Background Briefing: August 16, 2022
The Climate Bill Biden Signed Into Law Today is a Major Victory
We begin with President Biden signing into law today a sweeping $750 billion health care, tax and climate bill at the White House in what is a much-needed victory for his administration and the Democratic Party ahead of the midterm elections. The Inflation Reduction Act will raise over $700 billion in government revenue over 10 years and spend over $430 billion to reduce carbon emissions while extending subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act with the rest of the new revenues going to reduce the deficit. Joining us is Jody Freeman, the Archibald Cox Professor at Harvard Law School and the founding director of the Law School’s Environmental Law and Policy Program. The coauthor with Michael Gerrard of Global Climate Change and U.S. Law, she also served as Counselor for Energy and Climate Change in the Obama White House and advised the Biden transition team. We discuss her article at The New York Times, ”The Climate Bill Isn’t Perfect, but It’s Still a Major Victory.”
Did Trump Lose His Get-Out-Of-Jail Bargaining Chip With the Seizure of the Documents?
Then we look into the serious nature of what is in the affidavit that supported the FBI’s search warrant of Mar-a-Lago which Trump wants unsealed but the DOJ in court filings made clear that such a move would devastate the DOJ and the FBI’s case against the former president and endanger witnesses and our national security. Joining us is Michael Greenberger, the former Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Justice Department where he supervised work on national security matters. He is the founder and director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland where he also teaches Constitutional Law.