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During its annual Innovation and Technology Transfer Awards ceremony, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recognized researchers and staff for 169 new innovations, a record-breaking number of scientific and engineering inventions in fiscal year 2015 (FY15). This is a 33 percent increase from last year

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) approved the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2016, which includes provisions that will promote improvements to our drinking water infrastructure and support U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects in Rhode Island championed by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. The bill now moves to the full Senate

As part of the Energy Department’s ongoing efforts to modernize the nation’s grid through the Grid Modernization Initiative, the Energy Department today announced $25 million in available funding through an effort called Enabling Extreme Real-Time Grid Integration of Solar Energy (ENERGISE) to help software developers, solar companies, and utilities accelerate the integration of solar energy into the grid.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that it is making $37.3 million available to fight housing discrimination under HUD's 2016 Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Notice of Funding Availability(NOFA). This year's three funding notices support a variety of important fair housing activities, including fair housing testing in the rental and sales market, public education efforts, capacity building, and education and outreach activities.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will host a congressional roundtable on federal construction projects in the District of Columbia featuring construction companies on the projects, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), District of Columbia workers and D.C. small businesses contracted at the sites on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, at 6:00 p.m., in 2253 Rayburn House Office Building. Norton said the roundtable will provide D.C. residents an opportunity to learn in greater detail about the hiring practices on federal construction projects in the District and upcoming opportunities for employment and business contracts at the sites.

Today, following a push last year by U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Representative Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the addition of six new quality measures to the Nursing Home Compare website, including, for the first time, measures of quality that are based on hospital provided data, such as the rehospitalization rate, emergency room usage and community discharge among nursing home residents

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro awarded $355 million to more than 1,200 local homeless housing and service programs across the U.S. and Puerto Rico (see attached chart). These Continuum of Care (CoC) grants support the Obama Administration's efforts to end homelessness and build upon the $1.6 billion in funding HUD awarded through a first round of funding in March.

Through loans, grants and tax credits, legislation would inject more than $70 billion in the next 10 years into water infrastructure and lead relief programs. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell supported the Testing, Removal and Updated Evaluations of Lead Everywhere in America for Dramatic Enhancements that Restore Safety to Homes, Infrastructure and Pipes Act of 2016, or True LEADership Act (S.2821), a comprehensive plan that recommits the federal government to a critical role in water infrastructure investment, lead remediation and the strong drinking water protections provided by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) today announced up to $30 million in funding for a new program for technologies that use renewable energy to convert air and water into cost-competitive liquid fuels. ARPA-E’s Renewable Energy to Fuels through Utilization of Energy-dense Liquids (REFUEL) program seeks to develop technologies that use renewable energy to convert air and water into Carbon Neutral Liquid Fuels (CNLF), which can be stored, transported, and later converted into hydrogen or electricity to provide power for transportation.

Ed Brady, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder and developer from Bloomington, Ill., issued the following statement regarding a report that the U.S. Department of Labor is proposing to lower its new overtime threshold from $50,440 to $47,000.

Mayor B. Hancock of Denver, Colo. and Mayor Jennifer Roberts of Charlotte, N.C. hosted the fourth-annual Service Bowl project with Rebuilding Together, a leading national nonprofit in safe and healthy housing. The Service Bowl was held in partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency that administers AmeriCorps and Senior Corps

Rachel Romero, a building systems engineer at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), has been named a 2016 New Faces of Engineering recipient by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today awarded $9.9 million in “sweat equity” grants to produce at least 541 affordable homes for low-income individuals and families. Funded through HUD’s Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP), the funding awarded today, along with the labor contributed by these households, will significantly lower the cost of homeownership.

In an effort to promote and increase the work being done across the country to improve the grade-level reading skills of children living in federally assisted housing, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro today announced HUD is joining forces with theCampaign for Grade-Level Reading, a national partnership to ensure that more children in low-income families succeed in school and graduate prepared for college, a career, and active citizenship.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today a $22,600 Conciliation Agreement between Housing Equality Law Project and the owners and managers of a San Diego-based property management company, settling allegations that they discriminated against persons with disabilities who required the use of assistance animals. Read the agreement.

The Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans held an oversight hearing to examine the limited growth of hydropower and barriers to expansion. Hydropower is clean, renewable and emissions-free yet still faces large hurdles in the federal regulatory process. Washington state witness Jessica Matlock, Director of Government Relations for Snohomish County Public Utility District No. 1, called for an improved federal hydropower re-licensing process

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today an agreement with a group of Las Vegas landlords settling allegations they retaliated against a tenant with disabilities because she requested permission to install a ramp that would allow her to enter and exit her apartment. Read the agreement.

U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) were today joined by local housing builders and advocates to urge Congress to expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). Schumer and Cantwell pushed a national campaign, led by Cantwell, to increase federal resources for affordable housing. Schumer and Cantwell are calling for a 50 percent expansion of the LIHTC, and reforms to better target the lowest income populations. Since its creation 30 years ago, this tax credit has financed nearly 3 million homes across the United States, several thousand in New York City alone.

Recently obtained data from the CNMI Bureau of Coastal and Environmental Quality confirm what people on Saipan are saying: water service is getting worse. I received the information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and wrote about the new data in an op-ed. I have also talked to Governor Torres to learn more about the problem.

In an effort to help young people involved in the justice system find jobs and housing, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) today announced $1.75 million for Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and nonprofit legal service organizations to address the challenges justice-involved individuals face when trying to find work and a place to call home. The grantees are listed below.