Budget Hearing – Fiscal Year 2025 Request for the Department of Homeland Security
Subcommittee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2025 Request for the Department of Homeland Security. The budget request is $107.9B, of which $62.2B is net discretionary funding.
Witness:- Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security
The budget includes a $56.0M and 34 FTE increase to support a variety of FEMA climate resilience initiatives, including the Flood Hazard Mapping and Risk Analysis Program, FEMA’s Building Codes Strategy, Climate Adaptation, and Environmental Planning and Historical Preservation process improvements.
Budget Hearing – Fiscal Year 2025 Request for the United States Navy and Marine Corps
Subcommittee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2025 Request for the United States Navy and Marine Corps.
The Department of the Navy’s FY 2025 President’s Budget request is $257.6B, an increase of $1.8B/0.7% from the FY 2024 request.
FY2025 U.S. Agency for International Development Budget Request
Full committee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request for the U.S. Agency for International Development. The budget request is $58.8 billion for all USAID and Department of State operations.
Witness:- Samantha Power, Administrator, United States Agency for International Development
The State Department’s FY 2025 Request of $99 million for cross-cutting climate change programs includes an additional $18 million over FY 2023 Actual to meet the vision and mandates laid out by the Administration and Congress, as well as sustain a leadership role for climate solutions on the global stage. (By way of comparison, the programs for competition with China total $4 billion.)
The SEC's Climate Rule
On Wednesday, April 10, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. (ET) in 2128 Rayburn House Office Building, the House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing entitled: “Beyond Scope: How the SEC’s Climate Rule Threatens American Markets.”
Witnesses- Elad Roisman, Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and former Commissioner and Acting Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- Robert Stebbins, Partner, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and former General Counsel of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- Chris Wright, Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Energy
- Joshua T. White, Assistant Professor of Finance, Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University
- H. J. Res. ___, Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate- Related Disclosures for Investors”
On March 6, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted 3-2 to adopt an 886-page rule entitled “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors”. The rule changes existing disclosure obligations for public companies. The rule imposes new obligations including but not limited to scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions; climate-related risks; board oversight of climate risks; management’s assessment and management of climate-related risks; climate-related targets and goals; and financial statement effects of certain climate related risks.
Examining the State of Air Quality Monitoring Technology
Full committee hearing.
Witnesses:- Omar Hammad, Environmental Policy Analyst, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress
- William “Bill” Obermann, Air Program Supervisor, Department of Public Health and Environment, City and County of Denver
- Anne Austin, Former Trump Administration Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Austin Legal & Public Affairs [Minority Witness]
Renomination of Jennifery Homendy as Chair of National Transportation Safety Board and Patrick Fuchs as member of Surface Transportation Board
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, Chair of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, will convene a full committee hearing on Wednesday, April 10, 2024, at 10:00 AM EDT to consider the following presidential renominations:
Nominees:- Jennifer Homendy, to be Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (PN1498, PN1499) (reappointment)
- Patrick Fuchs, to be a Member of the Surface Transportation Board (PN1372) (reappointment)
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States and significant events in the other modes of transportation—railroad, transit, highway, marine, pipeline, and commercial space.
The Surface Transportation Board primarily regulates freight rail.
Budget Hearing – Fiscal Year 2025 Request for the Government Accountability Office, the Government Publishing Office, and the Congressional Budget Office
Subcommittee hearing.
Witnesses:- Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General, Government Accountability Office
- Hugh Nathanial Halpern, Director, Government Publishing Office
- Phillip L. Swagel, Director, Congressional Budget Office
CBO requests appropriations of $73.5 million for fiscal year 2025—$3.5 million (or 5 percent) more than it received for 2024.
A Review of the President's Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request for the U.S. Agency for International Development
Subcommittee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request for the U.S. Agency for International Development. The budget request is $58.8 billion for all USAID and Department of State operations.
Witness:- Samantha Power, Administrator, United States Agency for International Development
The State Department’s FY 2025 Request of $99 million for cross-cutting climate change programs includes an additional $18 million over FY 2023 Actual to meet the vision and mandates laid out by the Administration and Congress, as well as sustain a leadership role for climate solutions on the global stage. (By way of comparison, the programs for competition with China total $4 billion.)
Oversight of the Smithsonian Institution
Full committee hearing.
Witness:- Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution
Locked in a Hotbox: The Impact of Climate Change on the Incarcerated
Locked in a Hotbox: The Impact of Climate Change on the Incarcerated will be a critical examination of how climate change impacts people who are incarcerated. Many jails and prisons are inadequately equipped to handle extreme weather, exposing people who are confined within them to unique health vulnerabilities.
This event will highlight how the effects of climate-related events on prisons impact not only people confined in them but also people who work in them. It will describe challenges like inadequate cooling systems in the face of rising temperatures and the risks posed by natural disasters to these facilities. Addressing jail/prison infrastructure law and policy in the era of climate change, speakers will consider what policy changes at the intersection of environmental justice and prison reform would help mitigate risks and increase awareness.
Panelists- Co-Moderator: Stephen P. Wood, MS, ACNP-BC – Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School; Northeastern University
- Co-Moderator: Jeremiah Goulka, LL.B., JD – Founder and Director, Climate and Public Safety (CAPS) and the SHIELD Training Initiative, Northeastern University
- Lt. Col. Cathy Fontenot, MS – Chief of Corrections, East Baton Rouge (LA) Parish Sheriff’s Office
- Laurie Levenson, JD – Professor of Law, David W. Burcham Chair in Ethical Advocacy, and Founding Director of the Fidler Institute on Criminal Justice, LMU Loyola Law School
- Joel Thompson, JD – Managing Attorney, Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project