Republicans ramp up attacks on corporations over Georgia voting law, threaten ‘consequences’

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Republicans are attacking corporations over their decision to condemn the controversial Georgia voting law, part of the party’s embrace of the populism espoused by President Donald Trump even as it creates tensions with traditional allies in the business community.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday accused corporations of siding with Democrats’ portrayal of the law as the new Jim Crow, which he called an attempt to “mislead and bully the American people.” He argued that it would expand, not restrict, voter access to the polls, and his statement included a threat of unspecified “serious consequences” if companies continued to stand opposite Republicans on a variety of issues.

“From election law to environmentalism to radical social agendas to the Second Amendment, parts of the private sector keep dabbling in behaving like a woke parallel government,” McConnell said in his statement. “Corporations will invite serious consequences if they become a vehicle for far-left mobs to hijack our country from outside the constitutional order.” Continue reading.

Economist Paul Krugman explains why Trump’s corporate tax cuts were a ‘dismal failure’

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President Joe Biden has proposed a corporate tax hike as a way to pay for his ambitious infrastructure plan, and some Republicans are objecting vehemently — insisting that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was a raging success. But liberal economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman disagrees, slamming the Trump-era GOP tax cuts as a “dismal failure” in a Twitter thread posted on April 5.

Passed when Donald Trump was president and Republicans controlled both branches of Congress, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act lowered the United States’ corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% — and Biden has proposed increasing it to 28%. Many Democrats have emphasized that the Republican tax cuts of late 2017 did precious little for the American middle class and greatly increased the federal deficit.

Krugman, in his Twitter thread, writes, “I’ve been a bit surprised to see some Republicans opposing Biden’s plans by claiming that the Trump tax cut for corporations was a big success. I thought they’d gone into hiding given its dismal failure.” Continue reading.

After Worst Year for Gun Violence in Decades, Phillips Demands Status Report on Gun Violence Research

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WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) sent a letter to the directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) demanding a status report on the progress of taxpayer-funded research on gun violence, as well as an estimate for when that research will yield actionable recommendations for policymakers. Phillips’s letter comes after the recent tragic shootings in Colorado and Georgia along with House passage of bipartisan legislation to strengthen background checks and keep communities safe.

Phillips also recently co-sponsored the Gun Violence Prevention Research Act, which authorizes $250 million in funding to the CDC to study gun violence over the next five years. In 2018, Congress authorized $50 million to fund gun violence research at the CDC and NIH, but experts say that additional funding is sorely needed to complete that research and identify life-saving solutions to America’s gun violence epidemic.

Continue reading “After Worst Year for Gun Violence in Decades, Phillips Demands Status Report on Gun Violence Research”

Lawmakers say fixing border crisis is Biden’s job

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Lawmakers on Capitol Hill say Congress has little role to play in fixing the border crisis, arguing the responsibility falls largely on President Biden and federal agencies.

While most members say they’ll provide more resources if the president asks, they also point out that there’s not much they can do on the legislative front.

Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.), a moderate Democrat, says he doesn’t know what Congress can do immediately to address the surge of migrants at the border, many of them unaccompanied children. Continue reading.

Capitol cop beaten with a skateboard by Florida music student during Trump’s insurrection: prosecutors

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Grady Douglas Owens, a 21-year-old music student in Winter Park, FL, remains held in jail on some of the most serious charges filed among the hundreds arrested in connection with the January 6 Capitol riot.

Boyle over the head with a skateboard during the melee at the Capitol. Boyle suffered a concussion and a finger injury from the attack, its report stated.

Owens was denied bail Friday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Irick. The FBI complaint shows that he faces charges of assaulting an officer, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, along with the trespassing and obstruction charges faced by other protesters. Owens faced up to 36 years in prison. Continue reading.

Republicans quietly say Gaetz’s days in Congress are numbered

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A defiant Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) says he has no plans to resign from Congress amid a federal investigation into whether he paid women — and a 17-year-old girl — for sexual favors.

Yet behind the scenes, a growing number of Gaetz’s Republican colleagues are predicting his days on Capitol Hill are growing short. 

“In reality, yes, he won’t last long,” one member told The Hill on Friday.  Continue reading.

Gaetz is said to have boasted of his ‘access to women’ provided by friend charged in sex-trafficking case

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Rep. Matt Gaetz repeatedly boasted to people involved in Florida politics about women he met through a county tax collector who has since been charged by federal authorities with sex trafficking of a minor, according to two people who heard his comments directly.

They said the Republican congressman, first elected in 2016, also showed them videos on his phone of naked or topless women on multiple occasions, including at parties with Joel Greenberg, the former tax collector for Seminole County. The women appeared to be adults, and could be seen dancing, hanging out by a pool and, in one case, using a hula hoop without clothing, the people said.

“Matt was never shy about talking about his relationship to Joel and the access to women that Joel provided him,” said one of these people who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid. “What these videos implied was that there was something of a sexual nature going on with everyone.” Continue reading.

Gaetz says he won’t resign

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Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told The Hill on Friday he has no plans of stepping down after coming under fire following reports that the Department of Justice is investigating him for an alleged inappropriate relationship with a minor and a possible violation of sex trafficking laws.

In a text exchange with The Hill, the Florida Republican said rumors he plans to resign from his office are “false” and it is “very safe” to say he doesn’t have any intention to do so.

The New York Times first reported the investigation was taking place on Tuesday evening, with a second report emerging Thursday detailing accusations that he and a former Florida county tax collector, Joel Greenberg, paid multiple women who were recruited for sex online. Continue reading.

Top Matt Gaetz staffer resigns as more lurid details of his scandal emerge

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As Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) faces a litany of allegations over his alleged involvement with a 17-year-old girl, his communications director has decided to resign “out of principle,” according to multiple reports. 

ABC News reports the Florida lawmaker’s office released a statement confirming Luke Ball’s departure. According to the statement, the communications director, who has worked for Gaetz’s office since 2017, reached a mutual agreement about him parting ways with the office.

“The Office of Congressman Matt Gaetz and Luke Ball have agreed that it would be best to part ways. We thank him for his time in our office, and we wish him the best moving forward,” Gaetz’s office wrote in its statement. Continue reading.

Devin Nunes’ aide and attorney ordered to pay CNN’s legal fees for filing ‘bad faith’ legal document: report

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The Merced Sun-Star is reporting that a close aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and his lawyer have been sanctioned over their continuing efforts to sue CNN.

The report notes that Nunes’ senior aide Derek Harvey and his attorney Steven S. Biss — who also took part in representing the GOP lawmaker in his suits against CNN, the Washington Post and Twitter — have been told by Judge Richard Bennett of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland that they must pay the “legal fees in a lawsuit they filed against CNN regarding a news story about the California congressman.”

“Judge Richard Bennett of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland dismissed Harvey’s lawsuit in February, finding Harvey had failed to prove any statements were ‘materially false,'” the report states. “Bennett handed down sanctions against Harvey and Biss after they filed an amended complaint seeking to have him reconsider his dismissal of the lawsuit.” Continue reading.