Texas has become the seventh US state to adopt a universal education choice policy through a refundable personal-use tax credit worth USD5,000 per student per year. The tax credits are available for all families, but priority will be given to families earning less than USD250,000 per year, with a total of up to USD200m in tax credits available. New Hampshire has expanded its Education Freedom Accounts, with the state Senate voting to raise the income eligibility threshold from 300% of the federal poverty line to 350%, allowing nearly 45% of Granite State families to be eligible.
Thailand's pro-democracy parties face obstacles to forming a government. Although Pita Limjaroenrat's Move Forward party won Sunday's election, Bhumjaithai, the party that came third in the election, said it won't back Pita to become prime minister because of his quest to change Article 112. The Senate, dominated by Thailand's royalists, is likely to follow suit. The potential for a conservative backlash is hitting shares, with foreign investors net sellers of Thai bonds on Wednesday; they also sold net $183m of equities for the three days through Wednesday.
The Pentagon has overestimated the value of ammunition, missiles and other equipment sent to Ukraine by around $3bn, according to unnamed senior defence officials. The inaccuracies have been attributed to the fact that the Pentagon used the replacement cost to value the weapons aid, rather than depreciation. The US has sent roughly $21.1bn worth of equipment to Ukraine from its stockpiles since August 2021. Corrections to the valuation could affect the need for Congress to give authorisation for more funds to support Ukraine. Republican Senator Roger Wicker called the change an "attempt at deception".
Montana is banning TikTok. But can the state enforce the law and fend off a lawsuit?
The Globe and Mail
23-05-19 00:59
Montana's new law banning the use of TikTok in the state is facing a legal challenge from five plaintiffs arguing that the law is an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights because Montana does not have authority over matters of national security. The law, which is due to take effect in 2024, was signed by the Republican Governor Greg Gianforte, but it is unclear whether it could be enforced as Apple or Google would be liable for any violations, and sanctions would not apply to users. More than 200,000 people and 6,000 businesses reportedly use TikTok in Montana.
It is now no longer considered a "conspiracy theory" that the COVID-19 virus possibly originated in a lab in Wuhan, China. New evidence suggests that the virus was not transmitted from animal to human, but was leaked from a laboratory. This new evidence implies that Chinese lab leaks could be responsible for a worldwide pandemic, including the deaths of nearly 7 million people, including more than 1.1 million Americans, and an estimated $10 trillion in damage. Analysts at the Department of Energy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in addition to senior analysts at the U.S. Department of Energy, have come to this judgment based on recent intelligence. Despite Chinese communist officials insisting on the natural origin of the virus, it is believed that their stubborn refusal to cooperate with international research teams hindered the production of definitive evidence concerning the pandemic's origins. A congressional inquiry will examine the federal officials' understanding and response and correct any deficiencies in America's response to a public health crisis.
Victoria Coates, senior advisor to the US Secretary of Energy under President Trump, is interviewed on The Kevin Roberts Show about effective national security policies. Coates suggests that the US has been the greatest force for good in human history and discusses that the country doesn't need to overthrow dictatorial regimes and impose democracy rather encourage, instruct, and be a good example. Coates also discusses the importance of seizing opportunities, flexibility, and not being wedded to rigid ideologies that cut you off from unorthodox solutions. She also notes the importance of historical perspective when dealing with human beings and the hallmark of being resilient.
Coates mentions the difficulty of figuring out the triangle of policy, communications, and politics and navigating it in a world where communications and information is flowing at such a rapid rate. She mentions that moral clarity, the clarity of vision, and purpose are also infectious, not just for the men and women who have the privilege of working for people like that, but also for the country and a group of free people around the planet who are going to respond to any American president who’s bold and has a clear vision and also has the ability to speak.
Law professor and originalist Michael Stokes Paulsen has given a speech claiming that something is wrong with the US Supreme Court’s approach to section one of the Fourteenth Amendment, which he feels goes beyond decisions he feels are wrong. Paulsen believes that the current Supreme Court only enforces the last two clauses of section one - addressing the rights of all persons - rather than the first three clauses, which address the status and rights of citizens, and that the Court’s approach is resulting in a jurisprudence that lacks any relationship to the original meaning of the amendment’s ‘Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses.’ Paulsen suggests that “An increasing number of scholars now believe that the “Equal Protection of the Laws Clause” guarantees nothing more than the equal protection of the natural rights of life, liberty, and property—natural rights that belong to all persons regardless of citizenship,” and claims the current Supreme Court “leaves those three opening clauses unexamined and unenforced.”
Paulsen concludes by suggesting that the overall approach to the Fourteenth Amendment, focusing only on the last two clauses, has created an entity resembling “the terrible truth [that] is unavoidable when you and your grandson try to set the space shuttle upright on the table…. [A] terribly shaped creation that most likely will not work as originally intended.” Protest, civil disobedience, and appeals to the Constitutional amendment process are the only ways to redress the Supreme Court’s current trend, Paulsen advises.
The Limit, Save, Grow Act was passed in the House of Representatives with a slim 217-215 majority. The legislation would reduce the budget deficit by an estimated $4.8tn over 10 years, and includes the “REINS Act” which would subject regulatory agency rulemaking to stricter congressional review and approval processes if proposed regulations would increase costs to individuals or businesses significantly. The deficit reduction is paired with an up to $1.5tn increase to the current $31.4tn statutory debt limit to avoid an interruption in Treasury Department checks. While it is unlikely that the Senate will pass the bill in its current form, the House passage helps push President Joe Biden to the negotiating table and address the nation's financial woes meaningfully. If it were to pass, the legislation's biggest winners are taxpayers who avoid a future tax burden, and consumers can expect inflation to drop, reducing the costs of goods and services. The IRS would be a loser, with taxpayers getting back $70bn of unspent bonus funding. Future generations would benefit from a reduced federal debt burden, and federal bureaucracy would be limited. Untaxed corporations are set to lose the most, as the bill scales back new energy tax breaks enacted by the previous Congress, returning most pre-existing green tax credits to pre-2022 and levelling the playing field of corporate taxes. Small businesses would benefit from a more stable atmosphere, while doctors, lawyers, and advanced degree holders who have not paid their bills would be the biggest losers, with a change in borrower income calculation methods being proposed.
The US House of Representatives has voted to remove $72bn of Internal Revenue Service funding enacted by the previous administration, with most of that funding currently being held for expanded audits and enforcement. The Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act would keep only $8bn of the recent $80 billion boost in the IRS's 10-year budget, and is unlikely to pass the Senate or receive Biden's signature. This reflects such IRS practices as leaking taxpayer data and subjecting Americans to intrusive audits by overzealous examiners.
A cross-party group of federal lawmakers is backing a call for climate-focused rules on how Canada’s banks, insurers and pension funds invest their money. Ryan Turnbull, the Liberal MP leading a new push to bring the country's financial system in line with its commitment to reduce carbon emissions, made a call for Canada's financial system to be aligned to the Paris Agreement. Turnbull's motion does not explicitly support Senator Rosa Galvez's Climate-Aligned Finance Act (CAFA).
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott has begun airing TV ads in Iowa and New Hampshire, ahead of his anticipated Republican presidential campaign in 2024. The ad buy is priced at around $5.5m and is scheduled to run through to the first GOP presidential debate in late August. This marks the highest advertising expenditure by a potential or declared candidate in the early stages of the 2024 nominating campaign. It is expected that Scott will have a starting campaign fund of $22m, the highest any candidate in history has had when beginning a campaign for president, according to the Federal Election Commission. Several candidates including former President Donald Trump, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson are also expected to run for the Republican nomination.
Parents applaud push to close citizenship gap for foreign-born adopted children
CBC
23-05-19 08:00
Canadian lawmakers are examining changes that would give the foreign-born children of Canadian adoptive parents the same citizenship rights as those of children born in the country. A parliamentary committee has introduced proposals which might change a rule which bars internationally adopted children from automatically transmitting their citizenship by descent if they have children overseas. The law has been said to create an unjust unfair distinction between Canadian-born and international adoptees, with the latter sometimes facing negative effects on future study and work. In 2009, Canada introduced a “second generation cut-off” that meant automatic transmission of citizenship would stop if both parents were foreign-born. However, children from outside Canada who are adopted under the direct route are seen as the first generation born abroad, and so any children they have would count as the second, not classed as being born by descent.
US Senator Tim Scott is launching a $6m advertising campaign as he is expected to enter the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. The campaigns to date have seen MAGA, the super PAC supporting former President Trump, spend nearly $12m on ad buys, while Never Back Down, the super PAC backing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, has spent $10.8m, according to tracking analysts AdImpact. Super PACs can receive unlimited funds, but cannot coordinate directly with campaigns. Scott is set to formally announce his candidacy in North Charleston, South Carolina on 24 May.
US Republican Congress member John Curtis, chairman of the Conservative Climate Caucus, has been criticised for claiming $10,000 in clean-energy tax credits as part of the Democratic Inflation Reduction Act which every Republican voted against. Curtis revealed that he has used the subsidies to buy 30 rooftop solar panels and a geothermal heat pump for his Utah home. Curtis has said he bought the technology to make climate-friendly upgrades to his home well before President Biden signed the climate legislation into law and that it was not his intention to claim federal tax credits. Conservatives including Benji Backer, president and founder of the American Conservation Coalition, defended Curtis and called for a lower-cost version of the Inflation Reduction Act without liberal priorities unrelated to climate change. The GOP's debt limit bill passed by the House which includes a phase-down of solar energy tax credit has met with strong resistance from the White House and Republicans concerned about the potential impact on their constituents.
Negotiators from the White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's office are attempting to forge a budget deal to avoid a looming economic crisis. With a deadline as soon as 1 June, negotiators are racing to develop a budget-cutting arrangement that Republicans and Democrats can agree on, as McCarthy's newly empowered House Republicans try to introduce steep spending reductions in exchange for GOP votes to raise the debt limit, which currently stands at $31tn, to keep paying the USA's already-due bills. President Biden has cut short the rest of his trip to Papua New Guinea and Australia to return to Washington in an effort to make them agree on the deal.
Talks between US House of Representatives Republicans and President Biden’s administration on raising the debt ceiling stalled, leaving little time for agreement before the federal government risks catastrophic default. The Treasury Department warned it may be unable to pay its bills by 1 June. Representative Garret Graves said the talks stopped until further progress is made, but the White House remained optimistic a deal could still be reached. Democrats have raised concerns over work requirements attached to the talks, delaying negotiations. Failure to resolve the issue would impact US stocks, Treasury yields, and the dollar.
The Democrats have linked the recently selected Republican nominee of the Kentucky governor to heavily criticised pardons by the vanquished predecessor of Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat who is trying to win a second term in GOP territory. Meanwhile, Republicans have attacked Beshear, accusing him of overstating his role in achievements based on the state's GOP-dominated legislature. In a democratic attack ad, the Kentucky attorney general and Republican nominee were accused of shirking his duties by failing to hold former Gov. Matt Bevin accountable for issuing hundreds of pardons and commutations in his final days in office.
Republican negotiators have walked out of talks with the White House over increasing the debt ceiling, ahead of the looming June 1 deadline. Republican congressman Garret Graves said negotiators would "press pause" until reasonable conversations about how to do the right thing were had. Congressional lawmakers have until a June 1 deadline to strike a deal before Treasury secretary Janet Yellen's identified x-date in which the US risks running out of cash and defaulting on its obligations. Talks between both parties have been fraught with complications, with disagreements arising over debt ceiling increases and spending cuts.
Alaska lawmakers pass budget, ending special session in one day
The Toronto Star
23-05-19 17:14
Alaska has agreed a state spending package, including a dividend of around $1,300 to residents this year, after the failure to agree on a budget for 121 days. The short special session saw the Senate passing the budget on to the House, which adjourned without debating the issue. However, the Senate added $34m in infrastructure projects before the House reconvened and gave its approval after an unusual alliance of a Republican-led House majority and House Democrats was formed. The budget includes an additional $500 per resident next year if revenues prove better than forecast, and $175m for schools.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's top debt-ceiling negotiators have walked out of negotiations just days before the deadline to raise the debt ceiling, putting into doubt the status of talks and the possibility of a US default. The abrupt reversal in mood came less than a day after optimistic signals about progress from both sides, and follows broad-ranging Republican budget-cutting demands. One person familiar with the talks said it was not a specific issue that saw the negotiations pause an hour after starting, but instead a resistance from both sides to proposed policies. Stocks slumped on the news, while market participants warn of a surge in borrowing costs if there is no agreement.
