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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Last week when Donald Trump and Joe Biden met at the White House, the current president promised a smooth transition.
My eye.
Since that meeting a mere 5 days ago Joe Biden has made three policy decisions that the Trump Admininstration specifically opposes. You would think that part of a smooth transition is not trying to lock in policies that the winner of an election doesn’t want.
So, what has Joe Biden done?
First, he allowed a new federal tax on methane gas. That’s the byproduct of burning natural gas. Biden favors not-ready-for-prime-time wind and solar. (We don’t have the necessary battery technology to store up the power from windmills and solar panels for when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining). Instead the Biden administration will make it more expensive to produce electricity with coal and natural gas, which are plentiful within the United States.
Next, the Biden Administration allowed New York Governor Kathy Hochul to re-start her congestion pricing plan – $9 for each car that enters lower Manhattan. She, of course, paused the unpopular tolling in the months before the election. The plan needed federal government approval. Trump would have blocked it, Biden allowed it to go forward.
And over the weekend Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to use US-provided weapons to strike within Russia. Trump favors descalating the war and reaching a negotiated settlement. Biden does not. Whether you love him or hate him, one of Donald Trumps achievements is to keep military conflicts from spreading and keeping our soldiers out of them.
Joe Biden has a narrow definition of a smooth transition. It seems to stop at ‘my moving company will take my stuff away. Your moving company will move your stuff in.’
Enacting 11th hour policies that make the next president’s job harder isn’t part of a smooth transition. Over the next two months, expect more of the same. In his final days Biden will look to pack the courts, make it more difficult to fire federal workers, lock in as many DEI and gay/trans policies as he can, and perhaps issue more executive orders on electric vehicles. After all, the voters must be punished for picking the wrong candidate.
Chris Conley
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