with enough signatures to be eligible: Voters could decide on measures to fund pandemic prevention by taxing the rich, raise the minimum wage, repeal a law allowing private labor lawsuits, make it harder to raise taxes and enable more local rent control.

Five (5) cleared for circulation: Three constitutional public education guarantees, one push to repeal changes to how inherited property is taxed and one effort to decriminalize shrooms.

Eleven (11) awaiting title and summary: See for yourself.

Jeremy B. White

A message from Heat Pump Nation Inc.:

Suspect named in fatal shooting of California store owner over a Pride flag, by NBCs Matt Lavietes and Andrew Blankstein: Travis Ikeguchi, 27, was responsible for shooting Laura Ann Carleton, 66, to death after yelling many homophobic slurs about the stores Pride flag Friday, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said at a news conference Monday.

LGBTQ students are returning to hostile school environments even in California, by the San Francisco Chronicles Erin Allday: Pressure campaigns, largely led by conservative parent groups, have successfully lobbied school boards to out students gender-affirming requests, censor curriculums and ban books and Pride flags. In some cases, school board clashes have become intense and even violent.

Drug overdose death rates for every U.S. county, by the San Francisco Chronicle: In an effort to better understand the emergence of drugs like fentanyl, which is exceedingly cheap, accessible and lethal, The Chronicle developed this tracker using mortality data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which bases its estimates on reports from coroners and medical examiners around the country.

TRANSITIONS Tessa Browne is now comms director for Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.). She recently got a master of public administration degree from Columbia SIPA.

Longtime public affairs strategist Amy Thoma Tan on Monday announced the launch of Cobalt Public Affairs in Sacramento. Also joining the firm of counsel is former independent member of the legislature Chad Mayes.

A message from Heat Pump Nation Inc.:

Extreme heat is here to stay. California needs a statewide plan to upgrade homes and buildings with clean cooling. AB 593 ensures that Californians can create safe and healthy climate-ready homes and communities.

YES on AB 593 for:

Learn more at https://theheatpumpnation.org/california-ab593/.

CALIFORNIA POLICY IS ALWAYS CHANGING: Know your next move. From Sacramento to Silicon Valley, POLITICO California Pro provides policy professionals with the in-depth reporting and tools they need to get ahead of policy trends and political developments shaping the Golden State. To learn more about the exclusive insight and analysis this subscriber-only service offers, click here.

Want to make an impact? POLITICO California has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Golden State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause youre promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness amongst this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: [emailprotected].

CORRECTION: A previous version misstated the total state funding advocates say is needed to keep Bay Area transit functioning over the next four years. It is $2.5 billion.

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Hurtling toward a fiscal cliff - POLITICO - POLITICO

As Prepared for Delivery

Joint Money Committee Speech

August 23, 2023

Accelerating Results and Lifting Up All Virginians

Good morning, everyone.

Chair Barker, Chairman Knight, Co-Chair Howell, and Chairwoman Robinson, thank you for inviting me to address this body of legislators on issues of the utmost importance to Virginians and our Commonwealth.

Given that this is most likely the last formal opportunity to address many of you who are retiring, I just wanted to take a moment and honor your service.

The idea behind Virginias Citizen Legislature suggests it is a part-time job, but each of you knows it is a full-time commitment. I want to thank you for your dedicated service and commitment to our beloved Commonwealth of Virginia.

It was on January 17, 2022, that I first stood before the General Assembly and asked that we come together, not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Virginians.

I asked that we come together and deliver on a plan to unleash the full God-given potential of every man, woman and child across the Commonwealth in pursuit of their goals and aspirations.

At that time, Virginia was in the bottom 3rd in the nation for job growth. Over 142,000 Virginians had dropped-out of our labor force.

More Virginians were moving away from our Commonwealth than into it from the other 49 states a trend that persisted for 9 straight years.

Tax and fee burdens had climbed, job numbers had declined, and the murder rate hit a 20-year high. Student performance fell.

And yet, in January of 2022, because of high taxes and high fees, state government was flush with cash.

That profound disconnect...between families struggling with runaway prices at the gas pump or in the grocery aisle, a business owner not just worried they cant make payroll... but worried they cant reopen their doors...parents being told their child is proficient, when in reality they're falling further behind in school... all the while being told since government accounts were awash in resources, Virginia was doing well.

Bridging that gap is where our work began togetherand this is where our work must continue.

We began this journey to ensure Virginians keep more of their hard-earned money, jumpstart job growth, assure public safety, empower parents andrestore excellence in education and yes, to make Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family.

I asked that along the way we recognize the progress we are making and accelerate -- do more and do it faster.

That we accelerate not because we can, but because we must if we are to lift up every Virginian across the Commonwealth.

And that we carry out the task with a spirit of unbridled eagerness knowing it is possible.

We should all be proud of the work weve done not as Republicans or Democrats but as Virginians to deliver for Virginians.

Over the course of 18 months, we have witnessed existing businesses expanding, new businesses arriving, record job growth, and a record labor force.

Were growing.

Together, we passed the largest tax relief package in Virginia history.

Together, we also passed the largest education budget in history, providing $3.2 billion in investment for our public schools considering the recent JLARC report that noted prior administrations had underfunded education, this is something Republicans and Democrats should celebrate.

Together, we made critical, transformative investments of $430 million in behavioral health and $400 million in law enforcement.

If Virginians are in crisis, they should get the help they need, when they need it.

And yes, we are paying teachers more, and were also paying the men and women of law enforcement more.

The results speak for themselves.

As of last week, we celebrated nearly 220,000 more Virginians working versus January 2022.

We have the highest labor participation rate in over a decade, the highest employment since counting began 47 years ago.

Since then, were fourth in the nation for job growth. Virginia is on the move.

Recent data suggests weve reversed the trend of out-migration. Existing Virginians are staying and new Virginians are coming!

Our investment in site development and workforce development is working.New companies are choosing to move to Virginia and others are expanding their operations here. Since January of last year, weve welcomed 293 projects and over $58 billion in capital commitments, generating nearly 25,000 jobs over time as a result.

And when it comes to public safety, were also making progress recruiting and retaining talented law enforcement officers. Since January of last year, weve reduced Virginia State Police vacancies by over 12%.

But we still have significant work to do across all law enforcement agencies.

And since the start of Operation Bold Blue Line, weve seized over 2,000 pounds of illegal narcotics, including 47 pounds of deadly fentanyl enough to kill every Virginian multiple times over.

As we work to not just make our communities safer, but also to enable a brighter future for our students, the quiet heroes --our first responders, our healthcare workers and teachersare at the heart of these efforts.

Virginia and the nation continue to see a longstanding teacher shortage but we took an important step to support them when last year they saw a 5% pay raise, with another 5% this school year.

1,500 reading specialists and staff have received training as part of the Virginia Literacy Act.

And weve also awarded over $765 million of the $1.25 billion in grants and loans in school construction so that kids across the Commonwealth can learn in increasingly modern classrooms.

Recently, our first lab school was approved to start teaching classes this fall, with 22 more either having received, or applied for,grants.

I am very encouraged by the energy at our community college system....expanding pathways to careers with credentials and degrees for all Virginians...especially for our high school students.

And finally, we are making government work better for Virginians, and we are doing it for less.

Thanks to the work of our Office of Transformation, our DMV has significantly cut wait times, in some cases by more than 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, productivity at the Virginia Employment Commission has skyrocketed and slashed mountains of backlogs.

Were doing this at the Department of Education as well. Weve already cleared a backlog of over 4,700 teacher licenses that were just sitting there, waiting. Now we process more than 200 a day allowing much-needed, talented teachers to get in the classroom faster.

At the Department of Environmental Quality, weve launched the Permitting and Evaluation Platform (PEEP) -- reducing average permit times by more than 40% and there is more to go!

Were not just delivering better services to Virginians we're also doing it for less money.

Weve identified hundreds of millions in projected annual savings by asking the simple question: are we purchasing at the best price and at the right quantity?

Weve consolidated the states fleet of vehicles. When we got here, over half of the more than 4,000 cars owned by the Commonwealth were underused.

Weve since sold over 800 of these, bringing in $8 million.

Its the same story with the states real estate holdings. Compared to national standards, we have over 30% excess space.

We paused the $407 million construction of a new building in downtown Richmond because we dont need it.

Through the good work of our Chief Procurement Officer, we've already initiated actions that will save $20 million annually by Christmas that number will grow to $100 million, and by end of the fiscal year, we will have implemented actions to save taxpayers $200 million annually.

Folks, this is common-sense and it is just the beginning.

This culture of striving to improve, of carving out pockets of savings large or small empowers more investments to increase the effectiveness of government.

Friends, I say all this with great enthusiasm not because we are serving the government better; rather, we are serving Virginians better.

Serving as opposed to simply collecting their money.

We see this as more and more Virginians and Americans are betting their future on Virginias future.

This is a both/and moment, not an either/or moment. We can provide substantial tax relief and we can invest in law enforcement and we can invest in our schools, students and we can invest in behavioral health.

We have the funds to do it.

And when we reduce taxes, streamline regulations, restore excellence in schools, back the blue -- and guess what happens?

We know what happens: More people move to Virginia. Businesses stay. Businesses come. More people go to work.

Tax receipts for the state go up. We can then reduce taxes again and invest in these critical priorities.

This is how we fuel a truly virtuous, reinforcing cycle that makes Virginia competitive against our neighboring states.

Virginia does well when Virginians are doing well and all this notwithstanding headwinds pouring out of Washington with great bluster. Whether that is inflationary spending making gas or groceries more expensive...Or the response of the Federal Reserve to address inflation by raising rates, making it harder for families to buy a home.....or for businesses to expand.

Here in Virginia, our financial results have never been strongerrecord reserves, a Triple A Bond rating, and billions in surplus.

When we put the administrations budget together last December, we projected available resources would be $3.6 billion higher than the level assumed in the 2022 Appropriation Act.

Last fall, economists and our GACRE panel warned us of our expected economic slowdown, so we took a prudent approach and built into our assumptions a year-over-year decline in revenues of almost 8 percent.

We continue to believe its prudent to incorporate a recessionary case as our base case for Fiscal Year 2024.

However, Virginia outperformed and the recession that we had prepared for didnt happen. Additional revenues of $1.5 billion were generated above the December projections.

And thats not all. With commonsense management practices in place, our government actually spent $1.6 billion less than the amount authorized, and yet we accomplished more.

This unspent, yet appropriated $1.6 billion is on top of the $1.2 billion at the end of the Fiscal Year 2022.

The Commonwealth has substantial resources, and our balance sheet couldnt be stronger.

Our Rainy Day and Revenue Reserve Funds are expected to sit at a record $4.6 billion by the end of this fiscal year, far above the 15 percent cap provided by Virginias Code.

This is our moment to soar.

We must seize this opportunity to pursue the key priorities that are fueling our success to begin with and accelerate our efforts.

To reduce the cost of living, we must provide substantial tax relief.

To prepare our students for lives of unparalleled excellence, we must continue to raise the bar, fund the Literacy Act, support tax-driven scholarship funds and lab schools which had record participation last year.

And we specifically need to recognize that extended school closures caused significant learning loss...with alarming drops in math and reading levels, especially in 3rd through 8th grade.

I know we all agree that this requires us to come together and deliver a rapid, and forceful response to equip our children, families and teachers with the tools they need to reverse this learning loss.

When it comes to ensuring our streets and communities are safe, we must continue to invest in our law enforcement.

When it comes to addressing our current behavioral health crisis, we must get Virginians the Right Help, Right Now, when they need it otherwise, it translates into more violence, more self-harm. Everyone is touched by it.

When it comes to being good stewards of our natural resources, we must continue to fund our progress towards our environmental priorities, including innovating for our energy future and preserving the Chesapeake Bay.

And finally, this is a moment for us to drive efficiency and effectiveness in our state government. We must fully embrace a mindset of doing more for less, and the transformation process that enables it.

The best part is we can pursue all these priorities with fiscal discipline for taxpayers because its their money, not the governments.

This is a moment for us again to open the door and let commonsense values rush into the building, to further spur the engine of economic prosperity, to raise the ceiling and the floor when it comes to the quality of education in our schools.

If we continue to invest wisely, and drive policies that lift up Virginians, this will not come at the expense of our financials or resources.

Virginians are talented people who are charting a path to a better future, with faith in God, devotion to family, and belief in the limitless possibilities of freedom.

It is their ingenuity, aspiration and hard work that will assure this collective prosperity.

Our only job is to empower their dreams and aspirations.

If we want our current moment of growth to continue...if we want our businesses, students, and communities to thrive our course for this current budget is clear.

So today, I end where I began. When I first spoke to the General Assembly in January of 2022, it was with the message that together, Republicans and Democrats can deliver a brighter future.

Weve achieved so much over the past 19 months. But were just getting started.

If we act with confidence, the Commonwealth of Virginia will continue on a path towards unbounded prosperity...towards limitless opportunity, lifting up all Virginians.

Together, I know we can make Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family.

May God bless our Commonwealth. Thank you.

See the rest here:

Governor Glenn Youngkin - Virginia Governor Ralph Northam - Proclamation