Hill Heat

The Committee on Rules will meet Monday, June 5, 2023 at 3:00 PM ET in H-313, The Capitol on the following measures:

• H.R. 277 – REINS Act of 2023, to provide that major rules of the executive branch shall have no force or effect unless a joint resolution of approval is enacted into law
• H.R. 288 – Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2023, requires courts to decide de novo all questions of law, including the interpretation of statutes, rules, and guidance, without agency deference
• H.R. 1615 – Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act, prohibits the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) from using federal funds to (1) regulate gas stoves as a banned hazardous product, or (2) issue or enforce a product safety standard that prohibits the use or sale of gas stoves or substantially increases their price
• H.R. 1640 – Save Our Gas Stoves Act, prohibits the Secretary of Energy from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing the proposed rule titled “Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Conventional Cooking Products” or any energy conservation standard if it is likely to result in the unavailability of a type (or class) of product based on what type of fuel that product consumes

The purpose of this hearing is to examine the reliability and resiliency of electric service in the United States in light of recent reliability assessments and alerts.

• Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)

Witnesses:

• James B. Robb, President & Chief Executive Officer, North American Electric Reliability Corporation
• Manu Asthana, President & Chief Executive Officer, PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.
• Dr. Melissa C. Lott, Senior Research Scholar and Director of Research, Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs
• David J. Tudor, Chief Executive Officer & General Manager, Associated Electric Cooperative Inc.

On Wednesday, May 31, 2023, at 2:30 pm ET, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife, will hold a hearing to examine the impact of aging drinking water and wastewater infrastructure and rising water rates, as well as recently authorized water affordability programs in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Witnesses:

• Kyle Jones, Legal and Policy Director, Community Water Center
• Rosemary Menard, Water Director, City of Santa Cruz
• Mark Pepper, Executive Director, Wyoming Association of Rural Water Systems

Business Meeting Agenda:

• Jeffery Martin Baran to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• S.1111, Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act of 2023

A bill to enhance United States civil nuclear leadership, support the licensing of advanced nuclear technologies, strengthen the domestic nuclear energy fuel cycle and supply chain, and improve the regulation of nuclear energy, and for other purposes.

The Committee on Rules will meet Tuesday, May 30, 2023 at 3:00 PM ET in H-313, The Capitol on the following emergency measure:

• H.R. 3746 – Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023

Democratic sponsors of an amendment to strike Section 324 related to expediting the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline:

• McClellan (VA)
• Scott (VA)
• Beyer (VA)
• Spanberger (VA)
• Wexton (VA)
• Connolly (VA)

Republican sponsor of an amendment to strike Section 324 related to expediting the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline:

• Self (TX)

Join us for the release of Facing the Climate Emergency + discussion with author Margaret Klein Salamon and journalist Roberta Baskin.

About the Book —

Facing the Climate Emergency: How to Transform Yourself with Climate Truth

A lifeline for those suffering from climate anxiety, Facing the Climate Emergency combines Salamon’s expertise in clinical psychology and disruptive climate activism to help readers transform their fear and grief into courage and heroism.

This beloved self-help book provides emphatic guidance for the overwhelmed and concrete strategies for tackling anxiety and other painful climate emotions. Facing the Climate Emergency offers inspiring portraits of ordinary people who are striking school, throwing soup onto paintings, and otherwise disrupting normalcy in order to raise the alarm and create rapid policy change.

Facing the Climate Emergency helps people. That’s why writer and director Adam McKay writes in the foreword to the 2nd edition, “I hope this book becomes as ubiquitous as the Heimlich maneuver in restaurants.”

About the Speakers —

Margaret Klein Salamon, Ph.D, is the executive director of the Climate Emergency Fund, which raises and grants millions of dollars to nonviolent disruptive climate activists. A graduate of Harvard with a Ph.D. from Adelphi University, Margaret brings her psychological expertise to all of her climate work. As founder of the grassroots advocacy group Climate Mobilization, she spearheaded the campaign for governments to acknowledge the climate emergency through an official declaration. A climate emergency has now been declared by over 2,270 global governments, comprising more than 1 billion of the world’s citizens. Her Climate Awakening project facilitates hundreds of virtual and in-person small-group conversations, helping people transform their fear, rage, and despair into effective action.

Roberta Baskin spent more than 30 years as an awarding-winning investigative reporter at CBS News, ABC news, & PBS exposing stories of injustices. Roberta’s storied career garnered more than 75 journalism awards, including three duPont Columbia Awards, two Peabody Awards, and multiple Emmys. Her investigations reformed injustices and improved dozens of health and safety products and practices. She now serves on five non-profit boards dedicated to climate justice and solutions to socio-economic divides.

RSVP

On Thursday, May 25, 2023, at 9:00 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs will hold an oversight budget hearing titled “Examining the President’s FY 2024 Budget Request for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Office of Insular Affairs.”

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• Bryan Newland, Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior
• Carmen Cantor, Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs, Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior

The President’s budget request for Indian Affairs programs in FY 2024 is $4.7 billion, an increase of $690 million over FY 2023. This includes $3 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), $1.6 billion for the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), and $109.1 million for the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration.

During Tribal consultations and listening sessions participants have consistently pointed to the adverse impacts the changing climate is having on Alaska Native subsistence practices and Alaska Native communities, as well as the need to expand Tribal co-management partnerships and the incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge into subsistence management. In response to Tribal recommendations heard through these engagements, the FY 2024 budget proposes to transfer the functions of the Office of Subsistence Management from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, along with a program increase of $2.5 million for the program.

$12 million for the creation of a new Tribal Land and Water Conservation Fund land acquisition program. During listening sessions held last year, Tribes identified having direct access to Land and Water Conservation Fund resources for conservation and recreation projects as one of their top priorities.

The budget includes $385.9 million, a $52.7 million increase over 2023 enacted, for critical trust natural resources activities and investing in climate resilience and environmental justice. Of that amount, $48.0 million is provided for the Tribal Climate Resilience program. This program includes the Tribal Climate Adaptation Grant program, which is funded at $24.8 million to better assess and meet Tribal climate adaptation needs, and the Climate Relocation Grant program, which is funded at $15.5 million, $6 million more than the 2023 enacted amount. The Tribal Climate Resilience program also includes $7.8 million for Tribal youth corps programs.

On Wednesday, May 24, 2023, at 10:00 a.m., in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold an oversight hearing titled “Examining the Biden Administration’s Efforts to Limit Access to Public Lands.”

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• Todd Devlin, Prairie County Commissioner, Terry, MT
• Dr. J.J. Goicoechea, DVM, Director, Nevada Department of Agriculture, Sparks, NV
• Travis Lingenfelter, Chairman, Mohave County Board of Supervisors, Kingman, AZ
• Stephanie Garcia Richard, New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Santa Fe, NM

From the Republican committee memo:

On April 3, 2023, the BLM published in the Federal Register a proposed rule, Conservation and Landscape Health with a 75-day comment period. The proposed rule elevates conservation as a “use” within FLPMA’s multiple-use framework without Congressional authority. The BLM intends to pursue this through so-called conservation leases for both protection and restoration activities. This proposed rule would fundamentally change the way the BLM carries out its multiple use and sustained yield mandates. Numerous stakeholders have expressed concern that the Biden Administration will use this rulemaking to determine currently permitted activities on BLM lands, such as grazing, energy production, and recreation are incompatible with a conservation lease or areas identified as “intact landscapes.”

Subcommittee hearing entitled “Consumer Choice on the Backburner: Examining the Biden Administration’s Regulatory Assault on Americans’ Gas Stoves.”

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• Alejandro Moreno (Invited), Acting Assistant Secretary, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
• Dr. Carolyn Snyder (Invited), Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
• Matthew Agen, Assistant General Counsel, American Gas Association
• Ben Lieberman, Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute
• Kenny Stein, Vice President of Policy, Institute for Energy Research

On February 1, 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a proposed rule entitled, “Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Conventional Cooking Products,” which would set maximum annual energy consumption standards for conventional cooking tops.

On March 7, 2023, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a Request for Information on Chronic Hazards Associated With Gas Ranges and Proposed Solutions.

FY24 Full Committee Markup – Homeland Security and Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Bills.

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Mark (summary).

The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies bill provides a non-defense discretionary total of $25.313 billion for programs under the jurisdiction of the Subcommittee, $532 million (2.1%) below the FY23 enacted level and $3.622 billion (12.5%) below the FY24 President’s Budget Request.

• FY 2024 USDA Budget request: $32.6 billion, slightly more than 16.9 percent increase, or $4.7 billion, above the 2023 enacted level
• Explanatory notes

$12 billion of the budget is seen by USDA as climate-related, including:

• $4.6 billion of the Forest Service budget
• $3.2 billion of the Natural Resources Conservation Service budget
• $2.2 billion of the Farm Service Agency budget
• $1.3 billion in rural development services
• $0.5 billion in scientific research programs

Homeland Security Subcommittee Mark.

The Homeland Security bill includes $91.511 billion in total discretionary appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security, including $62.793 billion within the bill’s allocation, $5.837 billion in discretionary appropriations offset by fee collections, and $20.261 billion as an allocation adjustment for major disaster response and recovery activities. The total, within the allocation, is $2.090 billion above the Fiscal Year 2023 level. For FEMA, the subcommittee mark provides $26.062 billion, which is $388.6 million above FY23 and $178.4 million above the request. It eliminates funding for the Emergency Food and Shelter-Humanitarian Program and its successor, the Shelter and Services Program, which administers funds to local governments and nongovernmental organizations to provide assistance to migrants and people experiencing homelessness.

The FY FEMA 2024 budget request is $30.2 billion, including $20.3 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund and $4.8 billion for the National Flood Insurance Program.

The FY 2024 Budget includes an increase to create a full-time, dedicated policy and coordination office to lead FEMA’s focus on climate adaptation, impacts, and lead coordination with FEMA program offices, the Federal Interagency, and SLTT partners in support of FEMA’s programs.