The omnibus spending bill the President signed into law included three major bills I introduced - one on student loans, and two (surprise!) on energy policy. Will do a thread on each: first what we did to help make college a little more affordable. Thread:
1/ Last year, I introduced the GRADUATE Act with @CongressmanRaja, @RepDebHaaland and @RepSylviaGarcia to repeal Section 455(q) of the Higher Education Act of 1965.
2/ This law limits access to federally-subsidized college loans to people who complete their degrees within 150% of the "published length" (e.g., 6 years for a bachelors, 3 years for an associates)
3/ The result has been to raise the student loan costs for lots of folks who took a little longer to graduate. Maybe because they had to take a break to work, or because they started a family, or had to take time off to care for a loved one.
4/ Our goal as a government should be to ensure that everyone lives up to their potential, not to only reward traditional students. So we filed a bill to eliminate that section of the code.
5/ It's just a few words of legislation, but a big deal for a lot of families in #IL06, and nationwide. And I'm pleased to say that it's now the law of the land. Image
6/ That's from page 5305 for those who want to read more. It's far from everything we need to ensure college affordability, and just one of many bills we introduced. But really happy to see this one signed into law. More on the other provisions later this week. /fin
Postscript: here's how this started, for those who like the whole "how a bill becomes a law" story - meant to embed this up above! casten.house.gov/media/press-re…

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More from @SeanCasten

30 Dec
One final thread on legislation I introduced this term that made it into the Omnibus bill: The Clean Industrial Technology Act, to create a $500M R&D program focused on hard-to-decarbonize industries:
1/ As I've mentioned many times, there are only 3 things the US has to do to get climate change under control: (a) double our energy efficiency, on a Btu/$ of GDP basis (b) Get to zero emissions by 1985 and (c) figure out how to decarbonize hard to decarb industries.
2/ Getting (a) done would take us to the efficiency of Switzerland. It is economically beneficial, environmentally beneficial and technologically possible.
Read 12 tweets
29 Dec
For today's thread: the Grid Energy Storage Act that I introduced and the BEST Act introduced by @RepBillFoster which were combined to provide over $1 billion for energy storage in the Omnibus:
1/ First, a bit of nerdy but really relevant background. Looking through @EIAgov data a few years ago, I noticed that falling coal MWh were just about exactly offset by rising (cleaner) combined cycle gas MWh, but in the midwest CO2 emissions from power gen were slightly rising.
2/ The rise was just about exactly matched by increased MWh from comparatively inefficient simple cycle gas turbine power plants. This was driven substantially, if paradoxically by the success of renewable energy.
Read 13 tweets
26 Dec
I spent a few days before Xmas checking in our mayors in #IL06. Wanted to share some observations on a common theme that came up, and how you all can help: the COVID vaccine distribution process. Thread.
1/ First, the process is heroic, noble, unprecedented and chaotic. Good people trying to scale something massive, building the tools as they build the house in real time.
2/ Seen from some angles, that is awe-inspiring. Seen from others, it looks like a total cluster. As the old metaphor about the blind men feeling and elephant goes, we are all well served to avoid drawing conclusions from incomplete information.
Read 18 tweets
23 Dec
A few things to know about the COVID relief and omnibus package we passed in the House and Senate yesterday and the risks / causes of Trump's shenanigans over the last 24 hours:
1/ I am not a mind-reader and with this much in flux am not inclined to offer "hot takes". This is just about the stakes so you all can understand what's at stake.
2/ The bill we passed was $900B of COVID-specific relief AND a long-overdue omnibus funding package to fund government for the next year. If he doesn't sign this bill it risks not only COVID relief, but also a government shutdown.
Read 9 tweets
21 Dec
So as we wait for the vote on our year end spending package, an #energytwitter nerd thread, prompted by yesterday's poll. What agency is responsible for US energy policy?
1/ First an apology to my wife and her colleagues in the market research industry. This was a poorly constructed poll and results should be taken with a grain of salt.
2/ My own view (which @ronen_schatsky correctly sussed out) is "none". This was a trick question. I will stipulate that the lack of consensus among the Nerds of EnergyTwitter is directionally consistent with that view.
Read 20 tweets
21 Dec
The COVID relief bill we are passing on the floor today will be the 2nd biggest appropriations bill ever passed by Congress (after CARES, bigger than ARRA). It is enormously impactful and yet will only buy us a couple months to bridge to Biden.
So be wary of anyone who tells you that (a) injecting $900B into the economy isn't a big deal OR (b) that our work here is done and we must now shift to fiscal austerity.
We pushed for much more money, way back in June in the House, but McConnell ignored it. He has acted now on this smaller, later bill because he's nervous losing his majority. What we got isn't nothing. But getting what we need in a few months depends on Georgia.
Read 7 tweets

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