Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Josh Harder (CA-10)

First U.S. sighting in the Delta in October, infestation has grown as far south as Kern County

A single female mussel can produce up to one million offspring a year

 

WASHINGTON – Today, Rep. Josh Harder (CA-09) introduced legislation with members of the Delta delegation to halt the exploding invasion of golden mussels, a razor-sharp invasive species that spouts sludge, emits a rotting odor, and destroys ecosystems and water infrastructure. The Golden Mussel Eradication and Control Act fights the invasion by deploying new eradication efforts to the Valley.

The Delta is ground zero for the golden mussel’s continental invasion:

• The first U.S. sighting of golden mussels occurred near the Port of Stockton just last October, and the infestation now ranges as far south as Kern County.
• A single female mussel can produce up to one million offspring a year, and in some river systems, they have spread up to 150 miles per year on average.
• If left unchecked, the infestation could threaten the water supplies relied upon by 27 million Californians and $50 billion in agriculture.

“Don’t let the name fool you, these golden mussels are sharp, slimy, and stinking invaders that clog our waterways with sludge and threaten our fragile Delta ecosystems. We need to act now to stop their advance,” said Rep. Harder. “This bill protects our waterways and our Delta economy by jumpstarting eradication efforts right now, not when it’s far too late.”

How the Golden Mussel Eradication and Control Act gets the job done:

• Deploys a rapid response program to monitor, contain, and begin eradicating the current infestation.
• Invests in new technology and inspection stations to speed up local eradication efforts.
• Increases state, local, and federal coordination through a comprehensive report on best practices and new guidance on golden mussel prevention.

The Golden Mussel Eradication and Control Act is endorsed by the Delta Counties Coalition, which is made up of county supervisors from Contra Costa, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, and Yolo counties.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14)

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Frank Pallone (6th District of New Jersey)

Elimination of Hospital Preparedness Program Would Cripple NJ’s Emergency Medical Response

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jared Huffman Representing the 2nd District of California

June 12, 2025

Washington, D.C. – Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) delivered the following remarks at the full committee hearing of the FY2026 Interior budget:

Mr. Secretary, welcome. Thanks for being here. I don’t have to tell you, Mr. Secretary, that your department has enormous responsibilities, managing one-fifth of all U.S. lands, helping fulfill trust obligations to tribal nations, managing national parks, water systems, protecting our native fish and wildlife, and, of course, playing a role in wildfire prevention and response. 
 
Across every region and state in this country, for many years, people have been able to rely on Interior to discharge these responsibilities. And then DOGE came along with its directive to cut, fire, eliminate, to literally go fast and break things. And DOGE has been allowed to take a wrecking ball to every part of Interior. The consequences could be devastating for millions of everyday Americans. 
 
So just take wildfire. Our country is heading into another brutal fire season, and yet Interior’s capacity to prepare for and respond to wildfire has been gutted.
 
Now, you testified in the Senate, Mr. Secretary, only about the number of wildland firefighters between your agency and the Department of Agriculture. But it takes a lot more than that, as anyone who has visited a fire camp understands all too clearly. And those people, those thousands of support personnel, including certified wildfire personnel, are gone.

It also takes money. Congress appropriated a lot of that for fuel treatment and other much-needed prevention work, and it has been inexplicably delayed setting us back. So, these decisions pose real and immediate threats to homes, lives, and livelihoods.

At a minimum, Mr. Secretary, I hope your testimony will acknowledge this reality and this problem. 
 
Ideally, I would like to hear you not only acknowledge what DOGE cuts have done to our fire preparedness, but commit to fix it. 
 
Now, we hear the same problematic story across Interior. In tribal communities, the BIA firings and funding freezes are stalling or stopping everything from housing construction to public safety projects. At our national parks, millions of Americans are visiting these parks and public lands and already starting to find parks understaffed, services cut, maintenance work delayed following massive staff losses. Across the board, we’re seeing an erosion of public services, and yet this administration and this Republican Congress doesn’t seem to want to talk about, much less fix, these problems.
 
Indeed, they seem to want to exploit this moment. 
 
Now, in the Republican reconciliation bill, there is nothing to improve the way the Department of Interior serves people and communities. The singular focus seems to be, and the priority, giving things away to industry. New oil and gas and coal leasing on millions of acres of public lands, slashing fossil fuel royalty rates, gutting environmental review, creating a new pay-to-play permitting scheme for wealthy polluters to dodge legal challenges. And so, while everyday Americans are losing public services they count on, from wildfire readiness to water infrastructure and park access, billionaires are getting big tax breaks, and polluters are getting our public lands and sweetheart deals. Mr. Secretary, your comments have added to this disturbing picture.

You’ve often described public lands as part of a federal balance sheet, as if they are assets to be liquidated and sold off to please investors and creditors instead of stewarded for current and future generations. And frankly, your talk about balance sheets sounds more like the vulture capitalist approach that has hollowed out the American economy. Strip the asset, extract the value, and move on. I hope today you will assure us that you value more than just monetary interests and fossil fuel development, that healthy ecosystems and recreation, long-term sustainability, our obligation to conserve public lands for future generations, that these are core values and that you’re doing something about it.
 
As Theodore Roosevelt said, we should turn our natural resources over to the next generation increased and not impaired. So, Mr. Secretary, we will ask some hard questions today. We have to do that because the stakes are huge for millions of Americans, but this is not the first time I’ve asked questions since February. 
 
I have signed seven letters to the Department of Interior to get answers to many of the concerns I’ve outlined this morning. We got our first response late last night. I will read it, but for the most part, our letters have been ignored. 
 
And by this point in 2021, Secretary Haaland had already provided multiple responses to committee Republicans. I’m asking you, Mr. Secretary, to commit to replying to our pending oversight letters by the end of this month.

Will you agree to do that? 
 
Thank you very much. Mr. Secretary, I look forward to your testimony. There is nothing normal about what is happening in Interior and other agencies right now, breaking down of public services affecting millions of Americans. We deserve real answers, and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you, sir.

I yield back.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mark Takano (D-Calif)

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Maxine Waters (43rd District of California)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA-43) today reintroduced bicameral legislation designed to strengthen students’ ability to hold for-profit colleges accountable in court for their misconduct.  The Court Legal Access and Student Support (CLASS) Act would enhance accountability for for-profit colleges and safeguard taxpayer dollars by prohibiting an institution of higher education from receiving Title IV federal student aid if the school’s enrollment agreement requires mandatory arbitration or otherwise restricts students’ ability to pursue claims against the school in court.

“For decades, for-profit colleges have used the fine print in student enrollment agreements to force students to give up their rights to go to court over the predatory behavior of these institutions,” said Durbin.  “Students should have the right to hold for-profit colleges responsible for defrauding them in court.  I’m reintroducing the CLASS Act with Congresswoman Waters to end the for-profit college industry’s ability to use this shady practice to evade accountability.”

“I am proud to reintroduce the CLASS Act with Senator Durbin to hold predatory for-profit colleges accountable when they defraud students,”said Waters, the Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee.  “The for-profit college industry is rife with bad actors that lure potential students into expensive academic programs, while knowingly and fraudulently misrepresenting the quality of the programs.  These unscrupulous schools then use mandatory arbitration clauses to prevent students from taking them to court, thereby shielding themselves from being held responsible for wrongdoing.  Our legislation will ensure that defrauded students retain the right to sue predatory schools and have their day in court.”

Specifically, the CLASS Act would enhance the accountability of for-profit colleges and safeguard taxpayer dollars by:

1. Prohibiting an institution of higher education from receiving federal student aid if the school’s enrollment agreement requires mandatory arbitration or restricts students’ ability to pursue claims against the school in court; 
    
2. Ensuring that the Federal Arbitration Act, which governs the enforcement of arbitration proceedings, would not apply to student enrollment agreements;
    
3. Taking effect one year after enactment to allow schools to make any necessary changes; and
    
4. Exempting legitimate non-profit colleges and universities because these institutions do not include mandatory arbitration clauses in their enrollment agreements.  The CLASS Act thus squarely focuses on schools that might seek to profit off of students while hiding from accountability in a court of law.

Along with Durbin, the CLASS Act is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), John Fetterman (D-PA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).  

The bill has earned the endorsement of Consumer Action; The Institute for College Access and Success; National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low income clients); National Association for College Admission Counseling; Veterans Education Success; National Association of Consumer Advocates; American Association for Justice; Center for Justice and Democracy; Woodstock Institute; Public Justice; Earthjustice; Public Citizen; The National Employment Lawyers Association; Americans for Financial Reform; National Consumers League; Consumer Federation of America; Young Invincibles; and Center for Responsible Lending.
 

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Steve Scalise (1st District of Louisiana)

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Newsmax ahead of tonight’s Congressional Baseball Game to discuss the FBI falsely classifying the 2017 shooting as ‘suicide by cop’ and how Kash Patel has worked to release information around the incident to correct the record. Leader Scalise also outlined how the One Big Beautiful Bill unlocks economic growth by preventing a $4.5 trillion tax hike on American families and secures the border by funding more ICE agents.

Click here or the image above to view Leader Scalise’s full interview. 
On this year’s Congressional Baseball Game:“Well, feeling really good. Tonight, I drop all the titles, and I’m the leadoff batter for the team. And you know, we’re focused. We’ve been practicing. We want to win the game. We’re going to raise over two and a half million dollars for charity. So it’s a lot of fun. It’s a really good cause, but we’re competitive people, so we play to win, and we’re in the big league ballpark. We already are halfway there.”  On the transparency of Kash Patel’s FBI:“Well, I’m really glad and appreciative that Kash Patel got the facts out, because there were a lot of things not only suppressed, there were inaccuracies, deliberate inaccuracies, in the original report. They tried to call it suicide by cop. The gunman came out there, and he wasn’t only trying to kill all of us. He tried to kill the two cops that were with me once he found out they were cops because they were [dressed in] plain clothes, he didn’t know they were cops. And then he tried to kill them as he was trying to kill us. So, where the FBI got that original classification, we were furious about that. Kash and others changed it to what it was – domestic terrorism. But he’s also getting other facts out that I didn’t even know about the shooter. And so I think it’s good for the public to really see the full picture. You know why? The original FBI, back then in 2017 tried to change the narrative, tried to suppress facts, to say it wasn’t even politically motivated when it was clearly politically motivated. You know, call it what it is. I mean, their job should be to get the facts out wherever the facts lead. They didn’t do that in 2017. Kash Patel is getting them back to their original mission, and I appreciate it.”On securing President Trump’s agenda through reconciliation: “Look, I mean, we had a lot of internal conversations. Once Democrats walked away and said, because it’s President Trump’s signature achievement, Democrats decided they didn’t want to be a part of it, and that’s a shame, because this bill prevents a four-and-a-half trillion dollar tax hike on American families. So we came together as Republicans and said, if this is going to get done, and it has to get done, then it’s going to be us who does it. And so we put coalitions together. We built a really good coalition of members when we can only lose two votes or three votes at certain points, and then we got it done and sent it to the Senate.“You know, this is a really, really important bill. It’s One Big Beautiful Bill, but it has all of President Trump’s priorities – no tax increases, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. You know, you think about producing more energy in America. President Trump ran on it. We deliver. Having border security. You look at what’s going on in LA right now. You know, they’re waving foreign flags in American cities. President Trump said, I’m securing the border, and he’s done most of it, but he needs more money from Congress now to build the wall, to hire more Border Patrol and ICE agents. That’s in this bill, by the way, that’s another reason every Democrat voted no, is because we hire more ICE agents. They want to defund ICE. Does any American want to literally turn the streets of America over to hardened criminals from foreign countries? So all of that is in this bill. It will get our economy moving again. We’ve got to get it done. I don’t think the Senate is going to make a lot of big changes just because they have the same dynamics on their side. No Democrats will vote for it, so only Republicans are going to get it done. They just need to keep it moving, get it to his desk by July 4th so we can turn America around.”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) went to the House floor this evening to deliver a speech on the budget bill the House passed last week and the Senate is considering. In his remarks, he said in part:

“My father was a physician. One of the things he was taught in medical school, as part of the Hippocratic Oath, was ‘Do No Harm.’ Our budgets are doing a great deal of harm to our health care system. The Association of Medical Colleges came out with a statement yesterday that our heath care is in ‘existential crisis’ because of the cuts to research and the cuts to graduate medical education; that our medical schools will suffer, the number of doctors that are produced will suffer. And that’s not even to mention the needs of the people by taking away their Medicaid, their ACA, taking away that health care. Do No Harm. This bill is a big, deadly bill. People will die because of it. We’re not putting money to the NIH that does the research to protect us from cancer, from Alzheimer’s, from Parkinson’s, heart disease and diabetes – the diseases that kill us. The NIH is our Department of Defense. Francis Collins did a great job; left it in good hands. Do No Harm”

See the speech here.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, today introduced the National Emergencies Reform Act. The measure would rebalance the power dynamic between Congress and the Executive branch by permitting a president to declare a national emergency for 30 days and require a vote of Congress to extend it beyond that time.

Congressman Cohen held hearings in 2019 on the National Emergencies Act of 1976 when he served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. He continues to partner with Congressman Chip Roy on the Assuring Robust, Thorough, and Informed Congressional Leadership is Exercised Over National Emergencies (ARTICLE ONE) Act which also requires Congress to vote and affirmatively extend an emergency.  The ARTICLE ONE Act passed out of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in September 2024.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

“A ‘national emergency’ that goes on for years or even decades is not an emergency; it’s the new normal. Congress must reclaim the significant legislative power it surrendered and establish a mechanism for authorizing the extension of these declarations, or for shutting them down. Particularly when the rationale for declaring a national emergency appears patently baseless or dubious, Congress must have the power to end the lawlessness.”

The National Emergencies Reform Act would limit the President’s emergency powers, automatically ending emergencies unless Congress extends them. Further, it includes provisions that require the President to disclose Presidential Emergency Action Documents (PEADs) to Congress.  The National Emergencies Reform Act was included in the Protecting Our Democracy Act, which passed the House on December 9, 2021.  

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV)

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV) participated in a Ways and Means committee hearing with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The Congresswoman focused her comments on the success of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill in fixing the Democrat-imposed 1099-K $600 reporting threshold and Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs. A video of the Congresswoman’s questions followed by Secretary Bessent’s responses can be found here and is transcribed below. 

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