House of Representatives

The ‘Ongoing Freak Out’ Over Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

January 22, 2019 at 10:55 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Matt Taibbi: “One of the first things you learn covering American politicians is that they’re not terribly bright.”

“The notion that Hill denizens are brilliant 4-D chess players is pure myth, the product of too many press hagiographies of the Game Change variety and too many Hollywood fantasies like House of Cards and West Wing.”

“The average American politician would lose at checkers to a zoo gorilla. They’re usually in office for one reason: someone with money sent them there, often to vote yes on a key appropriation bill or two. On the other 364 days of the year, their job is to shut their yaps and approximate gravitas anytime they’re in range of C-SPAN cameras…”

“We’ve seen this a lot in recent weeks with the ongoing freakout over newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Lest anyone think any of the above applies to ‘AOC,’ who’s also had a lot to say since arriving in Washington, remember: she won in spite of the party and big donors, not because of them.”

Senator Says House GOP May Have Obstructed Mueller

January 22, 2019 at 9:27 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) told Yahoo News that Republicans in the House of Representatives may have worked to obstruct justice in the ongoing Russia probe by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Said Whitehouse: “Whether it amounts to criminal conduct, clearly the efforts of the House Republicans were designed to impede and throw sticks into the spokes of the Mueller investigation.”

He added that GOP members of Congress “potentially even tried to communicate to potential witnesses or jurors their alternative narratives and thereby influence the proceedings.”

Many Dems Would Consider Ocasio-Cortez for President

January 22, 2019 at 8:56 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Axios/SurveyMonkey poll finds that 74% of Democrats (and people who lean Dem) would consider voting for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) if she were old enough to run for president.

Ocasio-Cortez Not Worried About Pushback from Dems

January 22, 2019 at 8:27 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

In an interview on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) that she gives “zero fucks” about criticism she’s received from members of the Democratic party.

She added: “If you think activism is inherently divisive – I mean, today is Martin Luther King Day. People called Martin Luther King divisive in his time. We forget he was wildly unpopular when advocating for the Civil Rights Act. I think that what we really need to realize is that social movements are the moral compass and should be the moral compass for our politics.”

No Daylight Between Chuck and Nancy

January 20, 2019 at 6:43 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “Republicans have tried to drive a wedge between the duo for more than a month now. They’ve cast Schumer as eager to cut a deal and Pelosi as an impediment. They’ve floated the idea that Pelosi would be more willing to compromise after she was elected speaker. Trump tried again on Saturday, pitching temporary protections for Dreamers and other immigrants, in exchange for $5.7 billion in border wall funding.”

“None of it has worked.”

“Democrats believe the only way to get the president to cave on the wall and reopen the government is to stick together, a plan they reiterated when they rejected Trump’s latest proposal. And by setting a model of unity, Schumer and Pelosi have kept moderates in their caucuses from breaking ranks and underscored how difficult it will be for Trump to get Democrats to fold.”

Schiff May Subpoena Michael Cohen

January 20, 2019 at 4:32 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff told CBS News that he will subpoena President Trump’s former longtime attorney Michael Cohen to testify before his committee “if necessary.”

Cohen is already slated to testify before the House Oversight Committee next month prior to the start of his three-year prison sentence.

Why Trump Is Ready to Compromise to End Shutdown

January 19, 2019 at 11:42 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A source close to the negotiations told Jonathan Swan “the inflection point for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was the letter from Nancy Pelosi telling Trump not to deliver the State of the Union. McConnell had been saying all along that Pelosi and Trump needed to negotiate because one needed to put a bill on the House floor and one needed to sign it — two people with singular power.”

But after Pelosi’s letter, it became clear to McConnell she was “never going to get off her position and some other spark needed to happen.”

“McConnell told the president that it was his view that Pelosi was never going to move. She would and could not negotiate on border funding because her caucus, and Trump needed to be the one to put something forward he would sign so that McConnell would have the presidential backing to bring it to the floor.”

Trump Disclosure Put Pelosi Trip at Risk

January 18, 2019 at 10:44 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A day after President Trump canceled military flights for a planned congressional trip to Afghanistan, Speaker Nancy Pelosi abandoned her plans to travel instead on commercial flights due to security concerns,” the Washington Post reports.

Said Pelsoi spokesman Drew Hammill: “After President Trump revoked the use of military aircraft to travel to Afghanistan, the delegation was prepared to fly commercially to proceed with this vital trip to meet with our commanders and troops on the front lines.”

However, he added that a new State Department threat assessment indicated “that the President announcing this sensitive travel had significantly increased the danger to the delegation and to the troops, security, and other officials supporting the trip. . . . This morning, we learned that the Administration had leaked the commercial travel plans as well.”

King Raising Money Off White Supremacy Comments

January 18, 2019 at 8:15 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“While Republicans and Democrats are condemning or calling for Rep. Steve King’s resignation after his comments on white nationalism and white supremacy, the congressman is using the backlash to raise money for his campaign,” the Des Moines Register reports.

Writes King in a fundraising email: “The unhinged left has teamed up with Republican ‘NeverTrumpers’ and is pulling out all the stops to destroy me.”

Democrats React to Bombshell Report

January 18, 2019 at 7:03 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Democratic leaders reacted with fury and demanded an investigation late Thursday following a new report that President Trump personally directed his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress about the president’s push for a lucrative condo project in Moscow in the lead-up to the 2016 election,” the Washington Post reports.

“Democrats said that if the report is accurate, Trump must quickly be held to account for his role in the perjury, with some raising the specter of impeachment.”

Playbook: “Since the president canceled the Democratic trip to Afghanistan, all top key Democrats — people like Rep. Adam Schiff and Speaker Nancy Pelosi — are probably around to comment about this story.”

Cohen is slated to testify before the House Oversight Committee on February 7.

Kevin McCarthy’s First Test

January 18, 2019 at 6:34 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “For McCarthy, 53, the hour-long confrontation with King was a critical moment early in his tenure as the new leader of Republicans in the House, testing whether the easygoing Californian was willing to take on a popular conservative and assert himself in the wake of sweeping GOP defeats in the 2018 elections and the high-profile speakership of Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-WI).”

“It was also a reminder of how Republican leaders have done little to police their ranks on the charged issue of race in recent years, from their embrace of Trump despite him casting doubt on President Barack Obama’s U.S. citizenship to their support of the divisive King — making his punishment an outlier rather than the standard.”

GOP Lawmaker Apologizes to Latino Colleague

January 17, 2019 at 9:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) apologized for shouting “Go back to Puerto Rico” on the House floor on Thursday, said Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-CA), who Democrats had believed was the target of the verbal attack, the Washington Post reports.

Cardenas told The Hill that he had immediately confronted his Republican colleagues after hearing the controversial remark, but no one acknowledged saying it.

Said Cardenas: “There was about 50 mostly male Republicans staring at me, and no one would admit that they said it. I asked several times but no one owned up to the fact that they said it.”

Hours later Smith called and “took responsibility for the comment and sincerely apologized.”

Quote of the Day

January 17, 2019 at 2:59 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“If you’re a one-term Congress member, so what? You can make 10 years worth of change in one term if you’re not afraid.”

— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), in a new video urging activists to run for office and challenge incumbent Democrats.

Trump Retaliates Against Pelosi

January 17, 2019 at 2:52 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump retaliated against Speaker Nancy Pelosi for threatening to cancel his planned State of the Union address on Jan. 29, writing in a letter that he, in turn, was postponing her planned trip abroad, calling it a “public relations event,” the New York Times reports.

Wrote Trump: “I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan has been postponed. We will reschedule this seven day excursion when the shutdown is over.”

“Presumably, the president is refusing to provide military transport that is traditionally provided to the House speaker or congressional delegations. In the letter, tinged with sarcasm, he wrote that she could still take the trip if she chose to fly commercial.”

GOP Lawmaker Resigns from Congress

January 17, 2019 at 12:42 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) announced that he is resigning from Congress to take a job in the private sector, The Hill reports.

Pelosi Jabs Trump for Not Paying Federal Workers

January 17, 2019 at 12:31 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that her rationale for seeking to reschedule the annual State of the Union address comes down to her and other Democrats not wanting to have security officials work the event without being paid, NBC News reports.

Said Pelosi: “Maybe he thinks it’s OK not to pay people who work,” in an apparent jab at the president over allegations that his businesses have stiffed contractors in the past.

She added: “I don’t. And my caucus doesn’t either.”

Democrats Want to Stop Members from Living In Offices

January 17, 2019 at 10:36 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

McClatchy: “Members of the House of Representatives who live in their Capitol Hill offices shouldn’t get too comfortable.”

“The practice is going under the knife from the new Democratic leadership. Top Democrats are considering making the live-in lawmakers pay for bunking in prime government real estate — or ending the practice altogether.”

House Democrats Go To Twitter School

January 17, 2019 at 6:35 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

USA Today: “The House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee is hosting a session Thursday morning with Ocasio-Cortez of New York (@AOC – 2.42 million followers) and Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut (@jahimes – 76,500 followers) ‘on the most effective ways to engage constituents on Twitter and the importance of digital storytelling.’”