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Rep. Eliot Engel and President Barack Obama didnt always see eye-to-eye on issues of foreign policy.

The New York congressman, as staunch a Middle East hawk as there currently is in the Democratic Party, was the most high-profile House Democrat to oppose Obamas nuclear deal with Iran, the biggest foreign policy initiative of his presidency.

Now, Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is fighting for his political life amid a primary challenge to his left from Jamaal Bowman, a former high school principal. Obama administration alumni want him to know they havent forgotten his voteand that they dont especially like what hes gotten done since.

As some key figures in the party establishment, from Hillary Clinton to Speaker Nancy Pelosi to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have lined up to support Engel, high-profile former Obama advisers, some of whom have immense sway with liberals nationwide through the popular podcasts from Crooked Media, have joined forces with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in an effort to eject him from the House.

Bowman is the kind of progressive, exciting young leader that Democrats should be electing, said Tommy Vietor, co-host of Crookeds Pod Save America podcast and a former Obama national security spokesman. I also think that [the Foreign Affairs Committee] should be more progressive when it comes to oversight, fighting annexation [of the West Bank], supporting diplomacy like the [Iran Deal] and unwinding parts of the U.S.-Saudi relationship that allow for the continued humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen.

We need fresh thinking on that committee, Vietor wrote in an email to The Daily Beast.

On a June 10 episode of Pod Save the World, co-hosts Vietor and Ben Rhodes, the former top Obama foreign policy hand, encouraged their listeners to check out Bowman. Despite my briefingsI hope not because of themhe opposed the Iran nuclear deal, Rhodes said of Engel. Hes taken a pretty conventional line on issues related to Iran, Saudi, the Middle East more generally.

As Engels primary becomes the partys next big proxy battle, virtually no one is projecting that if Engel loses on June 23an outcome seen as increasingly possible in Democratic circlesit will be because of his hawkish foreign policy views. At a June 3 event in his district, Engel was caught on a hot mic saying he wouldnt be here if he didnt have a primary. In May, The Atlantic reported that hed ridden out the worst of COVID-19 in his Maryland home, not in the New York City-area seat he represents, which was one of the hardest-hit places in the country.

The toppling of the Foreign Affairs Chairman, however, would reverberate far beyond his district. Theres a pretty profound desire in Democratic foreign policy circles for a more progressive approach, and thats not where Eliot Engel is or who he is, a former Obama official told The Daily Beast. Hes not badhes not creatively moving us in the direction a lot of us would like to go.

Over his 31 years in Congress, Engel has become one of the eminent voices in either party pushing for a hawkish view on Middle East policy. In 2003, he supported the invasion of Iraq. In 2004, he led a group of lawmakers pushing for cuts in the U.S. contribution to the United Nations office that aids Palestinian refugees. In early 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave an address to Congress that Democratic lawmakers either boycotted or excoriated as an insult to them and to President Obama. Engel, however, called Netanyahus speech compelling and said he communicated legitimate concerns.

When Engel announced his opposition to the nuclear deal later that year, he said that the agreement Obama had worked at may in fact strengthen Irans position as a destabilizing and destructive influence. He was one of 25 House Democrats who voted against ratifying it.

That record has earned Engel the ironclad support of pro-Israel groupsseveral of which have rallied to the 16-term incumbent in an expensive last-ditch effort to save him. The political action committee for a group called Democratic Majority for Israel, for example, has dropped over $1 million in ads boosting Engel and attacking Bowmanincluding a Wednesday spot that hit the challenger over a years-old unpaid tax bill. At least two other pro-Israel groups have run ads in support of Engel on social media.

Hes been both a champion and a leader of pro-Israel efforts in the House, said Mark Mellman, president of Democratic Majority for Israel. He would be much missed and thats why we're making a real effort to keep him in office.

Obamas own views and vision on Middle East policy, meanwhile, earned him a famously icy relationship with the right-wing Israeli government and this constellation of American pro-Israel groupssuch as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has ties to the PAC now bankrolling Engels rescue. At their annual Washington convention one year during Obamas tenure, AIPAC delegates had to be told not to boo the sitting president.

Engel and Obama didnt prioritize the same things when it came to foreign policy, according to a former Obama official, who said that the congressmans opposition to the Iran Deal colored private perceptions of him through the end of the Obama presidency.

I think the important thing is what got Eliot Engel to that vote. It was the opposite of what President Obama stood for. And that vote, the official added, was not the first sour taste he left in the prior administrations mouth.

As chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Engel has used his perch to contribute to Democratic investigations of President Donald Trump, from the Ukraine-driven impeachment inquiry to probes of Secretary Mike Pompeos handling of the State Department. That side of Engels record is the one more frequently touted by big-name endorsers such as Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the lead prosecutor of the case against Trump in the Senate impeachment trial.

Ever since Trump took office, Eliot has helped expose the abuses of his administration, and hold this lawless president accountable, Schiff said in his endorsement of Engel.

Bowman, for his part, has not made Engels foreign policy record a centerpiece of his campaign, though he has criticized the incumbents positions and has touted endorsements from progressive foreign policy groups that oppose Engels hardline stances. Ironically, if Engel were to lose, its possible hed be replaced as chairman by another hawk, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), who also voted against the Iran deal and is currently the next most senior Democrat on the panel.

Obama alumni insist that their enthusiasm for ousting Engel is nothing personal; many of them like him.

The real story here is hes got this energetic, charismatic, young challenger who talks about a lot of the issues that are at the heart of todays progressive agenda, said a former administration official. Its not that he lost people on foreign policy, but despite being chairman the Obama wonk foreign policy constituency is not lined up for him.

Link:
The Reason Why Team Obama Is Gunning for This Powerful Democrat - The Daily Beast

President Trump says he ended the "war on coal." But industry casualties have accelerated under his turbulent leadership, with coal plant retirements eclipsing those that occurred during the last four years of Barack Obama's presidency.

Electricity output from coal slumped to a 42-year low in 2019 and plummeted even deeper as the coronavirus pandemic swept across the country. Renewable sources like wind and solar now generate more power than Trump's favored fossil fuel. And utilities are planning to green their power plants instead of returning to the black rock.

The coal industry's woes demonstrate the limits of Trump's ability to control sweeping changes in America's power sector. They come as the president hurtles toward a reelection fight that lacks an adversary he can easily blame for coal's downfall.

Trump supporters and industry allies acknowledge that the president has been unable to fulfill his past promises to revive the coal community, but few show signs of abandoning him for what they describe as an unstoppable free fall. Most blame Obama and renewable subsidies for coal's troubles.

"It's a holocaust. There is no other way to describe it," said Fred Palmer, a former executive at Peabody Energy and a staunch Trump supporter who serves on the National Coal Council. "I've always fought the closing coal plant fight, but never in my wildest dreams did I think we'd get to where we are today."

He added, "I am supporter of Donald Trump's, and I don't think what he has not done is something that precipitated this."

Coal's stubborn descent comes in spite of Trump's success rolling back many of the environmental regulations implemented during the Obama years. EPA repealed the Clean Power Plan, Obama's proposal for cutting carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, and relaxed rules on mercury pollution.

The Department of Energy unsuccessfully lobbied the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to subsidize struggling coal plants but succeeded in instigating rule changes that could benefit coal generators in the PJM Interconnection, America's largest wholesale power market. And the Interior Department ended a moratorium on new federal coal leases.

The president's problem is that his actions did not have their intended effect.

The 966,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity generated by coal plants in 2019 was the lowest amount since 1976, according to federal figures. Coal mines, where employment was largely stagnant over Trump's first three years, have shed 4,500 jobs since January.

Utilities, meanwhile, have embraced decarbonization rather than coal. Two dozen power companies, including utility behemoths Duke Energy Corp. and Southern Co., have committed to achieving net-zero emissions by midcentury. Just as problematic for the coal industry: Not a single new coal plant is planned for construction.

Administration officials defended the president's record. The Department of Energy has invested more than $1 billion in researching new coal plant designs with minimal emission. DOE has also promoted initiatives that would turn coal into products like carbon fiber, graphite and building materials, said Shaylyn Hynes, a DOE spokeswoman. She also noted that U.S. coal exports were 54% higher in 2019 than 2016 though foreign sales slumped 20% last year and are projected to fall further in 2020.

"President Trump ended the Obama Administration's eight-year war on coal by eliminating the top down federal mandates that were destroying coal producing communities all over the nation, most importantly rolling back the Clean Power Plan," she wrote in an email.

Coal has been undone in the United States by the convergence of technological, economic and political trends. In 2009, when Obama took office, coal generated 44% of America's electricity. The country's fleet of coal plants had a listed capacity of 314 gigawatts at the time. A power plant's capacity measures the maximum amount of electricity it can produce.

Coal's fall under Obama was gradual at first. Some 4.5 GW of coal capacity retired between 2009 and 2011, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data. But the groundwork for a wider shift had been laid.

Coal capacity under Obama and Trump. Credits: Claudine Hellmuth/E&E News(graph); Energy Information Administration and E&E News(data)

More coal capacity has retired during President Trump's first 3 years in office than during the last four years of the Obama administration. Claudine Hellmuth/E&E News (graph); Energy Information Administration and E&E News (data)

Subsidies for renewables, a key part of the Obama administration's efforts to revive the economy during the Great Recession, helped spur a surge in wind and solar installations. The administration also pursued a series of air quality regulations on power plants. One rule, meant to limit mercury emissions, was particularly consequential, leading to a wave of retirements in 2012 and 2015 (Climatewire, April 20, 2017).

Most of the coal plants retired in those days were old and small and had spent large periods of time idled, meaning actual coal generation did not fall sharply with their retirement (Climatewire, April 27, 2017). In fact, electrical output from coal plants actually increased in 2013.

Yet as talk of a war on coal emerged in Washington, a larger threat to the fossil fuel was brewing in America's gas fields.

Gas companies learned how to drill long, lateral wells and blast open shale formations to release an ocean of natural gas, which quickly flooded the market. The deluge came as energy efficiency improvements took hold, causing electricity demand to stagnate.

The final straw was the rising amount of renewable generation the first electricity to be dispatched in power markets because wind and solar have no fuel costs. Suddenly, fossil fuel plants needed to ramp up and down to adjust to the output of renewable facilities. Natural gas turbines are well suited to that task. Coal-powered steam turbines, which are designed to run around the clock, are less so.

Ultimately, almost 48 GW of coal retired during Obama's eight years in office, with nearly 33 GW coming in his second term, according to an E&E News review of EIA data. Trump, by comparison, has seen 37 GW retire since he entered the White House in 2017. An additional 3.7 GW is slated to shut down over the next six months.

Coal interests sought to tie much of the industry's struggles to the Obama days.

America's Power, a trade group formerly known as the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, estimates that 44% of the U.S. coal fleet has retired or announced plans to do so since 2010. Subsidies for renewables have helped wind and solar displace coal generation, said ACCCE President and CEO Michelle Bloodworth.

"There are obviously a number of factors that play a role in coal retirements, but a significant number of those retirements can be traced back to EPA regulations finalized during the prior administration," she wrote in an email. "We have appreciated the Trump administration's work to develop sensible environmental policies that both protect human health and the environment while also providing enough flexibility to prevent needless retirements of additional coal-fired power plants that are necessary for reliable, resilient, and affordable electricity."

Steve Cicala, a professor who studies power markets at the University of Chicago, reckons that coal has a more fundamental problem: Coal plants are more expensive to operate than their competitors. At the same time, he said, the low operating cost of gas and renewables has pushed wholesale electricity prices down, leaving coal even further out of the money.

Cicala argued there is little the Trump administration could have done to reverse plant closures given the wider economic and technological trend in America's power markets. But he said the administration had made a mistake in attempting to fight for coal communities by bucking market signals.

"It's like trying to keep telegraph workers employed. Communications moved beyond the telegraph. There are other things we can do. We have a much better technology for satisfying the need for energy," Cicala said. "They could start thinking about helping the people who are defined by more than a specific dying occupation. They are people who want and need jobs. They have skills to do other things."

The coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated existing trends, prompting a decrease in electricity demand and pushing more coal plants to the sidelines. EIA expects coal to account for 17% of America's electricity generation in 2020, down from 24% last year. The agency thinks coal generation will rebound to 20% in 2021.

Even if coal output recovers slightly, America is fundamentally changed.

The U.S. consumed more energy from renewables than coal in 2019 for the first time since 1885. EIA thinks renewables will continue to grab market share, accounting for 21% of America's power generation this year and 23% in 2021.

Palmer, the former Peabody executive, expressed hope the president could turn the tide if he wins a second term in November. He believes Trump would be unencumbered by political factors like those that prompted the administration to drop consideration of a plan to use the government's emergency powers to compel coal plants to stay open (Greenwire, Oct. 16, 2018).

The president also may have a bigger appetite for challenging the endangerment finding, a determination requiring EPA to regulate greenhouse gases as an air pollutant under the Clean Air Act, he said.

Mike McKenna, an energy lobbyist who briefly led Trump's transition team for the Department of Energy and served five months in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, was less sanguine. Like other administration allies, he put much of the blame for coal's predicament on state renewable portfolio standards and subsidies for wind and solar.

But he conceded Trump bore some responsibility.

"I think a very small part of the problem was that the Administration, partially as a consequence of discounting the work of the transition, never really had a coherent plan for addressing the challenges," McKenna wrote in an email. "There were some regulatory efforts which made sense and were and are laudable, but they did not solve the underlying challenges."

Asked what the Trump administration could do to reverse the trend, he replied: "At this point, not much. They need to start to think about mining communities."

In the early days of his presidency, Trump frequently boasted of saving the industry on Twitter.

"It is finally happening for our great clean coal miners," he tweeted in November 2017, sharing a Fox News report showing that coal production had rebounded from the year prior.

In May 2018, he wrote, "We have ended the war on coal, and will continue to work to promote American energy dominance."

But as the president moves to adopt a more aggressive campaign posture, coal has been absent from his Twitter feed. The president has not tweeted about the industry for over a year now.

His last one came in February 2019, when he urged officials at the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federal agency, to keep a major Kentucky coal plant open. They rebuffed the president and voted to close the plant (Greenwire, Feb. 14, 2019).

See the original post here:
ENERGY TRANSITIONS: More coal has retired under Trump than in Obama's 2nd term - E&E News

Extraordinary opportunities abounded in our inbox last week.

One was the chance to attend a virtual fundraiser that Barack Obama is throwing this week for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, "where youll have the chance to meet them one-on-one and talk about whats at stake this election."

"Chip in any amount to automatically enter to win," the email urges. "Contribute for the automatic chance to meet a former, and future, president in an intimate, virtual setting."

But that mere "chance" to win was topped in a missive from Donald Trumps reelection campaign, which contained an unqualified promise to join the president at the GOP convention in Jacksonville, Florida: "Please contribute ANY AMOUNT by 11:59 PM TONIGHT to win a free trip to the 2020 Convention Celebration."

Trump also was quoted as saying, "I've requested that YOU be there with me as my special VIP guest." And he adds, "Please contribute $42 TODAY to win a trip to the Republican National Convention Celebration."

Oh, wait ... there is that paragraph that starts "If you win ..."

Of course, both offers have fine print saying that you dont actually have to contribute money to enter the contests, a nicety that makes them legal.

Speaking of the Trump campaign ...

The presidents reelection team announced the Senate Captains program last week, "a new effort to engage Republican members of the Senate as volunteer fundraisers for the Trump Victory Finance Committee."

One of four "co-captains" of the push to raise money for Trumps reelection is Ohio Sen. Rob Portman of Cincinnati.

State workers take a pass

The administration of Gov. Mike DeWine wanted state employee unions to come up with a cost-savings plan by last Monday. But that deadline came and went with no proposal by the union.

And there wont be one, says Sally Meckling, communications director for the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, which represents about 30,000 state and local government workers.

"The state wants us to go along with the (4% salary) cuts its making to exempt employees," she said. "However, being in a union and having a collective bargaining agreement provides certain protections for union members.

"While the state appears to have made up its mind on what it wants, there are other ways to address the projected budget shortfall, including the rainy-day fund."

That fund contains $2.7 billion. The projected shortfall for the state fiscal year starting July 1 is $2.4 billion.

Instead of providing a plan, the union submitted "a detailed document request asking for information, just like we do during any bargaining session." Essentially, the union is just getting a head start on negotiations for a new contract talks that would begin this fall anyway.

Under their current contract, unionized state workers will receive a 3% raise starting July 1.

Strong language

It has dawned on us that the campaign of Shannon Freshour, a Democrat mounting a long-shot challenge against GOP Congressman Jim Jordan of Urbana, has been trying to get a subtle message across in emails this month. Can you help us figure it out?

"Jim Jordan is slandering peaceful protesters as rioters in a racist attempt to silence those speaking against police brutality ..."

"Trumps favorite racist bootlicker bully Jim Jordan ..."

"Jim Jordan and his fellow fascist apologists ..."

"Racist buffoon Jim Jordan ...

"Trump and Jordans brand of hatred and divisive rhetoric is a direct threat to our rights as Americans ..."

Jordan has not publicly acknowledged his opponent.

See the original post here:
Capitol Insider | Wow, offers to meet with Trump, Biden and Obama all in one week! - The Columbus Dispatch

The Department of Education is making it harder for colleges to increase financial aid awards for students whose families lost jobs or income during the coronavirus-fueled economic crisis, NPR reported.

The department has confirmed it is not using guidance issued by the Obama administration during the Great Recession that encouraged colleges to be proactive about adjusting student aid awards. The guidance, issued in April and May of 2009, encouraged financial aid officials to thoughtfully use their professional judgment to address changes in financial and family circumstances that would not be reflected on the students most recent Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and assured colleges they would not be punished for adjusting aid awards if they maintained appropriate documentation. In short, the 2009 guidance sought to give assurances to college officials who were reluctant to use their professional judgment to adjust awards because the department used the percentage of such professional judgment determinations as a factor in determining which colleges to audit.

The Education Department has characterized the Obama-era guidance as outdated. A department spokesperson told NPR it is "updating the issues presented by the guidance, given the pandemic and resulting economic downturn."

"I think financial aid offices are out there doing their best," Rachelle Feldman, associate provost of scholarships and student aid at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told NPR. "But the fear of audit, the change in guidance -- it's all very real and paralyzing."

Read the original:
Ed Department Shelved Obama-Era Guidance on Adjusting Aid - Inside Higher Ed

TOPLINE

As concerts will likely not resume until the final phase of reopening in many places, (which could still be a ways off for most), here are some virtual live performances to get excited about and as a bonus, most are for charitable causes:

Michelle Obama will co-host the virtual Roots Picnic on June 27.

Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam, Macklemore, Ben Gibbard, Sir Mix-a-Lot and other Seattle musicians are playing a June 24 (starts at 10pm ET) concert to raise money for Covid-19 relief in Washington state.

Deadmau5 and musicians from the Lumineers are collaborating with e-sports stars Halifax and Hambinooo to raise money for No Kid Hungry in a June 24 Twitch livestream that begins at 3pm ET.

Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Quavo, J Balvin, Jennifer Hudson, Chloe X Halle, Shakira, Usher, Chris Rock, David Beckman and others will perform at June 27s Global Goal: United for Our FutureThe Concert, hosted by Dwayne Johnson and organized by Global Citizen and the European Commission to highlight the disproportionate effect of Covid-19 on marginalized communities; stream it via NBC and iHeartMedia at 8pm ET.

Michelle Obama, Lil Baby, Lin-Manuel Miranda, SZA, Tom Hanks, Janelle Monae, H.E.R., Roddy Rich, Kerry Washington and others will also play for streamers on June 27 at 8pm ET at the virtual Roots Picnic in partnership with the former First Ladys nonprofit When We All Vote.

Another June 27 event: At 4pm ET Josh Groban is throwing an intimate concert event for attendees who pay $20 (for $55 hell throw in a t-shirt) to hear him croon new ballads and old favorites.

122. Thats how many concerts, festivals and conferences have been canceled or postponed due to coronavirus, according to Vulture.

On March 17, The Rolling Stones postponed their No Filter tour that was scheduled to resume in May. The tourwhich kicked off in 2017has generated upwards of $416 million in revenue. Though the financial impact of this cancellation is unknown, other high-grossing headliners like Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift have similarly canceled their summer stadium tours.

Over 83 million people have bought tickets or made plans to attend events canceled by coronavirus, according to Forbes. Some of the biggest of these include Coachella, the Palm Springs, California, music festival that attracted 99,0000 attendees per day in its six-day 2019 run, and Belgium EDM fest Tomorrowlandattended by 400,000 last year.

Coronavirus Cancellation Tracker: More Than 83 Million Affected After Events Cancelled Or Rescheduled (Forbes)

All the Live Events, Movie Releases, and Productions Affected by the Coronavirus (Vulture)

Heres What Happened at Arkansass Socially Distanced Concert (Vulture)

See original here:
Justin Bieber, Michelle Obama, Chloe X Halle Live From Your Couch: Virtual Events To Stream This Week - Forbes