Longtime Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva wants President Joe Biden to drop out of the race.
Grijalva told reporters on Wednesday that he would support Biden as the presidential candidate, but would much rather see the president drop out while he’s ahead in order to preserve Democratic footing at the national level.
“If he’s the candidate, I’m going to support him, but I think that this is an opportunity to look elsewhere,” said Grijalva in an interview with the New York Times. “What he needs to do is shoulder the responsibility for keeping that seat — and part of that responsibility is to get out of the race.”
The sentiment marked a sharp departure from his last public endorsement of Biden, which was issued the day after the debate last week.
“This election is a clear choice: protect our freedoms and democracy with Joe Biden, or succumb to a convicted felon’s unhinged vengeance and reckless desire to destroy everything to save himself,” said Grijalva. “To stop Trump, we must win AZ. I’m ALL IN and will do all I can to make sure we win.”
Grijalva also issued a lengthy defense of the Biden administration, specifically their massive spending on projects through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and CHIPS and Science Act. Grijalva expressed confidence that it was Biden who could usher in more aggressive progressive changes to laws and regulations on abortion, minimum wage, paid leave, climate change, corporations, and race relations.
“The Biden presidency stands in clear contrast to the extremism presented by Trump and Congressional Republicans,” said Grijalva. “It’s clear the American people have benefitted from the leadership of President Biden and his commitment to defending the freedoms and values essential to American democracy.”
Grijalva is an automatic delegate for the Democratic National Committee next month.
Conversely, Governor Katie Hobbs has doubled down her support for the president. Hobbs effectively agreed with a remark from Biden that, while he may not be a great candidate, he was better than Trump.
“As the president himself has said, don’t compare him to the almighty, compare him to the alternative. And by that metric, the choice is abundantly clear in this race,” said Hobbs.
Grijalva joins a growing coalition of top Democratic leaders urging the president to allow another to take his place as the party’s candidate such as Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also came out to question Biden’s fitness to secure a Democratic win this November, let alone carry out a second term.
“I think it is a legitimate question to say is this an episode or is this a condition?” said Pelosi.
A number of other Democratic congressmen have not completely sided with the notion that Biden should step down, but expressed concerns to the New York Times about his ability to improve his performance: Reps. Jake Auchincloss, Don Davis, Debbie Dingell, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Jared Golden, Greg Landsman, Ann McLane Kuster, Seth Moulton, Katie Porter, Mike Quigley, Jamie Raksin Hillary Scholten, Peter Welch, and Sheldon Whitehouse.
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Congressman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-07), long known for both his advocacy of ‘Green New Deal’-style energy policy and for ignoring if not voting against Arizona’s energy interests, saw fit to intervene on behalf of the Puerto Rican government and solar lobbyists on May 17th.
In a letter to the Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) for Puerto Rico, Grijalva along with co-signers such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13), called upon the board to reverse a decision directing the Governor and Legislature of Puerto Rico to “repeal or amend the recently enacted Puerto Rico Law 10-2024,” which would require the continuation of a ‘net metering’ study for solar customers, subsidizing rooftop solar until at least 2031.
The lawmakers wrote, “Making rooftop solar and battery storage systems less affordable could hurt the lowest-income people most. Should net metering be eliminated or weakened, the result would be a growing divide between those stuck with exorbitant energy prices from imported fossil fuels and those who can afford their own dependable solar and battery system. Slowing the adoption of rooftop solar and batteries would mean missed opportunities to leverage the private market to protect those most vulnerable to another hurricane’s impacts.”
The ‘net metering,’ program from the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) required the bankrupt Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), a government-owned monopoly, to keep an existing study scheduled to sunset in place which pays out solar customers for the energy returned to the grid.
In an April 10th blog post, the board explained, “Act 10 suspends this schedule, requiring PREB to redo its net metering and energy distribution study – but not until January 2030. Act 10 further specifies that PREB may not change the current net metering structure until the study is completed, and then provides that any changes can only take effect 12 months after PREB decides to make any such changes. That means, Act 10 mandates that the current net metering structure remain in place until at least 2031, and likely much longer.”
The FOMB is mandated to address the fiscal disaster that has afflicted the territorial government of Puerto Rico since 2014 and was badly exacerbated by Hurricane Maria in 2017. In a statement released in February the board laid out a comprehensive plan to help PREPA recover from bankruptcy. The board was created under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act of 2016 or PROMESA and enacted the directive “to reduce more than $10 billion of total asserted claims against the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA).” Overall, FOMB’s plan is set to reduce principal and interest payments to Puerto Rico’s creditors “from about $20 billion under their asserted claim, to about $5 billion.”
The board warned in a statement. “Puerto Rico’s energy system cannot fully improve with PREPA in bankruptcy. The Plan provides a path to end PREPA’s bankruptcy.”
Prior to his announcement of an undisclosed cancer diagnosis in early April, Grijalva, 76, had not voted on an energy bill since February 15 when he voted against HR 7176: the Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2024.
His unfortunate diagnosis notwithstanding, throughout his long history in the House dating back to 2003, Grijalva has consistently voted against key legislation aimed at improving the energy industry of Arizona and the lives of its residents. Even prior to floor voting, Grijalva holds considerable sway over energy policy owing to his seat as Ranking Member of the powerful House Committee on Natural Resources as well as his seat on the Energy and Mineral Resource sub-committee.
Arizona’s seventh congressional district, represented by Grijalva covers approximately 90% of Arizona’s border with Mexico and encompasses the tribal land of the Tohono O’odham tribe and the service area of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Facility, areas heavily impacted by these measures. In 2024, major Arizona utility APS is slated to increase electricity rates by 8%, an average of about $10.50 per month according to 12News. According to AAA, the current average price for gasoline in Arizona is about $3.87 compared to an average of $2.44 in 2020 per KTAR.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva, (D-Ariz), announced his cancer diagnosis on Tuesday.
The District 7 congressman, 76, issued a press release on his illness the day after April Fool’s Day. Grijalva didn’t disclose the specifics of his diagnosis, such as whether it was fatal. The congressman clarified that he would maintain his seat through treatment, which he has already begun.
“This diagnosis has been difficult to process, but I am confident in the vigorous course of treatment that my medical team has developed, and I’ve begun my journey to fight this cancer,” said Grijalva.
Grijalva discovered his cancer after seeking medical treatment for a persistent cough, initially diagnosed as pneumonia.
Grijalva was first elected to Congress in 2003, and has held his seat since then. The congressman serves as the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, and also sits on the Education and Labor Committee.
Grijalva is also the chair emeritus of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and maintains membership with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
During his 20 years in Congress, Grijalva has introduced 344 bills, 10 of which became law:
HR 4881, the Old Pascua Community Land Acquisition Act, directing the Department of the Interior to take tribally owned lands in Pima County into trust for the benefit of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, and made into part of the Pascua Yaqui Reservation. The act allows gaming on the land taken into this trust.
HR 2030, the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan Authorization Act, requiring the Department of the Interior to carry out the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan submitted to Congress on March 19, 2019, by Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
HR 507, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Trust Land Act, holds in trust for the tribe all right, title, and interest of the U.S. in and to approximately 20 acres of federal land from two parcels, one of which was owned by the Tucson Unified School District. The lands held in trust under this act prohibit gaming, as well as the forfeiture or abandonment of any water rights from these lands.
HR 3319, allowing the Pascua Yaqui Tribe to determine the requirements for membership in that tribe. The tribe expanded its membership with the perks of federal services and benefits to any with Pascua Yaqui blood enrolled by the tribe.
HR 3739, amending the Arizona Water Settlements Act to modify the requirements for the statement of findings. The amendment makes the Arizona Water Rights Settlement effective as of the date the Secretary of the Interior publishes in the Federal Register a statement of findings that specified conditions apply. These conditions included the judgment and decree attached to the Tohono O’odham settlement agreement approved in state court.
HR 5857, naming a USPS facility in Tucson as the “Morris K. ‘Mo’ Udall Post Office Building.”
HR 1075, designating a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Port of Entry in Douglas, Arizona as the “Raul Hector Castro Port of Entry.”
HR 794, the Colorado River Indian Reservation Boundary Correction Act, declared the reservation boundaries to be defined by the Robbins Survey of 1875 and the Harrington Resurvey of 1912. These surveys included 16,000 acres known as the La Paz lands. The act reversed a 1915 executive order excluding those lands from the survey. The land within this trust was exempted from gaming.
HR 327, allowing binding arbitration clauses to be included in all contracts affecting land within the Gila River Indian Community Reservation.
HR 326, amending the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area Act of 2000 to adjust the boundary of the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area and for other purposes.
Over the past few years, the long-serving congressman has made headlines for his consistent dismissal of the border crisis as an issue. Grijalva most recently skipped out on a hearing to address the border in his district. The hearing was arranged by the subcommittee of the committee in which he serves as a ranking member.
Grijalva disregarded the border hearing as an ulterior means of scapegoating immigrants.
The congressman also praised President Joe Biden’s administration following the president’s State of the Union, especially in regard to the border.
“Trump and Republicans remain fixated on the southern border and chose to block bipartisan immigration reform for the sake of campaign politics,” said Grijalva. “It’s clear the American people have benefitted from the leadership of President Biden and his commitment to defending the freedoms and values essential to American democracy.”
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Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-07) skipped out on a subcommittee field hearing addressing the border crisis in his district last Thursday, though the meeting occurred in his district and he serves as a ranking member in the parent committee. Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-06) was in attendance, though he doesn’t sit on the subcommittee.
The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands held the hearing in Sierra Vista.
Grijalva dismissed the hearing as nothing more than an excuse to “bash the border and scapegoat immigrants,” and claimed that last week’s failed $118 billion bill setting aside 16 percent of funds for the border would have solved the border crisis. Senate Republicans blocked the bill, largely due to a majority of its funding going to Ukraine and other foreign aid initiatives.
Comparatively, Ciscomani said during his opening remarks in last Thursday’s hearing that those who had true concern for the border crisis were the ones who showed up. The subcommittee heard testimony from representatives of impacted community members and leaders.
Ciscomani blamed the crisis on the Biden administration’s “lack of desire” to enforce immigration laws. Ciscomani said that the neglect has resulted in the southern border coming under the control of foreign enemies.
“[T]hey have more control over the area than anyone else,” said Ciscomani.
Art Del Cueto with the National Border Patrol Council affirmed Ciscomani’s assessment, noting specifically that it is the drug cartels who have control.
Ciscomani added that the border crisis numbers have only gone up: in this fiscal year, 2024, illegal immigrant encounters there in the Tucson sector have increased over 140 percent. Since President Joe Biden took office, there have been over 6.2 million illegal immigrants apprehended along the southern border; Arizona’s population is at around 7 million. The congressman said that the unrelenting torrent of illegal migration has had a negative impact on border agents’ morale.
Other data that was shared included that over 35,000 of last year’s illegal immigrant apprehensions had prior criminal convictions or outstanding warrants for arrest, of which 170 were on the terrorist watch list. Gotaways amounted to about 1.7 million: those are the illegal immigrants observed entering the country but not apprehended.
Further testimony shed light on the illicit drug trade aspect of the border crisis. 99 percent of illegal narcotics make it through the border without seizure. A vast majority of the fentanyl in the country comes through the southern border, with about 51 percent of all seizures occurring in Arizona. About 70,000 Americans die from fentanyl overdoses every year and now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45.
Sierra Vista Mayor Clea McCaa testified his town has been plagued by “extremely dangerous situations,” including constant cases of “low car drivers,” mainly teenagers, speeding and crashing at over 90 miles an hour in residential and school zones to evade police, which have resulted in at least one fatality. “Low car drivers” are individuals recruited by Mexican cartels, usually over social media, to traffic illegal immigrants, called “lows,” over the border.
“[F]or the past three years, the trend of young people being recruited as so-called ‘low car drivers’ does pose a real threat to our residents and visitors, which fuels the narratives about the violence near the border,” said McCaa.
McCaa supported a proposal to require social media companies to monitor for illegal solicitations of migrant trafficking.
Additionally, McCaa reported that the Cochise County Attorney’s Office has undergone a marked increase in felony case submissions: from over 300 in 2020 to nearly 600 in 2022, and over 500 last year.
Sierra Vista is about 20 miles from the border and has a population of just over 40,000.
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels testified that bookings in his jail on border-related state crimes in 2022 and 2023 amounted to nearly 3,000 for murder, nearly 600 for smuggling, over 400 for high-risk pursuits. The bookings came at a cost of about $9.4 million: a cost borne by the locals.
“We get zero money from the federal government,” said Dannels.
Arizona Farm Bureau’s first vice president, John Boelts, said that the Biden administration has failed to protect the farmers and ranchers near the border. Boelts noted that illegal immigrant trespassers were trashing, defecating and urinating, and trampling their produce.
Boelts said that he and his fellow farmers have paid up to nearly a million dollars mitigating the damage done by the illegal immigrants. He said that the immigrants who work on the farms have been upset by the illegal migration, since they spent years and tens of thousands of dollars to migrate here legally.
“The worst part about it is, most of the folks that I mentioned in my testimony, that legally work in agricultural fields in my community, the first and second generation immigrants ask them what they think about what’s going on today – they’re appalled,” said Boelts. “They worked hard to become a part of this country, a legal part of this country.”
Jim Chilton, an elderly rancher out of Aravaca whose family has operated a ranch for nearly 140 years, provided a sampling of the 10 years worth of video evidence of illegal immigrants crossing his land, specifically 14 miles of border territory. Chilton testified that all crossers he’s witnessed have been adult males wearing uniforms of camouflage, carpet shoes, and identical plain backpacks. Chilton said that there have never been any women or children captured on his cameras over the past decade.
“Not knowing who’s crossing is a national security matter,” said Chilton. “We’ve got to secure the border at the border.”
Chilton said the crossers increased fivefold under the Biden administration compared with the Obama and Trump administrations. He said he hasn’t witnessed any border patrol agents patrolling the known border entrance trails near him in the past four months.
Chilton reported that he personally spends at least $60,000 a year now to mitigate the damage by illegal immigrants. He also expressed concern that his cowboys and family were at risk of violence from illegal immigrants evading law enforcement.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05), Paul Gosar (R-AZ-09), and Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-07) were three out of less than 30 congressmen to push back against President Joe Biden’s bombing of Yemen.
Last week, the three men signed onto a bipartisan letter with 27 other members of Congress to declare that the military strikes were unauthorized, therefore unconstitutional, and that Biden required the consent of Congress to further engage.
“Article One of the Constitution is clear: Congress has the sole power to declare war and authorize U.S. military action,” stated the letter.
The congressmen argued that Biden only holds the authority to introduce U.S. forces into hostilities either after a declaration of war by Congress, after specific statutory authorization from Congress, or in a national emergency when the U.S. is under imminent attack.
Biden ordered the strikes earlier this month in response to Yemen-based Houthi militant attacks on U.S. military forces dating back to November. Biden’s letter to Congress announcing the strikes alleged that he had authority under the War Powers Resolution (WPR) of 1973.
Immediately following Biden’s letter to Congress, Biggs condemned the move as unconstitutional.
“[Biden] can’t unilaterally pull us into another war,” said Biggs. “Why does he want so many wars?”
Similarly, the congressmen contended in their letter that Biden proceeded under a selective reading of the WPR.
“The WPR of 1973 does not give blanket authority for a President to unilaterally involve U.S. military forces in a conflict if a President simply notifies Congress within 48 hours. The 48-hour reporting requirement only applies to a situation in which a President must act due to an attack or imminent attack against the United States,” read the letter.
However, the letter didn’t express any intent on applying punitive measures for the executive overreach. Rather, the letter concluded with a request for Biden to heed to their authority under the Constitution, with an offer to “debate” any war-making request by the administration.
The other members of Congress to sign onto the letter were Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna, Val Hoyle, Pramila Jayapal, Cori Bush, Jonathan Jackson, Summer Lee, Rashida Tlaib, Greg Casa, Ilhan Omar, James McGovern, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Ayanna Presley, Nydia Velazquez, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Delia Ramirez, Barbara Lee, Jamaal Bowman; and Republican Reps. Warren Davidson, Thomas Massie, Nancy Mace, Anna Paulina Luna, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Harriet Hageman.
In another statement on Tuesday following the deaths of three troops in Jordan, Gosar again declared Biden lacked the authority to bring the U.S. into a foreign conflict.
“Biden does not have the authority to take us into war with Iran without Congressional approval,” said Gosar.
Gosar further declared that Biden’s foreign policy was to blame for the three deaths.
“Biden bears full responsibility [for] the drone attack on our troops by recklessly reopening nuclear arms negotiations [with] Iran [and] giving them $6 billion [to] fund its military, refusing [to] enforce the Trump-imposed Iranian oil sanctions which has allowed Iran [to] rake in billions of profits,” said Gosar. “Biden also reversed the Trump-imposed freeze on millions of dollars that were diverted [to] Iran-sponsored terrorist activities.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.