CategoryHeather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

• Yesterday, 21 Republican members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. The letter complained that the federal government had not responded effectively to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio and demanded Buttigieg provide “[a]ll documents and communications regarding NTSB’s progress on the cause of the derailment.”
• The NTSB is an independent agency. Congress deliberately set it apart from the Department of Transportation to guarantee unbiased investigations.
• The NTSB responded immediately. Nine NTSB investigators and four engineers in labs have been involved in the accident review. They have reviewed footage of the derailment, interviewed train staff, and examined the train event recorder.
• The EPA is the federal agency in charge of responding to the release of hazardous substances and leading cleanup efforts. Its personnel were at the site by 2:00 on Saturday morning, about five hours after the derailment.
• The Department of Transportation has two agencies that are appropriate to deploy for this kind of an accident. The Federal Railroad Administration enforces safety regulations for railways, and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration enforces safety regulations for hazardous materials.
• The letter is not about the derailment itself. It is about the careful way generations of Americans have tried to create a government that could support progress while also guaranteeing oversight, and it is about the lawmakers who wrote the letter to Secretary Buttigieg.
• Either 21 Republican lawmakers charged with oversight of our government don’t know how the government works and didn’t care to find out, or they are deliberately misleading their loyalists. Buttiegieg responded: “I am alarmed to learn that the Chair of the House Oversight Committee thinks that the NTSB is part of our Department. NTSB is independent (and with good reason). Still, of course, we will fully review this and respond appropriately.”

Published February 26, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 25, 2023

• At Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service today, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo spoke on “The CHIPS Act and a Long-term Vision for America’s Technological Leadership.” She outlined what she sees as a historic opportunity to solidify the nation’s global leadership in technology and innovation and at the same time rebuild the country’s manufacturing sector and protect national security.
• The CHIPS and Science Act was passed in August 2022 by a bipartisan vote, directing more than $52 billion into research and manufacturing of semiconductor chips as well as additional scientific research.
• Raimondo framed the CHIPS and Science Act as an “incredible opportunity” to enable the U.S. to lead the world in technology, “securing our economic and national security future for the coming decades.”
• The Biden administration is making a major investment in semiconductor technology, with the goal of reestablishing manufacturing in the U.S. to spark innovation and protect national security, while also creating new well-paying jobs.
• Part of the impetus for the bipartisan drive to jump-start the semiconductor industry is lawmakers’ determination to counter the rise of China. Raimondo will travel to India next month to talk about closer economic ties between the U.S. and India, including collaboration in chip manufacturing.
• The Biden administration’s vision of a hopeful future and a realistic means to get there is a striking contrast to the vision of today’s Republicans, who look backward resolutely and angrily to an imagined past. Polls and special election results suggest that voters like the Democrats’ vision.
• The Anti-Defamation League released a report showing that all the extremist killings in 2022 were committed by right-wing adherents, with 21 of 25 murders linked to white supremacists.
• A PRRI report showed that 64% of Americans say that abortion should be legal in most or all cases.

Published February 24, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 23, 2023

• Fox News Channel personalities knew that Joe Biden had won the 2020 presidential election, but pushed the Big Lie of voter fraud anyway to retain viewers.
• The Republican narrative since the 1980s has been to get rid of the active government put in place after 1933 to limit unfettered capitalism and to argue that government regulation, the social safety net, civil rights, and investment in infrastructure were socialism, thus undermining traditional America.
• The Republican narrative has also included cutting Social Security and Medicare, interpreting the Second Amendment to mean that individuals have a right to own whatever weaponry they want, and deregulation.
• The Republican narrative has resulted in the extraordinary claim that the US is a Marxist, communist country and the introduction of a bill to make the AR-15 the National Gun of America.
• There is an increase in mass shootings in the US with 13 people killed and 46 injured from February 17-19, 2023.
• The Republican narrative has led to the extraordinary comment from a state representative in Alaska that children dying of child abuse would save the state money in social services.
• The Republican narrative has also been used to conceal a report that virtually all claims of fraud against the 2020 Arizona election were unfounded.
• House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is giving Tucker Carlson of Fox News exclusive access to 44,000 hours of video taken within the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, and raising funds off the release.

Published February 23, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 22, 2023

• President Biden continued to defend the democratic way of life against rising authoritarianism in his speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland.
• Vice President Kamala Harris called out Russian atrocities in Ukraine as crimes against humanity.
• Biden noted that Kyiv stands strong, proud, and free, despite the attempted Russian invasion.
• Biden noted that autocrats have grown weaker while democracies have grown stronger.
• Biden challenged the world to choose between chaos and stability, between building and destroying, and between hope and fear.
• Poland has taken in 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees.
• Extremist Republicans have introduced a “Ukraine Fatigue” resolution calling for an end to U.S. aid to Ukraine.
• Right-wing media has attempted to spin Biden’s trip to Kyiv and speech in Poland to distract from the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
• The Biden administration seeks to create safer cars, paid sick leave for railroad workers, and larger crew sizes.
• Right-wing media has attempted to spin the Ohio disaster as an issue of racial malice.
• Filing in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case against FNC has established that FNC is a propaganda arm of the Republican party.
• House speaker Kevin McCarthy apparently released the U.S. Capitol video clips from January 6, 2021, to Fox News Channel personality Tucker Carlson.
• The Georgia grand jury recommended a number of indictments related to the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Published February 22, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 21, 2023

• Republican leaders are recognizing that the sight of Republican lawmakers heckling the president of the United States didn’t do their party any favors. This behavior called attention to the fact that Republicans have repeatedly suggested cuts to Social Security and Medicare, or even the elimination of these programs, in speeches, news interviews, and written proposals.
• Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) told The Hill that Republicans should stick to “reasonable and enduring policy” proposals. This reflects the Republican Party’s problem of not having clear policies that voters support.
• Cutting Social Security is a centerpiece of the ideology the party adopted in the 1980s. This economic vision has cut services and neglected infrastructure while dramatically moving wealth upward.
• Republicans have combined their economic vision with a culture war. This has created a new ideology that is based in Christian nationalism, which insists that the United States is a Christian nation and our laws should be based in evangelical Christian values.
• Mitch McConnell and other Republicans are now condemning this new ideology. This is resulting in a rift within the Republican party.
• The extremists are on the same side as authoritarians like Viktor Orbán and Vladimir Putin. The United States is traditionally committed to global affairs and opposing autocracies, and this is reflected in Vice President Kamala Harris’s remarks at the Munich Security Conference.
• Mitch McConnell went to Munich to demonstrate U.S. commitment to global affairs. He promised that the Republicans will continue to support Ukraine, demonstrating that the party is not the “crazies” seen in the headlines.

Published February 19, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 18, 2023