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DC Download - March 24, 2025

Congress is back in session amid new attacks on immigrants and education from the Trump Administration. The Senate has teed up several nomination votes, while the House focuses on reversing Biden Administration efforts to conserve energy. Plus, the National Transportation Safety Board chair will testify before Congress on January’s tragic D.C. plane crash.

We’ve got the breakdown for you below.

Table of Contents:

Rather than abolishing the Department of Education, we should be strengthening and reforming it to continue investing in programs that make a tangible difference in children’s lives, like Massachusetts’ universal school meals. Thanks to a broad coalition effort and innovative funding through the Fair Share Amendment, the commonwealth has ensured every student has access to free breakfast and lunch, reducing food insecurity, improving students’ outcomes, and alleviating financial burdens on families. Massachusetts’ success is a model for what’s possible when we prioritize kids over cuts.

House Floor

The House will vote on eight suspension bills from Committees on Ways and Means, Oversight and Reform, and Transportation and Infrastructure. Suspension bills require a ⅔ majority to pass. For a list of all suspension bills being considered, click here.

This week the House will also consider the following bills, subject to a rule:

H.R. 1048 – DETERRENT Act (Sponsored by Rep. Baumgartner / Education and Workforce Committee) This legislation lowers the dollar threshold for colleges and universities to disclose foreign gifts and contracts and prohibits them from entering into contracts with foreign countries or entities of concern unless the Department of Education grants a waiver. The bill imposes fines on or revokes funding from any institution that fails to meet the new requirements. An institution found to be in violation of the bill’s requirements after receiving three separate civil actions would be ineligible to participate in federal student aid programs for at least two years, and would have to demonstrate compliance with all requirements for at least two additional years to regain eligibility.

H.J. Res. 75 – (Sponsored by Rep. Craig Goldman/Energy and Commerce) This legislation repeals a Department of Energy rule from the Biden Administration requiring commercial refrigeration equipment to include new technologies to reduce energy usage.

H.J. Res. 24 – (Sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Bice/Energy and Commerce) This legislation repeals a Department of Energy rule from the Biden Administration requiring refrigeration companies to implement energy-reducing technologies for walk-in refrigeration systems.

House Committee Highlights

A full list of this week’s hearings and markups can be found here. Notable hearings and markups include:

Monday Hearings

Closing the Data Gap: Improving Interoperability Between VA and Community Providers (Committee on Veterans’ Affairs)

Tuesday Hearings

Republican Hearing on the Border (Committee on Homeland Security)

Beyond Silicon Valley: Expanding Access to Capital Across America (Committee on Financial Services)

The CFTC at 50: Examining the Past and Future of Commodity Markets (Committee on Agriculture)

Legislative Markup (Committee on Oversight and Government Reform)

The committee will consider a number of bills, including H.R. 1295 - the Reorganizing Government Act

Republican Hearing on Consolidating State Department Administrative Services (Committee on Foreign Affairs)

Keeping the Lights On: Examining the State of Regional Grid Reliability (Committee on Energy and Commerce)

The Future of Wage Laws: Assessing the FLSA's Effectiveness, Challenges, and Opportunities (Committee on Education and Workforce)

American Trade Negotiation Priorities (Committee on Ways and Means)

Legislative Markup (Committee on Natural Resources)

The committee will consider a number of bills, including H.R.276 - the Gulf of America Act

Legislative Markup (not posted) (Committee on the Judiciary)

The committee will consider a number of bills, including H.R. 38 - Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act

Wednesday Hearings

Oversight Hearing – National Transportation Safety Board (Committee on Appropriations)

Jennifer Homendy, Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, is testifying

To the Depths, and Beyond: Examining Blue Economy Technologies (Committee on Science, Space, and Technology)

Annual Worldwide Threats Assessment Open Hearing (Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence)

Testifying Witnesses:

Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence
John Ratcliffe, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Kash Patel, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations
General Timothy Haugh, Director of the National Security Agency
Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency

Republican Hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Board (Committee on Financial Services)

Anti-American Airwaves: Accountability for the Heads of NPR and PBS (Committee on Oversight and Government Reform)

The World Wild Web: Examining Harms Online (Committee on Energy and Commerce)

Nominations

The Senate this week has teed up votes on the following nominees:

Elise Stefanik, to be U.S. Ambassador to the UN
Jonathan McKernan, to be Director, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
John Phelan, to be Secretary of the Navy
Mark Meador, to be a Federal Trade Commissioner
Michael Kratsios, to be Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy
James Bishop, to be Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Matthew Whitaker, to be U.S. Ambassador to NATO
Christopher Landau, to be Deputy Secretary of State
Michael Rigas, to be Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources
Paul Lawrence, to be Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Jayanta Bhattacharya, to be Director of the National Institutes of Health
Martin Makary, to be Commissioner of Food and Drugs
Dean Sauer, to be Solicitor General of the United States
Harmeet Dhillon, to be an Assistant Attorney General
Aaron Reitz, to be an Assistant Attorney General
David Fotouhi, to be Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Aaron Szabo, to be an Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Michael Faulkender, to be Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
Catherine Hanson, to be Chief Financial Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency

Senate Committee Highlights

Tuesday Hearings

Nomination of Mehmet Oz, to be Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (Finance)

Nomination of Frank Bisignano, to be Commissioner of Social Security Administration (Finance)

Nominations of Reed Rubinstein, Mike Huckabee, and Kevin Cabrera to be Legal Adviser of the Department of State, Ambassador to Israel, and Ambassador to Panama (Foreign Relations)

The Censorship Industrial Complex (Judiciary)

To receive testimony on harnessing artificial intelligence cyber capabilities (Armed Services)

Wednesday Hearings

Nominations of Brian Nesvik, Jessica Kramer, and Sean Donahue, to be Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and Assistant Administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency (Environment and Public Works)

Shared Threats: Indo-Pacific Alliances and Burden Sharing in Today’s Geopolitical Environment (Foreign Relations)

Nominations of William Briggs and Casey Mulligan, to be Deputy Administrator and Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration, and to Consider Pending Legislation (Small Business & Entrepreneurship)

Oversight and Testimony on the Status of Military Service Academies (Armed Services)

Thursday Hearings

Nominations of Dr. Troy Meink, Michael Duffey, Emil Michael, and Keith Bass, to be Secretary of the Air Force, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs (Armed Services)

Antisemitic Disruptions on Campus: Ensuring Safe Learning Environments for All Students (Health, Education, Labor & Pensions)

Nominations of Paul Atkins, Jonathan Gould, Luke Pettit, and Marcus Molinaro, to be Securities and Exchange Commission, Comptroller of the Currency at the Department of the Treasury, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and Federal Transit Administrator at the Department of Transportation (Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs)

NTSB Preliminary Report: The DCA Midair Collision (Commerce, Science, & Transportation)

Testifying Witnesses:

Jennifer Homendy, Chairman, National Transportation Safety Board
Chris Rocheleau, Acting Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration
Brigadier General Matthew Braman, Director, Army Aviation, United States Army

Nomination of Arielle Roth, to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information (Commerce, Science, & Transportation)

Trump’s Escalating War on Immigration

The Trump Administration is ramping up mass deportations, targeting immigrants with valid work permits and pending asylum cases without due process. Families are losing loved ones overnight and, in some cases, learning their whereabouts by spotting them in foreign prisons. The Administration’s policies are also fueling a migrant crisis in Latin America, as countries like Panama and Costa Rica struggle to handle the fallout. At the same time, the Administration is making it harder for immigrants to renew visas, stay legally in the U.S., or even fight their cases, creating massive backlogs at embassies and consulates. President Trump is also gutting a key protection for migrants—Temporary Protected Status (TPS)—which is being revoked for nearly a half-million people across multiple nationalities, stripping them of their work authorizations and deportation protections by April.

Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled against Trump’s attempt to invoke a centuries-old wartime law to deport alleged gang members without due process. The judge now faces calls for his impeachment. Last week, Chief Justice John Roberts stepped in to defend the judge, but this has not stopped at least one GOP member from filing articles of impeachment in the House.

More on this: As Trump Broadens Crackdown, Focus Expands to Legal Immigrants and Tourists (New York Times)

Education on the Chopping Block

Last week, Trump issued an Executive Order to end the Department of Education and dump student loans into the Small Business Administration—an agency with zero expertise in education. In doing so, the Administration identified its main target: students who rely on federal funding to access learning opportunities and borrowers who depend on federal programs for higher education. Student borrowers are already feeling the impact as income-driven repayment plans disappeared overnight, forcing them into skyrocketing monthly payments. But students aren’t the only ones in the administration’s crosshairs. Trump’s plan for the Department of Education could gut funding for Title I, which assists schools with low-income students; IDEA programs for students with learning disabilities; and teacher certification programs that help educators gain the skills they need in the classroom.

The Administration is also taking aim at higher education institutions, threatening to strip research funding from universities—an attack on scientific progress, innovation, and academic freedom. Professors and researchers are facing growing pressure, and universities like Columbia have caved in to comply with political mandates to regain funding. The Administration’s attacks on students, teachers, and researchers are facing significant legal and political pushback.

More on this:
What Does the Department of Education Actually Do? (TIME)