Biden doubles funding for hurricane preparedness
President Joe Biden on Monday announced plans to spend $1 billion more to help American communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather events as experts gird for another busy summer season of storms and other natural disasters.
The move doubles funding for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program aims to help vulnerable communities get ready for the hurricane season that officially begins on June 1.
Biden announced the funding boost in a Monday visit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s headquarters, where he was briefed on preparation for the impending surge of storms.
The president also announced a new climate data system by NASA to help track the worsening effects of climate change.
The coming storm season is likely to be worse than average but not so bad as last year’s historic record of 30 named storms.
“I’m going to insist on nothing less than readiness for these challenges,” Biden said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last week that the hurricane season, which runs from June through November, will likely see 13 to 20 named storms, including at least six that will become hurricanes and three to five categorized as major hurricanes with winds of more than 110 mph.
This year has already had significant winter storms that caused a deadly blackout in Texas and other states and underscore the damage caused by climate change.
—New York Daily News
National Guard wraps up Capitol deployment months after Jan. 6 riot
WASHINGTON — The National Guard has completed its five-month deployment at the Capitol complex and the departure of troops is underway, defense officials confirmed Monday. But an open campus is not yet in sight.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, who assumed office just weeks after the Jan. 6 riot, said in a press release that the National Guard performed “magnificently.”
“As these troops depart for home and a much-deserved reunion with loved ones, I hope they do so knowing how much the nation appreciates their service and sacrifice — and that of their families and employers. I hope they know how very proud we are of them,” Austin said.
At its peak, the number of National Guard troops at the Capitol reached over 25,000 and included servicemembers from all states and territories.
Retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, who oversaw a Capitol security review in the wake of the deadly Jan. 6 riot by a pro-Trump mob, announced that the Guard would leave during a Sunday segment on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” The decision came amid growing pressure from lawmakers and the National Guard Association of the United States, among others, that the Guard should not be tapped for long-term law enforcement at the Capitol.
“God bless the National Guard. They’ve done significant work and they are leaving today, 137 days after the attack on Jan. 6,” Honoré said.
But he warned that a totally open Capitol complex is not yet possible, given the strain on the already short-staffed Capitol Police.
—CQ-Roll Call
California center for children with Down syndrome vandalized
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Roseville center for children with Down syndrome had posters on its windows vandalized with hate speech over the weekend, just days after its grand opening, officials with the nonprofit said.
GiGi's Playhouse, a national nonprofit, opened its Sacramento-area achievement center May 16 at a shopping center along Douglas Boulevard just east of Interstate 80.
Less than a week later on Friday evening, one or more vandals defaced large posters on the center's storefront and side windows — which contain photos of local children with Down syndrome — with offensive and hateful language written in black marker, the nonprofit said.
"It destroyed those photos. It was basically hate-filled, slanderous speech," April Davila, board vice president of the local center, told The Sacramento Bee on Monday morning.
Davila said the posters were hanging on the outside rather than inside due to tint on the windows.
"This is not the first experience with hate speech toward the Down syndrome community," GiGi's Playhouse Sacramento wrote in a news release. "People with Down syndrome face lifelong discrimination and are often targeted for the disability that is written on their face. This act of hate speech was, quite literally, written on the images of local Sacramento-area children."
—The Sacramento Bee
Lawmakers OK bill allowing Texans to carry handguns with no permit
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas House and Senate have given final approval to a bill that would allow the permitless carry of holstered handguns, sending the measure to Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday.
Abbott has said he would sign the bill. It would make Texas the 19th state to allow handguns to be carried without a permit, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.
House Bill 1927 would allow anyone over the age of 21 who can legally possess a firearm in Texas to carry a handgun in public without a permit. Current state law allows residents 21 or older to carry a handgun only after completing the required training and criminal background check to obtain a license to carry.
Republicans argued that the measure, which they often call "constitutional carry," appropriately expanded gun rights under the Second Amendment.
Democrats and gun safety advocates criticized the measure, which they say will increase gun violence in Texas and make it easier for criminals to obtain a gun.
Rep. Matt Schaefer, a Tyler Republican and author of the bill, praised a compromise reached between members of the House and Senate over differences in versions of the bill approved in each chamber.
The House approved the deal in a late night vote Sunday. The Senate approved the changes Monday, sending it to the governor. If Abbott signs the bill, it would go into effect on Sept. 1, 2021.
—Austin American-Statesman
