News You Can Use: ICE protests cover state, enter legislative hopper

As the General Assembly begins its three-month gallop of a session, the new Speaker builds a distinctly more progressive team in the House while Gov. Moore vows to make the state less dependent on the vagaries of federal employment. As the legislators head for Annapolis, events in Minnesota and elsewhere bring nationwide protests against the savagery of ICE agents and the buttheadedness of its leadership (yes, the one under the oversized cowboy hat).

It all comes from the top, of course. The lunatic decrepitude of Trump is more apparent each time he realizes a fantasy (briefly) with an executive order or (violently) by directing military action against Venezuela and threatens others, including NATO allies. We frankly haven't had the fortitude to read through the transcript of his two-hour interview with NYT reporters; when we do, we'll be better able to decide just how far over the cliff he has gone.

States -- including Maryland -- are fighting back, including through the courts. Much of Trump's worst activity is stuck in traffic and he increasingly voices fear that he will lose control of the US House in the midterms. He is afraid of being impeached but he probably needs to worry less about that than becoming irrelevant. So 2026 is brightening. It's News You Can Use.

HERE IN MARYLAND
Summaries by Maryland Reporter

Moore Says He Will Focus On Job Growth Away From Washington's Whims: In the effort to recover Maryland’s economy amid federal funding cuts and mass job loss, Gov. Wes Moore (D) says he will push a legislative agenda this year that focuses on investing in what he calls “lighthouse” industries like technology and aerospace that could make the state less reliant on the whims of Washington. WaPo

New House Speaker Puts Her Stamp On State Politics: Joseline Peña-Melnyk is new to the job of Maryland House speaker, but the veteran delegate is wasting no time putting her stamp on state politics. After being elected by her peers to the top job in December, Peña-Melnyk shuffled leadership roles in the House of Delegates, elevating younger and more progressive members. She brought new advisors onto her team, attended fundraisers for her colleagues and got used to having a state trooper always nearby. Baltimore Banner. >> Peña-Melnyk begins her first session leading the 141-member chamber Wednesday looking to balance a budget with a $1.5 billion deficit, provide affordable health care and protect immigrants. All of it, she says, will be achieved against a backdrop of civility. “We’re not Washington, D.C. We’re going to act appropriately,” she says. Maryland Matters.

Lawmaker Proposes Banning Ice Agents From Public Safety Jobs: Outraged by the Trump administration’s escalating immigration enforcement tactics, a Maryland lawmaker proposed banning agents recruited and hired to carry out the president’s mass deportations from ever working in state public safety jobs. WaPo

Ice Arrested 3,308 Marylanders In First Nine Months Of 2025: More 3,200 people in Maryland were arrested by ICE from Jan. 21, 2025, the day after President Donald Trump returned to office, through Oct. 15, 2025. The data comes from the Deportation Data Project. All told, ICE had arrested 3,308 people in Maryland from Jan. 1 to Oct.15, 2025, the last date that for which the Deportation Data Project provided numbers. That compares to 1,353 for all of 2024 and 387 for the last four months of 2023, according to the data. Maryland Matters.

Protesters, Including Ba Co Councilmembers, Protest Ice: The biggest turnout yet for a weekly protest against Trump administration policies occurred on Sunday when several groups gathered on an interstate overpass in Catonsville to hold a vigil following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by ICE agents in Minnesota. Included in that group were two Baltimore County councilmembers. Protesters gathered in groups in other areas as well. Baltimore Banner.

Marylanders Could Get Bigger Tax Refunds With Different Filing: With tax season underway, Maryland residents could see more cash returned to them because of federal tax laws that were enacted last year — but whether it’s a subtle bump or a larger boost will depend on how they file. Baltimore Sun.

THE REGION AND THE OTHER 49

Protesters have gathered in cities across the nation over the past week rallying against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence in cities as a part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, spurred by the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. In cities including Grand Junction, Colorado; Portland, Oregon; and Nashville, Tennessee, thousands have gathered at events in the days since Good's shooting, mourning the 37-year-old mother of three and criticizing President Donald Trump's immigration agenda that brought ICE into these cities. States Newsroom

ENERGY: Lawmakers in Arizona, Michigan, Virginia and Washington are advancing bills to end sales tax breaks for data centers, a sign of growing backlash against a building spree by tech companies aiming to win the AI race. Bipartisan groups of lawmakers say their constituents don’t want data centers in their back yards. At least 32 states exempt data center equipment from sales taxes. (Pluribus News)

MORE: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) has signed legislation establishing a new battery storage incentive program, requiring the state to procure three gigawatts of storage by 2030. The bill lowers barriers for installation of solar panels on homes and businesses and allows the state Commerce Commission to accelerate renewable energy projects before federal tax credits expire. (Pluribus News)

Sports stadium deals rain ever more taxpayer money on billionaires

Recent projects in Kansas and DC set new records for public funding of professional sports stadiums. When Washington, D.C., agreed to hand over billions in land and tax breaks for a new Commanders football stadium, experts thought it would long remain an outlier in sweetheart deals for sports teams. But just months later, attention turned to Kansas, where officials in December announced plans to fund 60% of a new stadium for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. The state committed to spending up to $1.8 billion — the largest-ever professional sports subsidy. News from the States

Mines? What mines?  Federal budget bill would raid fund for cleaning up abandoned coal mines | Pennsylvania Capital-Star News from the States

GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND THE FEDS

54%: The share of Canadians who own residential property in America who say they intend to sell those homes within the next year. Most who intend to sell cite the Trump administration as the reason they plan to divest. (Florida Politics) via Pluribus

A new Economist poll finds soccer is now America’s third-most popular sport, surpassing baseball and trailing only football and basketball. More than a third of American sports fans say football is their favorite sport, compared with 17% who pick basketball, 10% who chose soccer and 9% who opted for baseball. (Fox Sports)

Canary in the… Satellites have detected massive amounts of methane leaking from [Venezuela]’s abandoned oil rigs and pipelines, indicating an energy infrastructure in steep decline. Estimates to reverse that have been pegged at $10 billion annually over the next decade, Bloomberg reports.

And in other unsurprising climate news: Under Trump, U.S. Adds Fuel to a Heating Planet – “The president’s embrace of fossil fuels and withdrawal from the global fight against climate change will make it hard to keep warming at safe levels, scientists said.” The article notes that recently-seized Venezuelan oil is more “dirty” than standard crude and produces more carbon per barrel. NYT. Regionally, CCAN, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, joins other activist groups in endorsing careful research into geoengineering, a once-controversial plan to reflect some excess sunlight back into space.

And here, again, is the link to the New York Times meandering interview with the gangster-in-chief (transcript)

The week that awaits us demands action

Here's the update from People's Action's federal affairs director, Megan E

Hi People's Action,

Last week was a rough start to the new year. My heart goes out to everyone in Minnesota. I'm sharing Unidos MN’s statement regarding the Murder of Renee Good by an ICE agent.

An appropriations fight was already brewing around the bloated ICE budget. (We have a new petition live here. Feel free to use and share it..) Now Democrats are being pushed to fight harder to win restrictions and guardrails on Homeland Security through the funding bill. People’s Action Institute signed a letter last week with over 400 organizations led by the National Immigration Law Center and the ACLU with a list of demands for that bill.

ACA Extension Bill Passed the House

Congratulations to everyone who has worked on getting the House to pass the ACA tax credit extension bill! It passed the House floor last week with all Democrats and 17 Republicans. While it's both shameful that only 17 Republicans voted for the ACA extension, getting that 17 to vote yes was quite a victory. NONE of the 17 Republicans who voted for the bill wanted to but they felt pressured to do so by their constituents.

Republicans who voted yes with Democrats to pass the bill:

Reps. Mike Carey (Ohio), Andrew Garbarino (N.Y.), Ryan Mackenzie (Pa.), Mike Lawler (N.Y.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), David Joyce (Ohio), Tom Kean (N.J.), Nick LaLota (N.Y.), Max Miller (Ohio), David Valadao (Calif.), Rob Wittman (Va.), Jeff Hurd (Colo.), Maria Elvira-Salazar (Fla.), Rob Bresnahan (Pa.), Derrick Van Orden (Wis.), Zach Nunn (Iowa) and Monica De La Cruz (Texas).

Now we need maximum pressure on Republican Senators to take up and pass the bill immediately.

Recess: The Senate has a planned recess the week of January 19th if you’re interested in an in-district meeting.

ACA Story Collection: We continue to look for people who would like to share their ACA story and how they are being priced out of the marketplace. Contact me if you have a story or know someone who is interested in telling their story.

Federal Reserve

Trump continues to target and seek to punish people who don’t bend to his will. The US Department of Justice announced a bogus investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for the federal reserves headquarters renovation. Trump has been trying to bully Powell into lowering interest rates last year. You may remember he illegally fired another board member last year, Lisa Cook (who also happens to be the first and only Black woman serving on the Federal Reserve board) and that case is still moving through the courts.

Powell, who had been largely ignoring Trump’s threats, responded to DOJ investigation and accusations with a statement and video on the Federal Reserve’s website, calling the investigations “pretexts,” saying, “The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President.”

Congress created the Federal Reserve to be independent from the President and insulated from politics in order to promote economic stability. Several former federal reserve chairs have spoken in Powell’s defense. Senator Tillis (R-NC) has vowed to block all nominations to the federal reserve in response to this news. He also criticized the justice department. Here's the UK's The Guardian: "Democrats, Republicans and former Fed chairs condemn investigation into Jerome Powell -- Senior Democrat Elizabeth Warren and Republican Thom Tillis joined by all living predecessors of Powell to criticize justice department investigation."

The ACA premium fight broke through to people last fall and we need to keep up the drumbeat that Trump and Republicans promised in the 2024 elections to make the country more affordable and our instead making it more expensive as they take money from health care, housing and education and give it to billionaires and CEOs. When we divide the regime's coalition we slow them down. The most meaningful check on this regime's actions will be for Democrats to flip the House. It won’t be sufficient but it’s critical. People won’t remember this ACA fight unless we continue to remind them and offer meaningful ways to take action.

New Year Reminders:

Tool shed: State legislative contacts: Through Politico Pro, I have access to state legislatures and their staff’s emails. If you want me to send you an exported list of your state's contacts or a subset of them or want any Congressional staff contacts, please email me via [email protected]

In solidarity,

Megan

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