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Quick Hit:

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled an ambitious “Rearm Europe” plan on Tuesday, proposing up to 800 billion euros ($870 billion) in funding to bolster EU defense and provide emergency aid to Ukraine. The proposal comes ahead of a crucial European summit on security and military preparedness.

Key Details:

• Von der Leyen’s plan outlines five funding options, including budget flexibility for defense spending and redirected loans.
• 150 billion euros in loans would be used for missile defense, ammunition, and drone capabilities.
• The European Investment Bank and private capital mobilization are also proposed to finance the initiative.

Diving Deeper:

With Russia’s war on Ukraine dragging into its third year, Ursula von der Leyen is pushing to accelerate Europe’s military preparedness. On Tuesday, the European Commission president unveiled a massive “Rearm Europe” initiative, seeking to mobilize up to 800 billion euros to strengthen the continent’s defense capabilities. The plan is aimed not only at sending further aid to Ukraine but also at ensuring the long-term military resilience of EU nations.

The announcement comes just two days before a critical European summit on Ukraine and regional defense, where EU leaders will discuss security measures in the face of escalating threats. In a letter to EU heads of state, von der Leyen outlined five main funding options to finance the rearmament effort.

Von der Leyen’s first proposal calls for granting EU member states budgetary flexibility, ensuring that their military expenditures do not count towards the bloc’s excessive deficit rules for four years. This means countries could increase defense spending without violating EU budgetary constraints.

The plan includes reallocating 150 billion euros in existing EU loans to fund key military capabilities, such as air defense, missile systems, ammunition, and drones. This would boost interoperability across Europe’s armed forces and enhance collective security.

A controversial aspect of von der Leyen’s proposal involves allowing member states to redirect EU cohesion funds—originally meant for economic development in poorer regions—towards their defense policies. This could face pushback from countries that rely on those funds for infrastructure and social programs.

The fourth component seeks to leverage private investment by accelerating the formation of a European savings and investment union, encouraging private entities to fund defense projects.

Lastly, the Commission proposes using European Investment Bank (EIB) programs to help finance Europe’s defense sector, providing an additional stream of capital.

Von der Leyen’s proposal reflects a major shift in EU defense policy, as the bloc moves toward a more militarized and self-reliant security strategy. However, securing agreement from all 27 EU member states will be a challenge, particularly when it comes to redirecting economic funds toward military spending.

“Ursula von der Leyen 2022” by European Commission licensed under CC BY 4.0 DEED.

From from undercover news report from Project Veritas

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Michael Bastasch

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — yes, the agency that’s supposed to make sure the air and water is clean — has been caught red-handed in what, at least on the outside, looks like one of the most brazen and high-dollar left-wing political payouts of the century.

In what Trump EPA described in a letter to the agency inspector general’s office as “an unprecedented arrangement,” Biden-era bureaucrats used private Citibank bank accounts to squirrel away $20 billion in taxpayer funds — that’s right, billion with a “b” — much of which is earmarked for lefty “pass-through” organizations the agency itself determined “lacked basic financial competency.”

This $20 billion was ostensibly meant for “green banks” to finance all sorts of nice-sounding “climate justice” and green energy projects — but instead it steered billions upon billions to groups deeply tied into the Democratic Party machinery.

For instance, the current and former chairmen of one of the pass-throughs, called the Coalition for Green Capital (CGC), are both Democratic Party donors, each cutting sizable checks to Kamala Harris’ ill-fated 2024 run. CGC was on track to get $5 billion from Biden’s EPA.

In another case, a left-wing consortium tied to Stacey Abrams’s voter mobilization group was awarded $2 billion. In its letter to the IG, Trump’s EPA noted the former administration itself determined these groups “lacked basic financial competency,” but earmarked the cash anyway.

So, here we have billions in taxpayer funds being directed to Democratic insiders and donors — paging DOGE! No wonder bureaucrats shoveled this money into a seemingly untouchable Citibank account in the waning days of the Biden administration.

One former Biden EPA official was reportedly caught on tape gleefully comparing it to “tossing gold bars off the Titanic.”

Taken together, this looks like the left-wing political payout of the century. Rarely is rank political patronage so nakedly on display.

The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and FBI are currently asking tough questions of career EPA officials about these “gold bars,” but it’s unclear if the Trump EPA will be able to claw back any of the funds.

Accountability — after four years of virtually none of it — would not only be a victory for taxpayers, but also for good journalism.

It’s important to remember we’re only talking about this Biden EPA scandal because of the tireless efforts of one journalist. Long before the EPA inspector general, DOJ, the FBI, or even the Department of Government Efficiency, were alerted to this political payout, a reporter named Nick Pope was on the case.

Back in November 2023, when the Biden EPA announced it was handing out billions to so-called “green banks” in the name of “climate justice” and other high causes, Pope thought this might be the perfect cover for the Democratic Party to enrich itself at taxpayer expense.

No slouch, Pope dug in, and soon he saw smoke. Huge, billowing clouds of smoke. His first piece, published that same month, laid out in detail how the “green banks” on the shortlist for Biden EPA funding “all feature numerous individuals on their boards who work for influential organizations aligned with the Democratic Party or previously worked for Democratic administrations.”

But this was no one-off. Pope followed up when the EPA announced it was handing billions to the very groups he had just exposed as essentially being Democratic Party pass-throughs.

Government watchdog groups were put on alert. Congress eventually got involved, demanding answers from the Biden EPA about how something like this could even happen. Pope’s colleague Adam Pack left his own mark, first reporting about the billions going to the liberal consortium affiliated with Abrams’ get-out-the-vote efforts.

Even after the FBI got involved, Pope didn’t rest, pushing out yet another hard-hitting investigation exposing how heads of the groups slated to get billions in Biden bucks “collectively made hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal political donations to Democratic candidates and organizations in recent years.”

If Trump is actually able to claw back these “gold bars,” make sure to thank Nick Pope. Heck, even if we don’t get the money back, thank him anyway. Good journalism should be rewarded even if the ultimate outcome isn’t exactly what we wanted.

Besides, they don’t give out Pulitzers for exposing Democratic corruption, now do they?

While trust in media plummets, and the legacy press continues its liberal bootlicking, it’s even more important we support good journalists, like Pope and the rest of the Daily Caller News Foundation team, who are unafraid to report the truth and hold the powerful accountable.

Mike Bastasch is editor-in-chief of the Daily Caller News Foundation.