KENTUCKY — During this In Focus Kentucky segment, United States Representative Andy Barr of Lexington (R KY-06) joins the program to give an update on a number of issues affecting the nation and the Commonwealth.
President Joe Biden's administration is reportedly weighing whether to delay the repeal of Title 42, a federal policy that has limited asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border for two years.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Title 42 order was first issued in March 2020 under former president Donald Trump.
Officials at the time said the use of Title 42—named for a 1944 public health law to prevent communicable disease—was to limit the spread of COVID-19, but some criticized it as an excuse to keep migrants out of the United States.
"The hypocrisy of the Biden administration is astounding. On the one hand, the CDC is now extending the mask mandate for Americans for airline travel. And so they're saying that the that the pandemic persists for the American people, but if you're an illegal immigrant, apparently the pandemic is over and they're lifting title 42," said Congressman Barr.
Across the U.S., there are over 104 million acres of land occupied by white oak trees. These trees provide biodiversity to many ecosystems and help the surrounding plant and animal-life prosper. However, the population of the white oak trees is set to rapidly decline in the next 10 to 15 years because of changes in land management and other ecological factors. As a result, Congressman Barr recently announced the creation of the White Oak Caucus. The White Oak Caucus is being established to promote and educate members about the support white oak forests provide in the United States.
"One of the criteria for making bourbon whiskey is it has to be aged in a brand new, charred white oak barrel of that barrel. And those staves come from white oak, mainly in North America. We're OK for the next 15 or 20 years in terms of the supply of that white oak, but we're going to run out and we need to be sustainable with respect to white oak forests and reforestation of that important input into our signature industry. And so I at the request of the bourbon industry here in Kentucky, I formed the white oak caucus. It's a it's a great bipartisan caucus and I've recruited as many Democrats to join this caucus as Republicans and I think it's a great bipartisan issue," explains Barr.
You can watch the full In Focus segment in the player above.