It was another busy week in politics, from Republicans accusing Democrats who met in private with a federal official in Augusta of wrongdoing to former President Donald Trump's latest stance on abortion.
Dems private meeting on guns
House Democrats in Augusta are facing backlash for meeting an ATF official in private this week in relation to a series of gun legislation up for debate. Republicans criticized the move and passed up the opportunity to meet with the official.
ZACH: "Garrett, the ATF was the one that requested this meeting be in private, but were they in the wrong?"
GARRETT: "I don't. I actually I think that it was completely appropriate. And I think the Republicans should have taken them up on their offer. Listen, this goes to the this goes to the heart of how legislative action is done in Augusta. You have to have caucus opportunity to speak, you know, with folks like the ATF. And there's a variety of other groups that will come in from the federal government and offer information. So I, I disagree. I think that the Democrats were fully within their rights to have that caucus. I also think the Republicans should have taken them up on it. And if they and if they start to bring this forward as some sort of violation of, you know, open speech and sunset, I think it would do real damage to the process."
ZACH: "And they already are."
BETSY: "Yeah. And so I agree with that. I think, you know, they were offered the opportunity. The ATF has its own security reasons for doing it behind, you know, doing it not in public. And so I think it was a mistake to say, no, we're not interested in more information."
EV plan blocked
A big roadblock for the effort to get more EVs in Maine. The state's Board of Environmental Protection rejected a program that would have required more than 50 percent of vehicles sold in the state to be EV or hybrid by 2028.
ZACH: "Garrett, Right move or wrong move here?"
GARRETT: "Oh, right move. I mean, listen, I think, you know, whenever those rules would have delegated a lot of what Maine does to the state of California. So I have some issues with that. What's good for California is not necessarily good for Maine. You know, but I think that manufacturers are moving towards electrification anyways. I think there is going to be a move towards electrification. It makes sense for some people, especially those who have shorter commutes. But to enforce this on the population at large, I don't think it makes sense. And, you know, what's not being talked about is some of the heavy truck laws that they wanted to pass, you know, that would affect construction in a huge way. And it's just it's not realistic to push that for 2027 or 2030, depending on the set of rules. The right move was made here."
ZACH: "Betsy, right move or wrong move?"
BETSY: "I think it's a disappointing move. I don't know if it's right or wrong, but I think at some point we're going to get real about climate change. I mean, we've just suffered two of the worst storms Maine has ever seen. The sense of urgency around climate change is here. The sense of need around climate change is here. And I don't know how we close that gap. And personal transportation and the trucking industry and the, you know, freight industry on our roads is a huge part of the problem. And so I don't know when we get serious about this and when we're going to have to say we are going to have to make lifestyle choices and do things that are different and not comfortable and not just tiny little steps. We're going to take big things if we're going to actually address climate change."
Trump on abortion
More primaries were held this week, but a Trump-Biden rematch is pretty much a done deal. Abortion will no doubt be a big issue come November. This week, Former President Donald Trump signaled he would support a national 15-week abortion ban during a radio interview. He stated that 15 weeks seemed to be what most Americans agree on.
BETSY: "This is a fascinating thing to me that he has chosen this. I don't know why the Republicans keep going to this as a political issue when I think most Americans believe it should not be a political issue. It should be between a person and their doctor and her family. And it's a loser for them. I mean, every abortion amendment, every abortion referendum that's been held. They have lost big time. So I'm not sure why he is putting this out politically for him if he thinks that's a winner for him. I think it's put out politically to re-energize his base. I think it's to get people believing...You know, now I'm I'm the guy, so I'm going to re-energize my base. And I think that's why he floated it. I mean, remember that Trump was pro-choice until he started in entered politics."
GARRETT: "I think what we're seeing right now is a what happened when Roe was decided many, many years ago, was it stopped a national conversation on abortion. And most other countries had that debate during that time and most of them settled around 20 weeks. That's what most of Europe does now. And now what we're seeing is a very extreme conversation about where does America go on this?"
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