Everybody has the right to beautiful, radiant things

PRESENTED BY THE BLACKBIRD’S TONGUE

As you can see from the list of hearings below, it’s already been a very busy morning on Capitol Hill. House Republicans started marking up their last-minute budget resolution, which plans $2 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and food stamps and $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for corporations and billionaires (not to mention, of course, eliminating all clean-energy and climate funds). The Senate Judiciary Republicans supported the violent insurrectionist Kash Patel to be FBI Director. Senate Republicans confirmed the deadly conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, with the deposed turtle Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) joining all Democrats in opposition to our new polio worm lord. Federal workers opposing DOGE are organizing a kid-friendly rally in defense of HHS tomorrow morning.

Minutes after the RFK vote, in an act of astounding moral cowardice, 19 Senate Democrats joined Republicans to back the racist, climate denier, mass-deporter Brooke Rollins as Secretary of Agriculture, in a 72-28 vote.

I could keep going, but I’m just going to give you all the links to today’s hearings below, because I want to remind you about this afternoon’s dance party to celebrate trans and queer artists attacked by Donald Trump, who has installed himself in charge of the Kennedy Center to “make it hot” instead of “wokey.”

And if you’re not in D.C., reach out and support your trans and queer community—let’s keep the party going. In the words of Emma Goldman, who was once told “it did not behoove an agitator to dance”:

In DC, there’s also a Love DC: Dump Trump rally at Black Lives Matter Plaza at noon tomorrow, and a mass protest at the U.S. Capitol on President’s Day at noon, part of a nationwide movement of No Kings on Presidents Day rallies.

Hearings on the Hill:

• 8:30 AM: House Foreign Affairs Committee
  USAID

• 9 AM: Senate Judiciary Committee
  Vote on the Nomination of Kash Patel to be Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation

• 9:30 AM: Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee
  Perspectives from the field: farmer and rancher views on the agricultural economy (Part 2)

• 9:30 AM: Senate Armed Services Committee
  The Posture of U.S. Northern and Southern Command

• 10 AM: Senate Budget Committee
  Markup of Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Resolution - Day 2

• 10 AM: House Budget Committee
  Markup of the 2025 Fiscal Year Budget Resolution

• 10 AM: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
  Nomination of Linda McMahon to serve as Secretary of Education

• 10 AM: Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
  U.S. Foreign Aid

Climate Action Today:

• 12 PM: Metro DC DSA
  No Ban on Gender-Affirming Care For Trans Youth: Demand DC Attorney General Uphold Trans Rights & DC Law

• 6:30 PM: Free DC
  Trans & Queer Dance Party and Protest: Kennedy Center Drag Show

Climate Action Tomorrow, Valentine’s Day:

• 8 AM: Fork Off Coalition
  Stand With Federal Workers Against DOGE and RFK Jr at the Department of Health and Human Services

• 12 PM: Free DC
  Love DC: Dump Trump

Climate Action Monday, President’s Day:

• 12 PM: 50-50-1
  No Kings on President's Day Protest

Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. If you’ve got job listings, event listings, or other hot news, I want to hear it. Connect with me—@[email protected], @climatebrad on Threads, and @climatebrad.hillheat.com on BlueSky.