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Megabill takes a bite out of US climate progress

Megabill takes a bite out of US climate progress

The Hill3 days ago
Models of the legislation that have emerged in recent weeks show U.S. emissions will rise as a result of its implementation.
One model from climate think tank C2ES found U.S. emissions will increase by 8 percent more than they would have been otherwise as a result of the package.
'An 8 percent increase in our emissions is … still a massive amount of emissions,' said Brad Townsend, the group's vice president for policy and outreach.
Taking into account all of the efforts to reduce U.S. emissions over the last 20 years, Townsend said, the bill represents 'rolling back a third of that progress with a stroke of a pen.'
The Trump-backed measure both repeals spending aimed atreducing emissions that had been passed by Democrats and creates more opportunities for planet-warming fossil fuels.
A refresher:
Its most significant provisions repeal tax credits for climate-friendly energy technologies, including wind and solar energy, as well as electric vehicles.
It also repeals programs that would have paid for low-carbon and anti-pollution projects, including in underserved neighborhoods.
It includes tax breaks for oil, gas and coal and opens up more opportunities to drill on public lands and offshore.
A model from Princeton University finds that without the 'big, beautiful bill,' the U.S. would cut its planet-heating emissions by 32 percent by 2035. With the bill, emissions are expected to only drop by 25 percent compared to where they were in 2005.
If Biden-era policies remained in place, including not only the tax credits but also regulations, emissions would drop between 40 percent and 44 percent, the model finds.
A model from the Rhodium Group found that without the bill, emissions would be 31 percent to 51 percent lower in 2035 when compared to 2005. Now, they'll only drop by between 27 percent and 44 percent during that period.
Ben King, the lead author of the analysis, said this is a 'pretty substantial difference' — saying it's about 575 million extra metric tons of carbon dioxide in the year 2035 alone.
That's the equivalent of putting an additional 134 million gas-powered cars on the road for a year.
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Brunel was suspected of transporting girls or young women for Epstein. In 2022, less than three years after Epstein's death, he died by suicide in a French jail. 'Rhythm is a Dancer' In July 2019, after Epstein's arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, Trump said in the Oval Office that he was 'not a fan' of the financier. But it wasn't always that way. In 1992, Epstein joined Trump for a party at Mar-a-Lago, where a video shows Trump chatting and laughing next to Epstein. Trump sways to the Eurodance hit 'Rhythm is a Dancer,' as the pair hang with cheerleaders for the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins. Later that year, Trump and Epstein would again meet at Mar-a-Lago, at an invite-only event for a 'calendar girl' competition organized by George Houraney, according to the New York Times. The Florida businessman had created the event at Trump's request. "At the very first party,' Houraney told the Times, 'I said, 'Who's coming tonight? I have 28 girls coming.' 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I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it,' Trump told Stern. 'The girls are standing there with no clothes on, and so I sort of get away with things like that,' he said. Tasha Dixon was competing in the Miss USA pageant in 2001 in Gary, Indiana, when she, a former Miss Arizona, met Trump. He walked in, she told CNN, as contestants changed into their bikinis. The theme that year was empowering women. "Who do you complain to? He owns the pageant,' she said. As Trump approached his third marriage − and alleged affairs, which he denies, with an adult film star and a former Playboy playmate − court testimony shows his friend Epstein was abusing teenagers. Sometime in the summer of 2020, a 16-year-old Mar-a-Lago locker room assistant was recruited into Epstein's circle by Epstein's procuror and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. She would later accuse Epstein of years of sexual abuse. Virginia Giuffre died by suicide last April at the age of 41. A lenient plea deal Epstein received from Florida state and federal prosecutors in 2008 included restitution to 36 victims. A 2019 federal indictment cited "dozens" of victims. The breakup In 2003, the Wall Street Journal reported, Epstein received a leather-bound volume of tributes from friends for his 50th birthday. A lewd message in the book was attributed to Trump, the paper reported. It ended: 'Happy Birthday − and may every day be another wonderful secret.' (Trump denied writing the letter and has sued the Wall Street Journal over the report.) A year after Epstein turned 50, Trump, in his book "Trump ‒ How to Get Rich," described a call from a person he called "the mysterious Jeffrey." "As mysterious as Jeffrey is, he's one of the few people I know who can get by on just a first name," Trump wrote. "My staff never asks for a last name in his case, which in a way puts him up there with Elvis." 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