Morning Wire XX
[0] The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that gender transition procedures can be investigated as child abuse.
[1] The decision to investigate won't come from the governor or the attorney general.
[2] It is the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services that makes decisions about when investigations are opened and whether they're continued and not any political agency.
[3] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley.
[4] It's May 21st, and this is your Saturday edition of Morning Wire.
[5] Several Fortune 500 companies are pledging to pay for employee abortions if they are no longer available in the state in which they live and work.
[6] Which companies are on the growing list?
[7] And gas prices soared to new record highs this week at more than $450 per gallon.
[8] We talked to an expert about the Biden administration's energy policies and what Congress can do to address the crisis.
[9] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[10] Stay tuned.
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[20] In February, Texas Governor Greg Abbott directed family protective agencies to begin investigating child gender transition treatments as child abuse.
[21] Last week, the Texas State Supreme Court ruled that those investigations may continue.
[22] but they won't be compulsory.
[23] Here to give us the details is Daily Wires Charlotte Pence Bond.
[24] So Charlotte, this has been a red -hot culture war issue, and it sounds like the courts are now weighing in.
[25] What's the latest news?
[26] Right, so this goes back to February when Republican Governor Greg Abbott wrote a letter to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, in which he said the Office of the Attorney General will now consider so -called sex change procedures on minors to be child abuse under existing Texas law.
[27] So basically, because the Department of Family and Protective Services is responsible for protecting children from abuse, the governor's letter was a directive for them to investigate any reported instances of these procedures in the state of Texas.
[28] He pointed out that Texas law has mandated reporting standards for professionals like doctors, teachers, and nurses.
[29] So this directive made it mandatory for those professionals to report the parents of children who are, as he put it, subjected to these abusive gender transitioning procedures.
[30] He also said other state agencies have to investigate licensed facilities where such procedures are thought to occur.
[31] Right.
[32] And this was met with pushback from LGBT activists at the time.
[33] Yes.
[34] So the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and Lambda Legal, filed a lawsuit over Abbott's direction on behalf of the family of a 16 -year -old who claimed to be transgender.
[35] A district judge then blocked an investigation by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services into the parents of that 16 -year -old.
[36] After that decision, that same judge temporarily halted these investigations throughout the entire state.
[37] That ruling was later upheld by a Texas appeals court.
[38] Then last week, the Texas Supreme Court struck down that ruling and reaffirmed that DFS could resume the investigations, but it's up to them whether they do or not.
[39] So big picture, the Texas DFPS can still investigate these cases, but they're no longer mandated to.
[40] Correct.
[41] The state's high court decided that Abbott and Texas attorney, general, Kent Paxton, are allowed to share their viewpoints, but the child welfare agency is not compelled by law to follow them.
[42] It's a little confusing, but basically, the state Supreme Court struck down the lower court's rulings, which would have blocked investigations statewide.
[43] However, the high court is still allowing an injunction against investigating that specific family at the center of the case.
[44] The state Supreme Court said the appeals court was out of bounds when it put forward a statewide directive.
[45] As for the case brought by the family of the 16 -year -old, that's still ongoing.
[46] So as of now, these investigations can continue, but agencies and individuals are just not compelled to participate.
[47] That's right.
[48] So this is kind of a mixed outcome for both sides.
[49] Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has stated that his office sees this as a win, but LGBT activists have also said the same.
[50] In a statement to the Texas Tribune, Lamb Legal, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas appeared to celebrate the decision, calling it a win for our clients and the rule of law.
[51] So gender transition surgeries and treatments in kids are obviously pretty controversial right now.
[52] Do we know how Americans in general feel about this?
[53] Well, a recent poll by Summit Ministries and McLaughlin and Associates found that of the people who had an opinion on this topic, 90 % said that minors should be required to wait until they are legal adults before they go through permanent gender alteration.
[54] Voters were also asked whether medical professionals performing gender -altering procedures should be required by law to disclose the common long -term medical and psychological impact of such procedures.
[55] And again, 90 % said yes.
[56] So pretty widespread caution on the part of voters.
[57] Charlotte, thanks so much for bringing us this story.
[58] That's Daily Wires, Charlotte Pence Bond.
[59] Coming up, several companies pledged to pay for their employees.
[60] abortions, even if that means traveling out of state.
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[67] If the Supreme Court does overturn Roevey Wade, about how much.
[68] half of the states are expected to impose strict abortion laws.
[69] In anticipation of that ruling, a variety of companies are pledging publicly to pay for employees' travel expenses to receive abortions out of state.
[70] Here to discuss is Daily Wire contributor, Corinne Murdoch.
[71] So, Corinne, which major companies are offering to pay for travel expenses for abortions?
[72] Hi, Georgia.
[73] Thanks for having me. So Starbucks is the latest major corporation to make this promise, but they are joined by Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Citigroup, Levi Strauss, Lyft, Uber, MasterCard, Tesla, and Yelp, quite a few.
[74] Tesla is an interesting case because, as you might have heard, they relocated their headquarters to Texas, which has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.
[75] Now, what's the key motive for these companies?
[76] Is this primarily a PR move?
[77] Are there these strong convictions on the part of CEOs?
[78] Or is this just a strategic financial decision?
[79] You know, it may be a mix, but you may be on to, something when you ask about financial motives.
[80] On a purely brass tax level, a lot of people have pointed out that it is advantageous for these companies to avoid things like maternity leave for pregnant employees.
[81] There's no denying minimizing employee pregnancy helps companies bottom line.
[82] However, the financial incentives may go beyond that.
[83] Companies also face pressure from investment firms to make policies that support certain social agendas.
[84] As you reported before on the show, this incentive structure is called the environmental social and governance or ESG index.
[85] It's likely these companies see this move as an opportunity to court investment from ESG funds at firms like Vanguard and BlackRock.
[86] So what would these benefits look like for employees?
[87] Would they cover the cost of the procedure, travel, time off?
[88] Each company has a different plan for how much you will cover.
[89] For example, Starbucks pledged to reimburse employees for an undisclosed amount of travel expenses related to abortion.
[90] In that same memo, the company also announced that they would cover the cost of gender transition procedures.
[91] However, Starbucks stipulated that the nearest available care must be over 100 miles away from the employee's home in order to qualify.
[92] Amazon, by contrast, is offering up to $4 ,000 annually for women to be reimbursed for travel expenses associated with the same procedures.
[93] And then there's Salesforce, who made an entirely different promise.
[94] Their company will not only cover, travel expenses, but relocate employees and their immediate family if they desire to leave states that ban abortion.
[95] Now, what about coverage for employees who choose to continue with pregnancy?
[96] Are these companies also generous with things like family leave?
[97] Again, each company offered a different level of incentives.
[98] Many do offer paid family leave.
[99] Starbucks, again, for example, extends six weeks paid leave to those who welcome a new child by birth, foster care, or adoption.
[100] That's compared to, say, Microsoft, who offers 20 weeks of paid leave for birth mothers and 12 weeks for all other new parents, like adoptive and foster parents.
[101] Now, is there pressure on companies that haven't extended these benefits?
[102] It's interesting, you ask.
[103] Eyes are on a number of major corporations that historically have been pretty outspoken about social issues.
[104] So we can think of Disney, Netflix, Walmart, Facebook, PayPal, and even Target, to name a few.
[105] After the controversy with Governor DeSantis last month, it's likely that Disney might stay quiet on this, but we could very well see more announcements of this kind from some of these other big -name companies.
[106] Right, and it's possible they're also avoiding waiting into this issue until the Supreme Court actually drops their ruling.
[107] Right.
[108] We could see another way of announcements when that happens.
[109] All right, well, we'll keep an eye on it.
[110] Corinne, thanks so much for reporting.
[111] That was Daily Wire contributor, Corinne Murdoch.
[112] With gas prices climbing to record highs this week, debate over government energy policies are assuming a heightened importance once again.
[113] Here to lend his insight into the fuel crisis is Alex Epstein, founder and president of the Center for Industrial Progress.
[114] So Alex, as everyone is painfully aware, gas prices are now at over $450 a gallon.
[115] But we also have the Biden administration canceling three major oil leases.
[116] How will this affect oil and gas prices?
[117] Will it affect them?
[118] It definitely will.
[119] And the mechanism by which it affects those prices is by being a signal that the administration is committed to defunding investment in the industry.
[120] stopping production in the industry and stopping transportation in the industry.
[121] And it is that threat right now that is suppressing a lot of investment because oil and gas companies want to make money legitimately.
[122] And if they're being told that they don't have a future and that their projected projects are at risk, then they won't engage in drilling.
[123] And I know this firsthand from talking to many CEOs, it's the threat.
[124] That's the big problem that's suppressing a lot of potential production.
[125] So this reveals the current attitude of this administration towards this industry?
[126] Absolutely.
[127] This recent decision is particularly notable because Biden had seemed to be changing course.
[128] Is there a potential for new oil drilling and some other contracts that aren't as high profile?
[129] All the potential for drilling relies on confidence that there is a profitable future doing it.
[130] And unfortunately, what we have is we've had for the last 15 years an anti -fossil fuel movement that has been against fossil fuel investment, against production, against transportation.
[131] And that's really put us in a whole.
[132] We know how to extract the stuff really well.
[133] But there are many, many political limitations as well as kind of quasi -political corporate such as ESG limitations.
[134] And those are very entrenched.
[135] And Biden has sent a signal those are going to continue or even increase.
[136] What kinds of changes would we need to see to reverse this trend?
[137] So I work with a lot of elected officials.
[138] And we, What I tell them is what we really need the best case scenario is a congressional commitment to liberate oil, gas, and coal for the long term.
[139] Even if you look at what President Trump did, which in many, many ways, was good, it was mostly executive orders that we now know can easily be reversed.
[140] But we really need a congressional commitment saying we reject the Paris Agreement.
[141] We reject net zero.
[142] We recognize that fossil fuels are crucial for the future.
[143] And insofar as we're dealing with CO2 emissions, we're going to deal with that through innovation, and through liberating technologies like nuclear and natural gas.
[144] If you had that kind of commitment in law that could not easily be overturned by the whims of an anti -fossil fuel president, then you would have the next explosion in American oil and gas productivity.
[145] Now, another energy solution in America is nuclear.
[146] This is something that we're seeing actually debated right now in California.
[147] What are we seeing there and in other states in terms of nuclear energy?
[148] So unfortunately with nuclear, what we're not seeing is anything promising that's new.
[149] The very few projects that have been allowed to proceed are incredibly expensive.
[150] And this, I believe, is because the government has effectively criminalized nuclear, which is a whole discussion we could get into.
[151] So what the nuclear discussion is degenerated into is, do we save certain plants from being prematurely shut down?
[152] And so Exhibit A in California is the Diablo Canyon plant.
[153] and the administration in California, including Gavin Newsom, had committed to shutting it down.
[154] They've expressed some wavering.
[155] I'm not sure what his latest expressed whim is, but this should be very disturbing to the country that we have this amazing source of energy that has a history of being low cost.
[156] It's extremely reliable.
[157] You can control it, unlike solar and wind.
[158] It's incredibly clean.
[159] It's actually the safest form of energy.
[160] And yet we've demonized and criminalized it to the point where you can't accomplish anything new and we're prematurely shutting down the old plants.
[161] That shows that we need a massive reform in our policy, not just on fossil fuels, but also on nuclear.
[162] All right, Alex, thank you so much for talking with us.
[163] That was Center for Industrial Progress President Alex Epstein.
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