The White House News

Your source for all things White House.

Puerto Rico raises alarms as FEMA ends power generation mission

Puerto Rico’s government and private institutions are worried the island’s electric grid could once again collapse, after federal officials announced the end of an emergency power generation mission.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials last month informed Puerto Rico’s reconstruction authority, known as Cor3, that it would cease operations by March 15 of two emergency power generating stations with a 350 megawatt capacity installed on the island.

The announcement puts Puerto Rico in a bind, as officials there are hoping to keep the generators online through the end of the 2024 hurricane season next November.

Best Black Friday Deals

“FEMA is trying to remove those generators by March 15, 2024,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D- N.Y.) said. “I feel strongly that FEMA has a humanitarian obligation to keep those temporary generators in place until Puerto Rico has enough permanent power generation to replace them.”

“Removing temporary generators without permanent replacement would constitute an act of cruelty against the people of Puerto Rico,” he added.

Puerto Rican officials are also frustrated that their original request for 700 megawatts was downgraded to 350, and that the project is slated to have about a six month lifespan.

In November of 2022, FEMA officials said they would have 600 or 700 megawatts up and running in two or three months, according to a report from the Associated Press, but the first plant generating 150 megawatts came online in July. The second plant, with 200 megawatts, came online in September, according to FEMA.

The emergency power plants were installed as part of the response to Hurricane Fiona, and play a key role in the reconstruction of the island’s power generation infrastructure.

The FEMA plants are essentially plugging holes in the system while Genera PR — the company that took over generation from state-owned utility PREPA in July — performs repairs on legacy equipment.

“Genera basically said that if they get this additional power until the 2025 hurricane season, they would be able to repair all the units they need to repair by then,”Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi (D) told The Hill in a recent interview. “If they don’t have this generation available, it could delay their work by one year. So that’s the bottom line.”

Earlier this month, Cor3 Executive Director Manuel Laboy-Rivera wrote FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, asking her to extend the mission.

FEMA contends it is bound by law to end the mission, but officials in Puerto Rico say that’s not the case.

“If there is ambiguity in the statute, then FEMA ought to err on the side of preventing a humanitarian crisis and keeping the lights on on the island,” Torres said. “That’s what common sense requires. That’s what humanitarianism requires.”

FEMA officials say they’ve already extended the mission.

“Initially, the demobilization and end date for the temporary generation mission was December 1, 2023,” FEMA spokesperson Dasha Castillo told The Hill in an email. “This date was based on the projected timeline of having temporary generation online at the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) Palo Seco and San Juan facilities by July, providing six (6) months of 350 MW of additional baseload power to the Puerto Rico power grid.”

“Since the buildout for the temporary generation at the San Juan facility took longer than expected, FEMA extended the DFA mission to March 15, 2024, to ensure six (6) months of temporary generation is provided,” Castillo added.

She also explained that FEMA and the Puerto Rico government are in discussions for the island’s government to assume control of the plants, rather than having them dismantled.

Puerto Rico’s power generation infrastructure and power grid were aged and unreliable, even before the devastation of Hurricane María in 2017.

“For me, the failure of the electric grid in Puerto Rico is the single greatest infrastructure crisis in the United States,” Torres said. “And for me, there should be no greater infrastructure priority than to provide Puerto Rico with the power that it needs.”

The unreliability of electric power on the island affects the territory’s economy, but also basic humanitarian infrastructure like hospitals and dialysis centers.

Though the island’s electric infrastructure is a top priority, Pierluisi said the March deadline for deactivation allows “a little bit of a cushion” to discuss options.

Pierluisi said the immediate priority regarding FEMA reconstruction efforts nationwide is to get Congress to fund inflation adjustment for the agency’s ongoing reconstruction projects.

“There has been an incredible increase in the cost of construction materials that nobody anticipated and even though in the formula they applied back then in coming up with estimates, there was some inflation factor, it was never — nobody expected the kind of inflation we had,” he said.

“And the problem with this issue is that it can affect the scope of the reconstruction,” the governor continued. “That is ongoing, and I am raising this issue at the top level.”

But advocates for Puerto Rico worry that the island’s humanitarian, infrastructure or reconstruction needs will be received with disinterest by most federal legislators.

“For much of Congress, the humanitarian needs of Puerto Rico seem to be an afterthought rather than a priority,” Torres said.

“There may be nothing that frustrates me more than the double standard against Puerto Rico, the callous and cruel indifference to humanitarian suffering of Puerto Rico, and there’s no greater manifestation of the suffering than the failing energy grid,” he added.

Go to Source: Administration News | The Hill

Biden targeted in crucial swing states over proposed menthol cigarette ban

A conservative nonprofit is gearing up to hit President Biden and vulnerable Democrat lawmakers in crucial swing states over the administration’s proposed menthol cigarette ban, Fox News Digital has learned.

The Liberty Policy Foundation, a new group launched by senior GOP operatives, is set to target the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposed rules prohibiting menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. The FDA’s director of the Center for Tobacco Products, Brian King, told Fox News Digital in late October they are in the “final step of review for regulatory documents” after making their way to the White House Office of Management and Budget. 

As the rule is expected to be finalized in the near future, the Liberty Policy Foundation will aim to educate Americans about Biden’s tobacco and crime policies with the campaign.

“When Americans realize Biden is criminalizing tobacco while the border is open, and heroin injection sites are being decriminalized, they’re going to ask their senators some questions,” a Liberty Policy Foundation spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “This is just the start.”

BIDEN ADMIN’S PROPOSED MENTHOL CIGARETTE BAN COULD BECOME LIABILITY IN 2024: ‘UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES’

As part of the effort, the group will send out mailers in key states calling out Biden and vulnerable politicians, such as Democrat Senators Jacky Rosen in Nevada, Bob Casey in Pennsylvania, Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, Jon Tester in Montana and Rep. Elissa Slotkin in Michigan. 

The group says its mailer campaign, starting with five figures’ worth of cash in each targeted state, could expand to digital and TV advertisements.

The Liberty Policy Foundation is undertaking the campaign as other groups have also ramped up public awareness of the proposed rule. The New England Convenience Store & Energy Marketers Association has launched a drive to urge candidates to oppose it and began advertising in New Hampshire. 

“What has gone up, thanks to Massachusetts’ ban on menthol cigarettes, is the size of the state’s illicit market,” the campaign’s website states. “A recent report by the Massachusetts Illegal Tobacco Task Force found that contraband cigarette seizures skyrocketed from just 5,377 in 2021 to 18,483 in 2022.”

“Illicit crime and the influx of dangerous narcotics go hand-in-hand,” it continues. “New Hampshire is no stranger to the fentanyl crisis. Recently, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Bill Cassidy have been sounding the alarm on the connection between the Mexican cartels at the heart of the fentanyl crisis who are now looking ‘to exploit black market opportunities’ if the federal menthol ban goes into effect.”

Additionally, conservative advocacy group Building Americas Future is launching a six-figure ad buy across multiple 2024 swing states and congressional districts over the proposed menthol cigarette ban.

EX-LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS WARN BIDEN’S MENTHOL CIGARETTE BAN COULD ‘CREATE A VACUUM’ FOR MEXICAN CARTELS

Meanwhile, the proposed ban has faced heat from its critics. Ex-law enforcement officials previously expressed concerns about it to Fox News Digital, saying it will open up the door to several problems, such as creating a space for Mexican cartels to move in and sell menthol cigarettes on the U.S. black market.

“This is essentially a prohibition, and we know what happens when you remove a current market,” Jorge Colina, former City of Miami chief of police, told Fox News Digital. “That means organized crime and/or cartels move in.”

Colina called it an “unfunded mandate” that will “create a vacuum that is going to be ripe for the Chinese or the Mexicans or the cartels to move in and take advantage of what’s going to be a multi-billion dollar industry.”

And some Black leaders, such as Rev. Al Sharpton, believe it will have unintended consequences for the community. 

“What we said is, ‘Y’all have got to consider unintended consequences.’ Imagine some cop pulling a kid over saying, ‘Where did you buy or get that Kool cigarette?’” Sharpton told Politico in April. “People are not going to stop smoking Newports and Kools because of a rule. They’re going to go and get them from people that go to the street in the black market. Then what happens? That’s all I’m asking.”

When the FDA rolled out the proposed rule in April 2022, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the action would protect children and benefit adult smokers. 

BIDEN ADMIN FACING CONGRESSIONAL PROBE OVER PROPOSED BAN ON MENTHOL CIGARETTES

“The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit,” Becerra said. “Additionally, the proposed rules represent an important step to advance health equity by significantly reducing tobacco-related health disparities.”

Proponents of the proposed actions said it could reduce tobacco use and ensure positive health outcomes.

“Once finalized, rules to end the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars rule will be the most significant actions that the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products has taken in its 14-year history,” American Lung Association CEO and President Harold Wimmer said last month. “The American Lung Association is eager for these lifesaving rules to be implemented and urges the White House to finalize these rules before the end of the year.”

“The science and data are clear. Ending the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars will save lives,” Wimmer continued. “It will also help reduce the unjust disparities in tobacco use caused by the tobacco companies targeting certain communities with menthol cigarettes.” 

The NAACP, 100 Black Men of America Inc., U.S. Conference of Mayors and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids have also signaled support for the FDA’s proposal.

Go to Source: Latest Political News on Fox News

Wildfires in NC, Virginia close sections of Appalachian Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway

Wildfires in Virginia and North Carolina have shut down portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail, according to officials.

A Friday release by the Forest Service in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest and the National Interagency Fire Center’s Southern Area Incident Management Red Team announced a closure of the Blue Ridge Parkway from “from milepost 66.3, near US Highway 501, to milepost 85.9, at VA Route 43 until further notice” in relation to the Matts Creek Fire.

The release on the Matts Creek Fire also said a section of the Appalachian Trail from “from James River Foot Bridge to Petites Gap Road” was closed in relation to the wildfire.

The U.S. Forest Service in North Carolina noted another portion of the trail, “from Interstate 40 to Max Patch,” was being closed in relation to the Black Bear Fire. The announcement was made in a Facebook post Friday. 

The Matts Creek Fire and the Black Bear Fire were 2 and 0 percent contained respectively, according to officials. The Matts Creek Fire is significantly larger than the Black Bear Fire, having a coverage of 5,148 acres versus Black Bear’s 1,193 acres.

Shenandoah National Park also said a vehicle fire had spread into the park and caused a closure of the trail.

“The Appalachian Trail is closed from Jarman Gap (mile 98.6) to Rockfish Gap (mile 105) due to wildfire,” Shenandoah National Park posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter on Friday. 

Go to Source: Administration News | The Hill

Biden invokes wartime powers to fund electric heaters as he cracks down on gas appliances

President Biden invoked a Cold War-era law in a surprising move Friday to pour taxpayer funds into domestic manufacturing of electric heat pumps, an alternative to gas-powered residential furnaces.

In a joint announcement with the White House, the Department of Energy (DOE) said the federal government would award a “historic” $169 million for nine projects across 15 sites nationwide in an effort to accelerate electric heat pump manufacturing. The significant level of funding was made possible after Biden utilized the 1950 Defense Production Act (DPA) to increase domestic production of green energy technologies.

“Getting more American-made electric heat pumps on the market will help families and businesses save money with efficient heating and cooling technology,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. “These investments will create thousands of high-quality, good-paying manufacturing jobs and strengthen America’s energy supply chain, while creating healthier indoor spaces through home-grown clean energy technologies.”

“Today’s Defense Production Act funds for heat pump manufacturing show that President Biden is treating climate change as the crisis it is,” added John Podesta, the White House clean energy czar. “These awards will grow domestic manufacturing, create good-paying jobs, and boost American competitiveness in industries of the future.”

EXPERTS WARN BIDEN ADMIN’S WATER HEATER CRACKDOWN WILL HIKE PRICES, REDUCE CONSUMER CHOICE

And Ali Zaidi, who serves as Biden’s national climate advisor, said the president was “using his wartime emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to turbocharge U.S. manufacturing of clean technologies and strengthen our energy security.” 

Under the actions announced Friday, the DOE will send millions of dollars to companies like Copeland, Honeywell International, Mitsubishi Electric and York International Corporation, all of which are billion-dollar multinational corporations. The projects will advance manufacturing of industrial, commercial and residential heat pump technology.

HOUSE GOP DEMANDS BIDEN ADMIN REVEAL IMPACTS OF WAR ON APPLIANCES: ‘BURDENSOME REGULATIONS’

“This is absolutely shameful corporate welfare. But we’re to believe that, because it’s for the sake of climate change, all is well. I think that’s ridiculous,” Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“Of all the Biden administration’s claimed climate emergency declarations, this may be the craziest of them all,” Lieberman continued. “There is no shortage of heat pumps — it’s just that not every homeowner wants them. Consumers ought to decide for themselves. The government has no role in tilting the balance in favor of one energy source over another. That’s clearly what’s happening here.”

The action Friday comes less than two months after the DOE issued new regulations targeting traditional home gas-powered furnaces as part of its climate agenda and broad effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions. 

DOE’s finalized regulations, which are slated to go into effect in 2028, specifically require furnaces to achieve an annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) of 95%, meaning manufacturers would only be allowed to sell furnaces that convert at least 95% of fuel into heat within six years. The current market standard AFUE for a residential furnace is 80%.

Because of the stringent AFUE requirements, the regulations would largely take non-condensing gas furnaces — which are generally less efficient, but cheaper — off the market. But consumers who replace their non-condensing furnace with a condensing furnace after the rule is implemented face hefty installation costs.

BIDEN ADMIN ISSUES ECO REGULATIONS IMPACTING AIR CONDITIONERS, REFRIGERATORS

“Energy security is a top priority for AGA,” American Gas Association President and CEO Karen Harbert told Fox News Digital on Friday. “We are deeply disappointed to see the Defense Production Act, which is intended as a vital tool for advancing national security against serious outside threats, being used as an instrument to advance a policy agenda contradictory to our nation’s strong energy position.”

“Increased use of natural gas has been responsible for sixty percent of the electrical grid’s CO2 emissions reductions,” she continued. “This vital tool for emissions reductions and energy system resilience should not be unfairly undermined through misuse of the Defense Production Act.”

According to the Congressional Research Service, the DPA, which was passed during the Cold War, gives the president a broad set of authorities to influence domestic industry “in the interest of national defense.” Invoking the law opens the door for the president access to hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding for a given national security-related purpose.

Biden previously invoked the DPA to accelerate domestic critical mineral production and to pause tariffs on Chinese solar panel imports, claiming that climate change is a national emergency.

In addition to consumer furnaces, over the last several months, the DOE has unveiled new standards for a wide variety of other appliances including gas stoves, clothes washers, refrigerators and air conditioners. According to the DOE, its past and planned appliance regulations will save Americans $570 billion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2.4 billion metric tons over the next 30 years.

Go to Source: Latest Political News on Fox News

Fox News Politics: More rattled than Jan. 6

Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. 

Subscribe now to get Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox.

Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell says the violent pro-Palestinian demonstration at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Wednesday scared her more than the January 6 riots at the Capitol …Read more

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Dingell described attempting to leave the DNC headquarters, only to find doors blocked. She tried to leave through the front door where demonstrators stood in a line despite police telling them to cease blocking the door. Police warned that she would be hurt if she left, and she described how much it rattled her to see the violence up close.

“In the Capitol, we were in a big place, they were working to keep us safe,” Dingell said, recalling the storming of the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump in January 2021. “I never knew how bad it was until after we had finished our final voting about what had been happening.”

The DNC headquarters, on the other hand, put her closer to the clash between police and protesters. “When you’re in that contained space and all you see are bodies fighting each other, it’s scary,” Dingell said.

‘UNDER SIEGE’: Republicans blast pro-Palestinian protests at DNC …Read more

TAPES RELEASED: Speaker Johnson has begun releasing thousands of hours of footage from the January 6 Capitol riots …Read more

WORLDS APART: Senate and House headed for showdown over defense bill …Read more

RED LIGHT: House breaks for Thanksgiving with Johnson notching wins and losses …Read more

ONWARD AND UPWARD: Biden signs temporary spending bill, pushes budget fight with GOP into 2024 …Read more

ON THE CLOCK: Biden campaign reportedly weighs joining Chinese-owned TikTok to reach younger voters …Read more

‘HATRED‘: Feds launch investigation into Ivy League colleges for antisemitism …Read more

‘IMMEDIATE ACTION’: Biden admin reveals its authority when handling visas of Hamas supporters …Read more

‘CHINA FIRST’: Experts blast Biden’s deal with China to shut down oil and gas …Read more

FOX NEWS POLL: Americans rate the parties on issues for 2024 …Read more

TRUMP FOE EYES 2024: Key Trump impeachment figure running for Congress as a Democrat …Read more

PUSHING OUT DEADLINE: Trump team moves for mistrial in NY case …Read more

LABOR PAINS: Biden using Trump’s own words against him in bid to win back major voting block …Read more

IOWA: Will an influential leader’s support in Iowa upend Trump’s massive lead in the lead-off nominating state? …Read more

NEW JERSEY SNUB: New Jersey Democrat fundraising organization endorses Menendez’s opponent …Read more

SUNSHINE STATE STANDOFF: Supreme Court denies DeSantis in legal battle over drag queen ban …Read more

BORDER BOOM: Thousands of Chinese nationals, gotaways since Oct 1 …Read more

DOMINANT: Trump remains untouchable in early polls but one candidate is rising …Read more

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Go to Source: Latest Political News on Fox News

IRS takes aim at environmental write-offs in tax evasion crackdown

The IRS put out new guidance on Friday to stymie a well-worn tax evasion scheme that allows write-offs for land left undeveloped in order to promote environmental conservation.

Landowners can claim a credit for what they would have earned on their properties had they put them to industrial or commercial use, and such would-be developers have been claiming unjustified sums on these what-if scenarios.

Known as “syndicated conservation easements,” the scheme has been on the IRS’s ‘Dirty Dozen’ list of tax scams for years.

The abuse is so established, in fact, that it’s been shopped around by lawyers and accounting firms as a kind of business product in its own right.

“The regulations issued today will stem the tide of certain syndicated conservation easements that are nothing more than retail tax shelters, while protecting the integrity of legitimate conservation easements and helping law-abiding taxpayers more easily meet their obligations,” the IRS said Friday.

The IRS says it has observed tax scheme promoters take outsized deductions on these easements.

“We have seen taxpayers, often encouraged by promoters and armed with questionable appraisals, take inappropriately large deductions for easements,” the agency said in a recent statement.

The new IRS guidance pertains to a rule in a major piece of retirement legislation passed last year known as SECURE 2.0 that nixes the tax deductibility of “charitable contributions” worth more than two-and-a-half times what their investment in the property actually amounts to.

The rule pertains to companies classified as partnerships and S-corporations, which are now under the IRS’s microscope as engaging disproportionately in abusive tax avoidance.

“The IRS issued the conservation regulations to implement Congress’s 2022 limits on deductions for syndicated easements. [It’s] a good, bi-partisan initiative to offset some of the revenue loss to expand retirement benefits in SECURE 2.0,” tax expert Steve Rosenthal with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank, told The Hill.

Despite the offset, SECURE 2.0 contained major perks for wealthy taxpayers that will add to the deficit outside of the 10-year budget window, in which the impact of laws on the national budget are required to be neutral. As such, tax experts have said the legislation includes an “accounting trick.”

One of the perks in the law for rich people was an increase in the age at which the government can start taxing retirement accounts. It was pushed back from 72 to 75, providing high-income earners an extra three years to defer tax payments and enjoy tax-free growth.

Most Americans living off their retirement savings begin to do so well before the age of 75.

“[This law] allows people to keep money in tax-preferred IRAs for longer. It allows you to wait to withdraw until you’re 75, and the people for whom that’s an benefit are the people who can afford to live on their non-retirement savings until they’re 75 to get more years of tax-free growth,” tax expert and New York University law professor Daniel Hemel told The Hill in an interview about the legislation in 2022.

The law also increased the maximum yearly amount allowed to be put into a retirement account to $71,000 from $67,500.

“That’s not a huge increase, but if you’re saving $67,500 in your 401(k), you’ve got to be pretty rich,” he said.

Go to Source: Administration News | The Hill

Former Massachusetts state senator indicted in COVID relief fraud scheme worth over $30K

A former Massachusetts state senator has been accused of fraudulently collecting over $30,000 in COVID-19 pandemic unemployment benefits shortly after he left office and filing false tax returns, federal prosecutors said.

Dean Tran, 48, of Fitchburg, was indicted on 25 counts of wire fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for Massachusetts. He was arrested on Friday morning and was expected to be arraigned Friday afternoon.

CALIFORNIA TECH CEO SENTENCED TO 8 YEARS FOR COVID, ALLERGY TEST FRAUD CASE

“Dean Tran was once elected to serve taxpayers, but today we arrested him for allegedly cheating them out of tens of thousands of dollars in fraudulent unemployment benefits that were meant to be a lifeline for those struggling for survival as a result of the pandemic,” FBI agent Jodi Cohen said in a statement on Friday.

The FBI alleges that he intentionally lied so that he could get a tax break.

Phone and email messages left with Tran’s lawyer seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Tran served as a Republican state senator representing Worcester and Middlesex from 2017 to January of 2021. Prosecutors allege that following his senate term he fraudulently applied for pandemic unemployment benefits after he had already accepted a consulting job with a New Hampshire-based automotive parts company. He is accused of collecting around $30,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits, while working that job.

Tran is also accused of failing to report over $50,000 in consulting income on his 2021 federal income tax return, the U.S. attorney’s office said. He’s also charged with concealing thousands of dollars in rental income from the IRS, money collected from tenants from 2020 to 2022.

Go to Source: Latest Political News on Fox News