Hill Heat

The purpose of the hearing is to examine research security risks posed by foreign nationals from countries of risk working at the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories and necessary mitigation steps.

Witnesses:

• Geraldine L. Richmond, Presidential Chair in Science and Professor of Chemistry, University of Oregon, former Under Secretary of Energy for Science, US Department of Energy (Biden)
• Anna B. Puglisi, Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
• Paul M. Dabbar, CEO and Co-Founder, Bohr Quantum Technology, former Under Secretary for Science, U.S. Department of Energy (Trump)

Full committee hearing. Rescheduled to February 25.

Nominees:

• Troy Edgar to be Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• Dan Bishop to be Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget

Edgar, the former mayor of Los Alamitos, “led his city to defy California’s sanctuary law.”

Bishop is the North Carolina legislator who was the author of the notorious anti-transgender “bathroom bill.”

Mass illegal layoffs began at DHS, including FEMA, CISA, and USCIS last week.

Full committee business meeting.

Exact time and location to be announced.

Nominee:

• Linda McMahon, of Connecticut, to be Secretary of Education

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a nomination hearing for Steven Bradbury, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation, at 9:30 AM EST on Thursday, February 20, 2025.

Nominee:

• Steven Bradbury, of Virginia, to be Deputy Secretary of Transportation

Bradbury, the author of memos supporting the use of torture during the George W. Bush presidency, was narrowly confirmed as general counsel for the Department of Transportation in Trump’s first term.

On February 19th at noon, join workers, researchers and academics at the DC rally at the headquarters of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Ave. SW, for the nationwide fight against federal attacks on research and higher education. Show them that life-saving science cannot be bought by unaccountable, unqualified billionaires! federal workers and everyday Americans are coming together to say NO to Elon Musk’s push to gut federal services and impose mass layoffs.

Our demands:

• NO cuts to vital services
• NO mass layoffs: respect union workers’ contracts
• END the funding freeze

Wear red, white, and/or blue. Bring signs about how your community benefits from federal services. This is a family-friendly event. All are welcome. Part of the Save Our Services national day of action.

What: Fund Don’t Freeze: Rally at HHS Headquarters
When: February 19, 12 pm noon
Where: HHS Headquarters, 200 Independence Ave. SW

Supported by Federal Unionists Network, Higher Education Labor United (HELU), University of Maryland Graduate Labor Union, George Washington University Graduate Workers Union (GWU2), John Hopkins PRO-UAW, and NIH Fellows United.

Climate Action Against Disinformation would like to invite you to Techno-Feudalism: Big Carbon and Big Tech’s Disinfo, a webinar on Wednesday about how Big Tech and Big Carbon’s team-up makes disinformation an even bigger problem than ever before. Fortunately, we’ll be talking about some big solutions, as Brazil takes the reins on international climate negotiations ahead of COP30.

This CAAD webinar will feature Professor Jennifer Jacquet, to discuss research on Big Ag’s climate disinfo, followed by new findings on Big Tech’s bad behaviour from the Center for Countering Digital Hate’s Imran Ahmed. Having laid bare the problems, we’ll hear about some potential solutions from Founder and CEO of FALA, Thais Lazzeri, who will offer some hope about Brazil’s pursuit of real regulations and policy changes to stop the spread of disinformation. After that, we’ll open the floor for attendees to ask questions and share their own perspectives.

Speakers:

• Jennifer Jacquet, Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science at the University of Miami
• Imran Ahmed, Center for Countering Digital Hate
• Thais Lazzeri, Founder and CEO of FALA

RSVP

Full committee hearing, originally scheduled for February 12.

Nominee:

• Lori M. Chavez-DeRemer, Happy Valley, OR

“I’m a hard ‘no’ on her. She didn’t bow out of this job when she found out Trump was going to force her to act illegally.” - Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)

“I’m not supporting nominees as long as the lawlessness continues.” - Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.)

Ranking member Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former chair Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., both said they’ll wait for the hearing before commenting.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., said she’s not ruling out a yes vote just yet: “I’ll give her a fair shake.” Asked about Democrats souring on all Trump nominations as he steamrolls over Congress, she said: “There are folks with sentiment. I try to view each nominee through the lens of whether they will help or hurt Wisconsin.”

“We need a majority. We need somebody else to vote if Rand’s going to vote negative … Rand is a chair of the right-to-work caucus. So once he establishes something, it’s hard to move him off.” HELP Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.)

Reporting from Semafor’s Burgess Everett

A full committee hearing entitled “Improving the Federal Environmental Review and Permitting Processes.”

Witnesses:

• Leah Pilconis, General Counsel, The Associated General Contractors of America
• Carl Harris, Chairman of the Board, National Association of Home Builders
• Jeremy Harrell, CEO, ClearPath
• Brent Booker, General President, LiUNA Action Network
• Nicole Pavia, Director, Clean Energy Infrastructure Deployment, Clean Air Task Force

Full committee hearing.

Nominee:

• Paul Lawrence Ph.D., Nominee to be Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Over 1000 Veterans Affairs employees were hit by illegal mass layoffs last week.

Public service taught us to fight for the American people, and we’re gonna keep fighting.

If you are a laid off federal worker, meet us Tuesday, 2/18, 10am ET at the Dirksen cafeteria for a job search and to show senators what happens when they let an oligarch take over. We’re gonna fight for our jobs, fight for the public, and put the pressure on senators to do the same.