In the News
Last week, a bipartisan quarter of senators — Rand Paul, Chris Murphy, Al Franken, and Mike Lee — introduced a joint resolution to block the $1.15 billion sale of Abrams tanks and other major defense articles to Saudi Arabia in light of concerns about the kingdom’s actions in Yemen.
Santa Monica has been named one of seven winners of the 2016 RWJF Culture of Health Prize awarded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The Prize honors communities for their efforts to ensure all residents have the opportunity to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. Santa Monica Mayor Tony Vazquez joined City Manager Rick Cole, Assembly member Richard Bloom, Mobility Manager Francie Stefan and community members who played an active role in the application process at a press conference this week.
The Republican-led House Science Committee on Wednesday held an "unusual" hearing, alleged to have been "orchestrated on behalf of ExxonMobil" and criticized as an abuse of congressional power.
Legal experts say House within its authority to subpoena Exxon probe documents
Democrats call the subpoenas inappropriate and out of committee's jurisdiction
Sept. 14 (BNA) -- The House Science Committee was well within its purview to subpoena documents from attorneys general investigating whether Exxon Mobil Corp. lied to investors about the risks climate change poses to its business, legal experts said.
Rep. Lamar Smith argued on Wednesday that not only does his House Science committee have the authority to subpoena two state attorneys general investigating ExxonMobil, but a constitutional obligation to ensure that science isn't being undermined by such investigations.
But while the committee hearing was ostensibly to address the constitutional issues of Smith's subpoenas, it served as a showcase for scholarly disagreements and political divides.
The purpose of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology has never been less clear than it was on Wednesday, when it held a hearing to deliberate over whether the committee has the authority to subpoena environmental groups and state attorneys general over an ongoing investigation into alleged fraud by Exxon.
The committee’s understanding of the so-called #ExxonKnew investigation seemed to vary significantly.
Who can subpoena who? That’s the issue a House committee and attorneys debated today when it comes to potential climate change-related fraud.
The hearing centered on whether state attorneys general—who have subpoenaed Exxon Mobil Corp. to see if it lied to its investors about how climate change would affect its business—now must respond to House Science, Space and Technology Committee subpoenas into the climate investigation.
We were recently struck by a splashy new Exxon ad campaign designed to show off a surprising side of the oil and gas giant. The ads, which debuted during the Olympics, feature the smiling faces of Exxon scientists and engineers hard at work on algae-based biofuels, energy efficiency, and other tools to fight climate change.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) asserted Wednesday that he has a “constitutional obligation” in his controversial subpoenas of state attorneys general for the climate change-related investigations.
Smith, chairman of the House Science Committee, said at a hearing over the matter that as the House’s lead panel overseeing federal science programs, he is well within his rights and responsibilities.
“The committee has the power to issue these subpoenas and enforce their compliance,” Smith said at the hearing.
EXXON CLIMATE DRAMA REACHES CONGRESS: House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith will double down today at a hearing on his bid to subpoena state officials for records of their ongoing investigations into Exxon Mobil’s climate science activities. It's the latest phase in Smith’s quest to transform his once-sleepy committee into an energetic investigator of government activities.