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In a move Democrats warned would have disastrous consequences for the economy, the environment, and public health, the Republican-led Senate Thursday voted to block Californias electric-vehicle mandates, revoking the states right to implement the nations toughest emissions standards. Republicans used the Congressional Review Act, or CRA, to overturn Californias long-standing authority under the Clean Air Act to request waivers from the Environmental Protection Agency to pass emissions standards stricter than federal rules and protect residents from dangerous air pollution. The move affects 17 other states and Washington, D.C., which have voluntarily adopted one or more of Californias stricter standards. The CRA allows Congress to quickly rescind a rule within a limited time after its issued by a federal agency, allowing a simple majority vote rather than the 60 votes needed to advance legislation under the filibuster rule. An aerial view of traffic on a smoggy day in Los Angeles in January 1985. [Photo: Ernst Haas/Getty Images] But both the Senate parliamentarian, the chambers official nonpartisan adviser, and the Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan congressional referee, said the waivers are not rules and so are not subject to the Congressional Review Act. In defying the Senate parliamentarian, Democrats charged, the vote endangers not just the health of children and the climate but also decades of legal precedent and the integrity of the Senate itself. Today, the Senate has done something unprecedented, said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island late Wednesday night, after he and his Democratic colleagues spent the past several days urging Republicans to respect not just Californias authority under the law, but also Senate rules. Our actions and the ones that will follow from the procedural steps taken here today, over the next day or so will change the Clean Air Act, will change the Congressional Review Act, will change the rules of the Senate, and will do so by overruling the parliamentarian and breaking the filibusterin effect, going nuclear, Whitehouse said, referring to attempts to subvert the filibuster. This isnt just about Californias climate policies, and this isnt just about the scope of the Congressional Review Act, and this isnt just about eliminating the legislative filibuster, said California Sen. Alex Padilla on the Senate floor Tuesday. The Trump administrations EPA submitted Californias waivers for review by Congress with full knowledge that they are not actually rules subject to the CRA, Padilla said, opening the door for any agency to ask Congress to revoke regulations a new administration doesnt like. By mid-afternoon Thursday, Republicans moved to overturn Californias waivers through a procedural maneuvergiving the Senate the authority to determine what constitutes a rule for fast-track voting. They overturned waivers behind Californias rules to reduce tailpipe emissions from passenger vehicles and trucks, those regulating medium- and heavy-duty trucks, and the rule for heavy-duty smog-producing diesel and gas trucks. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) mocked Democrats objections to using the CRA, saying they were throwing a tantrum over a supposed procedural problem.Thune insisted that having a waiver submitted to Congress is all that Congress has ever needed to decide to consider something under the Congressional Review Act. He called the GAOs ruling that the waiver is not a rule an extraordinary deviation from precedent, saying it was the first time the office has decided to insert itself into the process and affirmatively declare that an agency rule submitted to Congress as a rule is not a rule. Despite Thunes claim, since the CRA was passed in 1996 the GAO has offered 26 legal opinions about whether an agency action was a rule in response to inquiries from members of Congress. And EPA never submitted California Clean Air Act waivers to Congress before the Trump administration, Padilla and his Democratic colleagues say. They contend that Republicans chose this route because they dont have the votes to withdraw the waivers through legislation. The CRA has never been used to go after emission waivers like the ones in question today, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said on the floor Tuesday. The waiver is so important to the health of our country, and particularly to our children; to go nuclear on something as significant as this and to do the bidding of the fossil fuel industry is outrageous. The first waiver was granted to California on July 11, 1968, Whitehouse told his colleagues in a last-ditch effort to change their minds late Wednesday night. Waivers have either been granted or amended or modified repeatedly since then, he said. The score on whether the California clean air rule is treated by EPA as a waiver or a rule? Its 131 to zero. The use of the Congressional Review Act resolution is inconsistent with past precedent and violates the plain language of the act itself, said John Swanton, a spokesperson for Californias Air Resources Board, which regulates emissions. The vote does not change CARBs authority, Swanton said, adding that the agency will continue its mission to protect the public health of Californians impacted by harmful air pollution. Ten million Californians live in areas that are under distinct, elevated threats from air pollution, said Adam Schiff, Californias junior senator. That has led to higher rates of respiratory issues like asthma and chronic lung disease, and increased the risk of heart disease, cancer, chronic headaches, and immune system issues, he said. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) speaks about the importance of the Clean Air Act in California during a Senate meeting on May 8. [Image: U.S. Senate floor webcast] And that is multiplied by us living now on the front lines of the climate crisis. We have devastating and year-round fire dangers that put millions of other pollutants into our air, Schiff said. We need, deserve, and reserve the right as Californians to do something about our air. Yet earlier this month, House Republicans, joined by 35 Democrats, including two from California, voted to rescind the waivers, sending the issue to the Senate. A Compelling and Extraordinary Need Californias legal authority to implement stricter air quality standards than federal rules comes from having already implemented its own tailpipe-emission regulations before Congress passed national standards in 1967. California officials developed the regulations to deal with the compelling and extraordinary air-pollution problems caused by the Golden States unique geography, climate, and abundance of people and vehicles. Recognizing these unique conditions, Congress gave California the authority to ask the Environmental Protection Agency for a waiver from rules barring states from passing air and climate pollution rules that are more protective than federal rules. Only one waiver was denied, an action that was quickly reversed, according to CARB. And though the Trump administration in 2019 withdrew a waiver, a move legal scholars say has no basis in the law, the Biden administration restored the states authority to set its own vehicle-emission standards within a few years. Republicans argued that Californias rules amount to de facto national standards, given the states size and the fact that other states have signed on. But California cant force its emission standards on other states, Padilla said. Yes, over a dozen other states have voluntarily followed in Californias footsteps, not because they were forced to, but because they chose to, in order to protect their constituents, their residents, and protect our planet. Californias standards also represent ambitious but achievable steps to cut carbon emissions and fight the climate crisis, Padilla said. Transportation is the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and California has been proud to set the example for other states who may choose to follow suit. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) told his Republican colleagues late Wednesday night why his states unique geography and climate create particularly hazardous air-quality problems. [Image: U.S. Senate floor webcast] Padilla, who grew up in Californias chronically polluted San Fernando Valley, recalled being sent home from grade school on a pretty regular basis when throat-burning smog settled over the valley. It appears that Republicans want to overturn half a century of precedent in order to undermine Californias ability to protect the health of our residents, Padilla said. Republicans seem to be putting the wealth of the big oil industry over the health of our constituents. For Their Fossil Fuel Donors Rhode Islands Whitehouse, who has long schooled his colleagues on the perils of carbon pollution, took to the floor Tuesday to school them on the Congressional Review Act. Under the American legal system, administrative agencies can make rules through a very robust process that follows the Administrative Procedure Act, Whitehouse said. A rule could be contested in court, but years ago Congress decided there also could be a period of review when congressional members could reject the rule. And for all the decades since the CRA was passed, he said, its been used to address rules under the APA within the specified 60 days.Other states, including Rhode Island, follow Californias emissions standards because its good for public health to have clean air, Whitehouse said. Efficient cars may mean lower cost for consumers, but those lower costs for consumers are lower sales for the fossil fuel industry. Whitehouse told his colleagues they had legitimate pathways to change laws they didnt like. They could pass a joint resolution or a simple Senate resolution. But those approaches would require 60 votes to end debate. They dont want to do that, he said. They want to ram this thing through for their fossil fuel donors. Republicans, by contrast, argued they had the authority to protect consumers from what they call Californias electric vehicle mandate, which they say would endanger consumers, the economy, and the nations energy supply. And our already shaky electric grid would quickly face huge new burdens from the surge in new electric vehicles, argued Thune. Congress had approved $5 billion to build electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the country, but the Trump administration withheld that funding, triggering a lawsuit from a coalition of attorneys to reverse what they said was a clearly illegal action. Republicans attacks on electric vehicles could disrupt a burgeoning industry built around the transition to renewable energy. The repeal of these waivers will dramatically destabilize the regulatory landscape at a time when industry needs certainty to invest in the future and compete on a global scale,said Jamie Hall, policy director for EV Realty, which develops EV-charging hubs. Thune also argued that Californias waiver rules are an improper expansion of a limited Clean Air Act authority, echoing an argument in Project 2025, a policy blueprint for the second Trump administration produced by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which has long battled efforts to combat climate change. In a chapter on transportation asserts, Project 2025 claims that California has no valid basis under the Clean Air Act to claim an extraordinary or unique air quality impact from carbon dioxide emissions. Its recommendation? Revoke the special waiver granted to California by the Biden administration. On Wednesday, a clearly frustrated Whitehouse argued that Republicans were helping the fossil fuel industry create a shortcut for itself so it can sell more gasoline and ignore all the states that joined California to demand cleaner air for their constituents. The fossil fuel industry essentially runs the Republican Party right now, he said. Last year, the oil and gas industry spent more than $153 million on lobbying, led by the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, which spent $27.6 million to influence Congress on bills including those designed to repeal vehicle-emission standards. The trade group also donated $178,750 to congressional candidates, 96% of which went to Republicans. The American Petroleum Institute, the largest U.S. oil and gas industry trade association, spent $6.25 million on lobbying last year to influence some of the same bills. Of nearly $400,000 donated to congressional candidates last year, 78% went to Republicans. Ninety-five percent of the $21,000 the Heritage Foundation donated to congressional candidates last year went to Republicans. We Believe That You Can Do It The week before Donald Trump returned to office, the American Petroleum Institute held its biggest annual meeting in Washington, D.C. API promoted the event as an opportunity to urge the incoming Trump administration and Congress to seize the American energy opportunity by advancing commonsense energy policies. Thune joined API Chief Executive Mike Sommers onstage, where they reminisced about starting their careers in adjacent offices in the same congressional office building 30 years ago. It is a huge opportunity, having an administration that actually is pro-energy development working with the Congress, Thune told his old friend. We want to be supportive in any way that we can in ensuring that the president and his team have success in making America energy dominant. Sommers suggested that one of the big, powerful tools Congress can use when one party controls both chambers is the Congressional Review Act, which he said offers fast-track authority to reverse midnight regulations passed by the Biden administration. Thune said he wouldnt be able to use the CRA for one of Californias tailpipe emissions standards because it doesnt fit within the required time window. But he was arguing with the parliamentarian and others, he said, about the whole California waiver issue and how to reverse that because that was such a radical regulatory overreach.Both Californias Clean Cars and Clean Trucks rules require an increasing percentage of vehicles sold in the state to be zero-emissions by 2035, with the cars rule, the so-called EV mandate, requiring that 100% of passenger cars and trucks be zero emissions by that date. What California did was completely radical, Sommers said at the meeting. The fact that 17 other states whove waived into this are going to be subject to it could completely change the vehicle market. So we would highly encourage you to look at that as an option for the CRA, Sommers told Thune. And we believe that you can do it. Thune assured Sommers that his committee chairs and team were looking at ways to fit repeal of Californias waivers within the parameters of a CRA action to fix what they saw as a shared problem. The oil and gas industry appreciated the efforts of Thune; John Barrasso of Wyoming, the Senate Majority Whip; and West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who pledged to overturn Californias clean cars rule and introduced the measure to do so last month. Today, the United States Senate delivered a victory for American consumers, manufacturers, and U.S. energy security by voting to overturn the prior administrations EPA rule authorizing Californias gas car ban and preventing its spread across our country, said the American Petroleum Institute and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers in a joint statement. We cannot thank Senators John Barrasso, Shelley Moore Capito, and Leader John Thune enough for their leadership on this important issue. Back on the Senate floor, Democrats warned their Republican colleagues that they may live to regret their decision to override the parliamentarian and flout legislative rules. It wont be long before Democrats are once again in the drivers seat here, in the majority once again, Padilla said. When that happens, he warned, every agency action that Democrats dont like, whether its a rule or not, and no matter how much time has passed, would be fair game with this new precedent. I suggest that we all think long and hard and be very careful about this, he implored, in vain. I would urge my colleagues, all my colleagues, to join me, not just in defending Californias rights to protect the health of our residents, not just in combating the existential threat of climate change, but in maintaining order in this chamber. This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here.
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E-Commerce
Memorial Day Weekend is upon us, marking the unofficial start of the summer vacation season in America. Yet, a recent Bankrate survey from late April found that only 46% of Americans plan to travel domestically or internationally this summer, with costs cited as the primary concern. Dwindling U.S. consumer confidence may lead some individuals to reconsider spending their precious discretionary dollars on travel. Still, you may have more travel options within your budget than you thought. For those determined to get away, theres an excellent Google Flights hack that reveals options within a certain budget. Some Google Flights aficionados know this as the anywhere hack. Heres how to use it. The Google Flights anywhere hack Google Flights is one of the best aggregators out there for finding airline tickets between any two cities on Earth. It works very simply: visit www.google.com/travel/flights, enter your departure and destination cities along with your desired departure and return dates, and click the search button. Google Flights will then reveal the best options for your selected destination across numerous airlines. However, if youre trying to stay within a certain budget, this traditional method of using Google Flights can be exhausting, because you have to check individual cities manually. For example, if your airline ticket budget is $1200, it can be tedious to enter cities one by one on Google Flights (So Paulo, then Paris, then Osaka) only to find that tickets dont fit within your budget anyway. Sticking to this method may also mean you completely overlook interesting destinations youd never considered before. Thats where the excellent Google Flights anywhere hack comes in. Its perfect for people who are more flexible in terms of their destination and put a greater priority on staying within a certain budget. Heres how it works: Go to Google Flights as normal and enter your departure city in the Where from? field. Fill out your departure and return dates, as well, in the respective fields. But then, instead of entering a specific destination in the Where to? field, type in anywhere and click the search button. Now, on the results screen, you will see a global map displaying all the options available to you from your departure city to destinations around the world for the selected dates. By default, these options will cover all price ranges. However, you can narrow the results to show only tickets that fit within your budget by clicking the price filter dropdown menu and dragging the slider to your maximum preferred price. The results will then show you where in the world you can fly while staying within your budget. And keep in mind that the Google Flights results map is as interactive as regular Google Mapsso be sure to zoom in and pan around on the map, and youll see additional flight options appear. Click on any one of them to get more details about the selected itinerary. Find even more options with the flexible date hack The anywhere Google Flights hack can help you quickly discover destinations you can travel to within your budget. But another simple hack may reveal even more destinations you can afford. Thats because you may actually be able to discover more locations within your budget if your dates are flexible, too. Route prices arent set in stone, and they vary wildly depending on the date you want to fly. To reveal these potential new options, click on the date field from the search results screen. In the drop-down menu that appears, click on the Flexible Dates tab, select any one or all of the next six months, and indicate how long you want your trip to be: for the weekend, or for one or two weeks. Google Flights will then scour the internet to find you the destinations you can go to within your budget and across the periods you selected. This flexible date hack frequently yields even more results than the anywhere hack alone because there are often significant savings to be had on routes flown during periods of lower travel demand. Just one final thing to keep in mind: While you may be able to find new destinations you can afford to explore using these Google Flights hacks, remember that once you arrive, Google Maps may not actually be the best way to navigateso be sure to pack your phone with the apps that are.
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E-Commerce
The concept of advancement is baked into the way we think about workalmost like it’s a video game. Just like you dont want to stay at a particular level of that game for too long, it sometimes doesnt feel like youre succeeding at work if your title doesnt change, and you dont get a significant raise. Getting a promotion isnt just a matter of wanting it or playing the game long enough. There are several factors at playonly some of which are under your control. First, the organization needs to have a position for you to move into. If there is no role for you to play, then there isnt much you can do to get promoted this year. Second, you have to decide whether the job you would be promoted into is one you really want. Third, you have to be ready for that new set of responsibilities. So, if you want to get promoted this year, you need to get information related to all three of those issues. Is there room for me? Before you get your hopes up for a promotion, you need to know whether there is a role for you. Early on in your career, the answer to that question is probably yes. Often, the first few promotions reflect your ability to do your role with less oversight and to take on additional responsibility in your initial role. Before long, though, promotions start to involve either oversight of an entire project or supervision of people. At that point, there are fewer potential roles available than when the promotion involves more technical expertise. Once youre on that people management track, the number of potential positions above the one you have go down. You may eventually reach a point when you may be completely qualified for a future role, but there may not be a position available. What does the next role really entail? As attractive as a promotion may sound in theory, you also have to ask yourself whether you would enjoy the job in practice. This question is particularly relevant when considering the people management track. Being a supervisor of other people is a very different role than the individual contributor roles that usually precede it. Just because you enjoy the work of your organization does not mean that you will enjoy having to manage others. As you rise in the organization, the work you do goes from being focused on the tactics for achieving particular goals to formulating the strategy that will guide the path of the organization. This strategic oversight comes with additional responsibility for the success and health of the organization. The job can be exciting, but also stressful. Talking with supervisors to find out the true responsibilities you will be taking on is important. Work and life need to be integrated. If your new role requires different hours or more engagement on nights and weekends, you should think through whether your lifestyle and responsibilities will support those changes. Be sure to talk with people in your life, such as a significant other. Their life might be affected by a change in your work requirements, so you’ll need their support. What do I need to learn? When you are approaching a promotion, youll never be completely ready. There is always a lot to learn on the job. That said, there is often work you can do to prepare. Your organization may offer technical or leadership classes that you can take to begin to develop the next set of skills. Talk with your supervisor, the HR team, and any learning and development professionals in your organization to find out what options there are for you to get a jump on the next round of skills. Look at job ads that your company or others put out for similar roles and get a sense of whether your current qualifications fit. If companies prefer advanced degrees for applicants to a position, it might be time to think about going back to school. Being proactive wont guarantee you the promotion you want, but it can help speed you on your way. And if a promotion in your current organization isnt in the cards, it will also get you ready to move on when the time is right. Finally, be aware that promotions dont always happen on your timeline. It can be frustrating to feel like you have languished in a role longer than you should. But, use the time to learn, to develop your social network, and to be ready to hit the ground running when a new opportunity does open up.
Category:
E-Commerce
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