POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Here’s what the IRA did for Massachusetts in the past year

 

BY MIA MCCARTHY AND KELLY GARRITY HAPPY BIRTHDAY IRA — The Inflation Reduction Act turned 1 yesterday, marking a year since the major climate legislation was signed into law. Now, Democrats are in full-on sales mode — promoting one of the Biden administration's signature accomplishments ahead of his reelection bid next year. “The IRA is already a revolution,” Sen. Ed Markey told Playbook, five minutes before walking into the White House for an IRA anniversary event. He called the event “a celebration for this huge, huge climate success.” All eight members of Massachusetts’ fully Democrat delegation voted for the IRA last year. The bill included tax incentives and federal funding designed to lower costs and create jobs, while making advancements toward cleaner energy. Now, a year later, the Bay State has seen six IRA funded energy projects . Four of the projects are in MA-03 , Rep. Lori Trahan’s district. They include an electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Methuen, an EV research facility in Marlborough, an electrolyzer plant near Lowell and a hydrogen electrolyzer factory in Devens. The two other energy projects include an offshore wind terminal in Salem and a solar project in Worcester. The solar project, announced only a few weeks ago, is being built near Holy Cross College, according to E2 data . The funding is only posted for some of the projects, but the new EV facility in Methuen appears to be the largest, with a $45 million price tag. But in comparison to the rest of the country — where states like North Carolina, Texas, Georgia have energy projects that cost $4 billion or more — the Mass IRA funding barely makes a dent. Still, Markey contends that "the IRA is massive in its effect on the country, but on Massachusetts as well." He said he worked on the bill with the intention of ensuring Massachusetts had access to clean energy funding. So what’s next for Massachusetts from the IRA in the next year? Markey said they’re just getting started. The bill will lower electricity costs and create thousands of jobs in Massachusetts, he said, while reducing greenhouse gases and the threat they pose to the state. However, the IRA isn't the Green New Deal. Markey, who got pieces of his sponsored legislation into the IRA last year, said this is a step to bigger climate legislation. He’s hoping to fund a climate corps and pass new transmission regulations in the future. “We still have more work to do,” Markey said. But he added that the IRA is already “much bigger than any of the experts predicted it would be just one year ago.” And for now, it's time to “pah-ty.” “It's time for us to not only celebrate this victory,” Markey said before ending the call to attend the IRA’s birthday party. “But to also ensure that we are going to have an even bigger bill to be passed in the future.” GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS . TODAY — State Auditor Diana DiZoglio joins state Rep. Margaret Scarsdale and other local officials for a tour of the 1st Middlesex District in Groton at 10 a.m. Tips, scoops, birthdays? We're at mmccarthy@politico.com and kgarrity@politico.com and @Reporter_Mia and @KellyGarrity3 .   A NEW PODCAST FROM POLITICO: Our new POLITICO Tech podcast is your daily download on the disruption that technology is bringing to politics and policy around the world. From AI and the metaverse to disinformation and cybersecurity, POLITICO Tech explores how today’s technology is shaping our world — and driving the policy decisions, innovations and industries that will matter tomorrow. SUBSCRIBE AND START LISTENING TODAY .     DATELINE BEACON HILL — MORE TURMOIL IN THE MASSGOP: “The Massachusetts Republican Party is no stranger to infighting, but this is taking it to a new level. The former chairman of the Massachusetts GOP and more than 20 current state GOP committee members are suing the party’s new leader and the very panel the committee members sit on, accusing the party of wrongly killing a lawsuit against its own treasurer,” the Boston Globe’s Matt Stout wrote yesterday . “The complicated and circuitous complaint — filed Tuesday by ex-chairman Jim Lyons against his successor, Amy Carnevale — threatens to resurface an internal battle the party had tried to bury months ago. It’s also likely to further inflame the deep-seated divisions snaking through the GOP at a time when it’s trying to fight fewer battles, not more.” Despite the emerging tensions, the state committee was able to come to a consensus last night on new rules for awarding delegates in the GOP presidential primary. The new plan would shift back to a proportional allocation system, which the state committee had in place before pro-Trump then-Chair Lyons approved a winner-take-all plan for the 2020 presidential primary to protect Trump from challengers — including former Gov. Bill Weld. The new criteria could incentivize GOP hopefuls to make more of an effort in the Bay State during the busy primary season. But it’s not official yet. The proposal first has to be approved by the full state committee at its next meeting in September. — “Campbell, other AGs join call for feds to speed migrant work approvals,” by Jennifer Smith, CommonWealth Magazine: “One week after Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency regarding the migrant crisis, including a call for more expedited federal work authorizations, Attorney General Andrea Campbell and 18 other attorneys general joined in … ’The vast majority of new arrivals in recent months — like many who have come before them — want nothing more than an opportunity to work, and many of our businesses are eager to hire additional workers,’ Campbell and her counterparts from other states wrote in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.” FROM THE HUB — “Special prosecutor appointed in Kendra Lara car crash case as councilor pursues dismissal,” by Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald: “A special prosecutor has been named to oversee Kendra Lara’s car crash case just as the city councilor moved to toss the charges claiming she was not served a citation at the scene. Worcester Assistant District Attorney Joel Luna was tapped by the Suffolk District Attorney’s office as the prosecutor in the case because the wife of William King, an opponent of Lara’s in the upcoming municipal elections, works in the city DA’s office, a spokesman told the Herald.” — “Boston city officials: district is fully staffed with school bus drivers,” by Emily Piper-Vallillo, WBUR: “With the start of school less than a month away, Boston city officials said they have a fully-staffed team of school bus drivers for the first time since before the pandemic. District leaders hope this will translate to more on-time arrivals and drop-offs for students.” — "City, union reps meet to discuss Boston Mayor Wu’s plan for Mass and Cass," by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “City representatives held a closed-door meeting with first responder unions to discuss how the mayor plans to address the uptick in violence occurring at Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard this summer, her office said."   DON’T MISS POLITICO’S TECH & AI SUMMIT: America’s ability to lead and champion emerging innovations in technology like generative AI will shape our industries, manufacturing base and future economy. Do we have the right policies in place to secure that future? How will the U.S. retain its status as the global tech leader? Join POLITICO on Sept. 27 for our Tech & AI Summit to hear what the public and private sectors need to do to sharpen our competitive edge amidst rising global competitors and rapidly evolving disruptive technologies. REGISTER HERE .     THE RACE FOR CITY HALL — “Boston City Council ballot drawing listed Kendra Lara as Kendra Hicks,” by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “A few eyebrows were raised when the Boston Election Department listed City Councilor Kendra Lara as Kendra Hicks at a lottery drawing that determined what order candidates will appear on the preliminary ballot. … Sabino Piemonte, the city’s head assistant registrar of voters, said the discrepancy was just a mistake on his part that was quickly corrected. The incumbent’s name is listed as Kendra Lara on the ballot for the Sept. 12 preliminary election, he told the Herald Wednesday.” — “Voting for Boston City Council elections begins next month. Here’s what you need to know,” by Vivi Smilgius and Maggie Scales, Boston Globe: "The deadline to register to vote in Boston’s preliminary elections is just around the corner and some of the City Council candidates up for reelection made headlines this summer. Eligible Bostonians must be registered to vote by Sept. 2 in order to cast their ballots in the Sept. 12 preliminary election, which will narrow the list of candidates running to be district councilors down to two in each district.  These candidates will then go on to compete in the general election on Nov. 7." THE LOCAL ANGLE — “Methuen seeks funding for storm damage,” by Monica Sager, The Eagle-Tribune: “Mayor Neil Perry announced that the city is working to have the Aug. 8 rainstorm and subsequent flooding designated as an emergency. With the emergency declaration, residents and businesses could possibly qualify for federal and state disaster assistance.” — “Business owner launches political attack on city councilor,” by Matt Petry, Newburyport Daily News: “A city councilor up for reelection this fall has become the target of personal attacks by a downtown merchant whose clashes with another business owner resulted in court action against him. City Councilor Steve Stanganelli, a business owner himself, is calling out a disparaging bumper sticker which he believes contains pornographic imagery and a sign both recently put up at Greenery Designs on Market Street by owner Terrance Gleason.” — “State rejects developer’s plan for shops and restaurants at State Pier,” by Anastasia E. Lennon, New Bedford Light: "The plan to redevelop State Pier into a multi-use space for retail shops, restaurants, offshore wind and a new seafood auction house has been put on hold. MassDevelopment, a quasi-state agency, will issue a new request for proposals for developing the site after its provisional agreement with a group of businesses — which it selected late last year — expired, with the agency not agreeing to the proposed terms." HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Bob Massie, Ari Meyerowitz and Lisa Murray. Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com .   Follow us on Twitter Lisa Kashinsky @lisakashinsky   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Ottawa Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters FOLLOW US

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A MAGA Mob Called for His Death, But Mike Pence Just Can’t Quit MAGA

 These have been frantic days and who can keep up?

This is a reminder...
STEVE BANNON dragged the SWAMP to find an EVANGELICAL to the ticket and found BRAIN DEAD MIKE PENCE who was at the end of his political career.

Not that MIKE PENCE never lists his dedication to DEMOCRACY or the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Mike Pence replied, “You better believe it,” when 

asked if he’s a “MAGA Republican”

AUGUST 13, 2023

A noose is seen as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

DESPITE A MAGA mob calling for his death on Jan. 6 and erecting a literal gallows to hang him, Mike Pence still refuses to separate himself fully from the MAGA movement.

The former vice president did not distance himself from MAGA when Meet the Press host Chuck Todd asked on Sunday if he still considers himself a “MAGA Republican.”

“I’m incredibly proud of what we did in the Trump-Pence administration for four years. You better believe it,” Pence responded.

“Under the Trump-Pence administration with the support of MAGA Americans, we literally did make America great again,” he added.

Todd asked again, “You feel like you’re a MAGA Republican or not?”

“I’m a Christian, a conservative and a Republican in that order,” Pence replied. “I’ve always said that. People who know me know those are my values. Those are my ideals. And I really believe that the agenda that I’ve always been about.”

Pence has repeatedly defended Trump and his actions on Jan. 6, even though those actions arguably put him and his family in danger. Last month, Pence said of Trump on that day, “While his words were reckless, I’m not yet convinced they were criminal.”

Despite Pence’s attempts not to distance himself from Trump and his supporters, likely in the hopes of earning their votes for his 2024 presidential bid, extremists are renewing the calls to hang him, Rolling Stone reported earlier this month.

“I want to watch his toes dangle in the breeze,” one user of online forum TheDonald wrote recently.

LINK

JOHN DEAN: Altemeyer on Trump’s Supporters

JOHN DEAN & ALTEMEYER GOT IT RIGHT ABOUT tRUMP SUPPORTERS: 

excerpt: 

We know enough about authoritarian supporters from research, and history, to know it will be very hard to change their minds about the leader they adore.

• They are extremely ethnocentric, dividing the world sharply into people in their in-group, and automatically disliking all others. They feel politicians who promote minority rights and immigration discriminate against them. Donald Trump tells them they are right. He is their champion.
• They are highly dogmatic. They get their ideas from others in the in-group, especially from their leader, not from evidence and logic. They say there is no evidence that will make them change their minds. They’re quite comfortable believing “alternate facts.”
• They get great satisfaction from being part of a large movement. Being in a cohesive crowd at rallies thrills them because they silently tell one another, just by being there, that they are powerful and right. They create an echo chamber that reinforces the belief that all the good people think like they do.
• They severely limit their sources of information. They get the news that they want to get. This also produces an echo chamber when the news sources they trust are copying each other and relaying Trump’s message.
• They have highly compartmentalized minds. When an unpleasant truth forces its way into their awareness, they do not try to integrate the other things they believe with it. Instead they put it in a box and isolate it from the rest of their thinking, which proceeds as if the truth never existed.

Put all this together and you get an idea how hard it will be to change their minds about Donald Trump.

LINK

Trumpers Are DOXING Georgia Grand Jury Members

MINDLESS tRUMPERS ARE DOMESTIC TERRORISTS & NEED TO BE PROSECUTED  

Truth Social members wasted no time in doxing the Fulton County grand jurors in the racketeering charges against former president Donald Trump. Ana Kasparian and David Shuster discuss on The Young Turks.

Trump tells a witness 'not to testify' in Georgia grand jury. Time to detain Trump pending trial.

 

Donald Trump has been endangering witnesses for as long as there have been criminal investigations into his misconduct. But he may have just run out of rope. As Axios reported, "Trump tells Georgia witness not to testify." This constitutes a clear violation of his conditions of pretrial release. in his federal case. Importantly, when he was arraigned in his federal case in DC, the judge told defendant Trump the following: "Your most important condition of release, sir, is that you not commit a state, federal or local crime while on release. If you were to do so . . . a warrant may be issued for your arrest , your conditions of release may be revoked, and you may be held pending trial in this case." By telling a witness not to testify to the Georgia grand jury, Trump committed the Georgia state crime of "influencing a witness." Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can now simply ask the grand jury to indict him for that crime, and the Georgia state indictment can be used to revoke his pretrial release in the federal case in DC. This is so because the federal law states that release can be revoked if the judge finds there is probable cause to believe the defendant committed a state crime while on release in his federal case. And importantly, a grand jury indictment conclusively establishes probable case that a state crime has been committed. Trump may have just paved his own way right into a jail cell pending trial.

Richard Ojeda humiliates GOP jackaloons

 

Ex-Santos staffer charged with impersonating Speaker McCarthy to raise funds

 

A man who was a paid campaign fundraiser for Rep. George Santos was indicted in New York on federal criminal charges related to his allegedly impersonating a top aide to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he solicited donations for Santos.

See Trump vet Roger Stone pushing elector plot on tape: Beat Exclusive

 

In exclusive video obtained by "The Beat with Ari Melber," Trump adviser and ally Roger Stone is seen pushing a plot to overthrow the 2020 Election. In this report, Melber, MSNBC's Chief Legal Correspondent, breaks the exclusive news and reports on its wider context amidst several election probes and indictments.

August 16, 2023 HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

August 16, 2023 HEATHER COX RICHARDSON AUG 17 [There is a discussion of rape in paragraph 12.] Three big stories today. First of all, the Democrats are taking a victory lap on the anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a law that has transformed the U.S. economy and for which not a single Republican voted.  The IRA was the eventual form President Joe Biden’s initial “Build Back Better” plans took. It offered to lower Americans’ energy costs with a 30% tax credit for energy-efficient windows, heat pumps, or newer models of appliances; capped the cost of drugs at $2,000 per year for people on Medicare; and made healthcare premiums fall for certain Americans by expanding the Affordable Care Act.  By raising taxes on the very wealthy and on corporations and bringing the Internal Revenue Service back up to full strength so that it can crack down on tax cheating, as well as saving the government money by permitting it to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, the IRA was expected to raise $738 billion. That, plus about $891 billion from other sources, enabled the law to make the largest investment ever in addressing climate change while still bringing down the federal government’s annual deficit. “This is a BFD,” former President Barack Obama tweeted a year ago. “Thanks, Obama,” Biden responded. The law has driven significant investment in U.S. manufacturing. Indeed, the chief executive officer of U.S. Steel recently said the law should be renamed the “Manufacturing Renaissance Act,” as manufacturers return previously offshored production to the U.S. That same shift has brought supply chains back to the U.S. These changes have meant new, well-paid manufacturing jobs that have been concentrated in Republican-dominated states and in historically disadvantaged communities.  Scientists Alicia Zhao and Haewon McJeon, who recently published an article in Science, today wrote that the IRA “brings the US significantly closer to meeting its 2030 climate target [of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 50–52% below 2005 levels], taking expected emissions from 25–31% below 2005 levels down to 33–40% below.” While Republican presidential candidates took shots at the IRA today—former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley called it “a communist manifesto”—Democrats have pointed out that Republicans have been eager to take credit for IRA investments in their districts without mentioning either that they voted against the IRA or that they are still trying to repeal it. If the Democrats are taking a victory lap for passing this transformative law a year ago, the second big story today showed the effort to steal the 2020 presidential election was fully formed earlier than had been established previously. That story came from MSNBC’s Ari Melber, who revealed a video taken by Danish filmmaker Christoffer Guldbrandsen of Trump ally Roger Stone plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election on November 5, 2020, two days before the election was called for President Biden.  In the video, Stone dictated to an associate a statement saying that “any legislative body may decide on the basis of overwhelming evidence of fraud to send electors to the Electoral College who accurately reflect the president’s legitimate victory in their state, which was illegally denied him through fraud. We must be prepared to lobby our Republican legislatures…by personal contact and by demonstrating the overwhelming will of the people in their state—in each state—that this may need to happen,” he said.  This video, recorded while the election was not yet decided, recalls the statement of Trump ally Steve Bannon, who told a group of associates on October 31, 2020—before the election—that Trump simply planned to declare he had won, claiming that the expected wave in favor of Biden was fraudulent. “What Trump’s gonna do is just declare victory. Right? He’s gonna declare victory. But that doesn’t mean he’s a winner,” Bannon said. “He’s just gonna say he’s a winner.” The third big story of today shows how Trump Republicans think about women. It hits hard in the wake of this week’s story in Time magazine of the 13-year-old Mississippi girl who just gave birth after being raped by a stranger in her yard. She was unable to obtain an abortion because of Mississippi’s abortion ban. She is scheduled soon to start seventh grade. Yesterday, far away from the home of that Mississippi girl, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit handed down a decision about the use of the abortion drug mifepristone in the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Last year, as soon as the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the constitutional right to abortion, antiabortion doctors tried to get mifepristone taken off the market by arguing that the FDA should never have approved it when it did so in 2000. The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine was incorporated just after last June’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision overturned Roe v. Wade. In April 2023, Trump appointee and longtime abortion opponent Texas judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a preliminary ruling invalidating that approval. The federal appeals court yesterday said the drug should be legal, but significantly limited its use by saying it could not be sent through the mail or prescribed without an in-person visit to a doctor, cutting midwives and other healthcare providers out of the process.  Judge James Ho, who was sworn into office by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in his billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow’s library in 2018 (Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz was also there), wrote his own opinion in the case in order to expand on what he sees as “the historical pedigree of Plaintiffs’ conscience injury, and to explore how Plaintiffs suffer aesthetic injury as well.”  Antiabortion doctors suffer a moral injury when they are forced to help patients who have complications from the use of mifepristone, Ho wrote, because they are forced to participate in an abortion against their principles.  Those doctors also experience an aesthetic injury when patients choose abortion because, as one said, “When my patients have chemical abortions, I lose the opportunity…to care for the woman and child through pregnancy and bring about a successful delivery of new life.” Indeed, Ho wrote, “It’s well established that, if a plaintiff has ‘concrete plans’ to visit an animal’s habitat and view that animal, that plaintiff suffers aesthetic injury when an agency has approved a project that threatens the animal.” In cases where the government “approved some action—such as developing land or using pesticides—that threatens to destroy…animal or plant life that plaintiffs wish to enjoy,” that injury “is redressable by a court order holding unlawful and setting aside the agency approval. And so too here. The FDA has approved the use of a drug that threatens to destroy the unborn children in whom Plaintiffs [that is, the antiabortion doctors] have an interest.”  “Unborn babies are a source of profound joy for those who view them,” Ho wrote. “Expectant parents eagerly share ultrasound photos with loved ones. Friends and family cheer at the sight of an unborn child. Doctors delight in working with their unborn patients—and experience an aesthetic injury when they are aborted.”  The decision will be on hold until the appeals process is completed. — Notes: https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/the-inflation-reduction-act-and-us-business-investment https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca5.213145/gov.uscourts.ca5.213145.543.1_1.pdf (Ho’s argument begins on p. 64.)  https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-how-the-inflation-reduction-act-narrows-the-gap-to-us-climate-goals/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-28/us-steel-ceo-hails-ira-as-a-manufacturing-renaissance-act https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/08/16/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-anniversary-of-the-inflation-reduction-act/ https://www.thedailybeast.com/msnbc-airs-new-footage-of-roger-stone-working-to-overturn-2020-election https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/07/leaked-audio-steve-bannon-trump-2020-election-declare-victory/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/22/climate-spending-republican-states-clean-energy-funding https://time.com/6303701/a-rape-in-mississippi/ https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/16/us/politics/biden-inflation-reduction-act.html https://www.nytimes.com/article/supreme-court-abortion-pill-ruling.html Twitter (X): POTUS/status/1559678752497565696 MoiraDonegan/status/1691921793974714368 SenTedCruz/status/949083663915995136