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For Immediate Release
December, 16 2008, 02:05pm EDT
Contact:
Kieran Suckling, Center for Biological Diversity, (520) 275-5960
Ken Salazar a Disappointing Choice for Secretary of Interior
Stronger, More Scientifically Based Leadership Needed to Fix Crisis-Plagued Agency
TUSCON, Ariz
Strong rumors are circulating that President-elect Barack Obama has
selected Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) as the new Secretary of the Interior.
As the overseer of the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land
Management, the Mineral Management Services, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, and the Endangered Species Act, the Secretary of the
Interior is most important position in the protection of America's
lands, waters, and endangered species.
The
Department of the Interior has been rocked by scandals during the Bush
Administration, most revolving around corrupt bureaucrats overturning
and squelching agency scientists as they attempted to protect
endangered species and natural resources from exploitation by
developers, loggers, and oil and gas development. Just yesterday, the
Interior Department Inspector General issued another in a string of reports finding
that top Department officials systematically violated laws and
regulations in order to avoid or eliminate environmental protections.
"The Department of the Interior desperately needs a strong, forward
looking, reform-minded Secretary," said Kieran Suckling, executive
director of the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity,
"unfortunately, Ken Salazar is not that man. He endorsed George Bush's
selection of Gale Norton as Secretary of the Interior, the very woman
who initiated and encouraged the scandals that have rocked the
Department of Interior. Virtually all of the misdeeds described in
yesterday's Inspector General expose occurred during the tenure of the
person Ken Salazar advocated for the position he is now seeking."
While Salazar has promoted some good environmental actions and fought
against off-road vehicle abuse, his overall record is decidedly mixed,
and is especially weak in the arenas most important to
the next Secretary of the Interior: protecting scientific integrity,
combating global warming, reforming energy development and protecting
endangered species. Salazar
- voted against increased fuel efficiency standards for the U.S. automobile fleet
- voted to end protection for offshore oil drilling off of Florida's coast
- voted to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to ignore global warming impacts in their water development projects
- voted against the repeal of tax breaks for Exxon-Mobil
- voted to support subsidies to ranchers and other users of public forest and range lands
- threatened to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when its
scientists determined the black-tailed prairie dog may be endangered
- fought efforts to increase protection for endangered species and the environment in the Farm Bill
"Obama's choices for Secretary of Energy and his Climate Change Czar
indicate a determined willingness to take on global warming," said
Suckling. "That team will be weakened by the addition of Ken
Salazar who has fought against federal action on global warming,
against higher fuel efficiency standards, and for increased oil
drilling and oil subsidies."
In addition to his
misstep on Norton, Salazar, as attorney general, endorsed the elevation
of William Myers III to the federal bench. Myers was a former Interior
Department Solicitor and lobbyist for the ranching industry. Senator
Leahy called him ''the most anti-environmental candidate for the bench
I have seen in 37 years in the Senate." Bizarrely, Salazar praised
Myers' "outstanding legal reasoning" regarding endangered species,
Indian affairs, federal lands and water, timber, and fish and wildlife
issues. The American Bar Association gave Meyers its lowest passing
grade with a minority vote of "not qualified." Salazar flip-flopped
after becoming a senator and opposed Meyers. Salazar also supported
Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General, introducing him at his Senate
confirmation hearing.
"One of the most important
jobs of the Secretary of the Interior is to help pick dozens of
critically important political appointees to oversee America's
conservation system. His past misjudgments of Norton, Meyers and
Gonzales give us little confidence he will choose wisely in the future."
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
(520) 623-5252LATEST NEWS
Surging Home Building Costs Caused by Trump Tariffs Could Result in 450,000 Fewer Homes by 2030
"With the average home sales price having already risen by 31%—or over $120,000—since 2020, this tariff-induced change could put homeownership further out of reach for millions of Americans," warns a new report.
Dec 16, 2025
After campaigning last year on reducing the cost of living and as he attempts to claim progressive Democrats' push for affordability as his own, President Donald Trump's policies have been directly linked to making life more expensive for people across the US—and along with electricity, healthcare, and groceries, housing costs are set to rise, according to a new analysis out Tuesday, which examines the impact of Trump's tariffs.
The Center for American Progress (CAP) found that the impact on home construction materials by Trump's tariffs could force builders to scale back significantly over the next five years, reducing new home construction by 450,000 homes through 2030.
According to the analysis, the average cost of building a home in the coming years will increase by $17,500 if current home building rates continue.
"With the average home sales price having already risen by 31%—or over $120,000—since 2020, this tariff-induced change could put homeownership further out of reach for millions of Americans," said CAP.
Trump's tariffs are as high as 50% for some countries, and some of the highest levies have been imposed on key building materials, including lumber, copper, aluminum, and steel products. Imports of upholstered products and kitchen cabinets are set to face tariffs that could increase by up to 50%.
The tariffs were unveiled amid a growing housing affordability crisis, with the number of available homes falling short by 2 million units or more, according to some estimates.
Following the Great Recession, home construction has not returned to pre-2008 levels and the country requires "sustained, above-average construction rates to correct" the persistent underbuilding, according to CAP.
"Yet the Trump administration’s tariff policies are pushing home building in the opposite direction by raising construction costs, which will slow new construction activity, raise costs, and worsen housing affordability," reads the report by Cory Husak, Natalie Baker, and Mimla Wardak.
The analysis found that while Trump has insisted that the tariffs will target the countries that import goods to the US, but as with groceries—which have gone up in price by up to 40% at some stores—the levies on home building materials are projected to ultimately impact American families who are already struggling to afford healthcare and other essentials.
The tariffs are expected to add $27 billion to the annual cost of constructing new homes by 2027, effectively raising the cost of building a new home by about 3.3%.
🚨Hot off the presses 🚨 New tariffs are going to kill 450,000 homes over the next 5 yearsTariffs on lumber, steel, cabinets, vanities, copper add an average $17,500 to the cost of building a new home. Yearly home losses will soon total 100k per year-www.americanprogress.org/article/trum...
[image or embed]
— Corey Husak (@chusak.bsky.social) December 16, 2025 at 1:08 PM
From 2030 onward, the number of new homes being built is expected to be down by 100,000 yearly.
"This would be equivalent to eliminating 6 percent of the homes constructed in the five years from 2020 to 2024," said CAP.
If home building falls as CAP projects, the cost of construction will rise to $18,500 per home in 2028, CAP projected.
“Families are already struggling to afford a place to live, and the administration is adding fuel to the housing costs fire,” said Husak, director of tax policy at CAP. “These tariffs are a tax on builders and aspiring homeowners, raising construction costs, slowing the pace of new building, and pushing homeownership even further out of reach for millions of Americans.”
The group urged the federal government to act to stop the tariffs from continuously "driving up construction costs, slowing homebuilding, and worsening the nation’s already severe housing shortage."
"Building new housing supply is crucial to solving the housing shortage," said CAP, "and canceling tariffs on homebuilding materials is a necessary step to bring more housing online and improve housing affordability."
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"This ramping up of the bombing campaign despite increased pressure from Congress signals the administration’s total disregard for the law."
Dec 16, 2025
Human rights groups are demanding that the US Congress intervene to bring an end to President Donald Trump's boat-bombing spree.
Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday released statements condemning the Trump administration for launching more military strikes on purported drug trafficking boats, and they called on US lawmakers to assert their powers over American foreign policy to restrain the White House.
Daphne Eviatar, director of security and human rights for Amnesty International USA, argued that the administration does not seem at all deterred by potential congressional probes of its policies, and urged lawmakers to take a more aggressive approach.
"This ramping up of the bombing campaign despite increased pressure from Congress signals the administration’s total disregard for the law," said Eviatar. "Congress must do everything in its power to rein in this administration’s lawless behavior. Congress must exercise its oversight power to ask how these decisions are made, what intelligence is being used, and what the legal justification the administration is claiming and push back forcefully on these illegal actions."
Eviatar emphasized that the administration's killings "amount to extrajudicial executions, a form of murder, in clear violation of both domestic and international law," while adding that the administration has legal methods at its disposal to intercept suspected drug boats that don't involve slaughtering everyone onboard.
HRW, meanwhile, released a lengthy analysis breaking down the illegality of the Trump boat strikes, while also demanding Congress use its oversight powers to hold administration officials accountable for lawbreaking.
"Congress should intervene urgently," the group declared. "The administration’s lethal boat strikes, conducted without a clear legal basis and outside any armed conflict, demand immediate congressional scrutiny."
HRW also outlined actions that Congress should take, including forcing the White House to release its full legal justification for the bombing campaign, holding public hearings and demanding testimony from top officials, establishing a select committee with subpoena power to investigate the attacks, and setting aside funds to pay out as compensation to the families of the people killed by the strikes.
With Monday's attacks, the death toll from the administration's boat-bombing campaign, which began in September, now stands at at least 95 people.
The human rights groups' calls for great congressional intervention come as the Congressional Progressive Caucus is urging their colleagues to support resolutions aimed at blocking Trump from launching a war with Venezuela without congressional approval.
The first resolution would require Trump to "remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities with any presidentially designated terrorist organization in the Western Hemisphere, unless authorized by a declaration of war or a specific congressional authorization for use of military force."
A second resolution supported by the caucus "directs the president to remove the use of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization for use of military force."
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'Gambling With Lives of Their Constituents,' House GOP Leaders Refuse Vote on ACA Tax Credits
"They are actively choosing to go into the holiday break, knowing healthcare premiums are doubling and tripling for millions of Americans in 2026, and doing nothing about it."
Dec 16, 2025
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that he will not allow a vote to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the month, solidifying his party's decision to let tens of millions of Americans face massive premium increases in the new year.
Speaking to reporters, Johnson acknowledged that some swing-district Republicans pushed him for a vote on the ACA subsidies as people across the country face sticker shock, with premiums more than doubling on average.
"We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure release valve, and it just was not to be," Johnson said of the ACA tax credit vote. "We worked on it all the way through the weekend, in fact. And in the end there was not an agreement."
Johnson's comments, which sparked angry backlash from some of his GOP colleagues, came less than a week after Senate Republicans voted down a Democratic measure that would have extended the enhanced ACA subsidies for three years.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) called Johnson's obstruction of a subsidy vote "bullshit" and "political malpractice."
Around 22 million Americans received the subsidies, which were first put in place in 2021 amid the Covid-19 pandemic. A survey released earlier this month by the health policy group KFF found that 25% of ACA marketplace enrollees would "very likely" go without insurance if their monthly insurance premiums doubled.
The ACA open enrollment period ended Monday for those with coverage starting start January 1, 2026.
"With no extension of enhanced tax credits, ACA enrollees are going to start the year with premium payments increasing by an average of 114%, or over $1,000 a year per person," Larry Levitt, KFF's executive vice president for health policy, noted Tuesday. "Some will find a way to pay it, some have switched to higher deductibles, and some have dropped coverage."
"Johnson is choosing chaos, higher costs, and uncertainty for working families."
Ahead of next week's holiday recess, House Republicans are expected to vote on legislation that cobbles together various GOP healthcare ideas that experts say wouldn't do much to lower healthcare costs. Even if the bill—which would not extend the ACA tax credits—passes the House, it stands no chance of getting the necessary 60 votes in the Senate.
"They are actively choosing to go into the holiday break, knowing healthcare premiums are doubling and tripling for millions of Americans in 2026, and doing nothing about it," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said of Republican lawmakers.
Last-ditch, bipartisan efforts to force Johnson to allow a vote using a discharge petition also appear unlikely to garner enough support. NBC News noted that "even if a discharge petition secured the votes to pass, which is far from certain, it would take time to reach the House floor," effectively guaranteeing "it’ll be pushed into next year, with Republicans hoping to adjourn after this week."
Brad Woodhouse, president of the advocacy group Protect Our Care, said in a statement Tuesday that "Mike Johnson is running out the clock while millions of families face higher premiums and the loss of affordable coverage in just a couple of weeks."
"Across the country, working Americans are preparing for unimaginable sacrifices," said Woodhouse. "They are getting ready to shut down the small businesses they spent blood, sweat, and tears building because the GOP healthcare hikes are simply unbearable. Many are preparing for what life looks like without insurance. Others are considering leaving their jobs or making the impossible choice between paying for medications, rent, or groceries."
“The solution is simple and already on the table: a clean, three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits," he added. "Johnson is choosing chaos, higher costs, and uncertainty for working families. The choice for House Republicans is clear. If not, the out-of-touch Republican Party will be in for another electoral reckoning in 2026 for raising costs, ripping away coverage, and gambling with the lives of their constituents."
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