Party on the Peninsulas

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The WØRD – “Paralysis”

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Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Grand Rapids) talks about the chaos in the U.S. House, and her efforts to craft a bipartisan immigration reform bill.

From the Chair

MDP Chair Lavora Barnes

Paralysis.

That’s exactly what Republicans have given us in Congress. With the Matt Gaetz fringe wing of the party firing Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the House of Representatives can’t do anything until it elects a new speaker. There’s no consensus on his replacement, the talk of installing accused felon Donald Trump into the job is pretty much a fantasy, and the federal government faces another shutdown deadline in about 40 days. Republicans are once again demonstrating they are unable to govern.

We got more great news this week about jobs. We have record-low unemployment for the 20th consecutive month, wages are growing, and inflation is coming down. Under President Biden’s leadership more than 13.9 million jobs have been created. That’s the biggest two-year job creation number of any President in history. 

There’s also more Democrat-led action at both the federal and state levels to reduce the price you pay for healthcare. At the federal level, the manufacturers of 10 expensive medications have agreed to negotiate with the federal government for lower prices for Medicare recipients. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, called the decision by the companies “another major step in President Biden’s fight to lower health care costs for seniors and families.”

In Michigan, the state Senate has approved (on a party-line vote) legislation creating a Prescription Drug Affordability Board which would focus on the prices you pay for your prescriptions.

We’re joined on the podcast by U.S. Congresswoman Hillary Scholten. Representative Scholten is part of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group of centrist House members focused on finding bipartisan solutions to the nation’s challenges. An attorney with two decades’ experience in immigration law, Rep. Scholten is at the center of finding answers to one of those challenges: Immigration Reform.

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The WØRD – “Chaos”

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Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint): McCarthy, MAGAs and Chaos

The interview with Rep. Kildee was recorded before the weekend’s last-minute Democratic-led passage of the 45-day continuing budget resolution.

From the Chair

MDP Chair Lavora Barnes

“Chaos”. No other word can better describe Republicans in both Michigan and Washington D.C. and what they have brought to the American people.

In Washington, we got a temporary 45-day reprieve from chaos as Democrats led the way to passing a short-term federal spending authorization. 90 House Republicans voted to shut down much of the government. And the reprieve from chaos there could end any day.

For all practical purposes, Speaker Kevin McCarthy has turned over control of the House to a handful of extremists led by Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. They may well add to the chaos by voting Speaker Kevin McCarthy out for the sin of finally agreeing to a bipartisan compromise.

The threatened MAGA Republican shutdown would have had a huge impact that hurts every American:

  • slashing funds for schools with low-income students,
  • gutting law enforcement,
  • raising housing costs,
  • eliminating critical job training and workforce development programs;
  • sending home food safety and drug safety workers, endangering our health.

The MAGA-Republican shutdown would have had devastating consequences for our communities, economy, and national security:

  • Armed service members not getting their paychecks,
  • Travelers facing likely airport delays with air traffic controllers and TSA agents working without pay,
  • FBI agents going unpaid – a welcome opening for both foreign and home-grown terrorists.

Ironically, the same Republicans yelling loudest about border security voted to take paychecks away from border control officers.

The MAGA extremists wanted to inflict pain on families as well:

  • WIC nutrition assistance delayed for nearly 7 million women and children,
  • Daycare disrupted, and
  • Interruptions in Head Start and Meals on Wheels.

Rather than working for a bipartisan budget compromise, those same MAGA extremists are instead devoting their energies to a fact-free impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Even their political allies at Fox News call the Impeachment Inquiry a waste of time. The first witnesses for the GOP gaggle openly stated, under oath, that there was no evidence against President Biden warranting the idea of impeachment.

In Michigan, the MAGA Republicans held what amounted to a rally of election deniers and conspiracy promoters billed as a “leadership conference” – a bit of a misnomer since hardly any elected Republican leaders showed up for the event. Normally the Mackinac Island conference features multiple presidential candidates. This year, only extremist Vivek Ramashwamy appeared, speaking to a half-empty room. Just 2 of the state’s 6 GOP congressmen were in attendance; neither of the party’s state legislative leaders could be bothered to attend.

Party chair Kristina Karamo told attendees that Darwin’s theory of evolution is a fraud and a hoax: man was created in his present form by God, but that leftists cling to evolutionary theory because when children are taught that one part of the Bible is false, they are more inclined to also question its other teachings.

Paul Egan of the Detroit Free Press reported that frequent themes at nearly all the sessions were attacks on scientific elitism and globalism, criticism of electric vehicles as reliant on technology linked to the Chinese Communist Party, and the need to enhance border security and adhere to Christian principles and the Constitution as envisioned by the nation’s founders. There was even a workshop on “Globalism in Chile”.

One so-called headline speaker was defeated Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake who, like Karamo, still refuses to concede that she lost in 2022 (claiming election fraud). Lake continues to spout evidence-free claims of ongoing fraud as she prepares to run for the U.S. Senate in Arizona.

While the GOP wallows in chaos with its pointless investigations, tanking of the American economy and leaderless leadership events, Democrats are getting the job done.

Even with the smallest of possible majorities in both our state House and Senate, Democrats and the Whitmer administration have compiled a record-smashing set of successes for the people of Michigan in advancing education, voter rights, reproductive healthcare rights and gun safety. Under the leadership of Speaker Joe Tate and Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, Democrats are united for progress. There is no chaos in Lansing, just results.

In Washington, the Biden/Harris administration and a one-vote Senate Democratic majority continue to craft bipartisan solutions to some of the nation’s most urgent challenges: creating jobs, combating climate change and restoring America’s stature in the world.

Today’s Republicans stand for chaos, undermining democracy, and against working people. Democrats stand on the side of workers, we fight to protect our democracy, and we work FOR the American people.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris support workers, while Trump just talks (via YouTube)

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The WØRD – “Reckless”

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This week’s guest: State House Elections Chair Penelope Tsernoglou on expanding automatic voter registration in Michigan, and outlawing firearms at election precincts.


From the Chair

“Reckless”.

No other word can better describe Republicans in Congress. It’s likely that much of the federal government will shut down because a handful of extremists led by Marjorie Taylor Green and Matt Gaetz have decided that America can do without the government while they make a point about … something. In the Senate, one Senator is abusing the rules to personally wreck our military’s leadership structure, single-handedly stopping the promotion of hundreds of senior officers. His demand: that women in the military be denied full access to healthcare.

Add to that demands from some right-wingers that the FBI be abolished – and the Attorney General impeached –  because they are doing their job and prosecuting the criminal who stumbled his way into the presidency 6-and-a-half years ago. Donald Trump has ordered his minions in Congress to “…defund these political prosecutions against me and other Patriots.”

Instead of working on the many challenges facing our country, they devote their time to attacks on Hunter Biden, a private citizen whose father is President … while ignoring the billions collected by Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law as a direct result of things they did as senior White House advisers.

And then there’s the impeachment inquiry into President Biden, driven not by any facts of “high crimes and misdemeanors” … but motivated by revenge for the two bipartisan impeachments of Trump.

No wonder Senator Mitt Romney – the Republican son of a former Republican Michigan Governor – said “a very large portion of my party really doesn’t believe in the Constitution.”

All of this is why we need to work tirelessly to stop the radical Republicans by taking them out at the ballot box. Two of our congressional districts are rated among the closest in the nation: the 7th district, now represented by Elissa Slotkin, is ranked the most vulnerable Democratic seat in the nation. And the 10th district, where right-wing extremist John James won by a handful of votes, is one of the Republican-held seats considered among the most likely to flip.

Add to that protecting Senator Debbie Stabenow’s seat. After a spirited primary we will have a high quality candidate to battle whatever right-wing extremist emerges from the Republican field.

At the top of the ticket, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris need Michigan to protect the world from the danger of a return of Donald Trump.

Make no mistake: it’s going to be close in all those races, as well as in the battle to protect and expand our majorities in the Michigan Legislature. Each of us needs to make a commitment to devote the next 12 months to helping save America from the reckless, dangerous and anti-democracy Republican extremists.

——

The passage of voting rights ballot proposals in 2018 and last year were just the beginning of making it easier for Michigan citizens to be a part of our democratic system. With Democrats now leading the state, individual rights are being expanded. On this week’s podcast we get an update from state House Elections Committee chair Penelope Tsernoglou on bills to protect the safety of election workers, and also expand options for automatic voter registration.

“These Guys” want the government to make reproductive healthcare decisions for women – YouTube

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The WØRD – “Solidarity”

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This Week’s Guest
Senate Judiciary Committee chair Stephanie Chang
on proposed new common-sense gun safety laws

From the Chair

MDP Chair Lavora Barnes

For the first time in history, 13,000 United Auto Workers members bravely walked off the line on Friday at all Big Three automakers to strike for a fair contract after corporate greed got in the way of negotiations. The targeted strikes of three plants include the Ford Assembly Plant in Wayne, MI where Michiganders are fighting to be able to put food on the table. 

The UAW has brought reasonable demands forward to be compensated fairly for their work and to ensure a pathway for job security in a changing economy, but the Big Three chose to keep building on their historic profits and let their workers starve.

If the Big Three can find the profits to keep lining the pockets of their executives, they should have no problem supporting the workers who made those profits possible. Autoworkers built Michigan’s economy and have continued to be a central pride for the American economy. Workers have made countless sacrifices for our country that deserve to be repaid, and now, they are bravely fighting for the future of labor and our economy. The Michigan Democratic Party stands in solidarity with the UAW as they righteously strike for a fair contract and for a brighter future for Michigan.

75% of Americans side with the union’s 150,000 members in the ongoing negotiations, and this is a ‘which side are you on’ moment for this country. 

To save the auto industry during the Great Recession, autoworkers took massive cuts to their wages and benefits. While the auto companies have recovered and are making record profits, autoworkers haven’t and many struggle to make ends meet. When labor wins, the middle class wins and we are focused on ensuring that security here in Michigan.

Despite united opposition from the NRA and its Republican supporters in the Legislature, Democrats are continuing to work on gun safety bills. Hearings are underway in the state Senate’s Judiciary Committee dealing with one of the most common types of gun violence: shootings growing out of domestic disputes. One of the leaders for gun safety laws in Michigan is our guest this week: Senator Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit), the chair of the state Senate Committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety.

She is the first Asian American woman elected to the Michigan legislature. Senator Chang worked as a community organizer in Detroit for nearly a decade before serving two terms in the Michigan House of Representatives and then as the Democratic Floor Leader for her first term in the Senate. Senator Chang has built a strong track record of getting things done. In the state legislature, she has led on air quality and environmental justice, criminal justice reforms, affordable, safe drinking water, and immigrants’ rights issues. 

Before her election to the Legislature, she served as state director for NextGen Climate Michigan, alumni engagement and evaluation coordinator for the Center for Progressive Leadership in Michigan, deputy director for the Campaign for Justice and as an organizer for Michigan United/One United Michigan. Senator Chang earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degrees in public policy and social work from the University of Michigan. She lives in Detroit with her husband and two young daughters.

Stories We’re Following This Week

Biden Defends Striking Autoworkers: They Deserve a ‘Fair Share’ – The New York Times

VIDEO: President Biden Speaks Out in Support of UAW Workers

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The WØRD – “Perceptions”

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Downloads:
Democrats Deliver Fact Sheet
Economist/YouGov Poll

This week’s guest: Speaker Pro Tem Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia)

This week’s guest: Speaker Pro Tem Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia)

From the chair

MDP Chair Lavora Barnes

A new poll from The Economist and YouGov shows there’s a huge disconnect from what people believe is happening in America and what cold, hard statistics show is our very excellent reality. The perception: our economy is in a bad place, it’s getting worse, and the President has done a poor job bringing us back from the Trump-era downturn.

The numbers tell us something far different. The U.S. has the strongest economic growth since the pandemic of any leading economy in the world. While economists predicted a recession as the Fed raised interest rates, it hasn’t happened. The economy continues to grow:

  • Wages are rising—higher than last year and higher than before the pandemic, accounting for inflation
  • Annual inflation has fallen by two-thirds since last summer and has averaged less than 2% over the last 3 months
  • 187,000 jobs were created last month— a total of 13.5 million jobs have been created since President Biden took office (that includes 1.5 million in manufacturing, construction and engineering)
  • The unemployment rate is just 3.8% —under 4% for 19 months in a row—the longest stretch since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon
  • The share of prime-working-age Americans with jobs is at a 20-year high
  • The share of prime-working-age women with jobs is at a record high
  • We’ve regained all the jobs lost during the pandemic, and created 4 million more

You can download a “cheat-sheet” with a lot of the relevant data (a.k.a. “reality”). Just click here to download it. You can also download the polling from The Economist and YouGov to fully understand just how much the perceptions differ from reality.

We know that it’s perceptions that drive voters. Many of the assaults on reality are fueled by partisan Republicans and their right-wing media allies who constantly spread misinformation as they gear up for 2024. 

We cannot stand idly by and let those distortions and lies go unanswered. It’s something each of us needs to do every day in our personal conversations and social media. We have a great story to tell, backed up by facts. Let’s keep telling it.

We’re joined this week by the Speaker Pro Tempore of the Michigan House, Representative Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia), lead sponsor of bills expanding the rights of women to make decisions on reproductive healthcare without government interference.

Rep. Pohutsky is serving her third term representing the 17th House District, which encompasses parts of Northwest Detroit, North Redford Charter Township and Northeast Livonia. She is a long-time activist and volunteer, and spent time as a crisis hotline volunteer and a caregiver at Angela Hospice.

Pohutsky graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in microbiology. After college, Pohutsky worked in the fields of food safety, toxicology and health care. She brings this knowledge, along with her experience in water quality testing, with her to the Michigan House of Representatives where she chairs the Committee on Natural Resources, Environmental, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation.

Joe Biden leading the world on the International Stage: “War Zone”



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The WØRDS – “What’s Next?”

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State Representative Sharon McDonell (D-Troy)

From the Chair

MDP Chair Lavora Barnes

While assorted Republicans are getting booked, arraigned, found liable for slander and generally spending millions on defense attorneys, Joe Biden and Gretchen Whitmer are talking about “what’s next.” For Biden – what’s next is a battle with pharmaceutical companies over prices; for Whitmer – an ambitious “families and workers first” agenda for a fall legislative session.

The first half of the year was historic: a legislative session that passed a dozen major laws, all of which contribute to a future Michigan that is more prosperous, works to protect our planet from the ravages of climate change and expands the individual rights of our citizens. Last week Governor Whitmer took the unprecedented step of laying out an agenda for the fall session to do even more – her “what’s next” agenda.

Legislative Republicans responded as expected: arguing for maintaining the status quo or even moving backwards.They called it a “left-wing, progressive” wish list; one Republican leader said taking steps to combat climate change would turn us into a “third world country” unable to compete for jobs.

The bottom line is Michigan Democrats have delivered historic results for our state and are not done fighting for our future. This legislative agenda is laser-focused on making Michiganders’ lives better, with or without Republicans who continue to fall down a rabbit hole of MAGA extremism. Whether it’s improving health care, fighting climate change, or growing the middle class, what Michigan Democrats are doing is unprecedented. Democrats’ work is setting the standard for the country while ensuring that everyone can make it in Michigan.

In Washington D.C., it’s the same story. While Republicans focus on defending the former President’s crimes, staging hyped-up investigations, and even talking about impeaching President Biden just for revenge, the President is locked in on a better future for Americans. 

Just this week he announced his latest effort on our behalf: taking on the powerful pharmaceutical industry by negotiating the price Medicare pays for life-saving prescription drugs. There is no justifiable reason Americans pay four times more for prescription drugs than is paid in Canada: the exact same pills, a much higher price.
Thanks to the Biden Inflation Reduction Act the price of insulin is being slashed to no more $35 a month. Now President Biden is expanding the ability of Medicare to negotiate drug prices to 10 more commonly used prescription drugs.

Joining the podcast this week: a Michigan legislator who is part of the new wave of self-described Suburban Moms who are a growing political force in Michigan and across the nation, Troy state Representative Sharon McDonell.


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The WØRD – “Contrasts”

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Representative Kara Hope (D-Holt) — Chair, House Committee on Criminal Justice

From the Chair

MDP Chair Lavora Barnes

Last week eight Republican presidential candidates staged their first campaign debate just hours before the leading candidate was booked for the fourth time in four months for a series of felonies. Those two events contrast sharply with what we as Democrats offer the state and nation. The GOP primary debate highlighted the extremism inside the Republican Party, with each candidate showing just how out of touch they are with the real needs of Americans by pushing conspiracy theories and culture wars over actual plans. 

Instead of following them down the rabbit hole, Michigan Democrats are prepared for a fall legislative session which is sure to be chock-full of more initiatives to uplift the middle class and put money back in the pockets of Michigan families.

And the booking of Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election? Republicans have long claimed to be the party of “law and order.” But six of the eight candidates on that debate stage said they’d support a convicted criminal to lead our nation; two of them pledged to pardon him on “day one.” The two candidates who won’t support a convicted felon poll in single digits.

Trump is even using his mug shot as a fundraising tool, apparently proud to be the only former U.S. President charged with being a criminal – a total of 91 felony counts spread over 4 indictments.

Trump and 18 alleged co-conspirators who allegedly worked to steal the 2020 election.

No matter how chaotic the GOP becomes, Michigan Democrats are focused on building a brighter future for our state every week, month, and year. Make no mistake, the MDP doesn’t take days off from working to deliver for Michiganders.

On this week’s podcast, we will talk with one of the leaders working on that promise. State Representative Kara Hope chairs the House Committee on Criminal Justice where she’s focused on issues like voter rights, openness in government and juvenile justice.

Clarence P. Jones, Dr. Martin Luther King’s trusted adviser was tasked with writing the opening paragraphs of what became known as the “I Have a Dream” speech. What happened after King moved away from the prepared remarks made history.

Also on the podcast this week: a special bonus. This week marks the 60th anniversary of the historic march on Washington, remembered forever because of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” oration.

At the end of the podcast we hear from Dr. King’s lawyer, Clarence B. Jones about that seminal day in American history. Jones wrote the first draft of a speech many consider the most greatest speech of the 20th century. He was standing just a few feet away as Dr. King used his voice to inspire future generations of Americans to work for a more just future.


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The Nation

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The March on Washington 60th Anniversary

 

 

The WØRD – “Persistence”

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From the Chair

MDP Chair Lavora Barnes

Think back to the first months of the Biden administration. The President had laid out a hugely ambitious agenda – an agenda focused on improving the lives of American families by growing the economy from the middle out, lowering costs for families, attacking climate change and rebuilding our infrastructure to meet the challenges of the 21st century – in short, fixing a lot of the failures of the Trump administration.

The critics said he couldn’t do it with his razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate. They pronounced his agenda dead on arrival

He persisted. And he succeeded. He passed the biggest investment in America’s critical infrastructure since the 1950s. He passed the CHIPS Act, spurring the return of computer chip manufacturing to the United States. He passed the first significant gun safety law in decades. And he passed the Inflation Reduction Act – a law providing historic investments in transitioning our economy by attacking climate change, a law that lowered healthcare costs for millions of Americans, and a law that guaranteed that massive corporations wouldn’t be able to use the tax laws to avoid paying income taxes.

Last week marked the one-year anniversary of enactment of that law. To mark the occasion, your party brought together three leaders who have played pivotal roles in enacting and implementing that law: two members of Congress who represent automaking Michigan – Debbie Dingell and Haley Stevens, and Lt. Governor Garland Gilchrist who is on the front lines of putting so much of that law into effect. 

All of them are committed to transforming Michigan’s economy for the future and at the same time making sure Michigan’s incomparable labor force shares in the economic gains that are being created.

On this week’s podcast: a discussion with all three on the anniversary of the IRA: what it has already accomplished, and what it will bring to Michigan in the future.

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Inflation Reduction Act First Anniversary

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The WØRDS – “Organize Now”

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Political organizing – one door at a time!

From the chair

MDP Chair Lavora Barnes

This week’s report is a little different with a couple of special guests, both of them experts in political organizing: state Representative Angela Witwer and our great senior U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow. They recently headlined an MDP Virtual Event on organizing campaigns. On this week’s podcast we share highlights of that event.

Introduced during the seminar: MDP’s new Digital Tool Kit. You can download all of the great tools here:
Digital Toolkit – Michigan Democratic Party

Also this week: Michigan and national Republicans continued to make headlines – most  involving court cases and criminal investigations.

Here in Michigan, arraignments have concluded for the 16 fake electors charged with 8 felony counts for trying to steal Michigan’s electoral votes for election loser Donald Trump. 

An investigation is underway involving a former state House Speaker for some very questionable multi-million-dollar no-bid grants to his former staff aide. That’s on top of the conviction of another former Republican speaker for bribery, and an ongoing State Police investigation into a third former Republican speaker, as well as a campaign finance investigation into a former Senate Republican leader.

Of course the big national GOP story is the multiple criminal indictments naming Donald Trump and his supporters. We’re expecting even more indictments in the Trump-led conspiracy to steal the 2020 election – this time, from the state of Georgia. And attorneys general in several states are looking at following the lead of our great Attorney General, Dana Nessel, and looking to indict their states’ fake electors.

Ann Telnaes – Washington Post

There’s also even more in the growing scandal over Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The latest revelations from Pro Publica about the millions in luxurious vacations given to Thomas are stunning, as is the claim by Justice Alito that Congress has no right to impose ethics rules on the court. In effect, Justice Alito claims he and his 8 colleagues are accountable to nobody.

In non-crime-and-corruption news, the efforts of both Joe Biden and Gretchen Whitmer to battle climate change gained very tragic urgency again this week with the catastrophic fires that destroyed much of Maui’s largest city, Lahaina. Our prayers go out to the families and friends of the dozens who have died in that horrible catastrophe, and to the hundreds who lost homes or businesses. Scientists and local officials agree: climate change made the tragedy possible.

Joe Biden pushed the largest climate change in history through Congress. Polling shows a vast majority of Americans want strong action on climate … but those same polls show most are unaware of what President Biden has already done, and Republicans are vowing to repeal the President’s bill. Part of our job is to spread the word: Joe Biden is THE climate President! For detailed information:
Inflation Reduction Act Guidebook for Clean Energy and Climate Programs | The White House

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The WØRD: “Cleanup”

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This week’s guest: Rep. Rachael Hood (D-Grand Rapids), chair, Appropriations Environment, Great Lakes and Energy Subcommittee

From the chair

“Cleanup”

MDP Chair Lavora Barnes

It has been a big part of the work for both the Biden administration and the state Legislature: cleaning up messes left behind by the Trump administration, and a Republican state legislature that had turned a blind eye to many of the needs of Michigan families.

Our new Democratic Legislature has restored a pro-family, pro-worker agenda after decades of Republican-led legislatures that tilted the scales towards the wealthy. 

And now, our Legislature is working to make up for years of GOP neglect on the most important issue facing humanity: climate change. While Republicans are vowing to turn back the Biden administration’s pro-planet anti-climate change initiatives, Michigan Democrats are focused on contributing to solutions to save the planet. Although the solutions ultimately require the cooperation of every nation, there’s a lot one state can do as part of protecting the planet.

We’re joined on the podcast by a leader in the battle against climate change, Representative Rachel Hood (D-Grand Rapids), chair of the Appropriations Environment, Great Lakes and Energy Subcommittee.

KEVIN SIERS Charlotte Observerver / News & Observer

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