by | Apr 8, 2025 | The Hill
While President Trump has pledged to be a friend to the fossil fuel industry and taken steps intended to bolster it, several of his recent moves have garnered pushback from oil, gas and coal executives.
In a recent anonymous survey, oil and gas companies expressed that Trump was creating “uncertainty” and pushed back against his tariff efforts.
Meanwhile, the coal industry has said Trump’s proposed port fees on Chinese ships make exports difficult.
The discord underscores the tension between Trump’s “America first” agenda and his promise to bolster the fossil fuel industry.
“Firms do not like economic uncertainty,” said Christopher Knittel, a professor of applied economics and dean for climate and sustainability at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“The ‘drill baby drill’ goal is not coming into fruition because of all this economic uncertainty,” he said.
Last week, Trump announced tariffs on nearly every country in the world —
and
. Oil prices have dropped amid the fallout, with U.S. benchmark WTI down to about $61 per barrel on Monday afternoon from as high as nearly $72 per barrel a week ago.
And while a leading oil lobbying group
for excluding oil and gas commodities from the tariffs, other players in the industry have criticized the uncertainty they could cause overall.
A few days before the import taxes were officially announced, the
published an anonymous survey of oil and gas companies that warned the Trump administration’s anticipated action was causing an issue.
“The administration’s chaos is a disaster for the commodity markets,” one company said in the survey “‘Drill, baby, drill’ is nothing short of a myth and populist rallying cry. Tariff policy is impossible for us to predict and doesn’t have a clear goal. We want more stability.”
“I have never felt more uncertainty about our business in my entire 40-plus-year career,” said another.
“The administration’s tariffs immediately increased the cost of our casing and tubing by 25 percent even though inventory costs our pipe brokers less,” said a third. “The threat of $50 oil prices by the administration has caused our firm to reduce its 2025 and 2026 capital expenditures.”
The Trump administration has made moves to bolster the fossil fuel industry, too, seeking to speed up approvals for oil, gas and coal and boost production on federal lands.
It has vowed to demolish Biden-era regulations that constrained the fossil fuel industry, including by targeting gas-powered cars and coal plants, opening up new lands and water for drilling and issuing executive orders that aim to lift restrictions on coal mining on public lands.
Asked about the criticism, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers pointed to Trump’s recent meeting with oil executives.
“For the first time in four years, representatives of the oil and gas industry were welcomed back to the White House. President Trump reaffirmed his commitment to restore America’s energy dominance and drill, baby, drill,” Rogers said.
Tariffs did not come up during that meeting, according to a White House official.
Prior to the worldwide tariffs, the Trump administration also put separate import taxes on Canada and Mexico, which did include oil.
Thomas Rowlands-Rees, head of North America Research at BloombergNEF, noted those tariffs may also complicate the picture for U.S. industry — as American refiners have historically relied on Canadian crude.
“When it comes to the oil industry, there’s a little bit of an ecosystem between neighboring countries, and so taking a step towards isolationism, sort of cuts off parts of [that] ecosystem from each other,” Rowlands-Rees said.
A separate — but similarly protectionist — issue is rankling the coal industry: a
.
In its comments on the proposal, the National Mining Association said that several coal companies have reported “the loss of nearly all their export orders for the remainder of the year due to uncertainty surrounding the proposed action’s service fee.”
“As a result, companies must now reassess their current contract demand and production levels, which may lead to significant cutbacks or even closures at their mines,” the trade group said. “If these operators eliminate service to the U.S. to avoid fees, there will be an insufficient number of vessels remaining to meet U.S. export and import demands, including U.S. coal exports.”
Meanwhile, the United Mine Workers of America, a union representing coal workers, recently described the action in a press release as being part of a broader “war on coal miners.”
“This proposal will add such significant costs to exported coal as to make it uncompetitive in the global marketplace. Mines will close and thousands will be laid off,” said Cecil Roberts, the union’s international president, in a written statement.
In new executive orders on Tuesday, the White House did direct the administration to “take all necessary and appropriate actions to promote and identify export opportunities for coal and coal technologies and facilitate international offtake agreements for United States coal.” It’s not immediately clear whether that order or other Trump policy would lead to a change the port fee proposal.
While some Trump moves may be harming the fossil fuel industry, they may not necessarily help the climate, since the tariffs in particular also impact low-carbon technologies like solar, wind and batteries.
“The way I see this is those technologies in America get a lot more expensive,” Rowlands-Rees said. “Maybe oil will get more expensive. Maybe gasoline will get a bit more expensive, but the alternatives will be getting expensive too, and probably more so.”
However, Knittel, with MIT, noted that if there’s a recession, that may come with some emissions reductions.
“A recession by definition is a reduction in economic activity. And one of those main economic activities is consumption of energy,” he said. “Recessions historically have meant less energy is being consumed …When we have a drop in economic activity, we often have a drop in greenhouse gas emissions as well.”
by | Apr 8, 2025 | The Hill
Fannie Mae said Tuesday it had fired over 100 employees for unethical conduct.
“Since my swearing-in, we fired over 100 employees from Fannie Mae who we caught engaging in unethical conduct, including facilitating fraud, against our great company,” said William J. Pulte, chairman of the Board of Directors of Fannie Mae in a
.
“Anyone who commits fraud against Fannie Mae does so against the American people,” he added.
In his Tuesday statement, the chairman said under the Trump administration there would be no room for fraud, mortgage fraud or “any other deceitful act that can jeopardize the safety and soundness of the housing industry.”
Pulte was sworn in on March 14 after being appointed by President Trump.
Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almodovar praised the move.
“I would like to thank Director Pulte for his empowering of Fannie Mae to root out unethical conduct, including anyone facilitating fraud,” Almodovar said.
“We hold our employees to the highest standards, and we will continue to do so.”
Further details on the firings were not revealed. However, Pulte did note that the agency reduced 25 percent of staff as ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“We exceeded DOGE’s expectations at U.S. Federal Housing (FHFA), with an over 25 percent reduction in the Agency’s active workforce,” he wrote in a
on X.
“We’re consolidating divisions to focus on building more homes and strengthening safety and soundness.”
by | Apr 8, 2025 | The Hill
The United States criticized China after Ukraine announced it had caught two Chinese nationals fighting alongside Russian forces.
“It’s disturbing with the Chinese soldiers having been captured,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce
Tuesday. “We’re aware of those reports.”
“China is a major enabler of Russia in the war in Ukraine. China provides nearly 80 percent of the dual-use items Russia needs to sustain the war,” she continued.
Bruce noted that President Trump maintains that continued cooperation between Russia and China will only further “contribute to global instability.”
Her comments come after Ukrainian President
announced earlier in the day that his country’s military captured two Chinese men fighting in Ukraine with the Russian army, The Associated Press
.
Zelensky said it was believed there were “significantly more” Chinese nationals within the Russian forces.
There was no immediate response from Chinese officials, but the Ukrainian Foreign Minister is demanding an explanation
The reported capture marks the latest development in the more than two-year war between Russia and Ukraine. The Trump administration is looking to end the conflict, but has
in getting both countries to agree to a ceasefire deal.
It also comes as Trump is
on China, and as Chinese leader Xi Jinping has improved relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling the two countries
.
by | Apr 8, 2025 | The Hill
The Senate’s framework for advancing President Trump’s legislative agenda is stuck in limbo as House conservatives dig in on their opposition to the measure despite pressure from President Trump — depriving Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) of the votes needed to adopt the blueprint.
The criticism among hardliners — largely aimed at the level of spending cuts in the measure — persisted even after a handful of Republicans visited the White House Tuesday afternoon to meet with Trump, who endorsed the budget resolution and has encouraged GOP lawmakers to line up behind it.
At least two Republicans — Reps. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) — did voice support for the legislation after the meeting, a good sign for Johnson as he looks to muscle the measure through his razor-thin majority. Steube was undecided earlier in the day.
But a large number of GOP critics — including those who met with the president and those who did not attend the meeting — remained unmoved as of Tuesday afternoon.
“The math still doesn’t add up,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said after the meeting at the White House. “The Senate budget still, in my view, produces significant deficits.”
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), who was not at the White House Tuesday afternoon, said he is “a pretty firm no,” and that dozens of others are in the same camp as him.
“I would be surprised if it comes to the floor,” Ogles said of the budget resolution. “There’s so many ‘no’ votes. It’s 30, 40. And what typically happens in this type of scenario, when you hit a critical mass, suddenly more people go ahead and vote their conscience. And so 30 can easily become 50.”
“It’s nowhere close,” he added.
Johnson is pushing for a vote on the resolution this week before the House breaks for two weeks to celebrate Passover and Easter. But the Speaker has few votes to spare: He can only afford to lose three GOP votes, assuming united Democratic opposition and full attendance.
In a sign of those testy waters, the House Rules Committee still had not scheduled a meeting on the budget resolution as of Tuesday afternoon, despite the panel usually considering legislation for the week on Monday. The atypical schedule has raised eyebrows in the Capitol.
Johnson, nonetheless, is exuding confidence. Returning to the Capitol from the White House Tuesday afternoon, the Speaker said Trump was “very helpful and engaged” during the meeting, and that he thought the president changed some minds in favor of the blueprint.
“We had a lot of members whose questions were answered, and I think we’re moving, making great progress right now,” Johnson said.
“I think we’ll be moving forward this week,” he added — a notable change from leadership’s previous target of a Wednesday vote.
Asked by The Hill on Tuesday if the conference would have the votes to adopt the budget resolution on Wednesday, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said “we’re gonna have a good week,” similarly deflecting from the initial target date.
Roy attended the White House meeting along with Reps. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), Brandon Gill (R-Texas), Michael Cloud (R-Texas), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), a source told The Hill.
Hageman — who has not publicly expressed criticisms with the Senate’s budget resolution — raised “things she wanted to see” during the meeting with Trump, two sources told The Hill, a sign that the skepticism of the legislation is among a wider group than publicly known.
The crux of the GOP dispute is the fact that the resolution directs each chamber to find a different minimum of spending cuts. House committees, for example, are mandated to find at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, while Senate panels have to find at least $4 billion in slashes — a fraction of the amount.
“There’s such a divide between one and half trillion and four billion,” Ogles said. “I mean, [the Department of Government Efficiency] will cut more this afternoon than the Senate is proposing to do over 10 years.”
“The House typically gets rolled by the Senate in these types of negotiations so why would I surrender today when they need to come back with a serious offer?” he continued, later adding: “let’s have a serious conversation; the Senate needs to go back to work and do their jobs.”
One source, who requested anonymity to discuss the private meeting, told The Hill that Trump told lawmakers on Tuesday that he would encourage the Senate to embrace steeper spending cuts.
“The president and the administration talked pushing the Senate for cuts,” the source said.
Conservatives are also incensed that the Senate is using a budgetary gimmick known as current policy baseline, which assumes that the extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts will not impact the deficit — despite the Joint Committee on Taxation estimating that it could cost around $4 billion.
Another GOP lawmaker said that multiple ideas are being tossed around on how to resolve the impasse, such as getting a more concrete commitment on larger spending cuts from the Senate, or having the House and Senate go to conference to resolve the differences.
House GOP leaders are stressing to members that the budget resolution is not final; that the Senate resolution does not make changes to the House instructions; and that all leaders know that any final bill has to include historic spending cuts. There is not time, they argue, to delay the process until the two chambers can reach an upfront commitment.
“Some people think we can just wait for the Senate to catch up to the House … The country can’t afford for us to delay a month or longer to wait on the Senate getting where we are,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said in a press conference.
But members most skeptical of the budget resolution say that nothing — not even personal appeals from the president, who has helped whip Republican members on other tough votes — short of written commitments on spending cuts or changes to the budget resolution would get them on board.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) said earlier on Tuesday that he declined an invite to the White House meeting — a stunning move for any Republican, let alone the chair of the hardline conservative group that has presented itself as warriors for the president.
“There’s nothing that I can hear at the White House that I don’t understand about the situation,” Harris said. “Let the President spend time with people whose minds he might change. He’s just not going to change my mind about this.”
Ogles sounded a similar note, suggesting that little could be done to win over his vote.
“Totally appreciate the president, where he stands on this,” Ogles said. But he added, the Senate’s “proposal is a joke.”
by | Apr 8, 2025 | The Hill
The Justice Department revoked funding for the Maine Department of Corrections over the state’s placement of a transgender woman in a women’s prison, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday.
Bondi made the announcement during
, saying the department pulled all “nonessential” funding from the state corrections department on Monday after federal officials learned “a guy” was serving time in one of the state’s two women’s facilities. Bondi said the inmate was convicted of murder.
The loss in funding for the department totaled upward of $1.5 million, according to Fox News. The Justice Department did not return a request for comment.
In a news release, Maine’s corrections department said it received formal notice from the Department of Justice Monday that certain federal grants “are being terminated because they ‘no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities.’” The cuts will impact state-run initiatives related to substance abuse treatment and support for children with incarcerated parents, the corrections department said.
The notice from the Justice Department, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill, does not mention transgender inmates. “While the Department is aware of related public statements by the United States Attorney General, the notice is the only communication that has been received by the Department,” Maine’s corrections department said.
The move by the Justice Department is the latest development in a monthlong battle between the Trump administration and Maine over the state’s refusal to ban transgender student-athletes from girls’ and women’s sports as
.
Another Trump executive order directs transgender women in federal women’s prisons to be moved to men’s facilities. A federal judge
the administration from enforcing that order in February.
President Trump threatened earlier this year to withhold federal funding from Maine if the state did not comply with his order on transgender athletes,
with Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who said the state will see Trump “in court.”
State officials, including Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey (D), have said Trump’s order conflicts with the Maine Human Rights Act, which explicitly protects the right of transgender athletes to participate on sports teams that match their gender identity.
Frey
on Monday after the department also
, arguing the move would hobble the state’s ability to feed students relying on nutrition assistance programs.
by | Apr 8, 2025 | The Hill
A recent measles outbreak in Texas centered in the western part of the state has
, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The outbreak has produced 505 identifiable cases of measles “since late January” and 57 hospitalizations, according to
.
“There have been two fatalities in school-aged children who lived in the outbreak area. The children were not vaccinated and had no known underlying conditions,” the update reads. “Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities.”
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine as the “most effective” way to
in a post on
.
“In early March, I deployed a CDC team to bolster local and state capacity for response across multiple Texas regions, supply pharmacies and Texas run clinics with needed MMR vaccines and other medicines and medical supplies, work with local schools and healthcare facilities to support contact investigations, and to reach out to communities, including faith leaders, to answer any questions or respond to locations seeking healthcare,” Kennedy said in his post.
“Since that time, the growth rates for new cases and hospitalizations have flattened. The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine,” he added.
Kennedy has a history of controversial
, notably on vaccines, and founded an anti-vaccine organization. Last month, Kennedy told HHS services staff that a new presidential commission will look at the childhood vaccine schedule
of the U.S.’s epidemic of chronic disease.
by | Apr 8, 2025 | The Hill
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) raised the alarm about Laura Loomer’s influence in the Trump administration following reported firings at the National Security Agency (NSA).
Goldman questioned Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, about why Loomer, a staunch ally of President Trump, was able to be “effectively making decisions about who oversees” the country’s most “sensitive collection agency.”
The Democrat’s questioning came during a House Judiciary Committee hearing and
that Loomer, a far-right political activist, met with Trump in the White House and brought a list of national security officials who she said couldn’t be trusted.
There was a purge of several officials both in the NSA and the White House’s National Security Council.
Trump called Loomer a “great patriot” but downplayed her final say in the firings, though her involvement in the process was criticized and questioned.
Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.), a moderate Republican,
to fire NSA director Gen. Timothy Haugh and argued that China and Russia are “laughing at us.”
During the Tuesday hearing, Goldman criticized Loomer’s influence over Haugh’s firing.
“This is the same Laura Loomer who says 9/11 was an inside job, who has openly advocated at a white nationalist conference that she is a white advocate, who said during the campaign that if Kamala Harris, who is half Indian that ‘the White House would smell like curry, and White House speeches will be facilitated by a call center,’” Goldman said.
“Who has said that numerous mass shootings are all hoaxes and conspiracies, who calls herself a proud Islamophobe and perpetuated conspiracy theory about Haitian immigrants in Ohio,” he continued. “And yet, she is given access to the president of the United States to make a national security recommendation.”
by | Apr 8, 2025 | The Hill
Senate Democrats demanded the return of a wrongfully deported Maryland man in a Tuesday letter.
“We write to express our concerns regarding the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, an action which the Administration admitted in a recent court filing was an ‘administrative error,’” reads the letter, addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting Director Todd Lyons.
“It is unacceptable that anyone would be deported without proper due process, especially where an immigration judge has granted the individual protected status that explicitly prohibits his return to El Salvador. We demand that the Administration bring Mr. Abrego Garcia home immediately,” the letter continued.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran and Maryland resident, was mistakenly
, the administration acknowledged last week. Abrego, who was sent to a facility in El Salvador, was protected from removal by a judge in 2019.
Tuesday’s letter was signed by Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).
“Your unwillingness to immediately rectify this ‘administrative error’ is unacceptable,” the senators said in their letter to the Trump administration officials “Under multiple Democratic and Republican administrations, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE followed the rule of law and worked to quickly return people who were wrongfully deported, in the rare instances where such ‘administrative errors’ occurred.”
It added the Trump administration’s “mass deportation agenda does not transcend” the law.
The senators also pressed Lyons and Noem on whether there are other similar cases and asked for how the administration would make certain protected immigrants receive “appropriate due process.”
The Hill has reached out to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
by | Apr 8, 2025 | The Hill
The Keystone oil pipeline was shut down Tuesday morning after a rupture in North Dakota halted the flow from Canada to U.S. refineries.
South Bow, which manages the pipeline, said the pipeline was shut down after a pressure drop was detected by the control center leak detection systems, The Associated Press
.
“The affected segment has been isolated, and operations and containment resources have been mobilized to site,” the company said. “Our primary focus right now is the safety of onsite personnel and mitigating the risk to the environment.”
The spill was contained to an agricultural field in the area and no people or structures were impacted, but the cause for the rupture was not immediately known.
Reports said the oil was surfacing 300 yards from the pump station in a field and emergency services responded.
Bill Suess, a spill investigation program manager with North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality told the AP that an employee heard a “mechanical bang” and shut down the pipeline within minutes.
He noted that there was a “fairly good volume” spilled but there have been “much, much bigger spills” in the past and he did not think it was going to be “that huge.”
South Bow has managed the pipeline, which was built in 2010, since last year.
There were plans to expand the pipeline, dubbed Keystone XL. But they were dropped by the Biden administration after it drew criticism from environmentalists. President Trump has
for the completion of the controversial pipeline.
The Associated Press contributed.
by | Apr 8, 2025 | The Hill
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) criticized Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after she posed with a rifle in Phoenix amid the Trump administration’s deportation crackdown.
“Human traffickers. Drug Smugglers. 18th Street Gang members,”
“Spent the morning in Phoenix with our brave @ICEgov and Arizona law enforcement arresting these dirtbags and getting them off our streets.”
Noem also shared a video of her holding a rifle and tactical gear standing alongside two law enforcement officers. The video and post were from a visit to Arizona, Gallego’s homre state.
Gallego, who is a Marine Corps veteran and served in Iraq,
over the way she handled the gun in the video as well as the administration’s continued deportations.
“1. Close your ejection port,” Gallego said, referring to the rifle’s cartridge ejection area.
“2. If you have no rounds in the chamber why do you have a magazine inserted?” Gallego’s post continued.
“3. If you have rounds in the chamber or in the magazine why are you flagging the guy next to you?” he asked, noting that Noem in the video is pointing the barrel of the rifle in the direction of one of the law enforcement officer’s head.
“4. Stop deporting people without due process,” Gallego’s post concluded.
It’s not the first time Noem has received criticism for her posts about deportations. After the Trump administration deported members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua,
in El Salvador the members were held and recorded a video message.
The Hill has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
