MIL USHOR-2b Engine

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

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today announced that the Soulsville Foundation will receive a grant of $100,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to implement a curator-in-residence program.

The Stax Museum of American Soul Music program, according to IMLS, will be designed to strengthen the museum’s interpretive capacity, expand access to its collections, and deepen scholarship related to African American music history and the global legacy of Stax Records. Each resident curator will conduct research using the museum’s archives and artifact collections; collaborate with staff to develop interpretive materials, exhibitions, and digital storytelling content; and lead public programs such as lectures, listening sessions, and youth workshops.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

“The Stax Museum is one of our city’s most prized cultural institutions. This grant funding, and the prestige it adds to the museum’s outreach efforts, will enhance its international reputation. I commend Soulsville Foundation President and CEO Pat Mitchell Worley and the entire staff of the museum for this significant and well-deserved recognition.”

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose)

(Washington, DC) – Yesterday, Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member Gabe Amo (D-RI) sent a letter to formally refer Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for lying to the Committee during a hearing on June 10th, 2026. Secretary Wright repeatedly denied that $7.5 billion dollars of DOE awards cancelled by the Trump administration in October 2025 were in retaliation against states that leaned Democratic in the 2024 presidential election (Blue States). Three weeks prior to Secretary Wright’s testimony, DOE attorneys admitted to doing exactly that in court.

“Secretary Wright flatly denied that partisan politics lay behind the termination decisions,” the Members wrote in their letter. “He testified that ‘no decisions, no decisions were made on politics’ and that the award terminations ‘weren’t’ based on how states had voted in the 2024 presidential election. But that was not true. In a federal lawsuit related to the same award terminations, DOE’s Principal Deputy General Counsel formally stipulated that ‘the inclusion of grants in the October notice tranche was based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state, i.e., whether the recipient’s location and/or place of performance was in a Blue State or a non-Blue State.’ DOE also stipulated that none of the October 2025 award terminations were ‘based on any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction, or performance-based factor,’ and that ‘the differential treatment resulting in the October 2025 termination of Blue State grants and the non-termination of non-Blue State grants was not based on a rational connection between the recipient’s location and/or place of performance and DOE’s past or current agency priorities.’

“Secretary Wright lied to the Committee with his statements, which sought to prevent us from learning the truth: that the October award terminations were an act of political retaliation, ‘based solely’ on whether recipients were located in Blue States. He lied to Congress. In doing so, he violated 18 USC §1001, which bars individuals from making ‘any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation’ to Congress. We have no choice but to refer Secretary Wright to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution in this matter.”

The letter can be accessed here, and below.

Dear Acting Attorney General Blanche,

On June 10th, 2026, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright testified before the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (“the Committee”). During his appearance, a Member of the Committee questioned Secretary Wright about the Department of Energy’s (DOE) termination of more than $7.5 billion dollars’ worth of financial awards in October 2025, and whether those terminations were motivated by a partisan desire to retaliate against “Blue States.” In response, Secretary Wright flatly denied that partisan politics lay behind the termination decisions. He testified that “no decisions, no decisions were made on politics” and that the award terminations “weren’t” based on how states had voted in the 2024 presidential election. But that was not true. In a federal lawsuit related to the same award terminations, DOE’s Principal Deputy General Counsel formally stipulated that “the inclusion of grants in the October notice tranche was based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state, i.e., whether the recipient’s location and/or place of performance was in a Blue State or a non-Blue State.” DOE also stipulated that none of the October 2025 award terminations were “based on any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction, or performance-based factor,” and that “the differential treatment resulting in the October 2025 termination of Blue State grants and the non-termination of non-Blue State grants was not based on a rational connection between the recipient’s location and/or place of performance and DOE’s past or current agency priorities.”

Secretary Wright lied to the Committee with his statements, which sought to prevent us from learning the truth: that the October award terminations were an act of political retaliation, “based solely” on whether recipients were located in Blue States. He lied to Congress. In doing so, he violated 18 USC §1001, which bars individuals from making “any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation” to Congress. We have no choice but to refer Secretary Wright to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution in this matter.

On October 1st, 2025, DOE announced the termination of hundreds of financial awards. According to the Department’s own analysis, the group of terminated awards was worth approximately $7.56 billion in total. The terminations were immediately criticized as a partisan attack, due to the fact that the “vast majority” of terminated awards were located in states that had voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election and currently have two elected Democratic Senators. Secretary Wright publicly denied the accusations of political retaliation. For instance, during an appearance on CNN on October 2nd, 2025, he denied that DOE had acted to punish Blue States in its award terminations and claimed that DOE’s decisions were “all based on facts.” This remained DOE’s public position throughout the fall of 2025 and the first half of 2026. Secretary Wright reiterated his denials during multiple congressional hearings after the award terminations, including as recently as April 2026 in appearances before the House Committee on Appropriations , the House Committee on Energy and Commerce , and the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

Secretary Wright testified before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on June 10th, 2026. During his appearance, several Members of the Committee asked direct questions about the October 2025 award terminations. Under questioning by Representative Gabe Amo of Rhode Island, Secretary Wright issued an explicit and unqualified denial that politics played any role in the award termination decisions, and a similarly unqualified denial that the termination decisions were based on how states had voted in the 2024 presidential election. The exchanges between Representative Amo and Secretary Wright are transcribed below:

Secretary Wright: We did not involve politics in the decisions. What the –

Representative Amo: What about the outcomes, Mr. Secretary?

Secretary Wright: The court ruling you read was a choice of announcements of some of the awards, the choice of the announcements, not made by our Department. No decisions, no decisions were made on politics. I keep hearing that charge.

Representative Amo: So –

Secretary Wright: It’s bullshit. We’re going to say it a million times –

Representative Amo: Mr. Secretary –

Secretary Wright: It’s not true.

………………………..

Representative Amo: So my question for you, as my time is rapidly expiring, when will you restore these grants?

Secretary Wright: We work every day for – we’ve gone overboard for New England, for California, for blue states –

Representative Amo: That’s not an answer. I’m reclaiming my clock –

Secretary Wright: Your assertions are incorrect.

Representative Amo: Mr. Secretary, I’m reclaiming my time. That’s not an answer. Do you believe the federal grant decisions should be based in any way on how a state’s voters cast their ballots in a presidential election?

Secretary Wright: They shouldn’t, and they weren’t.

Secretary Wright was very clear in his testimony. No decisions were based on politics. The award termination decisions should not have been based in any way on how a state voted in the 2024 presidential election, and they weren’t. In the Secretary’s own words, it was bullshit to suggest otherwise.

Secretary Wright lied.

On June 4th, 2025, a group of plaintiffs based in California filed a lawsuit against DOE and other federal agencies. As the litigation proceeded under the name Neeta Thakur, et al, v. Trump, the plaintiffs broadened their claims to encompass DOE’s actions in October 2025, alleging that DOE had illegally and unconstitutionally terminated their financial awards in an act of political retaliation against the state of California. DOE eventually agreed to a set of formal stipulations in exchange for the plaintiffs agreeing to forego the discovery process. Those stipulations were signed by DOE’s attorneys on May 15th, 2026 – more than three weeks before Secretary Wright testified in front of the Committee – and filed to the court docket on July 15th, 2026. Several relevant DOE stipulations are reproduced below, numbered as they appear in the court filing:

8. DOE accepts that neither the inclusion of the ARCHES grant nor any other grants in the October notice tranche was based on any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction, or performance-based factor.

9. DOE accepts that the inclusion of grants in the October notice tranche was based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state, i.e., whether the recipient’s location and/or place of performance was in a Blue State or a non-Blue State. DOE will not contend that it looked beyond the prime grantee(s) to consider the political identity or geographic distribution of downstream beneficiaries of the grant funds.

10. DOE accepts that the differential treatment resulting in the October 2025 termination of Blue State grants and the non-termination of non-Blue State grants was not based on a rational connection between the recipient’s location and/or place of performance and DOE’s past or current agency priorities.

On June 10th, in regards to DOE’s October 2025 financial award terminations, Secretary Wright testified before the Committee that no award termination decisions were based on politics, and no award termination decisions were based on how states had voted in the 2024 presidential election. As noted above, on May 15th, nearly three weeks before Secretary Wright testified before the Committee, DOE signed stipulations that politics was the sole basis for the October 2025 award termination decisions, and that how a state had voted in the 2024 presidential election was the defining factor in the political identity that would determine whether it would experience award terminations or not. Secretary Wright’s testimony to the Committee was unambiguously false and misleading.

Federal law forbids such materially false statements. The federal false statements statute, 18 United States Code §1001, is violated when “whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully (1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact; [or] (2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation [. . .] [in] any investigation or review, conducted pursuant to the authority of any committee, subcommittee, commission or office of the Congress, consistent with applicable rules of the House or Senate.” The aforementioned facts establish that Secretary Wright willfully and knowingly made materially false statements and representations during his testimony before the Committee.

According to the Department of Justice, whether a false statement is criminal under 18 U.S.C §1001 “depends on whether there is an affirmative response to each of the following questions:

1.     Was the act or statement material?

2.     Was the act within the jurisdiction of a department or agency of the United States?

3.     Was the act done knowingly and willfully?”

Satisfying the first element requires that the act or statement be material. Materiality is understood as a matter of importance or consequence. Secretary Wright offered his false statements in response to a direct inquiry by a Member of Congress as to whether grant decisions were based on political considerations and presidential election results. He explicitly and falsely denied that any decisions were based on these factors. The Supreme Court of the United States recently affirmed the high degree of materiality of this type of exchange. The materiality element is affirmatively met.

Satisfying the second element requires that the act or statement lie within “the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States.” Secretary Wright’s statement occurred in the course of a Congressional hearing conducted under the authority of House Rule X(3)(k), which is well recognized as applicable to the statute. The jurisdictional element is affirmatively met.

Satisfying the third element requires that the act or statement be done knowingly and willfully. Courts have previously held that “in general, ‘knowingly’ requires the government to prove that a criminal defendant had knowledge of the facts that constitute the offense […] willfully […] usually requires the government to prove that the defendant acted not merely voluntarily, but with a bad purpose, that is, with knowledge that his conduct was, in some general sense, unlawful.” DOE’s July 15th stipulation set forth that the grant decisions in question were based on politics. The stipulation of facts was signed by DOE’s attorneys on May 15th, 2026, more than three weeks before Secretary Wright made his false statements to the Committee. Either Secretary Wright made the false statements despite knowing the facts in the stipulation, or he remained deliberately ignorant of them in order to plead a lack of positive knowledge, which amounts in law to the same thing. Secretary Wright had testified repeatedly about the October 2025 award terminations during multiple prior congressional hearings. He made his denials to the Committee on June 10th with a full understanding of the expectation of truthfulness that accompanied his testimony, while nevertheless voluntarily offering materially false statements related to this matter. The final “knowingly and willfully” element is affirmatively met.  

Referring a Cabinet Secretary for potential prosecution is not a step we take lightly. It is a weighty thing to assert that a Cabinet Secretary lied to Congress. We do not treat that assertion as a trivial matter, and we do not use those words carelessly. But the facts of the situation are clear and undeniable. As those facts have met the criminal elements of 18 U.S.C §1001, we refer this matter to the Department of Justice. We request that DOJ review this matter expeditiously and with the utmost seriousness, and if warranted, seek to bring criminal charges against Secretary Wright.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Rick Allen (R-GA-12)

Today, Congressman Rick W. Allen (GA-12) participated in a press conference with several community leaders to tout federal funding for a new veterans’ cemetery in Augusta, Georgia. With Congressman Allen’s support, the funding for this project was appropriated via H.R. 5371, the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act for Fiscal Year 2026, and made available through the Veterans Cemetery Grant Program.

The grant opportunity will provide up to $10 million in federal funding to support the construction of a new veterans cemetery in the Augusta area. The grant will allow Georgia to expand burial options for the over 66,000 veterans and their eligible family members in East Central Georgia, ensuring dignified, accessible, and lasting honors for those who served.

Congressman Allen touts federal funding for Augusta VA Cemetery to crowd of local veterans, residents, and leaders

Following the press conference, Congressman Allen issued the statement below:

“As the home to thousands of veterans, service members, and military families, I have fought for several years to bring a veterans’ cemetery to Augusta, Georgia. Our veterans who reside in the CSRA and surrounding communities should have reasonable access to burial benefits close to home. The construction of this cemetery will deliver just that and has long been supported by local leaders, veterans, and elected officials. After years of work, I am pleased that we are officially moving forward with this project for those who answered the call to serve our nation in uniform. I would also like to thank Former Augusta Mayor Bob Young and Augusta Commissioner Don Clark for their tireless advocacy on behalf of veterans in this community.”

BACKGROUND: The Georgia Department of Veterans Service’s application for a new veterans’ cemetery in Augusta, Georgia, has been reviewed and accepted by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. This development is a monumental achievement in a process that Congressman Allen, local community leaders, and the state of Georgia have been working towards for several years. The funding for this project was included in H.R. 5371, which Congressman Allen supported on the House floor, and was signed into law by President Donald J. Trump on November 12, 2025.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is designating more localities in Virginia’s Ninth District as primary natural disaster areas due to recent drought. As part of this action, the Counties of Bland, Craig, Floyd, Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski, Roanoke and Russell are set for primary natural disaster area designations. Additional localities eligible for drought assistance include the Counties of Bedford, Buchanan, Carroll, Dickenson, Franklin, Patrick, Scott, Washington, Wise and Wythe and the City of Radford.

In response to this USDA action, U.S. Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) issued the following statement:

“Challenges to the sustainability and operations of our local farms demand federal attention. In response to severe weather and drought events in Virginia, more USDA relief is on the way to farmers in Virginia’s Ninth District. 

“With this expansion in primary natural disaster area designations, more eligible Ninth District farmers can access the drought assistance they need. 

“I will continue my work to support resources for our farming communities.”

BACKGROUND

Congressman Griffith helped lead federal engagement to secure separate USDA Secretarial natural disaster declarations for Virginia farmers. 

In June, Secretary Rollins approved Virginia’s request.

In July, Tazewell County also received a primary natural disaster area designation due to recent drought.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Chris Pappas (D-NH)

Last week the Trump administration announced plans to end a critical program that keeps prescription drug prices affordable for aging and disabled Americans enrolled in Medicare

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman David G Valadao (CA-21)

WASHINGTON – Congressman David Valadao (CA-22) reintroduced a bipartisan resolution designating August 2–8, 2026, as National Farmers Market Week alongside Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (ME-01). This resolution honors the critical role farmers markets play in bridging the gap between urban and rural communities, helping people better understand the realities of farming and ranching.

Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) reintroduced the companion resolution in the Senate.

“The Central Valley grows a quarter of our nation’s food on less than one percent of America’s farmland, yet too many people living in urban areas don’t realize what it takes to get food from field to table,” said Congressman Valadao. “Farmers markets provide a valuable opportunity to connect people with the hardworking producers who feed our nation, and they highlight the important role agriculture plays in our communities. I’m proud to join my colleagues in recognizing National Farmers Market Week and honoring the contributions of our CA-22 producers working to support food access, bolster local economies, promote healthy living, and foster sustainable farming.” 

“Farmers markets have been a cherished tradition in communities across America for generations. A quarter of Maine farms sell directly to consumers, with more than 100 farmers markets currently operating in our state,” said Congresswoman Pingree, a longtime organic farmer and co-chair of both the Organic Caucus and the Food Recovery Caucus. “By connecting local growers with their communities, farmers markets not only help put healthy food on the table, but also strengthen local economies and help preserve Maine’s agricultural traditions for future generations. This bipartisan, bicameral resolution reminds us that, in red states and blue states alike, farmers markets can be a force for good—and an important part of building a stronger, more resilient food system for all Americans.”

“California is home to more than 800 farmers markets that nourish our families, bolster the local economy, and cultivate thoughtful relationships between growers and consumers,” said Senator Padilla. “We cherish these shared spaces which are a vibrant, dependable source of nutrition for our state. I’m proud to lead this Senate resolution celebrating National Farmer’s Market Week to support our local farmers who feed our families and strengthen our communities.”

“Agriculture is the heart of Iowa, and farmers markets make it easier for Iowans to buy fresh, locally grown food in communities across our state,” said Senator Ernst. “I’m proud to lead a bipartisan resolution designating Aug. 2-8 as National Farmers Market Week to recognize the tireless work of our farmers, ranchers, and producers who put nutritious food on Americans’ tables every day.”

Read the resolution here.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (1st District of Maine)

U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), and U.S Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME-01), are urging the administration to withdraw a proposed rule that would weaken longstanding civil service protections for federal employees, including the nearly 8,000 civilian workers at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY). In a letter to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Acting Director Charles Ezell and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) Chairman Cathy Harris, the lawmakers warned that the proposal would make it more difficult to recruit and retain the skilled civilian workforce responsible for maintaining the Navy’s submarine fleet, ultimately threatening national security.

“We write in strong opposition to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB)’s proposed rule ‘Promoting Employee Accountability,’” the lawmakers began. “This proposed rule would weaken longstanding civil service protections that promote merit-based employment, due process and the recruitment and retention of skilled workers. Moreover, as Members of Congress who represent nearly eight thousand civilian workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, we are concerned about the proposed rule’s impact on workers essential to our national security.”

“By stripping away the procedures that keep discipline fair for civilian employees doing the work of naval readiness… the proposed rule introduces costly unpredictability in the workforce and needlessly undermines readiness. We are concerned this will increase attrition in the critical and experienced workforce that keeps our submarine fleet ready… We, therefore, ask you to withdraw OPM and MSPB’s proposed rule,” the lawmakers concluded.

Joining King and Pingree on the letter are U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and U.S. Representatives Maggie Goodlander (D-NH-02) and Chris Pappas (D-NH-01).

The full text of the letter can be found here and below.

+++

Director Kupor and Acting Chairman Kerner,

We write in strong opposition to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB)’s proposed rule “Promoting Employee Accountability,” Docket OPM-2025-0012 (RIN 3206-AO91). This proposed rule would weaken longstanding civil service protections that promote merit-based employment, due process and the recruitmentand retention of skilled workers. Moreover, as Members of Congress who represent nearly eight thousand civilian workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, we are concerned about the proposed rule’s impact on workers essential to our national security.

OPM and MSPB’s joint notice of proposed rulemaking issued on July 2, 2026, unnecessarily weakens civil service protections and undermines workers’ rights to challenge removal. Current law provides agencies with the authority to address misconduct and poor performance while ensuring personnel decisions are appropriate, fair and consistent. This rulewould impose a short 30-day limit for performance improvement periods and make termination the default penalty. Theshortened window, coupled with termination as the default, could result in the loss of skilled workers who could have improved their performance if given sufficient time. Furthermore, the proposed rule weakens workers’ ability to challenge disciplinary measures by barring the use of union time to represent workers in removal proceedings.

Since the MSPB’s decision in Douglas v. Veterans Administration in 1981, agencies must consider 12 factors when examining the reasonableness of an agency’s proposed penalty for adverse action taken under 5 U.S.C. 7513. These include considering mitigating circumstances, rehabilitation potential and length of service. For nearly 50 years across Republican and Democratic administrations, these consistent standards have provided fairness to federal workers facing accusations of misconduct and created a framework for determining approportionate responses. OPM’s and MSPB’s proposal would instead require agencies to rely on an arbitrary, case-by-case examination of whether disciplinary action is reasonable given the “totality of circumstances” and explicitly states that “noparticular factors must be considered in every case.” This could allow agencies to ignore important mitigating factors and more easily remove skilled workers with strong rehabilitation potential from critical industries.

As you are no doubt aware, the men and women who work at our public shipyards are critical members of our defenseindustrial base, without whom the ability to repair, retrofit and refuel our country’s submarines would be in jeopardy. In our states, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY) has nearly eight thousand civilian employees, creating more than $1.5 billion in annual economic impact in surrounding communities. As our military’s “pacing threat,” the People’s Republic of China, is rapidly expanding its nuclear weapons programs, the role that our own submarines play in the survivability of our nuclear triad cannot be overstated. In fact, PNSY currently needs to hire over 700 workers annually to meet the Navy’s demand – which is an increase from 550 over the past two years. Further, policies that reduce workplace protections risk making federal service less attractive to qualified candidates. Due to civilian hiring quotas imposed by the Office of Personnel Management, PNSY has struggled to onboard workers and cannot risk additional delays or departures. If the Administration intends to retain this political litmus test at our public shipyards, the costs of unnecessarily losing more skilled workers through this proposed rule far outweigh any potential benefit.

By stripping away the procedures that keep discipline fair for civilian employees doing the work of naval readiness and refusing toconsider important factors, the proposed rule introduces costly unpredictability in the workforce and needlessly undermines readiness. We are concerned this will increase attrition in the critical and experienced workforce that keeps our submarine fleet ready, ultimately harming the shipyard’s ability to meet the Navy’s needs and threatening our national security.

We, therefore, ask you to withdraw OPM and MSPB’s proposed rule, “Promoting Employee Accountability,” and consider alternatives that preserve federal workers’ longstanding civil service protections.

Sincerely,

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (1st District of Maine)

U.S. Representatives Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and David Valadao (R-Calif.), along with Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), reintroduced a bipartisan resolution designating August 2–8, 2026, as National Farmers Market Week. This resolution honors the critical role farmers markets play in bridging the gap between urban and rural communities, helping people better understand the realities of farming and ranching.

“Farmers markets have been a cherished tradition in communities across America for generations. A quarter of Maine farms sell directly to consumers, with more than 100 farmers markets currently operating in our state,” said Congresswoman Pingree, a longtime organic farmer and co-chair of both the Organic Caucus and the Food Recovery Caucus. “By connecting local growers with their communities, farmers markets not only help put healthy food on the table, but also strengthen local economies and help preserve Maine’s agricultural traditions for future generations. This bipartisan, bicameral resolution reminds us that, in red states and blue states alike, farmers markets can be a force for good—and an important part of building a stronger, more resilient food system for all Americans.”

“The Central Valley grows a quarter of our nation’s food on less than one percent of America’s farmland, yet too many people living in urban areas don’t realize what it takes to get food from field to table,” said Congressman Valadao. “Farmers markets provide a valuable opportunity to connect people with the hardworking producers who feed our nation, and they highlight the important role agriculture plays in our communities. I’m proud to join my colleagues in recognizing National Farmers Market Week and honoring the contributions of our CA-22 producers working to support food access, bolster local economies, promote healthy living, and foster sustainable farming.” 

“California is home to more than 800 farmers markets that nourish our families, bolster the local economy, and cultivate thoughtful relationships between growers and consumers,” said Senator Padilla. “We cherish these shared spaces which are a vibrant, dependable source of nutrition for our state. I’m proud to lead this Senate resolution celebrating National Farmer’s Market Week to support our local farmers who feed our families and strengthen our communities.”

“Agriculture is the heart of Iowa, and farmers markets make it easier for Iowans to buy fresh, locally grown food in communities across our state,” said Senator Ernst. “I’m proud to lead a bipartisan resolution designating Aug. 2-8 as National Farmers Market Week to recognize the tireless work of our farmers, ranchers, and producers who put nutritious food on Americans’ tables every day.”

Read the resolution here.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah 6th District Wisconsin)

Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-WI) announced today that he led every Republican member of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation in urging the Trump Administration to protect Marine Corps readiness, preserve competition, and strengthen America’s tactical vehicle industrial base.

In a letter sent to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg, and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, the lawmakers expressed support for the Administration’s Arsenal of Freedom initiative and called for qualified alternative production capacity to remain available for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program.

“America’s warfighters should not be forced to wait for critical equipment because a defense program has fallen behind schedule,” said Congressman Grothman. “Maintaining competition and proven production capacity will help protect military readiness while ensuring contractors remain accountable to the servicemembers and taxpayers they serve. Oshkosh Defense has the experienced workforce and proven manufacturing capability needed to produce vehicles and help address the current backlog. Wisconsin stands ready to support the Marine Corps and deliver the vehicles our warfighters need.”

Production challenges affecting the JLTV A2 program have raised concerns about the Marine Corps’ ability to field the vehicles needed to support expeditionary operations. According to the House Appropriations Committee report accompanying the Fiscal Year 2027 Defense Appropriations Act, the program was more than 20 months behind schedule, with approximately 2,000 vehicles overdue.

The delegation also highlighted the Marine Corps’ May Request for Information seeking commercially available, non-developmental vehicles capable of rapid fielding. The lawmakers described the request as an important step toward preserving competition and ensuring qualified alternative production capacity remains available if performance challenges continue.

Oshkosh Defense, headquartered in Wisconsin, has delivered more than 25,000 JLTV A1 vehicles to U.S. and allied forces. The company is positioned to produce additional vehicles to help reduce the backlog, protect the Marine Corps’ fielding schedule, and restore needed competition to the program.

A copy of the letter is available here.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA)

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger announced a $3.6 million industrial investment from Virginia Steel and Fabrication, Inc. to expand operational capabilities in Bland County, Virginia. According to a press release, this investment will support 52 new jobs. Following news of this announcement, U.S. Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) issued the following statement:

“Earlier this year, I participated in a tour of the Virginia Steel plant in Bastian with Bland County Administrator Cameron Burton. We appreciate Virginia Steel leadership and officials for serving the interests of Virginia’s Ninth District with local manufacturing jobs, successful business practices and quality products.

“This $3.6 million investment by Virginia Steel and Fabrication represents a bright future for Bland County, which is hungry to make a difference in our economy.

“I will continue to support federal policies that help domestic manufacturing growth in rural America.”

BACKGROUND

In April 2026, Congressman Griffith toured Virginia Steel.

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