Letters from Capitol Hill that Members of Congress have written and signed on to lately.
Nov. 22
Arizona Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly announced that Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona, will be awarded $100 million from the CHIPS and Science law, led by Sinema and Kelly. The award will support SHIELD USA (Substrate-based Heterogeneous Integration Enabling Leadership Demonstration for the USA), an ASU-led initiative to drive innovation in the domestic microchip packaging ecosystem, expand capacity for domestic advanced packaging, and help regain U.S. leadership in microelectronics while strengthening national security.
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Nov. 22
Today, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield urging continued leadership on Sudan as the United States prepares to assume the presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) next month.
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Nov. 22
Today, Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07) joined Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03) and Senators Peter Welch (VT), Dick Durbin (IL), and Tammy Duckworth (IL) to introduce the bicameral CBP Guidance on Personal Belongings Act, legislation which requires U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to develop guidance for the respectful handling of personal property of individuals who are arrested or detained by CBP.
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Nov. 22
This week, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN), Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability Chairman Dan Bishop (R-NC), and Emergency Management and Technology Chairman Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) sent letters to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell and former FEMA employee Marn’i Washington, demanding transcribed interviews following shocking reports of Washington’s guidance to fellow aid workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump” when surveying for potential recipients of disaster relief in Florida after Hurricane Milton.
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Nov. 22
Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley—joined by U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Peter Welch (D-VT), and U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA-02)—today sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory calling for the United States to use its influence to advance an ambitious agreement to combat plastic pollution at the upcoming Fifth Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) in Busan, South Korea. The letter urges the U.S. to support a strong agreement to address the full life cycle of plastics, including limits on production, chemicals of concern, and problematic and avoidable uses of plastics.
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Nov. 22
U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and U.S. Representatives Joe Courtney (D-Conn.-02) and John Larson (D-Conn.-01) on Friday led 18 Members of Congress in pushing for new legislation to improve the health and safety of military housing.
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Nov. 22
Senator Ted Budd (R-NC), Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) have sent a letter to President Biden urging him to “ immediately direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to deploy FEMA temporary housing resources – including travel trailers and manufactured homes” to Western North Carolina.
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Nov. 22
Springfield – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), author of the “Durbin Amendment,” sent a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) requesting it to clarify its understanding of interchange fees in light of the OCC’s recent amicus brief filed in Illinois Bankers Association v Raoul. In the letter, Durbin highlights the fact the OCC may be misinterpreting or misstating basic elements of interchange fees, which is particularly troubling given the OCC’s statutory role to enforce national banks’ compliance with debit interchange fee regulation under the Durbin Amendment.
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Nov. 22
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) wrote to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and Department of Justice, urging them to protect millions of .com website owners, including small businesses, by ensuring competition in the top-level domain (TLD) market.
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Nov. 22
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, along with Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Michael Bennet (D-Co.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), George Helmy (D-N.J.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), reintroduced the Housing Survivors of Major Disasters Act. This bill would streamline the process for people in communities affected by natural disasters seeking housing assistance.
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Nov. 22
U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (NC-09) joined Senators Ted Budd (R-NC) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), as well as members of the North Carolina congressional delegation, in sending a bipartisan letter to the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) urging the Pentagon to establish an OnRamp Hub in North Carolina to bolster the state's defense innovation ecosystem.
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Nov. 22
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Republican lawmakers of the panel are calling on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell to provide documents and information following whistleblower allegations that the agency is discriminating against individuals displaying Trump campaign signs on their property and withholding relief.
Nov. 22
United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) reintroduced the National Institutes of Clean Energy Act (NICE), legislation that would invest $400 billion over the next decade to establish and operate a new system of institutes at the Department of Energy focused on research and development of advanced clean energy technologies. The Clean Energy Institutes, modeled after the National Institutes of Health, would invest in clean energy science, innovation, and research and development to support projects that help reduce carbon emissions and build climate resilience.
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Nov. 22
Today, Congressman Rob Wittman (VA-01) and Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) called on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to expedite approval of critical updates to Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport as part of a joint bipartisan effort to boost passenger traffic at Patrick Henry Field (PHF).
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Nov. 22
This week, Representative Jack Bergman sent a letter to the Alger County Road Commission (ACRC), expressing his disappointment in their short-sighted decision to cut off snowmobile access to Miners Castle within Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. By allowing the expiration of the shared usage agreement with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for County Highway 58 (H-58), Rep. Bergman explained that the Commissioners are demonstrating “a blatant disregard for the economic wellbeing of the surrounding community.”
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Nov. 22
Ever since I was a young kid, Thanksgiving is something I’ve always looked forward to. It’s a cherished time where we catch up with family, sit down for a delicious meal, and reflect on what we’re grateful for. It’s a tradition that has been celebrated by generation after generation of Americans.
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Nov. 22
Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) and Congressman Morgan Luttrell (TX-08), joined by six of their colleagues, sent a letter to the House Committee on Administration requesting a change to the current House Rules to allow members of Congress to share information about non-profit resources during natural disasters. Under the current rules of the House of Representatives, Members of Congress are prohibited from referring constituents to or sharing information from resources unaffiliated with the government, even during natural disasters.
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Nov. 22
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) and Del. James Moylan (R-Guam), alongside Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), are pushing for new legislation to improve the health and safety of military housing.
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Nov. 22
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) supported the Trump administration’s early efforts to prevent America’s Diego Garcia military base on the Chagos Islands from falling into the hands of Mauritius, a small island nation with close ties to China. Kennedy argued that the U.S. must do all it can to prevent the United Kingdom (U.K.) from ceding sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, including Diego Garcia, to Mauritius.
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