News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
Rob Roper 
Just a reminder here that former National Federation of Teachers President Albert Shanker once admitted, “When schoolchildren start paying dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of schoolchildren.” True that! And watching the debate in the legislature over how to reign in public education costs and improve student outcomes, I think that sentiment resides … Read more
It’s no surprise to regular readers of Behind the Lines that the so-called “Green” agenda is really just a wealthfare scam designed to make lower-income, rural folks subsidize the high-ticket item toys of their better off neighbors (and the lucrative employment of a large and politically powerful class of otherwise useless bureaucrats and NGO operatives, … Read more
When Governor Scott unveiled his education reform plan, I warned readers to be prepared to “kiss your sister.” There’s a lot to not like in what he came up with, but at least it reduced spending by $180 million in order to cut taxes. The plan the Democrats are putting forward, however, is more like … Read more
While it’s true a majority of Vermonters love the hypothetical (and fantastical) notion of our little state saving the planet from climate change by going “net zero” or some such thing, it’s also true that an even larger majority has absolutely net zero interest in paying for (or living with) the programs designed to do … Read more
With the Clean Heat Standard in a political coma and the proposed Cap & Invest program dead in its crib, the last global warming agenda domino standing is the Clean Cars and Trucks initiative, which phases out the sale of new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles by 2035 and starts limiting sales in 2026. And … Read more
Just a reminder here that former National Federation of Teachers President Albert Shanker once admitted, “When schoolchildren start paying dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of schoolchildren.” True that! And watching the debate in the legislature over how to reign in public education costs and improve student outcomes, I think that sentiment resides … Read more
In 2024, the Vermont legislature charged the State Treasurer’s Office with studying what a “Cap & Invest” program would look like as a means for meeting the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) targets for greenhouse gas reduction in the transportation sector (aka you driving your car). That report is now complete, and, just as the Public Utilities … Read more
Governor Scott and the House and Senate Democrat majorities are at loggerheads over the motel voucher program that pays to put up homeless people in, well, motel rooms. The governor vetoed the budget adjustment bill over a $1.8 million spending increase for the program and is threatening to do so again if a revised version … Read more
Democrats are in full retreat from the Clean Heat Standard law (Act 18) they passed in 2023. The carbon credit (aka carbon tax) on home heating fuels was and is a policy and political disaster. Vermonters want to see it repealed. Privately, a meaningful chunk of Democrats want to see it repealed. But there is … Read more
It’s been asked a lot lately with budgetary challenges running up against a lack of tax capacity, and the backdrop of DOGE findings of government waste at the federal level, “Do our elected representatives ever go back and evaluate the programs they pass to see if they are working as promised?” Not really, no. And … Read more
You’d think that with everything happening in the realm of energy policy – the need to do something about the trainwreck Clean Heat Standard, the failure to meet the first Global Warming Solutions Act mandate for 2025, the lawsuit resulting from that, the projection that we’ll miss the 2030 deadline as well, the threatened cuts … Read more
It’s safe to say Senator Terry Williams (R-Rutland) and the Republican senators landed a blow with their parliamentary attempt to strip the Natural Resources & Energy Committee of the Clean Heat Standard repeal bill (S.68) and bring it to the floor for an up or down vote. Though all seventeen senate Democrats banded together to … Read more
No doubt the defund the police movement has been devastating for Burlington and other communities throughout Vermont, as our once safest-in-the-nation state has seen an unprecedented and undesirable rise in crime. But while “Defund the Police!” has gotten all the headlines and protest placards (cue Law & Order theme music), “In the criminal justice system, … Read more
When Vermont voters threw out a historic number of Democrats in the November 2024 elections, including the chair of the Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee chair, breaking the supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature, a very big reason was the Clean Heat Standard. That was a signal that nobody apart from the special … Read more
Governor Scott’s plan for education reform does some things right, and others unnecessarily very wrong. What’s right? The move to a foundation-based funding formula and the primary focus on cost savings being the elimination of supervisory union level of bureaucracy. In no way shape or form do we need 52 supervisory unions governing 109 school … Read more
When it comes to the unaffordable climate change policies being pushed on Vermonters by the Democrat majority in the State House, the Clean Heat Standard for the home heating sector has received all the attention for the past couple of years, but heat only represents about 40 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. The … Read more
Vermont Democrats passed the Global Warming Solutions Act in 2020 over the veto of Governor Scott and the Republican legislative minority. That law mandates strict targets and timelines for greenhouse gas reduction set at 26% below 2005 levels by 2025, 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. And, so … Read more
Rep. Kathleen James (D-Manchester) chairs the House Energy & Digital Infrastructure Committee. She was appointed to that post by Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington). Krowinski also assigned multiple bills that would repeal controversial, unaffordable, climate laws, such as the Clean Heat Standard (H.16), the Global Warming Solutions Act, and the Clean Car mandates … Read more
Ronald Reagan famously quipped, “The trouble with our Liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.” This was on full display in the House Energy & Digital Infrastructure Committee as ranking member Laura Sibilia (I-Dover) made a number of statements about the Renewable Energy Standard (RES) … Read more
A few days ago I read and shared an article by Ruy Teixeira on his Substack page, The Liberal Patriot, titled The Democrats’ Governance Problem; They’re bad at it and getting worse. It contained this key insight that I think applies particularly keenly to our little state of Vermont: “Democrats have developed a philosophy … that prizes … Read more