| Washington, DC, is quiet (and hot) in August. Members and their staff travel back to their respective districts for constituent work, and the city follows suit, taking a much-needed breather from the political combat. Meanwhile, Democrats held their national convention in Chicago. ConservAmerica Fellow Alina Clough also traveled there to ask Democrats for their thoughts on climate change. You can watch her man-on-the-street interviews here. August also marked the second anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). While we believe Democrats’ decision to pass the IRA as a partisan bill was flawed, there remains a strong conservative case for preserving the IRA’s most effective provisions. You can read our statement on the anniversary here. We also sat down with Roosevelt Conservation Caucus member Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) this month to discuss a recent letter to Speaker Mike Johnson in which he and 17 of his House Republican colleagues urged the Speaker to prioritize business and market certainty in any effort to repeal or reform the Inflation Reduction Act. And in case you missed it, here’s a Deeper Dive on last month’s chat with Sen. Cramer (R-ND) where we also covered the IRA. Much of the political buzz has been around permitting reform. Will Congress be able to reach a compromise this year to get it across the finish line finally? We hosted experts Alex Herrgott and Scott Segal earlier this month to discuss the possibility of permitting reform in the 118th Congress, which you can watch here. But of course, the biggest news has been President Biden dropping his reelection campaign, paving the way for Vice President Harris to be the Democratic nominee. ConservAmerica President Jeff Kupfer explored Harris’ thoughts on energy and fracking in this piece for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our Fellows were also busy writing this month. Click through to read their thoughts on Colorado’s wildfire crisis, Rep. Curtis’ big win on climate, and Big Tech’s green shift to Argentina. That’s it from us this month. We hope you are enjoying these last days of summer. Have a safe and relaxing Labor Day weekend, everyone! |
