U.S. House of Representatives

House Speaker Mike Johnson Is Hit With The Same Problems That Vexed Kevin McCarthy

18Nov

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Politics

House Speaker Mike Johnson Is Hit With The Same Problems That Vexed Kevin McCarthy

WASHINGTON (AP) — By most accounts, Speaker Mike Johnson inherited a House Republican majority in disarray after the sudden ouster of his predecessor last month.But as Johnson, R-La., tries to rebuild that slim majority, he’s fast running into the same hard-right factions and divisions that Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was unable to tame. That's disrupting the party's agenda, shelving priorities and leaving gnawing questions about any leader’s ability to govern.Capitol Hill devolved into fresh scenes of political chaos this past week as tensions soared. A Republican senator challenged a Teamsters union boss to a brawl, one of several outbursts involving lawmakers, and the untested new speaker was forced to abandon his own party’s schedule and send everyone home early for Thanksgiving."T...

Ilhan Omar To Introduce Bill Blocking U.S. Weapons To Israel

13Nov

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Politics

Ilhan Omar To Introduce Bill Blocking U.S. Weapons To Israel

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) will this week introduce legislation to disapprove of a multimillion-dollar package of bombs for Israel proposed by the Biden administration, a source familiar with her plans told HuffPost ― posing the first congressional challenge to the U.S.’s policy of uninterrupted and expanding military support for Israel amid its devastating campaign in Gaza.Omar will by Wednesday file a bill known as a “resolution of disapproval” targeting a $320 million sale of precision bombs, the source said, likely with a group of fellow Democratic lawmakers as co-sponsors. If the House of Representatives and the Senate both pass such a resolution, the administration would not be able to transfer the bombs unless President Joe Biden vetoed the bill.A spokesperson for Omar did not immed...

Republicans Subpoena Hunter Biden, James Biden

8Nov

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Politics

Republicans Subpoena Hunter Biden, James Biden

WASHINGTON ― Republicans want to talk to members of President Joe Biden’s family as part of their inquiry into whether to impeach the president. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) on Wednesday announced subpoenas for the president’s son Hunter Biden and brother James Biden, along with a family associate named Rob Walker. The subpoenas are an escalation of the impeachment inquiry that so far has examined thousands of pages of Biden family bank records but failed to implicate the president in any wrongdoing. A congressional subpoena is a legally enforceable request for information that lawmakers can ask a court to enforce ― but Comer said that shouldn’t be necessary in Hunter Biden’s case.“I would want to show up, wouldn’t you? To defend yourself?” Comer told reporters. “I’...

Whatever Happened To Ken Buck’s Election Integrity Stand?

29Oct

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Politics

Whatever Happened To Ken Buck’s Election Integrity Stand?

WASHINGTON ― Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) refused to support Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for House speaker because of Jordan’s own refusal to acknowledge Joe Biden’s very obvious victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. But after Jordan dropped out, Buck gladly voted for Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), even though Johnson had not disowned his past support of the former president’s election denialism ― and even played a key role in mainstreaming it within the GOP by organizing a legal brief seeking to throw out the results in key states.According to Buck, Jordan is “different than Mike Johnson” even though on this particular question, the differences seem subtle. Basically, Buck argues Johnson’s legal efforts were more righteous than Jordan’s political ones, even if many outside obs...

Jimmy Fallon Just Can’t Picture New Speaker Mike Johnson In Snappy Bit

27Oct

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Entertainment

Jimmy Fallon Just Can’t Picture New Speaker Mike Johnson In Snappy Bit

Jimmy Fallon tried to introduce new House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to viewers on Thursday, but his efforts went comically awry. (Watch the video below.)“Most people don’t really know who he is, so if you’re not familiar, here’s a picture of him,” the “Tonight Show” host said.Photos of lots of Mikes and lots of Johnsons kept popping up who were not Mike Johnson and Fallon jokingly apologized for the errors.The newly elected speaker, whose far-right views are quickly becoming known to followers of politics, has a mild white-guy mien that would probably never be confused with Magic Johnson. But a gag is a gag.“Will somebody please get the right picture of Mike Johnson?” Fallon finally demanded.The punchline photo is worth the wait. Fast forward to 2:00 for the bit: !function(f,b,e,v,n,...

New Speaker Once Lamented That Abortions Cut ‘Able-Bodied Workers’ From Economy

25Oct

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Politics

New Speaker Once Lamented That Abortions Cut ‘Able-Bodied Workers’ From Economy

The new speaker of the House is not only an election denier with a record of supporting anti-LGBTQ legislation, he’s also deeply opposed to abortion rights. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), who became the 56th speaker of the House this week, has a history of supporting anti-choice legislation and making slightly bizarre statements about his stance on abortion. “Roe v. Wade gave constitutional cover to the elective killing of unborn children in America. Period,” he said during an undated clip from a House Judiciary Committee Hearing. “You think about the implications of that on the economy. We’re all struggling here to cover the bases of Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and all the rest. If we had all those able-bodied workers in the economy, we wouldn’t be going upside down and topplin...

Jim Jordan Determined To Become Speaker Ahead Another Vote

20Oct

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Politics

Jim Jordan Determined To Become Speaker Ahead Another Vote

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is not done yet.Ahead of another likely losing vote for his speaker bid on Friday, Jordan said he thinks his opponents within the House Republican conference can still be persuaded to come around to him.“Look, there’s been multiple rounds of votes for speaker before. We all know that. I just know that we need to get a speaker as soon as possible so we can get to work for the American people,” Jordan told reporters at a morning press conference Friday.Jordan was referencing the marathon series of 15 votes it took for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to win the speaker’s gavel back in January. But momentum seems to be going against Jordan, not toward him. In his first vote, he got 200 of the 217 GOP votes he would need to become speaker. In his second, he dropped to 1...

Ten Days Without A Speaker — And GOP Performances Of A Lifetime!

14Oct

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Politics

Ten Days Without A Speaker — And GOP Performances Of A Lifetime!

WASHINGTON ― Ten days after ejecting Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his leadership post, Republicans are no closer to replacing him and the House of Representatives remains at an unprecedented standstill.The only things the GOP has to show for after a week of internal meetings ― meetings so private that lawmakers weren’t even trusted to bring their phones into the room ― are failed votes and chronic infighting. They left for the weekend having just chosen Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as their next pick for a shot at the speakership, but he only got 152 votes for the role in a Friday meeting. He needs 217 votes to actually get the gavel. “We are a broken conference,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) told reporters on Thursday evening, walking out of yet another meeting in the Capitol basement...

Hakeem Jeffries Urges GOP To Loosen Reins In The House

6Oct

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Politics

Hakeem Jeffries Urges GOP To Loosen Reins In The House

The top Democrat in the House said Friday that Republicans should realize they need help to run the chamber, and should allow noncontroversial bills to come to the floor as the GOP deals with its internal strife.“[T]he rules of the House should reflect the inescapable reality that Republicans are reliant on Democratic support to do the basic work of governing. A small band of extremists should not be capable of obstructing that cooperation,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Post.The plea is unlikely to work, however, given both the history of the House and the current Capitol environment, where House Republicans are at least as angry at Democrats as they are at a group of dissidents in their own party for taking down former Speaker Kevin...

Peter Doocy Asks Karine Jean-Pierre If White House Is ‘Loving’ That House GOP Can’t Govern

5Oct

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Politics

Peter Doocy Asks Karine Jean-Pierre If White House Is ‘Loving’ That House GOP Can’t Govern

“Is any part of the West Wing here just loving the fact that Republicans don’t appear to be able to govern the one part of the government that they actually control?” he asked during a press briefing.“Nobody is loving anything when we’re not able to deliver for the American people,” Jean-Pierre said. “Nobody is loving that. It is important for Congress to work, not for us but on behalf of the American people. It is important to make sure that we meet the challenges of the American people.”“What we saw on Saturday should have never have happened,” Jean-Pierre told Doocy. “We’re glad that a deal was made. We’re glad that we’re not in a shutdown. But House Republicans should have never gotten us that far. ... They can fix this ― they’re creating the chaos.” !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fb...