In the News
Republicans mum as Dems target Natural Resources reconciliation bill, Westerman stock purchases
by James Bikales
Democrats launched a salvo of attacks against reconciliation legislation at a House Natural Resources bill markup Tuesday, saying the bill to boost energy leasing on federal land and cut royalty payments was a giveaway to big companies — and they criticized Chair Bruce Westerman for buying shares in several oil and mining companies in March. Republicans, however, largely declined to engage in the debate or the amendments Democrats offered, and they instead largely limited their remarks to … Continue Reading
May 06, 2025
What to expect during the big Natural Resources markup
by Garrett Downs, Kelsey Brugger
House Natural Resources Republicans are aiming to advance their part of the GOP’s tax, energy and national security megabill Tuesday. And while committee Democrats are powerless to stop it, they plan to make the process as painful as possible. The Democrats, led by ranking member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), plan to launch a bombardment of more than 100 amendments to the bill during the full committee markup, according to an aide granted anonymity to speak on the plans. Huffman has called the … Continue Reading
May 05, 2025
Republicans resume discussions over cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs
by José A. Delgado
The below article has been translated. Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives have resumed talks with their members over thorny issues in the reconciliation package, like potential cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs. Markups in the Energy & Commerce, Agriculture, and Ways & Means Committees scheduled for this week are now up in the air pending Speaker Mike Johnson’s conversations with moderate Republicans opposed to a massive proposed cut to Medicaid … Continue Reading
May 05, 2025
Reconciliation: Natural Resources plows ahead, other bills stall
by Garrett Downs
One committee is moving ahead swiftly to advance its piece of the Republicans’ sprawling budget package, while other panels with power over energy and environment policy get bogged down. The House Natural Resources Committee will begin marking up its language for the Republicans’ tax, energy and national security megabill on Tuesday, which would mandate swaths of new oil and gas leasing, lower royalties and change the environmental permitting process. Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) — who is … Continue Reading
May 05, 2025
House voting to make Gulf of America name change permanent
by Amelia Davidson
The House will vote this week on legislation that would officially change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, following President Donald Trump's wishes. H.R. 276, the "Gulf of America Act," from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), would make it harder for a future president to rename U.S. portions of the body of water. Just last week, Trump handed out red hats with the name "Gulf of America" on them to members of his Cabinet during a meeting at the White House. "It’s … Continue Reading
May 02, 2025
Novato student wins Congressional ‘App Challenge’
U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman has announced that Rehan Nazeem, a junior at San Marin High School in Novato, is the winner of the 2024 Congressional App Challenge for California’s 2nd Congressional District. Nazeem’s winning submission, Terrain Fire Risk Analyzer, predicts the fire risk associated with a terrain and provides fire mitigation recommendations. “Every year, I’m impressed by the smart and talented high school students who participate in the Congressional App Challenge — and Rehan’s app … Continue Reading
May 01, 2025
House removes federal protection for an endangered species
by Maddie Biertempfel
House lawmakers Thursday passed a bill to remove federal protections for a fish that has become a flashpoint in the debate over California’s water resources. The roughly three-inch long longfin smelt that swims in the San Francisco Bay-Delta has members of Congress split. “They’re turning a small fish into a very large scapegoat,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said. ... For complete article, please click … Continue Reading
May 01, 2025
House moves to strip protections for fish at heart of California water wars
by Annie Snider
President Donald Trump's efforts to "maximize" California's water got a boost Thursday when House lawmakers approved a measure to strip protections for a tiny fish at the heart of the state's long-running water wars. By a vote of 216-195, House lawmakers passed a Congressional Review Act resolution, (H.J. Res. 78), to overturn a June 2024 decision by the Fish and Wildlife Service to designate longfin smelt as endangered. Three Democrats joined all but one Republican in the vote. "They're … Continue Reading
May 01, 2025
House Natural Resources looks to energy leasing to raise billions for reconciliation
by James Bikales, Josh Siegel
The House Natural Resources Committee released its portion of Republicans’ reconciliation package Thursday night with a pledge that it would far exceed its $1 billion deficit reduction target by mandating more frequent oil and gas lease sales and speeding permit approvals for energy projects. The committee plans to mark up the bill Tuesday. Speaker Mike Johnson has urged lawmakers to move quickly to enact the GOP’s sprawling domestic policy legislation that is expected to include tax cuts, … Continue Reading
April 30, 2025
Dems seek to block ANWR drilling, vow reconciliation fight
by Garrett Downs
A bipartisan group of lawmakers reintroduced legislation Tuesday to permanently block drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as Republicans eye pushing new development in their party-line megabill. The “Arctic Refuge Protection Act” is led by Reps. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). It would designate ANWR as wilderness under the National Wilderness Preservation System, barring any new oil and gas leasing, exploration and development, … Continue Reading
April 30, 2025
Lawmakers, companies clash over Trump ocean mining order
by Hannah Northey
Companies pushing to scrape the ocean floor for minerals using a directive President Donald Trump signed last week defended their plans at a House hearing on Tuesday where lawmakers clashed over the need to compete with China and the potential for environmental destruction. The top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations blasted Trump for inking an executive order to fast-track permitting of underwater exploration and extraction ahead of the … Continue Reading
April 29, 2025
Calif. congressman: Trump admin wants to monetize, privatize national parks
by Sam Hill
U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Natural Resources, laid into President Donald Trump in a recent podcast appearance, criticizing his administration’s turbulent management of federal lands, downsizing of staff at national parks and weakening of the Endangered Species Act, among other executive actions.“I think it’s chaos, in a nutshell,” Huffman said of the Trump administration’s endgame on the National Parks Traveler podcast. “It’s the same thing that we … Continue Reading
April 29, 2025
How Donald Trump's First 100 Days Went 'Beyond' Project 2025
by Sophie Clark
Both sides of the political spectrum can now agree: President Donald Trump is implementing many of Project 2025's policies, "beyond" even what some imagined possible. Throughout the 2024 campaign cycle, candidate Donald Trump had denied any connection with Project 2025, but after 100 days in office, the president's policies reflect many of the positions put forth in the 900-page document. Ben Olinsky, senior vice president of structural reform and governance at the liberal-leaning Center for … Continue Reading
April 29, 2025
Days After Trump Commits to Seabed Mining, Two Sides Face Off
by Max Bearak
Less than a week after President Trump signed an executive orderto accelerate seabed mining, the U.S. government received its first permit application from the Metals Company, one of the most ardent proponents of the as yet unproven practice. On Tuesday, the company’s chief executive, Gerard Barron, was also on hand in Washington for a contentious hearing in front of the House Natural Resources Committee. He likened Mr. Trump’s move to a “starting gun” in the race to extract minerals like … Continue Reading
April 28, 2025
Is DOGE risking the government's cybersecurity? Some have lost their jobs to block them.
by Dinah Voyles Pulver
Minutes after DOGE personnel gained access to computer information systems at the National Labor Relations Board, a computer in Russia appeared to make several attempts to log in using all the correct credentials, a whistleblower recently alleged to members of Congress. Those attempts and a range of irregularities, including a massive download of sensitive information by DOGE, are listed in the affidavit of Dan Berulis, a security and systems specialist in the board's information technology … Continue Reading
April 28, 2025
Republicans to reveal, debate reconciliation text
by Andres Picon
House Republicans are putting pen to paper for their massive party-line bill and are beginning to unveil some of the text ahead of a crucial markup sprint that begins this week. Republican committee chairs will spend much of the next three weeks shepherding their portions of the tax, energy, defense and immigration package out of their committees with the goal of getting the final legislation to President Donald Trump’s desk before the end of May. It’s a deadline that may very well slip. The … Continue Reading
April 27, 2025
Marin economic summit spotlights recession prospects
by Richard Halstead
The questions of whether the nation has entered a recession was a point of debate at a key economic summit in Marin this week. “There’s very little doubt that we are in a Trump recession, almost entirely self-inflicted, pretty different than almost any recession I can remember in my lifetime,” Rep. Jared Huffman told an estimated 300 people who attended a San Rafael Chamber of Commerce economic forecast event on Thursday. Christopher Thornberg, founder of Beacon Economics, a Los Angeles … Continue Reading
March 28, 2025
Westerman wants an ESA overhaul. Will Senate Dems play along?
by Garrett Downs
Republicans have tried — and failed — to overhaul the Endangered Species Act for decades. This time could be different. House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) is leading legislation that would take the most significant swing at the 1973 law in its more than 50-year history with his “ESA Amendments Act of 2025.” Past attempts to amend the law have largely been stymied by Democrats, who have long viewed the ESA as an untouchable “bedrock” environmental law. But now some … Continue Reading
March 27, 2025
House Dems demand answers on USGS science cuts
by Michael Doyle
House Democrats are now amplifying their alarm about the Interior Department's firing of some U.S. Geological Survey scientists and abrupt elimination of a newly established scientific integrity advisory panel. In a pointed letter sent Wednesday to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, 32 Democratic lawmakers demanded answers and reinforced their expression of "deep concern" with a set of eight questions, including a few whose answers may be of special interest to the Trump administration … Continue Reading
March 26, 2025
Lawmakers clash over ESA overhaul, Gulf of America bills
by Garrett Downs
House Natural Resources Republicans piled on the gray wolf's Endangered Species Act listing during a Tuesday hearing to justify legislation to overhaul the law. Democrats expressed opposition for H.R. 1897, the "ESA Amendments Act of 2025," but focused their ire on a separate bill to codify President Donald Trump's Gulf of America executive order. Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) hopes this Congress breaks the impasse on amending the 50-year-old landmark environmental law. “After more than 50 … Continue Reading