DC Legislative Update June 28 – July 2, 2021

Check here for the 2021 Senate Calendar
Check here for the 2021 House Calendar

Upcoming Congressional Hearings

•  House Appropriations Committee
• • Monday, June 28 at 5:30pm EST: “Markup of Fiscal Year 2022 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Appropriations ”
  • Tuesday, June 29 at 11am EST: “Markup of FY2022 Report on the Suballocation of Budget Allocations, Legislative Branch and Financial Services and General Government Appropriations ”
  • Wednesday, June 30 at 1pm EST: “Markup of FY2022 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations ”
• House Science, Space, and Technology Committee
  • Tuesday, June 29 at 10am EST: Hearing on “The State of Federal Wildland Fire Science: Examining Opportunities for Further Research and Coordination.”

• House Financial Services Committee
  • Tuesday, June 29 at 3pm EST: Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion hearing on “The Legacy of George Floyd: An Examination of Financial Services Industry Commitments to Economic and Racial Justice.”
  • Wednesday, June 30 at 2pm EST: Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions hearing on “Addressing Climate as a Systemic Risk: The Need to Build Resilience within Our Banking and Financial System.”
• House Energy and Commerce Committee
  • Tuesday, June 29 at 10:30am EST: Subcommittee on Energy hearing on “The Clean Future Act and Electric Transmission: Delivering Clean Power to the ”
  • Wednesday, June 30 at 10:30am EST: Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing on “A Safe Wireless Future: Securing our Networks and Supply “
• House Natural Resources Committee
  • Tuesday, June 29 at 1pm EST: Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Legislative Hearing on H.R. 1851, R. 1869, H.R. 3877, and H.R. 4099.
  • Wednesday, June 30 at 10am EST: Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing on “Toxic Coal Ash: Adverse Health Effects from the Puerto Rico Plant and Options for Plant ”
  • Wednesday, June 30 at 1pm EST: Committee on Natural Resources Office of Insular Affairs Legislative Hearing on H.R. 1317 and R. 1126.
• House Agriculture Committee
  • Wednesday, June 30 at 10am EST: Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research hearing on “Supply Chain Recovery and Resiliency: Small Producers and Local Agricultural ”
• House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis
  • Wednesday, June 30 at 2pm EST: Hearing titled “Transportation Investments for Solving the Climate Crisis.”

Congressional News

• Last week, the House voted to pass the methane CRA by 229-191. The purpose of this CRA is to reverse a rule made by the previous Administration that lifted methane pollution limits on new oil and See here for NWF’s newest factsheet on the consequences of methane pollution.
• A number of nominees were confirmed by the Senate last week, including Shannon Estenoz to be Assistant Secretary of Fish and Wildlife and Parks at the Department of the Interior by voice vote.
• The Senate passed the bipartisan “Growing Climate Solutions Act” last NWF has endorsed the legislation as it aims to help farmers, ranchers, and forest owners who participate in carbon markets.
• Senator Bennet [D-CO] introduced the Oil and Gas Bonding Reform and Orphaned Well Remediation This bill would clean up tens of thousands of orphaned wells while strengthening bonding requirements to ensure accountability in future cleanups. See here for NWF’s press release.

• Last Thursday, NWF’s Collin O’Mara testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on various infrastructure priorities and the need to “address the potential of harnessing nature and human innovation to mitigate and solve the growing climate crisis.” You can view the video of the hearing See here for NWF’s statement.
• On Tuesday, the Senate took a procedural vote on the For the People Act, a sweeping voting rights bill that would modernize our voting systems, bolster election security, and break down the barriers to voting faced by marginalized communities, climate and wildlife advocates, and Senators voted 50-50 on the legislation, which did not advance.

Administrative News

•  See here for White House resources, including a comprehensive list of Executive orders to address COVID, the climate crisis, and environmental justice, among other topics. Additionally, see here for the White House’s fact sheet in support of the $1.2 trillion Senate Bipartisan Infrastructure

What’s Happening This Week

• The Senate is in recess until July 12 and the House is in through Thursday. We anticipate this week there will be floor debate and a vote on the Invest in America Act, a $715 billion surface transportation bill, and other infrastructure bills from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the water focused pieces from the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
• This week, NWF’s Wildlife Team, affiliates (including Indiana Wildlife Federation), and partners will continue their virtual fly-in focused on R.2773, the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act of 2021. The fly-in has held, and anticipate more, meetings with Members of Congress and their staff to discuss the importance of the legislation and to urge cosponsorship of this essential bill.
• NWF sent its “National Policy Agenda for the 117th Congress” to Capitol Hill. While this isn’t an exhaustive list of all of our federal priorities, we think it provides an excellent picture of the critical work our policy team is undertaking in Congress and with the Administration. See here for the full document and please feel free to share this link (https://www.nwf.org/2021-national-policy- agenda) with a breakdown of the document on NWF’s website.