Media

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.

The recovery has just begun in Louisiana as thousands attempt to pick up the pieces from the historic flooding.

It’s the latest, but certainly not the last example of extreme weather events that will increase in frequency and severity due to climate change.

When I watch the news and see homes and businesses wrecked, an angry thought comes to mind. The fossil fuel industry saw it all coming.

The House of Representatives voted Monday to allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to again offer leases on its West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus, authority it needs before homes for disabled, female and homeless veterans can be built there.

The VA announced plans in January to develop the long-neglected 387-acre campus, the largest open parcel on the Westside. The development is part of the settlement of a lawsuit over substandard care of homeless veterans.

The US House of Representatives unanimously voted Sept. 9 to allow the families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to sue Riyadh in US court, defying President Barack Obama and an army of Saudi lobbyists. The voice vote follows similar action by the Senate in May and sends the bill to Obama, who now has to decide whether vetoing the popular bill is worth the political cost.