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The Week in Climate Hearings: Some light in the darkness
The final FY2026 minibus drops; the House GOP continue their assault on the Clean Air Act
Brad Johnson
January 20, 2026
Aurora borealis, Loch Calder, Scotland, on January 20, 2026. Credit: David Proudfoot
As the Trump regime careens with increasing violence and the tech-lords demand greater fealty to AI, the members of Congress who remember their oath to the Constitution have successfully negotiated the final set of fiscal year 2026 appropriations packages, namely Defense (a $839 billion behemoth); Homeland Security; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. The flickering light of Article I has not yet been extinguished.
The negotiated Homeland Security package—which has been pulled out from the other bills—is a significant improvement on the anything-goes status quo, but lacks critical provisions, including “preventing U.S. citizens from being detained or deported and preventing non-ICE personnel from conducting interior enforcement.” As lead Democratic House appropriator Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) explains:
“ICE must be reined in. There must be accountability for the countless abuses, acts of violence, and lawless behavior we have seen on our streets. The bill takes several steps in the right direction, such as cutting ICE enforcement and removal operations and reducing the number of detention beds, but it does not include broader reforms Democrats proposed.
“I understand that many of my Democratic colleagues may be dissatisfied with any bill that funds ICE. I share their frustration with the out-of-control agency. I encourage my colleagues to review the bill and determine what is best for their constituents and communities.
“The Homeland Security funding bill is more than just ICE. If we allow a lapse in funding, TSA agents will be forced to work without pay, FEMA assistance could be delayed, and the U.S. Coast Guard will be adversely affected. All while ICE continues functioning without any change in their operations due to $75 billion it received in the One Big [Brutal] Bill. A continuing resolution will jettison the guardrails we have secured while ceding authority to President Trump, Stephen Miller, and Secretary Noem.”
“The hard truth is that Democrats must win political power to enact the kind of accountability we need,” lead Democratic Senate appropriator Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said. “I will keep fighting to bring sanity, decency, and due process to immigration enforcement in America. If you believe that we should be putting more of our taxpayer dollars towards health care and that our immigration enforcement should be focused on actual criminals instead of tear-gassing American children, then we need to speak up again and again—and we must take our fight to the ballot box.”
To deserve the public's faith in their current negotiations, Democrats need to establish their public platform for action when they take control in 2027.
The minibus calls for a restored Centers for Disease Control, nine months after the institution was illegally gutted by Office of Management and Budget vizier Russ Vought and Elon Musk’s DOGE army. For example, the CDC National Center for Environmental Health is funded at $192 million, including $10 million for climate and health:
It is not clear whether House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La., no relation) will move the minibus forward under rules that require a simple majority or a two-thirds vote. Sixty votes will be required in the Senate when it reconvenes next week.
Hill Heat will continue to delve into the details of these packages, thanks to our paid subscribers. Join their ranks today and grow the movement:
With the Senate out this week, only the House is holding hearings.
Tuesday, January 20
At 3 pm, the House Rules Committee convenes to set up floor votes on
H.J. Res. 140 to revoke protections of wilderness near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters against mining and logging, and other bills
Wednesday, January 21
At 10:15am, the House Energy and Commerce Committee marks up a slew of anti-environmental bills, including bills to arbitrarily exclude air pollution from air quality standards if they come from foreign sources—H.R. 6409, Foreign Emissions and Nonattainment Clarification for Economic Stability (FENCES) Act—or from wildfires—H.R. 6387, Fire Improvement and Reforming Exceptional Events (FIRE) Act. H.R. 4218, the Clean Air and Economic Advancement Reform (CLEAR) Act, combines those two loopholes with several other provisions to weaken and delay Clean Air Act rulemaking. H.R. 4214, the deliberately misnamed Clean Air and Building Infrastructure Improvement Act, drastically limits pollution rules on construction projects. H.R. 161, the New Source Review Permitting Improvement Act, establishes a loophole to grandfather polluting operations from stricter pollution rules. H.R. 6373, the Air Permitting Improvements to Protect National Security Act, would establish a blanket loophole for industrial polluters and mining operations from air pollution standards if they are classifed either as “advanced manufacturing facilities” or “critical mineral facilities.” H.R. 6398, the Reducing and Eliminating Duplicative Environmental Regulations (RED Tape) Act, eliminates EPA review of federal projects separately covered by the National Environmental Policy Act. H.R. 2072 provides a subsidy to hydropower industry by allowing their construction permits to remain active for six years instead of two.
At 10 am, the House Foreign Affairs Committee holds a markup of a dozen bills, including H.R. 4368, to authorize the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative and improve coordination on climate disasters, H.R. 3307, in support of eastern Mediterranean electrical interconnection and natural gas projects, and other bills.
House Natural Resources subcommittees are holding two hearings on Wednesday.
In the morning, the Federal Lands subcommittee reviews the implementation of the bipartisan Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act, passed last year, with BLM assistant director Thomas Heinlein, U.S. Forest Service associate deputy chief Gordie Blum, and outdoor recreation advocates.
In the afternoon, the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee holds a hearing on international conservation efforts to combat wildlife trafficking, illegal fishing, and illegal logging, with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official Justin Shirley, trophy hunter Arturo Tomas Benavides, international organized crime expert R. Evan Ellis, Hawaiian fishing lobbyist Eric Kingma, and former wildlife-trafficking agent Ed Newcomer. The Trump regime is fighting the United Kingdom’s efforts to ban trophy hunting imports.
Thursday, January 22
The House Republican efforts to eliminate rules protecting public health and the planet continue.
At 10 am, the House Natural Resources Committee holds a markup of H.R. 4255, to remove endangered species protections from the Mexican Wolf, and other bills, and the House Financial Services Committee holds a markup of H.R. 7085, to eliminate conflict mineral disclosure requirements, and other bills.
And at 2 pm, the House Natural Resources Committee’s Energy and Mineral Resources subcommittee receives testimony from deep-sea miners in favor of eliminating protections against deep-sea mining. Deep-sea ecologist Andrew Thaler will be the only voice for protecting this last untrammeled ecosystem on the panel.
At 10:15 am, the House Education and Labor Committee’s Workforce Protections subcommittee examines the Mine Safety and Health Administration with MSHA chief Wayne Palmer, a former long-time staffer for the climate denier Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).
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