Special Session, Serious Matters
What to know: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has released his agenda for the Legislature’s Special Session; it’s a list of conservative priorities.
The TPPF take: This is the Legislature’s chance to complete work left undone in the regular session. This includes the southern U.S. border with Mexico and the ongoing border crisis.
““Human smuggling is so lucrative for the cartels they will risk anything and anyone to keep the money flowing,” said TPPF’s Ken Oliver. “If the Biden Administration won’t engage, Texas must.”
For more on the Special Session, click here.
Heatwave
What to know: Was last week’s heatwave on the West Coast “driven by” climate change?
The TPPF take: Remember, weather isn’t climate.
“What happened in the Pacific Northwest the week before Independence Day was caused by the weather, not the climate,” says TPPF’s Chuck DeVore. “Proponents of climate concern suggest the Earth has warmed about two degrees Fahrenheit over the past century. But only in the fantasy land of complex and unproven attribution models would this change be directly responsible for the recent heatwave.”
For more on the heatwave, click here.
A Fight for Freedom
What to know: Ohio won a victory last week when a federal judge ruled that the Treasury Department can’t preclude states from using recovery funds for tax cuts (even indirectly).
The TPPF take: TPPF and other free market groups made the same argument.
“Too many top-down restrictions on states will prevent them from using the funds in a way that is best for their citizens and unique budgetary needs,” said TPPF’s Robert Henneke in a letter to the Treasury Department. “States should have freedom to make their own tax policy in accordance with the preferences and needs of their citizens. Our federalist system is founded on the fact that each citizen lives under two governments, not one.”
For more on federalism, click here.