Office of Legal Counsel OLC
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ntbcw OLA </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">off</font></div><div><a href="https://www.doi.gov/ocl"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.doi.gov/ocl</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">under INterior bernhardt</font></div><div><div class="panel-pane pane-page-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="section-page-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.15em; line-height: 1.25em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs</font></h1></div><div class="panel-pane pane-entity-field pane-node-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fielditems" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fielditem even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs (OCL) has responsibility for the development and implementation of strategies to advance the Department"s legislative initiatives and other interests relating to Congress.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">OCL serves to:</font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Articulate the Department's position on legislation proposed by Congress in testimony, statements for the record and views letters</font></span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Facilitate the appearance of Department witnesses at congressional hearings</font></span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Manage the interagency clearance of legislative proposals, post-hearing questions for the record, statutory reports and other Congressional correspondence in coordination with OMB</font></span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Coordinate the Department's responses to congressional committee oversight requests and other inquiries from individual Members and congressional staff</font></span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lead the Senate confirmation process for Department nominees</font></span></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These functions are important to the Department's cooperative and productive relationship with Congress.</font></p></div></div></div></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/06/10/rod-schoonover-trump-attempted-suppress-state-dept-analyst-testimony-climate-crisis"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/06/10/rod-schoonover-trump-attempted-suppress-state-dept-analyst-testimony-climate-crisis</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Trump administration issued one of its most blatant attacks on climate science this past week when it tried to stop a State Department employee from testifying on the climate crisis, reports showed on Saturday.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/06/08/white-house-blocked-intelligence-aides-written-testimony-saying-human-caused-climate-change-could-be-possibly-catastrophic/?utm_term=.cb0eeebdc5d9" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a>, intelligence analyst Rod Schoonover's testimony was submitted to the White House for approval ahead of his planned appearance before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. His remarks focused on the <b>national security risks posed by the climate crisis.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Trump administration refused to approve the testimony for entry into the congressional record, noting that the data Schoonover planned to present—drawing from top government scientists' research and peer-reviewed scientific reports—did not align with the executive branch's views.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[pix]
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>National Security Council advisers wrote a number of comments on Schoonover's draft, saying the testimony was “not objective.”</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The testimony “includes lots of climate alarm propaganda that is not science at all,” wrote <b>William Happer, </b>a senior member of the National Security Council who has sought to create a federal task force to challenge the consensus reached by <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">97 percent </a>of peer-reviewed climate scientists who say humans are contributing to the climate crisis.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I am embarrassed to have this go out on behalf of the executive branch of the federal government,” Happer added, noting a particular objection to Schoonover's use of the term “tipping point” in reference to possible devastating, irreversible effects of the climate crisis.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“'Tipping points' is a propaganda slogan for the scientifically illiterate,” Happer wrote.</font></p><hr style="box-sizing: content-box; height: 0px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-image: initial; margin: 1.5em 0px;" /><p class="rtecenter" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related: Get the background from DeSmog on climate science denier <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/william-happer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">William Happer</a>, and read: <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/02/20/physicist-william-happer-unmoored-climate-science-denier-heading-white-house-climate-probe" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Physicist William Happer, the 'Unmoored' Climate Science Denier Heading a White House Climate Probe</a></font></span></p><hr style="box-sizing: content-box; height: 0px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-image: initial; margin: 1.5em 0px;" /><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Schoonover was ultimately permitted to testify before the committee, but his testimony was not submitted into the record because, th<b>e Office of Legislative Affairs</b> said, it did not “jibe” with the Trump administration's views on the climate.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald Trump and many of his appointees<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46351940" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> deny </a>that human activity like the extraction of fossil fuels are contributing to the warming of the globe, which scientists warn is already causing extreme weather events like hurricanes and wildfires, rising sea levels, and melting glaciers. As Schoonover mentioned in his testimony, the last five years have been the warmest on record according to <span class="caps">NASA</span>.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although Schoonover was able to testify, climate action advocates decried the White House's attempt to stifle the information he eventually shared with the committee.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Any attempt to suppress information on the security risks of climate change threatens to leave the American public vulnerable and unsafe,” Francesco Femia, chief executive of the Council on Strategic Risks and co-founder of the Center for Climate and Security, told the <b>Post.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> =</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">torture: yoo OLegal Counsel (miniscotus?) rehnquist, alito alums; in ford admin dc saw how olc cd defend pres priv under scalia 188 post nuke attack no congr too much trouble 198</font></div>