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June 30, 2022

Hannah Story Brown

Press Release Climate and EnvironmentCongressional OversightEthics in GovernmentExecutive BranchIndependent Agencies

RELEASE: Impact of Supreme Court’s EPA Decision Can Be Minimized Through Decisive Executive Counteractions

Today the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in West Virginia v. EPA, curbing the EPA’s authority to establish carbon emissions caps under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. It is a significant blow, and is further evidence of how far this empowered, extremist Supreme Court will go to erode the functions of our government and contravene the public interest. But it is not a lethal blow. Many tools to stave off the climate crisis and facilitate an equitable energy transition remain available to the EPA, to the White House, and to Congress. 

June 29, 2022

Glenna Li

Blog Post Anti-MonopolyDepartment of JusticeExecutive BranchFTC

Biden Must Take On Refineries To Lower Gas Prices

Rising gas prices may not be a problem of the Biden administration’s making, but they are a problem it cannot afford to ignore. People across the country are feeling their effects, with some groups like gig workers and those in the trucking industry – which has seen an increase in layoffs as gas prices have risen – suffering more acutely. In the face of these difficult conditions, it is essential that the Biden administration take decisive action to ease the pain people are feeling right now and, in the medium-term, address the structural factors that created this crisis.

June 08, 2022 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Hannah Story Brown

Newsletter Confirmations CrisisExecutive BranchIndependent Agencies

June Gloom for Student Debtors, Plus Biden’s Solar Breakthrough

The tortuous game of will-they-won’t-they cancel student debt continues. Biden’s decision this week to cancel $5.8 billion in debt held by 560,000 former students of the systematically fraudulent, now-defunct Corinthian Colleges seems to signal a willingness (finally!) to wield executive authority on higher ed issues. Meanwhile, a historic coalition of over 500 labor, civil rights and advocacy groups continues to press Biden for sweeping cancellation. The labor movement has been ramping up its calls for student debt cancellation, and more unions, including the Amazon and Starbucks unions and several traditionally blue-collar unions, are joining the fight. This show of force from a broad labor base could help Biden overcome his political reservations, with organized labor actively refuting the Republican talking point that student debt relief is a handout to elite university graduates.

June 06, 2022

Dorothy Slater

Press Release Climate and EnvironmentExecutive Branch

RELEASE: Revolving Door Project Applauds Use Of Defense Production Act For Clean Energy Projects

In response to the Biden administration’s announcement that it will activate the Defense Production Act to spur domestic production of crucial clean energy projects including solar panel parts, building insulation, heat pumps, and power grid infrastructure, Revolving Door Project Senior Researcher Dorothy Slater released the following statement:

June 01, 2022 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Daniel Boguslaw

Newsletter Climate and EnvironmentDepartment of JusticeExecutive BranchIndependent Agencies

Biden's War Against Himself

If the unchecked blood letting, billowing inflation, foreign conflict, and typhoon of domestic Covid infection wasn’t enough to set Americans on edge the past week, a persistent high pitched whine–not unlike the kind projected outside 7/11s to deter listless teenage delinquents from Sacramento to Scranton–descended on the nation. It emanated not from a thoughtfully angled speaker system, but out of the oval office and into the pages of the Wall Street Journal and Fox News studios. Nonetheless, It has had a similar effect in driving young people away.

May 25, 2022 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Hannah Story Brown

Newsletter Climate and EnvironmentConfirmations CrisisExecutive BranchFood and Drug Administration

The Filth Circuit Takes a Wrecking Ball to Precedent

Over the past week Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to require that the ingredients necessary for baby formula go to formula manufacturers first, and initiated Operation Fly Formula, using military planes to fly the equivalent of 1.5 million bottles of hypoallergenic formula across the Atlantic. It’s good to see the White House roused to take action, and to use emergency presidential powers to protect people in need. That’s what emergency powers are for.

May 17, 2022

Mekedas Belayneh Dorothy Slater

Blog Post Climate and EnvironmentExecutive BranchIndependent Agencies

One Weird Trick To Prevent the TVA From Building New Gas Plants

The Tennessee Valley Authority, an independent agency of the federal government which acts as a public utility for over 10 million residents in and around Tennessee, announced in March that it would replace two aging coal-fired power plants with gas-powered plants. As the nation’s largest public utility company, the move goes against Biden’s goal to achieve a clean energy grid by 2035. TVA could be leading the charge for renewables, but its fossil fuel CEO Jeff Lyash, who comes out of fossil fuels, is instead choosing to lock in polluting gas for decades. This does not have to be the case.