IRA infl red act BBB 3
8 24 new node mostly on bogus attacks?
OOPS SEE IRA INFLATION REDUCT ACT BBB3
VOUGHT RECISSION WRIGHT DOE WASTE FRAUD BS BLUE STATES
see IRS 3 attaCK INTUIT BS
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an 7 26
Whether by intention, error or force of law, the Trump administration has owned up that Donald Trump sees himself president of MAGA, not of the nation.
A New York Times report this week disclosed a month-old court filing in which federal officials acknowledged that they cut $7.5 billion in clean energy programs selectively among states “based solely” on whether those stated had voted for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
In court answers about a lawsuit challenging the stated reasons of cuts based on “waste and fraud,” the government copped to the real reason – partisan politics. Indeed, the administration funded grants for states that had backed Trump in 2024, even though the Energy Department had recommended they be cancelled.
It may not be a specifically impeachable offence, but it certainly shows that Donald Trump is abusing his office, his oath – and weirdly even punishing the Trump voters in the states taking the cuts.
Trump certainly has been acting in a variety of ways as if he wants to target states that voted against him, but this court filing seemed a public acknowledgement that should get some serious attention.
As The Times concluded, “The admission showed how Trump has weaponized the provision of federal education, energy, health, housing and infrastructure aid in his second term. Far from rooting out the sort of misspending that Trump sees as rife in Washington, the White House has instead sought to leverage the budget as a tool to assist its allies — or as a cudgel to hurt the president’s foes.”
Trump certainly has no hesitation about collecting taxes from blue states or demanding voting rolls or demanding special treatment, just in spending the money disproportionately raised from those states.
President for Some, Not All
The White House and Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget , have remained silent about the government’s court arguments in a suit brought by the affected states. At the time of the cuts, Vought posted that “Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled.”
Now, a government lawyer told the court that none of the cancellations were “based on any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction or performance-based factor.”
Apart from all else, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright repeated the waste argument in sworn congressional testimony, telling House members in June, “No decisions (about the cuts) were made on politics.”
Someone might tell Jim Jordan, chair of the Judiciary Committee, who referred former special prosecutor Jack Smith to the Justice Department for investigation of perjury for not answering a question that Jordan had never asked.
Vought is seeking to finalize rules that would make political appointees the final arbiters of how the government would award more than $1 trillion in annual grants. He wants the power to block or revoke money if states do not conform to administration priorities. The White House has also sought to layer additional restrictions on grant recipients, limiting their political activities, memberships along with vague requirements that they cannot use the money for certain purposes, including those deemed “anti-American,” reported The Times.
Rather than combatting waste, it appears Trump and his cronies are trying to take control of the United States government, using the power of the American people for their own ends, argues historian Heather Cox Richardson in Substack.
Sen. Patty Murray. D-WA., and Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, said that politically minded grant cuts amounted to an “outright un-American” weaponization of government.
Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker pointed out that the cancelled grants included $583 million intended for Illinois “that would have gone toward lowering energy costs, strengthening grid reliability, and creating energy jobs.” He demanded the funds be restored. “Despite what he might think, Donald Trump is not the president of MAGA,” Pritzker said in a statement, but “the president of all America.”
Terry H. Schwadron retired as a senior editor at The New York Times, Deputy Managing Editor at The Los Angeles Times and leadership jobs at The Providence (RI) Journal-Bulletin. He was part of a Pulitzer Gold Medal team in Los Angeles, and his team part of several Pulitzers in New York.
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an 10 25
An Ohio battery planned owned byGeneral Motors that President Donald Trump promised to save just confirmed they will be cutting 550 jobs and laying off another 850 employees, Newsweek reports.
The cuts come amid a slump in demand for electric vehicles. The plant in Lordstown, Ohio is a joint venture with Ultium Cells, which is in turn a joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution which mass-produces battery cells for electric vehicles.
“In response to slower near-term EV adoption and an evolving regulatory environment, General Motors is realigning EV capacity,” the company said in a statement, saying it “remains committed to our U.S. manufacturing footprint.”
Newsweek notes that the recent elimination of the $7,500 consumer tax credits implemented during Joe Biden’s presidency as part of the Inflation Reduction Act has significantly impacted demand for electric vehicles, forcing companies to reassess production plans while considering further reductions in their workforce and facility footprint.
Trump held a 2017 rally near the Lordstown facility, promising residents that jobs would soon be returning to the region following years of decline.
“They’re all coming back. They’re coming back,” Trump told the crowd. “Don’t move. Don’t sell your house.”
After GM announced the closure of the plant in 2018 as it transitioned toward more fuel-efficient vehicles, Trump brushed it off, telling Fox News, “It doesn’t really matter because Ohio is under my leadership from a national standpoint."
Industry insiders are reeling from the Lordstown layoffs.
“Today, we received some devastating news that weighs heavily in our hearts and our community. This is an incredibly challenging time for our local union and our membership, especially given the painful history of our former assembly plant shutting its doors," said George Goranitis, local chapter president of the United Auto Workers union.
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MMA
06/06/25
06/05/25
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Smith, Edwards, Colleagues Call for Day-One Elimination of IRS Direct File
December 10, 2024
Washington, D.C. - Today, Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) and Chuck Edwards (R-NC) along with 27 House colleagues sent a letter asking President Trump to immediately end the IRS' unlawful Direct File pilot program upon taking office in January. Copies of the letter were addressed to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump's selections to lead his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as well as Treasury Secretary-Designee Scott Bessent, and Trump's selection to lead the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russell Vought.
Cosigners of the letter include:
Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Carol Miller (R-WV), Mark Alford (R-MO), Rick Allen (R-GA), Don Bacon (R-NE), Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Mike Carey (R-OH), Ron Estes (R-KS), Michelle Fischbach (R-MN), Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Kevin Hern (R-OK) Erin Houchin (R-IN), Young Kim (R-CA), David Kustoff (R-TN), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Greg Murphy (R-NC), August Pfluger (R-TX), Keith Self (R-TX), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Greg Steube (R-FL), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), William Timmons (R-SC), Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), Steve Womack (R-AR), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), and Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY)
In the letter the members said:
"We write to urge you to take immediate action, including a day-one executive order, to end the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) unauthorized and wasteful Direct File pilot program. The program’s creation and ongoing expansion pose a threat to taxpayers’ freedom from government overreach, and its shaky rollout and structural flaws have already come at a steep price.
...
"This is deeply concerning and a clear conflict of interest.
...
"Under the Biden-Harris administration, the IRS has undertaken an aggressive expansion of its influence, fueled by the exorbitant $80 billion provided by the Inflation Reduction Act, in which it has repeatedly overstepped its authority and targeted hardworking Americans with audits...Even prior, the IRS has a long record of abusing its authority to target political opponents. How can we entrust the IRS to responsibly prepare and enforce taxes when it has encroached on Americans’ individual liberties at every opportunity? And how can we trust future administrations to not do as the Biden-Harris administration has done in wielding the IRS as a tool to silence political opponents and control private citizens? We should act now to end Direct File to protect Americans from further overreach.
...
"Instead of Direct File, the IRS should be focused on improving its functionality and service to American taxpayers. Under the Biden-Harris administration, Americans experienced significant delays in receiving their tax returns, and the agency has failed to reduce the federal deficit despite the bloated enforcement funding provided by the Inflation Reduction Act. The agency’s existing issues will only be compounded by an expanded Direct File venture..."
Read the full letter here.
BACKGROUND:
Smith and Edwards introduced legislation in July of this year to terminate the IRS’s unauthorized Direct File program. Smith also introduced legislation, passed by the House in January 2023, to repeal the Biden-Harris administration’s $80 billion IRS expansion.
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AN 12 24
During the 2024 presidential race, Donald Trump relentlessly attacked President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the economy — blaming both of them for post-pandemic inflation in the United States. And the message resonated with enough voters for Trump to pull off a narrow victory over Harris.
According to the Cook Political Report, Trump defeated Harris by roughly 1.5 or 1.6 percent in the popular vote and picked up 312 electoral votes compared to 226 for the vice president.
A victory of 1.5 or 1.6 percent is hardly a "landslide," as Trump's allies have been claiming. But it's a victory nonetheless, and Trump will be sworn in for a nonconsecutive second term on January 20, 2025.
READ MORE:**Trump’s tariffs on Mexico could devastate border region: TX economists**
Some of Biden's supporters have argued that history will be kind to the outgoing president — not unlike the kind words for the late President George H.W. Bush after he lost the 1992 election to President Bill Clinton. And history, they argue, will remember Biden's job-creation record and the low unemployment of his presidency.
In October, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. unemployment was 4.1 percent.
In a December 2 post on X, formerly Twitter, Alex Armlovich — a senior housing analyst for the Niskanen Center — praised Biden's record on creating manufacturing jobs. And he made his point by tweeting a chart from Joey Politano, who publishes a financial newsletter.
Armlovich tweeted, "This rise in US manufacturing construction spend via @JosephPolitano is absolutely mindblowing. So many CHIPS & IRA-fueled factories are about to start opening in January you're not gonna believe it."
READ MORE:[Bombshell report details 'dangerous' new allegations against Trump Cabinet nominee
In a separate tweet, Armlovich laments that Trump, in 2025, will get the credit for Biden's economic achievements.
Armlovich predicts, "Trump's name will be on every IIJA, CHIPS, & IRA ribbon cut b/c key Dem factions thought NEPA red tape was more important than permitting reform to finish projects in <4 yrs FDR didn't respond to the 1930s by saying 'Mussolini is too fast we need NEPA.' He just started building."
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an 11 24
Even though President Joe Biden has pledged to peacefully handing the reins of power to President-elect Donald Trump on January 20th, he's still aiming to make sure his successor won't be able to easily undo his signature legislative accomplishments.
The Financial Times recently reported that both Biden and his Cabinet are working at breakneck pace to spend down tens of billions of dollars in projects that have already been approved by Congress before the Trump administration can claw it back or spend it elsewhere. Domestically, this includes $39 billion in incentives for semiconductor manufacturing plants throughout the U.S. as part of the CHIPS and Science Act, which is fueling approximately 115,000 manufacturing jobs in multiple states.
Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said her agency is instructing employees to work overtime and through the weekends to make sure the CHIPS and Science Act funds are out the door before Trump's inauguration less than two months from now. This apparently also included one-on-one calls to tech executives in an effort to fast-track several deals currently in the works.
READ MORE:**AOC praises Johnson's 'honestly' after he admits plan to repeal bill that created 115K jobs**
"The CHIPS team has announced preliminary agreements with two dozen companies for CHIPS awards, and over the next two months, plans to announce preliminary agreements for all $39 billion of that funding, and is well on its way towards securing final agreements for may of those entities [where] preliminary awards were announced," an unnamed White House official told the Financial Times.
One of Biden's most significant legislative achievements was the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which Earthjustice referred to as "the largest climate spending bill ever." One major component of that law was the appropriation of $369 billion in clean energy subsidies, which Trump campaigned on repealing. Biden climate advisor John Podesta told the Times that if Trump tries to undo the IRA, he may face unexpected resistance from Republican state governments.
"Many Republicans, especially governors, know all this activity is a good thing for their districts, states and for their economies," Podesta said.
Another big chunk of unspent money Biden is aiming to get out the door is $7 billion in military assistance to Ukraine that has yet to get to Kiev. Biden is aiming to fast-track that money before Trump gets into office, under the assumption that the president-elect will allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to conquer contested territory in Eastern Ukraine without putting up a fight.
READ MORE:**How Trump accidentally helped get several of Biden's judges confirmed**
The U.S. has already approved Ukraine's use of long-range weapons to strike at Russian targets, and is sending anti-personnel mines to the Ukrainian military to use against Russia along with the larger anti-tank mines it's already been deploying. Biden believes Kiev will be in a stronger negotiating position with Moscow if it has more weaponry at its disposal when Trump is inaugurated.
Finally, Biden is urging Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to make the most of the Democratic majority's final months to speed through his last remaining judicial nominees. Schumer recently took advantage of several Republicans' absence in the chamber to hold votes on several nominees that had been held up, getting those judges confirmed to lifetime positions while Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and JD Vance (R-Ohio) were with Trump on a SpaceX flight.
"We've been working with [Senate Democrats] very, very closely to get as many of the president's nominees confirmed because he believes that he wants to leave a lasting impact on the judiciary," a White House official said.
Click here to read the Times' report in full (subscription required).
READ MORE:['You will see a real push': Journalist reveals 'main focus' of Biden's lame duck period
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mma
10/25/24
aha if # good there must be a problem with them
fox business guest and Project 2025 contributor Stephen Moore dabbles with conspiracy theory that monthly jobs reports are artificially inflated 09/06/24 mma
https://www.mediamatters.org/stephen-moore/fox-business-guest-and-project-2025-contributor-stephen-moore-dabbles-conspiracy)
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Fox News panel slams the Inflation Reduction Act with data that’s 2 years out of date
09/06/24 mma
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Project 2025, right-wing media, and Trump zero in on dismantling the Inflation Reduction Act
Special ProgramsClimate & Energy
Written by Ilana Berger
Published 08/29/24 mma
- Project 2025, an extreme right-wing policy framework organized by The Heritage Foundation to guide the next conservative administration, proposes gutting several federal offices that oversee efforts to address climate change and rolling back the bulk of the Inflation Reduction Act.
While the Trump campaign has sought to distance itself from the widely unpopular project, both the former president and his running mate JD Vance have extensive ties to it. And although Project 2025 architect Paul Dans resigned from his position at The Heritage Foundation in July, the Trump campaign’s rhetoric on the Inflation Reduction Act appears to align with that of Project 2025, as laid out in an over 900-page policy book called Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.
- ## The Trump campaign’s rhetoric on the Inflation Reduction Act appears to align with that of Project 2025
- Project 2025 calls for eliminating electric vehicle subsidies, a move for which Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance has shown support.In William Perry Pendley’s Mandate chapter on the Department of the Interior, he urges the next president to “end federal mandates and subsidies of electric vehicles.” In September 2023, Vance introduced the Drive American Act, which would “gut the Biden administration’s electric vehicle tax rebate program,” according to Quartz, and instead “place up to a $7,500 rebate on all new gasoline- and diesel-powered cars, trucks, and SUVs.” Vance has also claimed the IRA is “subsidizing an industry that benefits Communist China more than it does American workers.” Trump made a similar comment, writing on Truth Social that a new lithium battery plant in Michigan would “put Michiganders under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.” Project 2025, *Mandate for Leadership*, [2023; Quartz, 7/16/24; The Washington Post, 8/12/24; The Blade, 9/19/23; Twitter/X, 8/20/24]
- Trump parroted Project 2025’s plan to “support repeal of massive spending bills like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)” and rescind “all funds not already spent by these programs” at the Republican National Convention.At the Republican National Convention, Trump said he would “redirect” any unspent money allocated to IRA initiatives. “All of the trillions of dollars that are sitting there not yet spent, we will redirect that money for important projects like roads, bridges, dams and we will not allow it to be spent on meaningless Green New Scam ideas.” The Hill, [7/19/24; Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
Project 2025 chapter author Bernard McNamee and Trump have both suggested that renewable energy doesn’t work. During an exclusive interview with Fox host Jesse Watters, Trump said, “The whole world is going woke, their world is going woke. The Green New Scam, we’re spending all our money on things that don’t work.” In Mandate, McNamee calls renewable energy unreliable, backing his statement with an endnote that includes no citation and falsely claims that “the challenges to the grid are coming mainly from subsidized renewable resources.” Meanwhile, most power outages are triggered by severe weather. |}:
Renewable energy is particularly resilient because it is modular, and can adapt more easily even if one component of a system is damaged. McNamee also argues that “electric reliability is decreasing in many parts of the country,” citing “the blackouts and shortages in California (August 2020, summer 2022) and Texas (February 2021, summer 2022)” in an endnote. In reality, widespread blackouts and shortages did not occur in California or Texas in 2022, and a multitude of factors caused the blackouts in 2020 and 2021. Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [7/22/24; Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023; Climate Central, 4/24/24; Media Matters, 2/19/21; Utility Dive, 11/22/22; ABC News, 9/9/22; Natural Resources Defense Council, 9/12/22, 3/3/21]
Like the architects of Project 2025, Trump has publicly opposed equity-related initiatives throughout the federal government, which would seemingly include billions in IRA funding dedicated to helping underserved communities. McNamee writes: “The next Administration should stop using energy policy to advance politicized social agendas. Programs that sound innocuous, such as ‘energy justice,’ Justice40, and DEI, can be transformed to promote politicized agendas.” Trump has also attacked equity-focused programs, writing on Truth Social in 2023 after Biden signed an executive order focused on advancing racial equity, “It is time to eradicate Joe Biden's sinister ‘equity’ Executive Order that has led to the woke takeover of the U.S. Government!” These statements lay bare the threats to initiatives and programs like the $3 billion Environmental and Climate Justice Grant program, a product of the IRA that aims to reduce the impacts of climate change and pollution in low-income communities. Project 2025, *Mandate for Leadership*, [2023; Newsweek 3/2/23; United States Environmental Protection Agency, accessed 8/16/24]|}:
- ## Fox News has joined Trump in taking aim at the Inflation Reduction Act, which has been a boon to job growth and clean energy development, especially in red states
- Trump has referred to Biden’s climate initiatives collectively as the Green New Deal, or the “Green New Scam,” but often appears to be specifically referring to the Inflation Reduction Act. Trump and his allies in right-wing media have incorrectly conflated the Inflation Reduction Act and the Green New Deal (both of which Trump refers to as “the Green New Scam,” even though the Green New Deal was never made law and is much more aggressive than the IRA). He has used nearly identical language to describe the two, calling them “socialist.” At a Wisconsin campaign rally in May, Trump referred to the IRA by name, vowing to “impose an immediate moratorium on all new spending grants and giveaways under the Joe Biden mammoth socialist bills like the so-called Inflation Reduction Act.” At a December 2023 rally in New Hampshire, he called the “Green New Deal” the “Green New Scam.” “You're going to be in the poor house to fund his big government Green New Deal, which is a socialist scam, and you know what, you have to be careful. It's going to put us all in big trouble. … Let's call it from now on the Green New Scam," he later said. “I do like that term. I just came up with that.” Spectrum News, [5/1/24; Newsmax, 12/16/23, 8/17/24; Twitter/X, 8/20/24; Media Matters, 8/19/22; CSPAN, 8/14/24
- Fox News has mentioned the IRA more than twice as much as CNN has and 40% more than MSNBC has since 2022, often referring to the legislation as both “the Green New Deal” and “the Green New Scam.”Fox News’ early coverage of the IRA included attempts to falsely brand the policy as the “Green New Deal,” a proposal the network has spent years demonizing as a “totalitarian” “takeover” by the government that would supposedly ban Americans from enjoying air travel and cheeseburgers. On an August 14 segment of Jesse Watters Primetime, guest host Rachel Campos-Duffy said, “Kamala cares more about the Green New Scam than your rising energy costs. And that’s why Trump’s resonating.” Media Matters, [8/21/24, 8/19/22; Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 8/14/24]
- The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022, is the largest clean energy investment in history.The law allocates $369 billion in climate and energy provisions. According to the nonprofit Climate Power, tax credits provided by the IRA to companies have so far created more than 334,500 clean energy jobs and spurred 646 clean energy projects. Climate Power, [8/14/24, 8/14/24]
- The Inflation Reduction Act has benefited red states the most.According to Climate Power’s report, the IRA has created nearly 200,000 jobs across 160 Republican districts. Four out of five of the states with the most new, next-generation energy projects made possible by the IRA are red or swing states, including Texas, Michigan, Georgia, and South Carolina. On August 6, more than a dozen House Republican lawmakers wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson(R-LA) asking him not to get rid of the clean energy tax credits laid out in the IRA should conservatives maintain or expand their majority in the House. The Hill, [8/7/24; Climate Power, 8/14/24]
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