Wednesday, Nov 11: NE Governors Seeking Heating Assistance

WBSM presents The Barry Richards Show, streaming live on WBSM.com and the WBSM app. Call 508-996-0500. Text us using AppChat on the WBSM app. Now, The Barry Richards Show. Alrighty, welcome to the program for a Wednesday afternoon, 12-15. Not just any Wednesday, it is... Veterans Day. And happy Veterans Day to all of those veterans listening right now and to their families. And thank you for being with us. Appreciate it. Gorgeous day outside. Nice day. Sun shining down on all of our veterans. The president is speaking right now at Arlington and J.D. Vance is there as well for the laying of the wreath. Just a short time ago, parades in many communities throughout the country today on this Veterans Day. Veterans Day marks the service and sacrifice of members of the armed forces, and it's celebrated on November 11th every year to commemorate the armistice that ended World War I on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. Federal offices are closed today. I pulled out of the driveway this morning, and I said, gee, it's awfully quiet out here. And then it occurred to me, that's right, it's a holiday. It's a Veterans Day. A lot of folks are not working today. Federal courthouses are closed today. Local and state courthouses are closed as well. Post offices, state offices, RMV, city hall, all municipal offices, public schools, libraries. Trash pickup is most likely, depending upon where you live, but most likely diverted until tomorrow or some other day. Most banks are closed today, stock market is open, retail is open, and supermarkets are open. So, there you have it. Did you hear what happened to Biden? Biden was heckled yesterday by anti-Israel agitators who threw at least one object at his motorcade and screamed obscenities during his visit to Ireland alongside First Lady, former First Lady Jill Biden. A Biden who's 83 made a surprise appearance at Trinity College in Dublin. Where his son, Hunter Biden, accepted the gold medal for outstanding contribution to public discourse. Huh? Oh, really? What, how to clean a crack pipe? Was that it? How to hide kid porn on my computer? Oh, my God. Mob of agitators gathered outside the venue where the event took place. As Biden exited the building, someone threw an object that was blocked by an umbrella near Biden. Local police arrested two people at the scene. Video posted online shows law enforcement officers detaining people as the crowd chanted, blood, blood, blood on your hands. Biden was escorted into a waiting vehicle as the chaos unfolded and the motorcade quickly sped off. The agitators then heckled the police officers at the scene. Shame on you, they were chanting. Blood, blood, blood on your hands. And... Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Throughout his presidency, Biden faced intense criticism from progressive Democrats, human rights advocates, and anti-Israel activists over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war and his administration's unwavering support for the Jewish state. Critics repeatedly dubbed him as Genocide Joe over continued U.S. military assistance to Israel, arguing that defense funding enabled Israeli forces to kill and displace civilians in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, military experts have noted that Israel took unprecedented measures to minimize civilian casualties while targeting Hamas terrorists embedded in urban areas. That's our report today on Fox News Digital, which says it reached out to the former president's office for comment, but as yet has not received a response. I mean, I'm more amazed today's day and age, today's society, you know, people throwing things at the former president in Ireland. That doesn't surprise me too much. We've really become an unruly bunch, haven't we? An uncouth civilization. What surprised the hell out of me in that story is that Hunter Biden was given a gold medal for outstanding contribution to public discourse. Who knew? They love Hunter over in Ireland, I guess. I'm not sure. All right, so things are beginning to wind down or wind up, whichever you prefer. In Congress, they're getting ready for the old switcherooning, handing over the gavels and all that kind of stuff in 54 days. Yesterday, Jim Jordan of Ohio was elected by his peers to be the House Minority Leader. And Senator John Thune, who currently holds the position of Senate Majority Leader, was elected to the position of Senate Minority Leader for January. And so all eyes are on the Senate to see what they can get done between now and the end of the session. But God hopes it's more than what they've gotten done so far. But so everybody's looking at Thune to see what he's going to do. And yesterday, Thune declared that he and the Senate Republicans were, quote, committed to being here to do whatever it takes to get as much done as we can. It's kind of like the kid that does his homework the night before it's due. You know, wakes up mom. Nine o'clock at night on the couch. Mom, I just remembered I got a project due tomorrow. Do kids ever do that to you? You ever do it to your parents? I got a project due tomorrow. I forgot all about it. So there's John Thune. 54 days left and now it's time to get things done. We're here to do whatever it takes to get as much done as we can. That means extending the calendar here. The number of days we're here. The number of hours we're here. The number of votes we may end up taking, Thune said. But we are going to finish this legislative session strong. I always tell my wife, she's a last-minute person. I'm somebody who always likes to get things done in advance, get it out of the way, so you don't have to deal with it later. I don't know where that came into my life because I never used to be that way, but I don't know if it's part of the aging process or what, but I like to get things done out of the way. Um, I'd rather face a task now than have to say later on, oh, my God, I still got this to do. But here we are. 54 days. And I got a lot to do. The Senate was initially set to be in roughly 20 days from Tuesday until the changing of the guard. But Republicans are now squeezing the juice out of every last minute to ram through must-pass legislation, dozens of President Trump's nominees, and more. That's Alex Miller for Fox News Digital. The Republicans agreed to hold themselves to that sprint until the end of the year. At the tail end of their marathon closed-door meeting on Tuesday, lawmakers plan to maximize the 54 days we have with congressional majorities, to confirm every judicial nominee and every executive nominee that the conference approves of, and to pass our core Republican priorities and do everything humanly possible to pass a reconciliation bill before January 3rd. According to a resolution agreed to in the meeting obtained by Fox News Digital. Well, you know, had they done this stuff a little bit earlier, I wouldn't be facing this problem right now. But here we are. Another crack at budget reconciliation could be the trickiest part of the ambitious year-end gauntlet. Particularly depending upon what lawmakers try to cram in in the process. I think we've got to keep it realistic to probably have any chance of passing pretty narrow. Thune told Fox News Digital. Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, responsible for developing the scaffolding around the process, told Fox News Digital that he intended to present his plan to Republicans during their lunchtime meeting today. It is also where Republicans are considering one last attempt to get the Save America Act or a version of it that could pass muster with the Senate rules referee. Oh, yeah, that'd be part of it, you know, to provide funding for states for election integrity type of measure, as Johnson said. Defense funding will be another major task for Republicans, given that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats are determined to use congressional power over the nation's purse strings as a way to choke off spending on the Iran war. Thune acknowledged that reconciliation could be another... Landing spot for Pentagon dollars to flow, but hope Democrats would choose a different route. It's going to depend on whether or not they have any of their members who are persuaded that making sure that we have enough munitions and ammo and weaponry to be able to defend the country is a priority. I hope they do, in which case maybe we won't have to go down that path, but we're scoping it out right now. One of the top priorities of the White House and top of the list for Thune is confirming a slate of judicial and executive branch nominees. As of yesterday, there were 23 judicial nominees, many of whom still needed to go through committees, and nearly 100 executive branch nominees that need confirmation. There's a slew of other high-priority items that were punted to the lame duck, like the National Defense Authorization Act, Thank you. Permitting a reform package and keeping the government funded. Preventing another shutdown, at least hammering out a deal that could be tricky given how the political winds have shifted. So there's a lot to do. And the Congress did nothing. And that's why the Congress was defeated. The Republicans in the Congress were defeated anyway. Because they got nothing done. So now they're going to try to do as much of it as they possibly can in 54 days. Well, we don't know how much we can get it done. I mean, it's got to be kind of tricky. That's why Steve Miller is there. Anybody had any... Questions about why Steve Miller replaced Susie Wiles, now you know. It's going to be cracking away. One thing that is going before the Congress is an urgent appeal by the governors of New England, Moore Healey, Governor McKee in Rhode Island, Ned Lamont, Connecticut, Janet Mills up in Maine, Kelly Ayotte in Vermont. I'm doing this from memory. And Phil Scott. That's right, Phil Scott in Vermont. And that is a letter to the House Committee on Appropriations, essentially begging for more fuel assistance, which the letter and the governors say is urgently needed. Winter's at the doorstep. Temperatures are dropping. Next few days, we're going to see temps only in the 40s. A lot of thermostats that have been off are going to go on. Still haven't needed the heat in my house yet. I don't know about you guys, but got a pretty airtight apartment. So, so far, so good. Energy prices are soaring. Governors of New England are asking Congress to allocate additional funding for energy assistance for residents here in the Northeast. The governors are looking for $3 billion in low-income energy assistance program funds. That's in addition to the $4 billion they've already allocated, or that Congress has already allocated, to the six-state region. I've got a piece on this on WBSM.com today. Go read it and leave your thoughts on it. The six governors. I've sent a leadership to the House Committee on Appropriations and its Senate counterpart, whose membership includes Maine Senator Susan Collins, who's the chair, Connecticut Representative Rosa DeLauro. She's the weirdo from Connecticut with the purple hair and purple glasses, you know, green hair and purple glasses, whatever. Purple, I think it's purple hair and green glasses. Anyway, she's the ranking member. And again, they insist that the additional funding is urgently needed. So my heating assistance for many of you folks out there for families already living on tight budgets, higher energy bills add to an increasingly difficult financial burden. The letter states seniors on fixed incomes, families with young children and people with disabilities are especially vulnerable, often facing the difficult choice between maintaining safe temperatures in their homes and meeting other basic needs. The letter states. Healy boasted, of course, during the 2022 campaign for governor of Massachusetts, that as attorney general, she stopped two gas pipelines from coming into the state. Remember that? And then last month, Healy asked the U.S. Department of Energy to speed up the review process. It could lead to the extension of the Beacon Pipeline into Massachusetts. In the letter, the governors emphasized the need for more heating assistance in New England where cold winters, older housing and heavy reliance. On delivered heating. Fuel leave families especially exposed to the dramatic price increase that America is currently experiencing. Too bad we didn't have two gas pipelines, huh? The governor say the National Energy Assistance Directors Association expects heating oil prices to rise 50% this winter. That's heating oil. Have you loaded your tank? I've had a few calls from folks already about the cost of filling their tank. Some of you have told me it's about $1,000 to fill your tank, some more. Have you had the pleasure of filling your tank yet for the season, the upcoming season? What have you paid? What does it cost you? Do you anticipate being able to fill it again? How many times do you fill? In all my years on this planet, I've never owned a house with oil. I did rent with an oil tank that I was responsible for filling one time for a very short period of time. And I can recall that process. I don't recall what it cost to fill, but it was expensive. That was many years ago, over 30 years ago. What does it cost you and how many times do you have to fill your tank a year? Can you get by a winter on one tank of oil? Did you have to fill it twice or three times? What is the going average here? I mean, what do you look at each year? I mean, obviously, if it's a particularly cold winter like we had last year, um you may fill it more times than you normally might but um gasoline prices by the way down driving around New Bedford uh yesterday afternoon and this morning seeing prices as low as three dollars and 62 cents and they're coming down fast it's not like it's not as though they'd you know penny here penny there it's coming down fast you drive by you see anybody over four bucks I mean just go by and flip them the birdie and that's it um because it doesn't have to be that Pure profit and greed at your expense. So heating oil. Governors of New England, they need some money for fuel assistance, emergency fuel assistance for people. What's your situation like? What do you use for energy to heat your house? And what does it generally cost you? What did it cost you last winter? How much of a hit was it? And what are you anticipating this year? You know, I was just texting with somebody before the show. City Council sets the tax rate in New Bedford on the 24th of this month. There was an increase in Fall River that was approved, I think it was last night, a property tax increase. Looking at the situation, I guess the assessors have not made the recommendation yet, but looking at the overall situation with the $32 million budget deficit, my assumption is going to be that property taxes are going up next year, and you're going to find out about it on the 24th. Given the fact that there is a 32 million dollar budget shortfall, I would say it's a pretty good guess that tax rates, property tax rates are going to go up. You're going to pay more and you're going to have that increased cost for your fuel. How many are like sitting on the edge here wondering if you're going to make it this year? 508-996-0500. Let's grab a couple of calls on this. We'll start right at the top. Thanks for hanging on. You're next on WBSN. On. Yes, you are. OK, talking about oil. I've never paid this in my life. Three weeks ago, I put only 100 gallons in, and it cost me $559 for oil. I've never paid that. I always used to pay 300 and something. I don't put the whole, I can't afford to fill the whole tank. I think it's over 200 gallons. So I always huddle only 100 gallons at a time. But I know I'm getting due now to huddle again because it is cold, and I can't stand it when it's cold. But I find the oil went way up. And what can we do? We have to do it, right? You got to do it. So how many times do you generally put oil in your tank during the course of a winter? Not too bad. Maybe three the most. Maybe three? So you're looking at maybe $1,500 for oil for you this winter. Yeah. Because my hot water is in my oil, I mean in my furnace. I got coils in my furnace. So that furnace is always running to heat up the water. Oh, right. But I've got a small home. What I wanted to talk to you, Barry, just before you came on, Bill, what is it, Bill O'Meary or something? What's his name, that guy, Bill? I like him. Chris McCarthy? No, no. The one that comes on just before you telling you about. Oh, Bill O'Reilly. Bill O'Reilly. Yeah, Bill O'Reilly. Yeah. He was talking about today that it's an anniversary that the Beatles came on in 1963. Do you remember that? I remember. I remember when the Beatles first came out, absolutely. I was about, in 1963, I was five years old. Oh, my God. See, my oldest son was older than you. Okay. Because in St. Haven, we had built a new middle school, and he was in there already. I remember as he got older, when he was about 15, he was in high school then, he wanted a Beatles jacket. And I said, what is that? He drove me crazy. He wanted a Beatles jacket. That's what they were all wearing in school, he said. They had no collars. They were rounded, and they had... Two things that flapped on each side down. I don't know what the heck it was, but I bought them, Mom. You got his Beatles jacket and Beatles boots and all that kind of stuff, yeah. Oh, my God. I remember we had a store up in the north end here of Sato's. Remember Sato's? Yes, absolutely. And he had them, so I bought it there. My son isn't living today, poor thing. He passed away. He'd be 78 if he was living. Wow. Yeah. But I remember that so well. Wasn't it shortly after that that Elvis came out? No, Elvis came out before the Beatles. Yeah, yeah, Elvis came out in the 50s, yeah. Yeah, because I remember that. He was shaking like heck on the TV. I remember that. Shake it all over the place. I'm going to hold you right there, my friend, because I got a bunch of callers that want to talk about the Heat. Appreciate it. Good stuff. Good memories on the Beatles, too. I remember the Beatles. I was, like I said, five years old. And I can remember my older cousin Wayne and my mother would be all excited. They had the new Beatles records when they came out. They'd be playing them on the hi-fi. And so I can remember all of that. But, yeah. I was a little bit young then, but I have a good memory. 508-996-0500 is the number. And let's go to this one. You're next, NWBS. Thanks for hanging on. Oh, hey, Barry. About a week ago, up at the Myrick, a star driver in a gas station was $3.39 a week ago. $3.39? 3.39. Oh, 3.39. Okay. Yeah, and I would suspect it's lower now. I don't live up that way, but I was up that way about a week ago, and I saw that. I said, well, I already had a full tank, so I didn't put any gas in. So, yeah. God, it would have been almost worth pumping it out to put in some for that price, right? That's right. Another thing about Veterans Day, my mother, when World War II, she was 16. She joined the Canadian Army as a nurse. And then when she turned 18, because the U.S. Army wouldn't take her because she wasn't 18. And so she went to the Canadian Army. When she was 18, she joined the American Army and went over to the European theater. And then they transferred her to Los Alamos and saw the first atomic bomb. Oh, wow. And she's from the New Bedford area, originally? Yeah, yeah. I didn't know you could join in other countries, except for, like, you know, the French Foreign Legion, like Beau Jest or something. I didn't know you could join in other countries' military. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Well, that's an interesting story. Wow. Wow. And again, I never even heard that before. Wow. Wow. Wow. So you just educated me today Wow. because they did the testing over there after the war. Yeah. And she was here into the 50s and saw a bunch of tests. Oh, wow. So, did she get a military pension from Canada and the U.S.? I don't know. Probably not, no. Yeah, she told me a lot about this when I was a child. Yeah. I did ask my older sisters, and they said, they gave me a little more insight about how she was 16. And that's why she joined the Canadian Army. Wow, that's pretty cool. That's an interesting story. I've never heard of that before, but that doesn't mean anything. I just, I don't know everything. So that's, I learn something new all the time from listening to you guys. And I appreciate that very much. Thank you, my friend. I got to hold you right there. 508-996-0500. Anybody else have a relative in that situation that joined? The Canadian military, because they were too young to join the American military back then. I never knew you could do that. So that's absolutely amazing to me. I've got to get a break in 508-996-0500. We're going to come right back. This portion of programming on WBSN is brought to you by D's Hot Dogs in New Bedford, where you can get two hot dogs, chips and a soda for just six bucks. Back to Barry Richard on WBSM. Call 508-996-0500. Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. It's 1247 on a Wednesday afternoon. I'm still sitting here, still scratching my head, trying to figure out exactly what it is that Hunter Biden did to deserve the gold medal for outstanding contribution to public discourse from Trinity College in Dublin. Can't figure that out for the life of me. And did anybody tell the Irish, have the Irish sobered up yet? Do they know that Joe Biden's not president anymore and they can't they can't purchase influence with Joe Biden or access to Joe Biden by giving stuff to Hunter Biden? Did anybody tell the Irish that maybe maybe they'll realize it at some point, take the award back? I can't. What what on earth did Hunter Biden do to deserve? A gold medal for outstanding contribution to public discourse. I just think it absolutely befuddles me. Absolutely befuddles me. So here we go. Asking folks to share with me the gruesome details about their heating bills. Had a woman just call in and talk about her... Her furnace, she believes it holds 200 gallons of oil. She can only afford to do half at a time. And just said that she filled up 100 gallons for 500 and change. Said that's the most it's ever cost her. Usually it's around three something. Said she'll probably fill it halfway at least three times during the course of the winter months. Which would be about $1,500 commitment to oil. It's a lot of money, and, you know, that doesn't include electricity and all that kind of stuff, too. That goes, they just got to pay separately. When you think of the cost of living today, how amazing it is, especially you old folks out there living now. You know, I wasn't paying the bills when I was a kid, obviously, but I can remember, you know, as a kid, my parents had heating. You had to pay for the heat, right? And you had to pay for the lights, and you paid for your rent, and you probably had homeowner's insurance. But beyond that, that was about all your monthly bills, except for food and clothing and various things like that, upkeeping your car and gasoline and all that. But you think of a household today, what people are paying, you know, between cable TV bills, cell phone bills, buying and upgrading cell phones left and right. And some of the other crazy stuff, alarm systems and, you know, some of the other crazy things that you're paying on a monthly basis in your house, internet, that our parents never had when we were kids. We didn't have cable TV until the early 70s in New Bedford. And so, I mean, we had basically before that three channels, maybe four, and stuck the rabbit ears on the roof, I mean, on the TV and one of those antennas up on the roof. But beyond that, it really didn't have big monthly expenses like you do today. So when it comes time to having to pay off your heating, which is, you know, through the roof and your electric, which is through the roof. And you think of all those other very expensive bills you're going to pay. I mean, cable is like what I don't know what cable is. We don't we don't have cable. We use a. YouTube TV, because we don't watch TV. The only thing we ever watch is like football on Sunday or Monday night or Thursday night or whatever. And my wife watches the Celtics. That's about it. I mean, we don't, other than that, we don't even turn the TV on. So we don't have a big cable bill. But I guess cable right now is like, it's over $200 a month, right? It's got to be close to three, maybe. I don't know. And so that's $300 a month, $250 a month that our parents never had. I don't know what internet costs. I don't know what cell phones cost. My wife takes care of all of that. And fortunately, she's the bookkeeper in the house. I don't have to worry about any of that stuff. But, you know, plus groceries. I mean, we're paying like $140 to $160 a week for groceries for two people. And we eat out half the time. I can't even imagine trying to raise a family of four today. But what are you looking for for energy bills this winter? Thanks for hanging on. You're next on WBSN. Hi, Gary. Hi. I thank all the veterans out there. Yeah, include yourself. Yep, include yourself in that. Thank you. Yeah. Now we got the Democrats turning. And I'm sure they're going to try to open up the borders over here again. I remember I was delivering oil. I worked for Broder's there for a while. Sixteen cents a gallon. That's maybe $20 for 100 gallons. Wow. It was back in the 60s. Yeah. Sixteen cents a gallon, huh? Wow. Yeah. It's... Order changed now. Now, do you have a heating bill where you live, or is that included in your... That's included in the rent. Okay. Yeah, the rent goes up, though. Yeah, everything goes up. Yeah. Yeah. I'm renting, too. I sold my house. I'm renting. I think it's a great, personally, you know, we're living in a different day and age than we used to live in. But, I mean, you know, it's nice to not have to worry about the fluctuation of utility bills and everything and taxes. I just mentioned the tax rates coming out on the 24th, and you guys can expect to get walloped here in New Bedford. And it's nice not to have to worry about that. You have a set fee. It goes up each year a little bit. I think this year our rent went up like nine bucks. That's about all that went up. So I can't complain. I heard the mayor this morning at the military museum down the south end. Yeah. And on Veterans Day, he couldn't help trashing our commander-in-chief, president of the United States, on Veterans Day. You know, we have so many enemies within. You know, we don't need any more. I agree with you. And here's a president, by the way, who's done more for the fishing industry probably than the mayor's done. And, you know, certainly more than our congressional delegation's done. And, you know, and you got the mayor bagging him on Veterans Day. That's so uncouth. Yeah, well, they say the mayor was in the military, but I don't know. I often question on whose side. Yeah, I'm not sure. I don't know what it did. I think Mitchell did serve in the military. I'm not sure what. Yeah, that's what he says. Whose army? Thank you, my friend. Appreciate it. 508-996-0500. And we appreciate your service and every one of the veterans listening to us right now. Thank you. All right, let me take a break. We're going to come back in just a second. Stay tuned. You're listening to WBS. Broadcasting live from the Carefree Home Studios, this is WBSM. Carefree Homes, your home improvement experts. Roofing, siding, windows, and more. Get a free quote at carefreehomescompany.com. Carefree Homes, trusted, local, family. Alrighty, welcome back into the program. We're going to hit the news in just a half a minute here, but just asking folks about their utility bills and what they're seeing already. It is mid... Uh, mid just about mid, I guess, uh, November. And, um, so, uh, folks have been turning on the heat and we've been putting, putting the lights on, uh, earlier because of the change of the clock. I didn't know if that's reflected in billing yet. That'll probably hit us in December, but, um, I know a lot of folks have, uh, gotten oil at this point. Uh, I'm not sure about propane Thank you. Certainly, everybody's bracing for that, and add to that all the fact, as I mentioned, the city council is going to be here in the city of New Bedford, is going to be releasing the tax rate, voting on the tax rate for next year, and that's coming up on the 24th, and... Given the fact that property values have increased and we have a $32 million deficit here in the city of New Bedford, one can only imagine what the increase is going to be to property tax payers in the city, whether you be a commercial owner or whether you be a residential owner. So what are you bracing for in terms of property tax?