Hill Heat

Liquefied natural gas is an environmental justice issue and a climate risk - so why are financiers pushing for a build-out of LNG on the U.S. Gulf South?

Join our webinar on March 6th to learn how the government of Japan along with its main banks and insurance companies are the biggest players in the US Gulf methane expansion projects. Hear directly from NGO and Gulf leaders working to stop this expansion.

Speakers:

• Ayumi Fukakusa, Friends of the Earth Japan
• Bekah Hinojosa, South Texas Environmental Justice Network
• Juan Mancias, Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas
• Manning Rollerson, Freepord Haven Project
• Sharon Wilson, Oilfield Witness

Supported by the Gulf South Fossil Hub, Oil Change International, Friends of the Earth Japan, Rainforest Action Network, and Stop the Money Pipeline.

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Republicans are gearing up to move their agenda through Congress via “reconciliation”—the same process they used during the first Trump administration to slash the corporate tax rate and give breaks to the top 1 percent. Understanding reconciliation is essential for tracking the GOP’s policy plans, anticipating impacts on the rest of us, and holding lawmakers accountable to the people they serve.

Join the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center, Indivisible, and the National Women’s Law Center as we break down what you need to know about reconciliation and what it means for our communities. We’ll explain why this process matters, discuss history’s lessons learned, and answer YOUR questions!

Speakers:

• Tricha Maharaj, Indivisible
• Bobby Kogan, Center for American Progress
• Catherine Rowland, CPC Center
• Ben D’Avanzo, National Immigration Law Center

Zoom’s automated captioning will be available during the webinar. All registrants will receive a follow-up email with a captioned recording of this briefing.

Registering for this webinar will automatically add you to our email listserv. Email [email protected] to opt out.

Please note that our webinars are recorded and often posted to our website and/or social media. If one of our panelists reads your comment or question, or if you come off mute to ask your question, your name or voice may appear in the recording.

Subcommittee hearing.

On Saturday, March 1st, Trump, in an executive order, demanded an expansion in tree cutting across 280 million acres of national forests and other public lands.

H.R. 471 passed the House on January 23 on a roll-call vote of 279 - 141.

This bill establishes requirements for managing forests on federal land, including requirements concerning reducing wildfire threats, expediting the review of certain forest management projects, and implementing forest management projects and other activities.

Specifically, the bill (1) designates certain firesheds at high risk for wildfires as fireshed management areas; (2) directs the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Geological Survey to jointly establish an interagency Fireshed Center that is responsible for duties related to assessing and predicting fire, including maintaining a fireshed registry on a publicly accessible website that provides interactive geospatial data on individual firesheds; and (3) makes other requirements related to reducing wildfire.

Next, the bill expedites the review of certain forest management projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 and exempts certain activities from NEPA review. It also establishes intra-agency strike teams to accelerate the review and any interagency consultation processes under NEPA, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and the National Historic Preservation Act. It also limits consultation requirements concerning threatened and endangered species under the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 and the Federal Land Management and Policy Act of 1976. Finally, it limits litigation involving fireshed management projects and limits remedies that courts may provide.

Additionally, the bill supports reducing community wildfire risks, carrying out forest restoration and stewardship activities (including watershed protection and restoration), conducting biochar demonstration projects, advancing technologies to address forest wildfires, and assisting wildland firefighters and their families.

Full committee executive business meeting, cancelled to a later date.

The nomination hearing took place on February 26.

Nominees:

• Dean Sauer, to be Solicitor General of the United States
• Harmeet Dhillon, to be an Assistant Attorney General
• Aaron Reitz, to be an Assistant Attorney General

Full committee hearing.

Nominee:

• Dr. Martin “Marty” Makary, Arlington, VA

During the pandemic, Makary argued against the use of masks for children and opposed widespread vaccination against COVID-19, saying shots should be targeted at healthcare workers only. He also called for restricted use in children, in light of rare but potentially serious side effects like myocarditis that seemed to be more common in young boys.

He was an advocate for allowing herd immunity to be established and, in an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal in 2022, said public health officials ruined lives by insisting that workers with natural immunity to COVID-19 be fired from their employment if they weren’t fully vaccinated, calling for them to be reinstated with an apology.

Makary, who lives in Baltimore, has served as an adviser to Washington conservative healthcare think tank Paragon Health Institute.

Makary uses false and inflammatory rhetoric about abortion.

Makary is the chief medical officer for the telehealth company Sesame, which provides compounded weight loss drugs, and he also serves on the board of directors for the ophthalmology company Harrow.

Full committee hearing.

Nominee:

• Michael Faulkender, of Maryland, to be Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, vice Adewale O. Adeyemo, resigned.

During Trump’s first term, Faulkender ran the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) at the Treasury. He is the chief economist at the America First Policy Institute.

Full committee executive session.

The nomination hearing took place on February 27.

The vote was 12-11.

Trump and the MAGA Movement are trying to defund public media in the USA — and we’re standing up to fight back.

Join our Citizen Action Team outside NPR HQ this Thursday, March 6th to rally in support of National Protect Public Media Day and to defend our freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of dissent from the Trump regime.

We’ll meet at 9am at 61 Pierce St, NE (around the corner from NPR on East Capitol) for an action orientation, and then we’ll march around the corner to NPR HQ on East Capitol St NE.

Trump, Musk, and their authoritarian regime want to shut down criticism and shut down the free flow of information that enables a democracy to function. Without independent voices and media to hold them accountable, Trump and the Oligarchs can flood the public square with their own propaganda.

We can’t let them control the airwaves.

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This is a hearing of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management entitled “America Builds: Making Federal Real Estate Work for the Taxpayer.”

Witnesses:

• David Marroni, Director, Physical Infrastructure, United States Government Accountability Office
• David Winstead, Board Member, Public Buildings Reform Board

It’s time or the nation to stop the extremism.

On Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at 11 AM ET, clergy, faith leaders, and people of conscience will gather at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church (301 A Street SE, Washington, D.C.) for a National Call for Repentance & Truth-Telling.

In the spirit of the prophets, we will stand together in prayer, lament, and moral resistance—calling on our nation to turn away from injustice, apathy, corruption, and oppression and recommit to the path of righteousness, truth, justice, and love. Following this sacred gathering, we will embark on a nonviolent walk from the Supreme Court to the U.S. Capitol, bearing witness to the urgent need for moral renewal in our public life. Clergy are asked to wear full vestments of their faith tradition. We invite all people of faith and conscience to join this prophetic movement and help reclaim the moral center of our democracy.