AZ Congressmen Praise President Trump’s First 100 Days

AZ Congressmen Praise President Trump’s First 100 Days

By Matthew Holloway |

Members of the Arizona GOP Caucus, Reps. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ08) and Eli Crane (R-AZ02), marked the 100th day of President Donald Trump’s second administration with statements and social media posts praising the accomplishments of the 47th President and the Republican-led Congress.

Congressman Crane offered a series of posts to X pointing to the President’s achievements in border security, the economy, energy, forest health, and draining the swamp.

In full he wrote, “Thank you, President Trump, for ending the premeditated border invasion. We didn’t need new legislation. We just needed a new President.”

“The Democrats left President Trump a broken economy with record inflation and skyrocketing costs. Thankfully, we now have a President who prioritizes Americans, not globalists.”

“Under President Trump’s leadership, American Energy Dominance will prevail. The days of sidelining our vast resources are over.”

“Thank you, President Trump, for revamping our approach to forest health. #AZ02 welcomes these proactive wins that provide long-term stability.”

“Despite formidable opposition, President Trump continues to take on the administrative state and entrenched establishment. We appreciate the President’s commitment to tackling waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Congressman Hamadeh offered his own congratulatory post with a note: “Promises Made. Promises Kept. Congratulations to @POTUS on an incredibly successful First 100 Days!”

Hamadeh cited as accomplishments: 70+ Terrorists killed, $5 Trillion in secured domestic investment, $57 Billion in canceled foreign aid, $935 Billion in saved tax dollars, along with 139,000 illegal immigrants deported to date.

The White House posted on X, “Under President Trump’s leadership, we have the most secure border in the history of this nation. President Trump was able to do in 100 days what the Biden administration couldn’t — or wouldn’t — do in four years.” In a subsequent post the White House added, “100 days of President Trump—and we’re nowhere near tired of winning. To the haters: we’re just getting started. AMERICA FIRST FOREVER!”

In a statement, President Trump said, “Every single day I will be fighting for you with every breath in my body. I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age of America.”

Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.

DAVID BLACKMON: Trump’s First 100 Days Of Energy Policy Are A Rousing Success

DAVID BLACKMON: Trump’s First 100 Days Of Energy Policy Are A Rousing Success

By David Blackmon |

Australia-based energy firm Woodside announced Monday plans to invest $17 billion in  a new liquefied natural gas export facility to be sited in south Louisiana. Company CEO and Managing Director Meg O’Neill said the Louisiana LNG facility represents the single largest greenfield energy project investment, and the largest foreign direct investment in the state’s history.

In a release, the company said the project will support 15,000 jobs during the construction phase and, when completed, will sport a total export capacity of more than 27 million tons per annum of LNG. Originally named the Driftwood LNG project by previous owner Tellurian, Woodside acquired the project in 2024 for just $900 million.

The timing of Woodside’s announcement on Monday, which represented the 99th day of President Donald Trump’s second administration, serves to symbolize the impressive success the President and his senior appointees have had in completely changing the energy and climate policy debate in the U.S. across their first 100 days. Nowhere has this sea change in policy been more obvious than as it relates to the LNG export industry.

When Trump was sworn into office on January 20, America’s LNG sector had spent the previous 358 days as a target of demonization by former President Joe Biden and his senior officials. That stemmed from the decision by the White House to implement a so-called “pause” in permitting of new LNG facilities like Louisiana LNG on January 27 last year. Prior to last November’s election, that pause appeared destined to become a permanent feature of federal policy had Kamala Harris won the presidency.

President Trump canceled the Biden pause with a Day 1 executive order, and the industry has since resumed the pace of rapid expansion that had made it one of America’s great growth industries prior to Biden’s irrational move last year.

The resumption of the LNG industry’s rapid growth path is just one of many success stories which Trump’s energy team of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin can point to at the end of this first 100 days time period.

At Interior, Secretary Burgum can point to his efforts to return the federal oil and gas leasing program to normal order both onshore and offshore after four years of its being held hostage by Biden’s Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. He can also highlight last week’s announcement detailing efforts to speed up permitting approvals related requirements under the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act.

Zeldin is able to point to his effort to freeze $20 billion in highly questionable grants awarded by his predecessor, Michael Regan, during the final days of the Biden presidency, and claw them back a major savings. He has also embarked on a study focused on the potential reversal of the Obama EPA’s endangerment finding on greenhouse gases, a finding that classifies carbon dioxide, the fundamental building block for all life on Planet Earth, as a pollutant which can be regulated under the Clean Air Act. A successful reversal of that finding could lead to the restoration of honesty in air quality regulation and a focus on elimination of real pollution, which was the intent of the law as it was passed by congress.

Secretary Wright has less ability to directly impact regulatory polices to the nature of his job, but he has become the most effective spokesman for commonsense energy policies to ever hold the Energy Secretary position. He has not shied away from taking on controversial topics, like the need to revitalize the nation’s coal industry to take advantage of America’s enormous wealth of that resource. Wright has also been very blunt and effective in highlighting the role the wind industry has played in forcing consumer utility costs up to all-time highs under the Biden administration.

Taken as a whole, it is hard to imagine a more impactful 100 days related to energy and climate policy than this administration has achieved. Trump’s legion of critics won’t agree with the direction he and his appointees have taken, but they can’t honestly claim they aren’t producing major results. For Trump and his team, it is a simple case of promises made, promises kept.

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Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

David Blackmon is a contributor to The Daily Caller News Foundation, an energy writer, and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.

Trump Orders End To College Tuition For Aliens Policy Endorsed By Gubernatorial Candidate Robson

Trump Orders End To College Tuition For Aliens Policy Endorsed By Gubernatorial Candidate Robson

By Staff Reporter |

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday ordering an end to in-state college tuition for aliens — the very policy endorsed by Republican gubernatorial candidate Karrin Taylor Robson. 

Robson advocated for the passage of Proposition 308 in 2022: the proposition extending in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens protected from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, usually referred to as “Dreamers.” 

Robson was featured in a commercial by “Yes on 308” advocating for Proposition 308’s passage. Robson argued Dreamers provided a fiscal benefit to the state. 

“It will improve Arizona’s economy by keeping skilled workers here in Arizona – kids we’ve already invested in for years, with zero tax increase,” said Robson. 

Robson also signed onto a letter alongside over 50 Arizona Republican leaders advocating for aliens as critical members of the workforce. 

Proposition 308 passed narrowly thanks to millions in dark out-of-state funds. 

Trump’s executive order ordered an end to these college tuition benefits, claiming these and other similar policies qualified as unequal treatment of Americans. Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to end state and local laws, regulations, policies, and practices which favor aliens over American citizens. 

The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and appropriate agency heads, shall identify and take appropriate action to stop the enforcement of State and local laws, regulations, policies, and practices favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens that are unlawful, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable, including State laws that provide in-State higher education tuition to aliens but not to out-of-State American citizens that may violate 8 U.S.C. 1623 or that favor aliens in criminal charges or sentencing.

Of note, Trump endorsed both Robson and her Republican primary opponent, Congressman Andy Biggs. Dual endorsements aren’t rare for the president, though Trump’s endorsement of Robson occurred prior to Biggs entering the race. 

Arizona Republican leadership opposition to Robson’s campaign prompted Robson to unregister as a lobbyist earlier this year.

Shortly after Trump’s executive order, Biggs backed the move to end in-state tuition for Dreamers. The congressman also cited his support for a bill by Congressman Paul Gosar to prevent illegal aliens from receiving benefits restricted to American citizens. 

“President Trump is right – US citizens shouldn’t pay more for college tuition than illegal aliens,” said Biggs. “I stand with President Trump on securing the border and ending policies that incentivize illegal immigration.”

Arizona’s legalization of in-state college tuition for illegal aliens resulted in the increased influence of dark money operations. These opaque cash flows have funneled into scholarship programs offered by the state’s universities. 

Arizona isn’t the only state to grant this privilege to aliens. About half of the country and the District of Columbia also allows illegal aliens to pay in-state tuition for public colleges and universities including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.

AZ Corporation Commissioners Echo Utility Giant Talking Points

AZ Corporation Commissioners Echo Utility Giant Talking Points

By Matthew Holloway |

During the Arizona Corporation Commission’s annual Summer Preparedness Workshop, Chair Kevin Thompson and Vice Chair Nick Myers essentially echoed the talking points of Arizona Public Service Company (APS) and Tucson Electric Power (TEP). Both utility companies implicitly refused to reactivate the Cholla and Springerville Coal-Fired Power Plants in defiance of President Trump’s Executive Order earlier this month. Thompson claimed doing so would “jeopardize the grid and burden ratepayers with millions of dollars in short-sighted costs.”

In early April, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) using emergency authority to keep APS’ Cholla Power Plant in operation. In a statement issued with the EO, Trump said, “I am instructing Secretary Wright to save the Cholla coal plant in Arizona, which has been slated for destruction. We’re going to keep those coal miners on the job. We’re going to have that plant opening and burning beautiful, clean coal in a very short period of time.”

According to an emailed release from the ACC, the APS representative at the workshop “stated that the process that culminated in closing the plant began ten years ago because of new regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) making the operation of the plant uneconomic for their customers.” The utility added, per the ACC that “because of the ongoing EPA regulations requiring new equipment for pollution control and significant deferred capital and maintenance investments that would have to be made, the re-opening and continued operation of the Cholla plant would come at a significantly high cost for customers.”

APS reiterated that it intends to preserve the infrastructure of the power plant and offered that it could be used as a potential site for nuclear or natural gas power later, implicitly refusing to bring the coal-fired plant back online.

Similarly, TEP confirmed that it still intends to move forward with the scheduled retirement of Units 1 and 2 at the coal-fired Springerville Generating Station after the summer of 2027 and after the summer of 2032. The utility is also exploring the possibility of repurposing the power station for an alternative fuel source.

Vice Chair Myers commented, “We’re all aware of the detrimental loss of electric capacity with the closure of Arizona coal plants, and in part because of ongoing EPA regulations. It is a day late and a dollar short when it comes to re-opening the Cholla plant. Trying to re-open Cholla at this point would result in significantly higher rates for customers,” repeating the APS talking point.

He added, “The utilities have already been planning for this retirement and replacement costs are already being born by the utility customers. Re-opening Cholla would also require significant capital and maintenance investments that have been deferred. Further, the EPA requirements that made the continued operation of Cholla not cost-effective are still in effect. The damage has already been done. Arizona utilities are prepared for that and already planning to repurpose those plants for future generation, such as nuclear or natural gas-fired power.”

“Bringing the Cholla plant into compliance with Obama era EPA requirements will require the installation of costly scrubbers on the coal-fired units that would cost ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Chair Kevin Thompson.

Thompson added a subtle critique of the President’s movement to reactivate the Cholla Generating Station saying, “The Commission must hold utilities accountable and ensure that we have reliable and dispatchable generation to meet the load demands of the future. We also have to make sure we accomplish that goal in a manner that doesn’t jeopardize the grid and burden ratepayers with millions of dollars in short-sighted costs that fail to meaningfully address our long-term energy needs.”

Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.