Hill Heat

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.

Protest to uphold the Constitution and limit executive overreach!

At the Reflecting Pool in front of the U.S. Capitol, noon.

printable flyers

Federal workers are under attack. Many people, and the planet, are at stake. But workers are standing up and fighting back.

This Valentine’s Day, show your love for workers and the world by joining the Labor Network for Sustainability and EPA employee union AFGE Council 238 for a special solidarity call. We will hear from EPA workers and leaders on the front lines of Trump’s attacks, and learn how we can take action to defend workers, the civil service, and a livable planet.

Speakers include:

• Marie Owens Powell, President, AFGE Council 238
• Joyce Howell, Executive Vice President, AFGE Council 238
• Justin Chen, President, Dallas E.P.A Local
• Holly Wilson, President, North Carolina E.P.A Local

Together, we are powerful. And this moment calls on us to stand together. RSVP for the Zoom link. We will see you on Friday!

Love DC! Dump Trump!

Community rally and speak out.

Black Lives Matter Plaza

Organized by Free DC and Harriet’s Wildest Dreams

Join us this Friday, February 14 at 8am to rally outside the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) headquarters to show love to federal workers and tell them: We’ve got your back, and we’re counting on you to stand firm against DOGE as billionaires seek to tear our country down. This moment demands bravery, and to federal public servants: we know you have it in you.

Federal public servants are America’s front line — moving mountains behind the scenes every day to protect America’s health, America’s safety, America’s jobs, and more. Federal public servants are some of the most patriotic people out there — people who have pursued the call to serve their country. Now, Trump has handed power over to Elon Musk destroy the federal government, enrich himself, label it as “waste,” and leave federal workers and the public they serve with nothing.

We have to fight back.

At this rally, we will distribute notes of support to federal workers on their way to work, rally alongside public servants in support of the critical services they provide to us, and fight back against DOGE. Join us starting at 8am on Valentine’s Day to support workers and oppose the DOGE takeover!

This event is kid-friendly — parents whose kids are out of school that day are more than welcome to join. Please take the Metro or walk to HHS – the closest DC Metro stations are Federal Center and L’Enfant Plaza.

Location: Department of Health and Human Services Headquarters
200 Independence Ave. SW at 3rd St SW

D.C. says: Hands off trans and queer artists!

As Trump continues to push his anti-LGBTQ+ agenda, one of his latest attacks has taking over leadership of the Kennedy Center and attempting to ban drag performers. As DC residents, we say the Kennedy Center is our house, and we’re not going to let fascists tell us what to do or censor our artists. Join us and our drag community this Thursday to show up loud and proud in our best looks to say we’re not going anywhere.

Location: Washington Circle, K St NW & 23rd St NW

Join the Metro DC DSA Bodily Autonomy Working Group to protest denial of care based on gender identity.

Hospitals in the D.C. area are putting a prompt stop to aiding transgender youth and their families continue their transition after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that bans all gender-affirming care nationwide for minors under 19.

We started with our letters calling on DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb and the DC Deputy Mayor for Health & Human Services join with the 14 state’s Attorneys General who have already acted and issue public guidance affirming that denying care based on gender identity is unlawful under DC’s anti-discrimination laws as well as use the full authority vested in their office to ensure this care is reinstated.

We gave you a week to act, now we protest.

No ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth.

Protest 12-2 pm, Thursday February 13th. (Rescheduled from Wednesday due to the snow).

Bring signs and friends!

Outside of the DC Attorney General’s Office.

400 6th Street NW

There will be a markup of the Committee on the Budget on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, 10 AM & Thursday, February 13, 2025, 10 AM in Room SH-216 (Day 1) & SD-608 (Day 2) to consider the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2025.

From Roll Call:

The plan, to be marked up by the committee Feb. 12 and 13, assumes $342 billion over four years divided between border security, the Pentagon and Coast Guard: $175 billion for the border, $150 billion for defense and $17 billion for the Coast Guard.

The new funding would be fully paid-for, but how they do that specifically is up to the authorizing committees charged with drafting the implementing bill. Committees given instructions to come up with the offsets are given low targets — at least $1 billion — to provide them with maximum flexibility. But the expectation is those committees will exceed those targets.

Provisions to expand domestic energy production through making more areas available for oil and gas drilling has long been part of the plan. Graham on Friday also said the budget assumes repeal of the methane emissions fee on oil and gas producers that was enacted as part of the 2022 clean energy reconciliation package.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the methane fee will cost the industry about $6 billion over 10 years, so the Environment and Public Works panel would have to account for that cost in its reconciliation submission due next month.

Graham said the budget assumes the reconciliation package will provide funding to finish a southern border wall and upgrade border security technology, increase the number of detention beds for those who cross the border illegally, and expand staffing of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol agents, attorneys who prosecute immigration-related offenses and immigration judges.

The funds provided for defense would go to expanding the Navy and strengthening the industrial base needed to build ships, developing an air and missile defense system and overhauling the nation’s nuclear defense.

The reconciliation instructions direct the following Senate committees to increase or reduce the deficit over 10 years in the following amounts:

• Agriculture: Reduce deficit by at least $1 billion.
• Armed Services: Increase deficit by no more than $150 billion.
• Commerce: Increase deficit by no more than $20 billion.
• Energy and Natural Resources: Reduce deficit by at least $1 billion.
• Environment and Public Works: Increase deficit by no more than $1 billion.
• Finance: Reduce deficit by at least $1 billion.
• Health, Education, Labor and Pensions: Reduce deficit by at least $1 billion.
• Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Increase deficit by no more than $175 billion.*
• Judiciary: Increase deficit by no more than $175 billion.* *The two committees share jurisdiction on border and immigration policy and the total figure they will report out combined is $175 billion, not twice that amount.

Although the Senate blueprint is more of a “shell” budget to set the table for the initial reconciliation package, it does make some assumptions about the 10-year spending and revenue trajectory of the federal government.

The blueprint’s tables show an aggressive $11.5 trillion net spending reduction from the Congressional Budget Office’s most recent 10-year baseline. Coupled with $3.7 trillion in revenue losses from an eventual tax cut package, Graham’s resolution targets nearly $8 trillion in lower deficits over a decade.

A hastily arranged full committee markup of the 2025 Fiscal Year budget resolution.

• Budget resolution text
• Table: FY2025 Budget Resolution Total Spending and Revenue
• Table: FY2025 Budget Resolution Discretionary Spending
• Table: FY2025 Budget Resolution Mandatory Spending

Progressive Caucus Center:

• The House proposal makes room for massive tax cuts for corporations and the ultra-wealthy. The Senate’s proposal does not.
• The House aims to spend a lot more than the Senate does ($4.8 trillion in the House vs. $521 billion in the Senate). Again, this is largely because of taxes.
• The House’s proposed cuts are way bigger than the Senate’s ($1.5 trillion with a goal of $2 trillion in the House vs. at least $4 billion in the Senate).
• The House wants to raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion. The Senate’s proposal doesn’t touch the debt ceiling.
• The budget directs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to make at least $880 billion in cuts. This committee oversees Medicaid, the health insurer for more than 70 million Americans. Moreover, the resolution states, “it is the goal of this concurrent resolution to reduce mandatory spending by $2 trillion over the budget window.”
• The House proposal tells the Agriculture Committee to find $230 billion in cuts. This committee oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), often called “food stamps”—a program that feeds more than 40 million Americans. Moreover, again, the resolution states, “it is the goal of this concurrent resolution to reduce mandatory spending by $2 trillion over the budget window.”

Council for a Responsible Budget: The budget resolution’s instructions include a net $3.3 trillion in allowable deficit increases – or nearly $4 trillion including interest in additional debt by 2034.

• The budget resolution includes $3.3 trillion of net allowable deficit increases – from $4.8 trillion of deficit increases somewhat offset by $1.5 trillion of required savings – that, with interest, we estimate would allow nearly $4 trillion of additional debt. Passing a reconciliation bill consistent with these instructions would increase debt in 2034 (the last year of the budget) to 126 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to 117 percent under current law.
• The budget’s economic assumptions are overly aggressive, and the ultimate direction of the economic effects is likely ambiguous; if they resulted in modestly positive economic feedback, we estimate debt would be 123 percent of GDP by 2034, or if they resulted in modestly negative feedback, we estimate debt would be 129 percent of GDP by 2034.
• The window of the budget – FY 2025 through 2034 – includes one year where the TCJA doesn’t need to be extended (2025) and one less year of extension (2035) than a 2026-2035 budget would include, which could make the $4.8 trillion of tax cuts and spending increases in this budget window translate to $5.5-$6 trillion of ten-year increases.

Fierce Healthcare: The budget framework calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and increases the debt limit by $4 trillion. It also instructs the Energy and Commerce Committee to slash spending by $880 billion over 10 years, which is expected to include major Medicaid reform, and the Education and Workforce Committee to eliminate $330 billion in spending over 10 years.