Hill Heat

On Tuesday, November 10, at 10:30 a.m., U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, will hold a hearing to consider the nomination of Justin Schwab to be Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Nominee:

• Justin Schwab, to be Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation of the Environmental Protection Agency

Justin Schwab is the founder of CGCN Law, a law practice in DC focusing on environmental, energy, and administrative law. He served as Deputy General Counsel at EPA from 2017 through 2019. Prior to that, he practiced administrative law at BakerHostetler’s DC Office. He clerked for the Second Circuit and the Utah Supreme Court, and has a law degree from Yale and a PhD in Classics from Berkeley. He had been serving as general counsel for the White House Council on Environmental Quality before moving in July to be a senior advisor to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.

During the first Trump administration, Schwab played a key role in killing Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

Before joining the administration, Schwab was an attorney at Baker & Hostetler LLP, where his clients included the utility giant Southern Co., according to his financial disclosure form (Greenwire, May 8).

Schwab’s other industry clients included construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc.; Scotts Co. LLC, which makes lawn care products; metal producer Mississippi Silicon LLC; and steelmaker Big River Steel LLC.

11/10/2026 at 10:30AM

Full committee hearing.

Nominees:

• Leslie Becera, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Government Affairs
• Danielle Thumann Severs, of North Carolina, to be a Member of the Federal Communications Commission
• Joshua Shoemaker, of Virginia, to be Chief Financial Officer of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• Robert Steinau, of Maryland, to be Inspector General, both of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

A native of Plano, Texas, Leslie (Allison Parker) Becera is now a Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Government Affairs. Her nomination hearing was originally scheduled for September. She was a long-time Republican staffer for Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) in his office and then under him at the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Danielle K. Thumann Severs is Senior Counsel, Chairman Brendan Carr, Federal Communications Commission. Before that, she spent a year in the private sector where she led on state and local government relations for Crown Castle, a nationwide telecommunications infrastructure provider. Before her first stint with Commissioner Carr’s office in 2021, Severs was an Associate Attorney in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilkinson Barker Knauer. After attending the University of Virginia for her undergraduate degree, Severs earned her J.D. cum laude from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law where she was Associate Editor of the Catholic University Law Review. She also earned a certificate from the Columbus School of Law’s Law & Technology Institute. She has also worked for Republican FCC commissioner Michael O’Rielly and several telecom trade associations, including the Wireline Competition Bureau, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, Telecommunications Law Professionals, and CTIA-The Wireless Association.

Joshua Shoemaker was was Controller of the Republican National Committee from March 2025-March 2026. His wife Lisa Shoemaker is the SVP for Global Corporate Relations for Idemia, a military contractor that specializes in biometrics, and a member of the executive board for the Meridian Corporate Council, an international corporate diplomacy organization. She worked for the Donald J. Trump For President 2024 campaign.

Robert Steinau is currently NASA’s Assistant Inspector General for Investigations and the acting NASA Inspector General. A former Marine and then Secret Service agent who served on the detail for Vice President Dick Cheney, Steinau served for ten years in the leadership of the NASA cyber crimes division before joining the NASA IG office in 2021.

11/10/2026 at 10:30AM

Full committee hearing on several nominees.

The Farm Credit Administration currently has only one member, Jeffery Hall.

Nominees:

• Gregory Ibach, of Nebraska, to be Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Affairs, Department of Agriculture
• Carl Bednarski of Michigan, to be a member of the Farm Credit Administration, for a term expiring May 21, 2034
• John Grunewald II of Oklahoma, to be a member of the Farm Credit Administration, for a term expiring May 21, 2032
• James Russell “Rus” Middleton of Virginia, to be a member of the Farm Credit Administration, for a term expiring Oct. 13, 2030.

The owner of 11 Milliron Ranch in Sumner, Neb., Greg Ibach served as director of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture from 2005 to 2017, and served as USDA Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs from 2017 to 2025. His wife Teresa Ibach is a Republican member of the Nebraska legislature.

Carl Bednarski retired in 2024 after ten years as president of the Michigan Farm Bureau.

John Grunewald II retired in 2023 after 43 years in the Farm Credit System, including 31 years as president and CEO of Farm Credit of Western Oklahoma. His nomination for the seat ending in 2030 was withdrawn on September 17 but resubmitted on September 28 for the seat ending in 2032.

James Russell “Rus” Middleton has served as the Associate Director of the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs at the FCA since May 2009, and was a Democratic Senior Professional Staff Member for the House Committee on Agriculture (1997–2006). He also spent ten years as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Representative Charles W. Stenholm (D-Texas).

11/10/2026 at 10:30AM

Voters sent a message on election day.

But what are they demanding from the next Congress and the next Administration?

Join elected leaders, strategists, pollsters, advocates, and experts the week after Election Day to unpack the issues and messages that moved voters in the midterms and what that means for policy agendas, congressional oversight, and the ideas primary. Popular Mandate is where we turn the lessons of 2026 into a roadmap for the future.

10:00 AM

Morning Welcome: Lindsay Owens, Groundwork Action

10:05 AM

Opening Keynote: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA)

10:20 AM

Panel: Making Sense of the Midterms

Featuring Brian Fallon, Leah Greenberg, Xochitl Hinojosa, and Rebecca Katz. Moderated by David Freedlander, New York Magazine. Introduced by Maya Wiley, The Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights.

11:15 AM – Break

11:35 AM*

Welcome Back: Joel Payne, MoveOn Civic Action

11:40 AM *

Pollster Presentations

Melissa Toufanian, Navigator Research
David Shor, Blue Rose Research

12:00 PM

Remarks: President April Verrett, SEIU

12:15 PM

Remarks: Bishop Leah Daughtry, Power Rising Action Fund

12:30 PM – Lunch Break

1:30 PM

Afternoon Welcome: Rep.-Elect Brad Lander (NY)

1:35 PM

Video Message from Mayor Zohran Mamdani (New York City)

1:40 PM

Panel: Taking on Big Tech

Featuring Rep. Becca Balint (VT), Rep.-Elect William Lawrence (MI), and Alex Bores. Moderated by Elizabeth Wilkins

2:15 PM

Panel: Taking on Corruption

Featuring Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD), and Rep. Greg Casar (TX). Moderated by Lisa Gilbert, Public Citizen

2:45 PM

Fireside Chat: Sen. Chris Van Hollen with Ali Vitali, MS NOW

3:00 PM

Panel: Taking on Health Care Costs

Featuring Reps.-Elect Adam Hamawy (NJ) and Donavan McKinney (MI). Moderated by Nidhi Hegde, Fight Corporate Monopolies. Introduced by Sen. Andy Kim (NJ).

3:30 PM – Afternoon Break

3:45 PM

Remarks: Rep. Ro Khanna (CA)

3:50 PM

Remarks: Rep.-Elect Daniel Biss (IL)

3:55 PM

Panel: Meet the New Members

Featuring Reps.-Elect Matt Little (MN), Katy Padilla Stout (TX), and Randy Villegas (CA). Moderated by Tara McGowan, COURIER. Introduced by Sara Cheiffo, League of Conservation Voters.

4:35

Remarks: Rep.-Elect Rebecca Cooke (WI)

4:40 PM

Remarks: Rep. Maxwell Frost (FL)

4:50 PM

Remarks: Rep. Chris Deluzio (PA)

5:00 PM - Reception Begins

11/10/2026 at 10:00AM

Full committee hearing.

Nominee:

• Dennis Dean Kirk, of Virginia, to be Inspector General, Department of the Interior

Dennis Kirk, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, one of the associate directors of Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, and a co-Project 2025 chapter on central personnel agencies, was installed in the Department of Interior’s inspector general office in August.

11/10/2026 at 09:30AM

Senate Cloture Vote on Motion to Proceed on BAAJA’s legislative vehicle, H.R. 2347. Debate begins at 3 pm, vote scheduled for 5:30 pm. First of the three 60-vote-threshold votes required for passage.

Vote succeeded 73-25.

11/09/2026 at 03:00PM

Tell the Senate: Strike Title II. Protect Section 106.

The Senate’s permitting bill, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA), would gut Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and put the places that tell America’s story at risk: cemeteries, battlefields, sacred sites, and the landmarks where history happened.

For sixty years, the National Historic Preservation Act has helped protect the places that tell America’s stories: Tribal sacred sites, historic neighborhoods, battlefields, burial grounds, landmarks, and the places where ordinary people made extraordinary history.

Now, those protections face one of the gravest threats in their history.

As the Senate prepares to consider legislation that would dismantle the National Historic Preservation Act, 106 Strong is calling Americans to gather at the U.S. Capitol on November 9 to stand for our history, our communities, Tribal Nations, and our right to be heard.

We are 1,000 organizations and Tribal Nations representing more than nine million Americans. We come from every corner of the country, every kind of community, and many different backgrounds. We are united by a simple conviction:

Our history belongs to all of us. No administration or Congress should be able to destroy it without listening to the people whose lives and communities it defines.

On November 9, we will bring that message directly to the nation’s capital. We invite Tribal citizens, preservationists, historians, architects, archaeologists, museum professionals, students, community advocates, and everyone who cares about America’s heritage to join us.

Scheduled guest speakers include:

• Martin Luther King III, Chairman, Drum Major Institute
• Lynda Carter, Actress, Philanthropist and CEO of Impact Sciences
• Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Member of Congress (MI)
• Rep. Adelita S. Grijalva, Member of Congress (AZ)
• Rep. Melanie Stansbury, Member of Congress (NM)
• All Pueblo Council of Governors
• Chairman Leonard Forsman, Suquamish Tribe
• Council Member Conrad Jacket, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
• Chief Anne Richardson, Rappahannock Tribe
• Mary Means, Founder of the Main Street revitalization movement
• Vedet Coleman-Robinson, President & CEO, Assoc. of African American Museums
• Rebecca Miller, Executive Director, DC Preservation League
• Charles A. Birnbaum, President & CEO, The Cultural Landscape Foundation
• Joy and Jo Banner, Co-Founders, The Descendants Project
• Yiselle Santos Rivera, Incoming President, American Institute of Architects
• Torey Carter-Conneen, CEO, American Society of Landscape Architects
• Brian Daniels, President, Archaeological Institute of America
• A. Prince Albert III, Founder, The Culture Keepers Circle (emcee)
• Greg Werkheiser, Attorney, Cultural Heritage Partners, & 106 Strong Coalition lead

Come to Washington. Bring your colleagues. Bring your friends. Bring the stories of the places you love.

We will gather peacefully, stand together, and call on Congress to reject legislation that weakens protections for America’s historic and cultural places.

RSVP

11/09/2026 at 12:30PM

Today, November 9, at 11 a.m. ET/9:00 a.m. MT, U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, will host a press conference urging their Senate colleagues to pass the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA). The Senate is slated to vote on the legislation Monday evening.

The senators will cite studies from industry groups Rhodium, Solar Energy Industries Association, and Grid Strategies, none of which are studies of the final bill text, which was released Saturday.

The senators will not cite Kevin Kircher’s independent analysis.

Oil Change International has published a critique of the Rhodium analysis.

Rhodium isn’t looking at what BAAJA will do for fossil-fuel exports. And their assumptions, including good-faith implementation by the Trump regime, essentially force the outcome of their models. Rhodium’s public modeling, as opposed to the modeling they do for industry clients, which include data center developers and the LNG industry, have been notoriously wrong about fossil-fuel growth.

11/09/2026 at 11:00AM

Join us for an urgent protest to send a message to Senator Schumer and Representative Jeffries: Stop the Dirty Data Center Deal!

Congress is poised to consider legislation that would drive a massive buildout of hyperscale AI data centers and the fossil fuel infrastructure to power them.

The “Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026” rolls back key environmental laws, all but ensuring ensuring that data center and infrastructure projects are approved regardless of community opposition.

Schumer and Jeffries must block this cynical industry-backed effort to force data centers on America.

We’ll start outside of Schumer’s apartment building at 9:00 a.m., after which we’ll walk to Jeffries’ office at 55 Hanson Place arriving at 10:00 a.m.

Event sponsors: New York Communities for Change, Food & Water Watch, Climate Defenders, 350Brooklyn, Indivisible Brooklyn, Climate Families NYC (list in formation)

11/06/2026 at 09:00AM

Post-election, Food & Water Watch is prepared to act. Whether it’s passing policies at the local and state levels or pushing for federal legislation together, we will continue to organize to protect our communities and our planet.

Join us as we break down what the election results mean for food, water, and climate policy, lay out our plans for the future, and share how YOU can impact the fight for a livable future for all.

RSVP

11/05/2026 at 07:00PM