Sunday, November 03, 2024

U$A

Soda is making a comeback


Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN
Fri, November 1, 2024

Consumers are turning away from pricier Starbucks coffee, McDonald’s Big Mac meals, Doritos chips, Monster energy drinks and Heineken beer. But they can’t stop guzzling Coke and Dr Pepper.

Both Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper said last week on quarterly earnings calls that they sold more soda cases last quarter. During the third quarter of this year, total soft drink volumes grew 1.3% from a year ago, according to data from Evercore ISI.


It’s a comeback for soda, which was in decline for two decades over the health effects of sugary drinks. Frequently drinking sugar-sweetened beverages like soda is associated with a range of chronic health problems, including weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

“This is so different than five, ten years ago,” said Robert Ottenstein, an analyst at Evercore ISI. “There’s been a huge change in attitude. These products were declining 4% a year for a long time.”

The World Health Organization also said last year for the first time that aspartame, a popular artificial sweetener found in diet sodas, should be categorized as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”

But consumers right now seem willing to brush off health concerns. They view sugary Coke and Dr Pepper, or newer sugar-free sodas like Coke Zero, as a more affordable treat than other choices like an energy drink, flavored tea, a bag of chips or a candy bar.

The average price of 16 ounces of potato chips in September was $6.46, while a 2-liter soft drink was $2.00, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Cans of Dr Pepper soda are displayed on June 3, 2024 in San Anselmo, California. - Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

New marketing and renewed interest from younger consumers are also boosting soda brands.

Soda’s growth comes as consumers are closely watching their purchases and passing up anything they don’t perceive as a good deal. Companies have hiked prices by as much as 40% since the pandemic began in 2020, and consumers are walking away from brands whose prices they feel have gotten out of control. They’re also eating out less, making quicker trips to the store — rather than loading up their carts with expensive grocery hauls — and buying stores’ cheaper private-label brands.


“The carbonated soft drinks category is outperforming our expectations,” Timothy Cofer, the CEO of Dr Pepper parent company Keurig Dr Pepper, said on an earnings call. Soft drinks’ low prices position them to appeal to “value-seeking consumers,” he said.

It’s a reversal of years of declining soda sales.

In 2015, US per-capita consumption of soft drinks fell to its lowest level since 1986. Coca-Cola and Pepsi bought up flavored water, energy drink and other beverage lines to fuel growth, giving consumers more drink choices than ever.


But soda sales grew during the pandemic as consumers loaded up at grocery stores and returned to old favorites with restaurants closed. More recently, soft drink sales have been aided by lower- and middle-income consumers seeking inexpensive indulgences, companies and analysts say.

In some cases, consumers may be switching from more expensive energy drinks to a cheaper can of soda to get their caffeine rush. “Middle and lower-income consumers that are frequent users of energy drinks are moving into soft drinks,” said Duane Stanford, the editor of Beverage Digest, a trade publication.

A view of Coke Zero Sugar at the New York City Wine & Food Festival on October 14, 2021. - Noam Galai/Getty Images for NYCWFF


Coke Zero and Dr Pepper Creamy Coconut

Soda’s comeback has also been bolstered by the rapid growth of sugarless sodas like Coke Zero Sugar. Coke Zero’s volume increased 11% last quarter, the company said. Regular Coke’s volumes were flat, while Diet Coke grew.

Zero-sugar sodas have been the biggest growth areas for the industry, said Stanford. Coke started the trend in 2005, and gave Coke Zero a makeover in 2021 to make it taste and look more like regular Coke.

Although companies market no-sugar or diet sodas as better alternatives to full-sugar versions, they should not be considered healthier because they contain artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners have been shown to have harmful effects on the gut and, counterproductively, can increase weight gain, said Laura Schmidt, a professor of health policy at the University of California at San Francisco’s medical school who studies the impact of sugar and the soda industry.

“Switching from one ingredient that causes harm to a different ingredient that causes harm isn’t a solution,” she said.

New marketing is also helping soda brands. Dr Pepper’s “Creamy Coconut” limited-time version boosted sales, and its new Canada Dry “Fruit Splash” flavor was its “most significant launch in years,” CEO Cofer said. The company also redesigned 7Up cans for the first time in a decade.

Dr Pepper last year surpassed Pepsi as the second biggest soda brand in America behind Coke. Dr Pepper has invested heavily in marketing during college football games and come up with novel flavors like strawberries and cream to entice soda drinkers.

While consumers are drinking more Coke, Coke Zero, Dr Pepper and Canada Dry, Pepsi’s soda sales are struggling.

PepsiCo Inc.'s FritoLay branded products at a supermarket in Latham, New York on Friday, February 2, 2024. - Angus Mordant/Bloomberg/Getty Images

PepsiCo has focused on marketing and investing in snack brands in the United States at the expense of sugary soda brands, analysts say. Food has grown to make up 59% of PepsiCo’s sales.

Unlike Coca-Cola and Keurig Dr Pepper, Pepsi has a massive food business — its sprawling portfolio includes Quaker, Frito-Lay and more. When it comes to drinks, it seems to be focused on investing in its zero-sugar lines of Gatorade and other brands over regular Pepsi, analysts say.
‘Diet Coke Break’

“Dirty soda,” a popular TikTok trend that combines soda with syrup and cream, has also driven interest in soda brands among younger consumers interested in creating their own soda concoctions.

“Dirty soda” has become popular in Mormon culture, where the faith prohibits consuming coffee and alcohol. But thanks to Mormon influencers on TikTok and the Netflix show “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, the sugary drinks are becoming more and more mainstream. Dr Pepper launched its “Creamy Coconut” drink over the summer to capitalize on the dirty soda trend.


TikTok has also recently become filled with “Dirty Diet Coke,” “Crispy Diet Coke” and “DietCokeBreak” recipe videos where people leave cans of Diet Coke in the fridge for weeks and then pour them into a glass, sometimes with citrus powder, to get the most fizziness.

Singer Dua Lipa gave Coke its latest viral hit this month when she posted a video sharing her Diet Coke recipe, which combines Diet Coke, pickle juice and jalapeƱo sauce. It has 10 million views on TikTok and sparked responses from celebrities like Gordon Ramsay, who spit out the drink and warned the recipe would “ruin your vocal cords.”

“I don’t want to say I started the Diet Coke break, but I think I sort of did,” Kristen Hollingshaus, a social media influencer known as the “Diet Coke Girl,” told CNN.

In 2021, she began posting videos of herself on TikTok taking a pause during the day to drink Diet Coke. But it wasn’t just any can of Diet Coke. She “made it special” by pouring out the Diet Coke into a glass, adding ice and True Lime powder. Her posts gained traction online, with some racking up more than two million views, and she began a paid partnership with Diet Coke over the summer.

“This was mindfulness for me,” she said of her Diet Coke breaks. “It was taking a mindful five minutes out of my day to enjoy something.”

She typically drinks a Diet Coke a day and does not worry about the health impact.

“I think there are vices out there that are so much worse than a Diet Coke,” she said.

CNN’s Ramishah Maruf contributed to this article.

EXPLAINER

Social media star Peanut the Squirrel has been euthanized after being seized from NY home

Greta Cross, USA TODAY

Updated Sat, November 2, 2024 



Two days after he was seized from his home in New York, Peanut the Squirrel has been euthanized.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Chemung County Department of Health announced through a statement on Friday afternoon that both a squirrel and raccoon confiscated from a residence on Wednesday had been euthanized to test for rabies. The statement said a person involved in the confiscation investigation was bitten by the squirrel.

Peanut the Squirrel, who boasted 534,000 followers on Instagram, was taken from his home in Pine City, New York, by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation on Wednesday morning. Peanut, also known as PNUT, was the beloved pet of content creator Mark Longo. In more than 1,400 posts shared to Instagram, Peanut can be seen munching on waffles, jumping through hula-hoops, and greeting Longo home from work.

According to DEC and health department statement, rabies have been found in raccoons in New York's Southern Tier, which includes Pine City, for more than 30 years.

Over the past several days, Longo has shared several statements on Peanut's Instagram account, keeping fans updated, in hopes that Peanut may return home. At the time of publication, Longo had not posted in regards to the recent news.

"It has been a terrible nightmare for me," Longo said in his most recent video, posted Friday morning.

Peanut the Squirrel euthanized: Social media users weigh in on Peanut the Squirrel being euthanized: 'This can’t be real'

In response to Peanut's seizure, a Change.org petition and GoFundMe campaign were created to "return him (Peanut)" to his family. As of Friday afternoon, the petition had 28,025 signatures, and the GoFundMe has raised $7,875.

Why do animals have to be euthanized to test for rabies?

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, animals showing signs of rabies must be euthanized for the submission of specimen to a qualified rabies laboratory for testing. This is because a rabies test includes a "full cross-section of tissue from both the brain stem and cerebellum." There are no approved methods for testing rabies in animals ante-mortem.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Chemung County Department of Health advised that anyone who has been in contact with the seized squirrel or raccoon consult a physician.

Who was Peanut the Squirrel?

Peanut was a rescue squirrel who had lived under Longo's care for seven years.

Longo first connected with Peanut when he saw the squirrel's mom get hit by a car, per previous USA TODAY reporting. Unfortunately, the mother passed, leaving Peanut an orphan. Longo was unsuccessful in finding a shelter that would take him in. Longo ended up feeding baby Peanut for about eight months before attempting to release him back into the wild.

"I released him in the backyard, and a day and a half later, I found him sitting on my porch, missing half his tail. So here I am, bawling my eyes out, like, I failed you as your human," Longo told USA TODAY in 2022. "And I kind of opened the door, he ran inside and that was the last of Peanut's wildlife career."

For the first five years, Longo, Peanut, and Longo's cat, Chloe, lived together in harmony.

Last year, Longo established P'Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary in Pine City. The nonprofit serves as a "haven where neglected and homeless animals receive a second chance at life," according to its website. To date, 18 horses, one mini horse, four cows, three alpacas, one parrot, one pig and two geese call the sanctuary home, according to its website.

USA TODAY contacted Longo but was unsuccessful in connecting with him for an interview.

Is it legal for squirrels to be kept as pets in NY?

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation states that it is illegal for young wildlife to be kept as pets.

"Inappropriate care given to young wildlife often results in abnormal attachment to humans," the Department of Environmental Conservation states. "After release, some return to places where people live, only to be attacked by domestic animals or to be hit by cars. Some become nuisances getting into stored food, trash cans or dwellings. And some may be thrust as unwelcome intruders into the home range of another member of their species."

If an individual finds a young wild animal that is injured or orphaned, the department recommends making a call to a wildlife rehabilitator, who "are the only people legally allowed to receive and treat distressed wildlife." The goal of rehabilitators is to safely release the animal, when healthy, back into the wild.

This story has been updated to correct a grammatical error and spelling error of the word "raccoon."

Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at gcross@gannett.com.


A robot retrieves the first melted fuel from Fukushima nuclear reactor

MARI YAMAGUCHI
Sat, November 2, 2024

A device to remove debris from a reactor at the damaged Fukushima Nuclear power plant demonstrates to pinch a stone, as revealed in Kobe, western Japan, May 28, 2024. 
(Kyodo News via AP, File)

FILE - Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, also known as TEPCO, the operator of Japan's wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, reveals a robot to be used to retrieve debris at the power plant in Kobe, western Japan, May 28, 2024. 
(Kyodo News via AP, File)

TOKYO (AP) — A remote-controlled robot has safely returned with a tiny piece of melted fuel it collected from inside one of three damaged reactors at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant for the first time since the 2011 meltdown.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, which manages the plant, said Saturday that the extendable fishing rod-like robot successfully clipped a gravel as big as 5 millimeters (2 inches), the size of a tiny granola bit, from the top surface of a mound of molten fuel debris that sits on the bottom of the No. 2 reactor’s primary containment vessel.

The “telesco” robot, with its frontal tongs still holding the melted fuel bit, returned to the enclosed container for safe storage after workers in full hazmat gear pulled it out of the containment vessel earlier Saturday.

The sample return marks the first time the melted fuel is retrieved out of the containment vessel. But the mission is not over until it's certain that the sample's radioactivity is below a set standard and safely placed into a container.

If the radioactivity exceeds the limit, the robot must go back inside the reactor to find another piece. TEPCO officials said they expect the piece is small enough to meet the requirement.

The mission initially started in August for what was supposed to be a two-week round trip but had been suspended twice due to mishaps.

First one was the procedural mistake at the beginning that held up the work for nearly three weeks, then the robot’s two cameras designed to transmit views of the target areas for its operators in the remote control room failed. The camera problem required the robot to be pulled out all the way for replacement before the mission resumed Monday.

Fukushima Daiichi lost its key cooling systems during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, causing meltdowns in its three reactors. An estimated 880 tons of fatally radioactive molten fuel remains in them, and TEPCO has carried out a number of robotic probes to figure out how to decommission the plant.

Telesco on Wednesday successfully clipped a piece presumably measuring less than 3 grams (0.1 ounce) from the planned area right underneath the Unit 2 reactor core, from which large amounts of melted fuel fell during the meltdown 13 years ago, TEPCO said.

Plant chief Akira Ono said only the tiny spec can provide key data to plan decommissioning strategy, develop necessary technology and robots and retroactively learn how the accident had developed.

The government and TEPCO have set a 30-to-40-year target for the cleanup, which experts say is overly optimistic and should be updated.

No specific plans for the full removal of the fuel debris or its final disposal have been decided.

SAYING THE QUIET PART OUTLOUD

Speaker Mike Johnson walks back comments that GOP would ‘probably’ try to repeal CHIPS Act

GET CAUGHT AND BACKPEDAL AS FAST AS YOU CAN

Annie Grayer and Gregory Krieg, CNN
Sat, November 2, 2024 

House Speaker Mike Johnson might have put a significant dent in the reelection hopes of one of the GOP’s most vulnerable congressional incumbents on Friday and later backtracked comments where he said he would consider repealing the CHIPS Act.

Earlier in the day at a campaign stop in Syracuse, New York, Johnson had told reporters that Republicans “probably will” try to repeal the semiconductor chip manufacturing package if they control Congress and former President Donald Trump wins the White House. The legislation is poised to bring a $100 billion microchip manufacturing center to the area where Johnson was campaigning with GOP Rep. Brandon Williams.

“As I have further explained and clarified, I fully support Micron coming to Central NY, and the CHIPS Act is not on the agenda for repeal,” Johnson lat er said in a statement. “To the contrary, there could be legislation to further streamline and improve the primary purpose of the bill—to eliminate its costly regulations and Green New Deal requirements.”

At the campaign event, Williams – who is facing a tough challenge from Democratic state Sen. John Mannion – had stepped in to say he would “remind (Johnson) night and day how important the CHIPS Act is” as Micron prepares to break ground on a plant in New York.

Williams said in a statement later Friday that he “spoke privately with the Speaker immediately after the event. He apologized profusely, saying he misheard the question.”

The CHIPS and Science Act was passed in 2022 and will invest more than $200 billion over a five-year period to help the US regain a leading position in semiconductor chip manufacturing. The new funding was intended to help companies bring chip manufacturing back to the US and, as a result, help lower costs and prevent supply chain disruptions.

Earlier Friday, Johnson was asked by a reporter from Citrus TV News, “The former president has said that he doesn’t support the CHIPS and Sciences Act. You voted against it. If you have a Republican majority in Congress and Trump in the White House, will you guys try to repeal that law?”

“I expect that we probably will, but we haven’t developed that part of the agenda yet,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to get over the election first and that’s why we’re so happy to be in New York’s 22nd. Brandon Williams is one of the most important races in the country and that’s why Democrats are spending millions and millions and millions of dollars to try to unseat him.”

After Williams defended the CHIPS Act, which he described as “hugely impactful here,” Johnson then said, “When you have an issue where consensus is necessary to be built, ‘cause different states have different perspectives on these things, you have to have somebody who is a strong advocate for that legislation. People listen to Brandon Williams. If that is an important thing for your district, you need this guy there to make that case.”

Johnson later said his objection to the CHIPS Act was related to other programs that were included in the bill. “We’re going to support chip manufacturing, we do not support the Green New Deal. When you separate those two things, that makes it a whole lot simpler,” he said.

Democrats immediately pounced on the gaffe. The “Kamala HQ” account on X posted video of the exchange, and Mannion commented, “Trump wants to dismantle, Johnson is in lock-step, Williams calls it corporate welfare.”

“In Congress, I’ll defend CHIPS and Science and keep the investments coming home to (Central New York) and the Mohawk Valley,” Mannion wrote.

Williams was not yet in Congress when the bill passed but criticized it on the campaign trail in 2022.

Harris Blasts Mike Johnson for Spilling GOP Plan to Repeal Bipartisan Jobs Bill

Althea Legaspi and Ryan Bort
Sat, November 2, 2024


Vice President Kamala Harris blasted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Saturday following his comment that the GOP may look to repeal the CHIPS and Science Act if they maintain control of Congress.

“I want to speak to the comments that have been recently made by the speaker of the House,” Harris told reporters in Milwaukee, according to NBC News. “It is just further evidence of everything that I’ve actually been talking about for months now, about [former President Donald] Trump’s intention to implement Project 2025.”

Johnson has spent the week before the election revealing his intention to take an axe to popular legislation next year. On Friday, while attending an event in New York with Rep. Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.) whose seat is vulnerable, Johnson was asked whether Republicans will seek to repeal the CHIPS Act, a bipartisan manufacturing and jobs bill President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022.

“I expect that we probably will,” Johnson said.

This put Williams in the awkward position to disagree with Johnson while standing beside him. “The CHIPS Act is hugely impactful here,” Williams said, vowing to “remind” Johnson “night and day” about the law’s significance.

Later, Johnson walked back his comment, saying in a statement: “As I have further explained and clarified, I fully support Micron coming to Central NY, and the CHIPS Act is not on the agenda for repeal. To the contrary, there could be legislation to further streamline and improve the primary purpose of the bill — to eliminate its costly regulations and Green New Deal requirements.”

Williams said in a statement that Johnson apologized and said “he misheard the question.”

Enacted in 2022, the CHIPS and Science Act, “establishes and provides funding for the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Fund to carry out activities relating to the creation of incentives to produce semiconductors in the United States,” per the summary. The Commerce Department notes that the ACT has led to $53 billion in spending on semiconductors, $30 billion in private sector investments, 16 new semiconductor plants, and added more than 100,000 new manufacturing and construction jobs to date.

Earlier this week, Johnson said he wants take down the Affordable Care Act, the Obama-era health care law Trump and Republicans have been trying to repeal for years — without any plan to replace it. “No Obamacare,” Johnson said. “The ACA is so deeply ingrained, we need massive reform to make this work, and we got a lot of ideas on how to do that.”

Trump tried to distance himself from Johnson’s comments, which the House Speaker later tried to walk back by claiming that when he said the ACA was “deeply ingrained” he meant it should stay that way.

Democrats have been hitting Johnson and Republicans for their plans to take down both popular pieces of legislation. On Saturday, Harris continued to rail on Johnson’s comment about potentially repealing the CHIPS Act, saying that he only walked-back his initial statement “because it’s not popular, and their agenda is not popular.”



HuffPost

“And that’s why people are showing up by the thousands, tens of thousands, to talk about an agenda that actually is focused on lifting them up,” she added.


Harris slams Speaker Johnson’s comments about CHIPS Act

Juliann Ventura
Sat, November 2, 2024 


Vice President Harris took a swipe at Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) Friday evening, after Johnson said on the campaign trail that he would “probably” move to try to repeal the CHIPS and Science Act.

The Republican leader later backtracked on the comment, clarifying in a joint statement with Rep. Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.) that he “misheard” the question.

“Let’s be clear why he walked it back. Because it’s not popular,” Harris told reporters Friday in Milwaukee. “And their agenda is not popular.”



The Harris campaign also released a statement Friday slamming the Speaker’s comments.

Harris-Walz rapid response director Ammar Moussa also released a statement on Friday, slamming the speaker’s comments.

“His and Donald Trump’s closing argument is clear: cut billions in key investments, ship American jobs overseas, and end the Affordable Care Act,” Ammar Moussa, Harris’s rapid response director, said in the statement.

“Vice President Harris is running to bring manufacturing jobs back to America and make us competitive globally, Moussa added. “The only way to guarantee these Republicans never get a chance to repeal these laws that are creating jobs and saving Americans money is to elect her President.”

The comments come after Williams, a vulnerable member this election cycle, seemed to awkwardly contradict Johnson when asked about the legislation — signed into law by President Biden in 2022 — which seeks to strengthen domestic chip manufacturing and finance scientific research to boost U.S. competitiveness.

“No. Obviously, the CHIPS Act is hugely impactful here,” Williams said during the event. “My job is to keep lobbying on my side. That’s why I crossed the aisle and supported many things against leadership. But that’s our partnership, that’s how we’re going to get through it.”

Despite the “clarification,” Democrats have been quick to feature Johnson’s comments into their campaign messaging.

Harris, according to reporting from The Associated Press, has also criticized the Louisiana Republican for suggesting the GOP could cut semiconductor manufacturing investments.

“It is my plan and intention to continue to invest in American manufacturing,” Harris told reporters in Milwaukee, per the AP.

The Hill has contacted Johnson’s press office for comment.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


Speaker of the House ‘apologized profusely’ for saying he’d ‘probably will’ try to repeal CHIPS Act

Andrew Donovan
Fri, November 1, 2024 


SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Congressman Brandon Williams says Speaker of the House Mike Johnson “apologized profusely” for comments threatening the landmark legislation credited with attracting Micron to Central New York.

When asked if he, President Donald Trump and a Republican majority in Congress would repeal the CHIPS and Science Act, Johnson said: “I expect that we probably will.”

Standing next to the speaker, Congressman Brandon Williams shared a different position, saying he would not vote in favor of repealing the law.

Williams said: “Obviously, the CHIPS Act is hugely impactful here and my job is to keep lobbying on my side.”

Putting his hand on Johnson’s back, Williams said, “I will remind him night and day how important the CHIPS Act is and that we break ground on Micron.”

“People listen to Brandon Williams,” said Speaker Johnson. “If that’s an important thing for your district, you need this guy there to make that case.”

Johnson’s comments were made when he took questions from reporters after speaking alongside Congressman Williams at a rally of about 200 supporters at the CNY Regional Market.

Within an hour, the Williams campaign was working to clarify the Speaker’s comments.

Congressman Brandon Williams said, “I spoke privately with the Speaker immediately after the event. He apologized profusely, saying he misheard the question. He clarified his comments on the spot and I trust local media to play his full comments on supporting repatriation of chips manufacturing to America.”

At the event, Johnson said, “It is so important for national security, and onshoring chips manufacturing here, this district being central to that — we want to do that. You’ll have 100% agreement by President Trump and all the Republicans in Congress. What we were opposed to in that bill was that it had too much crammed into it.”

In a written statement after, forwarded by the Williams Campaign, Speaker Mike Johnson said, “As I have further explained and clarified, I fully support Micron coming to Central NY, and the CHIPS Act is not on the agenda for repeal. To the contrary, there could be legislation to further streamline and improve the primary purpose of the bill-to eliminate its costly regulations and Green New Deal requirements.”

Knowing former President Donald Trump also trashed the CHIPS legislation on a podcast last week, Governor Kathy Hochul said she’d defend the project regardless of what happens on Election Day.

“Every other state wanted Micron,” said the governor, “we secured what is now the largest private sector investment in American history, going on right now and he dare say that it’s a bad program. So is he basically saying he’d rather semiconductor chips be manufactured in China?”

Hochul said: “If he becomes the president, which I do not foresee at all, that’s my prediction, do not foresee that, I will work with anyone to make sure he does not stop this critical project.”


Biden Says 'Not A Single, Solitary Republican' Helped Him And Harris Save Workers' Pensions

Dave Jamieson
Fri, November 1, 2024

President Joe Biden reminded Pennsylvanians on Friday that he, Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats safeguarded more than 1 million people’s pensions without any help from the GOP.

Visiting a union hall in Philadelphia, Biden and local union leaders highlighted the American Rescue Plan of 2021 and how it funded union pension plans that were facing insolvency. The pensions of an estimated 1.2 million workers and retirees have been protected from cuts due to the legislation.

It was no accident that the event took place in Pennsylvania, perhaps the most critical of battleground states for Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and for her opponent, former President Donald Trump. Democrats have worried about Harris’ strength with the kind of blue-collar union voters whose pensions were backstopped by the bill.

Biden made sure anyone listening knew that the pension rescue got no Republican backing when Democrats muscled it through Congress over three years ago as part of a larger, pandemic-era stimulus package. It passed on a party-line vote in the Senate, with Harris casting a tie-breaker at a critical juncture for the bill.

The president said the vote underscored the hyperpartisan nature of Congress these days.

“We used to have real differences in the Senate. But at least when the critical things, we ended up getting together. But not anymore,” Biden said. “This is a different deal we’re working with. Not a single, solitary Republican in the House or the Senate, not one, voted to help with the pensions. Not one single one.”

“It’s the way things have gotten,” he added. “It’s wrong.”



President Joe Biden speaks about his administration's support for unions in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. TING SHEN/AFP via Getty Images

He said that he and Harris “worked like hell” to include the pension rescue, known as the Butch Lewis Act, as part of the American Rescue Plan, and theorized that some Republicans would have voted for it but were afraid to cross party leaders.

“I believe a lot of those Republicans who voted no thought it was wrong. But they’re afraid to vote the right way,” Biden said.

The legislation provided an estimated $74 billion to $91 billion to shore up troubled multiemployer pension plans, which are funds that employers pay into under collective bargaining agreements. The funds can run into trouble when union membership declines over time, with more retirees drawing down benefits and fewer contributions going in on behalf of active workers.

The White House said Pennsylvania is home to an estimated 65,000 of the workers and retirees helped by the legislation. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., a government-run entity that insures multiemployer pension plans, said Friday it had approved an application to pump $684 million into a plan covering 29,000 workers and retirees in the service sector.

The pension rescue became something of a campaign story after the International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ executive board declined to make an endorsement in the presidential race. The Teamsters had the largest pension plan saved from cuts, and so the decision not to back Harris angered many members and labor allies

John Pishko, a retired Teamster from western Pennsylvania, spoke at the Philadelphia event about how the legislation helped save his retirement. He said he was set to lose 30% of his pension benefit, or about $1,000 a month, before Democrats stepped in with the bailout.

“That’s a pretty substantial cut to any working man,” Pishko said. “It was devastating.”

He had assumed he would “never” be able to stave off those cuts.

“It matters when you have a president and vice president who has your back,” he said.


Biden visits Philadelphia to tout American Rescue Plan funding to save service workers’ pensions

Kim Lyons
Sat, November 2, 2024 


President Joe Biden, center, gets his picture taken with supporters shortly after giving a speech at the United Steelworkers Headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

The Biden administration on Friday announced that looming cuts for United Food and Commercial Workers’ (UFCW) pensions across Pennsylvania have been averted, after receiving special funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.

President Joe Biden was in Philadelphia Friday to tout the $684.4 million that the UFCW Tri-State Plan, which covers more than 29,000 service industry workers, will receive from the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program. The pension plan was projected to become insolvent in 2028, meaning reductions to the workers’ monthly pension benefits of 15%.

The SFA was enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill Biden signed in 2021. As of Nov. 1, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp (PBGC) has approved $69.5 billion in SFA funds to pension plans that cover about 1.2 million workers, retirees, and beneficiaries, according to the White House.

John Dean of King of Prussia, a member of UFCW 1776 for 36 years, said Friday in Philadelphia that as shop steward for the union at the Acme market where he works he would get questions from members about the pension plan. “After going to a few meetings and gathering information, I had the answers, and they weren’t good,” Dean said.

He learned the pension plan was headed toward insolvency and saw little hope of a fix with Republicans controlling Congress and the White House. But after Biden was elected, and passed the American Rescue Plan in 2021, “and it was life changing for our members and their families. Thanks to the Biden Harris administration, our pension, which was on the verge of being insolvent by 2026 is now secure into the 2050s,” he said.

Biden reminded the gathering at the Sprinkler Fitters Local 692 in Northeast Philadelphia on Friday that the legislation that made the pension protection possible was named for the late Teamster Butch Lewis, who fought to protect union retirees’ benefits.



“Before the Butch Lewis Act became the law of the land, union workers and retirees faced cuts of up to 70% or more of the retirement benefits through no fault of their own,” Biden said. He noted that no Congressional Republicans had voted for the American Rescue Plan. “But now [union workers] know because of what we’ve done, we see the full amount of the pensions they worked hard for, and they’ll receive it.”

Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su told the Capital-Star in an interview that many of the affected supermarket workers are part of the sandwich generation taking care of children and parents. “These are, if not our own family members they are our friends and neighbors,” she said. “These are people that we see doing the hard work, and they make sure that we have food on our tables, and making sure they have their retirement is about ensuring they get food on theirs.”

During the stop in Philadelphia, Biden called out U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) who he said had “championed” the Butch Lewis Act.

“Workers are the backbone of our Commonwealth and thanks to the American Rescue Plan, tens of thousands of families can continue relying on their pensions without worrying that their plans may be cut,” Casey said in a statement. “I fought for this fix because I know how critical pensions are to the futures of thousands of Pennsylvania families, and how scary it was for those families to face the possibility of the rug being pulled out from underneath them.”

Biden makes historic visit to metro Detroit picket line to rally with striking auto workers

Biden said he was proud to be considered the “most pro-union president in history,” something he pushed during his brief reelection bid. He was the first sitting president to walk a picket line when he joined United Auto Workers in Michigan last year during their strike against the Big Three American auto companies.

According to the White House, Pennsylvania has the second-highest number of people who had their pensions saved under Biden, at 65,000. Michigan tops the list, at 80,000, and Wisconsin is third, at 33,000.

All three are key “Blue Wall” swing states that both presidential candidates have campaigned in relentlessly, and will continue to do so up until the eve of the election. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, will visit Allentown, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia on Monday, and former President DOnald Trump, the GOP nominee, has rallies planned in Reading and Pittsburgh the same day.

What to know about changes to Mexico's Constitution that prohibit court challenges to amendments

MARƍA VERZA
Fri, November 1, 2024 

President Claudia Sheinbaum speaks on her inauguration day after being sworn in at Congress in Mexico City, Oct. 1, 2024. 
(AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's federal and state legislatures, all dominated by the ruling Morena party, have passed amendments to the Constitution that prohibit courts from challenging any Constitutional reforms.

In the past, courts in Mexico had been able to rule on whether a new reform violated existing precepts in the Constitution or international treaties that Mexico has signed.

But starting Friday, the changes will grant immunity from challenge to any amendment passed by two-thirds majorities in Congress and two-thirds of state legislatures.

The ruling Morena party says courts shouldn't be able to place themselves above elected bodies, but critics say the new measures weaken checks and balances and eliminate people's recourse to argue violations of their rights in court.

Why was the reform passed?

The Morena party, founded by former president AndrĆ©s Manuel LĆ³pez Obrador, was angered by courts blocking some of his key policies.

For example, when LĆ³pez Obrador tried to pass laws giving state-owned utilities a majority market share, courts ruled that violated the Constitution's requirement for free competition. LĆ³pez Obrador left office on Sept. 30, but fellow party member President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office Oct. 1, has vowed to continue all of his policies.

What was the law before?

While it was always unclear whether judges could rule that parts of the Constitution violated other parts of the Constitution, it was also accepted that certain precepts like human rights or international treaties stood above all other principles. Now it is not clear whether there is any avenue — apart from going to international tribunals — to appeal.

Why are critics upset?

Endowed with two-thirds majorities in both houses of Congress, the ruling Morena party has pushed through a whirlwind of Constitutional changes, including militarizing federal law enforcement, sometimes in a matter of hours, with almost no discussion and very little time for legislators to even read the changes

Critics say that Mexico's judiciary — even though it has had problems with corruption, nepotism and inefficiency in the past — is the only branch of government that Morena doesn't control, and so the ruling party wants to weaken it.

That leaves any party that controls the presidency and legislative branch essentially able to approve any changes they want, including potentially declaring Mexico a monarchy, according to Georgina de la Fuente of the non-governmental group Latin American Observatory on Political Reforms.

What else has changed?

The ruling party has already pushed through a Constitutional reform that will make all judges, right up to the Supreme Court, stand for election.

Opponents say that will not only open the way for party-line votes on court positions, but also open the possibility that the country’s powerful drug cartels will get their own candidates elected as judges, because someone will have to pay for all those election campaigns.

Critics are also upset about the minimal requirements for candidates for judgeships, including letters of recommendation from neighbors, a 4 out of 5 minimum grade point average in law school and a few years of undefined “legal experience.” That compares to the sort of civil-service type of advancement system currently in place, where judges are appointed after serving in supporting court positions for years.

Can the reform be blocked?

Mexico's Supreme Court could hear arguments against the Constitutional reform, but it's not clear if they will have grounds to do so, and anyway, almost all the justices have said they will tender their resignations in August because of the new rules saying judges must be elected.

The new reform also has a sort of retroactive effect, so that it basically cancels legal appeals filed by court employees who feel their rights were violated by the reform to elect judges. Many of those court employees have spent decades working their way up the civil service system, in hopes of one day being judges.

How is this different from other countries?

The changes put Mexico in unknown territory. In many countries, people can file appeals alleging that specific laws or Constitutional amendments have violated their rights or their interests. While few court challenges have ever overturned Constitutional amendments, they can affect the interpretation of those amendments. And while some countries, like the United States, elect judges at the lower or local level, almost nobody has ever wiped their slate of federal judges clean and held hundreds — perhaps thousands — of elections for new judges within a short period of time.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america




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