January 13, 2025
Confirmation hearing rundown, stopping tools for deportation, Black Voters Matter, and more!
OFF TO THE RACES WITH CONFIRMATION HEARINGS
We still have a few days before Inauguration Day, but this will be a significant week for Trump's cabinet. The Senate will begin hearings for the first wave of his nominees with an eye towards starting to confirm some as soon as Inauguration Day. Most are likely to be approved, but several who we might be able to defeat will be subject to scrutiny. For others this is an opportunity to highlight and build opposition to policies we will be working to block in the months ahead. Let's take this moment to let our senators on the committees holding these hearings know we want them to vigorously hold the nominees to account in ways that will draw public attention, and spotlight for them what we’d like to see them make noise about.
ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Will hold a hearing on Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Defense Secretary Tuesday morning.
Hegseth’s confirmation will be deeply contested, and Senator Warren has identified a whole host of questions about the accusations of rape and sexual harassment against him, reports of alcohol abuse when working, his extremist ties, his disrespect for women and LGBTQ+ Americans in uniform, and his documented view that many Americans are enemies of the state our senators should get him on record answering before the public.
VETERANS’ AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: Will hold a hearing on Doug Collins’ nomination for Secretary of Veterans Affairs Tuesday morning.
See below for more on Collins.
ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE: Will hold a hearing on Doug Burgum’s nomination to be Secretary of Interior Tuesday and Chris Wright’s nomination to be Secretary of Energy Wednesday.
Let’s ask our senators to highlight their climate change skepticism, their ties to the fossil fuel industry their policies will benefit, and their plans to hinder the growth of green jobs.
HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: Will hold a hearing on Kristi Noem’s nomination as Secretary of Homeland Security and Russ Vought’s nomination to be director of the Office of Management and Budget Wednesday.
Let’s make sure our senators press Noem hard on how she intends to execute Trump’s plans for mass deportation and what if anything she will do about the growing threat of right-wing terror.
See below for more on Vought.
FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Will hold a hearing on Marco Rubio’s nomination as Secretary of State Wednesday.
Let’s continuing urging them to press on Trump’s saber-rattling against Canada, Greenland, Panama and Mexico, along with how the administration intends to address Iran’s nuclear program and Russian’s invasion of Ukraine.
INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Will hold a hearing on John Ratcliffe’s nomination for director of the CIA Wednesday.
Let’s encourage our senators to draw out Ratcliffe’s history of politicizing intelligence.
COMMERCE COMMITTEE: Will hold a hearing on Sean Duffy’s nomination for Secretary of Transportation Wednesday.
Let’s take this moment to highlight the Biden Administration’s work on addressing some of the biggest consumer complaints against the airline industry and get Duffy, a former airline industry lobbyist, on record on the Trump administration’s plans to roll their protections back.
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Will hold a hearing on Pam Bondi’s nomination for Attorney General Wednesday and Thursday.
ENERGY AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE: Will hold a hearing on Lee Zeldin’s nomination to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Thursday.
With the country suffering from yet another climate disaster, this is an important moment for senators to make clear the human and economic price our country will pay for Trump’s climate change denial.
BANKING, HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: Will hold a hearing on Scott Turner’s nomination to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Thursday.
FINANCE COMMITTEE: Will hold a hearing on Scott Bessent’s nomination to be Secretary of the Treasury Thursday.
One of the biggest fights of the year ahead will be about Trump’s tax scam to benefit billionaires, and the hearings on Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager, provide an opportunity to talk about how they’ll help the wealthy at the expense of working folks.
PROJECT 2025 AUTHOR WANTS A PRESIDENT WHO IGNORES LIMITS ON POWER
After all of Trump’s complaints about how unfair it was to claim Project 2025 was his agenda, he quickly revealed his plans to staff his administration with its authors, led by his designee for director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought. This is a powerful job that often goes unnoticed, and Vought is expected to be one of the leading voices of the Trump agenda. His plans would do immense damage to checks and balances, the effectiveness of the federal government, and our democracy as a whole. He champions the use of the Nixonian tactic of impoundment, in which the President unilaterally refuses to spend funds appropriated by Congress, enabling Trump to block programs as he chooses. In Trump’s first term, Vought helped come up with the idea of using emergency powers to build the wall after Congress refused to allocate money, and his approval of Trump not directing funds to Ukraine led to his first impeachment. He was also a key architect of Schedule F, the executive order changing thousands of federal jobs from career civil service to political appointees – allowing Trump to purge federal workers focused on public service and replace them with political loyalists who will do his bidding regardless of the law. Vought aims to supplement this plan by putting civil servants “in trauma” to convince them to quit. He’s proposed bringing independent agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and even the Federal Reserve under direct control of the White House. These moves are hard to sum up in a headline, but would be an enormous expansion of executive authority – a presidency that ignores all limits on its power, the kind the Founding Fathers feared. And some of his ideas are even more ominous – he has laid out plans to use the military against protests like those after the murder of George Floyd. Let’s reach out to our senators if they’re on the Homeland Security Committee and ask them to use his hearing Wednesday to ensure their colleagues, the media and the voters grasp the full dangers of Vought’s schemes, and ensure that all of them know we expect them to vote no. (We can also considering joining the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center for a briefing on impoundment and what it will mean for working families tomorrow at 2PM here.)
WILL TRUMP SELL OUT OUR VETERANS TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER?
Former right-wing Georgia Congressman Doug Collins, who is set to receive a hearing on his nomination to lead the Veterans Affairs Department tomorrow, is a Trump loyalist to the core and earned himself plenty of attention defending him during his first impeachment proceedings. That may be enough for Trump, who has made his contempt for our armed services clear, but the American people deserve to know what Collins’ plans are for our veterans before handing him the job. Trump and his allies have pushed increasing privatization of VA health care, outsourcing its work, and reducing the VA workforce during the campaign. Since the election, Elon Musk has suggested targeting “unauthorized federal spending” for cuts, a category that includes VA medical services. Collins himself has endorsed greater privatization. And Project 2025 pushed for politicizing the VA civil service and cutting disability benefits for our veterans. This hearing is a chance for the Senate to call out these threats to the benefits our men and women in uniform earned and clearly establish that they are on the agenda if Collins is confirmed. Let’s reach out to our senators, especially those on the Veterans Affairs Committee, and urge them to demand real answers on the Trump-Collins privatization agenda for the VA and just how many promises to veterans they intend to break to free up money for billionaire tax cuts.
A DANGEROUS NEW TOOL FOR THE DEPORTATION MACHINE
Republicans are making rapid progress on the immigrant-bashing H.R. 29/S.5. 48 Democrats joined them to pass it in the House last week, and the Senate voted to open debate 84-9. These are ominous signs of Democratic surrender to the Republican anti-immigrant narrative on a very bad bill. The measure exploits the tragic murder of Laken Riley to require Homeland Security detain undocumented immigrants charged – not convicted – of minor crimes like larceny or shoplifting. Where current law already gives DHS the authority to detain any undocumented person facing deportation proceedings, including those charged with crimes, this would make it mandatory and allow no bond, for folks who unlike the incoming president have not been found guilty of a thing. This abandonment of due process would punish the innocent and juveniles who commit minor infractions and separate them from their families, along with reinforcing the lie that undocumented immigrants are more likely to be criminals than the rest of the population. It is also written broadly enough that it could sweep up Dreamers, refugees, and immigrants who leave and reenter the country while awaiting a green card. It would require the detention of a huge number of additional people without providing the billions of dollars necessary to do so, possibly prioritizing locking up the innocent at the expense of tracking down those who are genuinely violent. Even more dangerously, the bill also goes on to expand the power of state attorneys general to sue the federal government over immigration non-enforcement, allowing Republican extremists and right-wing judges to attempt to veto law enforcement decisions on individuals and set immigration policy for the country no matter who is in the White House. They could use this to block deferred action that protects Dreamers, and force total visa bans for any country that does not receive deportations from the U.S. – in other words, a legal immigration shutdown which could already be applied to China or India. Some of the Democrats who voted to open debate have said they will not vote yes for the bill as written and will seek to amend it, but it is frankly unsalvageable, and we could see a final vote as soon as today. Let’s reach out to our senators, especially if they voted to open debate, and urge them to say no – we can text DEFEND to 82623 to get instructions and scripts from the ACLU to do so. And if we haven’t already contacted our House members with feedback about their votes, let’s be sure to do so.
TRACKING OUR STATE LEGISLATURES
22 states started their 2025 legislative sessions last week, and over the next three days 15 more will join them. The activities of the U.S. Congress get more coverage, but so much of the governing that matters to us happens more locally - and goes relatively under the radar. Let's check out the link to see our state or territory's legislative schedule, find their website and bookmark it so we can follow their work, and if we haven't already use this site to identify who our legislators are and put them in our phones for easy contact. (And as we track, let's keep an eye out for possible submissions for future Rogan's List issues! We have readers in all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and suggested actions can be sent to roganslisttips@gmail.com.)
INTRO TO THE BLACK VOTERS MATTER POWER BUILDING TEAM
Black Voters Matter is looking for volunteers to work on voter engagement, voting rights, and building permanent, progressive power in Black communities. Let’s learn what we can do to help by signing up for “Intro to the Power Building Team,” a virtual event to be held TOMORROW, January 14th from 5-6:15pm Eastern.
We must block this administration and reform our party. https://open.substack.com/pub/hotbuttons/p/reform-the-democratic-party?r=3m1bs&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Rogan has been hit in the head way too many times
Brain Damaged no fixing it,
Laughably destroyed. Poof