Wake up with the Washington Examiner: Why DC Democrats are doubtful and an energetic debt solution from Jim Justice – Washington Examiner
The article discusses two important topics concerning Washington, D.C.,and federal goverment policies.
First, it highlights the concerns of local Democrats about the potential implications of a unified Republican control over Congress and the White House for D.C.’s autonomy. The piece reflects on the ancient tensions between federal oversight and the local governance of Washington, D.C., mentioning past interventions by both Republican and Democratic presidents. It points out issues such as abortion funding restrictions and cultural conflicts, illustrating the long-standing tug-of-war between local authorities and congress.
Second, the article introduces jim Justice, a newly elected Republican senator from West Virginia, who proposes addressing the national debt through enhanced domestic energy production.justice advocates for leveraging the U.S.’s vast natural gas reserves,comparing the potential to the energy wealth of Saudi Arabia. He emphasizes the need for long-term energy strategies while acknowledging the existing infrastructure that bolsters energy production in the U.S.
the article provides insight into local political anxieties in D.C.and presents Justice’s vision for solving economic challenges through energy initiatives.
Wake up with the Washington Examiner: Why DC Democrats are doubtful and an energetic debt solution from Jim Justice
Doubtful in the district
The federal government has a storied history of meddling with Washington, D.C. Democrats in Washington — the locals, not the members of Congress who split their time between their homes and second home — are increasingly worried about what unified GOP control of the House, Senate, and White House might mean for their district’s independence.
We have spent the last week looking at what could be coming for the federal workers in Washington, what Republicans want to do to change the way the district operates, and how local leaders are weighing whether to fight President-elect Donald Trump or if they should try to find some common ground.
This morning, Breaking News Reporter Emily Hallas is rounding out our Draining D.C. series with a reminder that federal interference with the district isn’t solely a Republican phenomenon. Former President Bill Clinton created the financial oversight board that monitored Washington’s budget, and former President Barack Obama’s Every Student Succeeds Act doled out funding for charter schools in the district — federal dollars the mayor and local officials had no control over.
The tug-of-war between Congress and Washington is a tale that goes back, in some ways, to the founding, but is easier to talk about starting inside the last 100 years. Fights that played out in the ’60s are still relevant, such as questions about how abortions are funded for residents.
“Under legislation Congress passed decades ago, D.C. is restricted from using Medicaid funds to cover abortions,” Emily wrote. “Over 40% of D.C.’s population is covered by Medicaid, a joint federal-state program that provides health coverage to low-income people.”
“Congress passed the Hyde Amendment in the 1970s to prevent states from allocating federal dollars, including Medicaid, to fund abortions. Lawmakers went a step further in the District of Columbia in 1988 when Congress banned the use of local taxpayer funds to pay for abortions except in the cases of rape, incest, and life endangerment.”
Culture war fights have been a consistent point of contention between the district and Congress.
In 2009, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) spearheaded an effort with then-Rep. Dan Boren of Oklahoma to define marriage inside Washington as a “union of one man and one woman” to slow the adoption of a law allowing same-sex marriages.
In 2017, Republicans tried to repeal a local law that allows for physician-assisted suicide by attaching it to a spending bill. The attempt failed, and there have been subsequent fights to repeal the law that haven’t gone anywhere.
Congress has a mixed record on altering the way Washington operates. Democrats and Republicans unified and got President Joe Biden to join them two years ago when they told local lawmakers they couldn’t overhaul the city’s criminal code in a way that would severely reduce penalties for a range of crimes.
But they’ve also tried and failed to restrict things such as marijuana use. There are a litany of restrictions on cannabis in the criminal code and especially related to its possession and use near federal property, which accounts for roughly a third of Washington, D.C.
Click here to read more about the ways Congress has stepped in and flexed its muscle over Washington, D.C.
Big freshman energy
Sen.-elect Jim Justice (R-WV) doesn’t think everything in Washington is easy to do, but he is arguing there are some obvious answers to hard questions.
Spending bills, fraught conversations that have regularly devolved into standoffs and countdowns to possible government shutdowns, are really proxy fights about the national debt. Justice told Congressional Reporter Ramsey Touchberry that the easiest path to solving the problem of the nearly $2 trillion deficit lies in the energy the United States can pull out of the ground.
“You have to do a bunch of cutting, but you will never cut your way out of the mess,” Justice told Ramsey. “At the end of the day, you got to grow your way out of this mess.”
“You have to grow the revenue. And the only way you can grow the revenue is raise taxes, which no way, no way, no way, no way, no way,” Justice said, noting that he supports extending Trump-era tax cuts from 2017 set to expire next year. “Then, what do you do? Really, it’s right at our fingertips. For God’s sakes, the answer is energy.”
Justice is a former coal baron from the largest coal-producing state in the union. While the future of coal is bleak, Justice told Ramsey that domestic energy production is the answer to the country’s fiscal problems.
“We can be Saudi Arabia. Our natural gas reserves in this country are so enormous, it’s off the chart,” he said. “We’ve got to figure out how to export that energy and turn it into real-life money.”
The path to pumping natural gas out of the ground and sending it around the world is a steep one. It’s not the first thing Trump should focus on, Justice said. Instead, it should be a long-term priority that comes after the “easy stuff” such as addressing rising crime and border security.
There is already infrastructure in place to blow out energy production levels. Despite Biden and Democrats’ aversion to natural gas compared to renewables, the U.S. is leading the world in the production of natural gas and oil, as well as exporting liquefied natural gas, Ramsey wrote.
And what is good for the U.S. also happens to be what is good for Justice and West Virginia in this instance. His home state is the fourth-largest producer of natural gas in the country.
Click here to read more about what Ramsey talked about with the incoming senator.
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