Jared Isaacman

By a vote of 67-30, the U.S. Senate confirmed billionaire SpaceX enthusiast Jared Isaacman to be the administrator of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration on Wednesday afternoon, in the wake of the Trump administration’s announcement it was dismantling NASA’s sister earth-science institution National Center for Atmospheric Research for “climate alarmism.”

Sixteen Democrats, including Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), joined all Republicans who voted. The other Democrats who backed the Elon Musk ally include Democratic whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, DSCC chair Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Commerce members Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and Andy Kim of New Jersey; Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Martin Heinrich of New Mexico; former astronaut and EPW member Mark Kelly of Arizona and his fellow senator Ruben Gallego; EPW member Adam Schiff of California, Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of Virginia; Elissa Slotkin of Michigan; and Angus King of Maine.

Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and the Iowa Republicans Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst were absent.

Jared Isaacman made his billions as CEO of the Shift4 payment processing firm and has flown to space twice on SpaceX missions he financed himself. He co-founded Draken International, which trains pilots for the U.S. military. Isaacman is a pal and an extreme admirer of Elon Musk.

In committee, Cantwell, Baldwin, and Fetterman joined Republicans to support his confirmation.

Isaacman’s confirmation hearing took place on December 3rd, as NASA illegally moved forward with the rapid downsizing of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Isaacman was nominated in the spring to be NASA administrator, with his nomination hearing on April 9th. Right before the vote on his confirmation, the White House pulled his nomination. He was renominated this fall.

According to a recent reporting by Ars Technica, the Trump administration is looking to slash the space agency’s science budget by as much as 50 percent, which could prove disastrous for the future of space research.

You’d think that would be top of mind for Isaacman, but his head is instead blissfully empty.

“I’m a humble nominee on the outside, hoping for a chance to contribute,” he tweeted, responding to a post that referenced the news. “I don’t know anything about those supposed cuts, but the President said he’s targeting fraud, waste & abuse w/ a scalpel — not a hatchet.”

Isaacman’s confidential plans for the agency, titled Project Athena, circulated around Washington before being circulated around Washington before being leaked. “Take NASA out of the taxpayer funded climate science business and leave it for academia to determine,” Isaacman wrote. Given the opportunity to disavow that plan at his confirmation hearing, Isaacman refused.

In a private sign-on letter delivered today, the Federal Unionists Network and 35 union locals representing tens of thousands of federal workers are calling on Congressional leadership to oppose any budget that undermines access to affordable healthcare for millions of Americans or weakens Social Security, the VA, scientific agencies, regulatory protections, and the other services and programs tens of millions of Americans rely upon, even if it means a government shutdown. The letter, titled “No Bad Budget in Our Name,” was delivered to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Full text:

The Trump administration is making the conspiratorial denial of climate science the official policy of the United States government.

The Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has proposed a new rulemaking, “Reconsideration of 2009 Endangerment Finding and Greenhouse Gas Vehicle Standards.”

The proposed rule relies on a report by a group of five prominent climate deniers commissioned by Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, “A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate.”

Wright, a former fracking executive, formed the “Climate Working Group” of evangelical conservatives John Christy and Roy Spencer, oil-industry consultant Judith Curry, Canadian evangelical economist Ross McKitrick, and BP physicist Steve Koonin.

Public comment on the proposed rule is open until September 21, with a virtual public hearing scheduled for August 19 and 20. EPA economist Beth Miller is the contact person for the hearing, at (734) 214–4703 or [email protected]. People wishing to speak will be given three minutes each.

The introduction to the reconsideration:

Following days of furious wrangling to fit their multi-trillion-dollar omnibus through budget reconciliation guiderails, the Senate Republican leadership released the full text of their version of the One Big Brutal Bill Act (H.R. 1) at midnight Saturday morning.

The bill’s guiding purpose is to kill the Green New Deal, the sweeping legislative vision of climate, social, and economic justice that President Joe Biden disavowed, even as his Inflation Reduction Act made compromised moves in that direction.

Below is the 13-page, 315-section table of contents for this gargantuan assault on the nation:

More than a hundred renewable-energy investors representing hundreds of billions in capital are making a last-minute bid to protect wind and solar tax incentives from the One Big Brutal Bill Act (H.R. 1), which is nearing Senate passage.

On Thursday, the group, calling their effort Secure US Energy, took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal calling for passage of a “final bill” that is less restrictive on solar-panel imports, preserves the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Clean Electricity Production Credit and Clean Electricity Investment Credit, and that phases out the IRA’s Residential Solar Credit in 2027 instead of 2026.

In an attempt to reach Republican senators, the letter uses Trump-friendly framing, emphasizing “low-cost, reliable, and abundant energy,” “American energy production and manufacturing,” and the need to “deploy all sources of energy” to win the “AI race.”

The investors also cite the Energy Innovation report that finds OBBBA’s elimination of renewable-energy incentives would “raise American households’ annual energy bills by a combined $170 billion and reduce cumulative GDP by $1.1 trillion during the budget window, eliminate 790,000 jobs in 2035, and forgo 330 gigawatts of new electricity capacity by 2035.”

Full text of the letter:

National Science Foundation headquarters, built in 2017 in Alexandria, Va.

The Trump and Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.) administrations are evicting the 1,833 employees of the National Science Foundation from its headquarters in Alexandria, Va. Scott Turner, Trump’s anti-housing Housing and Urban Development Secretary, is planning to take over the building.

Turner seeks to remodel the NSF headquarters, constructed in 2017 at 2415 Eisenhower Ave. in downtown Alexandria, into a private fiefdom in the mode of Trump Tower, with the 19th floor reserved for his personal use.

The union representing many NSF scientists, American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3403, announced the news on Tuesday, June 24.

ALXnow’s Ryan Belmore reports that the transition will occur over two years.

The Republican budget-reconciliation omnibus, H.R. 1, the OBBB Act, passed 215-214-1 at 6:55 am Thursday morning. After a marathon Rules Committee markup concluded late Wednesday night, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) moved the legislation directly to the floor.

Two Republicans voted against the bill, one Republican voted present, and two did not vote. All 212 Democrats voted against the legislation.

The bill, which extends and expands Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, repeals most of the Inflation Reduction Act, gives the Office of Management and Budget $100 million to kill regulations, and fast-tracks oil, gas, coal, logging, and mining projects across the nation, was broadly backed by American corporations.

Final text

In a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin laid out the radical argument that the Trump administration is not bound by laws passed under previous Congresses. He argued vociferously with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) that his agency’s defiance of statutory obligations and subsequent court rulings were acceptable, saying that the Trump administration is bound only by the rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court.

And then in a telling exchange with Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) about the Clean Water and Drinking Water Revolving Funds, which the Trump administration has proposed to dismantle, he promised only to follow specific directives in laws passed by the current Congress.

Zeldin’s specious and wildly unconstitutional argument is that the presidential election acted as a reset for federal statutes.

Congress appropriates funding, and then the agency distributes that funding as it's required to under the law. That doesn't mean from one administration to the next, that the Trump administration is going to come in agreeing with the policy priorities of the prior administration that just left office. There might be a disagreement of opinion between administrations. And we come in towards the beginning of a fiscal year. The way that funding will go out the course of a fiscal year might be applying the new administration's priorities, as the American public voted for last November.

Transcript:

Acting FEMA Administrator Cam Hamilton has been fired by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, a day after he testified in defense of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In a Senate appropriations hearing this morning, Noem reiterated her stance that FEMA should be eliminated.

"President Trump has been very clear since the beginning that he believes that FEMA and its response in many, many circumstances has failed the American people, and that FEMA, as it exists today, should be eliminated in empowering states to respond to disasters with federal government support."

David Richardson, the acting DHS Assistant Secretary, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, has been named the new acting FEMA Administrator.

Introduced by Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.). Reps. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), and Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) were original co-sponsors, but withdrew after learning Democratic leadership did not support the resolution. Nadler indicated his name was added as a cosponsor after a conversation with Thanedar but without his explicit approval. The retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) then co-sponsored the resolution, and then withdrew.

Articles of impeachment:

• I: OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, VIOLATION OF DUE PROCESS, AND A BREACH OF THE DUTY TO FAITHFULLY EXECUTE LAWS
• II: USURPATION OF THE APPROPRIATIONS POWER
• III: ABUSE OF TRADE POWERS AND INTERNATIONAL AGGRESSION
• IV: VIOLATION OF FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS
• V: CREATION OF UNLAWFUL OFFICE
• VI: BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION
• VII: TYRANNY

H. RES. 353

Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 28, 2025

Mr. Thanedar (for himself, Mr. Mfume, Mr. Nadler, and Ms. Kelly of Illinois and Ms. Schakowsky) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

RESOLUTION

Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Resolved, That Donald John Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the Senate:

Article of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America, against Donald John Trump, President of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors.

ARTICLE I: OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, VIOLATION OF DUE PROCESS, AND A BREACH OF THE DUTY TO FAITHFULLY EXECUTE LAWS

The Constitution provides that the House of Representatives “shall have the sole Power of Impeachment” and that the President “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors”. Further, Article II of the Constitution states that the President “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”, the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution states that “The right of the people … against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated”, and the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution states “No person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”. In his conduct of the office of President of the United States—and in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed—Donald John Trump has abused the powers of the Presidency in a manner offensive to, and subversive of, the Constitution, in that:

Using the power of his high office, Donald John Trump has engaged in this scheme or course of conduct through the following means: