EnviroPolitics Blog

Trump’s threat to veto $900 billion Covid relief bill puts major climate legislation at risk

Trump said he plans to veto the stimulus bill, which includes $35 billion in funding for clean energy projects and plans to cut the use of planet-warming chemicals.

The environmental measures attached to the Covid-19 relief bill mark the first significant climate change legislation to pass in the U.S. in about a decade.

The broader legislation includes tax credits for solar and wind power, which would push forward Biden’s plan to have a carbon-free electricity sector by 2035.

Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s opposition to a $900 billion coronavirus aid package overwhelmingly passed by U.S. lawmakers late Monday jeopardizes the first significant climate change legislation to win congressional approval in about a decade.

Trump has threatened to veto the stimulus bill, which includes $600 direct checks for individuals and $35 billion in funding for clean energy projects and plans to cut the use of planet-warming chemicals.

The climate provisions included in the deal comes after the Trump administration dismantled more than 80 major environmental rules over four years and shortly before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office.

Biden plans to rejoin the Paris climate agreement and use executive orders to unravel many of Trump’s environmental rollbacks. He’s also pushing for a $2 trillion plan, which will need congressional approval, to shift the country from fossil fuels to clean energy and green jobs. Trump officially withdrew the country from the Paris accord in November.

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Pennsylvania coronavirus update: 9,230 cases added with 276 deaths

By Eugene Tauber, The Morning Call

The state Department of Health reported 9,230 additional cases of the coronavirus Thursday, with 276 new deaths ― the second highest of the pandemic.

The seven-day moving average of newly reported cases was 8,722, down 15% from 10,292 a week ago. To date, there have been 590,386 infections statewide since the start of the pandemic.

The predicted winter surge in new infections has moderated in the past week, although the western and south-central parts of the state continue to experience high infection rates. In the Northeast, Lackawanna County set a new daily record by adding 187 cases Thursday, although its seven-day average is in the lowest third of the state’s 67 counties.

Deaths

Overall: There were 276 new deaths, compared to 230 the day before, bringing the total to 14,718. Thursday’s report marks the second-highest daily death report since the beginning of May.https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/4540791/embed?auto=1A Flourish chart

Hospitalizations

There were 6,077 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of midday Thursday, with 1,219 of them in intensive care units and 743 on ventilators. Those numbers are down slightly from highs hit in the past week.

The Health Department’s dashboard shows that Lehigh County has only 16 of its 189 staffed intensive care beds available, a rate of 8.5%. There are 71 COVID-19 patients in the county’s intensive care units. Northampton County shows two of its 20 intensive care beds unoccupied. Half of Northampton’s intensive care beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients.

Testing

There were 19,398 new tests, for a positive test rate of nearly 40%, compared to 20,328 tests and a positivity rate of 39% the day before. The overall positive test rate is now at 14.3%.

Lehigh Valley

Cases: There were 744 additional case reports, with 394 in Lehigh County and 350 in Northampton County. That is the highest number of cases added in two weeks. The total for the Valley is 33,797.

Deaths: There were 16 new deaths (8 each in Lehigh and Northampton counties), compared to 10 the day before. That brings the total to 871.

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House fails to pass measure to increase stimulus checks to $2,000

By Suzanne Malveaux, Phil Mattingly and Clare Foran, CNN

(CNN) The House of Representatives on Thursday failed to advance a measure that would increase direct payments to Americans under a certain income level to $2,000 — up from the $600 level passed earlier this week — bringing lawmakers back to square one as they search for a way to appease President Donald Trump’s demands.

House Democrats tried to quickly pass the bill by a unanimous consent request Thursday morning, but Republicans rejected the move, leaving the future of the $900 billion stimulus package — and whether any changes will be added to it — in doubt.

That stimulus package was attached to a spending bill for the entire federal government, and a deadline for government funding expires Monday at midnight.

Democrats will now move to pass the bill on the floor with a full up-or-down vote on December 28, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced.

“Hopefully by then the President will have already signed the bipartisan and bicameral legislation to keep government open and to deliver coronavirus relief,” Pelosi said in a statement.

Related story: Trump’s complaints vs. his own budget proposal

Earlier this week, Congress passed the massive Covid relief bill, which included up to $600 payments to all Americans making under certain income levels. Single people who earn up to $75,000 would receive the full $600 direct payment, and couples earning up to $150,000 would receive $1,200. But on Tuesday, Trump signaled he wouldn’t sign the bill if Congress doesn’t amend the legislation and raise the “ridiculously low” $600 stimulus checks to $2,000 for individuals or $4,000 per couple.

“If the President is serious about the $2,000 direct payments, he must call on House Republicans to end their obstruction,” Pelosi said.

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NJ Governor Murphy signs agriculture funding bills into law

Governor Murphy signed the following bills into law yesterday:

S3225 / A5081 (Sweeney, Oroho / Freiman, Reynolds-Jackson, Taliaferro) – Appropriates $11.5 million from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues to State Agriculture Development Committee for municipal planning incentive grants for farmland preservation purposes

S3226 / A5077 (Addiego, Bateman / Armato, Jasey, Houghtaling) – Appropriates $29,886,172 to State Agriculture Development Committee for farmland preservation purposes

S3228 / A5079 (Gopal / Taliaferro, Murphy, Houghtaling) – Appropriates $12 million from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues to State Agriculture Development Committee for county planning incentive grants for farmland preservation purposes

A5080 / S3227 (Zwicker, Verrelli, Downey / Bateman, Codey) – Appropriates $3,763,625 from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues to State Agriculture Development Committee for grants to certain nonprofit organizations for farmland preservation purposes

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Trump Vetoes Defense Policy Bill; Covid Aid in Limbo

Two key pieces of legislation are thrown into turmoil as the president objects

Senate Republicans have angered President Trump by acknowledging Democrat Joe Biden as the president-elect.

By Kristina Peterson, Andrew Restuccia and Natalie Andrews,
Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON—President Trump vetoed a $740.5 billion defense-policy bill and demanded last-minute changes to coronavirus relief legislation, adding fresh uncertainty to the closing days of 2020 as a government shutdown loomed.

In a Wednesday afternoon statement on the defense measure released by the White House, Mr. Trump objected to some of the provisions related to Confederate base names and troop levels abroad, as well as the legislation’s lack of language revoking internet platforms’ broad immunity for the content they publish from users on their sites.

The president had called on lawmakers to terminate Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Mr. Trump has targeted that section of the law, arguing that social-media giants like Facebook and Twitter use it to suppress conservative voices on their sites.

The annual defense bill sets pay rates for troops and authorizes funds for military construction projects, aircraft, ships, nuclear weapons and other national-security programs. It also includes items related to anti-money-laundering efforts, cybersecurity, and the U.S. border wall. Congress has passed it for 59 years in a row, nearly always on a bipartisan basis. This year, the House approved final passage 335-78 and the Senate passed it 84-13.

To make the bill law over the president’s objections requires a two-thirds vote in each chamber. The House is scheduled to hold its override vote on Monday, Dec. 28, with the Senate to follow Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Washington is grappling with a second crisis related to a massive coronavirus relief package that also funds the government. Mr. Trump, in a video posted Tuesday night on Twitter, criticized the legislation and called on lawmakers to increase direct payments to Americans to $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for couples, from $600 per adult and per child, the current level in the bill.

His unexpected broadside against the bill unleashed another standoff between the White House and Capitol Hill, where Senate Republicans have angered Mr. Trump by acknowledging Democrat Joe Biden as the president-elect.

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EPA Finalizes Ozone NAAQS, Retaining Current Standards

News release from the USEPA

WASHINGTON (December 23, 2020) — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing its decision to retain, without changes, the 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) set by the Obama-Biden Administration. With this action, EPA is following the principles established in the earliest days of the Trump Administration to streamline the NAAQS review process and to fulfill the statutory responsibility to complete the NAAQS review within five-years. Today’s action marks the second time in Clean Air Act history that the agency has completed an ozone NAAQS review within the congressionally mandated five-year timeframe. This is a needed departure from previous administrations’ failure to meet statutory deadlines, often taking years longer under court-imposed deadlines to complete reviews.

“For only the second time in agency’s history, EPA is fulfilling its statutory obligation to complete NAAQS review for ozone within a five-year time frame,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “Our actions today show the Trump Administration is fulfilling its promise of protecting human health and environment for all Americans, regardless of where they live.”

The decision to retain the existing ozone standards comes after careful review and consideration of the most recent available scientific evidence and technical information, consultation with the agency’s independent science advisors, and consideration of more than 50,000 public comments on the proposal.

Since the beginning of the Trump Administration, EPA has re-designated to attainment eight nonattainment areas for the 2008 8-hour ozone standards. In this same timeframe, U.S. nitrogen oxide emissions have dropped ten percent and volatile organic compound emissions have dropped three percent. Similarly, national average ozone concentrations have gone down four percent. Since 1990, national average ozone concentrations have dropped 25 percent.

“With air continuing to get cleaner as states implement existing standards, this measure strikes the right balance between protecting public health while supporting recovering communities… We commend EPA for [retaining] existing ozone standards. This proposal supports local communities now fighting to get back on their feet, while continuing to drive improved air quality under existing programs. It is backed by both EPA and its outside scientific advisors,” said U.S. Congressmen John Shimkus (IL-15), Greg Walden (OR-02), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05), Bob Latta (OH-05), Brett Gurthrie (KY-02), Pete Olson (TX-22), David McKinley (WV-01), Morgan Griffith (VA-09), Billy Long (MO-07), Larry Buschon (IN-08), Bill Flores (TX-17), Markwayne Mullin (OK-02), Buddy Carter (GA-01), Jeff Duncan (SC-03), Greg Gianforte (MT-At Large), Scott Perry (PA-10), Alex Mooney (WV-02), Glenn Grothman (WI-6), Randy Weber (TX-14), Carol Miller (WV-03), Troy Balderson (OH-12), Dan Newhouse (WA-04), Dan Crenshaw (TX-02), Tom Tiffany (WI-07), Steve Chabot (OH-01), Doug Lamborn (CO-05), Kelly Armstrong (ND-At Large), and Debbie Lesko (AZ-08).

In May 2018, EPA issued a “Back-to-Basics” memo to improve EPA’s process for reviewing the NAAQS. The memo laid out goals to get EPA back on track with Clean Air requirements, statutory deadlines, and the issuance of timely implementation rules, to ensure continued improvements in air quality across the country. Today’s action is the first NAAQS review to do so and charts a path to continue this statutory responsibility in the future.

Background

The Clean Air Act requires EPA to set NAAQS for “criteria pollutants.” Currently, ozone (and related photochemical oxidants) and five other major pollutants are listed as criteria pollutants. The law requires EPA to periodically review the relevant scientific information and the standards and revise them, if appropriate, to ensure that the standards provide the requisite protection for public health and welfare.

In the prior review of the ozone standards, which was completed in 2015, the Obama-Biden EPA increased the stringency of the levels of the ozone standards to 70 parts per billion (ppb), from the 2008 standard of 75 ppb.

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