Category: housing

MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Zinke and Vasquez Launch Bipartisan Public Lands Caucus to Champion Conservation and Access
Source: US Congressman Ryan Zinke (Western Montana)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representatives Ryan Zinke (R-MT-01) and Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.-02) announced the launch of the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus, a bipartisan congressional coalition focused on conserving America’s public lands and expanding access for all Americans. The caucus will build upon the trusted working relationship between Vasquez and Zinke, forged over the past two years partnering on conservation legislation, along with the momentum of a new Congress and a new generation of Western lawmakers to bring a new voice to the conversation around public lands.

The Public Lands Caucus is founded on the belief that public lands are “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” It will bring lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to advance practical, consensus-driven public lands policy that conserves natural resources while supporting recreation, local economies, and public access. Caucus members are committed to bridging ideological divides and advancing pragmatic solutions to protect and manage public lands.

“I follow the Theodore Roosevelt motto that public lands are ‘for the benefit and enjoyment of the people,’ and that means making sure we both conserve and manage those lands to ensure public access for the next generation,” said Rep. Ryan Zinke. “Public lands aren’t red or blue issues, it’s red white and blue. The bipartisan Public Lands Caucus brings together lawmakers who don’t agree on much, but we agree on and are ready to work together to promote policies that advance conservation and public access. I look forward to working with Co-Chair Vasquez, the vice chairs, and all the members of this caucus so future generations can enjoy the same opportunities to hunt, hike, fish, make a living and enjoy our uniquely American heritage.”

“Public lands are where I learned to fish, hunt, and connect with my family and culture—and those experiences shaped who I am,” said Vasquez. “These lands don’t belong to one party or one group of people; they belong to all of us. The Public Lands Caucus is about protecting that birthright—bringing Democrats and Republicans together to preserve access, defend conservation, and invest in the outdoor economy that powers rural communities like mine in southern New Mexico. This is personal for me, and I’m proud to lead this bipartisan effort to keep our public lands in public hands.”

“We should be focusing on expanding public access to federal lands, not auctioning them off,” said Rep Dingell. “And we should be investing in our National Parks System and National Wildlife Refuges, not making it harder for Americans to visit these special places. I’m proud to be Vice-Chair of the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus because conservation has historically been, and should continue to be, a priority regardless of party. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to protect our precious natural resources, federal lands, and beloved species.”

“Idahoans live in Idaho because we love our public lands,” said Rep. Simpson. “This trend is common across the West, where public lands are a part of our daily lives. As a lifelong Idahoan and Chairman of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, I remain committed to preserving access to our public lands and defending our way of life. Being named Vice Chair of the Public Lands Caucus is an honor, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure future generations can enjoy the same benefits that we do today. I’m thankful to Rep. Zinke for his leadership here.”

“As someone born and raised in the Coachella Valley, I know how sacred our public lands are. Places like Joshua Tree and the new Chuckwalla National Monument are more than landscapes—they’re part of our identity, history, and culture,” said Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA-25) Conserving public lands means protecting cultural heritage, preserving critical ecosystems, and expanding access to nature’s healing power, especially for underserved communities. I’ll continue fighting to ensure every family—no matter where they live—can experience the beauty, health, and enjoyment that public lands offer.”

“Public land access is integral to Montana,” said Congressman Troy Downing (MT-02). “Montanans rely on the Treasure State’s more than 30 million acres of public lands to hunt, fish, recreate, graze their livestock, and so much more. I applaud Co-Chairs Zinke and Vasquez for their efforts and look forward to working with my colleagues to find common sense solutions that preserve my constituents’ access to this fundamentally American resource.”

“As a representative of Coastal Virginia, I know how vital our public lands and waters are to our economy, our culture, and our quality of life – from supporting tourism and outdoor recreation to sustaining jobs and protecting natural habitats,” said Congresswoman Kiggans. “I’m proud to join the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus to bring a balanced, commonsense approach to protecting these resources. From our shorelines to our forests, we must ensure that future generations can enjoy and benefit from healthy and accessible public lands across the country for years to come.”

“Having served as Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus for four years, I understand firsthand the importance of common-sense conservation policies that protect our precious lands while guaranteeing public access,” said Congressman Newhouse. “The bipartisan Public Lands Caucus will elevate practical land management policies that support our shared commitment to unlocking our natural resources, boosting surrounding local economies, and supporting safe recreation for all to enjoy. I thank Reps. Zinke and Vasquez for their leadership, and I look forward to working closely with the caucus this Congress.”

Caucus Leadership

Co-Chairs
- Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM-02)
- Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT-01)
Vice Chairs
- Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI-06)
- Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID-02)
Members Include
- Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA-25)
- Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC-11)
- Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO-02)
- Rep. Jen Kiggan (R-VA-02)
- Rep. Emily Randall (D-WA-06)
- Rep. Troy Downing (R-MT-01)
- Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV-04)
- Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA-04)
- Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV-03)
- Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-06)
Organizational Support

“Public lands are the backyard of the little guy, demonstrating our commitment to leaving the world a better place for our children than the one we inherited from our parents,” said Chris Wood, President and CEO of Trout Unlimited. “On behalf of Trout Unlimited members across the nation, I thank Congressmen Zinke and Vasquez and the members of the newly minted bipartisan Public Lands Caucus for their leadership upholding our legacy of public lands. Preventing large-scale transfer or sale of federal public lands helps to maintain access to some of the best places to fish and hunt on the planet. We look forward to working with the caucus to keep it that way.”

“On both sides of the aisle, Americans cherish our public lands,” said Joel Pedersen, president and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “From the Northern Rockies of Montana to the Gila Mountains of New Mexico, these lands and waters provide invaluable opportunities to millions of hunters and anglers. We join our nation’s sportsmen and women in thanking Representatives Zinke and Vasquez for their leadership in forming the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus which will continue to advance America’s outdoor legacy.”

Whitney Potter Schwartz, Senior Vice President, Outdoor Recreation Roundtable: “The creation of the Public Lands Caucus is a significant and welcome step forward in protecting and expanding access to our public lands and waters that power America’s $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation economy and enrich the lives of millions of Americans. Keeping public lands public is a business imperative. There couldn’t be a more important time to stand up for America’s best return on investment and keep public land selloff out of reconciliation. ORR thanks Representatives Gabe Vasquez and Ryan Zinke for their leadership and all the bipartisan members of the Caucus who have come together to champion public lands access, stewardship, and infrastructure investments. We look forward to working with the Caucus to ensure that public lands remain public and continue to be a foundation for outdoor experiences, local economies, and healthy communities for generations to come.”

“Public lands are essential to the emotional and economic well-being of our nation,” said Phil Ingrassia, President of the national RV Dealers Association. “RVDA applauds the creation of the Public Lands Caucus and its commitment to enhancing access and expanding the infrastructure that supports millions of Americans who enjoy these shared spaces.”

“America Outdoors applauds Representatives Vasquez and Zinke for their leadership in launching the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus,” said Caryn Short, America Outdoors. “Continued access to our public lands is vital to the health of the outfitting industry, rural economies, and the millions of Americans who rely on these landscapes for connection, livelihood, and adventure.”

Public lands are part of the shared national identify of Americans,” said Rachel Franchina, Executive Director, Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals. “They are treasured places – both close to home and in iconic protected areas – for people to spend time with family and friends, recharge themselves and reconnect with nature. The Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals supports Representatives Ryan Zinke (R-MT) and Gabe Vasquez (D-NM)’s Bipartisan Public Lands Caucus. High-quality experiences on public lands are something the vast majority of American value and their commitment to ensuring access to our shared heritage is more important now than ever.”

“Public lands make hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation activities accessible for millions of Americans,” said Kellis Moss, Managing Director of Federal Affairs for Ducks Unlimited. “Some of our most critical conservation programs, such as NAWCA, invest in habitat on public lands. We’re glad to see Congress prioritize conserving America’s natural places for the next generation of outdoorsmen and women, and we’re happy to support the Public Lands Caucus in this effort.”

“The NWTF extends deep gratitude to Congressmen Vasquez and Zinke for their leadership in founding the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus,” said Jason Burckhalter, Co-CEO, National Wild Turkey Federation. “This crucial effort bolsters the unique American public trust, ensuring our public lands—vital habitats for wildlife, cornerstones of our hunting heritage, and cherished spaces for outdoor recreation—remain a shared resource, held in trust for all citizens, preserving their accessibility and stewardship for future generations.”

“America’s upland hunters and grassland advocates applaud today’s launch of the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus,” said Ariel Wiegard, Vice President of Government Affairs, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. “We stand ready to work with Reps. Vasquez, Zinke, and the other Caucus members to advance public land conservation policies, increase and improve habitat and access, and energize and engage the upland conservation community. America’s grassland and sagebrush shrub-steppe ecosystems are among the most at-risk environments in the world. We are confident this Caucus will help ensure our treasured public lands deliver the promise of more wildlife and more hunters, alongside other natural resource and quality of life benefits, to the American people.”

“Backcountry Hunters & Anglers strongly supports the creation of the Public Lands Caucus and thanks Representatives Vasquez and Zinke for bringing together a bipartisan force to defend against ongoing threats to sell or transfer our wild public lands,” said Devin O’Dea, Western Policy & Conservation Manager, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. “Our public lands define who we are as Americans — places where anyone, regardless of background, can hunt, fish, camp or explore. The Public Lands Caucus is a crucial step in ensuring our wild public lands, waters, and wildlife endure.”

“According to the American Horse Council’s latest economic impact study, 39 million U.S. households include a horse enthusiast, with recreational trail riders representing the largest segment of the equine industry — underscoring the critical need for access to public lands,” said Julie M. Broadway, President, American Horse Council & American Horse Council Foundation. “Conserving public lands, supporting local economies, and ensuring access for all Americans is essential to the equine community, and we strongly applaud the creation of this congressional caucus as a step toward protecting these shared resources.”

“The Western Landowners Alliance applauds the formation of the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus to protect our public lands and thanks Representatives Vasquez and Zinke for their leadership on this issue,” said Lesli Allison, Chief Executive Officer, Western Landowners Alliance. “Care for our public lands is a priority across party lines and fence lines in the West. Western Landowners Alliance members steward tens of millions of acres of private and public land, and recognize the challenges facing federal land management and budgets. We are also acutely aware of the nation’s real housing deficit. But disposal of federal land is not a practical solution to either problem.”

“Public lands are the source of clean drinking water for millions of Americans,” said Tom Kiernan, CEO, American Rivers. “The rivers that flow across our national parks, forests, and rangelands provide recreation and awesome scenic beauty to our country. We are excited to continue working with Congress to support the protection of these lands and rivers on behalf of all Americans. Thank you to Representatives Vasquez and Zinke for launching this caucus.”

Watch the full launch event here.

Access photos from the event here.

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MIL OSI USA News –
May 8, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Steering through the Fog: The Art and Science of Monetary Policy in Emerging Markets

Source: IMF – News in Russian

(As prepared for delivery)

May 7, 2025

Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to be with you here at this critical juncture for the global economy. Since early April, the US effective tariff rate has increased to levels last seen over a hundred years ago, and the uncertainty surrounding trade policy and geopolitics has surged.

The economic effects of these developments are expected to be sizeable. Our World Economic Outlook ‘reference scenario’ projects that tariffs will reduce both global and emerging market (EM) output growth by roughly 0.5 percentage points relative to our forecast prior to the April tariffs. Countries imposing high tariffs, or those that are heavily dependent on trade with those countries, will be hit the hardest. But no country is likely to emerge unscathed: we have downgraded our forecasts for 127 countries that account for 86 percent of global GDP.

The impact on inflation is more varied. For countries facing higher tariffs on their exports, the tariffs are expected to mainly operate as a negative demand shock and exert mild downward pressure on inflation. For countries imposing much higher tariffs, notably the United States, the tariffs will likely act more as an adverse supply shock, boosting inflation while lowering growth.

There are several reasons why economic outcomes could be much worse than our WEO reference scenario. As of now financial conditions have not tightened much, including in emerging markets, and many EM currencies have remained surprisingly resilient against the dollar. If, however, trade policy discussions do not yield lower tariffs soon, financial conditions could tighten abruptly, with major effects on capital flows to EMs. Knightian uncertainty abounds as the global economic order transforms. How should central banks in emerging markets steer through this fog? I will address this question in today’s lecture.

EM central banks have developed much stronger monetary policy frameworks since the late 1990s, often in the context of adopting inflation targeting. They have benefited from major improvements in governance, with clear mandates focused on price stability. Their operational independence has also increased substantially — both de jure and de facto — and they have strengthened their public accountability, as well as transparency. These advancements were invaluable in helping them respond quickly both to COVID and to the subsequent inflation surge, raising interest rates sharply in the latter case to contain inflation and keep inflation expectations anchored.

Even so, significant differences remain between EMs and AEs, especially regarding the strength of the exchange rate channel and the degree to which global factors influence monetary transmission. Several features deserve particular attention:

Transmission of policy actions and shocks differs in EMs

First, monetary policy transmission appears noticeably weaker in EMs than in AEs, and dependent both on global financial conditions and on the reliance of EM banks on external financing. In advanced economies, an easing of policy rates quickly translates into lower market rates — which is what matters for the borrowing decisions of households and firms — and this boosts the economy.

By contrast, my research with Sebnem Kalemli-Özcan and Pierre De Leo (De Leo, Gopinath and Kalemli-Özcan, 2024) shows that when EM central banks loosen policy, the transmission to short-term market rates depends critically on what happens to global financial conditions. If global financial conditions tighten enough – as often follows a surprise tightening in US monetary policy – then domestic market rates may even rise when the EM central bank lowers policy rates. The implicit rise in the risk spread facing borrowers clearly blunts the effectiveness of monetary policy and makes it harder for EMs to cushion the effects of shocks. This is particularly relevant at the current juncture where trade shocks could play out as negative demand shocks in many EMs, calling for looser monetary policy. At the same time, they could play out as negative supply shocks in the US and call for tighter US monetary policy.

The changing mix of EM external financing also raises new vulnerabilities. EMs have become more dependent on external financing from foreign nonbank financial institutions, including insurance companies and investment funds, with their share of external portfolio financing growing to about 40 percent. While nonbanks help diversify emerging market funding sources and reduce borrowing costs, these types of capital flows are also very sensitive to the global financial cycle.[1] At times of financial stress, investment funds—such as exchange traded funds and open-end mutual funds in particular—are more susceptible to investors withdrawing their money, which in turn causes investment funds to withdraw from the riskiest markets. Consequently, the volume and speed of exit of capital flows have increased over time, as was evident at the start of Covid-19.

This sensitivity of EMs to global stress may also increase given that crypto assets are playing a larger role in cross-border financial intermediation and payments, often spurred by the desire to achieve cost-efficiencies, but also to circumvent capital flow restrictions in some cases. In most EMs, crypto asset use doesn’t yet appear high enough to present imminent systemic risks. Even so, crypto assets are growing rapidly in many EMs, and overall usage has become a noticeable share of GDP in some EMs with high inflation and lower macroeconomic stability. For example, Cerutti, Chen and Hengge (2024) find that several EMs in Latin America and Eastern Europe fall in the upper quartile of countries in terms of the magnitude of their bitcoin inflows as a share of GDP, with monthly inflows in the range of 0.1 to 0.8% of GDP. Focusing on a wider set of crypto assets, Cardozo, Fernández, Jiang and Rojas (2024) find that cross-border crypto outflows have reached as much as a quarter of gross portfolio outflows in Brazil.

Use of crypto requires a careful understanding of the risks. Crypto may increase capital flow volatility and exacerbate financial stress, including by allowing investors to easily shift their deposits out of domestic banks into foreign exchange-denominated stablecoins. If crypto flows grow large enough, such disintermediation from the banking system and associated capital outflows could cause financial conditions to tighten and the exchange rate to weaken, and potentially spur a significant economic downturn.

Weaker policy credibility complicates monetary policy trade-offs

A second difference between AEs and EMs is the relatively weaker credibility of EM monetary policy to deliver low inflation. While EMs have improved their frameworks substantially, inflation expectations still tend to be less well-anchored than in AEs. Consequently, there is a higher passthrough of cost shocks to inflation, as they feed through much more into inflation expectations as well as through other channels such as wage indexation. Oil price shocks tend to impact core inflation more than twice as strongly in a sample of emerging market economies, relative to advanced ones.[2] This high passthrough makes dealing with external shocks particularly difficult for EM central banks, as second-round effects could be sizeable, including from ongoing shocks to trade policy that could disrupt supply chains and raise input costs.

Inflation expectations also tend to be more sensitive to fiscal policy and debt in EMs. This likely reflects increased risks of fiscal dominance and political interference in central bank decisions, which can undermine the public’s confidence in the central bank’s ability to fight inflation. A surprise increase in government debt tends to boost medium-term expected inflation in EMs significantly, while having little effect in advanced economies.[3]

Exchange rates have a much larger imprint on price and financial stability

A third critical distinction between EMs and AEs is that the exchange rate has a much larger imprint on price and financial stability in EMs. While passthrough of exchange rate changes to inflation has declined considerably for many EMs, it remains significantly higher than in advanced economies. A 10 percent depreciation of EM currencies against the dollar causes EM price levels to rise by about 2 percent, several times larger than in advanced economies.[4]

The presence of foreign exchange mismatches increases the financial stability risks from exchange rate depreciation. While many EMs have reduced FX mismatches – or lowered the risk through the development of derivatives markets that allow for better hedging — reliance on dollar funding within the financial system remains an important source of fragility for some EMs. This weakens monetary transmission, as lowering interest rates causes the balance sheets of corporates with unhedged FX liabilities to deteriorate and financial conditions to tighten, which offsets some of the stimulus from easing. EMs that have shifted to relying more on local currency financing also can experience sharp increases in currency premia and local borrowing costs when foreign investors exit these shallow markets. This makes it harder for EMs to deal with an environment of bigger external shocks: even if a tariff abroad would look like a demand shock from the standpoint of an AE economy, the exchange rate depreciation it induces raises risk spreads and makes it harder for the EM central bank to cushion the impact on the economy.

Steering through the fog: How should policy respond?

Having outlined some of the unique challenges emerging market central banks face in the current global context, I will next lay out some broad principles that can help steer through the fog. EMs clearly will differ in how they respond to the shocks and the uncertainty depending on their cyclical conditions and on structural features such as the extent of their exposure to trade and financial disruptions.

This said, and despite the fog, EM central banks should respond forcefully to upside inflation risks if they materialize to ensure that high inflation does not get embedded into inflation expectations. While I’ve noted that we see the current configuration of tariffs as likely to be slightly disinflationary for many EMs in our reference scenario, there is a significant risk that inflationary pressures could emerge — from supply chain disruptions and higher input cost pressures in a fragmenting world or from exchange rate depreciations.

Given the high passthrough of both exchange rate changes and cost shocks to inflation in EMs, a major risk is large and persistent second round effects, especially if inflation has been running persistently above target and the fiscal position is weak. History has shown that once inflation becomes embedded in expectations—often through wage and price indexation mechanisms—it becomes significantly more difficult to reverse. If the risk materializes, timely and firm action is critical to keep inflation expectations anchored and reassure the public of the central bank’s unwavering commitment to sound monetary policy and price stability.

Foreign exchange intervention should be used prudently

Second, in a more turbulent external environment, foreign exchange intervention (FXI) can help address disorderly market conditions that undermine financial stability. The Fund’s Integrated Policy Framework is helpful in identifying conditions when it may be possible to improve tradeoffs facing central banks using FXI and other tools (IMF, 2023; Basu, Boz, Gopinath, Roch and Unsal, 2023).

Notably, central banks can reduce exchange rate pressures by selling FX during episodes of capital flight when FX markets are shallow, allowing central banks not to have to hike policy rates sharply. This can improve macroeconomic outcomes as well as lower financial stability risks.

However, it is important that FXI is not used to reduce exchange rate volatility per se, or to target a particular level of the exchange rate, as such misuse could easily weaken confidence in the central bank’s commitment to stabilizing inflation. Moreover, given the finite level of reserves, the bar for FXI should be high to ensure that FX liquidity can be provided when it is really needed. As of now financial conditions have tightened in an orderly manner, which means that when it comes to FXI the advice is to keep the powder dry.

Build financial and fiscal resilience

Third, efforts to build financial resilience through strengthening prudential policies are also desirable. As I have emphasized, EM financial systems remain quite exposed to geopolitical shocks and face growing risks from heightened external finance from foreign nonbanks and potentially crypto. Prudential policies can help them build adequate buffers as well as reduce vulnerabilities arising from high leverage, volatile capital flows, and FX mismatches. On the crypto side, it will be important to develop comprehensive legal, regulatory and supervisory frameworks for crypto assets, including through cooperative global efforts given their cross-border nature (IMF, 2023b). The authorities should also ensure that capital flow management measures, when appropriate, remain effective and not undermined by the use of crypto. And EMs should continue to strengthen macroeconomic frameworks to reduce the risk of currency and asset substitution into crypto assets (often called “cryptoization”).

Fiscal policy also plays a critical role in helping ensure macroeconomic stability. Uncertainty shocks have much bigger effects on sovereign spreads when EM debt servicing costs are relatively high. Ensuring that tax and spending policies adjust to keep debt on a sustainable path helps provide buffers to respond to downturns and lowers financial stability risks.

Improve central bank communication, governance, and policy strategy

Lastly, there is a high premium on further strengthening policy frameworks to continue building resilience in a more shock-prone environment.

Clarity of communication has become more critical than ever. Effective communication about the central bank’s reaction function –in qualitative terms – is likely to be useful in helping better anchor inflation expectations and thus improve tradeoffs.

Improved governance – including to strengthen central bank independence – can increase public confidence that the central bank will have latitude to achieve its objectives. Central banks will inevitably make mistakes—no forecast is perfect. But what must be clear is that any deviation from target is the result of uncertainty, not political interference.

EM central banks, as for their AE counterparts, must also adapt their policy strategies to focus more on the distribution of outcomes rather than the modal outlook, and to take more account of risk management considerations. Monetary policy must navigate a world shaped by a multiplicity of shocks—some persistent, some temporary, and some with offsetting effects on inflation where it is difficult to assess the net impact.

Accordingly, many central banks should continue to take steps to revise their frameworks to move away from excessive reliance on central forecasts. This can be facilitated by increasing use of scenario analysis in decision-making.

Conclusion

To conclude, EMs have made major strides in improving their monetary policy frameworks, and this has enabled several of them to respond effectively to unprecedented shocks like the pandemic. They are now being tested again as the global economic order is reset and Knightian uncertainty prevails. This uncertainty does not, however, imply gradualism in all matters. If inflation pressures rise, EM central banks will need to respond quickly using policy rates to prevent higher inflation from getting entrenched as they did during COVID. We must recognize that the road ahead may have many unforeseen turns, which calls for further strengthening financial and fiscal resilience and navigating with monetary policy clarity, credibility, and discipline.

References

Baba, C., and J. Lee. 2022. “Second-round effects of oil price shocks – implications for Europe’s inflation outlook”. IMF Working Paper no. 2022/173.

Basu, S.S., Boz, E., Gopinath, G., Roch, F., and F.D. Unsal. 2023. “Integrated monetary and financial policies for small open economies”. IMF Working Paper no. 2023/161.

Brandão-Marques, L., Casiraghi, M., Gelos, G., Harrison, O., and G. Kamber. 2024. “Is high debt constraining monetary policy? Evidence from inflation expectations”. Journal of International Money and Finance 149(C).

Brandão-Marques, L., Górnicka, L., and G. Kamber. 2023. “Exchange rate fluctuations in advanced and emerging economies: Same shocks, different outcomes”, in Shocks and Capital Flows, edited by Gaston Gelos and Ratna Sahay, IMF.

Cardozo, P., Fernández, A., Jiang, J., and F.D. Rojas. 2024. “On cross-border crypto flows: Measurement, drivers, and policy implications“. IMF Working Paper no. 2024/261.

Cerutti, E.M., Chen, J., and M. Hengge. 2024. “A primer on Bitcoin cross-border flows: Measurement and drivers“. IMF Working Paper no. 2024/85.

Chari, A. 2023. “Global risk, non-bank financial intermediation, and emerging market vulnerabilities”. Annual Review of Economics 15: 549-572.

De Leo, P., Gopinath, G., and S. Kalemli-Özcan. 2024. “Monetary policy and the short-rate disconnect in emerging economies”. NBER Working Paper no. 30458.

IMF. 2023. “Integrated Policy Framework – Principles for use of foreign exchange interventions”. IMF Policy Paper no. 2023/061.

IMF. 2023b. “Elements of effective policies for crypto assets”. IMF Policy Paper no. 2023/004.

https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2025/05/07/sp050725-science-of-monetary-policy-in-emerging-markets-gita-gopinath

MIL OSI

MIL OSI Russia News –

May 8, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: VIDEO: After Pressure from Pressley, Treasury Secretary Says Ending Tariffs on Essential Baby Products “Under Consideration”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)

Pressley Slammed Trump’s Chaotic Tariff War, Highlighted Harmful Impact on Families With Babies and Young Children

Video (YouTube)

WASHINGTON – In a House Financial Services Committee hearing, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) pressed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about the harmful impact of Trump’s tariffs on families with young children and asked if he would support an exemption to tariffs on baby products and other items that parents need to care for their kids, such as car seats. In response to her sharp questioning, Secretary Bessent conceded that such an exemption was “under consideration.”

Congresswoman Pressley also underscored the harm felt by small business owners, parents, and other constituents in the Massachusetts 7^th who are dealing with rising costs due to Trump’s tariffs and urged the Trump Administration to immediately reverse course.

Last month, Congresswoman Pressley joined 45 colleagues in sending a Congressional letter to the Trump Administration imploring them to end tariffs on essential baby goods.

A full transcript of her line of questioning is available below and the full video is available here.

Transcript: After Pressure from Pressley, Treasury Secretary Says Ending Tariffs on Essential Baby Products “Under Consideration”
House Financial Services Committee
May 7, 2025

REP. PRESSLEY: Secretary Bessent, you have heard from Democrats publicly and I’m certain you’ve heard from Republicans privately that this administration’s reckless and chaotic tariff policy is wreaking havoc on our economy.

Rather than delivering stability for our country, this Trump tariff tantrum has been inconsistent, counterproductive, and disconnected from reality.

In my district, the Massachusetts 7th, I am hearing it from everyone.

Small business owners are reeling from the unpredictable on-again, off-again tariffs. They’re holding back on expansion, delaying hiring, and bracing for the impact.

Local and state officials are telling me about the effect tariffs will have on our state budget. Simultaneously, Massachusetts will see energy bills increase while revenue from tourism will decrease.

But I want to focus on the constituent outreach that I’ve received from everyday families who are just fighting to make ends meet.

Yes or no. Mr. Secretary, do you know what a car seat is?

SEC. BESSENT: I have two children, yes.

REP. PRESSLEY: I figured as much, it’s correct you and your husband have two children.

So I am sure you know that car seats are absolutely essential for families when traveling with babies and toddlers to school, to worship, to doctor’s appointments, just everyday living.

But not only are car seats essential, they are the law of the land. It’s the law of the land in 50 states. So there’s no getting around that.

Mr. Secretary, what’s your estimate of how many babies are born in the United States each year?

SEC. BESSENT: I’m gonna guess 2-3 million.

REP. PRESSLEY: Well, while the number fluctuates, there have consistently been more than 3.5 million babies born in the United States. That means millions of families in this country are doing what? Buying a car seat, because it’s essential and it is the law of the land in all 50 states.

But now, that cost is going up because Trump has announced up to 145% tariffs on Chinese imported products.

Approximately, 9 out of every 10 car seats in the U.S. come from China. That’s a steep cost, a steep cost hike for families all over the country. The price is up in Republican districts and in Democratic districts.

And it’s not just the car seats that are impacted. We’re talking about strollers, cribs, high chairs. No family is exempt from the harm of these Trump tariffs on essential baby products.

But don’t just take my word for it.

Mr. Chair, I would like to enter into the record a Yahoo Finance article from May 2025 entitled, “First Year Baby Expenses Already Top $20,000 and Tariffs Are Adding to the Bill As China Dominates Key Imports.”

CHAIR: Without objection.

REP. PRESSLEY: Look, I support improving manufacturing in America, but that is not going into effect overnight, like these tariffs are. There needs to be an exemption to help America’s families.

Trump has used his power for tariff exemptions on thermoplastics, semiconductors, but what about baby products?

Mr. Secretary, do you support an exemption to tariffs on items that parents need to care for their kids? Yes or no?

SEC. BESSENT: Congresswoman, what you’re referring to are—

REP. PRESSLEY: Yes or no.

SEC. BESSENT: What you’re referring to are–

REP. PRESSLEY: I’m reclaiming my time because I don’t want you to filibuster and give me some macroeconomic answer. Families at home are hurting … just give me a direct answer.

SEC. BESSENT: I am going to agree with you.

REP. PRESSLEY: So yes, you do support an exemption on tariffs for products that are essential for families for their babies?

SEC. BESSENT: We are considering exemptions on E-4 items, which…

REP. PRESSLEY: I’m sorry I have to reclaim my time. I’m reclaiming my time.

Mr. Chair. I am reclaiming my time. Give me my time back. I’m reclaiming my time.

I just want a simple yes or no: do you support an exemption to tariffs on items that parents need to care for their kids? Because you all claim you’re pro-family.

I cannot hear the words you say because I see the things that you do, every day. So clear it up.

Yes or no. Do you support an exemption to tariffs on items that parents need to care for their babies?

SEC. BESSENT: It is under consideration.

REP. PRESSLEY: Great. Good.

I don’t know what’s stopping an exemption from going into effect today, so do it now.

In Donald Trump’s America, yesterday’s price is not today’s price. Costs are going up. Everyone is suffering, especially our families with young children.

Mr. Secretary, I’m making an appeal to you on behalf of the people of this country. Please tell occupant Trump to reverse course and stop hurting America’s families.

I yield back.

###

MIL OSI USA News –

May 8, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Cortez Masto: House Republicans are Selling Out Nevada

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Nevada Cortez Masto
Representative Mark Amodei’s reckless lands bill strips billions from Nevada schools and water conservation Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) released the following statement after Representative Amodei (R-Nev.-02) and House Republicans snuck one of the single biggest sell-offs of Nevada public lands in history into their reconciliation bill.
“In the dead of night, Representative Mark Amodei pushed House Republicans to move forward with an insane plan that cuts funding from water conservation and public schools across Nevada,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “This is a land grab to fund Republicans ‘billionaire giveaway tax bill, and I’ll fight it with everything I have.”
Last night during a session of the House Natural Resources Committee, Representative Amodei, without consulting any of the Nevada delegation, forced the inclusion of language in the Republicans’ upcoming billionaire-tax cut bill that would sell up to 200,000 acres of public land in Clark County. The bill ignores Nevada’s Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act’s (SNPLMA) consultation provisions and takes money away from conservation, wildfire prevention, and public schools across Nevada, as well as from the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
This will shortchange billions of dollars in future reveneues from almost every county in Nevada, and the state as a whole. Theses funds will be forever lost instead of helping our communities. It also ignores Cortez Masto’s bipartisan Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, a years-long effort to help Clark County grow, encourage affordable housing, and protect 2 million acres for conservation.

MIL OSI USA News –

May 8, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Cortez Masto, Boozman Push for Necessary Updates to Veteran Home Improvement Program

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Nevada Cortez Masto
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.) introduced the bipartisan Autonomy for Disabled Veterans Act, which would help disabled veterans and their families make accessibility and safety improvements to their homes. Specifically, this bipartisan bill would help disabled veterans build accessible bathrooms, widen their doors, and install wheelchair ramps, grab bars and handrails in their homes.
“After making countless sacrifices in service to our country, disabled veterans deserve to live in their own home with more freedom and dignity,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “That’s why I’m proud to work alongside Senator Boozman to provide them the resources they need to make improvements to their homes for accessibility and safety. I will continue working across the aisle to stand up for Nevada veterans and their families.”
“Arkansas veterans have sacrificed tremendously in service to our nation,” said Senator Boozman. “One of the most important ways we can support our former servicemembers is to ensure those living with a disability feel safer in an accessible home with a greater sense of independence and quality of life. I am pleased to champion commonsense improvements that will better serve those who have worn our nation’s uniform.”
“VA’s Home Improvements and Structural Alterations grant program provides modifications to a veteran or service member’s primary residence. However, years of inattention have diminished the effectiveness of this program, and it is long past time to update grant rates to realistic levels. We appreciate the efforts of Senator Cortez Masto and Senator Boozman to correct that by increasing grant rates and tying them to a formula, so they remain current for years to come,” said Heather Ansley, Chief Policy Officer of Paralyzed Veterans of America.
The Department of Veteran Affairs’ Home Improvements and Structural Alterations (HISA) program offers funds to help eligible disabled veterans with service-related medical issues make alterations to their homes to accommodate their medical needs. But HISA grants have not kept up with the current cost of materials and building. The Autonomy for Disabled Veterans Act would improve HISA by:
Increasing the HISA grant from $6,800 to $10,000 for veterans with disabilities who apply after the bill becomes law, helping to cover the true cost of home improvements like accessible bathrooms.
Raising the grant from $2,000 to $6,800 for veterans with non-service-connected disabilities who applied before the bill is enacted, ensuring they also get better support.
Requiring the VA to adjust the grant amounts annually based on the cost of residential construction, so the funding stays relevant as prices change.
The Autonomy for Disabled Veterans Act has been endorsed by Paralyzed Veterans of America. A similar bill will be introduced in the House of Representatives by Reps. Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.-17), Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.-11), and Mark Takano (D-Calif.-39).
Read the full bill here.
Senator Cortez Masto is a champion for our service members and veterans. Cortez Masto helped pass the PACT Act to ensure veterans suffering from toxic exposure in the line of duty get the medical care they need, and she worked across the aisle to get legislation helping veterans exposed to Agent Orange and expanding benefits for women veterans signed into law. The Senator sent a letter to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Collins demanding he provide answers on the mass terminations of personnel across the VA, specifically those in Nevada, and how those terminations would impact services to Nevada veterans.

MIL OSI USA News –

May 8, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Cassidy, Republicans Celebrate Small Businesses Driving America into the Golden Age

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Louisiana Bill Cassidy
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and a group of Senate Republicans introduced legislation declaring this week “National Small Business Week” to recognize the important role small businesses play in creating jobs and fueling the economy.
“We need an economy which works for small business,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Small businesses create the majority of new jobs. That is President Trump’s goal, that is my goal.”
“Main Street is roaring back under President Trump’s pro-growth policies that are ushering in a Golden Age,” said Senator Ernst. “This week, we celebrate the small businesses that mean so much more than the livelihoods they support and the jobs they create. These shops embody the American spirit and shape the culture of big cities and rural communities across America. I’m proud to recognize these entrepreneurs’ tremendous contributions and will continue to fight to ensure that they have a champion in Washington.”
Senator Cassidy introduced the THRIVE Act to level the playing field for small businesses by directing the Small Business Administration to create a program that helps small businesses lock in the cost of commodities, like gasoline or lumber, in order to protect against the future volatile price of energy and other expenses.
Cassidy and Ernst were joined by U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Jon Husted (R-OH), James Lankford (R-OK), John Kennedy (R-LA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Susan Collins (R-ME), James Risch (R-ID), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Steve Daines (R-MT), Jim Justice (R-WV), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Katie Britt (R-AL), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), John Boozman, (R-AK), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Barrasso (R-WY), John Curtis (R-UT), Jim Banks (R-IN), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Todd Young (R-IN), John Hoeven (R-ND), Tim Scott (R-SC), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John Thune (R-SD), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Jerry Moran (R-KS),
“Small businesses are the backbone of Louisiana’s economy and create good jobs across our country,” said Senator Kennedy. “This National Small Business Week, I’m proud to recognize everything small businesses do for America and keep fighting to throw out bad regulations that hold our economy back.”
“Small businesses are the backbone of Idaho’s economy,” said Senator Risch. “During National Small Business Week, I’m proud to recognize the hard-working entrepreneurs who employ our neighbors, give back to our communities, and make the Gem State a special place to live and grow.”
“National Small Business Week holds a special place in my heart because I know all too well the pressures and joy that come with owning a business and signing the front of a paycheck,” said Senator Scott. “This week I join my colleagues in celebrating their innovation, resilience, and drive that not only creates jobs but fosters community and inspires entrepreneurship across America. As a former small business owner myself, I’m committed to supporting them and ensuring they have the resources they need to thrive and succeed.”
“As the son of a small business owner, I understand how vital small businesses are to Indiana’s economy,” said Senator Young. “I’m proud to stand with Hoosier small business owners and will continue advocating for policies that help them thrive.”
“We can’t do Made-in-America without Ohio’s hardworking small business owners, entrepreneurs and job creators,” said Senator Husted. “This week recognizes their work to fuel our economy and drive the country forward, and I’ll continue supporting pro-growth policies that make the American dream achievable.”
“We know that small businesses drive America’s innovations and economic strength,” said Senator Grassley. “Here in Iowa, they make up 99.3 percent of all businesses, and nearly half of Iowa employees work for a small business. In marking this special week, our resolution recognizes the power of small businesses and honors the men and women who work hard to keep our communities vibrant.”
“Small businesses are the backbone of Wyoming’s economy,” said Senator Barrasso. “To celebrate National Small Business week, we honor these job creators in Wyoming and across the country. Senate Republicans will continue to work with President Trump to roll back harmful regulations and taxes so America’s small businesses can continue to thrive.”
“In West Virginia, small businesses are an essential part of our economy, making up more than 98% of the businesses in our state and employing nearly half of our workforce,” said Senator Capito. “During National Small Business Week, I am proud to join my colleagues in recognizing and celebrating the critical contributions small businesses, like the female-owned Dolly’s Diner in Princeton I visited recently, make in West Virginia and across our country.”
“By designating this week as National Small Business Week, we honor the small business owners who embody the entrepreneurial spirit that makes Texas the economic powerhouse it is today,” said Senator Cornyn.
“Maine’s small businesses are the bedrock of Maine’s local economies and drive job creation throughout our state,” said Senator Collins. “As Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I remain committed to championing small businesses, the job creating engines that power our nation’s economy.”
“Fighting for hardworking families, small businesses, and local Main Streets across Alabama has always been a top priority for me,” said Senator Britt. “Small businesses are the backbone of our nation’s economy, and I’m proud to recognize our incredible job creators and entrepreneurs this Small Business Week. I remain steadfastly committed to advancing policies that slash burdensome red tape, provide access to opportunities and resources, and unleash American ingenuity.”
“Small businesses are at the heart of Tennessee’s economy and a cornerstone of our communities,” said Senator Blackburn. “As we mark National Small Business Week, I’m honored to celebrate these hardworking entrepreneurs. Under President Trump’s new Golden Age for America, we are seeing small businesses start to thrive again. I’ll keep fighting in the Senate to stop the largest tax hike in history and to advance pro-growth policies that cut red tape, lower taxes, and foster an environment where small businesses across America and Tennessee can continue to grow and prosper.”
“This resolution reaffirms our commitment to supporting entrepreneurs and small business owners in the Cowboy State who demonstrate incredible resilience and determination,” said Senator Lummis. “As they pursue their American dream, they sacrifice countless hours through hard work to overcome challenges and build something meaningful for their families and communities.”
“Alaska’s small businesses are the cornerstone of our economy, keeping our communities strong and economically vibrant,” said Senator Sullivan. “Our local businesses are the first to give back—contributing to local causes, hiring people who live here, and listening to the needs of the people in our communities. I’m glad to join Senator Ernst in introducing a resolution that acknowledges the incredible work done by small businesses across the country to invest in their communities. I look forward to continuing to work with Alaska’s small businesses to support our crucial, innovative entrepreneurs.”
“Small businesses are a driving force of North Dakota’s economy, fueling growth, creating jobs and supporting strong communities,” said Senator Hoeven. “Designating this week as National Small Business Week highlights the dedication and impact of entrepreneurs and small business owners both in our state and across the country.”
“Small businesses employ over 65 percent of Montana’s workforce and represent 99 percent of all businesses in Montana, which boosts our local economies and creates new jobs in our communities,” said Senator Daines. “I’m proud to join my colleagues in celebrating National Small Business Week to recognize all the entrepreneurs and business owners whose innovation and hard work helps keep both Montana and our country a great place to live, work, and raise a family.”
“I am proud to join my colleagues in celebrating National Small Business Week. Small businesses are the backbone of America, and thanks to the leadership of President Trump our nation’s entrepreneurs are finally empowered again with the resources and support they need to see their dreams come true,” said Senator Scott. “I’ve run businesses small and large, and I know the hard work these folks put in day-in and day-out to keep their doors open and employees on payroll. This week is a time to recognize these hardworking Americans who support our economy and create jobs in their communities as they live their American dream.”
“Small businesses power our economy and represent core American values like hard work, taking risks and the pursuit of success,” said Senator Boozman. “I am pleased to join my colleagues in celebrating National Small Business week to applaud their local and regional investments that create jobs and sustain communities across Arkansas as well as nationwide. These entrepreneurs deserve our recognition and total support.”
“Small businesses are the backbone of communities across America, and they represent the heart of Mississippi’s economy and way of life,” said Senator Hyde-Smith. “National Small Business Week is a time to celebrate the American dream, the drive of our entrepreneurs, and the ingenuity that powers growth and opportunity. I’m proud to support this resolution and honor the small businesses that keep Mississippi strong and our nation thriving.”
“As a former small business owner, I fully understand the challenges that small businesses face,” said Senator Marshall. “That’s why I remain committed to prioritizing Main Street over Wall Street by cutting red tape and taxes, opening new markets, and ensuring small businesses have the capital they need to grow and thrive. This week, we proudly recognize the lifeblood of our economy by honoring the remarkable contributions of small businesses and officially designating this week as National Small Business Week.”
“Small businesses are the lifeblood of Idaho’s economy,” said Senator Crapo. “Idaho’s 200,131 small businesses have an outsized impact–making up 99.2 percent of businesses in the state and employing 56.6 percent of all Idaho employees. I applaud the owners and employees who roll up their sleeves every day, work hard and power our economy.”

MIL OSI USA News –

May 8, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Reps. Vasquez and Zinke Launch Bipartisan Public Lands Caucus to Champion Conservation and Access
Source: US Representative Gabe Vasquez’s (NM-02)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representatives Gabe Vasquez (D-NM-02) and Ryan Zinke (R-MT-01) announced the launch of the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus, a bipartisan congressional coalition focused on conserving America’s public lands and expanding access for all Americans. The caucus will build upon the trusted working relationship between Vasquez and Zinke, forged over the past two years, partnering on conservation legislation, along with the momentum of a new Congress and a new generation of Western lawmakers to bring a new voice to the conversation around public lands.

The Public Lands Caucus is founded on the belief that public lands are “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” It will bring lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to advance practical, consensus-driven public lands policy that conserves natural resources while supporting recreation, local economies, and public access. Caucus members are committed to bridging ideological divides and advancing pragmatic solutions to protect and manage public lands.

WATCH: Public Lands Caucus Press Conference

“Public lands are where I learned to fish, hunt, and connect with my family and culture—and those experiences shaped who I am,” said Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM-02). “These lands don’t belong to one party or one group of people; they belong to all of us. The Public Lands Caucus is about protecting that birthright—bringing Democrats and Republicans together to preserve access, defend conservation, and invest in the outdoor economy that powers rural communities like mine in southern New Mexico. This is personal for me, and I’m proud to lead this bipartisan effort to keep our public lands in public hands.”

“I follow the Theodore Roosevelt motto that public lands are ‘for the benefit and enjoyment of the people,’ and that means making sure we both conserve and manage those lands to ensure public access for the next generation,” said Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT-02). “Public lands aren’t red or blue issues, it’s red white and blue. The bipartisan Public Lands Caucus brings together lawmakers who don’t agree on much, but we agree on and are ready to work together to promote policies that advance conservation and public access. I look forward to working with Co-Chair Vasquez, the vice chairs, and all the members of this caucus so future generations can enjoy the same opportunities to hunt, hike, fish, make a living and enjoy our uniquely American heritage.”

“We should be focusing on expanding public access to federal lands, not auctioning them off. And we should be investing in our National Parks System and National Wildlife Refuges, not making it harder for Americans to visit these special places,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI-06). I’m proud to be Vice-Chair of the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus because conservation has historically been, and should continue to be, a priority regardless of party. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to protect our precious natural resources, federal lands, and beloved species.”

“Idahoans live in Idaho because we love our public lands,” said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID-02). “This trend is common across the West, where public lands are a part of our daily lives. As a lifelong Idahoan and Chairman of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, I remain committed to preserving access to our public lands and defending our way of life. Being named Vice Chair of the Public Lands Caucus is an honor, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure future generations can enjoy the same benefits that we do today. I’m thankful to Rep. Zinke for his leadership here.”

“As someone born and raised in the Coachella Valley, I know how sacred our public lands are. Places like Joshua Tree and the new Chuckwalla National Monument are more than landscapes—they’re part of our identity, history, and culture,” said Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA-25) Conserving public lands means protecting cultural heritage, preserving critical ecosystems, and expanding access to nature’s healing power, especially for underserved communities. I’ll continue fighting to ensure every family—no matter where they live—can experience the beauty, health, and enjoyment that public lands offer.”

“Public land access is integral to Montana,” said Rep. Troy Downing (R-MT-02). “Montanans rely on the Treasure State’s more than 30 million acres of public lands to hunt, fish, recreate, graze their livestock, and so much more. I applaud Co-Chairs Zinke and Vasquez for their efforts and look forward to working with my colleagues to find common sense solutions that preserve my constituents’ access to this fundamentally American resource.”

“As a representative of Coastal Virginia, I know how vital our public lands and waters are to our economy, our culture, and our quality of life – from supporting tourism and outdoor recreation to sustaining jobs and protecting natural habitats,” said Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA-02). “I’m proud to join the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus to bring a balanced, commonsense approach to protecting these resources. From our shorelines to our forests, we must ensure that future generations can enjoy and benefit from healthy and accessible public lands across the country for years to come.”

Caucus Leadership

Co-Chairs
- Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM-02)
- Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT-01)
Vice Chairs
- Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI-06)
- Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID-02)
Members Include
- Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA-25)
- Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC-11)
- Rep Joe Neguse (D-CO-02)
- Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA-02)
- Rep. Emily Randall (D-WA-06)
- Rep. Troy Downing (R-MT-01)
- Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV-04)
- Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA-04)
- Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV-03)
- Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-06)
Organizational Support

“On both sides of the aisle, Americans cherish our public lands,” said Joel Pedersen, president and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “From the Northern Rockies of Montana to the Gila Mountains of New Mexico, these lands and waters provide invaluable opportunities to millions of hunters and anglers. We join our nation’s sportsmen and women in thanking Representatives Zinke and Vasquez for their leadership in forming the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus which will continue to advance America’s outdoor legacy.”

Whitney Potter Schwartz, Senior Vice President, Outdoor Recreation Roundtable: “The creation of the Public Lands Caucus is a significant and welcome step forward in protecting and expanding access to our public lands and waters that power America’s $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation economy and enrich the lives of millions of Americans. Keeping public lands public is a business imperative. There couldn’t be a more important time to stand up for America’s best return on investment and keep public land selloff out of reconciliation. ORR thanks Representatives Gabe Vasquez and Ryan Zinke for their leadership and all the bipartisan members of the Caucus who have come together to champion public lands access, stewardship, and infrastructure investments. We look forward to working with the Caucus to ensure that public lands remain public and continue to be a foundation for outdoor experiences, local economies, and healthy communities for generations to come.”

Phil Ingrassia, President of the national RV Dealers Association (RVDA): “Public lands are essential to the emotional and economic well-being of our nation. RVDA applauds the creation of the Public Lands Caucus and its commitment to enhancing access and expanding the infrastructure that supports millions of Americans who enjoy these shared spaces.”

Julie Sutton, Senior Director Government Affairs, VF Corporation: VF Corporationand our portfolio of iconic outdoor brands applaud Representatives Ryan Zinke (R-MT) and Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) for their bipartisan leadership in establishing the Public Lands Caucus. This caucus has an opportunity to improve management of public lands, protect and conserve our natural resources and maintain access for everyone to enjoy the outdoors. We thank you for your commitment to our public lands.

Myke Bybee, Senior Director of Federal Relations, Trust for Public Land: “Trust for Public Land strongly commends Representatives Ryan Zinke (R-MT) and Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) for their bipartisan leadership in launching the Public Lands Caucus and introducing legislation — The Public Lands in Public Hands Act — which affirms the importance of our shared national landscapes. With Congress and the Administration considering proposals to sell off federal land, and as Americans visit public lands in record numbers—to hike, hunt, and connect with nature—their leadership could not come at a more critical time.”

Jenn Dice, President & CEO, PeopleForBikes: “Public lands are an important part of the American experience and critical to the outdoor recreation economy, including the bicycle industry. We applaud the leaders of the Public Lands Caucus who are committed to protecting, managing, and staffing our most treasured natural spaces that are a source of our national pride.”

Caryn Short, America Outdoors: “America Outdoors applauds Representatives Vasquez and Zinke for their leadership in launching the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus. Continued access to our public lands is vital to the health of the outfitting industry, rural economies, and the millions of Americans who rely on these landscapes for connection, livelihood, and adventure.”

Rachel Franchina, Executive Director, Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals: “Public lands are part of the shared national identify of Americans. They are treasured places – both close to home and in iconic protected areas – for people to spend time with family and friends, recharge themselves and reconnect with nature. The Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals supports Representatives Ryan Zinke (R-MT) and Gabe Vasquez (D-NM)’s Bipartisan Public Lands Caucus. High-quality experiences on public lands are something the vast majority of American value and their commitment to ensuring access to our shared heritage is more important now than ever.”

Mary Ellen Sprenkel, President & CEO, The Corps Network: “Americans love our public lands. Hundreds of millions of people visit our national parks, forests, and grasslands every year, helping drive local economies. The Corps Network proudly represents 150 Corps programs across the country that work with resource management agencies on critical maintenance projects that keep our public lands safe and open for all to enjoy. Through service on public lands, thousands of Corps participants every year gain invaluable work experience for the modern workforce. We appreciate the goal of the Public Lands Caucus to ensure Americans have access to the Great Outdoors.”

Julie M. Broadway, President, American Horse Council & American Horse Council Foundation: “According to American Horse Council’s latest economic impact study, 39 million U.S. households include a horse enthusiast, with recreational trail riders representing the largest segment of the equine industry — underscoring the critical need for access to public lands. Federal data supports this: the Bureau of Land Management estimates three million annual horseback riding visitors, along with 46,000 participating in pack use; the U.S. Forest Service cites 206,000 horseback riders, and the National Park Service reports 1.6 million. Conserving public lands, supporting local economies, and ensuring access for all Americans is essential to the equine community, and we strongly applaud the creation of this congressional caucus as a step toward protecting these shared resources.”

Dan Mahoney, Government Affairs Manager, American Prairie: “American Prairie applauds Representatives Ryan Zinke and Gabe Vasquez for launching this bipartisan caucus to protect our country’s public lands. These lands are a cherished piece of America’s heritage, and one that American Prairie is committed to conserving and expanding access to in Montana. This new caucus’s dedication to the same is worth celebrating and so are the members of Congress leading the way to do so.”

Jordan Schreiber, Director of Government Relations, The Wilderness Society: “The Wilderness Society celebrates this bipartisan caucus’s commitment to protecting public lands and access to them, which starts with keeping them in public hands. We look forward to working with members to ensure that any future efforts to sell off these national treasures to the highest bidder are defeated.”

Tom Cors, Senior Director of Legislative Affairs, The Nature Conservancy: “Public lands need to be kept in public hands. They are not just picturesque selfie backdrops. People across America depend on them for jobs, to recharge their internal batteries, and to clean our water and air. Also, wildlife depend on them for food and shelter. Through this caucus, Representatives Ryan Zinke and Gabe Vasquez are ensuring our public lands will last forever, giving life to us all.”

David Feinman, Vice President of Government Affairs, Conservation Lands Foundation: “Conservation Lands Foundation applauds Representatives Gabe Vasquez and Ryan Zinke for working across the aisle to launch the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus, which will hold Congress accountable to protect access to America’s public lands and ensure they remain in public hands. Our nation’s public lands contain remarkable and irreplaceable ecological, historical and cultural resources that reflect thousands of years of human connection to lands and waters, and we look forward to the Public Lands Caucus reflecting the overwhelming bipartisan support across America for keeping public lands in public hands.”

Maite Arce, President and CEO, Hispanic Access Foundation: “Hispanic Access Foundation applauds the launch of the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus and the leadership of Representatives Vasquez and Zinke. Public lands are essential to our way of life—they support local economies, provide space for recreation and reflection, and contribute to the health and well-being of communities across the country. This caucus is an important step toward protecting these treasured places and ensuring they remain accessible and well-managed for future generations.”

Chris Wood, President and CEO, Trout Unlimited: “Public lands are the backyard of the little guy, demonstrating our commitment to leaving the world a better place for our children than the one we inherited from our parents. On behalf of Trout Unlimited members across the nation, I thank Congressmen Zinke and Vasquez and the members of the newly minted bipartisan Public Lands Caucus for their leadership upholding our legacy of public lands. Preventing large-scale transfer or sale of federal public lands helps to maintain access to some of the best places to fish and hunt on the planet. We look forward to working with the caucus to keep it that way.”

Athan Manuel, Director of Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program: “Our public lands are part of what makes this country great. They preserve critical habitat, provide our communities with clean air and water, and exploring these places has been a rite of passage for countless generations of Americans. It is more critical than ever that these treasured landscapes remain in the hands of we the people. The Public Lands Caucus will play an important – and bipartisan – role in ensuring Congress does its part to keep it that way.”

Tom Kiernan, CEO, American Rivers: Public lands are the source of clean drinking water for millions of Americans. The rivers that flow across our national parks, forests, and rangelands provide recreation and awesome scenic beauty to our country. We are excited to continue working with Congress to support the protection of these lands and rivers on behalf of all Americans. Thank you to Representatives Vasquez and Zinke for launching this caucus.

Joel Pedersen, President and CEO, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership: “On both sides of the aisle, Americans cherish our public lands. From the Northern Rockies of Montana to the Gila Mountains of New Mexico, these lands and waters provide invaluable opportunities to millions of hunters and anglers. We join our nation’s sportsmen and women in thanking Representatives Zinke and Vasquez for their leadership in forming the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus which will continue to advance America’s outdoor legacy.”

Lesli Allison, Chief Executive Officer, Western Landowners Alliance: “The Western Landowners Alliance applauds the formation of the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus to protect our public lands and thanks Representatives Vazquez and Zinke for their leadership on this issue. Care for our public lands is a priority across party lines and fence lines in the West. Western Landowners Alliance members steward tens of millions of acres of private and public land, and recognize the challenges facing federal land management and budgets. We are also acutely aware of the nation’s real housing deficit. But disposal of federal land is not a practical solution to either problem.”

Paul Hendricks, Executive Director, The Conservation Alliance: “Conservation has been supported by folks from both political parties and nearly all demographics for generations – America’s best and most durable public lands protections have come from members of Congress working together across party lines. Yet many of those places are now at risk of losing those protections, which would be detrimental to our nation’s economy. Safeguarding nature creates jobs, supports local economies as well as the $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation economy, and ensures these benefits exist for future generations. The Conservation Alliance and our 200 business members are excited to see the launch of the Public Lands Caucus and thank Representative Vasquez and Representative Zinke for taking the lead.”

Devin O’Dea, Western Policy & Conservation Manager, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: “Backcountry Hunters & Anglers strongly supports the creation of the Public Lands Caucus and thanks Representatives Vasquez and Zinke for bringing together a bipartisan force to defend against ongoing threats to sell or transfer our wild public lands. Our public lands define who we are as Americans — places where anyone, regardless of background, can hunt, fish, camp or explore. The Public Lands Caucus is a crucial step in ensuring our wild public lands, waters, and wildlife endure.”

Ariel Wiegard, Vice President of Government Affairs, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever: “America’s upland hunters and grassland advocates applaud today’s launch of the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus, and we stand ready to work with Reps. Vasquez, Zinke, and the other Caucus members to advance public land conservation policies, increase and improve habitat and access, and energize and engage the upland conservation community. America’s grassland and sagebrush shrub-steppe ecosystems are among the most at-risk environments in the world, resulting in the decline of our most cherished grassland species and fewer places to hunt on high-quality habitat—we are confident this Caucus will help ensure our treasured public lands deliver the promise of more wildlife and more hunters, alongside other natural resource and quality of life benefits, to the American people.”

Jason Burckhalter, Co-CEO, National Wild Turkey Federation: “The NWTF extends deep gratitude to Congressmen Vasquez and Zinke for their leadership in founding the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus. This crucial effort bolsters the unique American public trust, ensuring our public lands—vital habitats for wildlife, cornerstones of our hunting heritage, and cherished spaces for outdoor recreation—remain a shared resource, held in trust for all citizens, preserving their accessibility and stewardship for future generations.”

Louis Geltman, Vice President for Policy and Government Relations, Outdoor Alliance: “Outdoor Alliance is grateful to Representatives Gabe Vasquez and Ryan Zinke for their leadership in creating the Public Lands Caucus. Public lands need champions, and we look forward to working with members of the caucus to protect public lands and waters and outdoor recreation experiences. Outdoor recreation is a bipartisan value and benefits the millions of Americans who get outside each year. We look forward to building momentum for the caucus’s work to support outdoor recreation, public lands and waters, and conservation.”

Caroline Gleich, professional athlete, advocate and former candidate for U.S. in Utah: “As someone who has spent my life exploring and advocating for public lands, I’m thrilled to support the launch of the Public Lands Caucus. These lands are more than lines on a map—they’re where we connect with nature, with each other, and with something larger than ourselves. I applaud Representative Vasquez for his leadership in creating a space in Congress to prioritize conservation, recreation, and access for all. At a time when public lands are under threat from extractive industries and political indifference, this caucus sends a clear message: our lands are not for sale. They belong to the people—and we’re here to protect them.”

America Fitzpatrick, Conservation Program Director, League of Conservation Voters: “We applaud the establishment of the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus led by Representatives Vasquez and Zinke. The bipartisan nature of this caucus underscores how public lands unite us. Public lands across the country provide countless recreational, cultural, health, and economic opportunities. Proposals like the dark-of-night amendment to sell-off public lands in Utah and Nevada during last night’s House Natural Resources Committee markup have no place in the Budget Reconciliation process and we look forward to working with the caucus to ensure our lands and waters are protected for generations to come.”

Kellis Moss, Managing Director of Federal Affairs for Ducks Unlimited: “Public lands make hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation activities accessible for millions of Americans. Some of our most critical conservation programs, such as NAWCA, invest in habitat on public lands. We’re glad to see Congress prioritize conserving America’s natural places for the next generation of outdoorsmen and women, and we’re happy to support the Public Lands Caucus in this effort.”

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MIL OSI USA News –
May 8, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Huizenga Introduces “Made in America Motors Act” to Make Car Interest Tax Deductible
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Bill Huizenga (MI-02)

Today, Congressman Bill Huizenga (R-MI) announced the introduction of H.R. 3191, the Made in America Motors Act. This bill establishes a new federal tax deduction on auto loan interest for American-made cars. The Made in America Motors Act is based on a major policy priority proposed by President Trump in the run up to the 2024 election. Car ownership is essential for many American families, especially those living in rural or suburban areas. The Made in America Motors Act directly lowers the cost of financing a vehicle—often a household’s second-biggest expense after housing. This tax deduction can save taxpayers hundreds of dollars each year, regardless of whether they use the standard deduction or itemize.

“The Made in America Motors Act is a win for American taxpayers, autoworkers, and Michigan,” said Congressman Bill Huizenga. “Making interest on car loans tax deductible was a key campaign promise made by President Trump. The Made in America Motors Act delivers on this promise by giving individuals and families a financial incentive to buy American, which in turn supports good-paying automotive jobs in Michigan and across the nation.”

“As America’s top auto producer, we’re grateful to work with Congressman Huizenga on policies that grow the American auto industry. The Made in America Motors Act will help Americans purchase a car and gain the freedom to move, while supporting American auto workers, “ said Ford Motor Company.

Specifically, the Made in America Motors Act would:
- Create a new above-the-line tax deduction of up to $2500 annually for interest paid on auto loans
- Make the deduction available to taxpayers, including those who take the standard deduction
- Apply only to vehicles with final assembly in the United States
The full text of the Made in America Motors Act is available here.

MIL OSI USA News –
May 8, 2025

MIL-OSI USA: Reconciliation Recommendations of the House Committee on Financial Services

Source: US Congressional Budget Office

Legislation Summary

H. Con. Res. 14, the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2025, instructed the House Committee on Financial Services to recommend legislative changes that would decrease deficits by at least $1 billion over the 2025-2034 period. As part of the reconciliation process, the House Committee on Financial Services approved legislation on April 30, 2025, that would reduce deficits.

Estimated Federal Cost

The reconciliation recommendations of the House Committee on Financial Services would, on net, decrease deficits by $5.2 billion over the 2025-2034 period. The estimated budgetary effects of the legislation are shown in Table 1. The costs of the legislation fall within budget functions 370 (commerce and housing credit) and 600 (income security).

Table 1. Estimated Budgetary Effects of Reconciliation Recommendations Title V, House Committee on Financial Services, as Ordered Reported on April 30, 2025
	By Fiscal Year, Millions of Dollars
	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031	2032	2033	2034	2025-2029	2025-2034
	Decreases in Direct Spending
Budget Authority	-138	-527	-863	-889	-933	-978	-1,026	-1,109	-1,178	-1,219	-3,350	-8,860
Estimated Outlays	-16	-352	-800	-926	-948	-973	-1,013	-1,090	-1,160	-1,200	-3,042	-8,478
	Increases or Decreases (-) in Revenues
Estimated Revenues	0	-473	-724	-720	-752	1,081	-410	-427	-443	-455	-2,669	-3,323
	Net Increase or Decrease (-) in the Deficit From Changes in Direct Spending and Revenues
Effect on the Deficit	-16	121	-76	-206	-196	-2,054	-603	-663	-717	-745	-373	-5,155

Basis of Estimate

For this estimate, CBO assumes that the legislation will be enacted in summer 2025. CBO’s estimates are relative to its January 2025 baseline and cover the period from 2025 through 2034.

Direct Spending and Revenues

CBO estimates that enacting the bill would decrease direct spending by $8.5 billion and decrease revenues by $3.3 billion; the deficit would decrease by $5.2 billion over the 2025‑2034 period (see Table 2).

Green and Resilient Retrofit Program for Multifamily Family Housing

Section 50001 would rescind the unobligated balances of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Green and Resilient Retrofit Program. Using information from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, CBO estimates that enacting the rescission would decrease direct spending by $138 million over the 2025-2034 period.

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board

Section 50002 would transfer the authorities of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) no later than one year after enactment. At the time of that transfer, the SEC would not be permitted to collect and spend accounting support fees authorized under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that the PCAOB currently collects. Those fees, which fund the board’s activities, are treated as revenues and are available to be spent without further appropriation.

CBO expects that the board’s authorities would be transferred to the SEC around the end of fiscal year 2026 and that, starting in 2027, accounting support fees would no longer be collected and spent. CBO estimates that eliminating the authority to collect the fees would decrease direct spending by $3.2 billion over the 2027-2034 period.

Eliminating the fee authority also would reduce collections of fees by $3.3 billion. However, reducing such fees tends to increase taxable income for workers and businesses, leading to increased collections of income and payroll taxes. As a result, CBO expects that the reduction in fee collections would be partially offset by increases in tax receipts of about 25 percent of the gross fee reduction each year. CBO estimates that, on net, revenues would decrease by $2.4 billion over the 2027-2034 period.

Although CBO anticipates that the SEC would collect fees of similar magnitude to fund those activities, the collection and spending of fees imposed by the SEC are contingent on annual appropriations providing that authority to the agency. CBO has not reviewed this legislation for effects on spending subject to appropriation, so any costs for the SEC to implement the legislation are not included in this estimate.

Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection

Section 50003 would decrease the maximum amount that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) may request from the Federal Reserve each year to cover operating expenses. Under current law, the CFPB may request a transfer of up to 12 percent of the Federal Reserve’s operating expenses from 2009, adjusted for inflation each year beginning in 2013. The provision would reduce the cap to 5 percent of the Federal Reserve’s operating expenses in 2009, adjusted for inflation each year beginning in 2025.

CBO expects that the new cap would take effect at the beginning of 2026 and that the CFPB will have already received its final quarterly funding from the Federal Reserve for 2025. CBO estimates that enacting the provision would reduce transfers from the Federal Reserve by about $4.2 billion and reduce direct spending by $3.9 billion over the 2026-2034 period.

The Federal Reserve System transmits its net income to the Treasury as remittances, which are recorded as revenues. Transfers to the CFPB reduce those remittances but are recorded as other miscellaneous receipts in the budget; those two revenue streams net to zero over the 2025-2034 period. Changes in costs for the Federal Reserve banks have historically resulted in changes to remittances during the same year. However, since fiscal year 2023, the central bank has recorded a deferred asset to account for accrued net losses from expenses in excess of income. As a result, remittances have been largely suspended. In CBO’s projections, remittances from the Federal Reserve will generally be suspended until 2030, and most of the changes in costs incurred by the system during that time will not be recorded as a change in remittances until they resume.

Consumer Financial Civil Penalty Fund

Section 50004 would prohibit the CFPB from spending amounts in the Civil Penalty Fund for any purpose other than to pay victims of violations of consumer financial law for which penalties have been imposed. Under current law, the CFPB deposits penalties collected from judicial or administrative actions into the Civil Penalty Fund; in addition to paying victims of violations, the CFPB uses those amounts for consumer education and financial literacy programs.

Under current rules, the CFPB may use amounts associated with one penalty to pay victims associated with another penalty. This provision would effectively prohibit that practice and also would bar the CFPB from spending amounts on consumer education or financial literacy programs. Based on an analysis of the amounts returned to the fund in recent years and using other information from the CFPB, CBO expects that enacting this provision would reduce direct spending by $9 million over the 2025-2034 period.

Financial Research Fund

Section 50005 wouldcap assessments collected by the Office of Financial Research (OFR) and deposited into the Financial Research Fund at a three-year moving average of the expenses of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). Under current law, the OFR collects assessments from large financial institutions to fund its operations and the operations of the FSOC. Those assessments are recorded as revenues and are available to be spent without future appropriation. CBO estimates that enacting the provision would decrease direct spending on OFR and FSOC activities by $1.2 billion.

Capping assessments also would reduce revenues by $1.2 billion. However, reducing such fees tends to increase taxable income for workers and businesses, leading to increased collections of income and payroll taxes. As a result, CBO expects that the reduction in fee collections would be partially offset by increases in tax receipts of about 25 percent of the gross fee reduction each year. On net, CBO estimates that revenues would decrease by $906 million under this provision.

Pay-As-You-Go Considerations

The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 establishes budget-reporting and enforcement procedures for legislation affecting direct spending or revenues. The net changes in outlays and revenues that are subject to those pay-as-you-go procedures are shown in Chief, Finance, Housing, and Education Cost Estimates Unit

Joshua Shakin
Chief, Revenue Estimating Unit

Kathleen FitzGerald
Chief, Public and Private Mandates Unit

Christina Hawley Anthony
Deputy Director of Budget Analysis

H. Samuel Papenfuss
Deputy Director of Budget Analysis

Chad Chirico
Director of Budget Analysis

Phillip L. Swagel

Director, Congressional Budget Office

[Table 2 is on the next page.]

MIL-OSI Security: Charleston Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Fentanyl Crime and Violating Supervised Release

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Tyrece Ramone Phillips, 39, of Charleston, was sentenced today to 12 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl and for violating supervised release.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on October 3, 2024, law enforcement officers intercepted a United States Postal Service package addressed to Phillips’ Charleston residence. Investigators obtained and executed a search warrant for the package, and found it continued approximately 538 grams of a substance containing fentanyl.

Investigators removed the fentanyl substance from the seized package and replaced it with a sham substance. Investigators conducted a controlled delivery of the package to Phillips’ residence on October 4, 2024. The package remained unopened on the front porch of the residence until Phillips arrived later that day. Phillips took the package inside his residence and immediately began to open the package. Investigators executed a search warrant at the residence and found Phillips with the sham substance from the package in his hands in an upstairs bathroom. Investigators also found a scale with residue in the residence during the search. Three teenage children, who also lived at the residence, were present in the house when Phillips was handling the package.

At the time of this offense, Phillips was serving a term of supervised release resulting from his conviction on March 20, 2019, for distribution of a quantity of acetyl fentanyl and fentanyl. Phillips was sentenced to two years in prison for committing a crime while on supervised release, to run concurrently with today’s sentence of 12 years in prison.

Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney J. Parker Bazzle II prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:24-cr-177.

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MIL-OSI Security: Shooting of 5-Year Old Child and an Adult in 2024 Gets District Man 156 Month Prison Term

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

WASHINGTON – Alante Partlow, 30, of the District, was sentenced today in Superior Court to 13 years in prison for shooting a 5-year-old child and an adult in April 2024, announced U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.

Partlow pleaded guilty Oct. 18, 2024, to two counts of aggravated assault while armed and one count of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. In addition to the prison term, Superior Court Judge Robert Okun ordered five years of supervised release.

According to the government’s evidence, with which Partlow agreed, at approximately 11:20 p.m. on April 23, 2024, the adult victim and a 5-year-old child were walking out of an apartment building in the Fort Totten neighborhood, after the adult had argued with Partlow. Partlow followed the victims outside and then fired multiple shots at the adult victim. The adult tried to shield the child and sustained multiple gunshot wounds. The child also sustained injuries.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Martin and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. They also acknowledged the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Roberts, who prosecuted the case.

This law enforcement activity is part of President Donald J. Trump’s Make DC Safe and Beautiful Executive Order. The Executive Order directs a coordinated federal effort to reduce crime, enhance public safety, and restore pride in the nation’s capital through targeted enforcement, improved policing, and strategic partnerships.

Violent Crimes Against Children

MIL-OSI Security: Justice Department Announces Results Of Operation Restore Justice: 205 Child Sex Abuse Offenders Arrested in FBI-Led Nationwide Crackdown, Including 4 in the Western District of New York

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

BUFFALO, NY – Today, the Department of Justice announced the results of Operation Restore Justice, a coordinated enforcement effort to identify, track and arrest child sex predators. The operation resulted in the rescue of 115 children and the arrests of 205 child sexual abuse offenders in the nationwide crackdown. The coordinated effort was executed over the course of five days by all 55 FBI field offices, the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in the Department’s Criminal Division, and United States Attorney’s Offices around the country.

“The Department of Justice will never stop fighting to protect victims — especially child victims — and we will not rest until we hunt down, arrest, and prosecute every child predator who preys on the most vulnerable among us,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “I am grateful to the FBI and their state and local partners for their incredible work in Operation Restore Justice and have directed my prosecutors not to negotiate.”

“Every child deserves to grow up free from fear and exploitation, and the FBI will continue to be relentless in our pursuit of those who exploit the most vulnerable among us,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Operation Restore Justice proves that no predator is out of reach and no child will be forgotten. By leveraging the strength of all our field offices and our federal, state and local partners, we’re sending a clear message: there is no place to hide for those who prey on children.”

“These arrests should send a clear message that, together with our law enforcement partners at all levels, we will track down and prosecute those who target our children,” stated U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo. “Our office will never stop doing all that we can to protect children from these harmful predators.”

“Operation Restore Justice’ sends a powerful message: the FBI is unwavering and united in its fight to protect our children,” said Matthew Miraglia, the Special Agent-in- Charge of the FBI’s Buffalo Field Office. “These arrests demonstrate the unwavering dedication of the FBI and our law enforcement partners. Our work does not stop here. The FBI is committed to holding predators accountable and pursuing justice for victims.”

Arrested in the Western District of New York and charged with possession of child pornography are:

Brian Keith, 68, of Niagara Falls, NY. During the execution of a search warrant on March 13, 2025, at Keith’s residence, Niagara Falls Police officers seized a DVR, laptop, five hard drives and two tablets. A review of the electronic devices recovered images of child pornography. Keith is a registered Level 3 sex offender.

Matthew Kowalski, 25, of Kenmore, NY. In October 2024, he was sentenced to 10 years’ probation for Possessing a Sexual Performance of a Minor, a New York State Penal Law violation. On April 11, 2025, during an unannounced home visit by Erie County Probation Officers, a cellular phone with an SD card was found, which Kowalski was not permitted to possess. A search of the phone and SD card recovered multiple images and videos of suspected child pornography.

Samari Thompson, 20, of Buffalo, NY. On November 4, 2024, investigators executed a search warrant at Thompson’s residence, seizing electronic devices, including a cellular telephone. A search of the cell phone recovered 48 images and 16 videos of suspected child pornography. Some of the images and videos depicted infants.

Jamie R. Anderson, 25, of Buffalo, NY. In January 2022, Anderson was sentenced to 10 years’ probation for Possessing a Sexual Performance of a Minor, a New York State Penal Law violation. On July 3, 2024, the social media application Kik reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that 13 video and image files of apparent child pornography were uploaded to their server. Subsequent investigation traced the uploaded files to Anderson. The investigation also determined that Anderson was the subject of two other tipline reports.

Others arrested around the country are alleged to have committed various crimes including the production, distribution, and possession of child sexual abuse material, online enticement and transportation of minors, and child sex trafficking. In Minneapolis, for example, a state trooper and Army Reservist was arrested for allegedly producing child sexual abuse material while wearing his uniforms. In Norfolk, VA, an illegal alien from Mexico is accused of transporting a minor across state lines for sex. In Washington, D.C., a former Metropolitan Police Department Police Officer was arrested for allegedly trafficking minor victims.

In many cases, parental vigilance and community outreach efforts played a critical role in bringing these offenders to justice. For example, a California man was arrested about eight hours after a young victim bravely came forward and disclosed their abuse to FBI agents after an online safety presentation at a school near Albany, N.Y.

This effort follows the Department’s observance of National Child Abuse Prevention Month in April and underscores the Department’s unwavering commitment to protecting children and raising awareness about the dangers they face. While the Department, including the FBI, investigates and prosecutes these crimes every day, April serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of preventing these crimes, seeking justice for victims, and raising awareness through community education.

The Justice Department is committed to combating child sexual exploitation. These cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.

The Department partners with and oversees funding grants for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which receives and shares tips about possible child sexual exploitation received through its 24/7 hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST and on missingkids.org.

The Department urges the public to remain vigilant and report suspected exploitation of a child through the FBI’s tipline at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324), tips.fbi.gov, or by calling your local FBI field office.

Other online resources:

Electronic Press Kit

How we can help you: Parents and caregivers protecting your kids

Arrests in the Western District of New York are the result of investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Task Force, the New York State Police, the Town of Tonawanda Police Department, the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office, the Erie County Probation Department, and the Niagara Falls Police Department.

An indictment is merely an allegation. The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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MIL-OSI Security: Tooele County Man Indicted After Allegedly Assaulting Two Motorcyclists for “Trespassing”

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging a Utah man with multiple violent crimes after he allegedly zip-tied, kidnapped, and assaulted two motorcyclists who were riding their bikes in Tooele County, Utah, when they unknowingly crossed onto the Skull Valley Indian Reservation.

Russell Allen, 50, of Tooele County, Utah, was charged by complaint on April 28, 2025.

According to court documents, on April 26, 2025, Allen and another person allegedly assaulted the victims and told them they were trespassing on Indian land. The victims were allegedly ordered to the ground facedown, zip-tied, kicked and threatened with a knife. Allen and the other person allegedly took the victims’ belongings, including their motorcycles, purportedly as an impound for trespassing. Law enforcement later recovered the motorcycles in a maintenance shed on Skull Valley Indian Reservation Road. However, a search warrant later showed that many of the stolen items (camera equipment, cash, gift cards, wallets, and cell phones) were not recovered. The victims were then transported in a truck traveling at an estimated 100 mph to a remote desert area. The victims were then released without any of their property and had to walk over 10 miles for help from the Dugway gate guards in a hike believed to have taken six or seven hours.

Allen is charged with kidnapping, assault, and theft while within Indian Country. His initial appearance on the indictment is May 7, 2025, at 3:00 p.m. in courtroom 8.4 before a U.S. Magistrate Judge at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.

Acting United States Attorney Felice John Viti for the District of Utah made the announcement.

The case is being investigated by the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force.

Assistant United States Attorney Sam Pead of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah is prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

MIL-OSI Canada: Ensuring access to justice for Albertans

Albertans deserve to have access to a fair, accessible and transparent justice system. To strengthen the judiciary and improve access to justice for those involved in civil, criminal and family matters, Alberta’s government has appointed a new assistant chief justice and justice.

“Alberta’s government is keeping its commitment to filling vacancies at the Alberta Court of Justice. We will continue to strengthen the capacity of our courts to ensure Albertans can get timely access to justice. I congratulate Justice Hancock and Clarissa Pearce, and I am confident they will excel in their new roles.”

Mickey Amery, Minister of Justice and Attorney General

The Honourable Justice David G. Hancock, ECA, is appointed assistant chief justice of the Alberta Court of Justice, Edmonton Family and Youth Division, effective today, and Clarissa V. Pearce, KC, will be appointed as a justice of the Alberta Court of Justice, Calgary Criminal Division and Calgary Region, effective May 14.

“Congratulations to Justice Hancock on his appointment to assistant chief justice of Edmonton Family and Youth. His experiences and abilities will serve him well in maintaining access to justice for families in the Edmonton area. Further congratulations to Ms. Pearce on her appointment to the Alberta Court of Justice. She brings a wealth of experience and ability to the court.”

James Hunter, chief justice, Alberta Court of Justice

Since June 2023, Alberta’s government has made 23 judicial appointments including three assistant chief justices and nine new justices in 2024, and one assistant chief justice and two new justices in early 2025. These latest appointments bring that total to 25 appointments in less than two years.

The Honourable Justice David G. Hancock, ECA received his bachelor of laws degree from the University of Alberta in 1979. Justice Hancock has been serving in the Edmonton Family and Youth Division since 2017. He began his career at Matheson & Company and became a partner. A former Premier, deputy premier, government house leader and cabinet minister, Justice Hancock was an elected representative in the Alberta legislature for more than 17 years. Currently, he is a committee board member for the Alberta Law Reform Institute, and – at the Alberta Court of Justice – is a member of the Edmonton Family and Youth Child Protection Committee, the Indigenous Strategies Committee, the Reforming Family Justice Advisory Committee and co-convener of the Reforming Family Justice System.

Clarissa V. Pearce, KC received her bachelor of laws degree from Dalhousie University in 2007 and her master of laws degree from Harvard University in 2010. She started her career as an articled clerk at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Calgary (now Court of King’s Bench), practiced law at Norton Rose Fulbright (formerly Macleod Dixon LLP) until 2016, then was legal counsel at the Provincial Court of Alberta (now Alberta Court of Justice) and is presently executive legal counsel to the chief justice of the Alberta Court of Justice. In 2024, she was a member of the Indigenous Justice System – Knowledge Sharing Symposium Planning Committee for the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice and acted as a facilitator and co-master of ceremonies at the symposium when it took place on Tsuut’ina Nation. Currently, she is a board member of the Canadian Child Abuse Association.

Quick facts

Lawyers with at least 10 years at the bar can apply to become a justice with the Alberta Court of Justice.
Lawyers with at least five years at the bar can apply to become a justice of the peace. Justice of the peace appointments are for 10 years.
Applications are reviewed by the Alberta Judicial Council and Alberta Judicial Nominating Committee, and then recommended to the minister of justice and cabinet for appointment.

Related information

Alberta’s government is actively recruiting justices and justices of the peace and encourages qualified lawyers to apply. Qualified lawyers who wish to be considered for appointment can access the application form online.

MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta Announces Fifth Edition of Disability Rights Handbook

Source: US State of California Department of Justice

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

Releases updated chapters on access to buildings, telecommunications, benefits and services, service animals, and more

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, through the California Department of Justice’s Disability Rights Bureau, announced the release of the fifth edition of “Legal Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” a publication that provides information regarding the rights of people with disabilities in California. This handbook summarizes state and federal laws that protect the rights of individuals with disabilities in many arenas, including in the workplace and in accessing facilities open to the public. The handbook covers disability rights and obligations in a variety of contexts including businesses and places of public accommodation, employment, housing, K-12 education, healthcare, voting, and telecommunications, with chapters released on an ongoing basis since January 2024.

“At California DOJ, we are committed to ensuring that all individuals have access to inclusive and respectful environments free from discrimination, including discrimination based on disability,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Nearly one quarter of adults in California have a disability, and with the latest edition of this handbook, we aim to provide valuable information on disability rights to support accessibility and full participation for all Californians in every aspect of daily life.”

Californians with disabilities face widespread discrimination, segregation, and exclusion in many aspects of everyday life. California’s disability rights laws are designed to provide protection from these harmful practices, but Californians are often unaware of the nature and scope of these complex laws. All chapters of the “Legal Rights of Persons with Disabilities” handbook are available at https://oag.ca.gov/civil/disability-rights including new and updated chapters on:

Introduction to State and Federal Disability Rights Laws: This chapter provides an overview of major California state and federal laws that protect the rights of people with disabilities.

Access to Businesses and Other Public Accommodations for People with Disabilities: This chapter discusses California and federal laws that prohibit disability-based discrimination in business establishments and other public accommodations. It also describes an individual’s options when they have experienced disability-based discrimination in business establishments and other public accommodations.
Access to Healthcare for People with Disabilities: This chapter describes the state and federal laws that protect the rights of people with disabilities to access healthcare services, including hospitals and other facilities, services, insurance plans, and information offered by doctors’ offices and other medical providers. It also describes an individual’s options when they have experienced disability-based discrimination in healthcare services.
Disability Rights in Employment: This chapter discusses major California and federal laws that protect people with disabilities from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in employment. It also describes an individual’s options when they have experienced discrimination in employment because of their disability.
Disability Rights in Housing: This chapter discusses California and federal laws that protect persons with disabilities from public and private housing discrimination. It also describes options when persons with disabilities have experienced discrimination in housing because of their disability.
Disability Rights in K-12 Education: This chapter discusses the rights of students with disabilities in pre-school, primary, and secondary education under California state and federal law.
Access to Voting for People with Disabilities: This chapter discusses access to polling places and the voting process under federal and state election laws. Additionally, this chapter describes an individual’s options when they have experienced discrimination because of their disability while registering to vote or voting.
Access to Public and Private Buildings and Facilities for People with Disabilities: This chapter provides an overview of state and federal laws that set requirements for physical accessibility of both public and private buildings and facilities. In addition, this chapter provides information regarding options for individuals who have experienced discrimination regarding physical accessibility.
Access to Telecommunications for People with Disabilities: Telecommunications services are services that allow people to communicate through cable, radio, television, satellite, or wire equipment and include a variety of services like telephone and text message services. This chapter details state and federal laws regarding telecommunication services ensuring that people with disabilities have equal access to said service. It also provides information if there are concerns about accessibility of a product or service.
Benefits and Services for People with Disabilities: This chapter highlights state and federal benefits, programs, and services that are designed to assist people with disabilities.
Service Animals: This chapter discusses the rights of people with disabilities to use service animals and emotional support animals under both federal and California laws. This chapter also provides the various complaint options people have when their rights regarding service or emotional support animals have been violated.

Attorney General Bonta is committed to supporting the rights of Californians with disabilities and enforcing state laws that protect people from discrimination. He has supported an update to the Americans with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) Title II regulations concerning accessibility of web information and services of state and local government entities, defended access to housing for persons with disabilities, and recommended revisions to strengthen and protect the rights of students with disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This handbook demonstrates the Attorney General’s ongoing commitment to enforcing these laws and ensuring that all Californians are protected from discrimination.

For more information about the Disability Rights Bureau, visit our webpage at https://oag.ca.gov/civil/disability-rights.

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MIL-OSI New Zealand: Oamaru Police seek public’s help after violent incidents

Source: New Zealand Police

A man has been arrested as Oamaru Police investigate three serious, violent incidents in 24 hours.

Sergeant Tony Woodbridge says members of the public have played a crucial role in the arrest, and while enquiries are ongoing, those involved are believed to be known to each other.

Two of the incidents involved individuals entering residential addresses. The first occurred on Queens Crescent at 11.45pm on Tuesday, where one person was assaulted. The second incident occurred at a Thames Highway address at 4am on Wednesday, where another person was assaulted.

Both victims were taken to hospital with moderate injuries.

At 4.20pm on Wednesday, Police were called to a serious assault at Centennial Park in Oamaru, where a woman was knocked unconscious. A white station wagon then drove at the offender, before ramming a black Subaru Legacy.

After the offender left in the Subaru, the victim got into the station wagon and the vehicle left the scene.

“The third incident occurred in a busy area, in the vicinity of a number of people, and with hockey games being played nearby,” Sergeant Woodbridge says.

“We would like to hear from anyone who was near the Centennial Park carpark, who saw or filmed the assault, or the vehicles leaving.”

Yesterday (7 May), Police arrested a 27-year-old Oamaru man in relation to the incidents.

He has been charged with breaching release conditions; four counts of assault with intent to injure; wounding with intent to commit grievous bodily harm; and two counts of burglary.

“Such serious violent incidents are always of concern, and we know this will be unsettling. I want to assure the Oamaru community that these were not random acts of violence, and we are doing everything we can to hold those responsible to account.

“We are still working to determine why this offending took place, and enquiries are ongoing to locate other people who may have been involved.

“Police want to thank the members of the public who have assisted us with information so far. We still need to hear from anyone who may have witnessed these events, or anyone who has information that can assist us.”

You can update Police online now or call 105 using the reference number 250507/6833.

Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

ENDS

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Morgan McGarvey Defends Medicaid in Congressional Hearing, Shares Story of 10-Year-Old Louisvillian

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Morgan McGarvey (Kentucky-03)

May 07, 2025

Today, Congressman Morgan McGarvey delivered passionate remarks in defense of Medicaid during a House Budget Committee hearing, sharing the story of a 10-year-old Louisvillian named June who has Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy and receives health insurance and treatment through Medicaid.

As a member of the House Budget Committee, Congressman McGarvey has been fighting tooth and nail against the Republican budget that will cut Medicaid by up to $880 billion, which would be devastating to Louisville. Over 200,000 Louisvillians rely on Medicaid for health care coverage, including 103,000 children under the age of 19 and 17,000 seniors over 65.

DOWNLOAD VIDEO AND PHOTOS HERE

TRANSCRIPT:

[2:48] They swear they aren’t touching Medicare, so that only leaves Medicaid.

I know, we’ve heard: “Waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid.” You know what? I agree. Let’s get rid of it. Let’s get rid of all of it. I will help you. Every dollar we get rid of that is waisted or is fraudulent in Medicaid can go to someone who needs it.

So now that we’ve gotten rid of the waste, fraud, and abuse, where are you going to come up with the other hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts?

There is only one option. It is taking health care away from people who use Medicaid. People like the 30 million children, the 8 million disabled Americans, the 7 million seniors – even 10% of our veterans participate in the Medicaid program.

[3:35] It’s going to hurt people like my constituent, June.

June is a 10-year-old, a 10-year-old with Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy, the most serious form of the disease. She’s wheelchair bound. She’s epileptic. She has visual and hearing impairments. She requires 24/7 care.

I met June and her mom, Meg, at a Medicaid town hall in my district just last month. Medicaid provides June with a therapist for PT, for OT, for speech therapy. It allows her to live at home and get care at home from not just trained professionals, but from a mother who loves her and is the only person who can make her smile.

She’s medically fragile. She had three surgeries last week. Her mother’s worked four jobs, but nobody can afford care like this. She’s covered by Medicaid. Now, it’s on the chopping block.

Republicans refuse to craft a sensible budget, but state legislators still have to, so if these cuts go through, a state like mine is going to be devastated. It’ll blow a massive hole in Kentucky’s budget, leaving people like June without insurance.

She’s just a kid. She likes her brothers when they’re silly. She likes her dogs. She likes YouTube and Chappell Roan, just like my daughter does.

She deserves better than this budget.

###

MIL-OSI USA: Read More (Steube, Titus Introduce Bill to Counter Drone Threats at Stadiums and Public Events)

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Greg Steube (FL-17)

May 07, 2025 | Press ReleasesWASHINGTON — U.S. Representatives Greg Steube (R-Fla.) and Dina Titus (D-Nev.) this week led a bipartisan coalition to introduce the Disabling Enemy Flight Entry and Neutralizing Suspect Equipment (DEFENSE) Act, legislation that permits trained state and local law enforcement officers to intercept and disable hostile drones at stadiums and other large-scale events protected by temporary flight restrictions.“Whether it’s a packed stadium or a large outdoor gathering, our communities deserve to enjoy these moments without fear of surveillance or disruption from above,” said Rep. Steube. “The DEFENSE Act gives law enforcement the tools they need to protect Americans attending high-profile events from dangerous and unauthorized drones.”“People travel to Las Vegas from all over the world to experience our world class entertainment and live sporting events,” said Rep. Dina Titus. “I am proud to co-lead this bill to give our state and local law enforcement the tools they need to keep fans, athletes, performers, and stadium workers safe from aerial threats.”Current law authorizes only federal authorities to counter rogue drone incursions. While state and local authorities often have a larger presence at sporting events, the gap created in real-time event security denies state and local officials the ability to address unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) that threaten the safety of the stadium attendees. The DEFENSE Act would change that by authorizing the Department of Homeland (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to extend temporary authority to state and local officers—provided they receive proper training and oversight—to use approved counter-UAS technology to detect, monitor, and respond to airborne threats. Authorized equipment would be limited to systems approved by DHS in coordination with DOJ, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The bill also requires full federal oversight and compliance with airspace and privacy laws.Representatives Steube and Titus partnered with four of their House colleagues, Representatives Rudy Yakym (R-Ind.), Cory Mills (R-Fla.), Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii), and Lou Correa (D-Calif.) as well as Senators Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) who have proposed companion legislation in the Senate.“Stadiums and spectators at large events are vulnerable to unauthorized drone activity, which puts both public safety and national security at risk,” said Senator Cotton. “Our bill empowers local authorities to safeguard large public gatherings from aerial threats.”
“Major events — including sports and live entertainment — play a significant role in supporting our economy in Las Vegas and across the country, and we need to ensure they are safe,” said Senator Rosen. “Our bipartisan bill would enable state and local law enforcement to better mitigate threats posed by drones to the security of these high attendance events.”
“The DEFENSE Act allows local law enforcement to step in when drones threaten large public events,” said Rep. Yakym. “Whether it’s a sold-out game or a concert, this act ensures people can enjoy these moments without worrying about what’s flying overhead.”“With the growing number of drones in use it is paramount that our state and local law enforcement agencies are able to be granted the proper authority to protect citizens at large events and gatherings,” said Rep. Mills. “Events like NASCAR races, rallies, or other large public events should be safe and this bill provides the ability for local law enforcement agencies to protect their citizens.”“As we continue to see the rise of drones and unmanned aircraft systems as a potential threat to public safety, it’s critical that state and local law enforcement have the tools and resources they need to protect our communities, especially at large-scale events that are at increased risk,” said Rep. Tokuda. “I’m proud to join this bipartisan effort to ensure that our local partners in law enforcement can respond quickly and effectively to unauthorized drone activity and keep our people safe from harm.”“The economic engine of Orange County is tourism. From sports to live concerts, Orange County is proud to host hundreds of outdoor events each year. We must ensure that these major events which draw thousands of attendees are safe,” said Rep. Correa. “I’m proud to join my colleagues—Democrat and Republican—in introducing this commonsense, bipartisan legislation to give state and local law enforcement the tools they need to counter threats posed by drones and other unauthorized aircraft.”This legislation has the backing of numerous national sports organizations, including the NFL, MLB, NCAA, and NASCAR, which have all expressed support for expanding drone countermeasure authority to protect fans, players, and event staff. For additional background, see this report from ESPN.“The NFL applauds the bipartisan group of sponsors for their leadership in introducing the DEFENSE Act in the House of Representatives. As the threat of illicit drone activity continues to rise, it is critical that our state and local law enforcement partners have the tools and resources they need to keep fans safe at major sporting events across the country. This legislation will help to do just that, and we urge Congress to adopt it as soon as possible. Doing so is vital to the security of our homeland.” —Cathy Lanier, Chief Security Officer, National Football League“Major League Baseball (MLB) applauds the leadership of Representatives Greg Steube, Dina Titus, Lou Correa, Cory Mills, and Rudy Yakym in introducing H.B. 3207, the DEFENSE Act. This bill is crucial for enabling trained state and local law enforcement to use counter-drone technology to safeguard sporting venues from unauthorized unmanned aircraft systems (UAS or drones). MLB has long recognized the threat that unauthorized drones pose to its 30 stadiums nationwide, and has urged Congress to take the requisite steps to provide law enforcement with the tools and authority necessary to protect our fans, players, and employees. If enacted, this bipartisan bill will enhance the safety of America’s pastime for the 70 million fans attending our games each year. We look forward to collaborating with the bill’s sponsors and others to advance this important piece of legislation.” —David Thomas, Major League Baseball Senior Vice President of Security and Ballpark Operations“Drone related threats continue to pose real risks for events and communities across the country. The DEFENSE Act, introduced by Representatives Steube, Titus, Correa, Mills, and Yakym, provides important authority to trusted law enforcement agencies around the country who are integral partners at each of our races.” —Allen Taylor, Managing Director, Security, NASCAR“The NCAA remains concerned about the threat of unauthorized drones at NCAA championships and college sporting events. The safety of the competitors, fans, and staff that work at NCAA events is our top priority and we applaud Rep. Steube and Rep. Titus for their leadership on this issue.” —Tim Buckley, Senior Vice President of External Affairs, NCAA“The safety of our teams and fans is a key priority at athletics events. The SEC commends Representatives Greg Steube and Dina Titus for introducing this important legislation that is intended to provide public safety officials on campuses and in the communities they serve with enhanced measures to address unauthorized drone usage, and for joining the bipartisan leadership of Senator Tom Cotton and Senator Jacky Rosen on this issue.” —SEC Commissioner Greg SankeyRead the full bill here.

MIL-OSI NGOs: Historic breakthrough: over 40 Nigerian civil society organisations unite to launch climate justice movement

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

Abuja, Nigeria: May 7, 2025 –In a watershed moment for the promotion of environmental justice in Nigeria, more than 40 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) joined forces to launch the Nigerian Climate Justice Movement (CJM). A declaration was issued at the end of a landmark two-day event held in Abuja. The declaration reinforces the resolve of CSOs in holding corporations accountable for environmental damage and biodiversity destruction while amplifying Africa’s demands in global climate justice debates.

The Climate Justice Movement, spearheaded by Greenpeace Africa, aims to connect isolated climate voices and responses under one umbrella movement to collectively address the disproportionate impact of climate change on the African continent.

Ogunlade Olamide Martins, Associate Director (Climate Change) for Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), one of the signatories, stated: “This declaration represents a turning point for grassroots environmental movements in Nigeria. For too long, our struggles have been fragmented despite facing common threats from extractive industries. By uniting under the Climate Justice Movement, we multiply our collective power and create space for community voices to shape the solutions.”

Sherelee Odayar, Oil and Gas Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, said: “For decades, oil giants like Shell have extracted billions in profits from Nigerian soil while leaving behind devastated ecosystems and broken communities. Recent media investigations exposing Shell’s negligence in the Niger Delta is an example of the toxicity and selfish, unempathetic profiteering that communities have endured for generations. Through this declaration, we’re sending a clear message: the era of unchecked pollution and corporate impunity is over – it’s time for polluters to pay.”

Cynthia Moyo, Climate and Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, said: “Nigeria stands at a crossroads in its energy future. As we witness intensifying flooding in the Niger Delta and advancing desertification in the north, it’s clear that climate change requires systemic solutions. This movement isn’t just about cleaning up past damage – it’s about shaping a just transition that centres African realities and protects communities from both climate impacts and false solutions like carbon trading that simply perpetuate exploitation.”

Elizabeth Atieno, Food Security Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, highlighted the connection between pollution and food security: “Oil spills have contaminated once-fertile soils and fishing grounds across the Niger Delta, creating a food crisis that disproportionately affects women and children. When farmers can’t farm and fisherfolk can’t fish, entire communities face malnutrition and economic devastation. Climate justice is fundamentally about securing the right to food sovereignty in the face of corporate environmental abuses.”

Despite contributing minimally to global greenhouse gas emissions, Africa suffers some of the most severe climate impacts, with warming already exceeding the global average. Between July and October 2024, floods affected 34 states across Nigeria, impacting over 4 million people, with more than 300 lives lost and over 2,854 people injured. Nigeria’s catastrophic 2022 floods killed over 600 people, displacing 1.4 million citizens, and affecting more than 4.4 million across 33 states. The disaster destroyed over 200,000 homes and damaged 676,000 hectares of farmland, worsening food insecurity in a country already facing economic challenges.

Another signatory, Ibrahim Muhammad Shamsuddin, Program Manager at Yanayl Haki Afriqya, added, “The youth of Nigeria are demanding accountability from corporations and policymakers. We refuse to inherit a country where profits routinely take precedence over people and planet, having lived the realities that climate change impacts pose to our communities. This declaration is our pledge to transform environmental advocacy in Nigeria from isolated campaigns into a formidable, unified force that drives positive change towards access to a safe and healthy environment for all, which is a fundamental human right.”

The CJM declaration outlines comprehensive demands, including immediate remediation of oil-polluted sites in the Niger Delta, compensation for communities affected by decades of extraction, ending gas flaring practices, transitioning to renewable energy infrastructure, strengthening regulatory frameworks against corporate environmental abuses and rejection of false solutions like carbon trading.

The coalition brings together diverse organisations working across environmental sectors, including ocean conservation, forest protection, climate advocacy, and community rights. CJM Nigeria is the fourth launch, with successful previous launches in the DRC, Cameroon, and Ghana.

The coalition will now focus on implementing a coordinated action plan, engaging government authorities, and expanding the movement across West Africa.

ENDS

For more information or interview requests, please contact:

Dr. Ignatius Emeka Onyekwere, Media Consultant for CJM Nigeria, [email protected], +234 810 038 5897

Ferdinand Omondi, Communication Manager, Greenpeace Africa, [email protected], +254 722 505 233

Notes to Editors:

About Greenpeace Africa:

Greenpeace Africa is an independent environmental campaigning organisation established in 2008 that operates across the African continent with offices in Senegal, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and South Africa. As part of the global Greenpeace network, the organisation works to protect and conserve Africa’s natural environment while advocating for peace and environmental justice.

About the Climate Justice Movement

The Climate Justice Movement (CJM) is a pan-African initiative that unites grassroots organisations to address environmental challenges across the continent.

The CJM represents a cornerstone of Greenpeace Africa’s strategy to build people-powered movements that challenge corporate environmental exploitation while elevating local communities as agents of change in environmental decision-making processes.

MIL OSI NGO –

MIL-OSI USA: Bergman, Budzinski, Frankel, Kiggans, Bilirakis Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Protect Older Veterans from Avoidable, Costly Falls

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jack Bergman (MI-1)

Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI-01), Nikki Budzinski (D-IL-13), Lois Frankel (D-FL-22), Jen Kiggans (R-VA-02), and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-12)introducedbipartisan legislation to help older Veterans avoid injuries from costly, dangerous falls.

The SAFE STEPS for Veterans Act would establish an Office of Falls Prevention within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and create a falls prevention coordinator role. The legislation would also create a pilot program for incorporating falls prevention programs into VA home modification programs and establish an assessment for Veterans to identify those most at risk of falling. Since Veterans, on average, have more chronic conditions than their non-Veteran counterparts, additional programs could help to prevent unnecessary injuries or hospitalizations — and the massive expenses associated with falls.

The SAFE STEPS for Veterans Act is endorsed by Disabled American Veterans, the American Physical Therapy Association, and AARP.

“As our population continues to age, the VA must be proactive in its efforts to identify and address necessary improvements in care for older Veterans. The SAFE STEPS for Veterans Act will help drastically enhance the health and quality of life for those at risk of falls while reducing the need for costly recovery programs resulting from these preventable injuries. I’m proud to help reintroduce this bipartisan, commonsense bill,” said Congressman Bergman.

“Preventative health care measures give our nation’s Veterans a healthier, more resilient future,” said Congresswoman Budzinski. “The SAFE STEPS Act reflects our commitment to addressing the unique challenges faced by older Veterans, who are at a higher risk of serious falls and their consequences. By establishing an Office of Falls Prevention and integrating effective programs into VA home modification efforts, we aim to reduce the incidence of falls and the associated high costs. Our Veterans deserve the best care and support, and this legislation will help ensure their long-term safety and wellbeing.”

“Falls are the leading cause of injury among people over age 65. A new VA effort to keep our Veterans on their feet is important for the thousands of senior Veterans who live in South Florida and across the country,” said Congresswoman Frankel. “We owe the men and women who served in our military full support in maintaining their health and well-being. I am proud to co-lead this bill.”

“As a geriatric nurse practitioner, I have seen firsthand how falls can impact our older adults’ health and overall quality of life,” said Congresswoman Kiggans. “Our elder Veterans are especially vulnerable, and we owe it to them to ensure they’re safe and well cared for after their service to our nation. The VA must place a greater focus on elder care and this legislation is a step in the right direction. I am proud to join my colleagues in introducing the SAFE STEPS Act to advocate for better resources, education, and fall-prevention programs for our older Veterans.”

“As someone who has experienced a fall that resulted in broken ribs, I am very familiar with the pain that often comes from a fall,” said Congressman Bilirakis. “The risks associated with falling are especially high for seniors over the age of 65. According to the CDC, 36 million seniors fall each year. Tragically, these falls result in 34,000 deaths and three million serious injuries that require an emergency room visit. The good news is that falls are preventable and do not need to be an inevitable part of aging. I encourage all seniors and their loved ones to learn more about how to stay safe and active by taking advantage of the fall prevention programs offered in their community. This bill will ensure that at-risk Veterans also have direct access to the tools they need to prevent falls and stay safe.”

An estimated $80 billion a year is spent on direct medical costs for falls among older adults, up from $50 billion a decade ago. Falls are caused by a variety of risk factors, such as lower body weakness, balance issues, vitamin D deficiency, hearing issues, vision issues, use of certain medications and/or home hazards. Twenty percent of these falls result in serious injuries, with approximately 1 million fall-related hospitalizations among older adults each year.

Falls prevention is an interdisciplinary approach that requires screening and coordination among health care providers, referral to community-based falls prevention programs and addressing home-based risks. However, neither the VA nor VHA currently have a single authority that leads falls prevention efforts for the Department. Additionally, while VA provides funding for home modification programs for certain veteran populations, these programs do not incorporate evidence-based falls prevention programs into their work. The VHA also does not include a requirement that Veterans at risk be screened, leaving too many Veterans susceptible to otherwise preventable falls.

“Falls are a leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries for older Americans, and Veterans face an elevated risk primarily due to their service-connected conditions,” said DAV (Disabled American Veterans) National Legislative Director Joy Ilem.“These injuries are not inevitable and can be significantly reduced through dedicated, evidence-based falls prevention programs and clinical-community partnerships. DAV thanks Rep. Budzinski, Bergman, Frankel, and Kiggans for re-introducing and championing SAFE STEPS for Veterans Act of 2025, which establishes the Office of Falls Prevention at the Veterans Health Administration and supports research for evidence-based fall prevention programs that will benefit and protect our Veterans.”

“The American Physical Therapy Association is grateful to Rep. Budzinski, along with Reps. Frankel, Kiggans, Bergman, and Bilirakis for their introduction of the bipartisan SAFE STEPS for Veterans Act of 2025 in the U.S. House,” said APTA President Kyle Covington PT, DPT, PhD. “The creation of an Office of Falls Prevention within the Department of Veterans Affairs will improve coordination, services, and research aimed at preventing our Veterans from encountering dangerous falls. While proactively preventing falls in our Veteran population, this Office will also minimize health care utilization. The legislation also ensures that our Veterans receive access to much needed physical therapy services, avoiding costlier and more intensive interventions.”

The SAFE STEPS for Veterans Act would:

Establish an Office of Falls Prevention and creates a falls prevention coordinator within the Veterans Health Administration.
Require the falls prevention coordinator to work with NIH to develop Veterans-specific research for evidence-based falls prevention programs.
Require a report on Falls Prevention Initiatives in the Department.
Make improvements to Safe Patient Handling Transfer Techniques, which ensure that injured or paralyzed Veterans are safely transferred between seated positions.
Create a pilot program for current home modification grant programs to incorporate evidence-based falls prevention programs as a component of receipt of grant funding.

Establish a Falls Assessment and Fall Prevention Service requirement for Veterans to screen for those at risk of falling and to better ensure care plans are developed.

MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Bergman Announces Winner of the 2025 Congressional Art Competition

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jack Bergman (MI-1)

Today, Rep. Jack Bergman announced that EmmaRay, a talented student from Johannesburg-Lewiston High School, has been named the First District winner of the 2025 Congressional Art Competition. Her captivating artwork, titled “The Darkness Needs Its Light,” features a luminous jellyfish and impressed judges with its originality, message of resilience, and creative composition.

Held each spring, the Congressional Art Competition highlights the artistic talents of high school students nationwide. As the First District winner, EmmaRay’s artwork will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol for one year, alongside winning pieces from across the country.

“I’m proud to congratulate EmmaRay on her remarkable piece, ‘The Darkness Needs Its Light.’ Her work is not only visually stunning, but also a powerful reminder that light can shine even in the darkest places,” said Rep. Bergman. “Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula are home to so many gifted young artists, and this competition is a great way to showcase their talent on a national stage.”

Later this year, EmmaRay will be honored at a national reception in Washington, D.C., where she and fellow winners will celebrate their achievements alongside Members of Congress and young artists from across the country.

MIL-OSI USA: Establishing 10 Youth Assertive Community Treatment Teams

Source: US State of New York

overnor Kathy Hochul today announced that $4.5 million in state funding was awarded to establish 10 new Youth Assertive Community Treatment teams, including five in New York City, two on Long Island and three in areas north of the metropolitan area. Administered by the state Office of Mental Health, the new multidisciplinary teams will support 360 additional youth with serious emotional disturbances who are either at risk of entering, or are returning home from high intensity services, such as inpatient settings or residential services.

“Children and youth living with mental illness sometimes require additional care to remain at home or return back into the community,” Governor Hochul said. “This expansion of our Youth ACT program will help provide more families with this critical support and the services they can rely on to bring their child home after inpatient care or from a residential facility.”

OMH provided $450,000 in one-time start-up funding to 10 service providers to establish the new teams, with each serving up to 36 children between the ages of 10 and 21. Award recipients include:

Access Supports for Living Inc., serving Westchester County
The Charles Evans Center, serving Nassau County
Central Nassau Guidance and Counseling, serving Suffolk County
Children’s Home of Wyoming Conference, serving Chenango County
Interborough Developmental & Consultation Center, serving Brooklyn
The Child Center of NY, two teams serving Manhattan and Queens
Jewish Child Care Association of NY, serving the Bronx
Child and Family Services of Erie County, serving Erie County
Richmond University Medical Center, serving Staten Island

In addition to announcing the awards, Governor Hochul also issued a proclamation designating Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week in New York State. The proclamation was presented this week during the annual ‘What’s Great in Our State’ Celebration of Children’s Mental Health event in Albany, which recognizes individuals and programs successfully advancing the cause of children’s mental health.

With the first teams established in 2022, New York was the first state nationally to adapt the successful Assertive Community Treatment model to serve youth and young adults. The state now hosts 20 Youth ACT teams in 27 counties, providing services including youth and family therapy, medication management, family and peer supports, and skill-building.

Office of Mental Health Commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan said, “New York’s Youth ACT program is a fantastic first-in-the-nation adaptation to a model that has proven extremely successful with adults living with mental illness. By adding teams statewide, we can help more young people and their families to access the care and support they can use to live and thrive within their community. The expansion of this successful program demonstrates Governor Hochul’s ongoing commitment to expand access to mental healthcare throughout our state.”

Youth ACT teams include mental health clinicians and psychiatric prescribers, peer advocates, and clinical support staff, offering 24-hour support, seven days per week. These teams are focused on improving or ameliorating the significant functional impairments and severe symptomatology experienced by the youth due to mental illness or serious emotional disturbance.

Clinical and rehabilitative interventions are also focused on enhancing family functioning to foster wellbeing, stability, and re-integration. Services are delivered using a family-driven, youth-guided, and developmentally appropriate approach that comprehensively addresses the needs of the youth.

Governor Hochul’s support for youth mental health has resulted in major investments into youth services and supports and nation-leading legislation to address online safety. Her $1 billion mental health initiative and the FY 2025 Budget has significantly expanded access to mental health care and is providing resources for young people and their families.

Last year, Governor Hochul established the Youth Mental Health Advisory Board, a 30-member advisory board which includes youth between the ages of 11 and 17. The advisory board convenes quarterly and is designed to ensure that youth-informed best practices continue to be incorporated in developing behavioral health programs and policies.

New York also now supports more than 1,200 school-based mental health clinic satellites to provide mental health services at districts statewide. These clinics bring a licensed mental health care provider to school campuses, allowing students to access these services in a familiar stigma-free setting.

Under Governor Hochul’s leadership, the state has also significantly expanded HealthySteps, an innovative program that supports young families with high-quality care for mental and physical health development for children 3 years old or younger. New York now supports 125 sites in 35 counties statewide.

Additionally, the state continues to expand Home-Based Crisis Intervention teams, which provide critical mental health services so that at-risk children and youth can avoid psychiatric hospitalization. The state now funds 55 teams, which have the capacity to assist 3,500 families annually.

New York State Coalition for Children’s Behavioral Health President and CEO Kayleigh Zaloga said, “New York’s Youth ACT program fills a critical role in the behavioral health service continuum for adolescents and families, enabling hundreds of young people with significant mental health needs to remain or reintegrate into their families, schools, and communities. The multidisciplinary team approach offers families the support they need when they need it, delivering intensive in-home therapy, peer support, medication management, and crisis intervention centered on each young person’s goals. This work not only stabilizes youth and families in the short term, but also helps them build the skills, resilience, and community connections necessary to thrive into adulthood.”

Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon said, “Youth Assertive Community Treatment teams are meeting young people where they are at, in their homes, in their communities, and often at their most critical moments. This investment means more families won’t have to choose between getting help and staying together. By surrounding youth with compassionate and expert care, we’re not just addressing symptoms, we’re giving them the support they need,” said

MIL-OSI USA: BRAVO’S “the Real Housewives of Rhode Island” Is Reality!

Source: US State of Rhode Island

Providence, RI — “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island” Set against the shores of the Ocean State, “The Real Housewives” franchise expands into the world of a tight-knit circle of Rhode Islanders who have deep community roots and families that go back generations. With aspirational lives, thriving businesses and tangled family dynamics, these decade-long friendships prove that in a state this small, there’s no escaping your past � or each other.

“The Real Housewives of Rhode Island” is produced by Evolution Media. Lucilla D’Agostino, Joseph Ferraro and Jen McClure-Metz executive produce. Andy Cohen is also an executive producer.

Steven Feinberg, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Film & TV Office, stated, “One of the most popular reality-shows ever to grace television, “The Real Housewives” franchise sparked an avalanche of enthusiasm when word spread that this entertaining series just might land in the Ocean State. Well, good news, folks. “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island” is ready to roll and take the world by storm! Action!”

“We’re excited to welcome ‘The Real Housewives’ and their millions of viewers to Rhode Island,” said Governor Dan McKee. “Our state is home to vibrant communities, amazing food, rich history, and stunning coastal beauty�perfect for the spotlight. This is a great opportunity to support our local economy and bring national attention to all Rhode Island has to offer.”

“From the recent filming of ‘Ella McCay’ to HBO’s ‘The Gilded Age,’ Rhode Island is an incredible backdrop for a wide range of productions. The filming of ‘The Real Housewives of Rhode Island’ is a great way to showcase some of the Ocean State’s world-class dining and hospitality,” said House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi. “I am very proud to be a strong supporter of the Rhode Island Film & Television Office, because the arts are a vital part of Rhode Island’s culture and economy. From catering and site usage for filming to increasing tourism, the film and TV industry generates revenue for our local businesses and brings in millions of dollars to our state.”

President of the Senate Valarie J. Lawson said “I am pleased to welcome Bravo’s ‘Real Housewives’ franchise to Rhode Island, and I am excited for the show’s millions of fans to get a glimpse into our state’s rich history, culture, and natural beauty. Thank you to Steve Feinberg and the Rhode Island Film & Television Office for your outstanding work to secure so many productions that generate excitement in our communities while showcasing the Ocean State to audiences around the globe.”

The Rhode Island Film & TV Office is a government agency under the umbrella of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA).

MIL-OSI Economics: Congressional testimony: Supporting American leadership in quantum technology

Source: Microsoft

Headline: Congressional testimony: Supporting American leadership in quantum technology

Editor’s note: On Wednesday, May 7, Dr. Charles Tahan, Partner, Microsoft Quantum, testified before the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. To view the proceedings, please visit the committee’s website.

Written Testimony of Dr. Charles Tahan
Partner, Microsoft Quantum, Microsoft Corporation

U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
“From Policy to Progress: How the National Quantum Initiative Shapes U.S. Quantum Technology Leadership”

Chairman Babin, Ranking Member Lofgren, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to discuss the importance of quantum technology and the transformative role it will play for this country and for our collective future.

It is an honor to be here again. I first appeared before this Committee nearly two years ago. Then, I was Assistant Director of Quantum Information Science and Director of the National Quantum Coordination Office (NQCO), an office within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The NQCO was created in the first Trump Administration by the National Quantum Initiative Act of 2018. Our job was to coordinate the more than 20 agencies led by the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, along with the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community, to develop and execute a national strategy to strengthen American leadership in quantum information science and technology. I spent almost four years in that job, which capped an almost 17-year career as a practicing physicist and technical leader at the National Security Agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where I worked on quantum computing, high-performance computing, and other advanced technologies. I now work at Microsoft where I lead technical teams within Microsoft Quantum that are working both internally and with our close partners to build the world’s first useful quantum computers.

Through my testimony I hope to outline the transformative potential of quantum technology and why the United States must lead and win the quantum race. To provide some context, I will begin by highlighting the revolution in quantum sciences and why quantum matters in the age of artificial intelligence. I then expand on Microsoft’s leadership in this field—both through our own research and through our strategic collaborations with other leaders in the quantum ecosystem. But, despite our tremendous progress, sustaining American leadership requires government action. I therefore offer three focus areas that I believe this Committee and Congress should prioritize: (1) advancing the quantum sciences; (2) developing, attracting, and retaining a skilled quantum workforce; and (3) building a resilient and secure supply chain. Taken together, these strategic actions will not only bolster our nation’s security and competitive edge against competitors and adversaries, but it will also drive innovation and economic growth at home towards a new frontier of American prosperity.

The Quantum Information Revolution

I like to think of quantum science as the operating system of the universe. What we physicists call quantum mechanics are essentially the rules that the universe follows at the microscopic level. Over the last 100 years, we have learned a tremendous amount about how those rules work. They appear strange to us because we do not experience them in our daily lives. As we have learned more about these quantum effects, we have been able to leverage them to build new tools and technologies.

The National Quantum Initiative Act of 2018 recognized that we were on the cusp of a new technological revolution—a quantum information revolution— where we could harness the more advanced and unusual properties of quantum mechanics. This revolution is not just about new research discoveries but also about creating fundamentally new types of information technology like quantum computers, quantum networks, and quantum sensors. The full implications of this shift in quantum information science are unclear, but we do know that maintaining our global technological leadership is critical to sustaining economic prosperity, enhancing our well-being, and safeguarding our national security. We also know this is the first moment in our lifetimes in which we are able to radically reimagine how we build computers. As a country, and as a computing company, we must take that seriously.

Why Quantum Matters in the Age of AI

In the two years since my last appearance before this Committee, the world has shifted dramatically. The remarkable rise of AI systems has surprised all of us and increasingly affordable AI capabilities are likely to transform the world even more profoundly than the internet. Despite its immense potential, artificial intelligence—even coupled with the most powerful classical computers today—has limitations. There are problems that AI and classical computing will never be able to solve, not in our lifetimes or even in a hundred lifetimes, because of the fundamental limitations of how they are designed.

Quantum technology can offer unprecedented capabilities for computing. Consider two quick examples where quantum computers are exponentially faster than anything we could imagine a classical computer could do. The first is code-breaking, which has serious implications to our national security and privacy. A sufficiently large quantum computer could break the public key cryptography systems we now rely on in days or weeks. Even the most powerful classical computer we could ever imagine would take the age of the universe to solve the same problem. That is the power of exponential improvement. And it is why we must move to quantum resistant cryptography as fast as possible.

The other more commercially relevant application is, quite simply, making things—designing new materials, new chemicals, and new medicines. If you think about what the future holds, what will differentiate nations in an era of intelligence is their ability to create new things using tools that enable them to do so better, faster, and at lower cost. And this is why quantum is so important, not only because it helps us understand the universe as scientists but because it gives us unprecedented capabilities to dramatically improve our lives.

Microsoft’s Leadership in Quantum

It is important to appreciate that bringing quantum technology to practical application is hard. It requires focused and sustained investments, sophisticated infrastructure, and the best talent in the world. It also requires new types of hardware—quantum hardware—and a new quantum technology stack, from chips to the control and readout layers to the user interface. This requires science and innovation at every level. That is what makes developing quantum technology expensive.

The quantum team at Microsoft has been pursuing quantum computing for over 20 years. Our research program has spanned all three CEOs. We are singularly focused on building quantum computers that are able to solve meaningful problems, like problems in chemistry and material science. To do this, we need quantum computers that can scale to potentially millions of qubits—or quantum transistors—as compared to the small number currently available in prototype systems today. Microsoft has been pursuing this on two fronts: through our decades-long internal research and through strategic collaborations in the quantum ecosystem.

Microsoft’s First-Party Research: The Topological Approach

Microsoft’s internal hardware effort is based on a unique scientific approach aimed at developing qubits that rely on very novel physics. These are called topological qubits. We think they are promising for quantum computing because they have the potential to make it much easier to scale, meaning to control and enable readout of the millions of qubits needed to develop a useful quantum computer. However, to build even one topological qubit, the team had to take a scientific theory that was first proposed in the 1930s and make it a reality—a feat that included creating a new state of matter and engineering a device in which to exhibit it.

Earlier this year, Microsoft unveiled new technical results that begin to validate our roadmap toward a topological quantum computer.^[1] In addition, Microsoft presented the Majorana 1 chip, which brought together for the first time all the key components, validated individually, that will be needed to build quantum systems that scale: cryogenic electronics, interconnect wiring, and a qubit microchip layout that is compatible with both the physics of topological operation and the limits of control electronics. It is the embodiment of Microsoft’s topological roadmap^[2] and the team is proud of it.

Our approach has been evaluated by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which spent nearly two years vetting Microsoft’s architecture and engineering plan and the unique properties that enable topological qubits to scale.^[3] As a result, DARPA selected Microsoft for the final phase of its Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC) program—one of the programs that makes up DARPA’s larger Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI). To date, the US2QC program has brought together over fifty experts from leading government and academic institutions, including Air Force Research Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and NASA Ames Research Center, to verify our approach to quantum hardware, software, and applications. DARPA referred to this evaluation as “an incredibly rigorous and deeply technical analysis from what is almost certainly the world’s best quantum computing test and evaluation team.” The final phase of US2QC now envisions the development of a fault-tolerant prototype based on topological qubits—a crucial acceleration step toward making a utility-scale quantum computer a reality.

Majorana 1 represents the pursuit of hundreds of scientists and engineers over the course of 20 years. Along the way there have been and will continue to be tremendous advances and contributions to the greater field of quantum information science and technology because of this pursuit. And this is why I came to Microsoft—to work on the hardest problems that promise to have an outsized impact for technology and for our society. Technical terms you may not have heard of, such as Topological and Floquet codes, pristine superconductor-semiconductor materials, measurement-based approaches to quantum computing, are all new technologies spun out of this pursuit with implications for many other types of qubits and other types of technologies, even other domains like astronomy. They came about because the Microsoft team found solutions to the hard problems—to the benefit of not only our company, but the entire quantum ecosystem.

Strategic Collaborations

At its core, Microsoft is a platform company. We want to empower our customers with the best computers in the world, whether they are quantum computers or classical computers, for the applications they care about. While we are excited about the continued advancement and promise of our own topological approach, we have no preference for which qubits ultimately provide our customers with quantum capabilities. We want the system to be the best technology for their use case. This means we develop software for multiple different technologies and layers of the quantum computer stack, everything from AI copilot to quantum languages to the real-time operating system needed to run a quantum computer with millions of moving parts.

To do this, we work with, invest in, and partner with many different quantum computing technology companies, big and small, to help them make useful quantum computers a reality. We have entered into strategic collaborations with leading quantum hardware startups like Atom Computing, Quantinuum, and Photonic, and others. By applying our industry-leading error-correction and control software to their hardware platforms, we are accelerating the industry’s transition from rudimentary “Level 1” machines that use noisy physical qubits to the world’s first “Level 2” machines that rely on reliable, error-corrected logical qubits, composed of many physical qubits—which make quantum computing more useful for practical applications.

Our breakthroughs in this area are coming fast. In April 2024, Microsoft and Quantinuum demonstrated the first logical qubits on record that outperform the underlying physical qubits.^[4] Five months later, in September 2024, Microsoft and Quantinuum demonstrated 12 logical qubits on Quantinuum’s ion-trap machine, the most reliable logical qubits then on record.^[5] Two months later, in November 2024, Microsoft and Atom Computing doubled this feat, creating and entangling 24 logical qubits made from neutral atoms.^[6] These breakthroughs led by Microsoft, Atom Computing, and Quantinuum have for the first time moved the quantum industry firmly out of the “Level 1” noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era to Level 2 resilient quantum computing. With Atom Computing, we are now offering the world’s first commercially available Level 2 quantum machines. These collaborations enable us to deliver best-in-class logical qubits for our customers today, further cementing Microsoft’s leadership in the quantum ecosystem. But even these “Level 2” systems that aim to provide 1000s of physical qubits will pale to the scale of a true, utility-scale quantum computer powered by a million qubits or more. Getting to this point will require more sustained, large-scale investments in many areas—from talent development to new domestic capabilities to supply chain resilience.

Winning the Race in Quantum

While Microsoft has made significant investments in quantum technology, the efforts of individual companies alone are insufficient for the United States to secure the leadership position. Winning the quantum race will not happen without clear-eyed, intentional, and decisive government action. Indeed, these actions will decide whether American global leadership will continue for the rest of this century.

In his first term, President Trump and Congress laid the foundation for American leadership in the quantum sciences. The passage of the National Quantum Initiative Act (NQIA) was a strong first step in moving from dispersed quantum science initiatives to a more active, coordinated effort to not only lead in the foundational research, but also take scientific breakthroughs through to practical technological innovation.

As this Committee considers reauthorization of the NQIA and other specific actions that the United States must take to secure our technological leadership in quantum, we offer more detailed recommendations across three policy priorities: (1) robust funding for quantum research, (2) developing top-tier quantum talent, and (3) securing the quantum supply chain. These three categories—described more fully below—require U.S. government leadership to maintain a competitive edge, drive innovation, and safeguard national security in the face of growing global competition.

Advancing Quantum Research

First, we must continue our long American tradition of leading the world in groundbreaking scientific research. Our curiosity, our ability to innovate, and our desire to build has been responsible for a century of American prosperity. Indeed, the past century of our global leadership is rooted in our ability to not only innovate but innovate first. For quantum, the first-mover advantage is likely to define the geopolitical landscape for the rest of this century – and likely well beyond.

Last week, Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith wrote specifically about the critical role of the American research triad—the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation—in driving American scientific and technological innovation.^[7] I will add to that the unique role that the National Institute of Standards and Technology has contributed to quantum information science since the field’s inception. In addition, there have been vital investments by the Intelligence Community’s research funding organizations, who have core missions that demand expertise to monitor progress in quantum information technologies. We must make it a continuing national imperative to energize these institutions—for our economic future, for our national security, and for sustaining our global leadership. The American scientific enterprise is unmatched in the world and there is no private sector substitute. We benefit from multiple institutions that have very different models for how to fund science. This allows the U.S. to fund everything from basic ideas to large, very focused development programs to purchasing novel supercomputers. There is nothing else quite like it in the world.

Federal funding is the key to leveraging these institutions to sustain our leadership in quantum research and development. Following passage of the NQIA, U.S. funding for the quantum sciences more than doubled from $456 million in 2019 to $1.041 billion in 2022.^[8] But recent years have seen a decline, as reflected in President Biden’s $998 million budget request for FY2025. This has come as our global competitors are doing the opposite. Governments around the world are accelerating spending on quantum R&D – and China’s estimated $15 billion commitment dwarfs publicly reported U.S. funding levels.^[9]

To stay competitive, Congress should not only reauthorize the National Quantum Initiative Act but be purposeful in expanding initiatives through a coordinated national strategy. Key recommendations include:

Fully Fund and Expand Quantum Initiatives across the Federal Government: Reauthorize and fully fund the National Quantum Initiative Act and its programs. Congress should ensure agencies like the Department of Energy (DOE) and its National Labs, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), along with the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community receive sustained appropriations to expand fundamental quantum science research and development. This includes supporting the NSF’s Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes and the DOE’s National Quantum Information Science Research Centers, which have a proven record of leveraging each federal dollar to attract additional private investment. Expanding these programs will spur innovation nationwide and solidify U.S. leadership in critical quantum technologies.
Increase Directed Quantum R&D Funding: Move beyond fragmented funding by adopting a more directed, strategic investment approach. A recent ITIF survey suggests that China’s centralized funding strategy gives it advantages over the diffuse U.S. approach.^[10] Congress can consider targeted increases in quantum R&D budgets across key agencies, aiming to exceed past funding peaks and keep pace with competitor nations. Restoring growth in federal quantum R&D funding—particularly after the dip in recent years—is the first and most urgent step to ensure the U.S. does not fall behind.
Expand Translational Research Programs: Boost funding for government evaluation and prototype development programs to build a bridge between lab discoveries, engineering initiatives, and real-world applications. For example, DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI)—the flagship program for assessing quantum breakthroughs—should be expanded and fully funded. Congress can direct agencies (DOD, DOE, NSF) to coordinate on identifying high-value quantum research projects and push them toward validation programs (like DARPA’s QBI program) and then to practical realization with additional grants, prizes, or public-private partnerships.
Encourage Public-Private Collaboration: Federal investment should be paired with incentives for private sector co-investment in quantum R&D. Each dollar of federal funding often leverages additional private sector investment, so policies like matching grants, or innovation challenges can multiply the impact of public funds. Congress should also support joint research centers and consortia that bring together government, academia, and industry to solve quantum engineering hurdles. In addition, maintaining a stable, long-term funding outlook will give industry the confidence to invest alongside the government in quantum technology development.
Provide access to the latest quantum capabilities: Congress should streamline pathways for government agencies to provide the latest quantum computing technology to the researcher community, which would allow them to better identify impactful quantum applications and use cases.

By significantly increasing federal funding and focusing it strategically, Congress can reinvigorate America’s quantum R&D enterprise. Continued U.S. scientific leadership depends on this commitment and history shows that breakthroughs from federally funded basic research (from the internet to GPS) drive decades of innovation and economic growth. Investing ambitiously in quantum now will pay dividends for American security and prosperity in the years to come.

2. Developing & Attracting Quantum Talent

Throughout its history, the United States has developed and attracted the brightest and most innovative minds– and it is what powers Microsoft, the broader American technology sector, and our great academic and research institutions. But this country now faces a severe shortage of STEM talent and, even more critically, a shortage of specialized quantum expertise.

The global quantum talent pool remains small even as demand increases. It is no exaggeration to say that a handful of gifted physicists, engineers, and mathematicians could sway the balance of power and shift the dynamics in the race to develop quantum technology. Globally, there are as many as three job postings for every one qualified quantum worker.^[11] In the U.S., we are struggling to develop our own talent and labor pool. Today the U.S. STEM workforce consists of approximately 36.8 million people, but 43% of doctorate-level scientists and engineers are foreign-born.^[12] In 2021, more than half of doctorate-level computer scientists, mathematicians, and engineers working in the United States—occupations directly connected to critical and emerging technologies—were born outside the country.^[13] Meanwhile, other countries are sprinting ahead in producing STEM graduates. In 2020, the U.S. awarded roughly 900,000 undergraduate STEM degrees annually, compared to 2 million in China and 2.5 million in India.^[14] That gap may have widened in the past five years and today, the European Union leads in quantum talent concentration, with India and China also surpassing the U.S. in the number of quantum-trained specialists. Without a bigger domestic pipeline of quantum talent, even the most well-funded programs will struggle to succeed.

Congress should enact policies to train, attract, and retain top quantum talent. Important steps include:

Strengthen STEM Education at All Levels: Congress must be laser focused on expanding the STEM pipeline from K-12 through to graduate school programs. This includes initiatives through the NSF, as well as state and local partners to enrich science and math curricula and increase awareness and interest in emerging technology. By introducing comprehensive STEM education early (in elementary and secondary schools), we can inspire more students to pursue careers in emerging technology and quantum-related fields.
Invest in Higher Education and Training: Congress should also continue and expand initiatives to train the next generation of scientists and engineers. We must continue to fund scholarships, fellowships, and research assistantships, particularly those focused in STEM and specifically in the quantum sciences. This must include developing high-caliber talent at our nation’s premier research institutions through grants and quantum research programs. It must also include prioritizing community colleges and technical institutes that often launch students into STEM careers. Programs like the NSF’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) and Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) are critical to engaging more students and providing educators with hands-on quantum projects. Congress should also increase federal support for STEM graduate students in quantum-related disciplines—currently, only 15% of U.S. full-time STEM grad students are supported by the U.S. government, down from 21% in 2004.^[15] Bolstering fellowships and traineeships will produce more Ph.D.-level researchers ready to push the boundaries of quantum science.
Retrain and Upskill the Existing Workforce: To meet immediate needs, Congress should also consider activating NSF and the Department of Labor for workforce retraining programs that would help add talent to the quantum ecosystem. Adult education, professional development, and certificate programs in STEM and basic quantum fundamentals can rapidly expand the pool of “quantum-aware” professionals. These efforts will help fill roles in quantum research and product development that do not necessarily require Ph.D.-level expertise but do need specialized training.
Attract and Retain Global Talent: Many of the world’s best minds—in quantum science and across disciplines—come to the U.S. for education and we must continue to find ways to support their continued contributions to our country after graduation. For example, from 2018–2021, temporary visa holders made up 37% of U.S. science and engineering Ph.D. graduates and over 70% of those students intended to stay in the U.S. after graduating.^[16] Congress should create expedited pathways for highly skilled quantum experts and expand the number of visas for Ph.D. graduates in quantum-related fields. Easing green card backlogs for advanced STEM degree holders could help the U.S. retain and attract international talent that would otherwise find opportunities outside the United States.
Promote International Collaboration: Congress should encourage collaborative research and exchange programs with allied nations to broaden the talent base within a trusted network. Joint initiatives with allies can pool expertise and resources to collectively train more quantum scientists. By deepening ties with like-minded countries the U.S. can both learn from our allies and ensure that we lead the quantum future together.

By implementing these measures, the United States can build a robust pipeline of quantum talent. A comprehensive strategy spanning education, training, and international collaboration will equip the U.S. with the skilled workforce needed to drive quantum innovation and outpace global competitors.

3. Securing the Quantum Supply Chain

Building a secure and reliable quantum supply chain is essential. Quantum technologies across the board—computing, communication, and sensing—depend on specialized materials and components. This includes hardware like cryogenic refrigerators to advanced lasers and quantum chips. There are currently few suppliers or fabrication facilities for these items and most are globally distributed. This creates a real risk of supply bottlenecks or dependencies on foreign sources, which could stall our R&D progress or even compromise the technology stack. It currently takes 12 to 18 months to get certain components and equipment we need, many of which come from overseas. The U.S. must be able to either build quantum components and devices domestically or have reliable, secure sources through trusted allies. We also need prototyping facilities that are rapid, focused, and work at the pace of industry. However, establishing a resilient supply chain will not happen without focused government action. It is a complex challenge requiring coordination between agencies and partnership with industry. And the need to act is now.

Congress and the Administration should pursue a national strategy to strengthen the quantum supply chain through the following actions:

Develop a National Quantum Supply Chain Strategy: We recommend that the Administration—perhaps via the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee or another interagency task force—develop a comprehensive strategy to develop the quantum supply chain. This strategy should identify key supply vulnerabilities, set goals for domestic capacity in quantum-related manufacturing, and provide the Administration with an action plan on how to spur public and private investment for key technology components. Congress may also consider regular reporting on quantum supply chain risks and a roadmap to de-risk dependencies.
Diversify Sources of Critical Components: The government should consider using federal purchasing power and funding to ensure multiple reliable sources for essential quantum hardware components. Congress can empower the Department of Commerce and Department of Energy to organize long-term purchase agreements or commit to buying key items (e.g. dilution refrigerators, superconducting amplifiers, high-purity qubit materials, photonic components) in bulk. Strategic investment (such as grants) could also target any chokepoints where the U.S. is overly reliant on foreign suppliers. By deploying capital toward widely needed quantum components, the government can incentivize companies within the United States (or, abroad in partnership with trusted allies) to build expertise and capacity.
Establish Quantum Manufacturing Facilities: Congress should also focus on building specialized infrastructure facilities for quantum device fabrication and testing. Building quantum computers and sensors often requires custom fabrication processes (for novel types of qubits, cryogenic electronics, etc.) and advanced packaging techniques. Congress should support the creation of one or more quantum foundries or test beds—perhaps through our National Labs or public-private partnerships—equipped to prototype and produce quantum components at scale. This includes facilities dedicated to fabrication, packaging, and assembly of quantum chips and systems, as well as laboratories for testing cryogenic and photonic components under quantum operating conditions. By investing in such infrastructure, the U.S. will reduce the need to rely on foreign fabrication facilities or suppliers for cutting-edge parts. These centers can also serve as innovation hubs where academia and industry collaborate on next-generation manufacturing techniques for quantum technology.
Prioritize Domestic Production of Advanced Components: Congress should create incentives (tax credits, grants, or loan guarantees) for companies to build production lines in the U.S. for critical quantum hardware. This includes the design and fabrication of advanced lasers, precision optics, microwave components, and quantum-grade semiconductors, as well as cryogenic electronics and ultralow-temperature refrigeration systems required for quantum labs. Capabilities like high-precision metrology (chip characterization) and advanced 3D packaging for quantum devices should also be developed domestically. Some of these areas overlap with semiconductor and photonics industries—where recent government efforts were aimed at boosting U.S. manufacturing— but specialized focus on quantum needs is essential. By onshoring production of these components, the U.S. will mitigate risks of foreign supply cut-offs and foster a local ecosystem of quantum suppliers and startups. In tandem, federal R&D programs can partner with U.S. manufacturers to improve yields and performance in quantum-specific production, driving the costs down over time.

By implementing these measures, the U.S. can build a resilient quantum supply chain that supports our nation’s long-term leadership. A combination of strategic planning, direct investment, public-private partnerships, and incentives will reduce dependence on foreign suppliers and ensure that our scientists and quantum innovators have access to the tools and components they need to succeed.

Conclusion

In closing, the government plays a critical role in coordinating our quantum ecosystem, funding the base of scientific discoveries and talent that the industry relies on, and being the first customer for next generation computers.

Quantum technology promises to redefine the next era of human progress. The United States must act with urgency to ensure our continued leadership over the next hundred years.

[1][2502.12252] Roadmap to fault tolerant quantum computation using topological qubit arrays.

[2] Interferometric single-shot parity measurement in InAs–Al hybrid devices | Nature and Realizing Topological States on Quantum Hardware | APS Global Physics Summit.

[3] DARPA selects two discrete utility-scale quantum computing approaches for evaluation | DARPA.

[4] How Microsoft and Quantinuum achieved reliable quantum computing – Microsoft Azure Quantum Blog.

[5] Microsoft and Quantinuum create 12 logical qubits and demonstrate a hybrid, end-to-end chemistry simulation – Microsoft Azure Quantum Blog.

[6] Microsoft and Atom Computing offer a commercial quantum machine with the largest number of entangled logical qubits on record – Microsoft Azure Quantum Blog.

[7] Investing in American leadership in quantum technology: the next frontier in innovation – Microsoft On the Issues.

[8] National Science and Technology Council: Subcommittee on Quantum Information Science, National Supplement to the President’s FY 2025 Budget.

[9] Hodan Omaar and Martin Makaryan, “How Innovative is China,” Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, September 2024.

[10] Id.

[11] McKinsey & Company, “Quantum Technology Monitor,” April 2023.

[12] National Science Board, “The State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2024,” March 2024.

[13] Id.

[14] Id.

[15] Id.

[16] Id.

MIL OSI Economics –

MIL-OSI Banking: Jackie Pavon’s Story

Source: International Association of Drilling Contractors – IADC

Headline: Jackie Pavon’s Story

The following is part of IADC’s 85th anniversary campaign, “Many Stories, One Voice,” which aims to showcase the real human stories behind the drilling industry.

Jackie Pavon – IADC H₂S Safe Accreditation Coordinator

I first heard of IADC from my kind friend and now colleague Bill Krull. It always amazed me how positively he spoke about this organization. Every time I saw him, he was refreshed, optimistic and genuinely energized about his work. In today’s world, where many see work as just a job, finding someone who truly loves what they do is rare. I remember thinking, “What kind of company could inspire such passion?” and hoping that, one day, I would also find a place where I felt the same.

My prayer was answered when IADC opened a position for an H₂S Safe Accreditation Coordinator. With my experience, a deep desire to be part of something meaningful, and the stability that IADC offers, I eagerly embraced the opportunity. Now that I’m here, I can truly say this is where I belong. The training, support and encouragement from my colleagues have been invaluable. IADC isn’t just a company; it’s a community of people who genuinely care about their work, each other and the greater mission we serve. The work I do with IADC brings me so much fulfillment that, by the time I pick up my 1-year-old daughter from school, I’m already feeling grateful. We sing our hearts out to ‘90s country as we drive home, and when I walk through the door to my loving husband, I feel a deep sense of joy. That’s the kind of happiness I cherish every single day, and it’s made possible by the meaningful work I’m lucky to be doing.

The H₂S Safe Program and this organization have become like a second home to me. I feel not only at ease but also challenged and inspired every day. I’m eager to contribute, grow and help make the program the best it can be. I have the privilege of working alongside dedicated training providers, supporting them as they reach their goals and uphold the highest safety standards. Knowing that our work directly impacts lives and promotes safety in the industry is what drives me. Because at the end of the day, safety isn’t just a priority – it’s a responsibility we all share.

Looking ahead, I see a future filled with possibility. I am excited to continue learning, growing and evolving with IADC. I look forward to building new relationships, taking on new challenges, and contributing in ways that leave a lasting impact. More than anything, I am grateful to be here, to be part of this family, and to be trusted with work that truly matters.

I’d love to raise a glass and say, “Cheers to 85 more years!” but let’s be real, by then, I’d much rather be in the Bahamas, enjoying a cold beer with my feet in the sand. So instead, I’ll say, “Cheers to many more amazing years with IADC… until I retire!”

Jackie (front row, fourth from far right) is pictured with members of the IADC HSE&T Committee following a meeting at IADC’s Houston office this year.

MIL OSI Global Banks –

MIL-OSI Banking: Bill Krull’s Story

Source: International Association of Drilling Contractors – IADC

Headline: Bill Krull’s Story

The following is part of IADC’s 85th anniversary campaign, “Many Stories, One Voice,” which aims to showcase the real human stories behind the drilling industry.

Bill Krull – IADC Global Sales Manager

Exactly 15 years ago this January, I entered the industry having very little exposure to or insight into drilling and completions. My journey began as a consultant to IADC selling advertising for Drilling Contractor magazine, the IADC Membership Directory and websites. One of many IADC mentors, Mike Killalea, was tremendous in his interest in educating me on drilling contractors and the industry in general.

I quickly noticed that many professionals in the industry and employees of IADC were willing and interested in assisting new entrants to our industry. I began attending as many conferences as possible and volunteering on various committees, not only for education but also for networking. This proved beneficial in adopting an entirely new group of contacts, many of whom I now consider friends.

After nine years contracting to IADC, I was asked to come on board full time in 2019. My role has dramatically changed over time to include managing the Incident Statistics Program, technical software development workgroups, technical resources and forms development. The Incident Statistics Program was an area completely foreign to me, and IADC gave me an opportunity to learn. For this, I’m forever grateful, as I think it’s difficult to find a home where you have such opportunities to continue to have a career evolve – particularly at this point in my career.

Many thanks to IADC colleagues, mentors and members for our wonderful industry family!

Bill (far left) and colleagues celebrating their work anniversaries during an annual IADC Service Award luncheon.

MIL OSI Global Banks –

MIL-OSI Canada: Quadrupling youth beds with CASA Mental Health

Alberta’s government continues to build the Alberta Recovery Model, a continuum of mental health and addiction care that includes prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery. With record-high investment, the model is supporting Albertans of all ages, ensuring children and youth get the mental health care they need to live healthy, fulfilling lives.

Alberta’s government has an established partnership with CASA Mental Health, the province’s second-largest provider of community-based youth mental health services. The organization focuses on youth who are experiencing mental health challenges that are complex but do not require treatment in an acute care setting or psychiatric hospital.

To continue this partnership, Budget 2025 provides $47 million in capital grants to CASA Mental Health to build live-in and day program youth facilities in three new locations: Medicine Hat, Fort McMurray and Calgary. This is part of a capital commitment of $75 million over three years (2023-26), which will also support the relocation of the existing CASA House from Sherwood Park to Edmonton. This capital grant funding will quadruple the number of CASA House beds in Alberta to about 80. Once fully operational, CASA House facilities will treat more than 300 young Albertans every year.

“Investing in youth mental health sets young people up for brighter futures and helps strengthen families and communities across Alberta. The new CASA Houses and our strong partnership with CASA Mental Health will provide the care they need, closer to home.”

Premier Danielle Smith, MLA for Brooks-Medicine Hat

“Through the Alberta Recovery Model, we are continuing to invest in the infrastructure, programs and services that will give Albertans access to the supports they need to live meaningful, fulfilling lives. Our partnership with CASA Mental Health is increasing access to services and bringing supports closer to home.”

Dan Williams, Minister of Mental Health and Addiction

CASA House facilities will provide treatment for youth aged 12-18 who are experiencing complex mental health challenges with both live-in and day programming. This programming supports youth with the development of skills to build stronger relationships, manage conflict, solve problems, maintain positive health and wellness, and transition to a community school setting. Alberta’s government ensures no family needs to pay for these services by fully funding their operation.

“CASA Mental Health is expanding to provide services to children and youth, and hope to the families supporting them, by bridging the gap between home and hospital. We’re pleased to partner with the Alberta government to bring timely mental health care to more children and youth throughout the province.”

Bonnie Blakley, chief executive officer, CASA Mental Health

“We felt welcomed. We were treated with respect. We loved that there was a program for our child and for us. We learned a lot for the first time since our struggles, we felt like we were not alone and that there is hope. We are so thankful for the amazing staff who made our child’s journey easier.”

Parent of CASA House patient

CASA Mental Health is in the final stages of securing land for the Fort McMurray CASA House, with that location and the Calgary CASA House expected to open in 2027.

Targeted completion of the Medicine Hat and Edmonton CASA House facilities is 2029. The existing CASA House in Sherwood Park will continue operating until the new location opens. As a non-profit charity, CASA Mental Health will engage with the community and embark on a fundraising campaign to supplement government’s capital funding commitment.

“CASA House will have a profound impact on the Fort McMurray region. This facility will help children receive quality mental health care close to home. This is another example of Alberta’s government investing in local infrastructure to support families in northern Alberta.”

Brian Jean, MLA for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche

“As an advocate of mental health care, I’m grateful for this new investment for children and youth facing complex mental health challenges. Too often, parents are left questioning how they can get their children the help they need. This new facility will be an important addition to our community.”

Tany Yao, MLA for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo

“Since being elected two years ago, I have worked with community organizations and service providers to connect with each other and make a mental health and addiction system that works for Medicine Hat. A new CASA House in the city will fill a gap I often hear about, which is the need for more access to mental health services tailored specifically to youth.”

Justin Wright, MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat

Treatment includes individual, group and family therapy, social and life skills training and on-site schooling. Family and caregivers play a vital role in recovery and are actively engaged throughout the treatment process. This includes participation in bi-weekly parent and multi-family group therapy sessions, education and support opportunities and involvement in personalized care and discharge planning.

Youth who stay at a CASA House receive proactive discharge planning, including eight to 12 weeks of follow-up support. The transition team works with families to develop a coordinated plan that may include referrals to community services, school supports and primary care providers.

Alberta’s government is making record investments in mental health services to support Albertans of all ages in their pursuit of wellness and recovery. This includes investing in digital supports like 211 Alberta and Kids Help Phone, supporting school-based initiatives, increasing access to eating disorder treatment for young Albertans and investing in affordable virtual and in-person counselling.

Quick facts

May 7 is National Child and Youth Mental Health Day.
CASA House patients consistently see improvements in symptoms, including:
- Reduction in attention-related symptoms.
- Reduction in substance use.
- Reduction in emotionally related symptoms (anxiety, depression, etc.).
- Improvement in peer relationships.
- Improvement in school attendance and participation.
In 2024-25, CASA Mental Health provided support for almost 11,000 patients and family members.
Albertans experiencing mental health or addiction challenges can call or text 211 Alberta for information on services and supports in their community.

Related information

CASA Mental Health
Alberta Recovery Model

Multimedia

Virtual tour – Sherwood Park CASA House

MIL OSI Canada News –

MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: Senator Coons joins Andy Beshear podcast to talk chickens, faith, and getting started in local government

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Delaware Christopher Coons

WILMINGTON, Del. – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) joined Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear for an interview on the Andy Beshear Podcast. They discussed Senator Coons’ background and how his faith informs his Democratic values and public service, as well as his work with the bipartisan Senate Chicken Caucus. Senator Coons appeared on the fourth episode of Governor Beshear’s podcast. He is only the second elected official to be interviewed on the show.

You can watch and listen here.

Key excerpts:

On serving in local government

Beshear: So, when you got into politics, you got in at the local level, and local politics is hard. I mean, everybody knows where you live!

CAC: It’s mean, it’s tough. The smaller the yard, the meaner the dog.

Beshear: And so, I’m wondering, how did your experiences there either prepare you for the U.S. Senate, or how different are they?

CAC: Well, so, in between the non-profit work I did and going into local government, I spent eight years for a global manufacturing company that’s headquartered here in Delaware, and I gradually got more involved – more engaged – with the Democratic party here in Delaware and was recruited to run for County Council President, partly because there was a real ethics meltdown going on in county government, and my master’s in divinity school really focused on ethics, and I had worked as an ethics officer – an ethics trainer at the company I worked for. When I was County Council President, I wrote a new ethics code and was involved in a number of public integrity and ethics issues. I represented half a million people, and our county here, New Castle County, is mostly unincorporated, so the county government provides police, fire, paramedics, land use, sewer, zoning, housing, and libraries for about 400,000 people, and it was a very challenging environment, a great learning opportunity. My wife and I had infant twins who were born in ’99, I was elected in 2000, and our youngest child was born in 2001, so as a brand-new County Council President with one staff person representing roughly half a million people…

Beshear: With three kids!

CAC: I had three kids under two years old, and I had two full-time jobs because I was still the in-house lawyer for that manufacturing company. It was crazy. I barely remember the first four years I was elected. But to your point, representing local government in the community where I grew up was both wonderful, because I had a chance to really have an impact on the people I’d grown up with and to have an impact on housing and libraries, paramedic and police response time, and disaster preparedness and all of that stuff—but you know people, and they know you and they know how to get you, and they know your mom, and they know your brother-in-law, you know? They know you. That’s what’s great about local government, and that’s what’s hard about local government.

On faith

Beshear: I know that it hurts you as a Senator who has sworn to uphold the Constitution, but also as a person of faith. So many of the teachings in our Bible seem to be impacted, and impacted negatively, by these actions. You think about the fishes and the loaves and cutting SNAP benefits. You think about the parable, the Good Samaritan, picking up that person who’s different from you and not kicking them while they’re down. So, how do you bring your faith to this job? How does it help you make decisions? And maybe how does it keep you going when things are tough?

CAC: Well, thank you for the question. Because it’s harder—it’s been harder this year than it’s ever been for me. Actually, looking out my window right now, I can see my church, First and Central Presbyterian, here in Wilmington. And I try, I’ve got something on the wall behind me, it’s Micah 6:8, which is one of my favorites, the most concise passages from the Old Testament, and it is a reminder that we are called to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. I try to start with humility, to say that everyone I’m interacting with is a child of God, and they may have different understandings or interpretations than I do of what we’re called to do, but if you do justice and love kindness, you’re on the right track. Look, the Bible, the Gospel in particular, is not a political pamphlet. It doesn’t say exactly what we ought to do. It doesn’t say we need more tax cuts, or we need more healthcare, but there are 2,000 specific references to the poor and I think if you look at when Jesus speaks for the very first time, he stands up in his home synagogue and he recites a scripture passage from Isaiah 61—this happens in Luke 4—and where he says, “the spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has anointed me to teach good news to the poor.” If you read that passage, at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, I think it’s hard to reach the conclusion that He doesn’t want us to principally focus on the outcasts, the widowed, the orphans, those in prison, those who are poor, that that is something we are called to do. Look, I represent a million people, not all of them are people of faith, and not all of them are Christians. Folks from many different backgrounds are part of my state and I try to be mindful of the gap between what I believe, and the scripture that I read, and what may be the common interests of the million people I represent. But, Andy, every faith has the Golden Rule, “Do unto others you’d have them do unto you,” and the things we’ve been talking about—addressing the opioid crisis, helping people with affordable housing, responding to natural disasters, and doing it in a way that puts volunteerism and community service first, that strikes me as being right in line with what the Gospels call us to do.

On the Senate Chicken Caucus

Beshear: Amen. We like to typically end with something a little more fun. I read that you founded the Senate Chicken Caucus. Is that accurate?

CAC: Indeed, I did.

Beshear: You’ve got to tell me, what is the Senate Chicken Caucus? Are we talking about hot chicken?

CAC: So, one of my best friends in the Senate was Johnny Isakson of Georgia, just a great man, a great and generous and fun man. We did a lot of traveling and working together and his home state of Georgia is one of the biggest chicken producers in the country, and Sussex County, Delaware, is one of the biggest counties in chicken production in the country, and one of Johnny’s favorite sayings was “life is about friends and future friends, and you don’t have to agree with each other on everything, you just have to agree with each other on one thing.” And so, as we were getting to know each other, we realized that we had chickens in common, that both Delaware and Georgia really cared about growing our chicken exports and so we went to a number of foreign countries together—South Africa, I remember, in particular—where we were trying to promote American chicken exports, and we were trying to grow markets for the fabulous, healthy, tasty protein that we were growing in Georgia and in Delaware in our chicken farms. Southern Delaware is dominated by chicken agriculture. It really is the center of agriculture in Delaware. We have events every year where we always serve chicken, and it’s a great opportunity for me to work across the aisle with Senators from other states—from Arkansas, and Mississippi, and North Carolina, and Georgia, as Johnny was [from]—and focus on what we have in common in the interests of our rural areas and our agricultural sectors. So, that’s the history of the Chicken Caucus and, yes, it is a little funny, but we had a great time doing chicken wing contests and talking about how we could help promote chicken agriculture in the United States and around the world.