Positive Political Progress — Thanksgiving 2024.
Dems financing railroads, improving mental health care for veterans, getting us off foreign supplies for ethanol and more.
This year Thanksgiving seems a bit more important, seeing as how we’re plunging into the unknown of another Trump administration; but I am choosing to ignore him and it, in favor of focusing on what has been accomplished and highlighting the hard work our representatives do to make our country and our lives better.
It’s better for my blood pressure and state of mind. And maybe if we stopped and gave thanks to the people that work day and night for us we might do a better job of defeating the hellspawn that the GOP keep putting in positions of power.
So..to begin with:
Let’s talk railroads, a hot topic among a lot of progressives and younger voters. We all know Biden is a huge advocate for trains, as is Buttigieg, but not often do we hear about the work being done to increase the amount of tracks in the country and make trains even more efficient.
Work like: Sen Bob Casey securing funds for Hydrogen Powered Trains
Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) announced $48,412,512 to help Wabtec Corporation develop hydrogen-powered trains in Erie. Hydrogen fuel is a low-emission fuel that increases train efficiency and ultimately reduces fuel costs. The funding comes from the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program, made possible by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which Casey fought to pass.
The $48,412,512 will help Pittsburgh-based Wabtec Corporation remanufacture trains at its facility in Erie to use hydrogen as a fuel source. This research and development project will entail control system and engine upgrades to accommodate the hydrogen fuel.
Interesting how the GOP says again and again big government is bad and we need to cut the deficit yet over and over it’s shown that investing in America creates jobs which strengthen the middle class while pulling people out of poverty which in turns makes our economy stronger. You would think we would have learned this lesson by now, but guess not.
Not only are we working on hydrogen powered trains but Casey and Fetterman secured well over $25 million to improve old lines and build new ones all throughout PA.
Rep Kaptur is also bringing home funds to help railways in her state, Ohio.
All thanks in large part to the Infrastructure Act.
Rolling on from trains to farms and farmers.
The Climate Crisis and reducing energy use is another topic Dems demand results on, yet seem to continually overlook the results that are achieved on a state by state basis. We keep looking at how we’re failing but never bother to look at where we have succeeded, which gets us in a mindset that our party doesn’t care so they deserve to be voted out. When the reality is the exact opposite. Case in point
U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) secured a total of $24,116,492 in federal funds to lower energy costs for farmers and small businesses and expand access to clean energy, while creating jobs in rural communities. The 112 awards will help small businesses and farms across the Commonwealth implement cost-saving, clean, efficient energy systems on their properties. The funding comes from the U.S Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Energy for America (REAP) program, created by the Inflation Reduction Act, which Senator Casey fought to pass.
What is the REAP program you ask? Good question.
USDA is announcing $145 million in funding for 700 loan and grant awards through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) to help agricultural producers and rural small business owners make energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy investments to lower energy costs, generate new income, and strengthen the resiliency of their operations. This funding is made possible in part by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act — the nation’s largest-ever investment in combatting the climate crisis.
If you go to the website you an see all the disbursements to each state and click on the PDF to read about the projects, a lot of it is installing solar panels on warehouses and other buildings to convert energy use on farms etc to solar. Think of all the fossil fuels we won’t be using now.
Funny how no one is talking about this, isn’t it.
Sen Casey also got funds to help farms improve water quality, reduce air pollution and increase energy efficiency. Thanks to the Farm Bill and Inflation Reduction Acts. Isn’t one of the main concerns in our country reducing environmental pollution from agriculture? Yeah, I thought so.
Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) delivered $40 million to support conservation efforts at Pennsylvania farms. The funding will be divided between two projects in the Commonwealth, $21.2 million to Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and Land O’ Lakes farmer cooperative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve water quality on more than 50 farms across Pennsylvania, and $19.6 million to the National Hemp Association to implement conservation measures that will prevent water quality degradation in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The investments are from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), which was funded by Senator Casey’s votes for the Farm Bill and the Inflation Reduction Act.
In 2018, Casey championed provisions in the Farm Bill to increase funding for the RCPP, expand dairy margin coverage, protect crop coverage, strengthen the community safety net, and make conservation programs more accessible. Senator Casey also established the Farm to Food Bank program to ensure farmers are able to recover some of the costs that would be lost otherwise from food waste. This program reimburses farmers for the costs to produce, harvest, process, and transport agricultural products that are donated to food banks.
And we’re always talking about food waste along with feeding the homeless/people dealing with food insecurity…and here we have an example of a program that makes it beneficial for farmers to donate excess food or not “supermarket suitable” food to food banks.
Yet have you heard of these programs? No. But you hear constantly that nothing is being done…yet it is.
Rep Kaptur and others worked to make sure American grown corn etc and farmers of those crops are receiving the subsidies for using their corn in biofuels. This promotes not only American farmers but increases the incentives for more companies to use biofuels, which apparently is becoming a thing in aviation. Which, oddly enough, planes is one of the things that we need to address to reduce fossil fuel use and address emissions. So…again…tackling multiple issues at once.
There was a flaw in a credit the government passed that allowed foreign companies to receive subsidies, these folks are fixing that and making sure the money stays in country.
“The Farmer First Fuel Incentive Act recognizes the vital role of American agriculture in 45Z. This legislation ensures that the guidance is designed and implemented in a farmer-focused manner, supporting domestic clean energy production and stimulating economic growth across rural America,” said Craig Meeker, Chairman of National Sorghum Producers.
“This important bill sends a strong signal that extending the 45Z credit is going to be a top, bipartisan priority in this Congress and the next,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. “We applaud all our rural champions for working to give biofuel producers and our farm partners the long-term certainty we need to accelerate innovation in America’s bioeconomy. With a longer runway from Congress, and clear, flexible, and timely guidance from the US Department of the Treasury, we’ll have the pieces in place to unlock billions of dollars in new clean energy investments across rural America,” Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy, said.
The 10-year credit will give the ethanol industry the time and financial incentive to build up the infrastructure needed for the US to be less reliant on foreign fuel, open new markets for farmers, and increase ethanol production across the Midwest. However, we recently learned that 45Z has a glaring flaw that needs to be fixed for farmers wanting to sell feedstocks to the biodiesel and renewable diesel industry. If 45Z goes into effect as is, taxpayers will be massively subsidizing Chinese used cooking oil and would all but eliminate the use of homegrown soy or corn oil in renewable diesel.
And finally…we wrap up with Veterans issues.
Sen Tester (who lost this last election after serving several terms) has long been a staunch advocate of making the VA function better and that anything veterans need they can access.
Suicide among veterans has been something this country has always struggled to address, which is tragic on so many levels but bills like these are ones that help find solutions and get veterans help. We’ve also consistently failed to support the mental and physical health of our female veterans, even after several decades of women being allowed to serve in all capacities which is another area this bill takes on.
The Senator’s Building Resources and Access for Veterans’ Mental Health Engagement (BRAVE) Act would help make sure no veteran falls through the cracks when receiving health care from VA by requiring the Department to take the experience of women veterans into account when conducting early suicide prevention interventions and providing access to Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Programs for veterans with spinal cord injuries or disorders. It would also extend the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program, a critical grant providing funding for local suicide prevention organizations, established by Tester’s Hannon Act.
“Getting our veterans the quality mental health care they earned starts with ensuring VA has the workforce and physical infrastructure in place to deliver it,” said Tester. “It also means making sure the Department is tailoring mental health care to each population of veterans it serves. This bill will help move the needle forward by strengthening VA’s mental health care staffing and infrastructure at Vet Centers, bolstering mental health care for spinal cord-injured veterans, and making sure VA takes the experiences of women veterans — specifically survivors of military sexual trauma and intimate partner violence — into account when providing early suicide prevention interventions.”
Since 2022, Tester has secured $6.45 million in funding for Montana organizations working to end veteran suicide through the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program. His BRAVE Act will extend the grant program an additional three years and increase the maximum amount for each grant from $750,000 to $1,000,000. The grant program was originally authorized through 2025.
Tester’s BRAVE Act will break down access barriers to Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Programs for spinal cord-injured veterans and help ensure that Vet Centers across the country have access to the resources they need to serve veterans, servicemembers, and their families by requiring VA make improvements to their physical infrastructure, technology systems, outreach efforts, and staffing. There are more than 300 Vet Centers across the country, including five Vet Centers in Montana with locations in Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell, Missoula, and Helena.
And to end this edition with: There was a proposed rule by the Biden Admin that would have changed reimbursement rates for emergency medical transportation for veterans. Tester pushed back on it as it would have harmed veterans in rural areas the most.
Tester got it delayed so they could rework the rule to make sure it wouldn’t cause issues.
In 2023, Tester successfully secured an amendment to the 2024 government funding bill to delay it from going into effect and ensure the rule was implemented in a way that would not negatively impact rural America. He also introduced his bipartisan VA Emergency Transportation Access Act to bar VA from reducing rates of pay and reimbursement for special mode transportation providers, including ground and air ambulances, unless the Department meets certain requirements that ensure rate changes will not reduce veterans’ access to this essential service.
Following Tester’s sustained efforts, VA recently announced it is delaying the rule until February 2029. This delay will give the Department more time to work with stakeholders and Congress to implement the rule in a way that would ensure access and availability of emergency transportation to veterans and civilians, especially in rural America. The previous implementation timeline of rate reductions could have resulted in emergency transportation providers severely reducing services, closing bases, or even billing veterans for the remainder of their costs in order to shoulder the financial impacts of this change.
Every day, our Congress people are focusing on improving our lives and doing everything they can to fix major issues, but, unlike the dreamworld people live in who think that you can just snap your fingers and fix things like global warming, the fixes are many, often incremental and carried out over the entire nation…state by state…city by city.. and usually underreported or ignored.
If you want to stop your doom spiral…start reading the websites of your elected officials.
Incremental change is still change and nothing big ever happens without a lot of small things being done first.
