U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

The Biden-Harris Administration Announces $500 Million Program for Better School Infrastructure

APRIL 4, 2022

DOE Seeks Public Input on Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding Program for Energy Upgrades to America’s 100,000 Public School Facilities

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, as part the new Biden-Harris Action Plan for Building Better School Infrastructure, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a Request for Information (RFI) for a $500 million grant program from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for K-12 public school energy upgrades. The program will help deliver cleaner and healthier classrooms, libraries, cafeterias, playgrounds, and gyms where over three million teachers teach and 50 million students learn, eat, and build friendships every day. Energy upgrades to America’s public schools, including leveraging renewable power sources and electric school buses, will bring the nation closer to President Biden’s goal to build a net-zero economy by 2050.

“Children should be able to learn and grow in environments that are not plagued with poor insulation and ventilation, leaky roofs, or poor heating and cooling,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “President Biden fought for these funds to give schools and their communities the resources they need to improve student and teacher health and cut energy costs, allowing districts to focus more resources on student learning.”

Many of America’s public schools are in desperate need of energy improvements. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s 100,000 public K-12 schools a D+ in their 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure report. Dilapidated school facilities can negatively affect student learning and health as indoor air quality problems can aggravate respiratory illnesses, reduce student and teacher attendance and performance, and increase risk of transmission of respiratory infections like COVID-19.

Energy consumption is the second-highest operational expense schools face with a significant portion of this energy lost through leaky school walls, windows, and other inefficient equipment and systems. Districts that serve rural, high poverty, or Hispanic/Latino, African American, and Native American communities experience the greatest burden of failing or antiquated school facilities.

Public school facilities will be eligible for energy improvements that result in a direct reduction in school energy costs, including improvements to the air conditioning and heating, ventilation, hot water heating, and lighting systems. In addition, funding would support any improvement, repair, renovation to, or installation in a school that leads to an improvement in teacher and student health. 

President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s grant funding will also support additional improvements, repairs, or renovations such as the installation of renewable energy technologies, the installation of alternative fueled vehicle infrastructure on school grounds such as school buses or the purchase or lease of alternative fueled vehicles to be used by a school.

DOE encourages Local Education Agencies, school staff, states, local governments, energy service companies, unions, service providers, and utilities to respond to the RFI.

https://www.energy.gov/articles/biden-harris-administration-announces-500-million-program-better-school-infrastructure

[Rick Plant]

Just a reminder that every single Republican voted against President Biden's American Rescue Plan that rescued our economy, created 8 million jobs, and got this pandemic under control. Small businesses were saved under this law.

SBA Says American Rescue Plan Has Given $450 Billion to Small Business

In a statement on the first anniversary of the American Rescue Plan (ARP), President Biden’s plan to contain COVID-19 and rescue the economy, the Small Business Association (SBA), said the plan has given $450 billion to small business.

To mark the one-year anniversary, SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, issued a statement on how the ARP has been critical for small business survival.

“The SBA was transformational for small businesses, providing over $450 billion in critical recovery funding to more than 6 million entrepreneurs, helping them survive, reopen, and once again thrive even in the face of deep challenges.”

Helping Small Businesses Navigate Challenging Times

The SBA Administrator went on to note how the different programs of the American Rescue Plan have helped small businesses and entrepreneurs navigate these challenging times.

The different programs, some of which are aimed at specific industries, include the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, the Paycheck Protection Program, COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loans, and Shuttered Venue Operators Grants. Casillas Guzman notes how many small businesses credit the different programs as saving their business.

The SBA Administrator stated how because of the ARP, the people of American have been able to return to work at an “unprecedentedly fast pace.”

Record Rates of New Business

With entrepreneurs applying to start new businesses at a record rate, which is now 30% higher than before the pandemic, Casillas Guzman said the recovery efforts have sparked a surge in entrepreneurship.

The SBA stated that despite the efforts, gains and successes, there is more to be done and the Biden-Harris Administration is “working to strengthen supply chains and open more doors of opportunity so small businesses can continue to serve their customers and keep creating good-paying jobs.”

More Opportunities on the Horizon

In the one-year statement of the ARP’s anniversary, Casillas Guzman informed that there are more opportunities for small businesses on the horizon, with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Made in American priorities, alongside the SBA and its local partners continuing to work to ensure the smallest businesses in the US benefit from such prospects.

For small businesses and entrepreneurs in the US, it is important they remain informed and up-to-date with the opportunities available to them through the SBA, so they are best equipped for growth and success.

https://smallbiztrends.com/2022/04/sba-says-american-rescue-plan-has-given-450-billion-dollars-small-business.html

[Rick Plant]

Republicans who are holding up Pentagon nominations are threatening our national security.

WATCH: Dem senator brings receipts of Josh Hawley's record in epic floor speech



Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) was blasted on the floor of the United States Senate on Thursday.

The spectacle occurred as Hawley held up Pentagon nominations, which received harsh criticism from Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI).

"He is damaging the Department of Defense," he said. "And this comes from a guy who raised his fist in solidarity with the insurrectionists."


Senator Hawley criticized for acknowledging Capitol insurrectionists with a fist pump

"And this comes from a guy who, before the Russian invasion, suggested that maybe it would be wise for Zelensky to make a few concessions about Ukraine and their willingness to join NATO. This comes from a guy who just about a month ago voted against Ukraine aid! He’s saying it’s going too slow? He voted 'no' — he voted 'no' on Ukraine aid and now he has the gall to say it’s going too slow!"

And he kept going.

"And coming from a person who exonerated Donald Trump for extorting Zelensky for withholding lethal aid? They withheld lethal aid until, unless Zelensky would release false smears against Joe Biden’s son. And then he voted to exonerate President Trump for this. And so spare me the new solidarity with the Ukrainians and with the free world because this man’s record is exactly the opposite," Schatz said.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

President Biden
@POTUS

"Last week, I announced the largest ever release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
 
Today, the rest of the world is joining us — releasing 240M barrels of oil in total.
 
This will expand supply for oil and gas companies. Now it's on them to lower prices for consumers.

Over the last four weeks, fewer Americans filed initial claims for unemployment insurance than at any time in our nation’s recorded history.
 
America is back to work."

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1512122979228000256

[Rick Plant]

President Biden
@POTUS

Judge Jackson’s confirmation was a historic moment for our nation. We’ve taken another step toward making our highest court reflect the diversity of America. She will be an incredible Justice, and I was honored to share this moment with her.



For those who are asking:

[Rick Plant]

Morning Joe pounds Republicans for disrespecting Ketanji Brown Jackson after historic Senate vote

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough bashed Republican senators for disrespecting newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson after she became the first Black woman to join the court.

Four GOP senators -- Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Rand Paul (R-KY) -- voted against Jackson's confirmation from the Senate cloakroom, after Graham showed up in a polo shirt and Paul in khaki slacks, which violate the dress code, and Republicans then walked out after her nomination passed 53-47.

"Listen, the parties treat each other despicably -- please, they do," said the "Morning Joe" host. "You are talking about what-about-ism? Yeah, I am, it is horrific. Even on the issues of race I was hearing people talking about, well, this shows how race -- I remember. Let's just say it, Chuck Schumer acting abhorrently towards a Black woman trying to go to the D.C. circuit, saying, we're not going -- okay, but all of that aside. Let's put all of that aside, Okay, I'm showing, yes, both sides are horrific."

Scarborough said some historical moments are so important that politics must be set aside, and he said Jackson's confirmation should have been one of those.

"I didn't vote for Barack Obama [but] when Barack Obama got elected, I turned to the person I was with and I said, I didn't vote for him, but what an incredible country we live in," Scarborough said. "I had chills -- again, I thought he was too liberal, I didn't -- I could go down the list, but even in that moment I knew something really incredible had happened that made me proud to be an American, right? Yesterday, I'm watching, first of all, Rand Paul, serious, deliberately, I don't know what he was doing, but that holding up of history. I don't know, Lindsey, I don't know, maybe did his tie get shredded?"

"But then afterwards, given our history as a nation, given the way women have been treated, the way Black people have been treated, the way Black women have been treated, just as a matter of history, it is a matter of fact, as much of a fact as this is a coffee cup," Scarborough continued, holding up his own cup, "you don't think more Republicans than Mitt Romney could have stayed in the chamber, taken to their feet and applauded the moment even if they didn't agree with her judicial philosophy?"

"I'm sure I don't agree with a lot of her judicial philosophy, but you know what I agree on?" he added. "This country, despite all of our problems, despite our screw-ups, we are still stumbling toward being a more perfect union. A moment like that, stand on your feet and applaud."

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Every member of the GOP must be asked these questions: Did Trump control you then? Does he control you now?

CNN Exclusive: ‘We control them all’: Donald Trump Jr. texted Meadows ideas for overturning 2020 election before it was called



Washington CNN — Two days after the 2020 presidential election, as votes were still being tallied, Donald Trump’s eldest son texted then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that “we have operational control” to ensure his father would get a second term, with Republican majorities in the US Senate and swing state legislatures, CNN has learned.

In the text, which has not been previously reported, Donald Trump Jr. lays out ideas for keeping his father in power by subverting the Electoral College process, according to the message reviewed by CNN. The text is among records obtained by the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021.

“It’s very simple,” Trump Jr. texted to Meadows on November 5, adding later in the same missive: “We have multiple paths We control them all.”

In a statement to CNN, Trump Jr.’s lawyer Alan S. Futerfas said, “After the election, Don received numerous messages from supporters and others. Given the date, this message likely originated from someone else and was forwarded.”

The November 5 text message outlines a strategy that is nearly identical to what allies of the former President attempted to carry out in the months that followed. Trump Jr. makes specific reference to filing lawsuits and advocating recounts to prevent certain swing states from certifying their results, as well as having a handful of Republican state houses put forward slates of fake “Trump electors.”

If all that failed, according to the Trump Jr. text, GOP lawmakers in Congress could simply vote to reinstall Trump as President on January 6.

“We have operational control Total leverage,” the message reads. “Moral High Ground POTUS must start 2nd term now.”

The text from Trump Jr. is revealing on a number of levels. It shows how those closest to the former President were already exchanging ideas for how to overturn the election months before the January 6 insurrection – and before all the votes were even counted. It would be another two days before major news outlets declared Joe Biden the winner on November 7.

The text also adds to a growing body of evidence of how Trump’s inner circle was actively engaged in discussing how to challenge the election results.

On March 28, Judge David Carter, a federal judge in California, said that Trump, along with conservative lawyer John Eastman, launched an “unprecedented” campaign to overturn a democratic election, calling it “a coup in search of a legal theory.”

George Terwilliger, an attorney for Meadows, declined to comment for this story. A spokesperson for the House select committee declined to comment.

Foreshadowing the Trump campaign strategy

In the weeks following the 2020 election, Trump and his allies eventually filed more than 60 unsuccessful lawsuits in key states, failing to convince the courts that his claims about a stolen election were justified, or uncover any evidence of widespread voter fraud.

They also called for various recounts based on those same unfounded voter fraud claims. A number of states conducted recounts in the months after the election, though none of them revealed any fraud substantial enough to have changed the outcome of the vote in any state.

While Trump Jr. was publicly pushing various voter fraud conspiracy theories and generally casting doubt about the results in states like Pennsylvania and Georgia, his text to Meadows reveals there were other ideas being discussed privately.

Specifically, Trump Jr. previews a strategy to supplant authentic electors with fake Republican electors in a handful of states. That plan was eventually orchestrated and carried out by allies of the former President, and overseen by his then-attorney Rudy Giuliani.

In his text to Meadows, Trump Jr. identifies two key dates in December that serve as deadlines for states to certify their electoral results and compel Congress to accept them. Though the dates are largely ceremonial, in his text Trump Jr. appears to point to them as potential weaknesses to be exploited by casting doubt on the legitimacy of the election results.

Seeking Trump electors

Trump Jr.’s November 5 text to Meadows came as similar notions of faithless electors were starting to percolate publicly on conservative social media. Trump Jr. sent the text to Meadows at 12:51 p.m., just minutes after conservative radio host Mark Levin had tweeted a similar idea and suggested state legislatures have final say on electors.

If secretaries of state were unable to certify the results, Trump Jr. argues in his text to Meadows that they should press their advantage by having Republican-controlled state assemblies “step in” and put forward separate slates of “Trump electors,” he writes.

“Republicans control Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina etc we get Trump electors,” Trump Jr. adds.

Trump Jr.’s text, however, refers to an untested legal theory that state houses are the ultimate authority in elections and can intervene to put forward a different slate of electors than those chosen by the voters, when in reality this is a ceremonial process and the outcome is essentially a foregone conclusion.

The Justice Department and the House committee are both investigating the fake electors plot within the context of what unfolded on January 6 and Trump’s broader effort to overturn the election.

The strategy floated by Trump Jr. is similar to what was outlined by former Texas Governor and Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who texted Meadows on November 4 suggesting three state legislatures ignore the will of their voters and deliver their states’ electors to Trump.

“HERE’s an AGRESSIVE (sic) STRATEGY: Why can t (sic) the states of GA NC PENN and other R controlled state houses declare this is BS (where conflicts and election not called that night) and just send their own electors to vote and have it go to the SCOTUS,” Perry’s text message read.

A spokesman for Perry told CNN at the time that the former Energy secretary denies being the author of the text. However, multiple people who know Rick Perry previously confirmed to CNN that the phone number the committee has associated with that text message is Perry’s number.

‘We control them all’

Trump Jr. also texts Meadows that Congress could intervene on January 6 and overturn the will of voters if, for some reason, they were unable to secure enough electoral votes to tip the outcome in Trump’s favor using the state-based strategy.

That option, according to Trump Jr.’s text, involves a scenario where neither Biden nor Trump have enough electoral votes to be declared a winner, prompting the House of Representatives to vote by state party delegation, with each state getting one vote.

“Republicans control 28 states Democrats 22 states,” Trump Jr. texts. “Once again Trump wins.”

“We either have a vote WE control and WE win OR it gets kicked to Congress 6 January 2021,” he texts Meadows.

In a series of memos in early January, conservative lawyer John Eastman proposed a variation of that idea.

Eastman’s memo laid out a six-step plan for Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election for Trump, which included throwing out the results in seven states because they allegedly had competing electors. In fact, no state had actually put forward an alternate slate of electors – there were merely Trump allies claiming without any authority to be electors.

Eastman, who has been subpoenaed by the House select committee and is fighting to keep some of his records secret from investigators, was accused by Carter of likely engaging in a criminal conspiracy with Trump to overturn the election.

“Dr. Eastman has an unblemished record as an attorney and respectfully disagrees with the judge’s findings,” his attorney Charles Burnham said in response to the judge’s ruling.

Trump Jr. pushes Meadows to fire Wray and install loyalist at FBI

Trump Jr. ends his November 5 text by calling for a litany of personnel moves to solidify his father’s control over the government by putting loyalists in key jobs and initiate investigations into the Biden family.

“Fire Wray; Fire Fauci,” he texts, referring to FBI Director Christopher Wray and White House coronavirus adviser Anthony Fauci. Trump Jr. then proposes making former acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell interim head of the FBI and having then-Attorney General Bill Barr “select Special prosecutor on HardDrivefromHell Biden crime family.”

As Trump refused to concede in the days and weeks after the 2020 election, rumors swirled that he was still considering firing Wray, along with several other top officials with whom he had grown frustrated.

Trump and his allies sharply criticized Wray for failing to produce information that they claimed would be harmful to the President’s political enemies, including Biden. CNN previously reported that the prospect of Trump firing Wray hung over the FBI for weeks, dating to before Election Day.

While Wray remains in his post and Barr resigned in mid-December 2020 without naming a special prosecutor to investigate the Bidens, Trump Jr.’s text underscores just how precarious the situation at DOJ was in the immediate aftermath of the election.

The same is true for Trump Jr.’s recommendation that Meadows replace Wray with Grenell, someone who not only lacked the usual qualifications to lead the FBI but also had a proven track record of doing the former President’s bidding.

After serving a controversial three-month stint as Trump’s acting intel chief, Grenell hit the campaign trail in late 2020 to help promote Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud and support his legal challenges in a key swing state: Nevada.

On November 5, Biden held a slim lead over Trump in Nevada but appeared poised to win the state’s six electoral votes. That same day, Grenell and Trump campaign officials announced they were filing a new lawsuit to “stop the counting of illegal votes” but provided no evidence to support their claims of rampant fraud.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/08/politics/donald-trump-jr-meadows-text/index.html