March 14, 2022
Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.
Biden's backdoor to student loan forgiveness
By Rick Manning
Just who decides policy at the White House isn’t clear. But after the President's latest flip-flop, certainly, President Biden does not call the shots. Scarcely a week had passed since the administration promised to end an almost– two–year-old moratorium on student loan repayments when the President reversed course and extended it through May. After a year of failing to pass substantive policies, Democrats want victories to make temporary policies permanent, even if it means abusing executive powers. This abrupt about-face can undoubtedly be attributed to pressure from his progressive base.
Democrats’ push for student loan cancellation is a simple political calculation led by progressives, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They think the moratorium offers an expeditious path to achieving complete student loan forgiveness and a surefire way to keep the progressive base happy. This goal is popular with their college-educated and elite donors, who owe the most significant share of student loan debt.
Congress originally included the student loan moratorium at the peak of the pandemic in the CARES Act and the emergency program was intended to only last six months. It has since been extended five times even though almost every state has ended major coronavirus restrictions. Extensive prolonging will only make it more difficult for borrowers to meet their future financial obligations. Even senior Biden Administration officials have pushed to end the moratorium, but their voices were ignored because they opposed Biden’s activist base.
Since Biden started his campaign, special interest groups have pressured him constantly to address student loan debt. The American Federation of Teachers and MoveOn expected Biden to forgive student loans on his first day in office. While not capitulating to this demand outright, the President did not reject it, either. Instead, he bought himself time by ordering the Department of Education to study the issue.
Democrats are fighting so hard for the moratorium in 2022 because their congressional agenda has failed and they need a victory ahead of the midterms to solidify their government overreach. Democratic Members of Congress have introduced legislation that would forgive student loans, but these bills have stalled because members cannot agree on how to construct the policy. Democrats want to use executive orders to rubber stamp a stalled agenda as settled policy, bypassing the deliberative legislative process.
Rep. Cori Bush argues, "Forcing millions to start paying student loans again and cutting off the Child Tax Credit at the start of an election year is not a winning strategy."
Ending student loan repayments and expanding the Child Tax Credit might seem like good ideas for members, such as Rep. Bush, who won by almost 60 percentage points in 2020, but they won't be a winning message for members in competitive districts. A majority of Americans oppose efforts to enact blanket student loan forgiveness, and 59% of Americans believe that if any student debt is canceled, it must be canceled by Congress rather than by President Biden.
Additionally, Democrats often cite student debt’s impact on low-income Americans as proof that we must cancel student debt immediately. However, in their efforts to rid students of debt, Democrats would subject the entire country to a drastic increase in inflation. A recent report by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) shows that canceling student debt would increase the federal deficit by a whopping $1.6 trillion and increase inflation by as many as 50 basis points.
The rise in inflation would increase the price of basic goods and disproportionately affect low-income Americans. Considering that 4% of households below the poverty line are making payments on student debt, and that wealthy households hold significantly more debt than low-income households do, it is easy to see why the CRFB considers debt cancellation to be a regressive policy.
Democrats are desperately searching for a political victory for their elite liberal donors and radicalized progressive base, even if it means jamming through an unpopular policy by executive orders. Ultimately, this is a miscalculation and will cost Democrats seats come November. The American people see through President Biden’s charade.
Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government.
To view online: https://townhall.com/columnists/rickmanning/2022/03/11/bidens-backdoor-to-student-loan-forgiveness-n2604390
Will the Biden crypto executive order spell end of anonymity and establish carbon regs for mining?
By David Potter
Cryptocurrencies were once thought of as the wild west of digital transactions. At crypto’s birth, there was little to no oversight or regulation. It was only a matter of time before governments worldwide would start reacting to this new technology — and regulating it.
For the U.S., that happened on March 9 when President Joe Biden signed an executive order, “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets,” a far-reaching executive order pertaining to cryptocurrency described as a “whole-of-government approach to addressing the risks and harnessing the potential benefits of digital assets and their underlying technology”. The order directs several agencies to provide written policy assessment and recommendations to the President within 120 or 180 days, depending on the agency. The six main priorities of the order are: “consumer and investor protection; financial stability; illicit finance; U.S. leadership in the global financial system and economic competitiveness; financial inclusion; and responsible innovation.”
The Department of Treasury will be responsible for developing recommendations to respond to the effects of the surging popularity of cryptocurrencies. Five years ago, the total market cap for all cryptocurrencies was $23 billion. Today, the market has grown to $1.7 trillion. The Biden administration cited this growth as reason to be concerned about protecting consumers, investors, and businesses. Additionally, the Financial Stability Oversight Council will be responsible for identifying and mitigating any economy-wide financial risks associated with cryptocurrencies and digital assets in general.
Some of the areas of the order that appear salient to the average holder of digital assets are privacy, digital asset mining and how it relates to climate change, and the potential creation of a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
Cryptocurrencies (digital assets) have long been thought of as champions of privacy. Earlier adapters of crypto thought that blockchain technology made it impossible for their transactions to be tracked. Some took this perception of privacy as greenlight for illicit activity. As law enforcement agencies and the private sector have had time to react to blockchain technology and crypto, the element of privacy appears to be disappearing.
In 2011, a man named Ross Ulbricht founded what would become “darknet” market, or an online black market, for illegal drugs called “Silk Road” that had more than $1 billion in transactions. He was ultimately sentenced to life in prison and the federal government seized over $1 billion in Bitcoin connected to the Silk Road in November 2020.
Similarly, federal agents led by IRS Criminal Investigations seized $3.6 billion in Bitcoin that a couple stole from the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016. Bitcoin is one of the most easily traced digital assets, but even privacy coins (self-proclaimed anonymous cryptocurrencies) have been traced.
Monero, the leading privacy coin, is now reportedly traceable. A California Crypto compliance firm called Ciphertrace has claimed that they have developed tracing tools specifically for Monero and are selling those tools to the federal government.
Privacy coins may also be impractical for evading sanctions because they’re being delisted from an increasing number of public crypto exchanges. Regarding privacy as it pertains to national security and illicit activities — that is, activities that would be governed under the Patriot Act — any restrictive policy changes brought forth by the executive order may be redundant as private, digital asset transactions no longer exists — at least not for the federal government, which in the above examples already has proven it can trace crypto transactions.
Climate impacts of crypto transactions and crypto mining have been defined by their energy consumption. Sending or receiving one Bitcoin requires 2,292 kWh of electrical energy. That’s enough energy to power the average U.S. household for 78 days. Comparatively, a 100kWh battery in a Tesla costs about $15.29 to fully charge and provides a range of 412 miles.
Bitcoin was designed to have this enormous energy requirement to keep it decentralized. The idea was to not let one user gather too much coin too quickly. Other coins, such as Dogecoin, require a lot less energy than Bitcoin. One Dogecoin can be mined and transacted for less than $0.10.
After witnessing the increased popularity and relevance of digital assets over the past decade, members of the mining community have taken it upon themselves to develop new mining protocols that are significantly cheaper while still preserving decentralization. Other groups seek to promote mining exclusively using renewal energy.
If the federal government caps energy usage for digital asset mining, a possibility that arises from the executive order, prior to energy-saving technologies being fully developed and utilized, it could effectively illegalize mining overnight and kill much of the industry. On the other hand, some powerful figures in crypto see regulation by the government as a stamp of legitimacy and don’t feel threatened. For example, Faryar Shirzad, the chief policy officer of the largest U.S. crypto exchange, Coinbase, said, “We applaud the White House for recognizing this as a defining moment for U.S. innovation on the world stage.”
So far, the regulations contemplated by the order appear aimed at protecting the worldwide status of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency, and also the potential advent of a United States Central Bank Digital Coin, stating, “Sovereign money is at the core of a well-functioning financial system, macroeconomic stabilization policies, and economic growth. My Administration places the highest urgency on research and development efforts into the potential design and deployment options of a United States CBDC.”
Whatever policy recommendations emerge within 6 months from now, from these agencies, we can be certain that they will be designed for the government to exert even more control over a cryptocurrencies that were once managed solely by private citizens and prioritized their own interests. No longer.
David Potter is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government.
ALG Editor’s Note: In the following featured FoxNews.com oped from House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), the U.S. should fully offset Russia by providing natural gas to Europe, and make the U.S. and Europe energy independent:
Stop Biden's war on oil, gas – fight Putin by making US, Europe energy independent
By U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise
Last summer, Vladimir Putin and the rest of the world watched President Biden’s embarrassing withdrawal from Afghanistan that abandoned thousands of Americans behind enemy lines, as well as our Afghan allies, and allowed the Taliban to quickly take control of that country while leaving them more than $80 billion in the world’s best military equipment. That decision certainly helped convince Putin that he didn’t need to fear America under the Biden administration.
However, the roots of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine go much further back. It was the Obama-Biden administration that did not help Ukraine push back Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea. It was that same Obama-Biden administration that began a war on American energy that continues to this day. During that same time, Russia was using its energy resources to dominate Europe and finance a major military buildup around Ukraine.
When Putin violently annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in 2014, Ukraine looked to the United States for help. Unfortunately, the Obama-Biden administration rejected their request for lethal assistance like Javelin anti-tank missiles because they were afraid of offending Russia and only provided non-lethal assistance like blankets.
In direct contrast with his predecessor, President Trump approved the sale of $47 million worth of lethal aid to Ukraine in December 2017. This included more than 200 Javelin anti-tank missiles and 37 missile launchers that, over the past two weeks, have proven vital in the Ukrainian military’s defense against overwhelming Russian forces.
As Russia steadily massed its military forces on Ukraine’s border in 2021, a $200 million security assistance package for Ukraine went to President Biden for consideration. However, just like the failed decision of the Obama administration, President Biden delayed the actual delivery of the assistance for crucial months.
The equipment in this security package was just being delivered to Ukraine in February as Putin was launching his invasion. Stinger surface-to-air missiles, a top priority for Ukraine, were left out of the first package and not authorized by the Biden administration until after Russia’s assault on Ukraine began. While Putin inflicts increasing numbers of civilian casualties by bombing schools and hospitals, President Biden is still failing to heed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s calls for help.
Putin’s barbaric attacks on Ukraine can be traced to Europe’s scorn for fossil fuels and nuclear power.
Europe did not become energy-dependent on Russia overnight. Putin’s barbaric attacks on Ukraine can be traced to Europe’s scorn for fossil fuels and nuclear power. Through his efforts to make the United States more like Europe, President Biden has ensured that European countries cannot turn to our abundant resources to drive down natural gas prices and cut free from Russian energy.
Biden has played into Putin’s hands by ending American energy independence and renouncing U.S. oil and gas resources. While the U.S. could meet all of Europe’s energy needs, Europe receives nearly 40% of its natural gas from Russia. Without alternative energy suppliers, European families will suffer from over-reliance on Russia because of European leaders’ shortsighted Green New Deal policies.
The United States should not follow Europe’s failed approach. We can again be a global energy leader, and provide reliable, low-cost energy for American households and our friends around the world. 
Last week, Republican leaders, including more than 80 members of the House Energy Action Team (HEAT), sent a letter to President Biden laying out specific actions he can take immediately to reverse Russia’s leverage on Europe and the United States. Before he invaded Ukraine, Russian energy sales to the U.S. and Europe were providing more than $700 million a day to fund Putin’s war. We called on the Biden administration to ramp up U.S. energy production to lower prices for American families, eliminate Putin’s revenue stream, and ensure greater energy security here at home and to our allies overseas.
President Biden last week finally agreed with us to ban Russian oil, natural gas and coal imports. However, instead of turning to American energy producers to replace that tyrant’s oil, President Biden issued more attacks on American energy companies and instead turned to dictators in countries like Venezuela and Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, to meet our energy needs.
President Biden needs to stop begging foreign dictators to sell us their oil and, instead, finally say yes to American energy production.
All Americans should ask – why won’t Biden unleash America’s energy industry? In his first days in office, the president killed the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have employed thousands of Americans and provided a crude oil source from Canada instead of Putin’s Russian crude. Democrats love to talk about how they are committed to reducing carbon emissions but fail to admit that the United States emits much less carbon to produce oil and natural gas domestically compared with the other countries that President Biden is begging to produce energy because we have much higher standards than those adversarial countries.
President Biden’s disastrous leadership has crippled the United States’ power and influence on the world stage. When the United States is no longer energy independent, our country and the world become more vulnerable and more dependent on bad actors.
Sadly, we are seeing now how the Biden administration’s far-left energy policies have made Russia richer and emboldened Vladimir Putin.
Under President Trump, the United States demonstrated strong leadership at home and abroad. President Biden can act now to unleash American energy and turn the tables on Russia so that the United States and our allies re-establish the energy security we deserve.
To view online: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/stop-biden-war-oil-gas-fight-putin-energy-independent-rep-steve-scalise