Climate science, policy, politics, and action
Full committee hearing.
Witness:
A subcommittee hearing with the fascistic title, “Unleashing the Golden Age of American Energy Dominance.”
Witnesses:
Subcommittee hearing.
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust will hold a hearing entitled, “Artificial Intelligence: Examining Trends in Innovation and Competition,” to examine the competitive landscape within the AI sector, emphasizing the importance of solutions that preserve economic dynamism, technological innovation, and America’s global leadership. It will address several critical issues, starting with the competitive landscape within the AI industry itself.
Witnesses:
Prior to the Abundance Institute, Chilson was a senior research fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity. He joined CGO from the Koch Industries’ group Stand Together. Previously, Chilson was the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) chief technologist. Chilson practiced telecommunications law at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP before joining the FTC in January 2014. Chilson holds a law degree from the George Washington University Law School and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He received his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Harding University.
This is a markup of the full Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
The Committee is scheduled to consider the following measures:
Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. They’re taking everything they can get their hands on, claiming anything standing in their way is illegal, and daring the American people to stop them.
On Saturday, April 5, we’re taking to the streets nationwide to fight back with a clear message: Hands off!
Ahead of these mobilizations, join movement leaders, experts, and more for a mass call on Tuesday, April 1, to make sense of the Trump administration’s unprecedented power grab, efforts to remove limits to its power, and what we can do to confront it on April 5 and beyond.
This event is being organized by MoveOn, Public Citizen, Stand Up America, and the Not Above the Law Coalition in support of the Hands Off day of action and future actions.
Subcommittee hearing entitled “America’s AI Moonshot: The Economics of AI, Data Centers, and Power Consumption.”
Witnesses:
“America is in fierce competition with the People’s Republic of China and the rest of the world for global dominance in artificial intelligence, or AI. In January, the Trump Administration announced ‘Stargate,’ a public-private sector venture to accelerate new developments in this technology.”
Trump rescinded a 2023 executive order from then-President Joe Biden on AI requiring developers that pose risks to national security, the economy or public health to share results from safety tests with the federal government. That order also had directed DOE and other agencies to develop guidelines for “safe” AI development.
Masayoshi Son of SoftBank, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Larry Ellison of Oracle joined Trump at the White House on January 22, 2025 for the announcement, which was actually underway during the Biden administration.
“This is the beginning of golden age,” said Son.
The Stargate Project is a new company with SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle and MGX as lead investors. Microsoft and Nvidia are partnering in the project and construction at one site has started at a site in Texas. Stargate data centers already under construction in Abilene, Texas, currently involve 10 buildings that will expand to 20. Each building is a half million square feet.
A full committee hearing entitled “The Golden Age: Unleashing Main Street Through Deregulation.”
Legislation:
Witnesses:
Montalban testimony excerpts:
As we are in the fossil fuel industry the Biden Executive Branch used the justification of “global warming” and the implementation of the “New Green Deal” [sic] to achieve this
Arensmeyer testimony excerpts:
When asked about a series of key issues that impact small business success, small business owners consistently rank regulations near the bottom of the list of challenges they’re concerned about when examining factors affecting their ability to grow their business. More prevalent concerns for small businesses today include barriers to access to capital, threats or the onslaught of tariffs, reduced access to healthcare, and difficulties finding affordable childcare. When asked if “adhering to industry or government regulations” was a challenge, 56% experienced minor or few challenges while an additional 20% said that current regulations were not a challenge at all.To ensure small businesses can compete on a level playing field in their respective industry, wellcrafted regulations play a critical role in providing consistent guardrails against anti-competitive behavior that disproportionately impacts the smallest businesses. We must view the regulatory environment on a case-by-case basis, directly re-evaluating specific regulations rather than taking a sweeping approach to deregulation, which can hinder competition and make it that much harder for small businesses to get ahead.
Regulations support small businesses by ensuring health and safety standards across an entire industry, ensuring a level playing field and favorable reputations in communities. When small businesses are in compliance with regulations, they save time and money on potential lawsuits that could be avoided absent the presence of federal regulatory standards.4 Furthermore, regulations such as those of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office play a critical role in supporting and protecting small business innovation, and creating commonly followed market guardrails.
Small businesses would have strongly benefitted from reporting requirements under Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act requiring lenders to disclose demographic data for small business loan products, showing what we have known to be true for decades – small businesses are not given equal opportunity based on merit to apply for new loans and are oftentimes subject to discrimination (especially true for business owners in rural areas or those who are BIPOC or women-owned). Legislative efforts to repeal Section 1071 (though the 1071 Repeal to Protect Small Business Lending Act (H.R. 976) would blatantly ignore the shortcomings of our small business lending industry and further restrict access to capital for the millions of individuals looking to pursue the American dream of entrepreneurship.
Small business-focused lenders and community bankers rely on the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requirements that reward larger financial institutions for supporting smaller, less capitalized community banks with grants, loans, and underwriting tools needed to take on riskier investments in rural and other under resourced communities.
While many here today may argue that our current regulatory structure is the boogeyman threatening small business growth, in fact, regulations are far from the top concern of small businesses. Indeed, over the last few months of interaction with countless entrepreneurs, we have heard nothing about federal regulations. Rather, what we have heard is fear and horror about the recent arbitrary, chaotic and unpredictable actions taken by the Trump administration that threaten to destabilize the economy. These actions include (1) onerous tariffs, (2) terminating and weakening vital federal programs supporting entrepreneurs, (3) slashing the Small Business Administration (SBA) workforce by 43% while piling on 1.6 trillion dollars of unrelated student loan responsibilities, (4) indiscriminately canceling federal contracts, (5) illegally firing Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioners, (6) shuttering the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB), which has been protecting the small business from financial abuse, and (7) mass deportations that put undue additional pressure on small business’ existing workforce challenges.
Efforts to strip away resources and support for small businesses, which includes SBA’s recent decision to both cut its workforce by a staggering 43% and relocate six regional offices away from entrepreneurial centers, are not indicative of an “America first” agenda that puts our job creators first but rather creates an environment that is increasingly uncertain and hostile for small businesses.
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: