Letters from Capitol Hill that Members of Congress have written and signed on to lately.
Hill Letters | 12 Feb. 2025
11 Feb. | House & Senate Hand-in-Hand
U.S. Representative Sean Casten (D-IL-06) and U.S. Senator Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) led the Illinois Democratic Congressional Delegation in a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin urging him to reconsider reported plans to terminate probationary EPA employees.
“We are deeply concerned about the negative impacts such terminations—done across the board without consideration for positional need or programmatic impact—would have on the agency’s ability to protect public health and the environment in the state of Illinois and across the nation,” the lawmakers wrote. “Though they are probationary, many of these employees are long-standing federal workers and subject matter experts with experience vital to running the EPA effectively and efficiently. They perform critical functions protecting Americans from dangers related to pesticides, waste management, chemical control, and ground and drinking water.”
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11 Feb. | Not NEVI, Not No-how
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), led all Democratic members of the Committee in demanding answers from Secretary of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy about the abrupt cutoff of funds for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program. The NEVI program—included in the bipartisan infrastructure law—provides funding directly to states for installing public electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, which, if implemented, will lower fuel costs for families, reduce U.S. dependence on fossil fuels, and create construction jobs nationwide. In a memo to state departments of transportation, the Federal Highway Administration announced states will no longer have access to $3 billion in previously approved federal funds for future construction projects.
“We write in strong opposition to your cutoff of funding for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program. This action shows blatant disrespect for the law and for constitutional order,” wrote Senators Whitehouse, Sanders, Merkley, Markey, Kelly, Padilla, Schiff, Blunt Rochester, and Alsobrooks in a letter to Secretary Duffy. “Established in the bipartisan infrastructure law, the NEVI program provides funding for every state in the nation.”
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11 Feb. | Combating a Freeze with Fire
Senate Democrats want the USDA to explain how President Donald Trump’s halt on spending certain federal funds has impacted firefighters and their ability to combat wildfires. Even though Trump did not apply the hiring freeze to positions related to “public safety,” federal firefighters are not currently exempt. Many have reported that their job offers were rescinded.
“Significant questions remain around which projects, grants, and agreements have been affected by these executive actions,” Sens. Martin Heinrich (NM), Patty Murray (WA), Jeff Merkley (OR), and Amy Klobuchar (MN) — wrote in a Tuesday letter to acting Secretary Gary Washington.
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11 Feb. | DOGEy Weather
U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse along with Congressmen Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo today sent a letter to President Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce, demanding answers about the Trump Administration’s ongoing efforts to drastically reduce the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) workforce and budget.
NOAA is a critical federal agency charged with researching ocean systems, marine life, and the Earth’s climate; forecasting weather; monitoring atmospheric conditions; and mapping the seas; among other critical tasks. The federal agency has its own fleet of research and survey vessels and specialized aircraft, operated by a combination of NOAA Corps officers and civilians.
“We write to express concern about ongoing efforts to drastically reduce the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) workforce and budget. These actions have severe consequences for Rhode Island and the nation, undermining NOAA’s ability to fulfill its vital mission of safeguarding our economy, environment, and national security,” Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation wrote to Howard Lutnick, who Trump picked to run the Commerce Department.”
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11 Feb. | Rural Mail Master General Hawley Hails from Missouri
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy regarding a recent advisory opinion issued by the Postal Regulatory Commission that the Postal Service’s proposed Regional Transportation Optimization (RTO) would further delay mail delivery for Americans in rural areas.
“I urge you to halt implementation of this plan for the sake of rural Americans who depend on the mail and in accordance with the Post Office’s mission to serve all Americans,” wrote Senator Hawley. “. . . [T]hese proposed changes will leave America’s rural communities—including many in my home state of Missouri—with further degraded mail service at a time when rural families already face significant challenges with their mail.”
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11 Feb. | Congress Bashes DOGE, as DOGE Blasts Off
U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), Top Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS), sent a letter to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Acting Administrator, Janet Petro, urging her to revoke Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to NASA headquarters.
Meng was alerted that Musk’s DOGE associates would be given unrestricted access to NASA’s personnel and contracting files, which is a major conflict of interest. Musk currently serves as CEO of SpaceX, which is NASA’s largest private contractor, receiving $2.3 billion from the agency in fiscal year 2023. Any access could provide SpaceX with insider information that would benefit the company at the expense of its competitors and American taxpayers.
In the letter, Meng wrote, “Since January 20, 2025, Mr. Musk has enjoyed nearly unfettered access to data across several government agencies and offices…Providing such access to Mr. Musk at NASA would create a blatant, multi-billion-dollar conflict of interest—exactly the kind of coziness between government and industry and corruption that my constituents fear happens in Washington. Moreover, providing special access to the owner of SpaceX would likely open NASA to expensive litigation, protests from others participating in competitive grants, or other actions that would force NASA to take finances and resources away from key missions and research.”
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11 Feb. | Support for Seapower Force Funding
The leaders of the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee are pressing Hegseth to expeditiously send them a plan for investing a $500 million payment from Australia as part of the AUKUS security pact.
“This funding should not be used to offset any current or future cost growth that may exist elsewhere in US submarine procurement,” Reps. Trent Kelly (R-MS), and Joe Courtney (D-CT) wrote in a letter Tuesday. “Instead, we hope that these funds will be used to supplement ongoing efforts to increase submarine production.”
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11 Feb. | T&I Can Change Your World
Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, led by Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Vice Ranking Member Emilia Sykes (D-OH), are asking Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to roll back the department’s suspension of state electric vehicle infrastructure deployment plans and its rescission of guidance used for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program.
“DOT’s direction that States may no longer obligate any apportioned funds directly contradicts the statute and the federal highway funding process,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter Tuesday. They added that Congress authorized and funded the NEVI program through the bipartisan infrastructure law, which included funding for EV “charging infrastructure and to establish an interconnected network.”
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11 Feb. | Cabinet Calls on Congress
President Donald Trump's newly sworn-in top Cabinet members are asking Congress to provide more resources to continue the administration's full court press to secure the border and facilitate large-scale deportations.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi penned a letter to top appropriators in the House and Senate, pleading with them to designate more funds to the cause of securing the U.S. southern border.
"The American people strongly support sealing our borders and returning to a lawful immigration system," Noem, Hegseth and Bondi told the lawmakers in the letter.
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11 Feb. | FDIC out from NGFS
U.S. Congressman Sean Casten (D-IL-06) and U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) led 18 Democratic Members of Congress in questioning the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) over their recent decision to exit the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).
“Withdrawing from the NGFS puts our prudential regulators further behind and out of step with actions being taken by our global counterparts,” the lawmakers wrote. “The U.S. must have a seat at the table to influence these international standards and approaches as they are crafted. Addressing all potential threats to safety, soundness, and financial stability, regardless of their source, is central to fulfilling your agency’s statutory mandate. You should not deviate from those mandates due to political pressure.”
The NGFS is a voluntary international coalition of central banks and financial supervisors from 90 countries. Its members collaborate to understand climate-related financial risks and analyze the significant threat that these risks pose to the stability of our financial system.
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11 Feb. | Congress Looks Seaward
Congressman Clay Higgins (R-LA) delivered an official letter to President Trump, requesting tariffs and increased trade enforcement for seafood imports from China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
“Domestic shrimpers, fishermen, and crawfish producers in Louisiana and across the country face significant challenges competing against foreign seafood industries that are heavily subsidized and engage in illegal dumping into the United States,” Congressman Higgins wrote. “These unrighteous trade practices artificially drive down prices, disrupt fair market conditions, and threaten the livelihoods of hardworking American seafood producers. Without strong and consistent intervention, our seafood industry will remain vulnerable to these illegal trade tactics that erode the competitive market.
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11 Feb. | Accessed and Answered
Congressman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34) and all Democratic members of the Ways and Means Committee are demanding urgent answers from the Social Security Administration (SSA) about the security of Americans’ sensitive personal data. They have given Acting Commissioner Michelle King 72 hours to respond to key questions about potential risks, whether Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”) has attempted to access SSA systems, and what security measures are in place.
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10 Feb. | Roses are Red, Dem Dogs are Blue
The Blue Dog Coalition, a contingent of centrist House Democrats, wants to help Johnson and Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith with a “targeted extension” of the GOP’s 2017 tax cuts, according to a letter our Nicholas Wu exclusively obtained.
The group of 10 Democrats led by Rep. Lou Correa added that the extension of the tax cuts should be paid for with spending cuts and increased revenue. Not all members backed the idea: Reps. Josh Gottheimer, Mike Thompson and Henry Cuellar didn’t sign the letter. While it’s notable that some Democrats are offering to help, the GOP is set on doing this in their party-line bill — at least for now.
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10 Feb. | Frosty on FDIC
In a letter to FDIC Inspector General Jennifer Fain, Warren and other Democratic members of the Senate Banking Committee asked that she conduct an evaluation of the decision by FDIC Acting Chair Travis Hill, a Republican, following a move by the administration of President Donald Trump to impose a hiring freeze across the federal workforce.
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10 Feb. | Democrat Demands for Defense
Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06) and Sara Jacobs (CA-51) led all the Democratic women on the House Armed Services Committee, including Reps. Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), Jill Tokuda (HI-02), Maggie Goodlander (NH-02), and Sarah Elfreth (MD-03), in demanding answers regarding the pause of military Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) training programs. In a letter to Secretary Hegseth, the lawmakers stressed that pausing or terminating these trainings is irresponsible, dangerous, and illegal.
The lawmakers wrote:
“We are writing to express our deep concern over reports suggesting that the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) training programs have been paused, and the Navy’s program has “no timeline for resuming.” This decision is not only irresponsible but also dangerous, sending a clear signal that leadership is willing to deprioritize a systemic issue that continues to harm service members. Given the military’s well-documented struggles with addressing sexual violence, pausing this critical training is indefensible and raises serious questions about the commitment to protecting those who serve.
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10 Feb. | Boebert Cops a Feel
Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (CO-04) has demanded the stop of a Department of Energy land grab put in motion by the Biden Administration that threatens to impact over 325,000 acres of private land across Prowers, Kiowa, and Baca Counties. In a letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Rep. Boebert asked her fellow Coloradan to reconsider the Southwestern Grid Connector Corridor as part of the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) and at a minimum extend the public comment phase, which is currently set to end on Friday, February 14.
“In listening to local elected officials and constituents across Southeast Colorado, it is clear the Biden Administration's Department of Energy failed to reach out to the public and prevented any transparency of their scheme to seize private property and build out their Green New Deal fantasy,” said Congresswoman Boebert. "This project fails to align with President Trump's Unleashing American Energy Executive Order and would significantly harm the rights of rural Coloradans while putting our local economy at risk. I'm calling on Secretary Wright to quickly reevaluate this misguided project and listen to the rural Coloradans who have serious and reasonable concerns over the NIETC coming through their community."
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10 Feb. | Congress to Dorado on DOGE
Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management Greg Stanton (D-AZ) sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Comptroller General of the United States Gene Dodaro requesting an investigation after unelected billionaire Elon Musk and his staff at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) gained access to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) data and payment systems.
“When individuals register for FEMA aid and purchase federal flood insurance, they trust that their private information, including Social Security numbers, will be protected by the federal government,” the Members wrote. “Recklessly granting such information to Mr. Musk and his team puts disaster survivors’ sensitive information and identities at risk after they may have lost everything.”
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10 Feb. | Golden Age American Veneer
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) cited possible litigation in a letter to colleagues that also touted a new whistleblower portal.
The latest stopgap spending law keeping the government runs through March 14, and Schumer said Democrats were ready to support bipartisan legislation — while also putting onus on Republicans to avoid a “Trump Shutdown.”
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10 Feb. | Estes Writes on Water Rights
Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kansas) sent a letter to recently confirmed Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum highlighting the longstanding work by Kansans to responsibly steward water resources at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge and the Rattlesnake Creek Basin, as well as the economic impact the basin has in the region and the need for stability in 2026.
"Agriculture is the basin's primary industry, generating millions of dollars in direct and indirect revenue. Losing the ability to irrigate crops would reduce these revenues by tens of millions of dollars, forcing many of these already struggling family-run farms to exit the industry entirely," wrote Rep. Estes.
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10 Feb. | Schultz Stands Up for the VA
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) wrote to new Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas A. Collins to share ‘grave concerns’ over the Trump Administration’s unconstitutional federal funding freezes, and warned that these and other outside programs cuts, along with massive job losses within the VA health care system, would inflict unacceptable harm to Veterans and their families.
Wasserman Schultz, the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member, also requested that Secretary Collins immediately block all unvetted third parties from obtaining sensitive personal information on Veterans, as this illegal infiltration by so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” actors poses an urgent threat to former servicemembers and their families.
“This is a massive invasion of privacy and violates federal privacy laws,” she wrote. “You must restrict, block, and remove DOGE agents’ access to all VA data systems and records.”
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10 Feb. | Protecting Farmers from PRC
Congresswoman Shontel Brown (OH-11), Vice Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee and a member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and the CCP, and Select Committee Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-11), sent a letter to Acting U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Gary Washington requesting information on the steps being taken to protect farmers and ranchers if the Chinese Communist Party takes retaliatory agricultural trade actions against the United States.
In the letter, the members write, “We must prepare for a scenario where the PRC enacts retaliatory trade measures that could lead to supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and a currency war with [the PRC]. The PRC has the ability to cause true pain to our hard-working farmers and ranchers. Small farmers may be forced to shut down business. Local ranchers may have to seek unemployment. We owe it to American farmers and ranchers to be ready for all scenarios.”
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10 Feb. | J to Tom Cole
House Republicans aim to start marking up fiscal 2026 government-funding bills in April, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) told lawmakers, in a letter that spotlighted programs that could lose their authorization soon.
Cole told the chairs of 14 House committees that he anticipates subcommittee markups starting in late April of the appropriations bills to fund the government starting Oct. 1.
“I am committed to completing these bills prior to October 1, 2025,” he wrote.
Each letter warns that some programs rely on authorizations that have expired or will expire soon. That includes authorizations for the National Institutes of Health, the FBI, the Treasury Department, the Foreign Assistance Act, and others.
Congress regularly funds programs on expired authorizations, but conservatives have called for Congress to crack down on the practice. Congress still hasn’t finished work on the current fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, and has relied on a stopgap measure running through March 14 to avoid a shutdown.
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10 Feb. | Schumer Showcases Shutdown
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) blamed Republicans for holding up top-line appropriations talks, saying Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is focusing “solely on confirming the Trump nominees” and on reconciliation.
“It is incumbent on responsible Republicans to get serious and work in a bipartisan fashion to avoid a Trump Shutdown,” Schumer said in a letter to colleagues.
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10 Feb. | Following Up with the FAA
U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) and Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks (both D-MD), along with U.S. Reps. Don Beyer, Gerald Connolly, Suhas Subramanyam (all D-VA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today requested answers and commitments from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on its plans to protect the flying public in the wake of the January 29 collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines airplane. In the letter, the lawmakers applauded the precautionary safety measures put in place by the FAA, as well as the agency’s collaboration with the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) investigation into the causes and factors behind the collision. They also stressed the need to carefully review existing protocols to ensure that flight operations do not simply return to business as usual.
The lawmakers also expressed serious concern with potential interference with the FAA by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has caused mayhem across the government, from attempting to push out nonpartisan civil servants, to reportedly accessing the U.S. Treasury’s payment system, as well as systems at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
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10 Feb. | Foreign Aid Faucet
Rep. Joe Courtney joined House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash) and House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Rep. Gergory W. Meeks (D-NY) in a letter urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to end the Trump Administration’s stop work order on U.S. foreign assistance while a 90-day review of USAID programs is underway.
The Members wrote: “We respect any incoming Administration’s desire to review U.S. foreign policy programs to ensure alignment with the Administration’s priorities. However, halting programs to remove landmines, prevent global disease outbreaks, and avoid famine will not make America safer, stronger, or more economically prosperous. U.S. foreign assistance plays a crucial role in our national security by stabilizing regions and preventing conditions that lead to extremism. Removing that aid risks fueling instability, insurgencies, and increased migration. Further, when the U.S. pulls back, we create a vacuum that countries like Russia and China gladly fill.
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10 Feb. | Don’ Skip on Schiff
Sen. Adam Schiff, in letters shared exclusively with Mia,is asking Trump’s chief of staff
Susie Wiles and the Office of Government Ethics Director David Huitema to verify whether Elon Musk is in compliance with federal conflict of interest and ethics requirements in his capacity as a “special government employee.” Schiff wants to know if Musk has completed a financial disclosure or if he was given a written waiver that would exempt him from the federal criminal conflict of interest statute.
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10 Feb. | Congress Stays Fed
Senator Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Maxine Waters express “serious concern” about proposed changes to bank stress tests in letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
“The Federal Reserve Board should refrain from weakening the stress testing framework and vigorously defend its clear legality in court,” Democrats say in letter. Lawmakers ask Powell to respond to series of questions about proposed changes by Feb. 24
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10 Feb. | Backing Up Bank Rolling
Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., along with other Senate Democrats are warning their GOP colleagues against bankrolling tax cuts for the rich by gutting Medicaid and slashing health care for children, seniors, and people with disabilities.
Nearly 80 million Americans are enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) nationally. Medicaid alone covers more than 40 percent of births in the United States. Medicaid offers essential health coverage to people who otherwise couldn't afford health care, including seniors on fixed incomes, pregnant women, families with young children, and Americans with disabilities. In addition to covering services Americans rely on to stay healthy, Medicaid also provides essential coverage for mental health and treatment for fentanyl addiction that is ravaging red and blue states alike. If Medicaid is compromised millions of American working families would lose nursing home care for older loved ones.
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10 Feb. | Big Action for Small Business Struck by Disaster
Congressman Brad Sherman (CA-32), who represents the Pacific Palisades, led all Members of the California Congressional Delegation, from both sides of the aisle, in asking FEMA and the Small Business Administration (SBA) to extend the March 10 deadline for federal disaster assistance. Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-28), who represents Altadena and Pasadena, joined as the lead co-signer.
“The March 10 deadlines for FEMA grants and SBA loans for those affected by the Los Angeles Fires are outrageously short. The Palisades Fire was only recently contained, and many households are still waiting to find out from their insurance companies about what damages will be covered,” Congressman Sherman said. “It may be months before some families hear back from their insurance companies to find out if they will be in need of federal help, so I am urging FEMA and SBA to extend their application deadlines until at least December 31.”
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10 Feb. | Schumer Says Assault and Peppers a Letter Here
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer sent the following letter to Senate Democrats on the strategies Democrats will continue to implement to confront the Trump Administration’s assault on American families, through means of oversight, litigation, legislation, and communication and mobilization. In his Dear Colleague letter, Senator Schumer says now more than ever, it is imperative for Senate Democrats to continue to work overtime to push back, to fight for American families, and to deliver real results to lower costs, protect communities, and ensure accountable government.
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10 Feb. | A Salute to the CFPB
All Americans deserve a strong consumer watchdog to look out for their financial well-being, prevent scams, and hold offenders accountable. This is especially true for servicemembers, veterans, and their families, who are disproportionally targeted by predatory lenders and abusive mortgage, debt collection, and credit card schemes and often face greater financial risks than civilian borrowers due to the nature of their military service.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) collects, investigates, and monitors consumer complaints about financial products and services. It provides relief to consumers who have been wronged by unscrupulous financial providers. Since the agency's inception, the CFPB has returned over $21 billion back to consumers who have fallen victim to abusive and illegal activity.
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09 Feb. | Getting Your Hegseth on Straight
U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense (SACD), sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to warn him against the politicization of the Department of Defense (DoD). Durbin’s letter comes after several thinly-veiled political orders by the Trump Administration related to the nation’s military, including removing protection from former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, using the military for immigration enforcement, and impounding congressional approved DoD funding.
“I write to express my concern that President Trump’s personal agenda is counter to defending against our country’s serious national security threats. Since the President’s inauguration less than one month ago, the Trump Administration has pursued several dubious executive actions that threaten our military’s long-standing ethos to remain nonpartisan and promote merit, both of which you spoke to the importance of during your hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) prior to your confirmation,” Durbin began his letter.
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08 Feb. | Calling on CFPB
Democrats are calling on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cancel his stop work order for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) after employees with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) targeted the agency as part of their overhaul of federal spending.
Top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters (Calif.) led members in a letter to Bessent on Saturday, calling the order “illegal.”
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07 Feb. | Bucking the Bankroll
Senate Democrats are warning their GOP colleagues against bankrolling tax cuts for the rich by gutting Medicaid and slashing health care for children, seniors, and people with disabilities.
Nearly 80 million Americans are enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) nationally. Medicaid alone covers more than 40 percent of births in the United States. Medicaid offers essential health coverage to people who otherwise couldn't afford health care, including seniors on fixed incomes, pregnant women, families with young children, and Americans with disabilities. And in addition to covering services Americans rely on to remain healthy, go to school, and thrive at work, Medicaid also provides essential coverage for mental health and treatment for fentanyl addiction that is ravaging red and blue states alike. If Medicaid is compromised millions of American working families would lose nursing home care for older loved ones.
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07 Feb. | Not So Green on Scandal
Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV) and Congressman Lance Gooden (R-TX) called on Attorney General Pamela Bondi to launch an investigation into the Biden DOJ’s dismissal of a $275 million fraud lawsuit against Tonopah Solar Energy, LLC. The case, filed under the False Claims Act, exposes millions in taxpayer losses tied to the failed Crescent Dunes solar project—a glaring example of reckless green energy crusades.
The DOJ’s decision to drop the case, filed just one day after the 2024 presidential election, reeks of political interference and corruption. After years of investigation into allegations of fraudulent use of Treasury cash grants, the Biden DOJ abruptly claimed the case was “not in the public interest,” despite no financial or legal risks to the government.
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07 Feb. | A Whole Host of Problems
U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent letters to several digital advertising platforms after a bombshell report revealed they placed advertisements on a website known to host and distribute Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).
This report was shared exclusively with the Senators before public release. Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal sent letters detailing the report to AdTech vendors Google and Amazon, ad verification firms DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science, and industry standards bodies Media Rating Council and Trustworthy Accountability Group. Below are excerpts from their letter to Amazon.
Blackburn & Blumenthal Sound the Alarm on Amazon Tech Being Used to Monetize Websites that Host Child Sexual Abuse Material
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07 Feb. | Over the Osprey
Washington (February 7, 2025) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), member of the Armed Services Committee, today urged National Football League (NFL) Commissioner Roger Goodell, to cancel the planned V-22 Osprey flyover at Sunday’s Super Bowl.
The V-22 has been involved in 21 major accidents since 1992, resulting in 64 deaths. In March 2022, Marine Corps Captain Ross A. Reynolds of Leominster, Massachusetts was piloting a V-22 when it crashed near Norway, killing Captain Reynolds and three other Marines onboard. The most recent crash, off the coast of Japan in November 2023, killed eight service members, including Staff Sergeant Jacob Galliher – a young father from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Japan and the United States grounded the Osprey after this incident, but flights have since been resumed. As recently as December 2024, an Osprey was forced to land due to an engine failure.
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07 Feb. | Minders for Michigan
Representative Jack Bergman wrote a letter to President Donald Trump, following the arrest of a member of the Venezuelan transnational criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, who illegally crossed into the United States near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. In his note to the President, Rep. Bergman requested that the illegal alien be transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
As Rep. Bergman explained, “detaining this dangerous individual at Guantanamo ensures secure confinement and prevents any attempts to exploit our legal system or endanger public safety while awaiting prosecution.”
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07 Feb. | Urgent Request from USDA
U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) today pushed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary-designee Brooke Rollins to share her plan to address the rising cost of eggs driven by the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI or H5N1) outbreak. Heinrich points to tools, such as HPAI vaccines, that the USDA could develop and deploy to help tackle the outbreak and lower food prices. Under the Trump administration, the avian flu outbreak is stressing poultry and egg producers’ ability to make a living and forcing working families to pay more at the grocery store for eggs and poultry products.
“As a U.S. Senator and member of the Appropriations Committee, my constituents have asked me to hold President Trump accountable for his promise to lower food prices for all Americans. The USDA has many tools at its disposal to combat rising prices, including HPAI vaccines. Vaccinating all laying hens in the United States against HPAI will help lower egg prices for consumers, decrease production losses for farmers, and ultimately decrease the cost to taxpayers through reduced indemnity payments,” Heinrich wrote.
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06 Feb. | DOGE and Student Loans
U.S. Senator Tina Smith, alongside 15 of her colleagues, sent a letter to Acting Secretary of the Department of Education Denise Carter, seeking answers after reports that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has infiltrated the Department of Education (ED) and students’ personal, private data. There are over 40 million federal student loan borrowers in the United States, and the student loan database infiltrated by Musk contains millions of borrowers’ highly sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, marital status, and income data.
“This deeply troubling report raises questions about potential exposures of Americans’ private data, the abuse of this data by the Trump Administration, and whether officials who have access to the data may have violated the law or the federal government’s procedures for handling sensitive information,” wrote the senators.
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06 Feb. | Krishnamoorthi Carries the Grocery Bag
Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) sent a letter to President Donald Trump demanding he take action to address skyrocketing grocery prices in Illinois and around the country. President Trump campaigned on tackling these high prices, pledging to “immediately bring prices down, starting on day one.” Yet, just three weeks into President Trump’s term, egg prices have increased by 14 percent – nearly a dollar per dozen – and he has not issued a single executive order addressing avian flu and outbreaks of E. coli, listeria, and salmonella, the leading factors driving up egg prices. The letter comes just days after Congressman Krishnamoorthi questioned witnesses at a Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on why no executive action has been taken by the Trump administration.
“This is not simply a failed campaign promise; it is a true crisis for everyday Americans whose dollars will no longer stretch as far,” Congressman Krishnamoorthi wrote in the letter. “Food safety concerns are only growing, and it is time to not only restore trust in our food system, but also to immediately address the food affordability crisis.”
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06 Feb. | Frozen Funds Threaten Health
Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined an effort led by Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner to press the Trump Administration about reports that community health centers are experiencing significant delays in accessing funding.
There are 34 Federally Qualified Health Centers in Oregon, including two Look-Alikes, operating more than 270 sites—a majority of which serve rural areas with limited access to medical care across the state. Merkley and Wyden are hearing immense concern from several centers in the state, including the La Pine Health Center in Central Oregon laying off 11 percent of its workforce to prepare due to the funding uncertainty.
The lawmakers pressed U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Acting Secretary Dorothy A. Fink, M.D. after an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo that suspended all federal grant and loan funding. The memo has since been rescinded following pressure from Democratic members of Congress and the public, but many grantees that rely on federal funding are still experiencing confusion and uncertainty and have received little to no guidance from the Trump Administration about their funding.
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06 Feb. | Hell Bent on Bessent
U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) joined 154 House colleagues in a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressing deep concern that an un-elected official, Elon Musk, and his team have gained access to the federal government’s payments system. The system includes highly sensitive information about hundreds of millions of Americans related to their Social Security and Medicare benefits and tax refunds, raising serious questions about privacy, financial security, and potential conflicts of interest.
“This system is responsible for delivering trillions in Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax refunds, and payments to government contractors,” the lawmakers wrote. “This action follows earlier reports that you removed an essential nonpartisan career Treasury official, who has played a critical role in preventing the United States from defaulting on its debt, due to his opposition to Mr. Musk’s actions. These recent developments raise serious questions about your ability to fulfill the essential functions of your role as Treasury Secretary and to protect the economic strength and security of the United States.”
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06 Feb. | Markup Dress Down
House Republicans aim to start marking up fiscal 2026 government funding bills in April, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told lawmakers in a letter.
Cole sent letters to the chairmen of 14 House committees outlining the schedule. He told the members he expects the subcommittee will begin markups in late April for the appropriations bills that would fund the government starting Oct. 1.
“I am committed to completing these bills prior to October 1, 2025,” Cole told the chairs.
Each letter warns that some programs rely on authorizations that have expired or will expire soon. That includes the authorizations for the National Institutes of Health, the FBI, the Treasury Department, the Foreign Assistance Act, and others.
Congress regularly funds programs on expired authorizations, but conservatives have called for Congress to crack down on the practice. Cole’s letters were dated Feb. 6 and were released publicly Monday. Congress still hasn’t finished funding the current fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, and has relied on a stopgap measure running through March 14 to avoid a shutdown.
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06 Feb. | Continued Concerns on DOGE
Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) of the Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services joined with Oversight Committee Ranking Member Gerald Connolly (D-VA) and the other Democratic members of the Oversight Committee in sending a letter calling on government watchdogs to investigate potential national security threats associated with Elon Musk or his Department of Government Efficacy (DOGE) team’s takeover of government networks and sensitive data. The letter, send to Deputy Inspectors General Sciurba, Vint, Erickson, Shoemaker, and Rocque and Inspector General Martin, express concern over DOGE’s access to data at the Department of the Treasury, the General Services Administration (GSA), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
“We are writing to express urgent concerns regarding recent reports that unauthorized individuals have gained access to protected government networks and sensitive, potentially classified data, including at the Department of the Treasury, the General Services Administration (GSA), the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),” the Members wrote. “These reports raise serious questions about the security protocols in place to safeguard sensitive government information and the potential for unauthorized access and misuse by private citizens without requisite clearance or any legitimate reason to access this information. Given the scope of these concerns, we strongly encourage you to coordinate across the inspector general community to address these potential threats to national security.”
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06 Feb. | Not So Top Guns
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is opening a probe into the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Program (TOPGUN) after reports surfaced of physical and mental harm done to pilots and instructors within the program. In a letter to Acting Secretary of the United States Navy Terence Emmert, the Chairman requests a briefing with as well as documents and information related to internal efforts to mitigate risk to Navy aviators and flight instructors.
“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating the U.S. Navy’s (Navy) efforts to mitigate possible physiological and psychological effects inflicted on certain naval aviators and flight officers, including those within the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Program (TOPGUN). Additionally, the Committee is investigating an internal Navy project aimed at evaluating these issues, code-named ‘Project Odin’s Eye,’” wrote Chairman Comer. “Project Odin’s Eye, reportedly initiated without formal approval from Navy Medical and Air Commands, raises additional questions about the Navy’s knowledge of potential issues and whether it is acting to mitigate these issues in a comprehensive and effective manner.”
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06 Feb. | Fetterman Fights for Better Men
U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) sent a letter to Lieutenant General Telita Crosland, Director of the Defense Health Agency, urging the Department of Defense (DoD) to consider allocating funds for new mental health care application programming and reform existing efforts.
In the letter, Senator Fetterman writes: “As DoD considers how to spend its greater than $60 billion annual budget for military health care funding in Fiscal Year 2026, I urge the Department to consider allocating funds for new mental health care application programing. We know this funding will pay for itself long term – the estimated return on investment is about $4 for every $1 spent. Prioritizing creative, preventative care measures like mobile applications will equip our servicemembers with the tools and resources they need to navigate personal adversity and avoid mental health emergencies.”
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06 Feb. | CCP on US TV
Senator Rick Scott and Senator Jim Banks sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr requesting the FCC investigate foreign entities of concern (FEOCs) that broadcast on U.S. airwaves to determine if those entities pose a significant national security risk to the American public, and use existing FCC authorities to deter future partnerships between FEOCs and television networks. Last year, Temu – a Chinese e-commerce platform with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – aired three commercials during Super Bowl 2024.
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06 Feb. | Sheldon Still Short on Kash
In the meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) this morning called out the “extremely dangerous […] astonishing precedent” set by the nomination process for Kash Patel to serve as Director of the FBI.
Whitehouse, along with U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) before the meeting requesting a delay in the confirmation process until Patel shares information about the federal grand jury testimony he provided in Donald Trump’s classified documents case, as well as Patel’s invocation of the Fifth Amendment.
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06 Feb. | Power for Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández, joined by U.S. Representatives Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Darren Soto (D-Fla.), urged President Donald J. Trump to declare a federal emergency in response to Puerto Rico’s ongoing electric grid crisis, which continues to jeopardize the health, safety, and economic security of residents and businesses on the island.
“Puerto Rico needs an expedited, practical approach to stabilize the grid in the short term and build resilience for future natural disasters and unexpected disruptions. A federal emergency declaration would provide regulatory flexibility and accelerate the deployment of critical energy resilience projects,” wrote the lawmakers.
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06 Feb. | Cantwell Calls Out Conflicts
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy calling on him to ensure that Elon Musk stays out of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), citing Musk’s clear conflicts of interest.
“FAA has the legal responsibility for safety oversight of companies with commercial space transportation licenses. Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket launches share the airspace with commercial airplanes, and the FAA has the responsibility for keeping the entire airspace safe. SpaceX has been fined by the FAA for failing to comply with specific requirements in its launch license. Mr. Musk, in turn, called for the firing of Mike Whitaker, the FAA Administrator who the Senate confirmed 98-0 because the FAA issued a fine against SpaceX for not following the rules. We have ethics and recusal laws for a reason—to prevent corporate interference in protecting the public interest,” Sen. Cantwell wrote.
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06 Feb. | Congressional Stakes on Summer Meals
Representative Lucy McBath (D-GA-06) is once again leading the Georgia Democratic Congressional Delegation in demanding answers from Governor Brian Kemp after the state missed another key deadline for federal support to feed Georgia’s students during the summer months. A letter sent today urges swift action to feed the more than 1.2 million low-income children eligible for the Summer EBT program. Existing summer meal programs operated by the state of Georgia did not serve one third of counties in the state last summer.
“This past summer, children in Georgia again went without consistent access to summer meal programs,” the letter reads. “We share your commitment to ensuring that every child in Georgia is kept safe and healthy. Participating in Summer EBT is a simple, commonsense step that will ensure every child in our state, regardless of where they live or how much money their parents make, has access to the basic necessity of food when they are not in school… Of the roughly 2.8 million children who call Georgia home, over 40% of them are eligible for this benefit but cannot participate due to your continued decision to opt out of the program.”
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06 Feb. | Constitutional Crisis Coordination
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Congressman Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) sent letters to investigators and employees from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis demanding documents and transcribed interviews as the Committee continues its investigation into the coordination between the Fulton County District Attorney's Office and the January 6 Select Committee in furtherance of her political prosecution of President Donald Trump. According to court testimony, these individuals met with the partisan January 6 Select Committee to coordinate their politicized investigations.
The Committee previously wrote to District Attorney Willis requesting documents relating to her coordination with the January 6 Select Committee. Because District Attorney Willis has declined to cooperate, the Committee must pursue other avenues to obtain this information.
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06 Feb. | Buy-in on Biofuels
Today, Representatives Adrian Smith (R-NE) and Angie Craig (D-MN) led nearly 30 colleagues in sending a bipartisan letter to recently confirmed Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin. The letter emphasizes the important role of the American biofuels industry in maximizing energy abundance and affordability while encouraging the EPA to issue timely and science-driven guidance to fulfill the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). Smith and Craig are co-chairs of the Congressional Biofuels Caucus.
Signers of the letter include: Reps. Mark Alford (R-MO), Don Bacon (R-NE), James Baird (R-IN), Mike Bost (R-IL), Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), Sharice Davids (D-KS), Ron Estes (R-KS), Randy Feenstra (R-IA), Brad Finstad (R-MN), Michelle Fischbach (R-MN), Mike Flood (R-NE), Sam Graves (R-MO), Ashley Hinson (R-IA), Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Robin Kelly (D-IL), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-MI), Mark Messmer (R-IN), Max Miller (R-OH), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Zachary Nunn (R-IA), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Derek Schmidt (R-KS), Eric Sorensen (D-IL), and Derrick Van Orden (R-WI).
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06 Feb. | Head Start on DOGE Chopping Block
U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is demanding answers from the Trump Administration on why half of Wisconsin’s Head Start programs, which provide childcare and preschool education to children, were unable to access previously approved federal funding, forcing at least one program to shutter. After the Trump Administration illegally ordered a pause on previously Congressionally approved federal grants and loans, half of Wisconsin Head Start programs were locked out of systems they use to pay staff and keep operations running.
“Head Start is a critical lifeline for families,” wrote Senator Baldwin in a letter to the Acting Secretaries of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Head Start. “Disruptions in services impact entire communities – from the children who are unable to be in the classroom, to the parents who are unable to work due to the lack of childcare, and Head Start professionals who love their jobs but are unable to be in their classrooms. I am also deeply concerned about the impact this chaos will have on the recruitment and retention of staff at Head Start centers.”
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06 Feb. | Your License Plate Says ‘Scammin’
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Acting Director Charles Ezell demanding the legal basis for the Trump Administration’s so-called “Deferred Resignation” offer, which appears to be an attempt to scam dedicated civil servants, including many at the EPA. The widely reported “Fork in the Road” offer invited agency staff to resign by today, February 6, 2025, at 11:59 PM ET, in return for a guarantee that they will still “retain all pay and benefits regardless of [their] daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025.” In response to a lawsuit filed by unions representing federal workers, a federal judge this afternoon blocked the resignation deadline pending a hearing scheduled for Monday, February 10, 2025.
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06 Feb. | A Writing on Retaliation
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) today encouraged President Trump to stand up for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblowers who exposed the Biden IRS and Justice Department’s efforts to obstruct the federal criminal investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax offenses. The Office of Special Counsel recently confirmed IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and IRS Special Agent Joseph Ziegler were illegally issued a gag order and retaliated against as a result of their efforts to sound the alarm on those responsible for slow-walking the Hunter Biden investigation.
“We’ve been informed that the senior IRS management who refused to do their job, rolled over for political corruption at DOJ, and targeted the whistleblowers are still in charge,” the senators wrote. “We’ve been informed that these officials have not stopped the retaliation against Shapley and Ziegler, and the bureaucratic processes that are supposed to protect them are too slow and ineffective.”
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05 Feb. | DEI Defenders
Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano (CA-39), Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD-08), and Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (VA-11) sent a letter to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Acting Director Charles Ezell, calling on OPM to halt implementation of the anti-trans Executive Order 14168, including by rescinding a January 29, 2025 memorandum on how to carry out the Order:
In the letter, Chair Takano, Ranking Member Raskin, and Ranking Member Connolly state:
“Transgender people are entitled to the same legal protections as all other Americans. Executive Orders cannot override the Constitution, federal laws, or Supreme Court precedent. Executive Order 14168 and the January 29, 2025, implementing memo attempt to unlawfully override all three. Alarmingly, this and other Executive Orders targeting the transgender community contain language demonstrating animus against that community. Animus is neither an important nor legitimate government interest, and government policies motivated by animus are clear violations of the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws.”
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05 Feb. | Monitoring Medicare Pricing
Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard E. Neal (D-MA), Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), and Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) wrote to the Comptroller General today requesting the Government Accountability Office (GAO) actively monitor the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program to ensure the Trump Administration upholds its legal obligation to deliver lower prescription drug prices for Americans.
“As the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program continues, new expertise will be developed and honed to improve the processes for successful negotiations in the future,” the Democratic Committee leaders wrote. “To build on this important work, we ask that GAO examine the ongoing implementation of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program to ensure that it further reduces prescription drug prices, saves seniors money, and drives down federal spending.”
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05 Feb. | Tough on Missile Transfers
U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Jim Risch (R-ID), Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and six other Senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio encouraging the sanctioning of Chinese entities involved in transferring missile propellant ingredients to Iran. The letter comes in response to multiple reports that two Iranian cargo ships are set to deliver 1,000 tons of missile propellant ingredients from Communist China to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The critical ingredients would enable the IRGC to produce hundreds of midrange missiles.
“Reimposing maximum pressure on the Iranian regime requires imposing costs on Communist China,” the senators wrote. “We encourage the administration to identify and sanction any entities involved in transferring missile propellants to Iran, including any Chinese companies sourcing the propellants and any Chinese ports that allow sanctioned Iranian ships to dock. Additionally, if the press reports referenced above are accurate, we urge you to work with our global partners to intercept and stop the shipments currently underway. Finally, the administration should pressure Beijing to reverse its decision to green light Iran’s drawdown of stored oil or face severe consequences.”
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05 Feb. | Turnaround on Turnpike Investment
Congressman Van Drew sent a letter to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority Board of Commissioners, urging them to reconsider their recent decision to award a $1.73 billion E-ZPass Services' contract to TransCore, a company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
"It is completely unacceptable that a company with connections to the CCP could be given access to vast amounts of sensitive U.S. traffic data, including driving habits, travel patterns, and potential infrastructure vulnerabilities," said Congressman Van Drew. "This is a direct threat to both our national security and the privacy of millions of Americans. The CCP has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to exploit foreign partnerships to advance its own strategic interests, often at the expense of U.S. security. Handing over critical infrastructure operations to a company tied to China is reckless and unnecessary when American-based companies are fully capable of handling these services. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority must reconsider this contract immediately and put American interests first."
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05 Feb. | Clinical Trial and Tribulations of Congress
Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) joined Congressman Don Beyer (VA-08) and 88 of his colleagues in sending a letter to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Acting Director Matthew J. Memoli urging him to stand up to Trump administration and take immediate action to resume its public-facing work on clinical trials and cancer research.
The letter comes after the Trump administration announced a slew of sweeping executive orders that significantly impact the NIH’s crucial public-facing work. These orders include freezing grant hearings, stalling clinical trials, and eliminating guidelines that promote diversity in clinical research to better reflect the population. The funding freeze has caused a dangerous interruption in cancer research specifically.
“Every American has a family member or loved one who has been affected by cancer. No one should have their clinical trial, or research critical to a cure delayed or suspended because of politics. We are deeply concerned by the effort to shut down public-facing work at the NIH, which has long enjoyed bipartisan support,” the Members wrote.
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05 Feb. | Murkowski Stands for American Tribes
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, yesterday sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), urging them to immediately issue a memorandum directing all federal agencies to ensure that Indian Tribes and the related Tribal programs and federal funding they receive due to their political status are not affected by implementation of the President’s Executive Orders and policies, such as those addressing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), and environmental justice (EJ).
“In the implementation of these Presidential initiatives, Tribes have raised concerns that Tribal programs may be misclassified as DEIA or EJ. Any pauses or elimination of these programs would undermine the United States’ trust responsibility to Indian Tribes and their ability to provide services to their members. I ask OMB to take action now to reaffirm the unique treatment, programs and services to Indian Tribes based on their political and legal status, which is recognized in the U.S. Constitution, treaties, and many federal laws and policies, to ensure that there is no disruption to federal Tribal programs,” Chairman Murkowski wrote.
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05 Feb. | Uncertainty on USDA Unacceptable to Congress
Farmers and other recipients of Agriculture Department funds are uncertain whether the agency is still paying them for work under a host of federal programs, Democrats handling farm and food policy warned the Trump administration.
Acting Agriculture Secretary Gary Washington must send lawmakers a list of paused or canceled USDA program payments and, if any existed, the legal reasoning for doing so, according to a letter signed by every Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee. Some individuals have been told USDA payments are under a moratorium, according to a separate letter signed by House Agriculture ranking member Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and two panel members.
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05 Feb. | Cranking the Heat on King
U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) joined U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and 25 of their colleagues in calling for the immediate implementation of the Social Security Fairness Act to provide full Social Security benefits for millions of public servants impacted by Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The Social Security Fairness Act, which Senators Heinrich and Luján cosponsored, fully repeals the two unfair Social Security provisions, WEP and GPO. The Social Security Fairness Act was signed into law on January 5, 2024 after Senators Heinrich and Luján voted to advance legislation on the Senate floor.
“The Social Security Fairness Act restores full Social Security benefits for the millions of teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public servants who are unfairly penalized by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO),” wrote the senators.
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05 Feb. | DOE ‘Till Eternity
Reps. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and Workforce and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee alongside Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services, sent a letter warning against the Trump administration’s reported plans to unilaterally dismantle the Department of Education. The lawmakers asked the acting Secretary of Education for answers on recent actions taken by the Trump administration to put federal workers on administrative leave, coerce employees into leaving their jobs, provide access to students’ sensitive data, and illegally freeze vital funding.
“Over the course of two weeks, the Trump Administration issued sweeping executive orders and sought to broadly and illegally freeze federal financial assistance,” wrote the lawmakers. “Federal employees have been targeted, in some cases for simply following the law. Elon Musk is attempting to shut down the work of entire agencies while gaining access to some of the federal government’s most far reaching and sensitive data systems. Media reports indicate a similar effort may be underway at the Department of Education.”
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05 Feb. | Get Down and Do the Rodeo
U.S. Senator Steve Daines, Senator Tim Sheehy, Congressman Ryan Zinke and Congressman Troy Downing today sent a letter to the Montana State Legislature expressing strong support for establishing American Rodeo as Montana’s official state sport in recognition of its cultural and historical significance for Montanans.
“We write to express our strong support for establishing American Rodeo as Montana’s official state sport. Montana’s vibrant rodeo scene is an emblem of our great Western heritage, with the sport’s deep ties to Montana’s ranching history reflecting our legacy as a frontier state. As such, we consider it fitting to designate rodeo as our state’s official sport.
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05 Feb. | Down on an Outage at SSA
After hearing reports from constituents in Maryland’s Eighth Congressional District of a temporary outage affecting the Social Security Administration’s online portal, U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin (MD-08) sent a letter to the agency’s Acting Director soliciting a full account of the reported outage.
The incident follows an unauthorized takeover of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s payment management system by billionaire and close Trump adviser Elon Musk and his allies, unknown individuals who may lack appropriate security clearances, according to recent reporting. Over 123,000 residents of Maryland’s Eighth District receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits from SSA each month.
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04 Feb. | FEMA Failures
Senator James Lankford (R-OK) sent a letter to President Donald J. Trump to applaud his recent Executive Order to hold the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) accountable for their failed responses to disasters and to advocate for robust reforms.
“I write to commend your recent Executive Order establishing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Review Council. The current federal framework for responding to disasters is insufficient, and major reforms are necessary to ensure Americans are best supported in times of need,” Lankford wrote in the letter.
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04 Feb. | Congress and Dangerous Diversions
Representative Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative Pramila Jayapal, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, and Representative Lucy McBath, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance are demanding answers from Acting Attorney General James R. McHenry III regarding Trump Administration directives that remove law enforcement officials from critical crime prevention, counterterrorism and drug interdiction missions, and task them instead with arresting and detaining undocumented immigrants who pose no threat to public safety.
“Previous Republican and Democratic administrations have rightly prioritized true public safety threats for apprehension and removal. Unfortunately, this administration has made it clear that it sees all immigrants as criminals and priorities for removal, making no distinction between an undocumented mother with no criminal record, and a convicted murderer. The mission of the Department of Justice (DOJ) is to keep the American people safe from a wide range of criminal threats. […] Diverting critical resources away from these efforts will endanger American lives by allowing criminals to roam free on our streets, increasing the risk of drug trafficking, and leaving us vulnerable to terrorist attacks,” wrote the Ranking Members.
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04 Feb. | United States of ICE
Representative Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Representative Pramila Jayapal, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, sent a letter demanding answers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following reports that ICE wrongfully detained U.S. citizens during immigration enforcement raids.
“We write to request more information about troubling reports that U.S. citizens have been detained during immigration enforcement operations. A recent NBC News article highlighted multiple incidents in which American citizens were wrongfully detained during immigration enforcement raids. Additionally, Telemundo Puerto Rico recently reported on three U.S. citizens in Milwaukee – a toddler, his mother, and grandmother – who were detained and transported to an immigration detention center,” wrote the Ranking Members.
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04 Feb. | Congress, Censorship, and COVID-19
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms, Inc., the company that owns Facebook, regarding the social media platform’s alleged censorship of COVID-19 vaccine injured individuals.
The letter details Facebook’s apparent targeting of the vaccine injured by shutting down their support groups and even concealing private messages they exchanged, which came to light in a recent book entitled Worth a Shot?. The book chronicled the experience of Brianne Dressen, an AstraZeneca clinical trial participant who was involved in these once-accessible Facebook support groups.
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04 Feb. | Critical Congress and Minerals
U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and 36 Senate colleagues sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing their deep concern regarding the growing chaos and dysfunction at the U.S. Department of State and the Trump Administration’s illegal attempt to destroy the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
USAID is a critical pillar of U.S. national security strategy, providing lifesaving aid and development support around the world to help ensure stability. Yesterday, personnel at USAID were not permitted to enter the agency’s headquarters, and Elon Musk announced that President Donald Trump agreed to close the agency and move it under the State Department – which Trump has no legal authority to do. The Trump Administration, led by Musk, has also furloughed thousands of senior career civil servants, including two top security officials who denied Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency access to classified documents and systems.
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04 Feb. | Debunking Debanking
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren urged President Donald Trump to work with regulators to stop what she called unjustified closing of bank accounts held by citizens and businesses, arguing that efforts to mute the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will worsen the problem.
In a letter to Trump, Warren asked the new administration to support the CFPB in its efforts to prevent so-called debanking. The Trump administration has named Scott Bessent as the CFPB’s acting head after firing director Rohit Chopra. Bessent has instructed CFPB staff to halt some activities.
Warren, writing ahead of a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Wednesday, said the issue was bipartisan and highlighted Trump’s recent public rebuke of Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump accused the lender of limiting business with certain clients and also called out Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., for the same alleged treatment of conservative customers.
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04 Feb. | A Private Dance with DOGE
Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Shontel Brown, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, sent a letter to Acting Director Charles Ezell of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) expressing their concern regarding numerous reports that Elon Musk and his associates ignored cybersecurity and privacy protections and introduced vulnerabilities into information technology systems in their attempt to send their potentially illegal “Fork in the Road” email to federal workers.
“At best, the Trump Administration’s actions at OPM to date demonstrate gross negligence, severe incompetence, and a chaotic disregard for the security of our government data and the countless services it enables our agencies to provide to the public. At worst, we fear that Trump Administration officials know full well that their actions threaten to break our government and put our citizens at risk of foreign adversaries like China and Russia gaining access to our sensitive data.”
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04 Feb. | Congress on CIFUS
Congressman David Scott (GA-13) and Congressman Frank Lucas (OK-03), both senior members of the House Financial Services and Agriculture Committees, led a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urging him to take a proactive approach to combat Chinese government-backed cyberattacks aimed at the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The letter follows reports of hackers breaching CFIUS network systems as a result of a broader attack targeting the Treasury Department.
“The increasing rate of Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-sanctioned hacking assaults highlight the urgency of more robust cybersecurity protections inside Treasury,” said Congressman David Scott. “Secretary Bessent must take a proactive approach to combat future cyberattacks aimed at CFIUS and ensure the committee can continue to investigate high-risk foreign investments. While it may be small in size, CFIUS has caught the ire of our most capable adversaries looking to inflict economic and national security harm. The Secretary has a responsibility to ensure CFIUS is equipped with the manpower and technological capabilities to safeguard sensitive information and prevent a future breach ever from happening again.”
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04 Feb. | Ford Folds on Kansas City After 40 Years
Senators Roger Marshall M.D. and Josh Hawley (R-MO) sent a letter to the Ford Motor Company demanding answers for terminating its partnership with Jack Cooper, a Kansas City-based company.
For over 40 years, Jack Cooper and Ford have had a strong business partnership until Ford abruptly ended its deal before the contract deadline and without explanation, leading to 400 Kansas City area jobs being lost. The letter requests Ford to provide an explanation for ending its deal with Jack Cooper and affirm that Ford will fulfill all legal obligations resulting from the agreement ending.
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04 Feb. | Cantwell Chugs On Over East Palestine
Following the two-year anniversary of the East Palestine train derailment, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, sent a letter to Chair Ted Cruz urging Republicans to pass legislation to strengthen rail safety and hold companies accountable.
“In response to the derailment, Senate Democrats teamed up with now Vice President Vance to author the bipartisan Railway Safety Act. The legislation addressed key NTSB recommendations after its investigation of the East Palestine derailment,” Sen. Cantwell said in the letter. “Unfortunately, despite the support of President Trump, only seven Republicans publicly supported the legislation, leaving the bill two votes shy for overcoming the filibuster in the 118th Congress. Failure to pass this legislation has left many of the NTSB’s recommendations unfulfilled.”
“I strongly urge you to advance the Railway Safety Act to ensure President Trump and Vice President Vance have the tools they need to hold the railroads accountable for improving safety,” Sen. Cantwell ended.
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04 Feb. | Comer Writes on Behalf of Kentucky Constituents
Congressman James Comer (R-Ky.) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin urging the Trump Administration to examine strategies to expedite the transfer of land located within the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) back to the residents of Paducah, Kentucky. McCracken County is poised to attract leading industries to the Commonwealth and Congressman Comer has long supported efforts to expeditiously cleanup PGDP land to advance economic development in the region.
“I am writing to bring your attention to the efforts of my constituents in Paducah, Kentucky, who are eager to facilitate the transfer of remediated land located within the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant to the local community. I have long supported their efforts to expedite cleanup with the goal of ultimately returning the land to the community for economic development. In 2023, the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce was awarded a U.S. Department of Energy grant to conduct a study of the regional workforce capability and recommend strategies to capitalize on the existing regional workforce’s specialized skillset. This grant, which I helped secure in federal appropriations legislation, allows the community to thoughtfully examine their strengths and maximize the marketability of their state-designated nuclear-ready community to potential developers,” wrote Congressman James Comer.
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03 Feb. | Built to Destroy
The Water Resources Development Act of 2024 included legislation from U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Subcommittee, and Mark Kelly (D-AZ), member of the EPW Committee, to rightsize the federal government’s real estate portfolio and ensure taxpayer-funded buildings do not sit empty. Their legislation, the Federal Assets and Transfers Act (FASTA) Reform Act, builds on the success of FASTA, which was passed by Congress and signed into law in 2016.
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03 Feb. | GOP on Global Tax
House Ways and Means Committee Republicans lauded President Donald Trump for his stance against the global corporate tax agreement, and vowed to provide him with the ability to retaliate against other countries’ extraterritorial taxes.
The lawmakers “applaud the authorization of the use of Sec. 891" in response to the global minimum tax’s undertaxed profits rule and “other extraterritorial and discriminatory taxes and for requesting more retaliatory options from your Treasury department,” they wrote in a letter sent to Trump Feb. 3.
“As members of the House Committee on Ways & Means, we are prepared to assist in this task by providing legislative tools to your Administration, beginning with H.R. 591, the Defending American Jobs and Investment Act.”
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03 Feb. | Congress Wants to Cancel Canadian Tariffs
U.S. Representative Kelly Morrison sent a letter with 60 House Democratic colleagues to President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Acting Secretary of Commerce Jeremy Pelter, and Acting United States Trade Representative Juan Millán, demanding the administration rescind the executive order levying a 25 percent blanket tariff on Canadian imports and a 10 percent tariff on imported Canadian oil. The Trump Administration has delayed implementing the tariffs by 30 days, which the White House originally announced on February 1 would go into formal effect Tuesday, February 4.
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03 Feb. | Counting on RealPage
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee led a letter to Secretary of the Department of Defense (DoD), Pete Hegseth, calling for an investigation into whether landlords may be using property management software company RealPage’s services to price gouge military families. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) joined the letter.
DoD provides servicemembers with a Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) to cover the costs of owning or renting privately managed housing, an allowance that is adjusted periodically by region to keep up with housing costs. In 2023, DoD spent $24 billion on housing allowances for servicemembers.
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03 Feb. | Mfume Says No More Purging
Congressman Kweisi Mfume (MD-07) joined a letter to President Donald Trump, demanding the President cease his purge of nonpartisan civil servants, including career professionals and independent government watchdogs. This action comes after repeated outrageous attacks by the Administration against federal employees and agency operations over the past two weeks. This letter is in addition to U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Democrats’ insistence that President Trump and Elon Musk rescind their illegal “deferred resignation” scam offer to federal employees. Congressman Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led all Committee Democrats in sending this letter.
“We write to demand that you cease your purge of non-partisan, civil servants, including career professionals and independent government watchdogs, which will have catastrophic results for the American people who rely on our government for services and benefits. In what appears to be a rapid and sweeping attempt to expand presidential and executive branch power, you are attempting to politicize the federal workforce, weaponize career professionals in the Senior Executive Service (SES), freeze federal hiring and purge new employees, dismantle civil rights and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs, and attempt to illegally remove independent inspectors general," wrote the Members.
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03 Feb. | Dem Caucus Dear Colleague
“As we prepare to come back into session tomorrow, House Democrats will continue to push back against the far-right extremism that is being relentlessly unleashed on the American people. I write with an update on several urgent matters that we are working on for the country.”
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03 Feb. | Common Sense Crank for California
Rep. Jeff Crank (CO-05) sent a letter to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations requesting that Congressional leaders include conditions in any legislation responding to the recent California wildfires.
Excerpts from the letter read:
“As you consider disaster aid for the Los Angeles wildfires, we write to unequivocally voice our support for including common sense conditions in any supplemental appropriating legislation… We strongly encourage the Committees on Appropriations to include provisions repealing the California Air Review Board’s (CARB) Clean Air Act (CAA) waivers granted under the Biden Administration that the state has used to prioritize harmful climate policies over responsible wildfire management.
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03 Feb. | Stauber on Scandal
Following the news that 62 investigations have been opened to look into federally funded childcare centers in Minnesota for fraud and other serious violations, Congressman Pete Stauber (MN-08) led Minnesota’s Republican Congressional delegation in sending a letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz demanding answers and accountability.
“Minnesotans deserve better leadership, and they deserve transparency. For these reasons, we request the Minnesota Department of Human Services provide us with all documents and communications regarding the 62 active investigations into childcare centers, including all violations cited and funding allocated to each center. This will allow us to provide critical oversight of your administration’s questionable operation and failure of management.
“Please know that this Congress and the new Trump administration are committed to eliminating fraud and abuse in our government. We implore you to join us in our mission, become a better steward of taxpayer dollars, and prioritize the children of Minnesota.”
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03 Feb. | Masts On - Young Kim, Masts Off
House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia & the Pacific Chairwoman Young Kim (CA-40) and Committee Chairman Brian Mast (FL-21) wrote to the Thai Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Suriya Chindawongse, urging the Thai government to reconsider its decision to deport 48 Uyghur refugees who have been in Thai custody for more than a decade.
“Thailand and the United States are strong partners and historical allies. Today, we write to you with great concern about the imminent deportation of 48 Uyghur refugees currently in Thailand, who are at serious risk of facing persecution, torture, and potentially death if returned to China. We urge the Thai government to reconsider its course of action and protect their safety.”
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Feb. 03 | Meet Congress at Midnight
U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Maxine Dexter (D-Oreg.) sent a letter to Committee Chair Bruce Westerman requesting a hearing to get to the bottom of Trump’s unprecedented and illegal late-night firing of inspectors general from various federal agencies, a move that was outlined in Trump’s Project 2025.
“Protecting the independence of the inspectors general has been a bipartisan priority since Congress created the positions. It is hard to imagine a more important time for the Natural Resources Committee to explore the impacts of the erosion of the inspectors general under the watchful eye of the American people in a hearing. I hope I can count on you to hold a hearing in the full committee exploring the implications of the firings for issues within our jurisdiction,” the members wrote.
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Feb. 03 | Falling for ICE
Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24) and Congressman Nick Langworthy (NY-23) announced they sent a letter to newly confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth requesting the Department of Defense consider opening the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station (NFARS) to support Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations with additional bed space for detainees and as a point of departure for deportation flights.
The letter states, “The Northeast U.S. currently has only one ICE-operated Service Processing Center, located in Batavia, NY. This facility, though critical, cannot solely handle the growing demand for detention and deportation processing. With an estimated 759,218 illegal immigrants residing in New York City alone, including 58,000 individuals who are either convicted felons or facing criminal charges, the need for additional detention capacity is clear. Local facilities are overwhelmed, and it is imperative that we have the resources necessary to address this serious public safety concern.
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Feb. 03 | Politicized Purging
Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led all Committee Democrats in sending a letter to President Donald Trump, demanding the President cease his purge of nonpartisan civil servants, including career professionals and independent government watchdogs. This action comes after repeated outrageous attacks by the Administration against federal employees and agency operations over the past two weeks. This letter is in addition to Committee Democrats’ insistence that President Trump and Elon Musk rescind their illegal “deferred resignation” scam offer to federal employees.
“We write to demand that you cease your purge of non-partisan, civil servants, including career professionals and independent government watchdogs, which will have catastrophic results for the American people who rely on our government for services and benefits. In what appears to be a rapid and sweeping attempt to expand presidential and executive branch power, you are attempting to politicize the federal workforce, weaponize career professionals in the Senior Executive Service (SES), freeze federal hiring and purge new employees, dismantle civil rights and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs, and attempt to illegally remove independent inspectors general.”
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Feb. 02 | Congress Fights for Relevance
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Sunday joined Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and his Democratic colleagues on the Committee in sending a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio declaring that any effort to merge USAID into the State Department requires Congressional approval, as well as demanding an explanation of recent developments at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), including reports that individuals who identified themselves as working for the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) accessed USAID’s main headquarters, American citizens’ data and classified spaces.
“Congress established the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as an independent agency, separate from the Department of State, to ensure that we can deploy development expertise and U.S. foreign assistance quickly, particularly in times of crisis, to meet our national security goals,” wrote the lawmakers. “For this reason, any effort to merge or fold USAID into the Department of State should be, and by law must be, previewed, discussed, and approved by Congress.”
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Feb. 01 | Congress Gives a Dam
U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) sent a letter to Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum demanding an explanation for the Trump administration’s abrupt, unscheduled water releases from Terminus Dam and Schafer Dam in California’s Central Valley by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“According to multiple news reports, these releases deviated from established flood safety protocols and were carried out with minimal notice—leaving state and local government officials and local water managers “caught off-guard” as flows rapidly escalated from nominal levels to channel capacity within hours. This sudden, uncoordinated move raises serious concerns for downstream agricultural operations and communities since local authorities had little time to adjust or plan accordingly,” the Ranking Members wrote.
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Jan. 31 | Hampshire Congressman Hoping for Tariffs to Halt
U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH), alongside Representatives Chris Pappas (NH-01) and Maggie Goodlander (NH-02), are sending a letter to President Donald Trump urging him not to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada, the Granite State’s largest trading partner, and Mexico. Sweeping tariffs would dramatically increase costs for families in New Hampshire and around the nation. Home heating oil is New Hampshire’s largest import from Canada, and these tariffs are estimated to drive up energy prices for families in the middle of winter. It would also increase costs for essential items like groceries, housing, cars and more. Click here to read the full letter.
In part, the delegation wrote: “During your campaign, you promised to ‘bring down the price of everything.’ Despite that promise, sweeping tariffs would be a tax on Americans that raises the cost of everything from cars and gas to housing and groceries. Tariff costs would be passed on to our consumers and businesses through higher costs for goods and services.”
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Jan. 31 | The Earth is hot, but EPA is frozen
Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley—a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee—joined all his Democratic colleagues of the Committee in demanding answers from recently-confirmed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin about the agency’s freezing of Congressionally appropriated funds, including those that have already been obligated. According to public reporting, the EPA sent letters to grant recipients explaining it was pausing “all funding actions related to” the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Not only are these funding cuts already having devastating effects on communities, with reports of jobs in jeopardy and essential infrastructure projects on the chopping block, but failing to allow grant recipients to access funds that have already been obligated violates federal law.
“We write concerning troubling reports that the Environmental Protection Agency is attempting to claw back funds that have already been obligated to grant recipients. We believe that this is contrary to federal law,” wrote Senator Merkley and other members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “Many of us have also been contacted by grantees in our states reporting that they no longer have access to the grant money that has been obligated to them.”
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Jan. 31 | A Frankel Discussion on Diplomacy
Representative Lois Frankel, Ranking Member of the House National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Subcommittee (NSRP), joined Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Senator Brian Schatz, Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, sent a letter to Acting USAID Administrator Jason Gray expressing deep concern over the Trump Administration’s actions that have disrupted USAID operations and undercut U.S. national security. The lawmakers highlighted issues including the sidelining of senior agency officials, the abrupt suspension of civil rights initiatives, and the freezing of critical foreign aid programs, urging immediate steps to restore agency functionality, follow the law, and uphold U.S. leadership abroad.
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Jan. 30 | Foreshadowing Issues on Backgrounds
Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to David Warrington, Counsel to the President, expressing his grave concern regarding President Trump’s recent action that would endanger national security by allowing the White House Counsel to grant Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) security clearances to individuals without appropriate vetting.
“This extraordinary and unprecedented action sidesteps law enforcement, the Department of Defense, and the Intelligence Community without regard to insider threats or other national security threats. Inappropriate and unauthorized access to or disclosure of TS/SCI ‘could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security,’” wrote Ranking Member Connolly. “Forgoing background checks poses a major risk to our national security and throws into doubt the Executive Office of the President’s (EOP) ability to protect the safety and security of our country and the American people.”
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Jan. 28 | Steube, Wilson Inquire on Iran’s Influence in Iraq
U.S. Representative Greg Steube (R-Fla.) joined Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) in calling on Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz to take action against Iranian-backed militias entrenched within Iraq’s security forces. These militias, armed and trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have attacked U.S. forces at least 170 times over the past two years, injuring multiple service members. Despite U.S. taxpayers providing over $11.4 billion in assistance to Iraq, these militias remain a sanctioned part of Iraq’s state and security forces.
A report from the Department of Defense Inspector General highlights Iran-aligned militias’ influence within Iraq’s Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense, with officers sympathetic to Iran scattered throughout security services. Qasim al-Araji, Iraq’s National Security Adviser and a senior leader of the Badr Corps—an IRGC-backed militia—has American blood on his hands and was implicated in the 2019 terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
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Jan. 23 | A Mulligan for Small Business
Congressman Roger Williams, Chairman of the House Committee on Small Business wrote to President Trump expressing support for the appointment of Casey Mulligan as the Chief Counsel of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Advocacy.
“After flagging for Biden multiple times last Congress how the appointment of a new Chief Counsel to the Office of Advocacy would help small businesses by reducing their regulatory burden, he failed to act,” said Chairman Williams. “We are excited to see that President Trump is prioritizing Main Street by appointing Casey Mulligan as the Chief Counsel of the SBA’s Office of Advocacy. This Committee looks forward to working with President Trump, the Office of Advocacy, and the SBA to ensure small businesses are brought into the golden age of America.”
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Jan. 22 | DOGE and Democrat Women
Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03) and Vice Chairs Emilia Sykes (OH-13) and Hillary Scholten (MI-03) requested a meeting with President Donald Trump within the first 100 days of his presidency to discuss how he will protect women and families.
Within his first few days in office, President Trump has already removed reproductiverights.gov, shut down the White House Gender Policy Council, and nominated accused sexual abusers to his Cabinet, among many other harmful actions. Given these measures, and the urgent needs of women and families across the United States, the Chair and Vice Chairs asked the President for a meeting to hear his plan to help the millions of women and families across the country.
“We respectfully request a meeting with you within the first 100 days of your presidency to discuss the urgent priorities of the DWC and the millions of women and families we represent. These priorities include restoring and protecting reproductive freedom, lowering costs for women and families, securing economic prosperity for women, and addressing the epidemic of sexual violence and harassment against women and girls,” Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03) and Vice Chairs Emilia Sykes (OH-13) and Hillary Scholten (MI-03) said in the letter.
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