MIL USHOR-2b Engine

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Aumua Amata (Western Samoa)

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is in Palau this week at the invitation of Pacific Islands Forum Chairman, Republic of Palau H.E. President Surangel Whipps, Jr., for meetings and events surrounding the 55th PIF Leaders Meeting, which brings Pacific leaders and representatives together in Koror from August 30 through September 4. This year American Samoa is represented by Special Envoy High Chief Salanoa accompanied by ASTCA CEO Folasaitu S. Thomas.

Pictured with Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau

Amata is Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific as well as the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs, both of which have jurisdiction over U.S. issues regarding island countries and territories which are represented at the PIF, where discussions are likely to include the recent China missile tests into the South Pacific. 

Pictured with Tonga PM Lord Fakafanua and New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters

Amata arrived in Palau Saturday evening and attended a Sunday ceremony with Palauan President Whipps and Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung marking the transfer of a fleet of electric buses donated by Taiwan to Palau. The ceremony highlighted the longstanding development partnership between Taiwan and Palau and Taiwan’s broader contributions to Pacific development.

“American Samoa has always believed that the Pacific is strongest when our island nations work together and when our friends and partners contribute in ways that directly benefit our people,” said Congresswoman Amata. “It was good to see firsthand the practical results of Taiwan’s partnership with Palau, particularly in areas such as clean energy, transportation, and resilience.”

Pictured with Cook Islands former PM & PIF Secretary Henry Puna and RMI President Hilda Heine

On Monday, Amata participated in the Small Island States Leaders Meeting, where Palau formally assumed the chairmanship of the Small Island States group, previously held by Kiribati. President Whipps called on Small Island States leaders to focus on practical outcomes that improve the lives of their people.

Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Baron Waqa likewise urged leaders to turn decisions made at the previous year’s meeting into practical action. Among the issues before the Small Island States leaders was work to modernize the group’s membership criteria while retaining the principle of structural smallness as its foundation.

“Small island states face many of the same challenges, but we also bring a unique perspective to the international community,” Amata said. “Our size does not diminish the importance of our voice. In many cases, it makes our cooperation even more important.”

Amata also participated in the Polynesian Leaders Group meeting, one of the subregional gatherings taking place in conjunction with the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting. The gathering provides Polynesian leaders an opportunity to discuss issues of particular importance to Polynesian peoples and communities.

Speaking with Tonga Crown Prince Tupouto’a ‘Ulukalala

Monday evening marked the official opening of the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Koror. This year’s Forum is hosted by Palau under the theme “B.E.L.A.U. – Building Economies. Life. Action. Unity.” The official Forum program runs through September 4.

“The Pacific Islands Forum is one of our region’s most important institutions,” Amata said. “For American Samoa, participation in the broader Pacific family is especially important. We have much to contribute, much to learn from our neighbors, and a strong interest in seeing the Pacific remain peaceful, prosperous, resilient, and united.”

Amata’s participation reflects her work in Congress to strengthen the partnership between the United States and the Pacific Islands. On August 27, she joined Representatives Ed Case, Jill Tokuda and Kimberlyn King-Hinds as an original cosponsor of a bipartisan House resolution reaffirming the enduring partnership between the United States and the Pacific Islands Forum and its 18 members. The resolution calls for continued U.S. engagement toward stability, prosperity, and peace in the Pacific.

“American Samoa is proud to be part of the United States and proud to be part of the Pacific,” Amata said. “Those two relationships are not in conflict. They reinforce one another, and I will continue working in Congress to make sure that the United States remains a strong, reliable, and respectful partner in our region.”

Amata will continue participating in meetings and engagements in Palau throughout the week.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Dina Titus (1st District of Nevada)

Congresswoman Dina Titus today applauded a decision by the Interior Department’s Board of Land Appeals to halt development of a data center on federal land adjacent to Boulder City.

“The judge ruled for transparency and public accountability in granting a stay based on the BLM’s misuse of an environmental impact statement for a solar farm as justification for a data center. The two are vastly different.” Congresswoman Titus said. “I’ve said since day one that this was not only improper but illegal.”

Congresswoman Titus was the first public official to criticize BLM’s rubber stamp of approval, sending a letter to the BLM in early July stating, “Residents of Boulder City and other communities in Southern Nevada have a right to know about any proposal to transfer federal land to data center developers. Data centers potentially can affect our scant water resources, energy usage, and the overall environment. The BLM allowed a private developer to switch from developing a solar farm on city-owned land in Boulder City to building a data center on adjacent federal land without any public review. This is unacceptable.”

Boulder City and several environmental groups filed an appeal with the Interior Department’s Board of Land Appeals. The proposed data center project would be the first data center built on BLM land, setting a precedent for how data center decisions will proceed across Nevada and the Western United States. There are currently 76 built or planned data centers in the Silver State. 

Administrative Judge David Gunter wrote in granting the stay, “Appellants have made a persuasive showing that BLM violated NEPA and acted arbitrarily or capriciously when it determined that the data center project is ‘substantially the same’ as the solar plant project for purposes of its NEPA analysis.” 

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Johnson (LA-04)

WASHINGTON — Today, Speaker Johnson delivered remarks to the media after the House passed a continuing resolution to fund the government until December and avoid yet another costly Democrat government shutdown. Speaker Johnson also addressed House Republicans proposed constitutional amendment to ensure the U.S. Supreme Court remains composed of only nine justices.

“Thanks to the House Republicans’ leadership and the foresight back in July, we began the necessary processes to ensure that the government would not be shut down,” Speaker Johnson said. “We are not going to have our troops in harm’s way without getting paychecks, we’re not going to have the Coast Guard, TSA, other essential functions of the government shut down, as the Democrats in Congress engineered already three times in this Congress.”

 

Watch Speaker Johnson’s remarks here.

Below are Speaker Johnson’s remarks as delivered:

We just did some important things here on the floor. Of course we passed the CR in front of the government. Thanks to the House Republicans’ leadership and the foresight back in July, we began the necessary processes to ensure that the government would not be shut down. We are not going to have our troops in harm’s way without getting paychecks. We’re not going to have the Coast Guard, TSA, other essential functions of the government shut down, as the Democrats in Congress engineered already three times in this Congress. They engineered the longest shutdown in U.S. history and then beat their own record in this Congress. For about 120 calendar days, they shut the government down.

We’re not going to do that. So, House Republicans are in charge here and we’re continuing to do the grown-up thing and make sure we get the job done. And we’re happy that we just passed that continuing resolution to fund the government through early December. And we will continue through the process after the election. I wish we could get everybody to work faster and sooner if that’s where we are. But there will be no government shutdown. You can thank Republicans for our leadership in getting that done. We will continue now. The rule has passed. Many of you thought that would not happen today, but we passed the rule to continue business this week. Republicans are here to work. We have a lot more left to do. We’re going to keep demonstrating to the American people every day that their priorities are our priorities.

We have very important legislation tomorrow. I’ll highlight one of those. We are going to bring a constitutional amendment. It is a bill to amend the U.S. Constitution to ensure that the U.S. Supreme Court remains composed of only nine justices. We will keep the nine. Now you’ve heard the Democrat Socialists of America, the communists, socialists and Democrat Party who are taking the party over. They published their platform. You know, they want to abolish the border. They want to abolish prisons, defund police. One of their objectives among all the crazy things is they want to pack the U.S. Supreme Court. We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen. So, we’re going to put that bill on the floor tomorrow on suspension because it requires a two-thirds vote of both chambers of Congress to amend the Constitution and we will have them put their money where their mouth is.

There’s a couple of Democrats here in the House who have suggested that they’re not on board with the Democrat Socialists of America, just a few. They’re going to get a chance to show us tomorrow. We’re going to see where they are on packing the Supreme Court. I think it’s a critically important thing for the country. Nine justices has worked well. My background’s in constitutional law and litigation. We know that the nine justices of the Supreme Court has been the model that has served this country for many, many years, and it does not need to change. If we go down the road of packing the Supreme Court, it turns into a political palooza and it would not serve the country. So, we look forward to that. We will continue to continue the agenda here and doing our work.

We are putting points on the board for hardworking families, while Democrats are playing politics.

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

WASHINGTON – The Republican-led Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement today held yet another hearing on sanctuary jurisdictions in advance of the November midterm elections. Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, questioned witnesses about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ accountability after killings in Minnesota and the competence of immigration policy leadership, and then focused on an incident over the weekend in Memphis.

In his remarks, he said in part:

“If we had better people running ICE what happened (in Minnesota) may not have occurred. We need experts – law enforcement experts – top notch people who know what they’re doing and can zero in on ‘the worst of the worst’ and get them off the streets and out of the country.”

Congressman Cohen said neither of Trump’s picks to run the Department of Homeland Security – Kristi Noem and Markwayne Mullin – were qualified.

He continued:

“Sanctuary cities are not the problem. Memphis is not a sanctuary city, but just this weekend we had the largest ICE raid in Memphis history. They picked up a hundred people out of a bar and took them and put them in buses at 2 o’clock in the morning. They claim they went to the bar, which is in a Hispanic neighborhood, because they had gambling going on…They took people out of the community. The Memphis mayor objected. I object. We don’t need the National Guard in Memphis. We don’t need ICE in Memphis. We need rational law enforcement and rational immigration (policy). We don’t have it.”

See his remarks here.

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

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today announced two grants totaling $1,441,914 to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) from the National Cancer Institute. One, for $1,052,689, will support research into the contribution of microbial-derived metabolites to protective immunity in obesity-driven cancer risk under the direction of Dr. Liza Makowski-Hayes. Her group will work to address the questions: how and to what extent are the underlying mechanisms of obesity-mediated increases in chronic inflammation related to an increase in cancer risk? A second grant, for $389,215 will support research into drug discovery for triple-negative breast cancer (absence or substantial lack of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and HER2), which accounts for 15-20 percent of breast cancers, under the direction of Dr. Michio Kurosu.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

“I am always pleased to see these kinds of investment in the work of our University of Tennessee medical school. Cancer research saves lives. I commend both Drs. Makowski-Hayes and Kurosu for undertaking this work.”

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II (5th District Missouri)

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) voted in favor of a Continuing Resolution that maintains funding for federal programs through December 11. The bipartisan legislation was passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 370-48, averting another government shutdown under Republican leadership.

“Government shutdowns are deeply harmful to Missouri families and workers across our congressional district. Thankfully, after overseeing the longest government shutdown in history last year, Republicans in the House, Senate, and White House have agreed to work with Democrats on legislation that will keep the government funded, workers paid, and programs running for Americans nationwide,” said Congressman Cleaver.

“I was proud to vote for today’s Continuing Resolution that will maintain current funding levels while allowing lawmakers to continue the important work of crafting a comprehensive, bipartisan budget that will help lower costs for families and meet the needs of the American people in every community,” Congressman Cleaver concluded.

 

Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee’s Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Greenwood, Blue Springs, North Kansas City, Gladstone, and Claycomo. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee and Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jim Costa Representing 16th District of California

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Jim Costa (CA-21) took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to recognize 70 Central Valley veterans visiting Washington, D.C. as part of the Central Valley Honor Flight.
The Central Valley Honor Flight brings veterans from across the San Joaquin Valley to the nation’s capital to visit the memorials dedicated to their service and sacrifice. Costa paid tribute to the veterans for their service to our country and the sacrifices they and their families have made.
“As our nation marks 250 years of American democracy, we are reminded that the freedoms we enjoy have been protected by generations of brave men and women who put country before self,” saidCongressmanCosta. “Our veterans answered the call to serve, and we will never forget those who made the ultimate sacrifice. To the veterans here today, thank you for your service to our country, and to your families, thank you for the sacrifices you have made alongside them. A grateful nation can never say thank you enough.”
Costa met with the veterans and their guardians during their visit to Washington, thanking the veterans for their service and recognizing the guardians who accompanied them on this special trip.
To view photos from the trip, click HERE.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif)

Washington, D.C. – United States Representative Jimmy Panetta (CA-19) announced $635,900 in federal grant funding for the City of Monterey to assess the resilience of infrastructure supporting the community and two local military installations. The funding, awarded through the Department of Defense’s Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation’s Installation Readiness Program, will support an 18-month Military Installation Readiness Review.

This grant follows Rep. Panetta’s successful inclusion of a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2026 directing the Pentagon to assess the resiliency of United States military installations and their surrounding communal capabilities to collaboratively confront a variety of threats, including weather disasters and cyberattacks. 

“When the City of Monterey and our military installations prepare together, they make our entire region safer and our national defense stronger,” said Rep. Panetta. “That’s why I pushed to include a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act that helped secure $635,900 for Monterey to assess the resilience of infrastructure supporting both our community and local military installations. This review will help identify vulnerabilities, strengthen coordination, and lay the groundwork for future investments that support public safety and military readiness.”

The review, which will conclude in January 2028, will examine potential vulnerabilities in energy, water and wastewater, transportation and evacuation, and communications infrastructure supporting U.S. Army Garrison Presidio of Monterey and Naval Support Activity Monterey. It will assess how extended power outages, cyberattacks, major natural disasters, and other emergencies could disrupt essential services, and identify opportunities for the City, military installations, and infrastructure providers to coordinate their response, integrate shared assets, and sustain critical activities that keep the local community and military families safe.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Ben Cline (VA-06)

ROANOKE, VA – On Friday, Congressman Ben Cline, joined by Small Business Administration (SBA) Deputy Administrator Bill Briggs, participated in a roundtable and resource fair to hear directly from small business owners about the challenges they face.

Following the event, Congressman Cline and Deputy Administrator Briggs toured Butler Parachute Systems where they saw the cutting-edge technology manufactured at its Roanoke facility.

Quote Attributable to Congressman Cline:

“Small businesses are the heartbeat of our Nation and our communities, and it’s critical to America’s economic success that we continue to advance policies that make it easier for entrepreneurs to do business,” said Rep Cline. “From discussing how small businesses have benefited from the Working Families Tax Cuts to addressing obstacles like access to capital, burdensome regulations, and infrastructure, conversations like this help to inform my goals and decisions in Washington. It was a privilege to join SBA Deputy Administrator Briggs and Visa to hear firsthand about the challenges and triumphs of Sixth District business owners.” 

Quote Attributable to SBA Deputy Administrator Bill Briggs:

“Under President Trump, SBA is committed to supporting local businesses like Butler Parachute Systems that are a critical part of the defense industrial base. SBA’s loan programs are designed to help growing manufacturers like Butler Parachute Systems invest, hire, and grow. I’m grateful for the opportunity to see their excellent products in person alongside Congressman Cline, whose support for these programs makes it all possible,” said Deputy Administrator Briggs. 

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jim Baird (R-IN-04)

Congressman Jim Baird (IN-04) released the following statement on voting for H.R. 6500 a continuing resolution (CR), to fund the federal government, continue paying federal employees, and avoid a harmful government shutdown.

“The American people deserve a government that functions without interruption,” said Rep. Baird. “Congress must responsibly address spending while keeping the government open, allowing essential federal personnel to keep working. This continuing resolution gives Americans stability and certainty through our election cycle, while allowing Congress to continue toward responsible, long-term funding.”

Congressman Baird also commented on Section 2019 of the CR which extends the current federal definition of hemp until December 11, 2026.

“I am proud to also see a priority of mine included in this CR,” continued Rep. Baird. “This short extension of the current hemp definition will provide Congress and farmers the time needed to develop a long-term solution. Producers deserve as much certainty as possible in deciding what to plant. Farmers should have the freedom to plant the crops that best serve their operations and profits.”

H.R. 6500 will extend federal funding until December 11, 2026.