Americans need to keep a close eye on their wallets, however, as House progressives aren’t about to back down from pushing their big-government agenda that would increase taxes and energy prices on American families and businesses. Despite worrying economic conditions in the United States, like historic price hikes, Democrats have doubled down on their anti-fossil fuel agenda that will raise gas prices, drive jobs overseas and make our nation dependent on foreign energy again.

The Green New Deal would cripple our economy and disproportionately hurt lower-income families in several ways. First, the package includes a program called the Clean Energy Performance Program that will effectively eliminate fossil fuels. This is breathtakingly naïve and dangerous. Renewable sources of energy show great promise, but around 80% of U.S. energy comes from coal, natural gas and petroleum. With less than 5% being wind and solar, these renewables are simply not ready to take the place of fossil fuels to keep our lights on.

It also takes aim at cleaner-burning natural gas by preventing natural gas from being counted as “clean energy.” This stance is anti-science and anti-growth. Nothing has done more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the past 20 years than expanding the use and availability of natural gas using technologies such as fracking, a process that has made it far easier to access cleaner-burning natural gas. Yet, by canceling the Keystone Pipeline and pushing the Green New Deal, the Biden administration and congressional Democrats have made energy more expensive for families and businesses.

The Clean Energy Performance Program would also increase our reliance on critical minerals imported from often-hostile regimes. These minerals are essential for batteries for electric vehicles and other sources of renewable energy. Our chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan put the Taliban in control of vast reserves of these resources, and China is already working to take advantage of Biden’s miscues.

Second, the package would increase energy costs on American families and businesses through other new provisions such as a methane tax. This provision unfairly targets small independent or marginal oil and gas producers and would make our environment less clean by undermining innovation in this sector and increasing global reliance on less clean forms of energy.

Not all oil and gas basins are similar in their hydrocarbon makeup. For example, Kansas is generally a “dead oil state” – meaning that gas levels found in Kansas crude are very low, along with the potential for meaningful methane release. This measurement is referred to as the Gas to Oil ratio (GOR).

Biden’s methane tax would unfairly punish Kansas independent oil producers with lower-than-average GORs who are by and large family-owned small businesses with fewer than ten employees. Targeting these wells would raise energy prices even further across the U.S. While many are small family-owned operations, they produce almost 7.5% of entire U.S. oil production. I’ve introduced the Marginal Well Protection Act to protect these critical small producers from being unfairly targeted by the administration.

Biden’s Green New Deal provisions would also spend $2.25 billion to create a taxpayer-funded “climate army,” or Civilian Climate Corps. This program would be controlled by the Biden administration and would likely be used to finance left-wing environmental activists. Thankfully, there is still bipartisan opposition to the program – most notably from Sen. Joe Machin (D-WV).

The reality is we already have a civilian climate corps. They’re called America’s farmers and ranchers. The farmers and ranchers I know in Kansas are the best environmentalists in the world. They should be honored and respected, not harassed by woke coastal environmental activists who often have zero world experience when it comes to environmental stewardship.

These policies and others, like the recently floated Carbon Tax, will break President Biden’s promise not to raise taxes on families earning less than $400,000. According to a new analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress’ non-partisan tax scorekeeper, more than 85% of all taxpayers will face a tax increase or enjoy no benefit under this plan.

If progressives decide they are serious about protecting the environment rather than using climate alarmism to push their socialist agenda, they should join conservatives who embrace economic freedom. Studies show that freer economies are twice as clean as less free economies. Countries that have smaller governments, lower taxes, less regulation and strong protections for private property owners are more prosperous and cleaner than countries like Venezuela that suffer under socialist policies.

It’s time for the interests of American families and main street businesses to be put ahead of the demands of left-wing radical environmental activists who won’t be happy until they’ve destroyed the entire economy.

Ron Estes, one of only a handful of engineers in Congress, worked in the aerospace, energy and manufacturing sectors before representing Kansas’ 4th Congressional District since 2017. He is a fifth-generation Kansan, former state treasurer, and serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Joint Economic Committee.

Source: https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2021/11/01/biden_peddles_green_new_deal_to_un_while_us_economy_suffers_801572.html

The post Biden Peddles Green New Deal to UN While U.S. Economy Suffers first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

• A group named “Flag Officers 4 America” released a letter signed by 124 former military leaders.
• The letter questioned the 2020 election result and President Joe Biden’s physical and mental health.
• One serving Navy leader told Politico the letter was “disturbing and reckless.”
• Sign up for our daily newsletter 10 Things in Politics You Need to Know Today.

More than 120 retired US military leaders have signed an open letter appearing to advance a false conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was rigged and questioning President Joe Biden’s mental capacity to serve.

“Without fair and honest elections that accurately reflect the ‘will of the people’ our Constitutional Republic is lost,” said the letter released Tuesday by “Flag Officers 4 America,” and signed by 124 former admirals and generals.

“The FBI and Supreme Court must act swiftly when election irregularities are surfaced and not ignore them as was done in 2020.”

On its website, Flag Officers 4 America says it is a collection of “retired military leaders who pledged to support and defend the Constitution of the US against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

In the letter, the signatories, many of whom have been out of active service for decades, also addressed concerns over Biden’s health.

“The mental and physical condition of the Commander in Chief cannot be ignored. He must be able to quickly make accurate national security decisions involving life and limb anywhere, day or night,” the letter said.

The Defense Department declined to comment.

Read more: A powerful group of anti-Trumpers is threatening to form a new party. Republicans fear it would doom the GOP and render it ‘not politically viable.’

Throughout the 2020 election campaign former President Donald Trump regularly cast doubts on Biden’s health and suitability to rule, calling him “Sleepy Joe” and saying in March 2020 that there was “something going on” with Biden’s mental abilities.

Earlier this month Biden’s personal doctor, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, released a report on the president’s health, in which he called him a “healthy, vigorous, 77-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.”

Biden is the oldest serving US president in history, and the White House said this week that the president will undergo a full checkup this year.

Biden addresses a joint session of Congress on April 28. Melina Mara/The Washington Post via AP, Pool

In the Tuesday letter, the Flag Officers 4 America signatories also laid out what they deem to be the major threats facing the US, namely the rise of China, the rejoining of the Iran nuclear deal, immigration, and the ending of the Keystone Pipeline project.

The signatories also called for the removal of Section 230, a part of US law that shields tech companies from legal liability. Trump called for the section to be removed last year after Twitter flagged two of his tweets about mail-in voting.

“Our Nation is in deep peril,” the signatories wrote in the introduction to the letter.

“We are in a fight for our survival as a Constitutional Republic like no other time since our founding in 1776. The conflict is between supporters of Socialism and Marxism vs. supporters of Constitutional freedom and liberty.”

‘Gross and blatant partisan attack’

Several military experts told Politico the letter was an outright partisan attack and dangerous.

One serving Navy officer told Politico the letter was “disturbing and reckless” while Jim Golby, an expert in civil-military relations, told the outlet it was a “shameful effort to use their rank and the military’s reputation for such a gross and blatant partisan attack.”

The letter’s organizer, Maj. Gen. Joe Arbuckle, told Politico: “Retired generals and admirals normally do not engage in political actions, but the situation facing our nation today is dire. … We are facing threats greater than at any other time since our country was founded. To remain silent would be a dereliction of duty.”

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/former-generals-admirals-letter-question-election-biden-health-2021-5

The post More than 120 retired generals and admirals wrote to Biden appearing to back a false election conspiracy and questioning his mental health first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The post Biden administration making world a ‘dangerous place’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.