Hill Heat

Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he’s using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it. We are taking nonviolent action against Musk’s illegal coup.

Dance Against DOGE will be outside the General Services Administration building, where DOGE workers are (illegally) sleeping. We thought we’d throw them a Slumber Party!

General Services Administration, 1800 F St., NW, Washington DC

We’ll be there in our PJs, with stuffed animals, as we dance the night away.

Tesla Takedown is a peaceful protest movement. We oppose violence, vandalism, and destruction of property. This protest is a lawful exercise of our First Amendment right to peaceful assembly.

RSVP

While we would love to know how many people to expect, there’s no need to sign up. Let’s Dance!

Full committee hearing entitled “Reducing waste, fraud and abuse through innovation: how AI and data can improve government efficiency.”

Witnesses:

• Dr. Brian J. Miller, Nonresident Fellow. American Enterprise Institute
• Dr. Sterling Thomas, Chief Scientist, Government Accountability Office
• Neil Chilson, Head of AI Policy, Abundance Institute
• Andrew Cannarsa, Executive Director, Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency

Prior to joining GAO, Thomas was Chief Scientist at Noblis, a nonprofit research institute. He managed the institute’s applied research programs and conducted his own research projects, which included creating new methods for synthetic biology and methods for using artificial intelligence to detect sophisticated cyberattacks. Sterling also served as a principal investigator where his research was funded by the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, and other intelligence community partners.

Subcommittee hearing.

Witnesses:

• Jessica Pescatore, Clinical Director, Alabama Poison Information Center, America’s Poison Centers
• Jennifer Carroll, Assistant Director, Community Action Partnership of North Alabama
• Michelle Sie Whitten, Executive Director, The Global Down Syndrome Foundation
• Christopher Frech, Co-Chair and Senior Vice President, Alliance for Biosecurity
• Christopher M Kramer, President, American College of Cardiology
• Rey Saldaña, President and CEO, Communities in Schools
• Theresa Sokol, LA State Epidemiologist; Board Member, Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
• Sara Schapiro, Executive DIrector, Alliance for Learning Innovation
• Dr. Scott Harris, State Health Officer of the Alabama Department of Public Health; President, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
• Dr. Colleen Kelley, Chair, HIV Medicine Association

Subcommittee hearing.

Witness:

• Dave Marroni, Director, Physical Infrastructure, U.S. Government Accountability Office

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