Hill Heat

On Wednesday, May 11, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. ET, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, will hold a business meeting to consider legislation to ensure the Postal Service has an accurate environmental impact statement to inform its acquisition of Next Generation Delivery Vehicles, address data gaps in national sexual orientation and gender identification information, and make other good government reforms.

The Committee will consider the following legislation:

• H.R. 7683, the Artificial Intelligence Training for Acquisition Personnel Act;
• H.R. 4176, the LGBTQ Data Inclusion Act;
• H.R. 7331, the Improving Government for America’s Taxpayers Act;
• H.R. 7535, the Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act;
• H.R. 521, the First Responder Fair Return for Employees on Their Initial Retirement Earned Act;
• H.R. 7686, the District of Columbia Code Returning Citizens Coordination Act;
• H.R. 7674, the Ensuring Oversight Access at the Postal Service Act;
• H.R. 6104, the Building the Next Generation of Federal Employees Act; and
• H.R. 7682, the Ensuring an Accurate Postal Fleet Electrification Act. This bill would invalidate the environmental impact statement (EIS) that the Postal Service filed as part of its contract with Oshkosh Defense to produce the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle and require the Postal Service to produce a new EIS.

Hearing page

Witness:

• Brenda Mallory, Chair, Council on Environmental Quality

Hearing page. Chair David Price (D-N.C.)

Witness:

• Pete Buttigieg, Secretary, Department of Transportation

In Fiscal Year 2023, we are now poised to build on early progress with a President’s budget for the Department of Transportation that totals $142 billion, including $36.8 billion in advance appropriations provided by BIL in that year.

• Safety remains our top priority, and the budget includes funding to help address the crisis of deaths on America’s roadways, as outlined in our National Roadway Safety Strategy. That includes $3 billion for the Highway Safety Improvement Program.
• With $4 billion for RAISE and the new Mega program, we will rebuild century old infrastructure and lay the groundwork for America to compete and win in decades ahead.
• With $23.6 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration, we will further enhance aviation safety, combat the effects of aviation on the climate, and improve airport infrastructure.
• With $4.45 billion in Capital Investment Grants, we will advance 15 major transit projects that shorten commutes, increase access to jobs, and reduce congestion on the road for millions of Americans.
• We will invest $17.9 billion to reverse decades of underinvestment in intercity passenger rail and make fast, reliable train service available to more people.
• We will provide $1 billion to build out a nationwide network of electric vehicle chargers, so that Americans in every part of the country have access to the lower monthly costs of electric vehicles. We will also begin implementing our ambitious new fuel efficiency standards, which are projected to save the typical household hundreds of dollars in gas costs and prevent 2.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from reaching our atmosphere.
• And to keep making progress on supply chains to help move goods faster and fight inflation, we will invest a total of $680 million to modernize ports, $3 billion to improve the roadways that carry the majority of America’s freight, and a total of $1.5 billion for CRISI grants to improve freight rail.

The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony on the following bills:

• H.R. 268, to provide for the boundary of the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Park to be adjusted, to authorize the donation of land to the United States for addition to that historic park, and for other purposes;
• H.R. 1931, to provide competitive grants for the promotion of Japanese American confinement education as a means to understand the importance of democratic principles, use and abuse of power, and to raise awareness about the importance of cultural tolerance toward Japanese Americans, and for other purposes.
• S. 557, to establish a pilot program for native plant species, and for other purposes;
• S. 1344, to redesignate the Pullman National Monument in the State of Illinois as the Pullman National Historical Park, and for other purposes.
• S. 1718, to amend the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park Establishment Act of 2000 to provide for additional areas to be added to the park, and for other purposes;
• S. 1814/H.R. 3531, to authorize the Women Who Worked on the Home Front Foundation to establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its environs, and for other purposes;
• S. 2367, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire land in Frederick County, Maryland, for the Historic Preservation Training Center of the National Park Service, and for other purposes;
• S. 2964, to clarify the status of the North Country, Ice Age, and New England National Scenic Trails as units of the National Park System, and for other purposes.
• S. 3141, to establish the New Philadelphia National Historical Park in the State of Illinois as a unit of the National Park System, and for other purposes;
• S. 3185, to amend the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Improvement Act to extend the exception to the closure of certain roads within the Recreation Area for local businesses, and for other purposes;
• S. 3240, to waive the application fee for applications for special use permits for veterans’ special events at war memorials on land administered by the National Park Service in the District of Columbia and its environs, and for other purposes.
• S. 3307, to modify the boundary of the Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in the State of Missouri, and for other purposes;
• S. 3334, to extend the authority for the establishment of a commemorative work to honor enslaved and free black persons who served in the American Revolution, and for other purposes;
• S. 3338, to revise the boundary of the Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park in the State of Missouri, and for other purposes;
• S. 3519, to amend the National Trails System Act to designate the Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail, and for other purposes.
• S. 3551, to require the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to carry out certain activities to enhance recreational opportunities for gateway communities, and for other purposes.
• S. 3667, to amend title 54, United States Code, to establish within the National Park Service the United States African-American Burial Grounds Preservation Program, and for other purposes.
• S. 3685, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to determine the suitability and feasibility of establishing the John P. Parker House in Ripley, Ohio, as a unit of the National Park System.
• S. 4114, to amend Public Law 99–420 to provide for the conveyance of certain Federal land in the State of Maine for use for affordable workforce housing, and for other purposes.
• S. 4121, to designate the Kol Israel Foundation Holocaust Memorial in Bedford Heights, Ohio, as a national memorial.

Witness

• Michael A. Caldwell, Associate Director Park Planning, Facilities, and Lands, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior

Hearing page

Chair Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.)

Witness

• Tom Vilsack, Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture

The 2023 request for discretionary budget authority to fund programs and operating expenses is $31.1 billion, slightly more than 12 percent increase, or $3.8 billion, above the 2021 enacted level. The 2023 request for mandatory programs is $164.8 billion, a decrease of around $10.2 billion from the 2021 level.

Steps are being taken across USDA to improve adaptation and increase resilience to the impacts of climate change, including identifying agency vulnerabilities. Within the Office of the Secretary, $4.5 million is requested to coordinate such activities across the Department. In addition, the Office of the Chief Economist is requesting $6 million for research and analysis necessary to assist stakeholders in implementing climate smart agriculture and forestry practices and oversee the production of the Department’s resilience and climate change adaptation plan. The Budget includes an increase of $39 million above the 2021 enacted for the Forest Service to invest more in research related to climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience, including expanding the scope and scale of research and program delivery related to reforestation, carbon sequestration, carbon accounting, and fire and fuels research. The Budget includes $6 million for Forest Service and $8 million for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for climate hubs.

The Budget requests $300 million in new funding for rural electric utilities to support the transition to carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035. Additional funding of $15 million is also requested to increase coordination between USDA, Department of Energy, and Department of Interior to support the creation of the Rural Clean Energy Initiative to achieve the President’s clean energy goals. A $261 million funding request for construction, preservation and rehabilitation under Rural Housing Service will target projects that promote clean energy or address climate resilience by improving energy or water efficiency, and energy saving features. The Budget includes more than $134.8 million for the USDA Agriculture Buildings and Facilities account, of which $25 million will provide for the hire and purchase of motor vehicles and the transformation of vehicle fleet to provide hybrid, alternative, and/or electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.

Additionally, the Budget requests $21 million to support key climate priorities within the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), including establishing a soil health monitoring network that will include a network of soil sampling sites, integrating soil carbon monitoring into the conservation planning process, and efforts to increase the internal capacity of NRCS staff regarding key soil carbon and climate smart activities.

The Budget includes $2.7 billion to mitigate wildfire risk, an increase of $751 million from 2021 enacted. This includes $321 million for hazardous fuels reduction, an increase of $141 million from the 2022 annualized CR level. This builds on the over $300 million in hazardous fuels funding the Forest Service will receive through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2023, a significant investment to prioritize and target landscape treatments across multiple jurisdictions.

The Budget includes $2.4 billion for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to protect up to 27 million acres of environmentally sensitive cropland and grassland. In addition, $2 billion is included for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, $1 billion for the Conservation Stewardship Program, $450 million for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, and $300 million for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program. The budget proposes $20 million for the Healthy Forests Reserve Program to enroll private lands and acreage owned by Indian Tribes for the purpose of restoring, enhancing, and protecting forestland to enhance carbon sequestration, improve plant and animal biodiversity, and promote recovery of endangered and threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Of note, an increase of $41 million for NRCS will expand staffing capacity to keep pace with increased mandatory programs.

The Budget includes $4 billion to support research to advance the competitiveness of U.S. agriculture, promote food security and increase climate change research. Included in the ARS budget is an increase of $99 million for clean energy, $92 million for climate science, $11 million for Greenhouse Gas Monitoring and Measurement, $11 million for Adaptation and Resilience Activities, $55 million for additional investments and $5 million for climate hubs.

For the Economic Research Service, the Budget proposes a total of $100 million to focus on core data analysis related to agricultural production, as well as $2 million for climate science research. For the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the Budget includes $217 million, including $66 million for the Census of Agriculture and $8 million to help measure and inform climate science research.

The Budget includes $6.5 billion in loan authority for rural electric loans, an increase of $1 billion over the 2021 enacted level, to support additional clean energy, energy storage, and transmission projects that help get people back to work in good-paying jobs. The budget also includes $300 million in new funding to provide rural electric cooperatives financial flexibility as they continue investments in renewable energy systems, fossil fuel generating plants with carbon sequestration systems, and investments in environmental improvements to reduce emissions of pollutants and accelerate progress to zero carbon electricity by 2035 and create good paying jobs that provide the free and fair change to join a union and collective bargain.

The Budget includes an increase of $334 million to support necessary staff levels to enhance response to year-round fire activity and allow the agency to continue important investments that support the health, well-being, and resilience of the agency’s wildland firefighting force.

Food systems account for 31 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions arise along the whole food supply chain, from production, processing, and packaging to transport, consumption and disposal. Power and transport systems receive the lion share of attention in the global dialogue and response to climate change, while the nexus between food and climate has been largely absent from the climate conversations. To date, very few countries take a comprehensive view of the food system in their climate action plans.

The United States and China, the two largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, both face similar climate change threats to agriculture—from extreme weather patterns, stronger floods, extended droughts to greater pests and diseases. Climate impacts threaten economic and food security. As food market superpowers, the United States and China are well positioned to lead efforts in green agriculture to address climate change. Notably, green and climate resilient agriculture were priorities highlighted in the U.S.-China Climate Crisis Statement and the U.S.-China Glasgow Declaration in 2021.

At this May 10th CEF meeting, panelists will give an overview of the global food-climate challenge and delve into opportunities for China and the United States to target the food system to help reach their carbon neutral and short-lived climate pollutant reduction goals.

David Sandalow, (Center for Global Energy at Columbia University and co-founder of the Food Climate Partnership) will set the stage, discussing the food system and climate change. Next, Sally Qiu and Hörn Halldórudóttir Heiðarsdóttir will share insights on China’s food-related greenhouse gas emissions.

The next two speakers will turn the conversation to the farms with Zhenzhong Si (Waterloo University) offering some insights into the government’s policies and bottom-up agroecological initiatives in China that respond to the social and environmental challenges facing the food system while creating new problems for sustainability. And Karen Mancl (Ohio State University) will examine success in sustainable agriculture in the United States and China and explore policies needed to incentivize farmers.

Patty Fong (Global Alliance for the Future of Food), whose CEF Green Tea Chat laid out the urgency for global food system transformation to address climate change, will be the commentator at this session.

RSVP

Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chair of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate and Nuclear Safety, will host a subcommittee field hearing on policies regarding the decommissioning process for nuclear plants such as the Pilgrim Nuclear Station, including nuclear safety and security issues and state, local, and community stakeholder engagement.

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth was decommissioned in 2019.

Location: 1820 Court House Plymouth Town Hall 26 Court Street Plymouth, MA 02360

The purpose of the hearing is to examine the President’s budget request for the Department of Energy for Fiscal Year 2023.

Witness

• Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy

Hearing page

I. Nominee

• S. Lane Tucker to be United States Attorney for the District of Alaska

II. Bill

• S. 977, No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act of 2021 (Grassley, Klobuchar, Lee, Leahy)

Related bill: H.R. 2393

The bill would seek to prohibit foreign states from working collectively to limit the production, set the price, or otherwise restrain the trading of petroleum and natural gas when such actions affect U.S. markets. The bill would authorize the Department of Justice (DOJ) to enforce the prohibition by filing antitrust actions in federal courts. Under the bill, foreign states that restrain trade in petroleum and natural gas would not be immune from the judgment of U.S. courts under the doctrine of sovereign immunity.

Hearing page