A Short Day at Words & Deeds Headquarters
I’m going to post the Substack news and analysis quips and call it a day. Medical and familial obligations will take precedence and I’ll be back at it tomorrow.
PS– This isn’t about any bad news. It’s a scheduling issue.
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Thursday Substack Insights
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How Republicans Are Trying to Kill One of Biden's Most Successful Climate Programs Via Michael Thomas at Distilled
In mid-December, two of the most powerful Republicans in Congress launched an investigation into one of Biden’s most important, and least well-known, climate programs: the Loan Program Office (LPO).
The LPO has a long and tortured history. It’s been one of the most successful federal climate programs. Today, it’s led by Jigar Shah, who has near-unanimous respect among climate leaders. And yet the only reason most laypeople have heard of the LPO is because of the Solyndra scandal of 2011.
With their investigation, Republicans are trying to find the next Solyndra and make the climate program look like an example of corruption and government waste. “Solyndra is going to look like chump change compared to the amount of money that’s been wasted by this administration,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) told E&E News.
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Abortion, Every Day (1.10.24) ~ Idaho doc is telling pregnant patients to buy life insurance By Jessica Valenti
Finally, Salon spoke to a doctor who provides OB care in Idaho about the battles over emergency abortions. (Idaho is one of the states fighting for the right to deny women life-saving abortions.) Dr. Caitlin Gustafson says she has advised patients who are pregnant or considering getting pregnant to check if their insurance provider covers flight transport like Life Flight, and to get “supplemental life insurance.”
“We hope they never need it, but our ability to provide on-the-spot care has deteriorated now that Idaho legislators have made this important medical decision for you,” Dr. Gustafson said.
Oh, and if you needed any more reminders that anti-abortion activists and groups don’t give a shit about women’s lives, consider that Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, told STAT News this week that the stories of women going septic and nearly dying because of abortion bans are “partly being blown out of proportion.” Charming.
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Republicans escalate their war on children by Jordan Zakarin at Progress Report
The Department of Agriculture announced on Wednesday that 35 states opted into a new federal program that will provide additional SNAP benefits to low-income families every summer. The government estimates that 21 million kids will benefit from the additional aid, while 10 million children in the 15 abstaining states will miss out on the assistance.
Each of the states that opted out of the program are run by a Republican Party that has made the immiseration of children a prime legislative directive over the past half-decade.
Child poverty is rampant in most of the 15 states, including Mississippi and Louisiana, where more than 26% of kids live below the federal poverty line. The list also includes seven — Florida, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Wyoming, and Georgia — of the ten states that have refused generous government incentives to fully expand Medicaid.
