Letters from Capitol Hill that Members of Congress have written and signed on to lately.
Inauguration Day, a Federal Holiday, and a National Emergency
Congratulations are in order for Trump’s return to the White House today in D.C.
Today’s official inauguration schedule ran as follows:
11:45 am | The vice presidential oath of office administered to Vice President J.D. Vance by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh
12:00 pm | The presidential oath of office administered to President Donald J. Trump by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts
12:00 pm | President Donald J. Trump delivers inaugural address
1:00 pm | President Donald J. Trump scheduled to deliver remarks at Capital One Arena
A slight change with Trump and Vance giving their speech in the fortified, blast-proof, underground, fallout shelter Capitol Visitor Center immediately following the fanfare, the ceremony inside the Capitol went smoothly, including a recorded message from House Speaker Johnson (R-LA), who reminded the American public their rights are from God, not the federal government.
Prayer was an integral part of the pomp and circumstance in today’s presentation, as it is always included as part of inaugurations, including Trump and Vance’s swearing in on a bible.
Carrie Underwood’s unplanned a cappella rendition of America the Beautiful nearly stole the show, not missing a beat and happily prepared to sing when a technical difficulty prevented her from performing with the planned military chorus and music.
The soft voice of the audience joining in to the echoes of the perfect round room acoustics of the Grammy-award winning superstar’s was something so sweet you couldn’t write.
The show must go on, but a comeback is hard to do.
For instance, not many Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (DCC) can make the grade to return to the status of America's Sweetheart once they’ve been cut, and only two Presidents have made a return back to the Oval Office after losing in a repeat General Election - the first being scrappy Grover Cleveland - a President, so darkhorse, we had to Google how to spell his name.
Returning with a mandate from the American public, including a popular vote majority of voters from the 2024 General Elections, Trump will have to work hard to hang on to his scary-thin majority in the House, and even harder to beat the historic slump of midterms, with a record of defeating Republicans.
It was said Grover was so unpopular after the midterms from his second run in the White House that he was hardly receiving mail from constituents or Congress when he handed over the keys at the end.
Unpopularity is, perhaps, better than being irrelevant, and protesters for and against Trump marched in Washington ahead of his re-installment over the weekend.
Despite last-minute changes to the ceremonies, including moving events indoors to the Capitol Rotunda due to 22-degree weather and even chillier wind chill, supporters are still braving the cold to show their support in the frozen swamp.
So frozen, Speaker Johnson said the Capitol was having trouble raising flags to full staff with the cords more stuck than the schoolyard in A Christmas Story.
Trump’s brand as a President is approachable for the middle class and average population comprising the majority of the U.S. Not unlike the DCC, he’s laid a foundation of potential on which people project their ambitions onto the vessel. They don’t so much see themselves, but what they wish they could have or see themselves to be.
American identity has a generational lore in being brave and honest, placing high emphasis on making sacrifices and working hard at the service for others. U.S. grade school cirriculum tells a lot of stories about heroes making tough choices for greater good.
Hand in hand with these stories are school districts adding in their own lessons on gender and staunch identities for boys and girls. Varied and inconsistent across states and cities making their own rules for education, at this time, as signaled in the most recent elections, the population is urging a return to traditional ideals.
Among the first things appealing to his supporters looking to Trump to revive the hope for their country that history has primed them to be familiar with and strive for is Trump’s reported first moves enact tariffs and other executive orders.
The practice of enacting executive orders immediately following inauguration dates back to President Regan, and the practice of cracking the whip with tariffs to get the world in line dates back to President McKinley.
President Trump cited McKinley in his inaugural address, calling for re-adoption of his practices to facilitate his plan for increased manufacturing in the U.S. and global leadership.
To pass his MAGA tariffs plan, Trump said he will declare a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), to, among some 150-200+ expected executive orders, lift moratoriums on U.S. licenses to export LNG.
Announcing a number of pardons during his last hours at the pinnacle of power, including one for CDC COVID Czar Anthony Fauci, as well as his entire family for charges of potential crimes spanning Jan. 1, 2014, to today, along with Members of the January 6 congressional investigation committee, it was reported this week that President Biden told Speaker Johnson he did not recall signing an LNG moratorium last year.
Increased American energy may translate into increased energy exports, which could shift some of the influence of Russian oil and gas supplies in the EU and across Eastern Europe.
However, decoupling the influence of unallied actors in Europe will be no easy feat, even for Trump’s forcible charm, as China and Russia have strategically involved themselves in ownership and development of critical infrastructure project initiatives that will be required for moving these promised shifts in energy supplies.
Previous reasons Presidents have enacted IEEPA emergencies range from stemming nuclear proliferation to terrorist financing, and military coups in Asia.
In 2019, Trump threatened IEEPA-empowered tariffs against Mexico if there was no action taken to address the rapidly increasing number of migrants at the Texas border. The threat worked - sort of.
The reasons for the IEEAP emergencies are potentially limitless, upending world standards to put every country on notice, and additional action on immigration is expected in Trump’s first hours and days, including rumored raids on Chicago, as well a word of plans to cancel birthright status for children born in the U.S. by persons in the country illegally.
While the level of intensity of these raids seems to be scaled back before they were ever underway, the word ‘deportation’ continues to pop up in immigration discussions.
A deportation plan has received an $86 billion price tag estimate, and it stands to exacerbate tensions with Mexico, which, not only announced a trade deal with the EU before Trump's reinstatement in attempts to get ahead of his threatened tariffs, has reportedly retained more than 2,600 lawyers to support the estimated 5 million undocumented Mexicans living in the U.S. without authorization.
Furthermore, the Pope has called the whispers of a deportation plan a ‘disgrace.’
Trump may have attended an Episcopalian church service this morning, and the world heard prayers from a Jewish to Baptist to Protestant variety to bless his inauguration, as is part of the esoteric tradition of show, but there are some 150 Members of Congress that are Catholic, which could spell stormy seas ahead for Trump’s 119th Session ship.
Of course, Trump's strongly conservative supporters, who come with strong Christian propensities, are also largely white and do not prioritize humanitarian concerns over deep rooted views on diversity, more favorable for the Atomic Age nuclear American identity they've been primed to strive for.
President-elect Trump’s incoming border czar is Tom Homan, due to be affirmed by the Senate to take over the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, said he would support extended Presidential authority to respond to the situation at the border.
The extent of Presidential authority under these executive orders can be varied, but there is a historic trend of leaders pushing the limits of these provisions; however, states with sanctuary cities that allow persons in the U.S. illegally to remain without threat of deportation, have said they are ready to defy Trump and his agencies’ efforts to send foreign nationals back to their homes.
Human rights adjacent, last week, Biden attempted to say there is an officially enacted Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th to the U.S. Constitution. An authority for states to ratify an Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress in the 1980s; however, the 38th state did not ratify the Amendment until 2020, when the authority plus a slow response time to pass instruction to the Archives missed the expiration date of the rule.
Thus, the archivist responsible for formalizing Amendments to the Constitution has not added the Amendment, and whether there is actually an Equal Rights provision active on the books to protect women and their access to health care, among other theoretical protections, remains up in the air.
While some may be ready to push back against Trump, for the voter margins in support of his return, Members of Congress are changing their tune this time around, tamping previous calls for impeachment and the criminal works when he took office in 2017.
Changing positions is a constant theme this Congress, with leaders saying one thing and reality taking hold to produce another, including aggressive Republican promises on use of reconciliation to pass key legislation and budget plans to limit requirements of debate with the Democrats.
If Trump can keep things copesetic with Congress, he’ll improve his chances of preserving a Republican majority in the House and Senate through the midterms of this second run in office. Some suggest this may be most achievable through passage of a tax package via reconciliation, which affects more than just Republicans or Democrats in a vacuum.
The change of venue for inauguration isn’t the only thing Trump himself is doing differently this time around: for starters, he’s changing staff badges at the White House to a platinum and gold access differentiator, and he moved on cabinet nominations even before the end of the year. If you'll recall, last term, Trump took his time with appointments, with several cabinet posts languishing empty for a number of months into the start of his Presidency.
Among the VIPs in today’s inauguration were the nation’s top tech execs, including Meta Mark Zuckerberg and Washington Post-employee-battered Jeff Bezos - a seating chart with more explosive potential than a Housewives reunion. This is particularly worthy of Andy Cohen’s time, as Senators have vowed to hold these mega companies accountable with transparency and inquiry in recent committee announcements and hearing plans.
Specifically, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has vowed to ensure digital platforms are punished for their algorithms producing online bias against conservatives.
On theme with this call for heightened transparency and accountability is the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) charge First Buddy Musk has answered. DOGE’s slated no. 2 Vivek Ramaswamy hung up the phone this week, however, announcing his intentions to run for Governor of Ohio.
Groups are reportedly already planning to challenge this opaque DOGE organization in court, but Ramaswamy’s departure may be premature for a player seeking power: DOGE as an unofficial federal agency limits how lobbyists are required to disclose correspondences.
This comes with potential for unbridled DOGE power, not to mention, a powerful enemy, should the Buddy relationship sour.
Of course, Trump is better off friends with the powerful tech folks than forcing them to become enemies, including embracing TikTok’s U.S. CEO, as well as Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, as a premier invitees to today’s inauguration.
This invitation is another change of a Chinese tune from five years ago, when Trump called for action against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance for alleged direct connections to the Chinese government.
Congress responded in kind by passing a law that required Chinese divestiture of TikTok from ByteDance to continue operating in the U.S., a law which the Supreme Court upheld late last week ahead of the original Jan. 19 deadline.
Creating the solution to the problem he, in part, created, Trump vowed to capitalize on Biden’s pass on enforcing the law, and further promised to reach a compromise, extending the deadline to sell for at least another 90 days.
But, where does a call for divestiture stop?
More than 170 million Americans use TikTok, including small business owners who rely on the platform to promote their enterprises and brands, but an even larger sect are using Chinese-owned companies to purchase goods and wares on sites like Alibaba and Temu.
Perhaps they are next.
Speaking of foreign influence, the question of what Trump will do to support or revoke resources for Ukraine is still up in the air. This question remains as the terms of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas enters its second day and the world’s elite descend on Davos to discuss the economic problems and policies of the day.
We're sure they're very reasonable and humble discussions.
In the House
Bills addressing wildfires, abortion and immigration are up for votes in the House this week.
H.R. 471, strengthening resiliency through active forest management. California wildfires injected new momentum into the bipartisan bill, which would expedite environmental reviews to help prevent catastrophic fires and increase the scope of restoration projects. The Rules Committee meets to set floor terms for the bill on Tuesday.
H.R. 21, requiring health-care practitioners to provide medical care to a child who survives an abortion.
The House also plans to vote again on a Senate-amended version of the “Laken Riley Act” (S. 5). The Homeland Security Department would be required to detain migrants who entered the U,S. unlawfully if they are arrested for or charged with theft or related crimes.
Leaders also plan votes on bills addressing public lands uses and data under suspension of the rules.
First votes of the week start Tuesday.
From House Majority Leader Scalise
MONDAY, JANUARY 20TH
On Monday, the House is in Pro Forma at 10:00 a.m. The House will immediately adjourn following the Inaugural Ceremony.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21ST
On Tuesday, the House will meet at noon for morning hour and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m.
Legislation Considered Under Suspension of the Rules:
H.R. 207 – SHARKED Act of 2025 (Sponsored by Rep. Wittman / Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 186 – Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act (Sponsored by Rep. Moore (UT) / Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 187 – MAPWaters Act of 2025, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. Moore (UT) / Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 197 – Lake Winnibigoshish Land Exchange Act of 2025 (Sponsored by Rep. Stauber / Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 204 – ACRES Act (Sponsored by Rep. Tiffany / Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 165 – Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Sit Act (Sponsored by Rep. Johnson (SD) / Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 375 – Continued Rapid Ohia Death Response Act (Sponsored by Rep. Tokuda / Natural Resources Committee)
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22ND AND THE BALANCE OF THE WEEK
On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for morning hour and noon for legislative business. On Friday, the House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business. Last votes expected no later than 3:00 p.m.
Legislation Considered Pursuant to a Rule:
H.R. 471 – Fix Our Forests Act (Sponsored by Rep. Westerman / Natural Resources Committee)
S. 5 – Laken Riley Act (Sponsored by Sen. Britt / Judiciary Committee)
H.R. 21 – Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (Sponsored by Rep. Wagner / Judiciary Committee)
In the Senate
The Senate votes on the Laken Riley Act this week after swing state Democrats joined Republicans to clear a key hurdle on Friday, teeing the border bill up to be one of the first Trump signs.
The chamber voted 61-35 to end debate on the bill, with 10 Democrats voting with Republicans.
Senators will vote on an amendment and final passage at 5:30 p.m.
The Friday vote was closer than the previous procedural votes. But moderate Democrats still gave it enough support to advance, despite Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) saying he’s a ‘no’ without more changes.
Trump’s cabinet picks are back for the second week of hearings in the Senate, including:
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who’s slated for a confirmation vote to be secretary of State in the Foreign Relations Committee today.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) gets a vote on her nomination to lead the Homeland Security Department today in the Homeland Security Committee.
Office of Management and Budget director nominee Russell Vought is also up for a vote in the Homeland panel today. He appears before the Budget Committee Wednesday.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) — tapped to be Trump’s ambassador to the UN — gets a hearing in Foreign Relations Tuesday.
Scott Bessent’s nomination to be Treasury secretary will be marked up in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.
Doug Collins‘s nomination to lead the VA gets a hearing in the Veterans’ Affairs Committee Tuesday and a vote Thursday.
Sean Duffy gets a vote to become transportation secretary in the Commerce Committee Wednesday.
Brooke Rollins testifies on her nomination to lead the Agriculture Department in the Agriculture Committee on Thursday.
Lee Zeldin (R-NY) gets a vote on his nomination to lead the EPA in the Environment and Public Works Committee on Thursday
Upcoming Deadlines
March 14 | Federal Funding expires .
April 19 | 90-day extension of the Jan. 19 TikTok divestiture deadline since extended by Trump
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Jan. 17 | Tied Up with Thailand
John Moolenaar (R-MI), Chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, sent a letter to the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand to the United States, urging the Thai government not to deport the Uyghurs to China, where they will likely be sent to concentration camps. Any individual facilitating the Chinese Communist Party's genocide should face U.S. sanctions.
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Jan. 17 | Congress on 14(c)
Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI), Chairwoman Emerita Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA), and Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) sent a letter to Department of Labor (DOL) Acting Secretary Julie Su urging DOL to withdraw its proposed rule that would stop the issuance of 14(c) certificates, which expand employment opportunities for individuals with physical and mental disabilities.
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Jan. 17 | Warren the Warden
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to Trump Transition Co-Chairs Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon, urging them to make the White House’s ethics pledge for incoming appointees as strong as possible and outlining specific provisions to do so. The letter comes at the end of the first week of confirmation hearings for President-elect Trump’s cabinet nominees, many of whom have been found to have serious conflicts of interest and massive wealth.
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Jan. 17 | Torres Wants Better for the Bronx
Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) called on the city to stop treating his home borough like “a dumping ground” for shelters, as the Adams administration prepares to move thousands of migrant men to the neighborhood.
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Jan. 17 | There’s Something Rotten in North Carolina
Congressman Tim Moore (NC-14) penned a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Acting Administrator Jane Nishida, urging the agency to assist with monitoring emissions from the proposed Albemarle open-pit lithium mine near Kings Mountain, North Carolina.
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Jan. 16 | Comer Calling from Congress on Corruption
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is encouraging the incoming Department of Justice (DOJ) to hold President Joe Biden’s brother, James Biden, accountable for lying to Congress about Joe Biden’s involvement in the Biden’s corrupt influence peddling schemes that enriched the Biden family.
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Jan. 16 | Choppers from Congress for California
Congressman Ryan Zinke (MT-01) and the entire Montana delegation, as well as California members Ken Calvert (CA-42), Tom McClintock (CA-05), Young Kim (CA-40), David Valadao (CA-21), Doug LaMalfa (CA-01), and Vince Fong (CA-20) sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) expressing frustration over the ongoing delays in certifying six of the Billings Flying Service (BFS) CH-47D Chinook helicopters and called for the immediate consideration of the aircraft.
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Jan. 16 | Tuberville Says Austin Failed Twice
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is demanding accountability from the Biden administration after it was revealed in an Inspector General (IG) report earlier this week that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin failed to follow the proper chain of command twice during two hospitalizations in 2023 and 2024.
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Jan. 16 | Warner Shot on AI
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, urged the leaders of federal departments and agencies to promote data collection and transparency around their adoption of artificial intelligence (AI).
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Jan. 15 | Congress Cancelling Free File
U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and U.S. Representatives Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) led over 130 members of Congress this week in writing to Treasury Secretary-Designate Scott Bessent and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner-Designate Billy Long, urging them to keep and expand the IRS Direct File program.
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Jan. 15 | Bomb Cyclone Congress
U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and U.S. Representatives Suzan DelBene (D, WA-01), Rick Larsen (D, WA-02), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D, WA-03), Dan Newhouse, (R, WA-04), Michael Baumgartner (R, WA-05), Emily Randall (D, WA-06), Pramila Jayapal (D, WA-07), Kim Schrier (D, WA-08), Adam Smith (D, WA-09), and Marilyn Strickland (D, WA-10) sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to grant former Governor Jay Inslee’s request for a Major Disaster Declaration as a result of the devastating windstorms, heavy rainfall, flooding, and mudslides caused by a bomb cyclone that struck Washington state in November 2024.
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Jan. 13 | Last Words to Biden
U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) is pressing U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) leadership to immediately suspend enforcement of the USDA’s Electronic Identification (EID) tag mandate.
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Jan. 10 | Congress on Chemical Fires
U.S. Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), and U.S. Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA-04) pressed for updates into the investigation of the September 29th chemical fire at the BioLab-Conyers facility, which impacted families in Rockdale County and across Metro Atlanta.
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Jan. 08 | Urging USDA to Champion Tribal Voices
Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack, urging the agency to prioritize tribal input and address key concerns in the implementation of the Child Nutrition Programs Tribal Pilot Projects.
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