Podcasts about Inflation Reduction Act

For more than a decade, the federal government's biggest tool for accelerating clean energy hasn't been a grant or a loan. It's been the tax code. Tax credits have driven the buildout of wind, solar, and now a much wider range of technologies, like storage, nuclear, and advanced manufacturing. But there's a catch: most of the companies earning those credits don't have enough tax liability to actually use them themselves. A clean energy developer can be sitting on tens of millions of dollars in value that's slowly losing worth simply because they can't cash it in. In 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act tried to fix that by making these credits transferable for the first time ever — sellable directly, for cash, to a company that can use them. It created a brand-new, multi-billion-dollar market overnight, with no playbook and no established way for buyers and sellers to even find each other. Our guest today set out to build the infrastructure this new market needed. Alfred Johnson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Crux, an AI-native capital platform for clean energy and manufacturing infrastructure. Crux got its start in transferable tax credits, and has since expanded into tax equity investment and debt origination, leveraging software, data, and AI to cover the full capital stack for energy and manufacturing infrastructure. Alfred grew up around politics in Washington, DC, and spent nearly two decades moving between government, finance, and technology before his wife, Emily, pushed him to build something in clean energy. In our conversation, Alfred walks me through his journey, and what it takes to build the capital markets infrastructure this country needs to power its clean energy future. Today, Crux has raised more than $77 million, grown to more than 120 employees, and facilitated nearly $10 billion in transactions across the clean energy economy. About Powerhouse Innovation and Powerhouse Ventures  Powerhouse Ventures backs seed stage founders building the future power system across energy, infrastructure, and AI. If you are thinking about building something in this space, get in touch with our team. Powerhouse Innovation is a best in class consulting firm, powered by the strongest energy innovation network, data and team in our industry. We partner with world's leading corporations, investors, and utilities to source and evaluate disruptive startups shaping the future of energy and industry. To hear more stories of founders building our energy abundant future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review.

Axios reported that Walmart raised its outlook while saying drug price declines pressured pharmacy results. Pharmacy margins are being squeezed by reimbursement terms set by PBMs, generic drug deflation, and the 2024 shift of pharmacy DIR fees to the point of sale. CVS Health and Walgreens Boots Alliance have cited similar headwinds, while Amazon Pharmacy, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, and GoodRx are reshaping price transparency and consumer behavior. The Inflation Reduction Act will add Medicare drug price negotiations in 2026 and a $2,000 Part D out-of-pocket cap in 2025, which could shift volumes and reimbursement flows. Rising demand for GLP-1 drugs adds inventory and authorization complexity without guaranteed margin lift. Walmart's 2024 exit from its health clinics highlights how reimbursement pressures influence strategy, pushing focus back to core pharmacy services and OTC products.Learn more on this news by visiting us at: https://greyjournal.net/news/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tiffany Smiley, former GOP candidate for U.S. Senate in Washington State, joined us on the Guy Benson Show today with guest host Rich Zeoli to discuss the latest primary wins, and the Democratic Socialists of America. Zeoli and Smiley give their thoughts on DSA members winning in states such as New York, Colorado, and— the latest— Florida. Smiley also touches on the leftward shift in her home state of Washington, and cites President Biden's “Inflation Reduction Act” and the Green New Deal as reasons for the economy's worsened inflation. Plus, Smiley discusses the strategy Republicans must take in order to win the Midterms.   Listen to Zeoli and Smiley below! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

August 17, 2026Trump is flooding social media with his fantasies about his prowess, Trump claimed credit for falling pharmaceutical prices that are largely the result of the Inflation Reduction Act voted in under the Biden administration, He claims victory in Iran, He believes he is leading the country toward a second American Revolution, Today is the day that the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran expires. without a permanent agreement that opens the Strait of Hormuz and stops Iran's nuclear ambitions, He is cozying up to North Korea and reducing traditional military exercises with US ally South Korea, He is caught in a scandal over the condition of the US military, Trump is redesigning a new aircraft carrier, replacing modern launch system with an older version, Trump's Comptroller of the Currency has approved a preliminary chargter for Trump's World Liberty Financial to become a bank in an unprecedented show of self-dealing.Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ-Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribeYou can also find me:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

Abundance and affordability have become buzzwords among policymakers, who often have sharply different interpretations of how to attain them. To some, an energy abundance agenda means fewer regulatory barriers to produce more clean, cheap power. Others, however, question whether the narrative glosses over the hard trade-offs around land use, community concerns, or environmental impacts.    Yet even as data centers, surging power demand, and rising electricity costs dominate public discourse around energy, how we talk about decarbonization in mainstream politics has radically changed. So what have we learned from major climate policies like the Inflation Reduction Act? And what does the trajectory of these policies say about the durability of climate politics today?  Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with Matthew Yglesias, who argues that energy policy cannot be siloed off as merely a climate issue—contending that clean energy progress is far more politically and economically durable when tied directly to economic growth, industrial capacity, and grid infrastructure rather than consumer sacrifice. Matthew is the author of "Slow Boring," a substack about US politics and policy. He also co-hosts The Argument, a podcast on which he and co-host Jerusalem Demsas debate politics and policy. His most recent book, The Rent Is Too Damn High, is about the policy origins of the middle class housing affordability crisis in America. Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.  

Broadcast from KSQD, Santa Cruz on 8-13-2026: Dr. Dawn opens by reading an anatomy student's elegy to a body donor, reflecting on how modern medical education has moved away from full cadaver dissection toward pre-dissected specimens and models—and what she believes has been lost in that transition. Dr. Dawn dissects how hospital consolidation has become the primary driver of runaway U.S. healthcare costs. She contrasts a $16,000 knee replacement at Catawba Valley Medical Center with a $40,000 procedure for the same Blue Cross Blue Shield plan an hour away at Asheville's Mission Hospital—a facility formed by the 1998 merger of the town's two acute-care hospitals and later acquired by HCA in 2018. Mission now charges 333% of Medicare rates (versus a 280% benchmark), and state inspectors have issued three "immediate jeopardy" findings since HCA's takeover, consistent with academic findings that hospital care quality drops when competition disappears. She notes that CMS-required price disclosures since 2021 finally make this transparent, and calls for regulatory prevention of hospital mergers—especially not-for-profit to for-profit conversions—in single or two-hospital markets. Dr. Dawn analyzes the 3.1% year-over-year drop in prescription drug prices reported through July—the sharpest decline since 1963. She attributes most of it to Biden's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which partially rescinded George W. Bush-era Medicare Part D restrictions that had statutorily prohibited price negotiation, saving taxpayers roughly $6 billion in the first six months of implementation. Additional contributors include GLP-1 compounding competition, blockbuster drugs losing exclusivity, and Bureau of Labor Statistics methodology that swaps generics into the price index six months after brand patent expiration. She calls for consumer-facing apps that help patients shop hospital prices the same way they shop cars. Dr. Dawn covers the emerging science of dormant tumor cells—cancer cells that shed from primary tumors even before diagnosis, hide in bone marrow and lymph nodes, and enter a hibernation state (feeding off cellular residue via autophagy) that shields them from chemotherapy targeting rapidly dividing cells. New York researchers have identified proteins by which lung macrophages actively reinforce dormancy, but immune disruption from COVID-19, influenza, aging, and chronic stress can trigger reactivation. She emphasizes lifestyle protection for cancer survivors: minimal alcohol, Mediterranean diet, and five daily cups of green tea for the EGCG dormancy-maintaining effect seen in cell culture. A caller argues for single-payer healthcare and questions whether Medigap insurance is worth $287 monthly. Dr. Dawn explains the math: for a $100,000 hospital bill, 20% coinsurance is $20,000, making the $2,400 annual premium reasonable catastrophic-risk protection—though skipping it is a defensible bet for very low-utilization patients. She notes those whose income drops to Medi-Cal eligibility often end up with better coverage than middle-class seniors. The same caller then presents a differential diagnosis of himself as likely multiple sclerosis based on ChatGPT consultation, describing balance loss requiring hallway wall-guidance, dramatic vision changes, and fasciculations. Dr. Dawn walks through prompt engineering for medical AI: request differential lists ordered by probability of frequency in the population rather than symptom-fit alone. She notes symmetric symptoms argue against MS, suggests checking electrolytes (particularly calcium), and emphasizes that a physical examination should precede imaging to avoid incidentalomas that trigger cascading invasive workups—cautioning that without a primary care doctor, he lacks an advocate within the system.

Joe Biden was the best American president on climate change by maybe three orders of magnitude. Yet it didn't cement a Kamala Harris victory in 2024, and Trump has since rolled back most of Biden's signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act. Today we've got UC Santa Barbara Professor Leah Stokes on to discuss her upcoming book The Carbon Wave: A Story of Democracy, Parenthood, and the Race to Protect Our Planet, to talk about her role in the passage of the IRA, what's left of it, what Trump's victory says about climate policy, and what we should do next time. Check out Leah's newsletter here, her podcast A Matter of Degrees here, and her Atlantic piece about the political success of Bidenomics here.

Forty leading global food and agriculture companies recently declared their commitment to regenerative agriculture. This unprecedented industry alignment signals that the sector has moved beyond looking at sustainable farming an aspirational ideal and into investment and scale. Yet challenges remain as adoption of regenerative practices is sliding backward in North America.Satellite imagery processed with AI and biogeochemical modeling reveals that cover cropping and conservation tillage adoption have declined over recent years. In many Midwest states, the losses reach double digits percentage points.This data comes from monitoring 1.5 billion acres globally, representing 52% of global arable land. Simultaneously, farmers are facing a squeeze with rising diesel and fertilizer costs coinciding with weak commodity markets and decreasing government funding. The $3.8 billion investment in climate-smart practices from the Inflation Reduction Act has been partially replaced by a $700 million regenerative pilot programToday we are joined by Anastasia Volkova from Regrow Ag, an early leader and advocate for regenerative agriculture. Regrow has evolved from evangelizing regenerative practices to managing a critical transition to making regenerative agriculture repeatable and scalable across radically different conditions through creative co-investment, alternative funding mechanisms, and regional innovation.Regrow's framework identifies three distinct market stages: the evangelizing phase focused on building common nomenclature, the investing phase amplified by government dollars and corporate commitments, and the current challenge of making practices repeatable in a constrained funding environment. Her work spans North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia, revealing how different regions activate different capital sources, from European carbon certification frameworks to Brazilian vertically integrated agro-holdings pioneering methane measurement in livestock. The conversation explores how emerging allies, water markets, and MRV technology innovations could replace disappearing government support without compromising farmer economics or climate outcomes. Send us Fan Mail

Yale researchers estimate that roughly 80 million Americans are alarmed about climate change. About 40 million of them say they want to be politically active on the issue. But only about 3 million actually are. When that 37 million-American group is asked why they aren't active, researchers most often hear that nobody has asked them. That's the focus of this week's conversation on Sustainability In Your Ear.Only 12% of Americans say they ever see anything about climate change on social media, and two-thirds say they rarely or never hear about it from friends or in the media. At the same time, the fossil fuel industry treats persuasion as core business. David Fenton calls the situation unilateral disarmament at a moment when an information war is needed. The crowning result of climate action to date is the Inflation Reduction Act that passed by one vote and was repealed by one vote. A bill you win by a single vote, he says, is a bill you never really won.David founded Fenton Communications in 1982, the first public relations firm in America built solely for progressive causes. His campaigns helped free Nelson Mandela and end apartheid, helped ban fracking in New York, where Yoko Ono's "Imagine There's No Fracking" billboard went up along Governor Andrew Cuomo's commute, and helped launch fossil fuel divestment with the heirs to the Standard Oil fortune as the messengers. His book, The Activist's Media Handbook: Lessons from Fifty Years as a Progressive Agitator, includes a foreword by cognitive linguist George Lakoff, who we discuss at length in this thought-provoking interview.He places the blame on climate advocacy spending and, more importantly, the words used to frame the issue. The climate NGO and philanthropic world spends billions a year on policy, law, and science, and spends on communication mainly to raise money from people already on its lists. David traces that to what Lakoff calls the Enlightenment fallacy, the belief that a strong idea reproduces itself because it is correct, and to its corollary, that selling ideas is dirty work beneath serious people. The second is vocabulary. “Net Zero means almost nothing to most people. “Carbon” sounds like an abstraction. And “justice,” in cognitive research, evokes images of the police and courts, not of fairness and a shared mission. We need to pivot to simpler language, like “pollution,” when describing the source of global warming. Pollution is a word nobody defends, and a blanket of pollution trapping heat that would otherwise escape into space is a picture people can easily grasp and act on.Asked how to solve climate change, the most common answer Americans give is “reduce, reuse, and recycle.” Earth911 has spent three decades on that vocabulary, and it holds up on its own terms as a materials strategy. Increased curbside recycling participation rates don't necessarily lead to decarbonizing the grid or the truck fleets. David Fenton's prescription for listeners is blunter than any campaign plan: talk about it, post about it, and press the funders you know to spend generating public demand for change rather than direct mail fundraising.Learn more about David's work at davidfentonactivist.com, and find his podcast at fentonforecast.com.Subscribe to Sustainability In Your Ear on iTunesFollow Sustainability In Your Ear on Spreaker, iHeartRadio, or YouTube 

FF: Inflation, Fiat, and the Fed The government thinks they can control prices. We talk about the effects they can have on prices through their regulation. How did the Inflation Reduction Act affect the citizens? Why was the Dodd Frank Act important? What are the reserve requirements for banks? How did the increase in property taxes affect property owners? We also talk about the Federal Reserve and how their decisions about interest rates can affect things. The government has destroyed demand by making things so unaffordable, the average person can not afford to do it. How can you protect yourself? We talk about all this and more! Abolish Property Taxes in Ohio: www.AxOHTax.com  Get more information about abolishing all property taxes in Ohio. https://citizensforpropertytaxreform.org/ Our Links: www.RealPowerFamily.com Info@RealPowerFamily.com 833-Be-Do-Have (833-233-6428

In this episode, Mercatus Research Fellow Satya Marar speaks with Tomas Philipson, former Acting Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and Professor at the University of Chicago, about the evidence behind drug price controls and their effects on healthcare affordability, pharmaceutical innovation, and research and development. They discuss the economics of patented and generic drugs, the Inflation Reduction Act, Most-Favored-Nation drug pricing proposals, and why policies intended to lower drug prices may ultimately reduce innovation and increase long-term healthcare costs. This episode features audio from a recent Mercatus webinar.If you would like to connect with a scholar featured in this episode, please email the Mercatus Outreach team at mercatusoutreach@mercatus.gmu.edu.Read a full transcript of the conversation: https://www.mercatus.org/economic-insights/event-videos/right-diagnosis-wrong-cure-examining-true-cost-drug-price-controls

This Day in Legal History: The First Federal Income TaxOn August 5, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Revenue Act of 1861, and with it created the first federal income tax in the history of the United States. The country was three months into the Civil War, the Union's costs were exploding, and the government needed money on a scale the old system of tariffs and land sales simply couldn't provide. So Congress reached for something new: a tax of three percent on annual incomes over $800.The 1861 income tax was, in practice, a bit of a false start. The $800 threshold meant only a small slice of the population owed anything, the administrative machinery to collect it barely existed, and in fact no income tax was ever actually collected under the 1861 Act—it was superseded the next year by the Revenue Act of 1862, which built the real apparatus, including the office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the direct ancestor of the modern IRS. But the significance of August 5, 1861 is conceptual and enduring: it was the moment the federal government first asserted the power to tax the incomes of individual Americans directly.That assertion would be contested for decades—the Supreme Court struck down a later income tax in 1895, and it took the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913 to settle the question for good. But the line runs straight from Lincoln's wartime measure to the entire modern federal tax system. It's a fitting anniversary for a day when one of our stories is about the fees and sanctions flowing from a lawsuit against the IRS—the very institution whose origins trace back to this Civil War revenue scramble. The income tax was born of necessity, in the middle of the gravest crisis the country ever faced, and it's been at the center of American political and legal argument ever since.After Trump's roughly $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS was thrown out as brought in “bad faith,” a federal judge ordered him to pay the legal fees of those who fought it—and now the Justice Department is fighting the size of that bill. In this particular case, the challengers are seeking a fairly modest sum, around $43,500. But it's part of a much bigger pattern: according to a Bloomberg analysis, attorneys have sought fees topping $100,000 in at least ten cases over the past year, totaling more than $2.5 million, and the DOJ is pushing courts to throw out or shrink many of those requests. Here's the legal mechanism at work. Ordinarily in American litigation, each side pays its own lawyers—that's the “American rule.” But courts can shift fees onto a party as a sanction when a lawsuit is frivolous or brought in bad faith, which is exactly what happened with the IRS suit, a case that also named Trump's sons and alleged harm from the leak of the family's tax records. Fee-shifting like this is meant to deter abusive litigation and to make whole the people forced to defend against it. The significance—and the irony—is that after a court found the underlying suit was an abuse of the judicial process, the government is now spending its lawyers' time contesting comparatively small fee awards owed to the people who were dragged into it. And because the DOJ is doing the contesting, it's taxpayers funding both sides of that fight. It's a small-dollar story that illustrates a large-dollar problem: what happens, and who pays, when the government itself is found to have litigated in bad faith. Trump fights fees for challengers in lawsuit against IRS | ReutersYahoo Finance (Bloomberg) · AOLA federal appeals court has overturned a ban on Perplexity's AI-powered shopping agents accessing Amazon—and it's a genuinely landmark ruling for the future of “agentic” artificial intelligence. Back in March, a court had temporarily barred Perplexity's shopping tool, built into its Comet browser, from operating on Amazon's platform. Amazon's legal theory rested on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act—the federal anti-hacking statute that makes it illegal to access a computer “without authorization.” Amazon argued that when Perplexity's AI agent logs into Amazon and shops on a user's behalf, that's unauthorized access. The appeals court disagreed, and the reasoning is what makes this important: the court found Amazon unlikely to succeed, concluding that it was Perplexity's users—real people, with real Amazon accounts—who were accessing the platform, not Perplexity itself. The AI agent was simply acting as the user's tool. This is the first time a federal appeals court has addressed whether AI agents acting on behalf of users can lawfully access online platforms, and that question is about to be everywhere. We're heading into a world where your AI assistant books your travel, does your shopping, and manages your accounts—and the legal system has to decide whether that's you using a tool, or a company trespassing on someone else's system. The significance is that this ruling plants an early flag on the side of the user: if you're authorized to be somewhere online, your AI agent acting for you is authorized too. Expect this to be cited constantly as the agentic-AI economy collides with decades-old computer-access law. Amazon loses US court ban on Perplexity's AI shopping tools | ReutersBloomberg Law · EngadgetA federal judge has dismissed the last of the January 6 Oath Keepers prosecutions—but he did so under vocal protest, in a rebuke that is itself the story. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta granted the Justice Department's motion to drop the cases against nine remaining Oath Keepers members tied to the Capitol attack, closing out the final chapter of the January 6 prosecutions. The dismissal flows from the administration's decision, on the first day of Trump's second term, to drop all pending January 6 cases. Here's the legal framework and the tension inside it. Under the rules of criminal procedure, prosecutors have broad power to dismiss charges, and courts generally must defer to that call—the executive branch, not the judge, decides whom to prosecute. Mehta acknowledged the government had the authority. But he made unmistakably clear he thought it was wrong, writing that “today's epilog diminishes the gravity of that day, denigrates the work of the prosecutors and law enforcement officers who secured these convictions, and excuses criminal acts that caused a centuries-long pillar of our democracy—the peaceful transfer of presidential power—to buckle.” That's extraordinary language from a sitting federal judge. The significance is a stark illustration of the limits of judicial power against prosecutorial discretion. A judge who presided over these seditious-conspiracy trials, who saw the evidence and entered the convictions, had to sign the order erasing them because the decision to prosecute—or not—belongs to the executive. He could register his profound disagreement for the historical record, but he could not stop it. It's a study in where one branch's power ends and another's begins. US judge grants Justice Department bid to dismiss Oath Keepers prosecutions | ReutersWashington Post · CNNAnd finally, a divided federal appeals court has ruled that the EPA cannot claw back roughly $20 billion in clean-energy grants—another decision drawing a hard line around executive power over money that Congress has already committed. The D.C. Circuit restored an injunction against EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin's move to terminate grants that had been awarded to nonprofit groups from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion program Congress created in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to finance renewable-energy projects, including in communities historically shut out of green financing. Zeldin had frozen the money in early 2025, saying it didn't align with the agency's priorities and might be tainted by fraud, waste, and abuse. The court wasn't persuaded: six judges concluded that terminating the grants and clawing back the funds “based solely on a policy disagreement” likely violated the Inflation Reduction Act, and pointedly noted the EPA gave no assurance it would leave the money alone if the injunction were lifted. This should sound familiar—it's the same principle we saw when a judge blocked the administration from canceling grants it deemed inconsistent with its priorities. The significance is the recurring constitutional boundary of this era: when Congress appropriates money for a purpose and an agency awards it, a new administration generally can't just unwind those commitments because it dislikes the policy. The EPA says it's reviewing the decision and may take it to the Supreme Court—which would tee up a definitive answer on just how much power a president has to stop spending money Congress told him to spend. EPA cannot block billions in climate grants, US appeals court rules | ReutersUS News This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Wade Sutton, PwC's International Tax Leader for the Washington National Tax Services Office, fills in as host while Doug is away on assignment. Wade welcomes Will Morris, PwC's global tax policy lead and former chair of the AmCham EU Tax Committee. In this episode, Wade and Will discuss the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR). They cover its state-aid origins, reach into M&A and public procurement, and early enforcement record. The episode examines the European Commission's recent assessment, possible reductions in reporting burdens, and the three-step analysis from foreign financial contribution (FFC) to subsidy to market distortion. The conversation also covers tax incentives and credits, Inflation Reduction Act and Pillar Two interactions, data-collection challenges, geopolitical considerations, standstill risks, and practical steps before an EU transaction or procurement bid.

Chapters: :00     - 17:00    - 2027 AEP Overview 17:00 - 41:00    - HealthSpring 41:00- 1:05:00 - Aetna   The 2027 AEP season is here, and with it comes significant changes that every Medicare agent needs to understand. In the first episode of a special two-part Carrier Rollout Series, co-hosts Josh Slattery and David Ireland break down the latest carrier announcements, industry trends, and regulatory updates shaping the upcoming Annual Enrollment Period. The discussion begins with the continued impact of the Inflation Reduction Act on the Medicare Advantage market. As plan revenues struggle to keep pace with rising healthcare costs, carriers are making strategic adjustments to benefits, networks, and product offerings. Josh and David explain what these market pressures mean for agents and how they may influence client conversations during AEP. The episode also explores key carrier updates, including HealthSpring's transition to the HCSC brand and its continued focus on HMO products and Dual Special Needs Plan (DSNP) expansion. The hosts discuss Aetna's strategy centered on network efficiency and product enhancements, noting that approximately 60% of members are expected to experience stable or improved benefits despite ongoing market challenges. Beyond carrier-specific news, the conversation covers important regulatory updates, changes to the SSBCI qualification process, and why ancillary products will continue to play a vital role in helping clients address coverage gaps. Josh and David also preview additional carrier releases, market expansions, and emerging opportunities that agents should be watching as the rollout season continues. Whether you're preparing for your first client appointment or refining your AEP strategy, this episode provides the insights needed to stay informed and confident heading into the 2027 selling season. Be sure to tune in for Part 2, coming later this August, as Josh and David continue their analysis of the latest carrier rollouts and what they mean for your business. Learn more about partnering with The Brokerage Inc. by visiting our website, www.thebrokerageinc.com. Remember to like, share, and subscribe to our show!  New episodes are available every Tuesday. Join our Community! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-brokerage-inc-/   Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/thebrokerageinc/  Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/thebrokerageinc/  YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@TheBrokerageIncTexas  Website:  https://thebrokerageinc.com/       

The latest episode of the Energy Horizons series on Greenberg Traurig's E2 Energy Law podcast is now live. Host Bill Garner, Global Co-Chair of GT's Energy and Natural Resources Practice, sits down with Tom Brill, an Energy Practice shareholder in GT's San Diego office, to discuss the shifting federal and state policy landscape for the U.S. hydrogen industry. Their conversation opens with an examination of the Inflation Reduction Act's foundational hydrogen incentives, including the Section 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit, as well as the Section 45Q carbon sequestration credit and provisions for direct pay and transferability. Tom then walks through how the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act altered the playing field, most notably by compressing the construction start deadline for the 45V credit from 2033 to 2028, while leaving the credit itself intact and expanding support for certain carbon sequestration, biofuel, and nuclear projects. They address the Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) rules and their supply chain implications, the funding cuts to select regional hydrogen hubs, and the growing importance of state-level incentives and mandates - including California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard, cap-and-trade programs, and renewable portfolio standards - as counterweights to federal uncertainty. The episode closes with practical guidance for project developers and investors: move quickly to meet tightened federal deadlines, analyze both federal and state incentive stacks, identify high-value destination markets and end uses, and build projects designed to remain viable even as the policy landscape continues to evolve.

The Democratic Party's climate and energy policy is at a difficult moment. Over the past year and a half, the Trump administration has attacked solar and wind energy, started an inflationary war, and repealed key parts of the Inflation Reduction Act. And about a year and a half from now, Democrats will pick a presidential candidate and pitch their energy and climate policies to voters again.How are key Democrats feeling at this moment? Rob recently had a chance to sit down with two of the party's most important energy policy makers — Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee, and former Energy Secretary and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm — for an in-person conversation in Washington, D.C.On this episode of Shift Key, Rob chats with Senator Heinrich and Secretary Granholm, about fuel prices, the state of permitting discussions, AI data centers, and what each learned from writing — and implementing — the Inflation Reduction Act.Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap News.Subscribe to “Shift Key” and find this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts.You can also add the show's RSS feed to your podcast app to follow us directly.You can find a full transcript of the episode here.Mentioned:Previously on Shift Key: What Senator Martin Heinrich Needs to See in a Permitting DealPreviously on Shift Key: Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on What Comes After Biden's Climate AgendaPreviously on Heatmap: 3 Takeaways From Our SunZia InvestigationMusic for Shift Key is by Adam Kromelow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The drug price negotiation provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act were designed to continue evolving with each passing year. As CMS prepares for 2028 and 2029, the agency has put out new draft guidance codifying and, in some cases, modifying the fine print of the controversial law. They've also recently issued additional draft guidance on how they'll handle the imminent introduction of Part B drugs into the programme. Hogan Lovells partner Alice Valder Curran returned to join pharmaphorum editor-in-chief Jonah Comstock to elucidate some of the finer points of this latest communication from CMS – and to urge the industry to take advantage of the public comment periods associated with it. Curran and Comstock discuss small, but impactful, changes in CMS's policies around deemed biologics, vaccines, and the special provisions that protect small biotechs. And Curran gives a rundown of what's in – as well as what's not in – the new MFP effectuation guidance, laying out how the differences in how Part D and Part B drugs are paid for leave some big question marks hanging over the programme. Tune in for an easy-to-understand deep dive into some complicated subject matter, and for a more comprehensive rundown don't forget to check out Hogan Lovells' policy briefs on the new draft rules and the MFP effectuation guidance.

Wednesday, July 29, 2026 Today, Senator Cornyn says he won't vote to advance Todd Blanche's nomination without a written rescission of the Slush Fund and tax immunity; Governor Beshear has written another letter to Mitch McConnell demanding he prove he's fit to serve or resign;  the Knight Institute and American Oversight have filed reply briefs with the 11th Circuit in the case of Volume II of Jack Smith's final report; Rep. Max Miller has been credibly accused of assaulting his ex-wife and holding a gun to her head; the Trump administration is trying to get a hold of our personal emergency room medical records while simultaneously ending Medicare drug plan subsidies; new polling shows people don't like Trump's tax bill; Senate Democrats are pressing Todd Blanche on the New York Times subpoenas; newly uncovered grand jury testimony in the Davey Hearn case has led to his legal team demanding the grand jury materials; plus Allison delivers your Good News. 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Immigration and customs enforcement agents could begin deportations at any time as Temporary Protected Status ends for Haitians and Syrians. We get the latest from CBS News' Camilo Montoya-Galvez. Then, a new rule proposed by the White House would give political appointees veto power over scientific research. ProPublica's Lisa Song tells us more. And, despite President Trump's resolve to repeal the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act, a new report finds that the clean energy transition is still largely following the trajectory laid out in the IRA. We speak with the author of the report, Lily Bermel.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Rafe Pomerance, who died on May 21, 2026 at age 79, spent nearly five decades trying to make the world take climate change seriously before it was too late. I last spoke with him at the Arctic Repair conference in Cambridge in summer 2025, where he told me his message was "absolutely the same" as it had been in 2018: the fate of Miami is tied to the fate of Greenland.A Career That Started With a Coal ReportPomerance's climate awakening began almost by accident. In the late 1970s, while lobbying for clean air at Friends of the Earth, he came across a government report on coal liquefaction warning that carbon dioxide emissions could cause a "significant and damaging" rise in Earth's temperature. From that point he devoted himself almost entirely to climate change, pushing Congress toward hearings and testifying himself in 1984 that the consequences, once clear, would be irreversible. He helped organize the landmark 1986 Senate hearings on the greenhouse effect, a genuine turning point in public awareness. From 1986 to 1993 he worked at the World Resources Institute, and under President Clinton he became Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment, leading the U.S. negotiating team that helped produce the Kyoto Protocol.In August 2018, the New York Times Magazine devoted an entire issue — "Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change" — to the story of how climate action nearly happened in the 1980s, with Pomerance at its center. The piece, later expanded into a book of the same name, cemented his reputation as one of the movement's earliest and most persistent voices, sometimes dubbed the "Paul Revere of climate change."In our Cambridge interview, Pomerance was focused on his final project: the Upper Limit Project, which sought to establish a global cap on sea-level rise as a companion metric to the 1.5°C temperature target. He argued that temperature alone had failed to sufficiently drive policy, but that sea-level rise — visceral, universal, and tied to the collapsing Greenland ice sheet's 24 feet of locked-up sea-level potential — could finally galvanize leaders from Miami to Tuvalu. He was candid about America's retreat from climate leadership under President Trump, calling the dismantling of the Inflation Reduction Act "a real tragedy," though he found some relief in China's growing role in clean energy technology.Despite the political headwinds, Pomerance remained resolutely hopeful. "It's just not acceptable to lose the homes of hundreds of millions of people over time," he told me, "and that's not an outcome that the world can accept." He leaves behind a policy legacy stretching from the Clean Air Coalition to Kyoto to the Arctic Repair movement, and generations of scientists and advocates he personally inspired.The Cover That Made Him FamousStill Pushing, Even at the EndAn Optimist to the Last

Can the energy choices we make today influence affordability for decades to come? --- Affordability has become one of the defining issues in American politics. Rising costs for housing, healthcare, groceries, and energy continue to strain household budgets. But economist Heather Boushey argues that affordability runs much deeper than prices alone. It reflects how the economy is structured, the kinds of jobs and opportunities the economy creates, and how the benefits of economic growth are shared. Boushey, a professor of practice with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and head of the EconClimate Lab, discusses the relationship between affordability, energy, and economic opportunity. Drawing on decades of work at the intersection of economics and public policy, as well as her experience as chief economist for the White House Investing in America Cabinet during the Biden administration, she explains why energy plays a central role in economic growth and competitiveness, why she believes that “what we make here matters,” and how investments in domestic industries can shape long-term economic opportunity. Boushey also reflects on what the Inflation Reduction Act set in motion, what may endure from the law, and what its implementation reveals about the challenge of sustaining long-term economic strategies in a short-term political environment. Related Content Coping Under Strain: How Climate, Utility Disconnections, and LIHEAP Shaped Household Energy Strategies During the Pandemic https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/coping-under-strain-how-climate-utility-disconnections-and-liheap-shaped-household-energy-strategies-during-the-pandemic/ Breaking the Lock on Urban Climate Finance: A Proposal for a Green Cities Guarantee Fund to Support Climate Resilient Infrastructure in Cities https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/breaking-the-lock-on-urban-climate-finance-a-proposal-for-a-green-cities-guarantee-fund-to-support-climate-resilient-infrastructure-in-cities/ Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Despite the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, drug prices continue to rise. How are manufacturers using the patent, drug approval process, and courts to keep drug prices high, and what are the legislative solutions to these practices?    The information presented during the podcast reflects solely the opinions of the presenter. The information and materials are not, and are not intended as, a comprehensive source of drug information on this topic. The contents of the podcast have not been reviewed by ASHP, and should neither be interpreted as the official policies of ASHP, nor an endorsement of any product(s), nor should they be considered as a substitute for the professional judgment of the pharmacist or physician.

On our political radar this week… Demagogue Senator Joe McCarthy’s Red Scare tactics of the 1950s are back. The GOP game plan for the 2026 campaign is clear: branding Democrats as soft-on-crime and communists who want to destroy America. Using Hollywood terms, it's a sequel to what was, for a while, a highly successful 1950's crusade led by Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. The candidates in Michigan's two very high-profile primary battles had TV debates in the last few days. Did the debates change anything in the races for the GOP nomination for governor or the Dem nomination for U.S. Senate? Hint – I don't think so. Not even a little bit. Donald Trump got a diplomatic “red card” for his unhinged performance at the meeting of NATO leaders, threatening and insulting our allies while praising the Turkish dictator who has been sanctioned for his cozy military relationship with Russia. The Graham Platner story has reached the inevitable conclusion in the wake of allegations he raped a former girlfriend with Platner defiant but recognizing his support had evaporated. Subscribe to our YouTube channel It’s time for Trump to cough up the $5-million judgement for sexually assaulting and then defaming E. Jean Carroll. Earlier this week a fed-up federal judge ordered the release of the escrowed $5.8 million in one of the defamation cases brought by columnist E. Jean Carrol related to Trump's sexual assault against her, saying that Trump's stalling was over. Still pending: another $83-million plus interest in the 2nd defamation case related to Trump's sexual assault of Carroll. No word yet from the other 27 women who've credibly described Trump's sexual crimes against them. Trump's Justice Department is ramping up threats to disrupt and discredit the 2026 election, targeting three Democratic strongholds in Michigan. We're joined by former DOJ voting rights attorney Sam Bagenstos. Bagenstos was a senior staffer at what it now Robert Kennedy Jr.'s Department of Health and Human Services, the Project 2025-driven office of Management and Budget, and the nearly dormant Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights. From Inauguration Day 2021 to June 2022, he served as general counsel to the Office of Management and Budget where his responsibilities included working on President Biden's Day One executive orders; helped respond to COVID-19, including implementing several crucial aid programs; and helped craft and implement the American Rescue Plan as well as the Inflation Reduction Act;. From 2009 to 2011, Bagenstos was the principal deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights, the No. 2 official in the Civil Rights Division where he was lead attorney in multiple voting rights lawsuits. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Greed, Grift$ and Grab$: The Trump Crime Family Chronicles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Republic, If You Can Keep It is sponsored in part by

Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm's Mike Casey.This week's episode features special guest Martha Muir from The Financial Times, who discusses how the cost of clean energy power purchase agreements is set to rise 40 to 120 percent as Inflation Reduction Act subsidies wind down.This week's “Cleantecher of the Week” is Dr. Bill Ho, CEO of GRST, whose company makes a PFAS-free, water-soluble battery binder. Conventional binder relies on "forever chemicals" and toxic solvents to process. GRST's version dissolves in water, making recycling to high-purity black mass simpler and cheaper. Congratulations, Bill!This Week in Cleantech — July 10, 2026 In the woods of Maine, searching for an answer to a ticking climate bomb – The Boston GlobeOne-third of India's new renewable energy capacity faces curtailment – PV MagazineWhy Europe Still Struggles to Scale Its Homegrown Climate Tech – Heatmap NewsEurope's next climate adaptation boom isn't solar panels — it's asphalt –  ReutersUS clean power prices set to soar as AI demand coincides with subsidy cuts – Financial TimesWant to make a suggestion for This Week in Cleantech? Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing  Paul.Gerke@clarionevents.comMore episodes of Factor This Policycast

Delhi is taking one of the world's biggest steps toward cleaner transportation by banning new gas-powered rickshaws and motorcycles, while Great Britain approves its first new pumped hydro projects in four decades—including one connected to the legendary Loch Ness. Plus, climate change is driving a dangerous invasive puffer fish into the Mediterranean, and the Lightning Round returns with the week's biggest clean energy and climate stories. Join us on Patreon for exciting perks! In this episode: Delhi bans new gas rickshaws starting in 2027 and fossil fuel scooters and motorcycles in 2028 as it ramps up EV charging infrastructure. Great Britain approves its first new pumped hydro projects in 40 years, bringing long-duration energy storage back into the spotlight. Greece offers a bounty on invasive toxic puffer fish as warming seas reshape marine ecosystems. Why pumped hydro acts like a giant battery—and why it's becoming important again. The Lightning Round Germany records thousands of excess deaths during the late-June heat wave. UK heatwave leaves millions struggling to sleep. U.S. car payments hit a record high. CATL rapidly expands battery swapping for heavy-duty trucks. More than 20 wind turbines damaged by extreme winds in South Dakota. What remains of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act. China's electric cargo ship fleet continues rapid growth. Pakistan's rooftop solar boom forces the cancellation of LNG imports. Contact Us cleanenergyshow@gmail.com or leave us an online voicemail: http://speakpipe.com/clean Support The Clean Energy Show Join the Clean Club on our Patreon Page to receive perks for supporting the podcast and our planet! Our PayPal Donate Page offers one-time or regular donations. Store Visit The Clean Energy Show Store for T-shirts, hats, and more!. Copyright 2026 Sneeze Media

What is the status of the Green New Deal and the Inflation Reduction Act now that Trump is President? This week on the Heartland Labor Forum we'll talk jobs, unions and the green transition with the University of Massachusetts Robert Pollin. Then, Daniel Kotzin teaches history at William Jewell College. In April he gave a talk on the racist history of US immigration law as part of the first Constructing Resistance teach-in called First, They Came for the Immigrants. Our feature is Labor Song of the Month

Greg Doggett, Counsel, Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville PC, and Felicity Homsted, CEO, FQHC 340B Compliance, discuss the current legal and regulatory landscape of the 340B program. They cover the intersection of 340B with the Inflation Reduction Act, concerns about the Rebate Model, pharmaceutical manufacturer restrictions and data requirements for covered entities, AbbVie's patient definition lawsuit, state reporting requirements, and potential Congressional action.Watch this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsnP7hLbvekEssential Legal Updates, Now in AudioAHLA's popular Health Law Daily email newsletter is now a daily podcast, exclusively for AHLA Comprehensive members. Get all your health law news from the major media outlets on this podcast! To subscribe and add this private podcast feed to your podcast app, go to americanhealthlaw.org/dailypodcast.Stay At the Forefront of Health Legal EducationLearn more about AHLA and the educational resources available to the health law community at https://www.americanhealthlaw.org/. 

The 401-Level Financial Motive Behind Prior Auths and Pharma Rebate Contracting Imagine a cheaper, generic, or even clinically better drug that somehow ends up not on formulary at all, or stuck behind step edits and prior authorizations with a higher copay than the pricier brand sitting right next to it. In this solo episode, host Stacey Richter breaks down exactly how that happens, walking through a case study she calls Brand Number 2 versus the formulary's reigning Brand Darling to show how PBM and GPO rebate economics, not clinical need, often decide which drugs patients can access easily and which ones get thrown up against a wall of red tape. This is Episode 517 (EP517) of Relentless Health Value. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ✅ How a high-volume Brand Darling generating billions in sales and huge aggregate rebates can keep a cheaper, generic, or more effective Brand Number 2 stuck on a nonpreferred tier, behind step edits and prior authorizations, regardless of price or efficacy ✅ Why a structural rebate cliff makes it nearly impossible for a new entrant to unseat an established Brand Darling on formulary, even if that new entrant offers a 99 percent rebate ✅ How rebate dollars a PBM or GPO wants to keep can be relabeled as a data fee, a service fee, or an admin fee, a dynamic also flagged by benefits consultant Robyn Tikia, letting a PBM still claim it passes along 100 percent of rebates ✅ Why a prior authorization is often used as a financial negotiating lever against a manufacturer's rebate offer rather than a clinical determination of whether a patient needs the drug ✅ How regulation such as the Inflation Reduction Act is compressing list prices and collapsing the rebate spread that the traditional contracting math depends on ✅ How GoodRx runs a reverse auction among PBMs to surface its advertised cash price, making coupon sites effectively a sales channel for the same PBMs that lock manufacturers into exclusive formulary contracts WHY THIS MATTERS As Stacey Richter lays it out, a PBM with a fiduciary duty to its shareholders has every financial incentive to double down on a high-volume Brand Darling and freeze out a cheaper or better Brand Number 2 with step edits and prior auths, whether or not that serves the patient stuck in the middle. As regulation compresses list prices and rebate spreads get less stable, more pharma manufacturers are deciding it is worth giving up access to large blocks of insured lives in order to control their own price directly through cash pay, patient assistance programs, or their own copay cards. It is not a clean alternative, since cash pay still runs through PBM-linked coupon platforms like GoodRx, but for some brands it is starting to look like the more controllable bet. === LINKS ===

Only roughly 50% of new GLP-1 prescriptions were getting approved for coverage in 2023. From a plan sponsor's seat, that looks like pharmacy trend spiking 9%, 12%, even 20% year over year. From a pharma manufacturer's seat, it's half their prescriptions not getting filled. Same market, opposite problems — and that's exactly the lens this episode flips on. In this episode, Stacey Richter speaks with Ophelia Johnson, who built new business channels for a pharmaceutical manufacturer that created the GLP-1 boom and has since launched a consulting practice at e-fi.works, about how cash pay models work from the inside — coupon platforms, telehealth channels, white label pharmacy models, and employer carve-outs — and where the new fees are hiding. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ✅ How the Inflation Reduction Act, PBM legal scrutiny, drug shortages, and the compounding bypass converged with ~50% GLP-1 prior auth denial rates in 2023 to push pharma into building cash pay channels that cut the PBM out entirely ✅ How the savings coupon model works: manufacturer buys the patient down to a flat transparent cash price via platforms like GoodRx, pays a fixed per-script fee instead of a PBM rebate, and the coupon platform makes the pharmacy whole — transparent math, no black box ✅ How the telehealth channel and white label pharmacy models extend the distribution chain beyond retail — and why shipping costs, credit card fees, dispensing fees, and new supply chain partners create gross-to-net and revenue leakage risk for manufacturers not built for it ✅ Why "direct to employer" is a misnomer: PBM contracts prohibit pharma from selling directly to self-insured employers, so third-party transparent administrators have emerged — but plan sponsors need to run the math first, given ERISA complications and PBM contract leverage ✅ How PBMs are now charging fees for hub-like patient support services to manage the exact prior auth complexity they created — a Whack-a-Mole shift of profitability that everyone needs to map before signing anything ✅ Ophelia's three-part practical advice: map the full patient journey and all ecosystem player incentives before building any new model (pharma); treat affordability as a clinical risk factor (clinicians); demand auditable medication abandonment data rather than settling for rebate yield metrics (plan sponsors) WHY THIS MATTERS If collaboration is the next innovation, everyone has to understand the incentives of every player in the ecosystem — not just their own. The same 50% of unfilled GLP-1 prescriptions that looks like runaway pharmacy trend from a plan sponsor's seat looks, from a manufacturer's seat, like half their market going dark — and both sides are making moves that affect each other. Understanding those moves, where fees are being layered on, and when fair profit tips into what Stacey calls profiteering is what this episode maps. TUNE IN NEXT WEEK Next week is the 401-level companion to this one — Stacey goes solo on the PBM and GPO contracting mechanics behind why cash pay became a thing, and why cheaper or better drugs can inexplicably end up off formulary or buried under prior auth. === LINKS ===

DC EKG with Joe GroganThe Economics of Ozempic and Other Weight Loss DrugsEpisode 136.5 (“Prescription Refill” – A replay from the archives)Original Air Date: May 2024In this episode, Joe Grogan welcomes Ben Ippolito, Senior Fellow in Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, to discuss the rapidly evolving economics of GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy.Ben explains the two main competitors in this market—Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy versus Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Zepbound. Revealing how insurance coverage decisions drive pharmaceutical marketing strategy.The conversation reveals a critical irrationality in Medicare policy: the statutory prohibition on covering weight loss drugs despite their profound clinical and quality-of-life benefits. Yet these same drugs are covered for diabetes and cardiovascular risk reduction.Ben explores the surprising economics of drug pricing through gross-to-net pricing—the massive gap between list prices and what insurers actually pay through rebates and discounts.The episode examines critical implications of the Inflation Reduction Act's price negotiation provisions. Once Medicare negotiates Ozempic's price, that same price applies to all products using the same active ingredient. This creates cascading market effects: competitors must match those prices to remain on formularies, new entrants face lower pricing power even if clinically superior, and pharmaceutical companies may abandon promising programs due to regulatory uncertainty.Ben argues Congress doesn't need to act immediately to expand Medicare coverage, but likely will within a few years.Joe and Ben discuss unintended consequences of government price regulation, including effects on innovation and drug development pipelines. They explore how price controls announced before elections affect pharmaceutical strategy and development timelines.Concluding with Ben's research on Medicare Advantage and why both Democrats and Republicans scrutinize this private alternative to traditional Medicare. With over 50 percent of seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, bipartisan interest in reform is reshaping healthcare policy conversations on Capitol Hill.Key TopicsGLP-1 drugs, Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound, weight loss medications, obesity treatment, Medicare coverage, drug pricing, Inflation Reduction Act, pharmaceutical competition, rebates, gross-to-net pricing, health economics, cardiovascular benefits, diabetes treatment, Medicare Advantage, healthcare policy, innovation incentivesKey Timestamps00:00 Cold Open: "Turned Up to 11"00:24 Welcome to DC EKG00:46 Meet Ben Ippolito (AEI)03:48 The GLP-1 Landscape: Ozempic, Wegovy, and the Field05:04 One Drug, Two Names06:45 Medicare's Weight-Loss Coverage Ban07:21 Blockbusters and Big Effect Sizes09:32 Why Isn't Congress Acting?10:17 Why It Costs Less Than You Think12:34 The Coverage Irrationality14:05 Quality of Life as a Real Benefit15:17 Beyond Weight: Cravings and Addiction18:21 Devil's Advocate: Why Cover It At All?19:48 Gross-to-Net and the Rebate Problem22:41 Why Can't You Just Pay Cash?25:43 The IRA and the Ozempic Price Cut27:32 One Ingredient, One Price30:10 Unintended Consequences in Part D34:01 New Competitors and Killed Programs38:03 What's Next: Medicare Advantage42:04 Wrap-Up and CreditsAbout the Guest(As of May 2024) Ben Ippolito is a Senior Fellow in Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. He holds a PhD and Master's degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Economics from Emory University. Ben examines drug pricing policy, Medicare Advantage, and healthcare innovation economics with regular engagement with Congress.Podcast: DC EKG with Joe GroganGuest: Ben IppolitoSponsor: Survivors for SolutionsProducer: Stay on Course StudiosExecutive Producer: John CZ Czwartacki, DC EKG Podcast

The American ranch is under siege. Fifth-generation Arizona rancher Casey Murph joins me to expose how state-level mandates are seizing vital grazing lands to build foreign-owned solar farms — threatening our food security and property rights. At a time of record-high beef prices and shrinking cattle herds, rural America is facing a multifront assault. From the expansion of industrial solar installations to the massive energy and land demands of new tech data centers, government-manipulated monopolies are pushing out small landowners. Casey Murph breaks down the realities of the Inflation Reduction Act, the devastating environmental impact of clearing topsoil for renewable energy, and what this venture socialism means for the future of the American food supply.  He also warns that solar farms are bringing in illegal alien workers and riffraff to transform the serenity of rural America.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SHORT DESCRIPTION New claims of massive federal fraud are shaking Washington as officials and former EPA leadership allege billions in taxpayer dollars were improperly routed through green energy programs. Tara and Roger break down the allegations, the political fallout, and the growing push inside government to recover what was spent. FEATURED STORIES 1. Trump Officials Claim Massive Fraud Potential in Federal Budget Elon Musk, in comments attributed to a conversation with Joe Rogan, is referenced alongside Trump administration officials who argue that eliminating fraud and improper payments could dramatically reduce the federal deficit. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is cited estimating hundreds of billions in potential fraud annually, while Stephen Miller argues the federal budget could be balanced if only properly eligible recipients received payments. 2. EPA Leadership Launches Criminal Referrals Over Green Energy Spending Former EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced multiple criminal referrals following an internal review of Biden-era environmental grant programs. According to the claims discussed, the investigation centers on alleged misuse of funds routed through nonprofit intermediaries. Zeldin says roughly $29 billion in EPA grants have been paused or canceled amid the review. 3. The $2 Billion Stacy Abrams-Linked Grant Raises Questions One of the most controversial examples cited involves a $2 billion grant awarded to a nonprofit tied to former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams. Critics highlighted that the organization reportedly had minimal prior financial activity before receiving federal funding, raising questions about oversight and eligibility standards. 4. “Pass-Through” Nonprofits Under Scrutiny Investigators referenced in the segment describe a network of nonprofit “pass-through” entities allegedly used to distribute federal funds with limited government oversight after initial disbursement. Concerns raised include whether funds were properly tracked once distributed beyond the initial recipient organizations. 5. Allegations of Political Enrichment Through Climate Funding Programs The discussion also focuses on claims that green energy and climate-related funding programs were structured in ways that benefited politically connected organizations and former government officials. Programs under the Inflation Reduction Act are specifically mentioned as part of the funding pipeline under review. 6. Calls to Reclaim Federal Funds Intensify The Trump EPA team is described as attempting to claw back portions of previously distributed grants, referring some cases to the Inspector General and the Department of Justice for possible prosecution. Supporters argue that stronger oversight and rescission of unused funds could help reduce waste and fraud. KEY TAKEAWAYS Allegations of large-scale federal fraud are fueling renewed scrutiny of government spending. EPA grant programs are under investigation for potential misuse and weak oversight. Nonprofit intermediaries are a central focus of concern in how federal funds are distributed. Political debate is intensifying over climate-related spending and accountability. Officials are pushing for recovered funds and expanded investigations. QUOTE OF THE DAY “If only properly eligible recipients received federal dollars, we could balance the budget.” SOCIAL MEDIA TEASER

In Episode 136 of DC EKG, Joe Grogan hosts Tom Barker, a top drug-pricing attorney at Foley Hoag and former acting general counsel of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Bush administration. Tom helped implement Medicare Part D and now advises drugmakers and policymakers on complex pricing issues. The episode traces 20 years of policy: what went right with Part D, what the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) did, and what effective policy should look like.Tom explains that Part D's success rested on three pillars: private plans only, limited government control over benefit design, and a non-interference clause barring the government from intervening in negotiations among plans, pharmacies, and manufacturers. Competition worked and premiums stayed low, until the government asserted more control and weakened those pillars. The IRA, he argues, was a 16-year Democratic effort to repeal non-interference, creating price controls disguised as negotiations.The Trump administration has taken a different tack, focusing not on the IRA but on MFN and Globe Guard models pegged to other developed countries. Tom also breaks down the 340B program, now the country's second-largest expenditure program, and the fight between manufacturers and covered entities over contract pharmacies.His prescription is simple: let competition work. Speed FDA approval of generics and biosimilars, and trust the marketplace over price controls. He points to hepatitis C, where prices fell sharply once competition entered.In This ConversationThe three pillars that made Part D successful for 20 yearsHow non-interference kept government from setting drug pricesThe IRA as a 16-year Democratic push to repeal non-interferenceWhy Tom calls the IRA price controls disguised as negotiationsThe Trump administration's focus on MFN and Globe Guard pricing340B and the battle between manufacturers and covered entitiesThe Chevron repeal's impact on drug pricing lawHRSA's proposed rebate model and ongoing 340B litigationWhy effective policy means competition, not controlsTom's work helping North Korean defectors and refugeesKey Timestamps1:51 Tom's background at HHS and CMS2:30 The three pillars of Part D's success5:10 Why Democrats wanted to repeal non-interference5:55 Ted Kennedy's compromise and bipartisan votes11:38 The IRA as a 16-year repeal attempt12:03 What the IRA changed in Part D15:02 IRA negotiations vs. real negotiations16:25 How the excise tax makes it no real negotiation21:32 Trump's focus on MFN and Globe Guard25:37 340B's history back to 199128:45 340B as the second-biggest expenditure program29:30 Manufacturer vs. covered-entity acrimony33:18 The Chevron repeal's impact on pricing34:54 HRSA's rebate model, the next step on 340B35:40 The lawsuit over "patient" in 340B38:18 Tom's advice: let competition work39:30 Hepatitis C: competition drives prices down40:34 Competition for gene therapies and CRISPR41:36 Tom's work for North Korean defectors44:49 Sponsoring Free North Korea RadioMedicare Part D, drug pricing policy, Inflation Reduction Act, non-interference clause, 340B program, MFN pricing, Globe Guard pricing, pharmacy benefit managers, covered entities, contract pharmacies, biosimilars, generics, federal drug pricing, government price controls, Tom BarkerAbout the GuestTom Barker is a partner at Foley Hoag in Washington, DC, and one of the country's top drug pricing attorneys. He served as acting general counsel of HHS and chief legal officer at CMS under the Bush administration, where he helped implement Part D from its inception. He is now a go-to expert on drug pricing, and helps North Korean defectors navigate US immigration law.Podcast: DC EKG with Joe Grogan Episode: 136 Guest: Tom Barker Sponsor: Survivors for Solutions - https://survivorsforsolutions.org Executive Producer: John "CZ" Czwartacki, DC EKG Podcast Producer: Stay on Course Studios - https://www.stayoncourse.studio

It's officially the start of the summer season — and in true solo pod fashion, we're kicking it off with a timely breakdown of the brand new NYC Pied-à-Terre Tax that just got enacted.   In this episode, I walk through exactly how the new surcharge works (Phase 1 vs. Phase 2), why the crazy-low DOF market value on high-end condos actually shields many owners from the tax in both phases, and what the switch to comparable sales in 2028 could mean in the long term.   Then we zoom out: the never-ending “tax the rich” playbook in NYC and beyond. I compare the actual tax landscape of 2021–2026 (post-COVID, Inflation Reduction Act, state cuts vs targeted hikes) against 2005–2010 (recession-era increases) at the federal, state, and major city levels. Property taxes, mansion taxes, transfer taxes, income surtaxes — who's really raising what, and how much?   Follow me for more:  LinkedIn X Instagram YouTube  

Corbin Cowan explains how he connected with Board of Advisors after leaving a disappointing Florida mastermind while trying to turn around a near-bankrupt company. This lead to deals, meeting Kevin Harrington, selling that company, and later helping a med tech referral raise about $18 million and go public on Nasdaq. Corbin describes his Founders First Advisory, which prioritizes increasing what founders personally take from their businesses, starting with a tax strategy using an Inflation Reduction Act investment tax credit program (about 35%–40%) and bonus depreciation, structured to eliminate current-year income tax and potentially recover about 75% of taxes paid over the prior three years. 01:06 Founders First Advisory02:03 Board of Advisors Origin03:23 Deals and Exits Through BA04:13 Who He Serves04:43 Tax Product Overview06:55 How the Credit Works08:07 Eligibility and Intake09:54 Found Money and Peace11:00 Reinvest or Pocket ItThanks for listening, and Please Share this Episode with someone. It would really help us to grow our show and share these valuable tips and strategies with others. Have a great day.George Wright III“It's Never Too Late to Start Living the Life You Were Meant to Live”FREE Daily Mastermind Resources:CONNECT with George & Access Tons of ResourcesGet access to Proven Strategies and Time-Test Principles for Success. Plus, download and access tons of FREE resources and online events by joining our Exclusive Community of Entrepreneurs, Business Owners, and High Achievers like YOU.Join FREE at DailyMastermind.comFollow me on social media Facebook | Instagram | Linkedin | TikTok | YoutubeGrow Your Authority and Personal Brand with a FREE Interview in a Top Global Magazine HERE.Corbin Cowan is the founder and CEO of Founders First Advisory (also known as Founder First Advisory), a financial advisory firm dedicated to helping founders, business owners, and high-income earners reduce tax friction, align their advisory teams, and optimize after-tax wealth.https://www.corbincowan.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/corbincowan/

This episode features an edited recording of our CMS Final Notice webinar, offering timely insights into 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D changes. Hear from Via Benefits experts as they break down MA payment updates, funding pressures, and evolving plan design strategies. Learn how CMS policies, Inflation Reduction Act provisions, and rising healthcare costs are shaping both group and individual Medicare markets. The discussion also explores what these changes mean for plan sponsors evaluating retiree benefits and long-term cost management.

Hospitals already have felt some of the effects of the Inflation Reduction Act on 340B savings, but with the IRA set to expand to more drugs in 2027, hospitals also are starting to project how it might affect their bottom lines next year. 340B Vice President of Pharmacy Services and Education Steven Miller joins us to explain how hospitals can be making those projections now.The IRA Will Expand to Another 15 DrugsNext year, an additional 15 drugs will be subject to Medicare price caps under Medicare Part D on top of the 10 drugs that saw caps this year. Steve says this will cut into 340B savings and overall margins even more — with some 340B discounts possibly dropping to their statutory minimums. These reductions also will translate to commercial and cash-pay dispenses, changing the overall financial outlook for hospitals.Hospitals Cannot Rely on Current 340B Savings Levels for 2027Steve says the 2027 changes are key for future budgeting. If hospitals do not adjust how they are budgeting for 340B drugs subject to Medicare price caps, they are likely to be short on their budget projections. He strongly recommends 340B teams have important conversations with finance teams now about how the IRA will affect their hospital or health system next year.Hospitals Can Be Planning NowFor the rest of 2026, Steve recommends hospitals monitor list pricing and 340B ceiling pricing regularly and to increase monitoring of purchases overall, given how drugmaker pricing behavior affects future 340B prices and savings. As the IRA continues to broaden over the next several years, including to Medicare Part B dispenses, he also recommends hospitals consider securing funding or support from other areas for any 340B-funded services that might see negative IRA impacts.Resources:Prepare Your Leadership for 340B Changes From 2027 Medicare Drug Price Caps

Clean energy has made tremendous progress on technology.Solar is cheaper. Batteries are scaling. Virtual power plants are becoming real grid assets. Electrification is accelerating.But many people still do not understand why these technologies matter to them personally — or whether they are actually worth the cost.So what's missing?In this conversation, Nico sits down with Jessica Fishman to explore why the next phase of the energy transition may depend less on technical innovation and more on public understanding, trust, and emotional connection.Jessica shares lessons from nearly two decades working across solar, storage, policy, and communications, including what the industry can learn from the Inflation Reduction Act, why facts alone rarely change minds, and how clean energy companies can better connect their work to the things people already care about: affordability, resilience, independence, and economic opportunity.Expect to learn:

This week on Truth to Power, in this important mid-term election year, we bring you a conversation with U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn about his book "The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation," with Louisville's former Congressman John Yarmuth. Jim Clyburn is the U.S. Congressman representing South Carolina's 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1993. He previously served as House Majority Whip from 2019 to 2022 and 2007 to 2010, making him the first African American to serve multiple terms as Majority Whip. Currently, he serves as the Ranking Member on the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. The recipient of 39 honorary degrees, Congressman Clyburn's numerous awards include: the Lyndon Baines Johnson Liberty and Justice for All Award in 2015; the Harry S Truman Foundation's Good Neighbor Award in 2021; the NAACP's highest honor — the Spingarn Medal — in 2022, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation's highest civilian honor — in 2024. His endorsement of Joe Biden for president in 2020 is credited with boosting him to an overwhelming victory in the South Carolina and subsequent primaries and setting Biden on the path to the presidency. Clyburn's book, The First Eight, is an extraordinary work of living history. It explores the powerful, untold story of the pioneering Black politicians from South Carolina who were elected to Congress in the aftermath of the Civil War, and a revealing explanation of why it took nearly a century before the ninth, James Clyburn, was elected. Learn more about the book at https://www.carmichaelsbookstore.com/book/9780316572743 John Yarmuth is a former United States Congressman who served eight terms as the representative of Kentucky's 3rd Congressional District (2007-2023) and was chairman of the House Budget Committee from 2019-2023. He was the primary sponsor of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Yarmuth became the first Kentuckian to join the Progressive Congressional Caucus. He has been recognized for his work to improve education and expand access to affordable health care. Prior to his congressional career, he founded and edited the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO), a weekly alternative newspaper. During his 15 years with LEO, Yarmuth won nearly 20 awards for column and editorial writing. This conversation was held before a live audience at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts in Louisville on November 24, 2025. It was produced by the UofL Kentucky Author Forum and was released in January as the fifty-ninth episode of Great Podversations (https://kentuckyauthorforum.com/podcast/great-podversations-episode-59-clyburn-yarmuth/). Truth to Power airs every Friday at 9pm, Saturday at 11am, and Sunday at 7pm on Louisville's grassroots, community radio station, Forward Radio 106.5fm WFMP and live streams at https://www.forwardradio.org

Clean energy funding under the GGRF remains frozen, with projects on hold and questions over federal spending authority unresolved. --- The $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund has become a focal point of the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back federal clean energy policy. The program was designed to finance clean energy and emissions-reducing projects by channeling public funds through nonprofit financial institutions to attract private investment, including investments that support community resilience. After taking office in 2025, the administration moved to freeze funding and sought to terminate grant agreements that had already been awarded, citing concerns about oversight, conflicts of interest, and program design. Supporters argue the funds were lawfully appropriated and that the administration is attempting to unwind commitments based on claims that have not been substantiated in court. Roughly $20 billion of that funding now remains in limbo, with projects on hold. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, discusses how the program was designed to work, the administration’s stated rationale for shutting it down, and what the dispute could mean for clean energy investment and congressional authority over federal spending. Related Content Breaking the Lock on Urban Climate Finance: A Proposal for a Green Cities Guarantee Fund to Support Climate Resilient Infrastructure in Cities https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/breaking-the-lock-on-urban-climate-finance-a-proposal-for-a-green-cities-guarantee-fund-to-support-climate-resilient-infrastructure-in-cities/ Governing the Greenhouse Gas Protocol https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/governing-the-greenhouse-gas-protocol/ Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.eduSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Allen covers NextEra’s potential $400 billion buy of Dominion Energy, US developers racing the July tax credit deadline, Ming Yang scouting Spain for a factory, Turkey opening its first offshore wind tender, and Hornsea 3’s first foundation going in. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes’ YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Allen Hall 2025: Good morning, everyone. The world is racing at the minute, and let’s start with the biggest race of all. NextEra Energy, the largest utility in America by market value, is in talks to buy Dominion Energy of Virginia. The price? It’s about $76 a share, roughly $66 billion. With debt, the combined company would be valued at about $400 billion. That would make it the largest power deal on record. A mostly stock transaction, at least that’s what’s being reported, and a deal could come as soon as this week. Pretty shocking. Now, why does this matter to wind? NextEra is [00:01:00] not just a utility. It is one of the largest renewable energy developers on the planet. And Dominion sits on top of Northern Virginia’s data center alley, the biggest concentration of data centers in the country. Dominion expects its peak demand to double by the end of the twenty-thirties, American power consumption hit a second straight record in twenty-twenty-five, and it’s still climbing. So the company that builds more wind and solar than almost anyone wants to merge with the company that serves the hungriest grid in America. That is a race to the top. But down on the ground, developers are running a very different kind of race. Wind projects under construction in the United States are up 60% since the start of twenty-twenty-five. Solar is up about 50%. Why the surge? Well, the clock is ticking. Tax credits for wind and solar were gutted in the one big beautiful bill. Projects must begin construction by July 4th [00:02:00] and prove they are building continuously to qualify. Under the Inflation Reduction Act, those credits were supposed to phase out at the end of twenty-thirty-three. Now that deadline is just a couple of weeks away. Developers are pushing hard on projects that can make it and abandoning the ones that cannot. One solar executive put it plainly: “A lot of the projects are going to die on the vine.” And that’s a real shame. Labor is short. Of course, electricians are in demand. Transformer lead times have stretched to 18 months because data centers are buying them too. Even permits are hard to get. Projects that touch federal land, of course, that once took a month to approve are now waiting up to a year. So while NextEra races to buy the grid, developers are racing to build before the door shuts. Now, across the Atlantic, there’s a different kind of race going on. Chinese turbine manufacturer MingYang [00:03:00] Smart Energy is looking for a new home, and quick. Back in March, Britain blocked the company’s plans for a one-and-a-half billion pound factory in Scotland, mostly based on security grounds. MingYang’s European chief, Horatio Evers, says the company is now talking to Spain and scouting other locations on the continent. He says MingYang wants to build turbines in Europe with a European workforce. And this is the part I don’t understand, ’cause European workforce tend to be more expensive. However, uh, MingYang wants to build that factory, but there’s a condition. They need a guarantee that their turbines will be allowed into the market, and so far that hasn’t happened. The European Commission launched a review of Chinese manufacturers back in 2024. Those findings are still unpublished. So MingYang is racing to find a country willing to say “Yes.” Further east, Turkey is entering the offshore wind [00:04:00] race for the first time. The government has defined four areas along its western coast, all on the Aegean, for its first ever offshore wind tender. Turkey’s energy minister says Turkey aims for five gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035. The country has committed $30 billion to transmission infrastructure. And Turkey already has 15 gigawatts of onshore wind spinning today. Turkey is, of course, a NATO ally, and it straddles Europe and Asia, and now it’s stepping into offshore wind. And finally, up in the North Sea, off the coast of Norfolk, England, 75 miles from shore, Cadeler of Copenhagen just installed the first monopile foundation at Hornsea 3. When complete, Hornsea 3 will be the single largest offshore wind farm on the planet. 2.9 gigawatts, 197 foundations, enough power for 3.3 [00:05:00] million British homes. The project is owned by Danish giant Ørsted and will bring 5,000 construction jobs to the region. Hornsea 1 and 2 are already spinning, and of course, Hornsea 4 is on the drawing board. So here’s the picture. America’s two biggest utilities are racing toward a $400 billion merger. Developers are sprinting to break ground before the Fourth of July. A Chinese turbine maker is searching Europe for a factory, and Turkey is marking out its first offshore wind zones. And over in Britain, they just planted the first foundation at the world’s largest wind farm. Everyone is racing. The only question is, who gets there first? And that’s the state of the wind industry for the 18th of May, 2026. Join us tomorrow for the Uptime Wind Energy podcast

What does a zero-emission vehicle really mean? Clean transportation policies promoting sustainability have progressed over the years and have become even more important, both because transportation represents the largest portion of greenhouse gas emissions and because climate change has been accelerating at unprecedented rates. The public is likely more familiar with zero-emission cars, but zero-emission trucks are also becoming an integral part of mitigating climate and other environmental impacts. Transportation-based pollution The transportation industry as a whole has been the biggest source of greenhouse gasses over the time period since the Industrial Revolution. Impacts of emissions associated with transportation include harm to the environment as well as to human health. Trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles constitute six percent of the on-road fleet but produce up to 26 percent of transportation-based greenhouse gas emissions along with a plethora of pollutants that can cause various types of cancer, asthma, and other respiratory challenges. Diesel-fueled trucks and other large vehicles can also cause noise pollution and take an out-sized toll on road infrastructure.  Benefits of Zero-Emission Trucking Zero-emission trucking can help reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and emissions of other pollutants into the environment. By one estimate, US regions could save $735 billion in public health benefits due to cleaner air and result in 1.75 million fewer asthma attacks. The Inflation Reduction Act provides incentives for the manufacturing and purchasing of zero-emission trucks. People who buy zero-emission vehicles, for example, can receive significant tax breaks, subsidies, and even discounts on road tolls. Moreover, it is common for zero-emission trucks to be exempt from vehicle dimensions and weight restrictions Drawbacks of Clean Trucks Although zero-emission trucks–battery electric trucks and hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks–as a whole have a lot of advantages, they still face significant challenges. For example, clean trucks may still be ill-suited for the range demanded of long-haul applications. Even with IRA incentives, clean trucks can be two and a half to three times more expensive than the diesel equivalent, although the cost of fuel and maintenance is likely less. Battery electric trucks can take up to four times longer than their diesel equivalent to charge. And even though hydrogen-operated trucks are more efficient than battery electric trucks, the US currently lacks the necessary hydrogen infrastructure to make them truly feasible.  In addition, hydrogen trucks, when fully charged, have a range that is about 500 miles and battery electric… [about] 180 to 250. By comparison, a diesel truck running a full load can have a range of roughly 1000 to 1200 miles. Because the sustainable alternatives are heavier, they actually would end up carrying less and more trucks would be needed to do the same amount of work as a single diesel-powered truck could, increasing operational costs and decreasing efficiency. Aronin and Zero-Emission Mobility Ruben Aronin is working to pave a path towards zero-emission mobility in the United States (especially California) with his team at Better World Group. They have worked to support multiple policies, including the Advanced Clean Truck Rule which is a significant part of California's zero-emission truck policy. That rule mandates that manufacturers–provided with four years of lead time–increase electric truck vehicle sales every year from 2025. Additionally, it promotes a 100% sales requirement of zero-emission trucks by 2036.  Mr. Aronin believes that the Advanced Clean Truck Rule along with another policy, called the Advanced Clean Fleet Rule, will enable the quickest transitions to zero-emission trucks, particularly in the most pollution-burdened communities. His coalition includes the Teamsters and others to help ensure labor and environmental justice support. He also recognizes that it is often economically difficult or unfeasible for companies and individuals to purchase zero-emission trucks. To this end, tax credits and investments from the federal IRA and IAJ are essential. As the market grows, Mr. Aronin says that the price of the electric truck components and batteries are decreasing at a rapid pace. Who is Ruben Aronin? Ruben Aronin, current principal of The Better World Group, acts to advance clean transportation policies. He joined the BWG in 2012 and currently helps to lead BWG's advanced transportation project work. Aronin has previously created and implemented effective environmental policy initiatives to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy in over a dozen states across the country (including California).  Resources American Lung Association, Delivering Clean Air: Health Benefits of Zero-Emission Trucks McKinsey, Preparing the world for zero-emission trucks FleetOwner, Future of zero-emission trucks: Challenges and promises ahead Further Reading MotorBiscuit, Are Pickup Trucks Really That Bad for the Environment? Tachyon, Environmental impact of trucks and sustainability practices McKinsey, How batteries drive the zero-emission truck transition For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/clean-trucks-with-ruben-aronin/.

When Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, researchers estimated it would cut U.S. carbon pollution by more than 40% by the mid-2030s. Then President Trump and a GOP majority partially repealed the law, and many of those emissions declines looked doubtful. What will U.S. carbon emissions look like after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act?We're starting to get a sense. On this week's episode of Shift Key, Rob talks with John Bistline and Ryna Cui about a new paper they coauthored modeling the Inflation Reduction Act and One Big Beautiful Bill Act's combined effects. Bistline is the head of science at Watershed and a former researcher at the Electric Power Research Institute. Cui is a professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and the research director for its Center for Global Sustainability.Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap News.You can find a full transcript of the episode here.Mentioned:The new paper: Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act and One Big Beautiful Bill Act on the US energy systemA cheat sheet on the energy policy changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act--This episode of Shift Key is sponsored by ...Heatmap Pro brings all of our research, reporting, and insights down to the local level. The software platform tracks all local opposition to clean energy and data centers, forecasts community sentiment, and guides data-driven engagement campaigns. Book a demo today to see the premier intelligence platform for project permitting and community engagement.Music for Shift Key is by Adam Kromelow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when government programs are treated like startup pitches… except nobody's allowed to say no?Tonight on Wacky Wednesday, Chad Law turns Washington, California, and Portland into one giant episode of Reverse Shark Tank — where failed ideas somehow get more funding, worse outcomes get rebranded as “progress,” and nobody is ever held accountable for the results.From California's Fast Food Council……to the Inflation Reduction Act's “long-term vibes” economics……to Portland's billion-dollar homelessness disaster…This episode asks one simple question:What would happen if politicians had to pitch these programs to real investors instead of taxpayers?And maybe more importantly:What happens when failure itself becomes the business model?00:00 – Welcome + Why Government Never Says No04:48 – Tlaib's $168 Billion “Homeless Bill of Rights”07:12 – Reverse Shark Tank Explained11:50 – California's Fast Food Council Disaster28:28 – The Inflation Reduction Act “Eventually” Plan40:20 – Inflation, IRS Expansion & Grocery Store Reality42:47 – Portland's Billion-Dollar Homelessness Failure56:22 – The Real Problem: Incentives Without Accountability01:01:13 – Reagan Reminder01:15:25 – Final Thoughts + Close#Politics #GovernmentWaste #CommonSense #WackyWednesday #ChadLaw #Conservative #Taxpayer #Inflation #Portland #California #GovernmentSpending #PoliticalComedy #Rumble #Culture #Economy

This week we zoomed out to take stock of the greatest financial heist in recorded history. Sixteen years of bailouts, money printing, and acronym soup that kept corporate America whole while the rest of us fell further behind. And then we took a quick detour into crypto, where Bitcoin is quietly creeping back up and the guy sitting on $62 billion worth of it really wants you to think that’s a sign you should buy in. Chapters Intro: 00:00:00 Quick Takes: 00:00:44 Max Notes: 00:06:01 Killer Left Take of the Week: 00:20:45 Chart of the Week: 00:23:05 Headlines: 00:26:07 Pod Love + Book Love: 00:28:46 Outro: 00:30:01 Resources ProPublica: Bailout Tracker: Tracking Every Dollar and Every Recipient U.S. Department of the Treasury: Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) MIT Sloan: Here’s how much the 2008 bailouts really cost Levy Economics Institute: A Detailed Look at the Fed’s Bailout by Funding Facility and Recipient Parker Poe: Summary of the $2 Trillion Federal CARES Act U.S. Department of the Treasury: Airline and National Security Relief Programs Brookings Institution: What did the Fed do in response to the COVID-19 crisis? U.S. Small Business Administration: Paycheck Protection Program U.S. Congressional Budget Office: Estimated Budgetary Effects of H.R. 5376, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 Good Jobs First: Subsidy Tracker Top 100 Parent Companies The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder: Mamdani Is Rewriting The Democratic Playbook Bloomberg: Bitcoin’s Stealth Rally Has Traders Setting Sights on $80,000 Bloomberg: Climate Change Is Already Showing Up in the Cost of Living Mother Jones: Number Go Up. The Oligarchy in Overdrive WSWS: El Salvador’s Bukele regime stages mass show trial for nearly 500 alleged gang members Pod Love Straight White American Jesus: Project 2025 in Action Book Love Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff: Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed UNFTR Resources Essay: What Will the Next Bailout look like? Video: White House Assassination Plot, Bailout Coming, and Fed's Dangerous Gamble Video: MTN Macro Take: The Warsh Man for the Job -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility.Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when global energy supply chains can no longer be trusted? Has the U.S. given up its edge in the clean energy race to China? And can politics keep up with the speed of the energy transition and the rise of AI? This week on Cleaning Up, Michael Liebreich sits down with former U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm for a wide-ranging conversation on the future of global energy, politics, and clean technology. They explore how geopolitical tensions, from disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz to shifting alliances, are reshaping global energy markets and accelerating the move away from fossil fuels. Granholm offers an insider's perspective on the impact of U.S. policy decisions under both Joe Biden and Donald Trump, including the rise, and partial dismantling, of the Inflation Reduction Act and what that means for US clean energy investment, manufacturing, and competitiveness. The discussion dives into the growing divide between ‘petrostate; U.S. and ‘electrostate' China, the global race for dominance in electric vehicles and battery storage (with companies like BYD leading the charge), and the unintended consequences of tariffs and industrial policy. Looking ahead, Granholm reflects on lessons learned from her time in office, what a future Democratic administration might do differently, and the political and economic challenges shaping the road to the next presidential election 2028: inflation, energy affordability, and the disruptive impact of AI on jobs. Leadership Circle: Cleaning Up is proud to be supported by its Leadership Circle. The members are Actis, Alcazar Energy, Arup, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Cygnum Capital, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Schneider Electric, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information about the Leadership Circle, visit cleaningup.live Links and more: What Democrats Can Learn From the Trump Energy Playbook: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-26/jennifer-granholm-democrats-should-use-trump-playbook-for-climate For Real Energy Dominance, We Need the IRA: https://heatmap.news/ideas/energy-dominance-ira-granholm Can Data Centres Play Nice With The Grid? Varun Sivaram & Steve Smith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kSrgRZUCwE ⁠The Future of Clean Tech Under Trump — Ep198: Jigar Shah: https://youtu.be/PCOaF-qQ_TU Why Renewables Are Booming Despite the Politics | Ep245: Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade: https://youtu.be/5oL_XlZ8k_M How the US Lost The Race for Clean Energy | Ep 219: Ethan Zindler https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQLkLXt9Uek 

When House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi announced her retirement last year, USA Today called her “the most powerful woman in the history of the United States.” The first woman to become speaker and one of the most consequential legislators of her era, Pelosi has represented San Francisco for nearly four decades.  First elected to Congress in 1987, Pelosi has described her journey as going from “kitchen to Congress, housewife to House Speaker.” She says she was first driven to run for office out of concern over child poverty. Among the proudest achievements she cites are shepherding passage of the Affordable Care Act and passing the American Rescue Plan Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She also points to her leadership on climate issues, including the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022— the largest climate investment in American history. In this Commonwealth Club World Affairs program, Pelosi will reflect on her career, the turning points that defined her leadership, and the future of American democracy. From her years in Washington's power centers to the upheavals of recent political history, she joins us to talk about her legacy and her view of the road ahead—including this year's midterm elections and 2028 presidential race.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Newt talks with Wayne Crews, the Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. His work explores the impact of government regulation of free enterprise. They discuss CEI’s annual report “Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State.” Crews argues that rising federal spending and regulation move together, citing post-COVID laws such as the CARES Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act as examples of “hyper-regulatory” spending that expands the administrative state even before agencies write rules. Crews contends that government is ill-suited to pick market winners, set prices, or manage sectors like energy and finance, and that market forces—suppliers, customers, investors, media, and civil society—already discipline firms without heavy-handed regulation. He stresses that rejecting overregulation does not mean “no regulation,” but rather preferring competitive over political discipline. Crews warns that massive federal spending has weakened the coalition for regulatory reform by aligning businesses, governors, and mayors with Washington through funded mandates and programmatic strings tied to priorities like DEI, climate, and the “care economy.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's EV News Briefly for Sunday 15 March 2026, everything you need to know in less than 5 minutes if you haven't got time for the full show.Patreon supporters fund this show, get the episodes ad free, as soon as they're ready and are part of the EV News Daily Community. You can be like them by clicking here: https://www.patreon.com/EVNewsDailyUSED EV SUPPLY SET TO JUMPOver 300,000 EVs are expected to come off lease in 2026, driven by a post-2022 surge in EV leasing fuelled by a federal tax credit loophole under the Inflation Reduction Act. Used EVs are already selling faster than petrol cars, making the incoming supply wave a significant affordability opportunity for buyers.GLOBAL EV SALES FALL AS CHINA CORRECTS, EUROPE MOVES FORWARDGlobal EV sales hit 1.1 million units in February 2026, down 11% year-over-year, with year-to-date totals of 2.2 million units, down 8% versus 2025. Europe was the standout performer, up 21% year-to-date, with Italy posting a record February thanks to subsidies of up to €20,000, while North America fell 36% and China dropped 26% though Chinese EV exports surpassed 500,000 units.PROLOGUE STUMBLES ON AS HONDA RETREATS FROM EVSHonda has cancelled three planned US EVs — the 0 Series SUV, 0 Series Saloon, and Acura RSX — citing declining EV demand and the rollback of US EV incentives under the Trump administration. Honda is pivoting back to hybrids, and reports suggest the Prologue will also end production in December, though Honda has called that speculation.BYD SETS PARIS DEBUT FOR FLASH CHARGINGBYD will unveil its Flash Charging technology and the Denza Z9 GT in Paris on 8 April, showcasing a second-generation Blade Battery that charges from 10% to 97% in nine minutes. The Flash Chargers can deliver up to 1,500 kW using two cables simultaneously, though BYD has not confirmed European cable standards or peak output for that market.GERMAN MOTORWAY CHARGING OPENS TO COMPETITIONA Düsseldorf court ruled on 6 March that Germany's motorway EV charging market must open to full competition, ending Tank & Rast's de-facto monopoly over fast charging at around 360 motorway service areas. The decision, brought by Fastned, requires open tenders for charging installations later in 2026 and could set a Europe-wide precedent for breaking up incumbent charging monopolies.UK POWER NETWORKS STARTS UK-FIRST V2G TRIALUK Power Networks and Octopus Energy have launched a vehicle-to-grid trial in Amersham, Worthing, and Enfield, allowing EV owners to feed power back to the grid during peak demand. The initiative includes automatic approval of V2G charger connections — a UK first — with UK Power Networks approving 80% of requests compared to the national average of just 11%.GOVERNMENT HOLDS LINE ON ZEV REVIEWThe UK government has rejected industry calls to bring forward the ZEV mandate review, maintaining a 2026 review with findings due in early 2027. Ministers say the timetable will properly identify pressure points, though the car industry's lobby group SMMT argues the transition was built on assumptions that have since proved incorrect.ZERO SELLS XB AND XE DIRECTZero Motorcycles will sell its XB and XE electric dirt bikes directly to consumers online, shipping them in a crate for home assembly of key components like the battery and front fork. Dealers will continue to sell and service both models, with the direct channel aimed at streamlining fulfilment and better competing with electric off-road rivals.BMW TEASES 2027 7 SERIES REFRESHBMW has teased the updated 2027 7 Series ahead of its world premiere next month, with the mid-cycle refresh retaining the kidney grille rather than adopting Neue Klasse styling. The i7 electric variant is expected to receive a larger battery, silicon carbide inverters for better efficiency, and the full-width Panoramic Vision display from the iX3.NISSAN TO END LEAF REMOTE APP ACCESSNissan will shut down the NissanConnect EV app on 30 March, stripping remote charging, pre-heating, and battery monitoring from older Leaf models and e-NV200 vans. The move has drawn criticism from owners who note EVs often remain in use for over 12 years, highlighting a broader industry problem where digital features can become obsolete long before the vehicle itself does.