U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

FACT SHEET: President Biden and G7 Leaders Formally Launch the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment

The Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment will deliver game-changing projects to close the infrastructure gap in developing countries, strengthen the global economy and supply chains, and advance U.S. national security
 
President Biden will announce new flagship projects and lay out the Administration’s comprehensive effort to execute the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.

At the 2021 G7 Summit, President Biden and G7 leaders announced their intent to develop a values-driven, high-impact, and transparent infrastructure partnership to meet the enormous infrastructure needs of low- and middle-income countries and support the United States’ and its allies’ economic and national security interests. Over the past year, members of the Administration have traveled to hear directly from countries on how we can meet their infrastructure needs, deepened our coordination across the U.S Government and with the G7, honed our infrastructure investment tools, and closed game-changing deals.

At the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Schloss Elmau, Leaders will formally launch the Partnership for Global Infrastructure (PGII) to mobilize hundreds of billions of dollars and deliver quality, sustainable infrastructure that makes a difference in people’s lives around the world, strengthens and diversifies our supply chains, creates new opportunities for American workers and businesses, and advances our national security.
 
Today, President Biden will announce that the U.S. aims to mobilize $200 billion for PGII over the next 5 years through grants, Federal financing, and leveraging private sector investments. Together with G7 partners, we aim to mobilize $600 billion by 2027 in global infrastructure investments. And this will only be the beginning. The United States and its G7 partners will seek to mobilize additional capital from other like-minded partners, multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, sovereign wealth funds, and more.

President Biden will release a Presidential Memorandum to execute the PGII across four priority pillars that will define the second half of the 21st century.

This includes:

- Tackling the climate crisis and bolstering global energy security through investments in climate resilient infrastructure, transformational energy technologies, and developing clean energy supply chains across the full integrated lifecycle, from the responsible mining of metals and critical minerals; to low-emissions transportation and hard infrastructure; to investing in new global refining, processing, and battery manufacturing sites; to deploying proven, as well as innovative, scalable technologies in places that do not yet have access to clean energy.

- Developing, expanding, and deploying secure information and communications technology (ICT) networks and infrastructure to power economic growth and facilitate open digital societies—from working with trusted vendors to provide 5G and 6G digital connectivity, to supporting access to platforms and services that depend upon an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable internet and mobile networks with sound cybersecurity.

- Advancing gender equality and equity—from care infrastructure that increases opportunities for economic participation by women, to improved water and sanitation infrastructure that addresses gender gaps in unpaid work and time use – in order to boost the global economic recovery by ensuring that half the population is not forced to sit on the sidelines.
 
- Developing and upgrading the infrastructure of health systems and contributing to global health security through investments in patient-centered health services and the health workforce; vaccine and other essential medical product manufacturing; and disease surveillance and early warning systems, including safe and secure labs. Addressing the current pandemic and preventing and preparing for the next one is crucial to U.S. economic and national security.

President Biden will announce flagship projects of PGII, along with additional projects that have been undertaken over the past year. PGII will demonstrate how millions of dollars can mobilize tens or hundreds of millions in further investments and tens or hundreds of millionscan mobilize billions.

- With support from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), U.S. firm AfricaGlobal Schaffer (Washington, DC), in collaboration with U.S. project developer Sun Africa (Miami, FL), signed a contract with the Government of Angola to develop a $2 billion solar project in four southern Angola provinces. The project will include solar mini-grids, solar cabins with telecommunications capabilities, and home power kits. In addition to supporting up to $1.3 billion in U.S. exports, the project will help Angola meet their climate commitments, including generating 70% carbon-free power by 2025.

- In collaboration with G7 members as well as the European Union and multilateral organizations, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is disbursing a $3.3 million technical assistance grant to Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) for early-stage project development for an industrial-scale flexible multi-vaccine manufacturing facility in Senegal with potential annual capacity of millions of doses of COVID-19 and other vaccines, potentially using both viral vector and mRNA technologies. DFC’s grant is part of a $14 million grant financing package that also includes $3.3 million from the International Finance Corporation, $2 million from the Agence Française de Développement, and $5.2 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB). DFC, along with other development finance institutions, is currently evaluating a loan to support IPD’s expansion to supplement EIB’s recent announcement of a nearly $80 million sovereign loan financing package.

- U.S. telecommunications company SubCom (Eatontown, NJ), awarded a $600 million contract, to build the Southeast Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 6 submarine telecommunications cable that will connect Singapore to France through Egypt and the Horn of Africa. The submarine cable will stretch over 17,000 km and connect countries across the region with high-speed, reliable connectivity. The U.S. Government, including through the U.S. Department of State, Commerce’s Advocacy Center, EXIM, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency’s (USTDA) commitment of nearly $4 million in additional capacity building to support five countries using SubCom’s technology, collectively helped secure the award of the construction and deployment of the undersea fiber optic cable for SubCom.

- The U.S. Government with U.S. firm NuScale Power LLC (Tigard, OR) will provide $14 million in support for the Front-End Engineering and Design study for Romania’s deployment of a first-of-its-kind small modular reactor (SMR) plant. Building on U.S. Government efforts, including advocacy support from Commerce and technical assistance from State and USTDA, this investment is meant to mobilize a multi-billion-dollar effort and showcase U.S. ingenuity in the advanced nuclear sector, accelerate the clean energy transition, create thousands of jobs, and strengthen European energy security while upholding the highest standards for nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation.

- The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will aim to commit up to $50 million over five years to the World Bank’s new global Childcare Incentive Fund – $200 million public-private partnership to address the gap in suitable childcare infrastructure; boost women’s employment opportunities, productivity and income, and broader economic growth; and promote human capital and early learning for children. Other partners include the Governments of Canada and Australia, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Echidna Giving, the Ford Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the LEGO Foundation.

- DFC will invest up to $25 million in the Uhuru Growth Fund I-A, which will provide needed growth capital to small-and medium-sized enterprises in West Africa – including women-led businesses. Some of the largest economies in Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire, are facing a shortage of growth capital. Uhuru has committed to investing at least 30 percent of capital in eligible portfolio companies that support DFC’s 2X women’s economic empowerment initiative, and over 40 percent of the Uhuru team members are women. In addition to U.S. support, like-minded partners are investing including $35 million from the German Development Finance Institution, $30 million from the European Investment Bank, and $15 million from British International Investment, among others. Through this investment, DFC expects to mobilize $78 million in private capital.   

- The Digital Invest program will leverage $3.45 million in State and USAID funding to mobilize up to $335 million in investment capital for internet service providers and financial technology companies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America that use secure network equipment and advance competition and choice in emerging markets. This new blended finance program for fund managers and project developers through the Digital Connectivity and Cybersecurity Partnership will promote the growth of resilient, secure digital ecosystems in developing countries.

- USAID will invest $40 million in the Southeast Asia’s Smart Power Program to decarbonize and strengthen the region’s power system by increasing regional energy trade, accelerating the deployment of clean energy technologies, and actively engaging private sector leaders and key development partners in shared priorities. The program is expected to mobilize $2 billion in financing as a result of U.S. Government assistance, increase regional energy trade by five percent, and result in 2 gigawatts of advanced energy systems deployed.

- DFC will invest up to $30 million in Omnivore Agritech and Climate Sustainability Fund 3, an impact venture capital fund that invests in entrepreneurs building the future of agriculture, food systems, climate, and the rural economy in India. The Fund seeks to invest in companies that increase food security and promote both climate resilience and climate adaptation in India, as well as improve the profitability and agricultural productivity of smallholder farms. The Fund is targeting a $65 million first close in September 2022 and a final close in 2023 to reach its target capitalization of $130 million. Through this investment, DFC expects to mobilize $30 million in private capital.     

- ABD group (Philadelphia, PA), a project development company, was awarded a $320 million healthcare infrastructure project to renovate or construct over 100 hospitals and clinics across Côte d’Ivoire and has already begun work on 10 locations. ABD Group credits the Memorandum of Understanding for commercial cooperation between the U.S. Government and the Government of Côte d’Ivoire with providing the necessary foundation of partnership for this deal to come to fruition. With the support of Commerce, the project has already received $160 million in closed financing with another $160 million nearing completion.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/26/fact-sheet-president-biden-and-g7-leaders-formally-launch-the-partnership-for-global-infrastructure-and-investment/

[Rick Plant]

In the hands of Republicans, Social Security is at serious risk

The Trump administration launched a major attack on Social Security, putting some older adults and people with disabilities at extreme risk. The Washington Post reports on how attorneys at Social Security imposed excessive fines on scores of Social Security recipients who received benefits inappropriately. Now, in an op-ed for The Miami Herald, Max Richtman, the head of the National Committee to Protect Social Security and Medicare, writes about how Senator Rick Scott of Florida wants to privatize Social Security, effectively putting Social Security benefits at risk and undermining the ability of tens of millions of vulnerable Americans to afford basic necessities.

Because Social Security is a national treasure, beloved by Republicans and Democrats alike, Senator Scott is not outright speaking about doing away with Social Security or Medicare. But, Scott’s proposal to require Congressional reauthorization of federal programs every five years would allow for just that. He would require Congress to re-enact Medicare and Social Security every five years to continue them. Since Senator Scott now chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, his proposals are likely to have a lot of influence in Congress, especially if Republicans regain control of the House and Senate.

Some years ago, Senator Scott proposed privatizing Social Security. If Congress privatized Social Security, it would put people’s benefits at serious risk, open to the vicissitudes of the market. Richtman projects that as many as one in three older adults could be impoverished. Moreover, without Social Security and Medicare, local governments and businesses would lose significant revenue.

Social Security and Medicare are earned benefits. Voters should beware of any proposals that would remove Social Security’s critical guarantees, cut their benefits, or otherwise make it harder to be assured of a regular income stream and health insurance.

So far, Republicans have not been successful at privatizing or otherwise cutting Social Security. But, here’s a taste of what the Trump administration did to undermine Social Security:

Trump’s Social Security agency imposed excessively harsh penalties on vulnerable older adults as part of its anti-fraud program. The Biden administration’s acting Social Security commissioner is now investigating those acts. And, Democrats in Congress are seeking an investigation into this possible abuse of authority. They want to prevent future behavior of this sort and help the people who were harshly penalized.

What did the Trump administration do exactly? It imposed huge fines on scores of poor older adults and people with disabilities who received Social Security benefits improperly. The penalties appear to be an abuse of the administration’s authority.

The attorneys working in the Social Security Administration in 2018, when Trump was president, did not follow standard protocols for recouping funds inappropriately paid to Social Security enrollees. In determining penalties for fraud, they should have looked at individuals’ income. Instead, they charged these individuals more than twice what they inappropriately received in Social Security benefits.

https://justcareusa.org/in-the-hands-of-republicans-social-security-is-at-serious-risk/

[Rick Plant]

Radical right wing Republicans are going hard after your rights and Social Security. Republicans believe they have the right to force women to give birth even when they are violently attacked and assaulted. This is fascism.

Ohio lawmaker says baby born of rape, incest ‘still has the right to life’

Abortion ban sponsor says she believes Republicans have the votes for the bill needed and the support of Gov. DeWine



The sponsor of legislation that would ban nearly all abortions in Ohio said babies conceived via rape or incest still have a right to life.

Rep. Jean Schmidt, a Cincinnati area Republican, said on conservative talk radio earlier this week that her bill is likely to pass in the legislative session after the November elections.

“I do believe we have the votes in both chambers, and we have the full support of the governor on this bill,” she said.

The bill also creates a new misdemeanor crime of “promoting” abortion, for those who make, sell or distribute drugs or devices used to perform illegal abortions. Schmidt said in the interview this could be used to target some of the companies (including in Ohio) that have announced they will cover costs of employee travel to seek an abortion as needed.

When pressed by 700WLW host Bill Cunningham on whether Ohio should pass legislation banning birth control pills or condoms, she said she’ll listen to both sides of the debate.

House Bill 598, which Schmidt introduced, would ban most abortion in Ohio. Current Ohio law allows for abortions up to six weeks after a woman’s last period. The proposed legislation does not provide exceptions for pregnancies conceived by rape or incest.

Providing any abortion under the bill could lead to a fourth degree felony charge. The law allows the accused to mount a defense, however, if they only did so to save the life of the mother. That physician would need to provide written certification of the woman’s medical need along with that of another physician from a separate practice.

Likewise, the legislation requires at least two physicians present during the abortion: one to perform the abortion in the manner that provides the “best opportunity for the unborn child to survive,” and another to care for the fetus.

Schmidt drew national attention in April when she referred to a hypothetical 13-year-old’s pregnancy spawned by rape as an “opportunity.” Her recent comments, however, come after the U.S. Supreme Court last week overturned a landmark 1973 ruling that established a constitutional right to abortion. That decision wiped out the federal protection and returned control over abortion to the states.

A spokesman for Gov. Mike DeWine did not dispute Schmidt’s characterization of DeWine’s support for her bill, and noted that the governor has previously expressed support for conceptually similar legislation. Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said this week he expects an abortion ban of some sort to pass in late 2022.

Schmidt’s remarks indicate no signs of a softened position, and a sense of opportunity after the removal of a major roadblock to restrictive abortion laws. They, and Cunningham’s questions, have been edited here for length and clarity.

Cunningham: What about rape and incest [as a potential exception to a ban on abortion?

Schmidt: “Rape and incest is an ugly, ugly, ugly act of violence, and that woman is truly harmed and scarred, and those wounds will never go away and we need to make sure that she has all of the love and help and support. But to end the pregnancy of the child is not going to erase those wounds or those scars. That child still has the right to life.”

So, as a leader in the House of Representatives, you would not vote to ban birth control pills in Ohio?

“You know, that’s another issue for another day, and I’m going to have to listen to both sides of that debate. But right now, what I’m really concerned about is the life of the child, and the fact that we have the opportunity in Ohio to protect it from its conception until its natural death. That’s what I’m most excited about.”

Would you vote against gay marriage in Ohio?

“You know, Bill, that’s another decision for another day. The issue right now is abortion, and that’s one I want to make sure sees its end in Ohio in a very quick fashion.”

(Cunningham for 90 seconds talks about various alternatives to surgical abortion, ending in a statement that companies are starting to “pay” their employees $4,000 to travel to more liberal states that allow them to obtain an abortion and other “workarounds”.)

Do you know what I’m saying?

“If those companies want to do that, they better make sure that they’re complying with the laws of the states that allow them to do that. Because in House Bill 598, it says anybody that promotes an abortion will be under the issues of criminal activity. They might have a problem with sending somebody outside the state with a paycheck in hand, because that would be – in some legal eyes – promoting abortion.”

https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2022/07/01/ohio-abortion-ban-sponsor-says-baby-born-of-rape-incest-still-has-the-right-to-life/

[Rick Plant]

Colorado Republicans rejected several freak-show candidates – but still have an outright seditionist in their ranks



A common response to the Colorado primary election results this week was to remark that Republican voters rejected the election conspiracists, returned the party to the mainstream, signaled support for the establishment over the fringe.

It’s true that in several high-profile races the most reality-challenged, “team crazy” candidates got beat bad. That’s a relief.

But now we’re supposed to equate those losses to some realignment in the Colorado Republican Party with basic principles of democracy and constitutional order? As former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann might say, “Are you out of your effing mind?”

One candidate said to represent the party’s late preference for “sanity” is Heidi Ganahl, a University of Colorado regent who beat Greg Lopez in the Republican primary for governor. Lopez amplified election conspiracy theories, notably by saying former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election and through vocal support of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, an over-the-top election denier who is under felony indictment for her role in an election security breach in her own office.

But Ganahl hardly scores much better. From the moment she announced her candidacy in September, Ganahl steadfastly avoided answering whether she believed the “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. At the same time, she described Colorado-based U.S. Election Integrity Plan, which promotes baseless conspiracies, as “doing great things.” Earlier this month, she could finally bring herself to say, “I don’t believe there was enough fraud that would have flipped the election.” The approval this earned her was utterly undeserved — she still claims there was fraud, even though it was all but nonexistent, and she continued to promote the idea the election had “issues” that would justify doubts about the security of U.S. elections.

Next to Lopez, Ganahl might appear mainstream. Next to the history of American democratic norms, she’s a subversive extremist.

A bigger obstacle to any claim that Colorado Republicans were chastened by the last two years of nuttery in their ranks is the triumph of Rep. Lauren Boebert.

A similar dynamic was at play in the Republican contest between two U.S. Senate candidates, state Rep. Ron Hanks and construction executive Joe O’Dea. Hanks is a no-nuance election denier who crossed police lines at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection. It’s not hard to run to his left, as did O’Dea, who won the primary. He was lauded for clearing the low bar of accepting Joe Biden’s presidency. But he also said he would support a possible Trump presidential candidacy in 2024. As the recent House hearings on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol have demonstrated, Trump knew that he lost the 2020 election but conspired to pursue illegal and violence-prone efforts to overturn the results. He committed one of the greatest crimes in the history of the country, but O’Dea would put him back in the country’s most powerful office.

Next to Hanks, O’Dea might appear reasonable. Next to the restraints against America’s slide toward autocracy, he’s an enemy of democracy.

A bigger obstacle to any claim that Colorado Republicans were chastened by the last two years of nuttery in their ranks is the triumph of Rep. Lauren Boebert, the face of the party, the state’s most influential election denier, and an outright seditionist. She helped inspire the insurrection and maintains a cultish devotion to Trump. She trounced her primary opponent Tuesday.

There are few figures in the country who approach Boebert’s political looniness. She is the fringe’s fringe. Colorado Republicans did that.

Unlike Ganahl and O’Dea, who are running for offices elected by a statewide electorate, Boebert faced voters only in her district, which is conservative. But it’s hard to imagine Boebert losing a primary in either of Colorado’s other two conservative districts, or just about any conservative district in the country, because, as is demonstrated in her fundraising success, social media popularity and numerous TV appearances, she skillfully embodies a post-Trump Republican style of provocation, insults, cruelty and truth-aversion that has proved so appealing to the party’s OAN-poisoned base. A majority of Republicans still falsely believe the 2020 election was stolen. That does not exclude Colorado Republicans.

The primary election spelled defeat for some of Colorado’s Trumpiest, freak-show candidates. Sure, let’s celebrate that.

The election did not, however, mark a return of the party to sanity. As long as its members support the coup-attempt leader Trump, hedge on election denial, and embrace democracy-hating seditionists, the party will remain unqualified for a status of good standing.

Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence.

[Rick Plant]

Don Winslow @donwinslow

These are the Republican candidates for Governor of Arizona.

This may also be a strong sign of the end of the world.

Watch: https://twitter.com/donwinslow/status/1543052609551929344

[Rick Plant]

Because of these barbaric right wing Republican anti abortion laws women and girls who are raped will have their lives put at risk. Many of them will die under their "no exception abortion" law. 

Kristi Noem confronted on CNN over pregnant 10-year-old girl's inability to get an abortion



South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) was put on the spot during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" when the anti-abortion Republican was asked about a pregnant 10-year-old Ohio girl's inability to get an abortion in her state.

What followed was Noem expressing outrage about how the child got pregnant which then forced host Dana Bash to ask her to stick to the question and address the abortion issue.

"The Indianapolis Star is reporting a 10-year-old girl in Ohio, who is six weeks and three days pregnant, now has to travel across state lines to Indiana to receive an abortion," Bash began. "Because this was a trigger law that was passed before you became governor, I want you to be clear, will the state of South Dakota going forward force a 10-year-old in that very same situation to have a baby?"

"What is incredible, Dana, in this tragic story, because I heard about this last night, what is incredible is no one is talking about the pervert, horrible, deranged individual that raped a 10-year-old. What are we doing about that?" the GOP governor parried.

"I couldn't agree more but our bodies are our bodies and women are the ones who get pregnant. In this case, it wasn't a woman, it was a girl," Bash pressed.

"Every single life is precious," Noem offered. "This tragedy is horrific. I can't even imagine. I've never had anybody in my family or myself gone through anything like this. I can't even imagine. But in South Dakota, the law today is that the abortions are illegal except to save the life of the mother."

"You would be okay with a 10-year-old girl having to have a baby," the CNN host persisted.

"No, I'm never okay with that. That story will keep me up at night. It breaks my heart," Noem replied.

"Will you change the law to have an exception for a situation like that?" she was asked.

"I can't even imagine," Noem replied. "I would say I don't believe a tragic situation should be perpetuated by another tragedy. There's more we have to do to make sure we are living a life to say every life is precious, especially innocent lives that have been shattered like that 10-year-old girl."

"It's incredibly complicated, I get it," Bash pressed. "But i guess my question is, given how heartbroken you seem to be about the situation, maybe the question is this, because what I keep thinking about is, how is a 10-year-old girl physically, probably can't even carry a baby without being, never mind emotionally and physically tormented, but physically hurt. Would you consider that mother's life at risk?"

"That's something in that situation the doctor, the family, the individuals closest to that will make the decision for that family," she replied.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Democratic lawmaker has an idea to save women's freedoms and keep the Supreme Court away from taking them again

Speaking to MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan on Sunday, Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY), a Harvard Law School graduate, explained that Congress could protect the freedoms of women and his plan doesn't have anything to do with an attempt to overthrow the government.

"I knew that we would arrive at this point," Jones explained. "My colleague scoffed at me at the time that I introduced the bill, in April of 2021. Of course, the American people are on our side, when you look at poll after poll. And thankfully, we do have about 58 House members who are supportive of adding four seats to the Supreme Court, but that is not nearly enough. We can't pass the Women's Health Protection Act, after getting rid of the filibuster, which we obviously need to do. But this Supreme Court has shown a willingness to strike down newly enacted laws by Congress. They did so with the decision after decision of the Voting Rights Act, which has been authorized nearly unanimously. I'm under no illusions anything short of court reform, specifically adding seats to the Supreme Court, is going to preserve fundamental rights permanently."

He disputed President Joe Biden's statement that adding seats to the court would be "polarizing." Already, the American people have the lowest opinion level of the Supreme Court in history. Jones said that the more polarizing thing is the degradation of the most fundamental rights in America: personal freedoms.

"Whether it is the right to abortion, which is a 50-year-old Constitutional right, or of course, eminently, the right to contraception, and the right to marriage equality, and the right to same-sex intimacy," Jones continued, citing key court decisions cited by Justice Clarence Thomas that he wants to see fall next.

Jones went on to say that one of his ideas with the new voting rights bill was to add a provision that would deprive the Supreme Court of jurisdiction to review the constitutionality and legality of the statute.

"We have seen that this supreme court majority, this far-right majority is hostile to democracy itself," said Jones. "If we are to vote on the Women's Health Protection Act for the second time this term, I am pushing to include a provision to deprive the Supreme Court of review of that statute. There is precedent for this, it has been done before, and it is a practice that has been upheld before. We know that most of the cases the Supreme Court decides, it is only able to decide because of the jurisdiction that Congress has explicitly legislated it to have. The Constitution is very narrow in terms of the scope of jurisdiction that it grants to the Supreme Court. We have tools at our disposal here."

See the full conversation below: