Climate science, policy, politics, and action
Financial Services and General Government subcommitee hearing for members on appropriations.
On Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at 10:00 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs will hold an oversight hearing titled “Examining the Office of Insular Affairs’ Role in Fostering Prosperity in the Pacific Territories and Addressing External Threats to Peace and Security.”
Full committee hearing.
Witnesses:
Full committee hearing.
Nominee:
Bishop is the North Carolina legislator who was the author of the notorious anti-transgender “bathroom bill.”
The Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee favorably reported Bishop’s nomination in a business meeting boycotted by most Democrats.
Full committee hearing.
Nominee:
Bhattacharya is notorious as one of the co-authors of the anti-pandemic response Great Barrington Declaration.
Full committee hearing.
Nominees:
David Fotouhi is a pro-mesothelioma lawyer.
Aaron Szabo is an American Chemistry Council (ACC), American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) and American Petroleum Institute (API) lobbyist who contributed to the Project 2025 EPA chapter.
The Subcommittee on Energy has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. (ET) in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building. The title of the hearing is “Scaling for Growth: Meeting the Demand for Reliable, Affordable Electricity.” This hearing will explore the challenges faced by utilities and grid operators to deliver reliable, affordable electricity to meet the growing demand for power across the nation.
Witnesses:
Data centers house servers and other computing infrastructure required to store, process, and share data used for digital applications and services. Expanded use of AI, machine learning, and cloud services by data centers drives up electricity demand as these processes continuously perform energy intensive applications.
In addition, data centers require significant electricity to power cooling systems to preserve the integrity of the servers. As an example, one ChatGPT query consumes ten times the electricity compared to one query of Google’s search engine. Currently, data centers consume 4 percent of U.S. electricity generation and could consume as much as 9 percent by the end of the decade.
This rate of growth is expected to continue as companies compete on a domestic and international level in the race to capture the AI market and expand digital services into all manner of industry and manufacturing.
The hearing will assess the current threat to the U.S. research enterprise posed by malign foreign actors. This includes the risk to federal, state, non-governmental institutions, and academia. The hearing will explore trends and tactics used to steal, exploit, and undermine U.S. science, research, development, and deployment.
Witnesses: • John F. Sargent Jr., Retired, Specialist in Science and Technology Policy, Congressional Research Service • Jeffrey Stoff, Founder and President, Center for Research Security & Integrity • Dr. Maria Zuber, E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics and Presidential Advisor for Science and Technology Policy, MIT
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This is a hearing of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation entitled “America Builds: Coast Guard Acquisitions and Infrastructure.”
Witnesses:
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President Donald Trump delivers an address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress.