Hill Heat

Subcommittee hearing.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a nominations hearing for Jared Isaacman, nominee to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Olivia Trusty, nominee to be a Member of the Federal Communications Commission, at 10:00 AM EST on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.

Nominees:

• Jared Isaacman, of Pennsylvania, to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• Olivia Trusty, of Maryland, to be a Member of the Federal Communications Commission

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.

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.”

Trusty is the policy director on the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and is a longtime aide to Sen. Roger Wicker. She was also a Verizon and Qwest lobbyist.

Full committee business meeting to consider:

Legislation:

• S.154, to amend the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015, to reauthorize the Colorado River System conservation pilot program
• S.362, to allow certain Federal minerals to be mined consistent with the Bull Mountains Mining Plan Modification
• S.544, to provide for the location of multiple hardrock mining mill sites, to establish the Abandoned Hardrock Mine Fund
• S.714, to amend the Energy Act of 2020 to include critical materials in the definition of critical mineral

Nominations:

• Katharine MacGregor, of Florida, to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior
• James Danly, of Tennessee, to be Deputy Secretary of Energy

MacGregor and Danly’s nomination hearing took place on April 2nd. Danly’s response when asked about plans to freeze climate grants and cut climate programs: “I don’t know what the plans are, if there are, in fact, plans.”

Full committee business meeting

Nominations:

• Scott Kupor to be Director, Office of Personnel Management;
• Eric M. Ueland to be Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget.

The nomination hearing took place on April 3rd.

Full committee markup.

Legislation:

• H.R. 276 (Rep. Greene), “Gulf of America Act of 2025” (ANS)
• H.R. 677 (Rep. Hageman), “Expedited Appeals Review Act”, to expedite the review of appeals of the Department of Interior on decisions on public lands, offshore drilling, and coal surface mining
• H.R. 845 (Rep. Boebert), “Pet and Livestock Protection Act of 2025” (ANS), to delist gray wolves
• H.R. 900 (Rep. Soto), “Sinkhole Mapping Act of 2025” [PDF]
• H.R. 972 (Rep. Titus), “Sloan Canyon Conservation and Lateral Pipeline Act” [PDF]
• H.R. 1043 (Rep. Gosar), “La Paz County Solar Energy and Job Creation Act” [PDF]
• H.R. 1098 (Rep. Scholten), To reauthorize the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program Act of 1994 [PDF]
• H.R. 1665 (Rep. Cammack), “Deploying Infrastructure with Greater Internet Transactions And Legacy Applications Act” or the “DIGITAL Applications Act” [PDF]
• H.R. 1681 (Rep. Evans of Colo.), “Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act” [PDF] Amendments H.R. 845 ANS Boebert_014.pdf [PDF] H.R. 276 ANS Westerman_011 [PDF]

Full committee hearing entitled “Converting Energy into Intelligence: the Future of AI Technology, Human Discovery, and American Global Competitiveness.”

Witnesses:

• Eric Schmidt, Chair, Special Competitive Studies Project, billionaire
• Manish Bhatia, Executive Vice President of Global Operations, Micron Technology
• Alexandr Wang, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Scale AI, billionaire
• David Turk, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University

Full committee hearing foloowing a business meeting.

Witnesses:

• Robert Fox, Senior Partner, Manko Gold Katcher Fox LLP
• Steven B. Radel, President, Industrial Development Advantage, LLC
• J. Alfredo Gomez, Director, Natural Resources and Environment Team, U.S. Government Accountability Office

The Committee will hold a Business Meeting to consider the following items:

• Sean Donahue, of Florida, to be an Assistant Administrator and General Counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency
• Jessica Kramer, of Wisconsin, to an Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
• Brian Nesvik, of Wyoming, to be Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service

The nomination hearing took place March 26.

Markup of the Full Committee to continue considering the following:

• H.Res. 187, Of inquiry requesting the President to transmit certain information to the House of Representatives referring to the termination, removal, placement on administrative leave, moved to another department of Federal employees and Inspectors General of agencies;
• H.Res. 186, Of inquiry requesting the President to transmit certain documents to the House of Representatives relating to the conflicts of interest of Elon Musk and related information.

Subcommittee hearing.

Witnesses:

• Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States
• Dr. Phillip L. Swagel, Director, Congressional Budget Office
• Hugh Nathanial Halpern, Director, Government Publishing Office