HardSchell Report

We have real challenges with Climate Change, Affordable Housing, too many living in poverty, labor shortages, and immigration reform. Don’t forget the murky future with AI coming on strong.

The president has a lot of power but theoretically so do the voters. We should demand that the important issues are the ones worked on.

The following, not needed:

• Restoring old names of professional sports teams
• Denying the results of the 2020 election
• Building a new massive system of for-profit detention centers
• Encouraging the anachronistic Carbon extractors
• Eliminating government supported research
• Tax credits for the rich
• Harassing the Fed Chair
• Tariffs without Strategies
• Meddling with universities, law firms, entertainment providers, news providers
• Embarrassing us in front of the world
• Party over country
• Military occupation of our cities

The following, need attention:

Poverty: The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) for 2023 according to Congress.gov indicates a US poverty rate of 12.9%, affecting 42.8 million people.

But:
The One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) signed into law  by Trump last month will take   $1,200 a year from the poorest of us and award the richest with an extra $13,600 a year they may not even feel. The poorest people will feel the pain from this regressive plan more acutely than the richest people feel the gains. Frances Perkins would be upset.

Climate Change: The United States can significantly impact climate change by working on emissions reduction, moving to renewable energy, and improving energy efficiency in buildings and transportation. Using smarter land management practices, such as reforestation and improved farming, and encouraging reduced energy consumption and sustainable lifestyles.

But:
The OBBBA eliminated or significantly cut tax credits for solar and wind energy projects, for electric vehicles (new and used), commercial clean vehicles, and home energy efficiency upgrades, like weatherization.
The bill also ended the advanced manufacturing tax credits for clean energy and batteries.
It cut funding for the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program implemented by the Biden administration as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Immigration: Illegal immigration and border security are concerns, but the U.S. economy and food system depend on the labor of people the federal government considers illegal. Many are running from desperate situations and need help. Discrimination against undocumented immigrants is a problem. Immigration policy reform is needed but gets left behind by the administration and congress.

But:
OBBB turns immigration into a pay-to-play system by adding significant fees to the process of requesting asylum and Temporary Protected Status. Many of these fees are mandatory, and will exclude thousands of people. For the first time asylum applicants must not only pay a fee to apply for asylum—set at $100—but an additional $100 fee every year the application is pending adjudication. An asylum seeker who requests at least one work permit and waits 5 years to obtain a decision on their asylum claim in the heavily backlogged immigration system is estimated to pay at least $1,150 in filing fees under OBBB compared to $0 before.
OBBB provides $45 billion for building new immigration detention centers, including family detention facilities. This is an increase of $10.6 billion per year through Fiscal Year 2029, bringing ICE’s total detention budget to a minimum of $14 billion per year. This is a 308 percent increase over ICE’s FY 2024 detention budget and is larger than the entire Federal Bureau of Prison’s budget of $8.6 billion in FY 2025. The overwhelming majority of the funding for ICE detention will likely go to private companies contracted to build and run detention facilities. Corruption to follow.

Our system is strong but,
we need congress to participate.