January 17

This week in MORE POWER:

Trump Confirmations
Disaster Response Tracker
Coordinating Disaster Aid
Girls Sports Update
Inauguration Around the Corner

Trump Confirmations

Several of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees to lead federal agencies had their confirmation hearings this week in the Senate. Not all presidential nominees are subject to Senate confirmation hearings, but those attempting to get influential roles — such as heads of federal agencies and ambassadors — are.

This week, the Senate held 12 confirmation hearings, including Peter Hegseth for the role of secretary of defense, Doug Burgum for secretary of the interior, Kristi Noem for secretary of homeland security, Pamela Jo Bondi for attorney general, former Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to be secretary of state, Scott Bessent for treasury secretary, and John Ratcliffe for the head of the Central Intelligence Agency. A few of these confirmation hearings, such as Peter Hegseth’s, became extremely contentious. Hegseth was grilled over comments he made in the past, wherein he said that women should not serve in active combat positions in the U.S. armed forces, as well as the sexual assault allegations made against him.

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Disaster Response Tracker

The House passed a bill to promote accountability and transparency in federal disaster aid. The Post-Disaster Assistance Online Accountability Act would mandate that every federal agency that distributes disaster aid contribute to an online system that will track how the aid is used. Specifically, the agencies would report details about the aid they give, including the total amount provided, how it is spent, and specifics about the projects or activities funded. This information would then be made available to the public. Federal agencies would not have to report on aid distributed to individuals — rather, another other recipient, including states. This bill is going to the Senate.

Coordinating Disaster Aid

The House passed a bill to improve the efficiency of disaster response by streamlining the collection of information on damages after a disaster. If this bill, the Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act, became law, the Federal Emergency Management Agency would work with other federal agencies to study how to make the information collection process for disaster assistance applicants less burdensome and more efficient. Additionally, this bill would create a group to explore whether a single federal agency could handle all assessments and evaluate the usefulness of emerging technologies, like drones. These findings would be compiled into a report, submitted to Congress and made publicly available. This bill is going to the Senate.

Girls Sports Update

The House passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which restricts participation in school sports teams designated for women and girls to individuals assigned female at birth. This bill would prevent transgender girls from joining girls' sports teams in schools. It also mandates a report evaluating the potential impact on female athletes if individuals assigned male at birth compete in women’s sports. This bill has already been labelled unconstitutional by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Supporters of the bill say that these restrictions are necessary to protect female athletes. The bill is headed to the Senate.

Inauguration Around the Corner

President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated on Monday, Jan. 20, marking the end of the electoral process that began with the 2024 presidential election. Earlier this month, Congress officially certified the results of the election, affirming Trump's victory after the Electoral College cast their votes. This leaves the Inauguration Day ceremony, where Trump will take an oath of office, wherein he swears to “preserve, protect and defend” the U.S. Constitution. Once the ceremony is complete, Trump will be the 47th president of the U.S.

Inauguration marks the official peaceful transfer of power. The only time the U.S. failed to have a peaceful transfer of power was on Jan. 6, 2021, where a violent mob of protestors interrupted Congress as it tried to certify the 2020 election results, when President Biden won the election over President Trump.

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