Hill Heat

Tuesday April 1st. Trump is trying to kill federal unions. Feds and allies, stand up for union rights and public services. We must push back. Let’s make this Tuesday huge. Illegally fired and in limbo feds, contractors, and friends: join us!

Lunch provided.

Hart Atrium, 10am, 120 Constitution Ave, NE.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet and the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government will hold a joint hearing on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. ET. The hearing, entitled “Judicial Overreach and Constitutional Limits on the Federal Courts,” will examine the constitutional limits of the judicial power, with a focus on recent temporary restraining orders (TROs) and injunctions that have limited Trump’s overreach of executive authority. The hearing will also address potential legislative solutions addressing injunctive relief, the organization of federal courts, and the funding of federal courts.

Witnesses:

• Newt Gingrich, Former Congressman for Georgia and 50th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
• Paul Larkin, Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 contributor
• Cindy Romero, Trump activist

Subcommittee hearing for members of Congress.

The Committee on Rules will meet Monday, March 31, 2025 at 4:00 PM ET in H-313, The Capitol on the following measures:

• H.R. 1526 – No Rogue Rulings Act of 2025, To amend title 28, United States Code, to limit the authority of district courts to provide injunctive relief
• H.R. 22 – Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require proof of United States citizenship to register an individual to vote in elections for Federal office
• S.J. Res. 18 – Disapproving the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to ‘‘Overdraft Lending: Very Large Financial Institutions’’.
• S.J. Res. 28 – Disapproving the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to ‘‘Defining Larger Participants of a Market for General-Use Digital Consumer Payment Applications’’.

The committee will meet in open session to conduct a hearing on the following nominations:

Nominees:

• Paul Atkins, to be a Member, Securities and Exchange Commission
• Jonathan Gould, to be Comptroller of the Currency, Department of the Treasury
• Luke Pettit, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury
• Marcus Molinaro, to be Federal Transit Administrator, Department of Transportation

The subcommittee hearing will examine the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) ongoing efforts to deliver assistance to Americans impacted by devastating storms in North Carolina. In addition, members will examine reform opportunities at FEMA to ensure taxpayer funds at the agency are being used effectively and efficiently. This follows the Subcommittee’s oversight of FEMA’s relief efforts in Hawaii and Florida.

Witnesses:

• Eric Church, President & Co-Founder, Chief Cares Fund
• David Jackson, President & CEO, Boone Area Chamber of Commerce
• Jeff Howell, Director (ret.), Yancey County, North Carolina Emergency Management
• Chris Currie, Director, Homeland Security and Justice, Government Accountability Office

A full committee hearing entitled “The Golden Age: Unleashing Main Street Through Deregulation.” Postponed to April 1st.

Subcommittee hearing entitled “To the Depths, and Beyond: Examining Blue Economy Technologies.”

Witnesses:

• Earl Childress, SVP and Chief Commercial Officer, Oceaneering
• Shepard M. Smith, Chief Technology Officer, XOcean
• Dr. Margaret Leinen, Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego
• Dr. Tim Janssen, CEO, Sofar Ocean

Full committee hearing.

Nominees:

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

From the Sierra Club:

Nesvik’s tenure as head of Wyoming’s Game and Fish Department was marked by controversy. He was tasked with implementing a new agency plan for managing elk feedgrounds in the state, a unique practice among Rocky Mountain states, which many attribute to the spread of disease among the state’s elk population, including hoof rot which several years ago led to the death of half of the elk calves on one feedground. He has also testified before Congress calling for the removal of Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears. Under Nesvik’s leadership Wyoming has implemented a killing by any means of wolves in an effort to drive numbers to bare minimums, and has made it clear it wants to do the same thing to grizzly bears, which would undo decades of work to recover the species

From The Hill:

Democrats grilled Sean Donahue, President Trump’s pick as top lawyer for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on the agency’s attempts to terminate already issued climate grants during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) asked whether Donahue “had been a participant in meetings and discussions over trying to go after” the grant program.

Donahue said he had, but “mostly on the civil defense” side once grant recipients sued the EPA.

Schiff also asked what the consequences should be for opening a criminal probe without evidence of a crime.

Donahue said he didn’t want to answer “hypotheticals.”

The Trump administration has been going after a handful of recipients who got billions of dollars in climate grants issued under the Biden administration.

A judge recently halted the Trump administration’s efforts to claw back the grants, saying it did not provide evidence of wrongdoing.

The Justice Department and FBI have been investigating the matter. A veteran Justice Department prosecutor resigned after she reportedly refused to freeze grantees’ bank accounts.

During the hearing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said the episode had “multiple red flags flying of prosecutorial misconduct.”

Democrats also sought to paint Donahue as unqualified during the hearing, in which lawmakers also considered the nominations of Jessica Kramer to lead the EPA’s Office of Water and Brian Nesvik to lead the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Whitehouse asked Donahue a series of questions, including whether he had taken a deposition, tried a case all the way until the verdict, argued a motion or authored and signed a legal pleading.

He said he had not.

Sen. Lisa Blunt-Rochester (D-Del.) brought up Donahue’s partner’s job in an office that helps the Trump administration nominate political appointees.

Subcommittee hearing.

Witness:

• Jennifer Homendy, Chair, National Transportation Safety Board