Posts by Newspaper Staff

The U.S.’s only nuclear waste disposal site equipped to handle transuranic materials is facing up to $14.2 million in maintenance and repair costs, with more than half of its core infrastructure in “substandard condition.”
Transuranic waste consists of soil, clothing, or other materials containing man-made elements heavier than uranium on the periodic table – such as plutonium – which have longer half-lives.
The New Mexico facility, an underground depository expected to operate until the 2080s, processes radioactive byproducts of weapons production, nuclear research, and power production by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The Department of Energy hires contractors to run onsite operations and is supposed to annually evaluate contractor performance. But according to a new Government Accountability Office analysis, the DOE has not ensured that WIPP contractors establish timelines for long-term infrastructure planning or correct multiple data reliability issues.
More alarmingly, much of the plant’s decades-old critical infrastructure has needed repairs or replacements since 2016, when DOE found about $37 million in deferred maintenance, jeopardizing safety.
“The condition of site infrastructure at WIPP showed some improvements from fiscal year 2016 to fiscal year 2023,” GAO reported. “However, over half of mission critical assets remained in substandard or inadequate condition as of fiscal year 2023.”
Mission critical assets refer to infrastructure necessary to carry out the facility’s core functions.
Some of the degradation directly impacts plant worker and emergency safety. A recent letter from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to DOE Secretary Chris Wright found that “all existing hoists relied on for underground worker evacuation at WIPP have been identified as obsolescent by site management.”
“Despite long-standing recognition of underlying problems, age-related degradation and technical obsolescence issues with the shafts and hoists used for emergency egress have not been addressed in a timely manner,” the authors added.
GAO called on the DOE to improve data collection and ensure site contractor accountability, noting at the end of its report that the agency has promised to do so.

As tensions flare over Republicans’ cost-saving reforms to Medicaid in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a new report from the Congressional Budget Office confirms that vulnerable populations currently on Medicaid would not lose health-care coverage.
Out of the 7.8 million current Medicaid recipients estimated to lose health-care coverage under the bill, approximately 4.8 million are able-bodied adults between the ages of 19 and 64 who have no dependents and work less than 20 hours a week.
Those recipients could still remain on Medicaid under the OBBBA if they decide to participate in work-related activities at least 80 hours per month.
The work requirements would not apply to pregnant women; minors and seniors; foster youth under 26; Tribal members; the medically frail; those already meeting TANF or SNAP work requirements; caregivers with young dependents; or the currently and recently incarcerated.
Another 1.4 million individuals estimated to lose subsidized healthcare under the OBBBA are noncitizens who do not meet immigration status requirements for Medicaid enrollment. Those noncitizens have nonetheless received coverage under taxpayer-funded, state-sponsored Medicaid programs.
Additionally, roughly 1.6 million out of the 7.8 million current Medicaid recipients who would be disenrolled would still have access to other types of subsidized health insurance, CBO said.
Other individuals impacted by the Medicaid reforms – but who would not ultimately lose healthcare coverage – are 1.3 million dual enrollees in Medicare and Medicaid and 1.6 who are erroneously enrolled in Medicaid in more than one state. The former group would lose Medicaid but retain Medicare, while the latter would retain their Medicaid coverage only in their state of residence.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, who requested the CBO estimates, said in a statement that the CBO’s analysis “exposes Democrats’ phony claims that vulnerable Americans are being ‘kicked off’ of Medicaid.”
“My Democrat colleagues have resorted to false claims and fear mongering in order to protect benefits for illegals and healthy people who refuse to work at the expense of taxpayers and vulnerable Americans who depend on these programs,” Arrington added.
Overall federal spending on Medicaid would still grow by 30% over the next decade.
Rather than seeing cuts, which Democrats feared, the program would merely increase at a lower rate than previously projected. If the provisions in the House-passed OBBBA are passed, federal Medicaid spending will rise from $655.9 billion in 2025 to $860.5 billion in 2034.
The report also shows that states would save a net $13.1 billion in their Medicaid program costs over the 2025-2034 period, which they could reinvest in their own projects.
The Senate proposed revisions to the OBBBA may change that, however.
While the House-passed OBBBA froze the amount states tax Medicaid providers at 6%, GOP leaders in the Senate want to lower the cap to 3.5%. Some Republican lawmakers have pushed back, arguing that the change could force rural hospitals to cut back on services or even close.
If Republican leaders are unable to reach a compromise with holdouts, they may not get the bill to the president’s desk by their self-imposed July 4 deadline. The Senate can pass the OBBBA under budget reconciliation rules with a majority vote, but the House must approve whatever changes the upper chamber makes.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said that he had advised House Republicans to “keep their schedules flexible” over the holiday.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., blasted his party’s sweeping budget bill Tuesday, cautioning Republican colleagues that cuts to Medicaid could lose them majorities in both chambers of Congress in the 2026 midterms.
Tillis equated the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ to the Republicans’ version of Obamacare, which cost Democrats big losses in the 2010 and 2012 elections.
The North Carolina senator, who is up for reelection next year, said in a GOP luncheon Tuesday that his state would lose $39 billion in federal Medicaid funding if the Senate’s version of the bill is passed, risking coverage for 600,000 recipients in his state.
Tillis is part of a growing number of Republican senators to voice their opposition to the legislation. Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, have also criticized the bill because of provisions proposed by the Senate Finance Committee last week which threaten deep cuts to Medicaid in their respective states.
The Senate Finance Committee’s text includes hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of cuts to Medicaid, acting as a major cost cutter to fund key parts of President Donald Trump’s policy agenda. The Senate’s bill goes deeper than the House-passed version, tightening eligibility and work requirements for Medicaid recipients.
Tillis told colleagues Tuesday that working-class Trump voters will suffer the most from these proposed cuts. He argued that these voters will be consequential to Republicans keeping control of Congress in the midterms next year.
Senate Republicans are facing a time crunch to finalize their version of the bill and pass it back over to the House before their self-imposed deadline of July 4.
With Independence Day quickly approaching, Trump urged the Senate to continue working despite internal divisions, telling Republicans to “lock yourself in a room if you must.”
Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., signaled that the House might not break for their scheduled July 4 recess if necessary.
“If the Senate does its work on the timeline that we expect, we will do our work as well.” Johnson said Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune, R-N.D., expressed optimism in his chamber’s schedule, saying the Senate is on track to begin voting on the budget package as early as Friday.

U.S. House Republicans criticized the Biden administration’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices for costing billions in tax dollars by awarding contracts to “minority owned companies.”
The House Oversight and Government Reform’s subcommittee on healthcare and financial services held a hearing on Wednesday discussing the effect of DEI policies on federal contracts and student admissions.
“You’re trying to just destroy America by doing to America what they do in other countries and trying to set one ethnic group against another ethnic group,” U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., said about DEI practices in federal contracts.
Judge Glock, a witness before the committee and director of research at the Manhattan Institute, said laws and regulations for federal grants have required portions of contracts to be awarded to customers based on race and sex, rather than the quality of the contract.
Glock pointed to a Biden administration goal of requiring up to 15% of federal contracts to go to “disadvantaged businesses.”
“These minority contracting programs cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, degrade our infrastructure and national defense, and do nothing to help the truly disadvantaged,” Glock said.
Glock called on members of Congress to challenge the 8(a) business program, and the business development program, which gives federal contract preferences to disadvantaged businesses, minority- and women-owned businesses.
Glock said DEI programs have allowed businesses to access federal funds by fraudulently claiming “disadvantaged” status and collecting tax revenue.
“Preferences for already successful businesses based on their owners’ race or sex are unconstitutional, expensive, and detrimental to the core functions of government,” Glock said.
House Democrats, alongside one witness before the committee, argued that America “owes” minority groups and women for years of “unpaid labor.”
“America owes the enslaved Africans who built the White House and the U.S. Capitol building,” Erec Smith, a professor at the university of Southern California, said.
“Neither they, nor family members of theirs and subsequent generations were rightly compensated for their magnificent contributions or for centuries of additional unpaid labor,” Smith added.
Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., agreed with Smith that the history of racism in the United States necessitates protections for DEI initiatives.
“This country that we all love has a history of racism; racism towards the very individuals that make up our diversity, racism towards those striving for an equitable society and an inclusive America, [because] inclusion, that part of DEI, just means everybody,” Bell said.

Sicker residents, struggling rural grocery stores and loss of jobs are cited in a gubernatorial request to continue funding SNAP made to majority and minority leaders of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
A letter authored by North Carolina first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein and signed by 22 other governors – all Democrats – says cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the hotly debated reconciliation bill will cause hunger and poverty to increase, “children and adults will get sicker, grocery stores in rural areas will struggle to stay open, people in agriculture and the food industry will lose jobs, and state and local economies will suffer.”
Tuesday’s letter was addressed to Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Reps. Mike Johnson, R-La., and Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. Stein is cochairman of President Donald Trump’s Council of Governors.
SNAP provides “eligible low-income households with electronic benefits redeemable for SNAP-eligible foods at SNAP-eligible retailers,” says a May 30 summary posted to Congress.gov. Federal spending on the program through 2034 would be reduced by $295 billion through 12 SNAP provisions estimated to reduce spending.
The changes proposed would shift costs to states and require more able-bodied recipients, by the millions, to work or lose their benefits. The Congressional Budget Office projects 3.2 million coming off the assistance.
“Congress,” Stein and colleagues write, “has proposed profoundly changing the relationship between the federal government and states – by shifting unprecedented costs to states for the first time in the 50 years of SNAP’s history. Under this plan, states will need to find millions or even billions of extra dollars in their budgets or be forced to leave the SNAP program entirely, potentially cutting off millions of Americans from this vital assistance.”
The governors say cuts will not only increase costs per state, but “make it nearly impossible for states to effectively plan for these long-term budget impacts.” They also point out congressional proposals “to slash Medicaid, disaster relief, and other federally funded safety net programs.”
For context, in Stein’s state and many others, a balanced budget is in the general statutes. Federally, the amount of outstanding borrowing by the federal government – also known as the national debt – is $36.2 trillion.
Republicans are not in agreement with all the criticisms. For example, U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., in a letter to constituents Friday said the bill will save 2 million “family-owned farms from the death tax.” And, she said the legislation “helps American farmers compete by increasing access to the global marketplace.”
In addition to Stein, the letter is also signed by governors from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin. There were no Democratic governors not to sign the letter, and no Republican governors signed.

Under the Trump administration, the Department of Energy has so far issued five liquified natural gas (LNG) authorizations in the Gulf of America states of Louisiana, Texas and Florida.
Under the first Trump administration, the U.S. became the largest LNG exporter in the world, led by the Gulf states of Louisiana and Texas. By 2023, Louisiana accounted for 61% of LNG exports, according to U.S. Energy Information Agency data.
The new authorizations reverse Biden administration orders, including banning issuing new LNG export permits, which disproportionately negatively impacted Gulf states.
“Exporting American LNG strengthens the U.S. economy and supports American jobs while bolstering energy security around the world, and I am proud to be working with President Trump to get American energy exports back on track,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said.
The DOE’s first LNG export authorization was the Commonwealth LNG project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Owned by Kimmeridge Texas Gas, LLC, its exports to non-free trade agreement countries are expected to top 1.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of LNG.
The DOE said Commonwealth LNG exports “are likely to yield economic benefits to the United States, diversify global LNG supplies, and improve energy security for U.S. allies and trading partners over the course of the export term through 2050.” A final authorization is expected later this year.
The DOE’s second authorization was issuing an “Order on Rehearing,” reversing a Biden administration order that created greater regulatory burdens for using LNG as a marine fuel source, known as LNG bunkering.
The reversal will benefit JAX LNG, a small-scale coastal LNG facility located at Dames Point near Jacksonville, Florida, impacted by the Biden-era directive. It dispenses LNG fuel to ships, including cruise ships, car carriers, petroleum tankers and container ships.
The DOE withdrew exercise of its jurisdiction under the Natural Gas Act for ship-to-ship transfers of LNG for marine fuel use at a U.S. port, in U.S. waters, or in international waters, it said. It also left unchanged its authorization to JAX to export LNG via ISO container.
The demand for LNG as marine fuel has increased as emissions regulations for shipping have increased. The number of LNG-fueled ships is expected to nearly double, reaching more than 1,200 vessels by 2028, according to an EIA January 2025 Quarterly Gas Report.
The DOE’s third LNG authorization extends an LNG export permit for Golden Pass LNG Terminal LLC, currently under construction in Sabine Pass, Texas. The project was first approved under the first Trump administration.
Golden Pass, owned by QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil, is expected to begin exports this year. Once operational, it will be the ninth large-scale export terminal operating in the U.S., able to export up to 2.57 Bcf/d of LNG.
The DOE’s fourth authorization extended an LNG export permit for Delfin LNG LLC to construct a floating liquefied natural gas vessel off the coast of Louisiana after it was delayed by the Biden administration.
Delfin, majority-owned by Fairwood Peninsula, Talisman Global Alternative Master, L.P. and Talisman Global Capital Master, L.P., is expected to reach a final investment decision later this year. The order extends the authorization date to June 1, 2029, for Delfin to begin exporting up to 1.8 Bcf/d of LNG to non-free trade agreement countries.
The fifth and most recent authorization was for Port Arthur LNG Phase II in Jefferson County, Texas. Owned by Sempra Energy, it’s projected to export 1.91 billion Bcf/d of LNG once completed. Port Arthur Phase I is currently under construction and expected to begin exporting LNG in 2027.
Sempra also operates the Cameron LNG export terminal in Louisiana, which has been exporting LNG since 2019. It’s currently constructing the Energia Costa Azul terminal in Mexico, which is slated to begin commercial export operations of U.S.-sourced LNG next year.
All five authorizations bring the total volume of LNG exports to 11.45 Bcf/d, the DOE said.
According to EIA’s most recent Short-Term Energy Outlook, LNG exports are expected to reach record highs this year, averaging more than 15 Bcf/d, coinciding with record projected natural gas production of nearly 105 Bcf/d, led by Texas and Louisiana.

The U.S. Department of Education said Wednesday that both the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation are in violation of Title IX for allowing males into female spaces and sports.
“Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 requires schools to ensure equal opportunities for girls, including in athletic activities, but California has actively prevented this equality of opportunity by allowing males in girls’ sports and intimate spaces,” a U.S. Department of Education news release said.
The U.S. Department of Education’s findings follow investigations into both CDE and CIF, according to the department’s release.
“As a result of the noncompliance finding, [the Office of Civil Rights] has issued a proposed Resolution Agreement to CDE and CIF to resolve their Title IX violations,” the release said.
The Resolution Agreement requires a number of actions, including that “the CDE will issue a Notice to all recipients of federal funding (Recipients) that operate interscholastic athletic programs in California requiring them to comply with Title IX.”
Such federal funding recipients “must adopt biology-based definitions of the words ‘male’ and ‘female,’” the release said.
Additionally, the resolution states that, “the CDE and CIF will rescind any guidance that advised local school districts or CIF members to permit male athletes to participate in women’s and girls’ sports to reflect that Title IX preempts state law when state law conflicts with Title IX.”
“Individual records, titles, and awards misappropriated by male athletes competing in female competitions” must be restored to the female athletes who are the rightful winners. CDE must also send an apology letter to each of these girls whose recognition is restored, the release said.
The California Department of Education told The Center Square in a statement that all students should have an opportunity.
“The California Department of Education believes all students should have the opportunity to learn and play at school, and we have consistently applied existing law in support of students’ rights to do so,” the department said.
When contacted, the California Interscholastic Federation told The Center Square, “The CIF does not comment on legal matters.”
If CDE and CIF do not change their unlawful practices in regards to Title IX as outlined in the Resolution within 10 days, they will both “risk imminent enforcement action, including referral to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for proceedings,” the release said.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in the release: “Although Governor Gavin Newsom admitted months ago it was ‘deeply unfair’ to allow men to compete in women’s sports, both the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation continued as recently as a few weeks ago to allow men to steal female athletes’ well-deserved accolades and to subject them to the indignity of unfair and unsafe competitions.”
“The Trump Administration will relentlessly enforce Title IX protections for women and girls, and our findings today make clear that California has failed to adhere to its obligations under federal law,” McMahon said.
“The state must swiftly come into compliance with Title IX or face the consequences that follow,” McMahon said.
The Department of Education has not yet responded to The Center Square’s request for comment.
The finding of this Title IX violation also falls into line with the department announcement that June is “Title IX Month,” as reported by The Center Square.

Republicans and Democrats on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee condemned the recent surge in antisemitism across the U.S. but were divided when it came to assigning blame.
While Republicans pointed fingers at complacent attitudes by U.S. universities, Democrats called out some of President Donald Trump’s political appointees as being anti-semitic.
A rise in violent hate crimes against Jewish-Americans in recent months has caused antisemitism to become a growing topic of conversation among D.C. lawmakers. Last month, two employees of the Israeli embassy in Washington were murdered after leaving an event at a Jewish museum blocks from the U.S. Capitol.
Although Jewish-Americans make up just 2.4% of the U.S. population, they are the target of nearly 70% of religious hate crimes, Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Jefferson Van Drew, R-N.J., said Tuesday.
“Antisemitism at its core is incompatible with American values. It is un-American,” Van Drew said.
Van Drew criticized schools like Columbia University for turning a blind eye to protests “sympathetic to Hamas” on their campuses and argued that this complacency has caused antisemitism to continue to fester across American college campuses.
“When expressions cross the line into threats, intimidation or glorification of violence, that is not protest,” Van Drew said. “It is something far more dangerous.”
Van Drew also challenged the American immigration system for allowing international students to “abuse” the visa system and promote “hateful, extremist activity” within our country.
At the center of this argument is Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested by ICE in March after organizing pro-Palestine protests on Columbia’s campus while on an international student visa. Khalil was released this week after spending three months in an immigration detention center in Louisiana.
Democrats countered these arguments, directing blame at the Trump administration’s decision to appoint what they called “Nazi supporters and sympathizers” to high-level government positions.
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., specifically criticized former DOGE chief Elon Musk’s use of a hand gesture that some compared to a Nazi salute while speaking on stage at an inauguration event in January.
Musk and Republicans have heavily criticized Democrats for invoking the “Nazi” term and calling Musk’s hand gesture a “Nazi salute,” pointing to numerous Democrats who made similar gestures in the past. Trump is an ardent supporter of Israel, ordering the U.S. military to strike three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend after Israel launched a days-long campaign of missile strikes against the Islamic regime.