Yearly Archives: 2021

(The Center Square) – Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita wants to stop what he thinks is California’s attempt to establish a nationwide climate change policy, and he hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will help.

Rokita, along with 17 other states, filed a brief with the Supreme Court on Thursday, asking the court to overtime an appeals court decision that allows a lawsuit filed by San Francisco and Oakland to remain in state court.

Both cities sued to hold several major fossil fuel companies liable for the costs of global climate change. The cities claim in their lawsuit the companies have broken the common law of public nuisance by producing and selling fossil fuels, Rokita said in a news release.

“Hoosiers should not be ruled by the Left Coast,” Rokita said.

In the brief, Rokita argued federal law gives the companies a right to have the claims heard by a federal court, rather than a state court.

Rokita wrote in the brief that by allowing a case with such national scope to be handled by California state courts, the federal appeals court “thereby excludes other States from the climate-change policymaking process and threatens to undermine the cooperative federalism model our country has long used to address environmental problems.”

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming all joined in the brief.

Vice President Kamala Harris tweeted Friday she joined a brief supporting the California cities in their action.

The cities filed suit against ExxonMobil, BP Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell in September 2017. The lawsuit asks the companies to fund a sea level rise abatement program used to build sea walls and other structures to protect public and private property within 6 feet of the current sea level.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin residents who participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) numbered 710,412 in September of 2020, a 16.9% increase over the number taking part in September 2019, according to newly released data.

The number of SNAP participants in the state in September 2019 was 607,844, according to the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. The data from August and September of 2020 is preliminary and subject to change, the agency said.

For all the states and territories in the analysis, the number of people taking part in SNAP rose by 14% in the September 2019 vs. September 2020 comparison – numbers that contrast participation rates before and after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

SNAP, which is a unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides nutritional assistance to millions of low-income families and individuals nationwide. The federal government describes SNAP as “the largest program in the domestic hunger safety net.”

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Which States Saw the Biggest Jumps in SNAP Participation?

State / TerritorySeptember 2019August 2020 (Preliminary)September 2020 (Initial)% Change for September 2020 vs. September 2019Rank Based on % Change (Highest to Lowest)Florida2,755,5093,834,5283,886,74741.1%1Georgia1,372,9651,839,3481,874,54136.5%2Maryland612,399833,691795,25529.9%3Louisiana798,536858,9031,012,93526.8%4Iowa309,126302,232376,87621.9%5Kentucky506,778606,216616,16921.6%6Colorado438,326534,175523,09819.3%7Texas3,346,8513,900,4083,962,50318.4%8District of Columbia111,402129,186131,84418.3%9Washington804,663956,647951,09018.2%10Wisconsin607,844704,821710,41216.9%11Virgin Islands21,62324,95725,23516.7%12Hawaii155,293177,083179,20515.4%13North Carolina1,262,5541,456,8911,452,36015.0%14Massachusetts764,203868,410877,11814.8%15Oregon586,111701,881670,77614.4%16California4,004,9174,519,2894,537,28013.3%17Minnesota400,877444,664451,75512.7%18Wyoming24,92828,57228,07212.6%19Indiana574,304637,154646,19312.5%20Nevada421,015468,945470,85711.8%21Arkansas351,199398,219391,98411.6%22New Jersey682,918741,832761,38411.5%23Virginia698,350782,261778,37011.5%24Missouri678,716771,906752,53110.9%25New Mexico450,410493,689491,5129.1%26Oklahoma578,189625,551626,2988.3%27Arizona798,130915,512860,9127.9%28New York2,586,1862,756,1872,789,5337.9%29Illinois1,770,5741,854,0471,904,5247.6%30Michigan1,147,9721,195,9671,223,6116.6%31Pennsylvania1,744,7691,826,6111,852,3916.2%32Alabama719,827751,129756,3145.1%33South Carolina586,163617,334614,9054.9%34Guam43,77346,28645,6154.2%35Kansas198,285207,124205,4513.6%36Delaware122,139120,609126,1973.3%37Connecticut364,474380,909375,8253.1%38Vermont67,20967,72868,4161.8%39Ohio1,381,2451,399,8951,401,2121.4%40Maine155,648161,975157,3001.1%41Alaska85,14788,59786,0071.0%42West Virginia307,638301,459305,262-0.8%43South Dakota79,18678,14978,491-0.9%44Tennessee876,772855,072865,381-1.3%45Idaho142,105143,926139,833-1.6%46Nebraska156,439153,128153,996-1.6%47Utah165,162176,700161,348-2.3%48North Dakota48,07044,73146,731-2.8%49New Hampshire73,50669,57369,787-5.1%50Rhode Island147,857142,035137,892-6.7%51Mississippi443,382399,561411,965-7.1%52Montana106,05385,63696,042-9.4%53TOTAL37,637,71742,481,33942,917,34114.0%

Source: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

(The Center Square) – Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday that Texas state government will secure its southern border with Mexico if the federal government under the Biden administration will not.

At a news conference with law enforcement officials in Mission, Texas, Abbott said he earlier toured the border by air and, "We did see people crossing illegally.”

"The Biden Administration has created a crisis at our southern border through open border policies that give the green light to dangerous cartels and other criminal activity,” Abbott said. “Border security is the federal government’s responsibility, but the state of Texas will not allow the administration’s failures to endanger the lives of innocent Texans. Instead, Texas is stepping up to fill the gaps left open by the federal government to secure the border, apprehend dangerous criminals, and keep Texans safe.”

Over a period of two months, a surge at the border occurred after President Joe Biden signed several executive orders dismantling Trump administration border security policies and treaties and agreements with Mexico and other countries, the governor said.

Compared to the same time period as last year, the number of encounters at the southwest border has increased by nearly 80%, border patrol data reveal.

“Cartels are ramping up trafficking and smuggling along the border,” Abbott said, which is overwhelming border patrol officials. "The cartels are involved in every single one of these border crossings that we see. They are more involved in crossings we do not see. The strategy is to overwhelm Border Patrol agents. ... When Border Patrol agents are overwhelmed is when the cartels bring over dangerous people."

Abbott's news conference was held after a briefing with members of the U.S. Border Patrol, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), the National Border Patrol Council, and the Texas National Guard prior to the press conference.

Border Patrol said officers have apprehended 108,000 illegal immigrants so far this year, including more than 800 violent criminals, including 78 sex offenders, many gang members and individuals who have been previously deported.

Abbott condemned the Biden Administration “for enriching the cartels with these open border strategies and for failing to provide vaccines to members of the U.S. Border Patrol.” He also noted that federal agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are responsible for detaining, testing and quarantining anyone that comes across the border, and they aren’t doing so because of Biden’s new policies.

He called on the Biden administration to increase the number of ICE facilities and provide more funding to the agency to allow them to do their jobs.

"What I'm about to tell you is maybe one of the most reprehensible things I've heard this whole time," Abbott said. "The Biden administration is not providing vaccinations for the Border Patrol. We have Border Patrol officers whose lives are on the line on a daily basis, an hourly basis, and the Biden administration will not step up and provide those Border Patrol officers with the vaccinations they need. The Biden Administration should surge vaccines to Texas to all men and women on the Border Patrol this week and ensure that every Border Patrol officer in the state of Texas will be vaccinated this week. Anything less than that is the epitome of inhumanity."

"This is not a Republican vs. Democrat issue," Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said. "This is an issue that affects American citizens."

Abbott launched Operation Lone Star last weekend to deploy 500 Texas National Guard troops to help border patrol with security efforts, using air, ground, marine and tactical border security measures specifically in high-threat areas.

The Department of Homeland Security announced on Monday that it was activating its volunteer force to support the effort.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said he and the president were “committed to ensuring our nation has a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system while continuing to balance all of the other critical DHS missions.”

DHS volunteers operate in a non-law enforcement capacity and will perform duties like assisting in control rooms, housekeeping, preparing meals, supply and prescription medicine runs, and managing property, according to a Fox News report.

Though the Senate parliamentarian rejected their efforts to include a $15-an-hour minimum wage in President Joe Biden’s so-called COVID-19 relief bill, Senate Democrats are scrambling for a way to include it. Their efforts demonstrate the importance of this issue for the progressive left. But should they succeed, would such a measure truly help struggling Americans as promised?

And what exactly is that promise? Echoing his socialist ally Sen. Bernie Sanders, Biden recently argued that “[n]o one should work 40 hours a week and live in poverty." Sanders and Biden also speak of a “living wage.” But, if the goal is reduced poverty and increased wages, having government mandate a dramatic wage increase is not the way to get there. Job creation is the way to do it.

Let’s skip the politics and look at the data. The Census Bureau began reporting the poverty rate in 1959. Over those 60-plus years, the federal minimum wage has increased a number of times, but not in 2019. Yet, in 2019, the poverty rate plummeted 1.3 percentage points, the largest single-year decline in over 50 years, hitting a historic low of 10.5%.

Minority poverty saw the largest declines. Black poverty fell by two percentage points, Hispanic poverty fell by 1.8, and Asian poverty fell by 2.8. For the first time ever, black unemployment dropped below 20%. Child poverty dropped to 14.4%, the lowest rate since 1973.

Though it got little attention, “income inequality” also declined – and for the second year in a row – as the share of income held by the bottom 20% of earners increased by 2.4%. More than 4.1 million people emerged from poverty in 2019, the largest number since 1966. Would a $15 minimum wage lift that many people out of poverty? Not even close.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently issued a report on the Democrats’ “Raise the Wage Act.” It found that raising the minimum wage to $15 would lift only 900,000 people out of poverty, less than a quarter of those who escaped poverty in 2019.

So what caused 2019’s historic drop in poverty? Employers were competing for employees because the labor market was red hot. In every month in 2019, the unemployment rate was below what the CBO projected it would be, and there were 1 million or more job openings than people unemployed. The total number of people employed hit historic highs. Competition for employees drove wages up 3% or more every month – with larger increases for low-wage than for high-wage workers.

As a result, the percentage of hourly workers earning at or below the minimum wage fell to 1.9%, the lowest percentage on record going back to 1979; the percentage working 40 hours a week or more fell to less than 1%. The average hourly wage for workers hit a pre-pandemic record high of nearly $24 an hour.

To quote Frank Sinatra, “it was a very good year.” The Trump administration’s pro-growth economic policies – lower taxes, reduced regulation, and a focus on domestic energy production – created jobs and job openings. Wages rose, while poverty and income inequality declined. Trump accomplished everything that Democrats claim their $15 minimum wage would accomplish – without a federal mandate.

Would a $15 minimum wage re-create the competition for employees that drove up wages and reduced poverty? No. It would kill jobs and reduce that competition.

When you increase the price of something, businesses try to use less of it. If you increase the cost of employing people, businesses will hire fewer people. That reduced hiring can manifest itself in various ways – reduced staff, reduced hours, reduced growth and automation.

The CBO report forecasts that the proposed $15 minimum wage would kill 1.4 million jobs in the year that the wage took effect (2025). Between now and then, it would discourage hiring and wage growth as businesses planned for the future, knowing that their labor costs would be going up. A phased-in approach works only if you assume that businesses invest based on their current, rather than their future, prospects. That would be a mistaken assumption.

Unfortunately, according to the CBO, young, less-educated workers would suffer most from the hike. In January, economists David Neumark and Peter Shirley issued a study finding “a clear preponderance” in the literature that increasing the minimum wage negatively affects employment, particularly with respect to “teens and young adults as well as the less-educated.”

The lesson of 2019 is fairly simple. If you want to assure that people don’t live in poverty, pursue pro-growth policies that encourage job growth and the competition for employees that drives wage growth – without cutting young and less-educated people out of the labor force. Wages increase and poverty decreases when workers, not jobs, are hard to find.