Letters from Capitol Hill that Members of Congress have written and signed on to lately.
Dec. 13 | WHEELS UP IN THE HOUSE
On Thursday, Dec. 12, the House met at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business to consider the first and last item:
Legislation Considered Pursuant to a Rule:
S. 4199 – JUDGES Act of 2024 (Sponsored by Sen. Young / Judiciary Committee)
____
Dec. 13
Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres urged Gov. Kathy Hochul to get rid of ghost gun loopholes in New York state law in the wake of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s cold-blooded killing.
____
Dec. 13 | HOUSE CCP SELECT CMTE. LETTERS TO CEOS RE TIKTOK
Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party wrote to CEOs of TikTok, Apple, and Google following the DC Circuit Court’s 3-0 opinion that upheld the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.
____
Dec. 13
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, led 33 members of Congress on Friday in a letter calling on President Biden to pardon Leonard Peltier — a Native American activist controversially convicted of murdering two FBI agents.
____
Dec. 12 | SENATE BUDGET CMTE.
According to a new estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Democrats’ proposals to expand health care for children would extend Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage to 400,000 more children each year and increase U.S. gross domestic product by $31 billion in the long term.
____
Dec. 12
Rep Dan Meuser says it is unacceptable for an educator to glorify acts of violence and floated funding cuts
____
Dec. 12
Representative Brad Finstad sent a letter urging MSU officials to demand the resignation of Professor Kevin Parsneau.
____
Dec. 12 | HOUSE BUDGET CMTE.
The House Budget Committee will continue to lead the charge in examining potential solutions and reform measures that will root-out wasteful federal spending and restore economic prosperity for all Americans once again.
____
Dec. 12
Senator Rick Scott joined Senator Dan Sullivan along with 55 members of Congress and two senators-elect, sent a letter to the executive directors of the College Football Playoff and Bowl Season asking that they preserve the annual Army-Navy football game’s “time-honored tradition” of setting “aside the second Saturday in December in future seasons solely” for the patriotic sporting event. This year’s Army-Navy game will be the first time since 2009 that other games have been scheduled on the same day (excluding the 2020 season which was modified due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
____
Dec. 12
U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sent a letter to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Monica Bertagnolli requesting information regarding recent reports that the results of a $5.7 million federally funded study on puberty-blocking drugs for transgender youth have been withheld due to the researchers’ political considerations.
____
Dec. 12 | PLUM BOOK
U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Rand Paul (R-KY), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, announced the publication of the 2024 edition of the Plum Book.
____
Dec. 12
Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1), Chairman of the National Intelligence Enterprise Subcommittee on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), sent a letter calling on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to urgently investigate and disclose information about the increasing reports of unexplained drone activity in the Philadelphia region, including Bucks County, and neighboring New Jersey.
____
Dec.12
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee, making the case for Missouri farmers to be compensated in a potential disaster aid package.
Senator Hawley’s letter comes as Senate appropriators are mulling introducing a disaster assistance package to aid communities impacted by recent natural disasters, including Hurricane Helene that devastated crops throughout Southeast Missouri.
____
Dec. 12
“I write with alarm in response to the Department of Energy’s $4.9 billion conditional loan guarantee to the Grain Belt Express, which cuts directly across my state. In addition to wreaking havoc on landowners, the Grain Belt Express has proved time and time again that it cannot survive without federal government intervention,” Senator Hawley argued.
____
Dec. 12
Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security, wrote to Acadia Healthcare, raising concerns regarding the company’s profit motivations and the impact on the quality and safety of, and access to, behavioral health care. The letter is being released at the same time as Acadia’s response to Senator Markey, following his initial query with Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.) on this topic. Additionally, reports from the New York Times indicate that Acadia Healthcare’s methadone clinics are built in part on deception and that the company is under investigation by several federal agencies.
____
Dec. 12
U.S. Representatives Sean Casten (IL-06) and Nikema Williams (GA-05) led 25 colleagues in a letter to House and Senate Appropriators urging them to include a disaster supplemental in the upcoming appropriations package that prioritizes updating the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) flood maps, expediting federally-funded floodplain buyouts, and implementing the White House’s proposal to create a National Catastrophe (CAT) modeling platform.
____
Dec. 12 | HOUSE OVERSIGHT CMTE. PROBE
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is investigating the Selective Service System’s promotion of a false and offensive social media post that compared President-elect Donald Trump to Nazi Germany and implied the draft would be mandatory. In a letter to Acting Director of the Selective Service System Joel Spangenberg, Chairman Comer requests all documents and communications related to the agency’s internal investigation into the inappropriate post on its X account and a briefing with Committee staff.
____
Dec. 12
U.S. Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar (both D-MN) sent a letter pressing Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for answers on recent mail delays across Minnesota, particularly in the Rochester area. The follow-up comes after both Senators led the entire Minnesota and North Dakota Congressional delegations in a bipartisan letter pressing the Postmaster General to improve service following an Inspector General report. That report found nearly 130,858 missing or delayed pieces of mail at six post offices over the course of only two days.
____
Dec. 12
“I signed a letter led by Representatives Crow, Dean, and Houlahan calling for the Biden Administration to provide a full assessment to Congress on whether Israel is adhering to its March 2024 assurances to facilitate U.S. humanitarian assistance to Gaza. These assurances were made in accordance with National Security Memorandum 20, including Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act.”
____
Dec. 12
Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) sent a letter to the Congressional Budget Office requesting a budgetary score on the total cost of gender transitions for minors in federal programs.
____
Dec. 12
Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chair of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety and Representative Ted Lieu (CA-36), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee today wrote to President Joe Biden, urging him to put guardrails on incoming President Donald Trump’s authority to start nuclear war by making it United States policy that it will not initiate a nuclear first strike without authorization from Congress.
____
Dec. 12
Members urge the Biden Administration to provide their full assessment of the status of Israel’s compliance with U.S. policies and laws, including National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20) and Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act.
____
Dec. 12
Congressman Clay Higgins (R-LA) delivered an open letter this week urging advocates to help push H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, through the U.S. Senate.
____
Dec. 11
Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin following a whistleblower report that a man is living in the women’s barracks at Fort Leonard Wood. According to the allegations, a unit at the Fort processed the paperwork of a biological male, reregistered him as a female, and placed him in the female barracks.
____
Dec. 11
Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11) led a coalition of 32 military veterans serving in the U.S. House of Representatives in endorsing Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. The group sent a letter to Senate leadership expressing their strong support for Hegseth's nomination.
____
Dec. 11
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (D-PA) led 24 lawmakers in sending a bicameral letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan, revealing the results of their investigation into Navient regarding its cancellation process for the predatory, for-profit student loans in its portfolio and urging the agencies to hold the student loan servicer accountable for any violations of federal law.
____
Dec. 11
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requesting a briefing on how the agencies are working with federal and local law enforcement to identify and address the source of recent unmanned aerial system activity in New York and New Jersey.
____
Dec. 11
House Great Lakes Task Force Co-Chairs Dave Joyce (OH-14), Bill Huizenga (MI-4), Marcy Kaptur (OH-9), and Debbie Dingell (MI-6) sent a letter to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urging consideration of S. 3738, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act (GLRI) of 2024, on the House floor before the end of the 118th Congress. They were joined by 19 bipartisan House colleagues. Last week, this bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent.
____
Dec. 11
Congressman Van Drew sent a letter to President Biden demanding immediate action to eliminate the threat of the drones by imposing flight restrictions and issuing an order to neutralize them as soon as possible.
____
Dec. 11 | HOUSE OVERSIGHT SUBCMTE. REQUEST
Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) is requesting the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) continue to support efforts to conduct oversight of U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and its failure to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse within the Department. In a letter to GAO Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, Subcommittee Chairman Sessions requests GAO’s ongoing assistance in analyzing the results of DOD’s fiscal year 2024 audits which provides Committee investigators insight to progress in reducing waste, fraud, and abuse within the DOD.
____
Dec. 11
34 Members of Congress, led by Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee James P. McGovern (D-MA), and including Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Small Business Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), and Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to pardon Steven Donziger, an environmental and human rights lawyer whose persecution has been widely criticized by human rights organizations, legal scholars, and the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
____
Dec. 10
Congressman Robert Garcia (CA-42), joined by Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) and Congressman Maxwell Frost (FL-10), sent a letter to Director Steven Dettelbach from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) requesting information on the agency’s efforts to combat the trafficking or resale of firearms by independent law enforcement agencies. The letter requests information on the ATF’s efforts to prevent the illegal sale of restricted firearms. A CBS News investigation found that 58 law enforcement officers, including police chiefs and sheriffs, used government loopholes to get restricted guns and illegally sell them for profit, fueling violent crime and cartel activity.
____
Dec. 10
Congressman Tom Tiffany (WI-07) sent a letter to Bojana Zoric Martinez, the Director of the Bureau of Refugee Programs for the Evers administration, calling for transparency and opportunities for public input on reported plans to resettle refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine in Marathon County between now and January 20th – the day President-elect Trump will be sworn into office. This comes after constituents expressed concerns to Rep. Tiffany about the significant refugee resettlement scheme underway.
____
Dec. 10
Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) and Senator Edward J. Markey (MA) led a letter to the leadership of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) with seven House and two Senate colleagues urging the federally owned electric utility agency to reconsider its focus on expanding gas-fired power generation and instead encourage and plan for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and distributed energy sources in its final Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). The IRP will be used to shape TVA’s energy portfolio through 2050, with lasting impacts on affordability and reliability for its 10 million customers in the Tennessee Valley, as well as on the United States’ clean energy goals. After reviewing the draft IRP, the lawmakers made six specific recommendations to help TVA “lead the energy sector to a cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable future, instead of increasing reliance on expensive, polluting, and unreliable natural gas.” TVA is currently accepting public comments on its IRP until December 11.
____
Dec. 09
Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., on Tuesday took to X to share an open letter addressed to white people in the wake of the Daniel Penny ruling.
____
Dec. 09 | SENATE FINANCE CMTE. INQUIRY
Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter to TD Bank Group President Bharat Masrani seeking information related to the bank’s involvement in a criminal conspiracy involving a scheme to launder nearly $500 million from the sale of illicit fentanyl trafficked by Chinese drug syndicates into the United States. The case was part of the bank’s recent $3 billion settlement with the Justice and Treasury Departments. Noting that no bank executives had faced any apparent consequences to date for their roles in the scheme, the senators’ letter requests company documents and information to clarify the extent to which TD Bank employees were involved and who was responsible for the bank’s compliance failures.
____
Dec. 09
Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr. (D-LA) and Congressman Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) led a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and House Appropriations Committee leaders urging the swift consideration and passage of the Biden Administration’s recent disaster supplemental appropriations request.
____
Dec. 09
the New Hampshire Congressional delegation sent a letter to Baxter International today, urging it to address IV fluid supply issues in the state by improving the reliability of shipments and increasing the amount of IV fluid delivered to New Hampshire health care providers. Following damages to Baxter’s IV fluid and dialysis solutions production facility in North Carolina during Hurricane Helene, New Hampshire hospitals, doctors and paramedics have worked diligently to extend their existing supplies of IV fluid to prevent service disruptions. The letter urges Baxter to provide New Hampshire providers with accurate information on what IV supplies will be delivered to the state. The letter was signed by U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), a member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and U.S. Representatives Annie Kuster (NH-02) and Chris Pappas (NH-01).
In part the delegation wrote, “In recent weeks, Baxter International has repeatedly failed to deliver the amount of IV supplies that they have promised to our hospitals, and our frontline health care providers have reported a dwindling inventory of IV fluids that threatens to disrupt surgical services for Granite State patients. We are requesting immediate action from Baxter to provide an updated timeline for delivery of IV fluid for the state.”
____
Dec. 05
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced he had sent a letter to Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the incoming Chair of the Committee for the 119th Congress, emphasizing the importance of bipartisan cooperation and adherence to longstanding Committee traditions during the leadership transition. In the letter, Chair Cardin underscored the Committee’s critical role in providing advice and consent for ambassadorial and foreign affairs nominations and highlighted its commitment to comity that has defined its work over many decades.
____
Dec. 05
U.S. Congressman Greg Lopez (R-CO) sent a letter to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the nominees chosen to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), bringing to their attention the importance of defunding unauthorized, "zombie programs."
____
Dec. 05
Congressman Mike Lawler announced that he and several of his New York congressional colleagues have sent a letter urging House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to prohibit federal Medicaid expending toward any Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage (FMAP) payments in support of changes to the New York Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) unless the State submits a State Plan Amendment (SPA) to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and receives approval of the proposed changes. The letter, sent on December 5th, was co-signed by Representatives Nick LaLota (NY-01), Andrew Garbarino (NY-02), Anthony D'Esposito (NY-04), Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11), Marc Molinaro (NY-19), Nick Langworthy (NY-23), and Claudia Tenney (NY-24).
____
Dec. 04
U.S. Representative Juan Vargas (CA-52) joined Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA), U.S. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) and Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), and other colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden, thanking him for his leadership on climate issues and urging the Administration to continue delivering on its key climate priorities.
____
Dec. 04
U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) called for the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to support commerce on the Missouri River instead of removing 36 of its Aids to Navigation (ATONs) north of Blencoe, Iowa.
____
Want to receive Proxenos' Hill Letters updates as they're published?