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Biden sets economy-wide climate target: reducing emissions 66 percent in 2035 from 2005 levels

Biden sets economy-wide climate target: reducing emissions 66 percent in 2035 from 2005 levels

President Biden announced an audacious goal for America to reduce its carbon emissions by two thirds with barely weeks left in his administration. Biden’s White House announced the new goal in a public statement. It calls for the U.S. to massively reduce its carbon emissions by 2035, invoking the Paris Agreement. “Today, as the United States continues to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy, President Biden is announcing a new climate target for the United States: a 61-66 percent reduction in 2035 from 2005 levels in economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions,” the White House wrote. “It keeps the United States on a straight line or steeper path to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050. In connection with this announcement, the United States is making a formal submission of this new target to the United Nations Climate Change secretariat as its next NDC under the Paris Agreement,” the statement continued. WHITE HOUSE SAYS TO ‘EXPECT MORE’ CLIMATE FUNDING BEFORE PRESIDENT BIDEN LEAVES OFFICE President-elect Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement soon after entering office in his first term. Biden then re-entered the U.S. into the treaty. Trump has not said whether he plans to once again remove the U.S. from the plan, which calls on global powers to self-impose climate reforms. CLIMATE JUSTICE GROUP HAS DEEP TIES TO JUDGES, EXPERTS INVOLVED IN LITIGATION AMID CLAIMS OF IMPARTIALITY Trump reportedly plans to install an “energy czar” to scale back energy and climate regulations implemented under the Biden administration. Six sources familiar with Trump’s transition team told the New York Times last month that a series of executive orders and presidential proclamations have been drafted related to climate and energy, aimed at rolling back Biden-era clean energy regulations that some critics argue have hurt the economy.  US TO TIGHTEN RESTRICTIONS ON ENERGY DEVELOPMENT TO PROTECT STRUGGLING SAGE GROUSE Other plans Trump and his transition team are reportedly discussing include installing an “energy czar” to help cut regulations on domestic energy production and potentially moving the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) headquarters outside of Washington, D.C. “The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail,” Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital when asked to confirm the details about Trump’s reported plans. “He will deliver.” Fox News’ Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.

What to expect as Republicans try to salvage spending package, avoid government shutdown

What to expect as Republicans try to salvage spending package, avoid government shutdown

The revolt by conservatives and the sudden infusion into negotiations of President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance and Elon Musk has House Speaker Mike Johnson and others struggling to find a way out of their political cul-de-sac and avoiding a government shutdown at 12:00:01 a.m. ET Saturday.  Fox News is told that Trump’s unexpected demand to tackle the debt ceiling in this package has complicated matters exponentially. Many conservatives won’t vote for any debt ceiling increase. And Democrats are balking because Republicans reneged on the deal.  THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE INTERIM SPENDING BILL Democrats have bailed out majority Republicans on every major fiscal bill this Congress. They appear to be done with helping Republicans. HOUSE GOP LEADERS SCRAMBLE FOR PLAN B AFTER TRUMP, MUSK LEAD CONSERVATIVE FURY AGAINST SPENDING BILL Moreover, there may not be enough time to avoid a shutdown, especially if a new bill is to be produced – and conservatives demand that it lay fallow for three days before voting.  That does not even address getting it through the Senate. ‘THERE’S ALWAYS CONSEQUENCES’: GOP REBELS PLOT MUTINY AGAINST JOHNSON OVER GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN DRAMA Many members with whom Fox News spoke Wednessday night are now resigned to a very high chance of a government shutdown – perhaps one which bleeds through Christmas. There simply isn’t a combination of votes that unlocks this puzzle yet. Congress also hasn’t addressed disaster aid. Some conservatives are opposed to that for North Carolina and Florida without offsets. The fate of assistance after Hurricanes Helene and Milton is now in serious limbo.

Massie comes out against Johnson retaining speaker’s gavel: ‘He does not have my vote’

Massie comes out against Johnson retaining speaker’s gavel: ‘He does not have my vote’

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has declared that he will not vote for House Speaker Mike Johnson to retain the speakership next year. “He does not have my vote,” Massie told CNN’s Manu Raju. Asked whether he would change his mind, Massie said that would require “a Christmas miracle.” Earlier this year Massie supported Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in pushing to remove Johnson from the speakership, but the vast majority of members in both parties ultimately voted to spike the ouster effort.  JOHNSON HIT WITH POSSIBLE SPEAKERSHIP RIVALS AS CONSERVATIVES REBEL OVER GOVERNMENT FUNDING PLAN “It’s a new paradigm in Congress. Nancy Pelosi, and most republicans voted to keep Uniparty Speaker Mike Johnson,” Massie tweeted at the time. This week Johnson had advocated in favor of a more than 1,500-page government spending measure that would have averted the looming prospect of a partial government shutdown.  During a Wednesday interview on “Fox & Friends” Johnson said that the spending measure would kick the government funding issue until March when Republicans will have control of Congress and the White House, enabling the GOP to “decide spending for 2025.” The measure also included disaster relief funding as well as aid related to farmers. “Disaster aid and Farm aid is not ‘Pork’. It’s called governing. That’s what we were all ELECTED to do,” Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., declared in a post on X. But conservatives savaged the proposal and Elon Musk spoke out against it. President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance also weighed in. In a statement, they called for passage of “a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.” “Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country…” they said in the statement. HOUSE GOP LEADERS SCRAMBLE FOR PLAN B AFTER TRUMP, MUSK LEAD CONSERVATIVE FURY AGAINST SPENDING BILL Massie mocked Johnson this week by sharing an AI-generated image that depicted the speaker holding a hose while a house burned in the background.  He shared the image after declaring in a tweet that “US foreign aid spending is like watering the neighbor’s yard while your house is on fire.”