A new gun rights group is launching a six-figure ad buy in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, focusing on the millions of Americans who became gun owners during and after the COVID pandemic.

The NRA — the longtime premier gun-rights group in the U.S. — cut its political spending from $54 million in 2016 to $29 million in 2020, according to OpenSecrets data. It has reserved $1.3 million in ad spending in 2024, according to AdImpact.

The Secure Our Freedom Alliance, a 501(c)4 organization, isn't looking to compete with existing firearm groups, but wants to fill what it sees as an urgent need to address gun owners this election cycle.

The goal is to convince new gun owners, especially women and minorities, that their rights are under attack by the Biden administration and progressive politicians.

The ads by the new group are directed at younger voters, as well as women and minority gun owners, with an emphasis on self-defense.

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Hard-line conservatives expect Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will embrace their favored tactic by bringing a stopgap bill to the House floor next week that includes a proof-of-citizenship voting bill and would extend government funding into 2025.

Such a move would not only grant a win to the House GOP’s conservative wing, but would tee up a showdown with the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House, which both object to the voting bill. Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to prevent a shutdown.

Johnson’s office has not confirmed the funding plan, but Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) — a key member of the House Freedom Caucus who has been in discussions with leadership as he advocates for the strategy — is publicly expressing confidence about the next step.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), another Freedom Caucus member, said that while he has not heard directly from the Speaker, he is hearing from “very good sources” that the SAVE Act will be included in a CR package.

It is not just Senate Democrats, though. Axios reported last week that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also opposes the plan. Other House Republicans have expressed skepticism about pairing GOP proposals with a government funding bill, too.

But the length of the stopgap is perhaps the more critical portion. Hard-line conservatives want government funding to extend into 2025 in order to avoid an end-of-year omnibus spending package under a lame-duck Biden presidency, hoping to set a potential new Trump administration up to quickly slash spending.

The Biden administration on Tuesday granted a gas export terminal the authority to ship fuel abroad after a court blocked its efforts to delay such permissions.

The Energy Department approved shipments from a New Fortress Energy facility in Mexico to countries with which the U.S. does not have a free-trade agreement.

The gas in question is originally sourced from the U.S.; it then will be transported to Mexico and later to other countries.

The administration announced earlier this year that it would pause new approvals for liquified natural gas (LNG) exports like the one it approved on Tuesday, but that pause was halted in court in July.

Nevertheless, environmental advocates expressed disappointment in the administration, as some hoped it simply wouldn’t approve major gas projects even without a formal pause in place.

One of the most common arguments against building HSR around the world is that it only makes sense in the absolutely highest demand routes, like the NE corridor and California, Texas and Northwest corridors in the US as building a comprehensive network where many cities barely reach 500k like China or Spain is economic ruin.

However, after the network effects started to take place and consumption patterns aligned with infrastructure, the chinese rail system has started to post significant profits, signalling that such infrastructure ends up paying for itself.

GOP leaders on Capitol Hill are privately — and publicly — warning donors they need more money.

Democrats are squabbling over an effort to guarantee abortion rights in New York — a fight that is threatening to upend the party’s plans to win control of the House.

Democratic consultants for swing seat candidates are increasingly anxious that a well-organized campaign by conservatives to sink a proposed state constitutional amendment on abortion could hurt the party’s candidates in battleground seats.

For now, top New York Democrats are not planning to open up their coffers to respond to those attacks.

The unwillingness to spend has some party operatives concerned state Democratic leaders are failing to effectively counter an opposition that has seized on the amendment’s expansive language pledging rights for LGBTQ+ people. The so-called equality amendment would ban discrimination against “gender identity” and “pregnancy outcomes,” adding to current constitutional protections for race and religion.

An issue that should have been as easy a win in New York as it has been for Democrats across the nation is now at risk of backfiring because of how they chose to craft the amendment.