Politico: (California Climate): Let’s do the bi op again
By Alex Nieves
PADILLA’S PLEA: Sen. Alex Padilla has a message for the Biden administration: Pick up the pace.
Padilla, who joined Newsom in meetings this week with Biden officials to advocate for California’s climate priorities, said in an interview that U.S. EPA needs to approve outstanding waivers to allow California to set stronger-than-federal air quality standards.
“It’s going to be a very antagonistic administration starting next January, and as much as we can lock in place now to let California continue to lean in is in our interest,” Padilla said. “So that includes the eight pending waivers at the EPA.”
He had a similar message on federal grants through laws like the Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law that haven’t been awarded.
“When the funds have not been spent, they’re much easier to claw back,” he said. “But once contracts have been entered into, once ground has broken and the work is happening, then it makes it really hard for a Trump administration to claw those funds back.”
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