Category: US House

Biden indicates he’s open to negotiation on $15 minimum wage

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Comments come as attention turns to passing $1.9 trillion relief bill on Capitol Hill

President Biden indicated Tuesday that he’s open to negotiation on his proposal for a $15 minimum wage, a centerpiece of his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill that’s emerged as a flash point as congressional Democrats push the legislation forward.

Biden suggested he could be open to a longer phase-in than the current plan of five years in Democrats’ legislation. He also argued that phasing gradually up to $15 could be beneficial while having less potential impact on business owners.

He made the comments in response to a small-business owner at a town hall hosted by CNN in Milwaukee on Tuesday night. Continue reading.

Poll: 58 percent of Americans believe Trump should have been convicted

Respondents viewed the senators’ votes as acts of partisanship

Nearly 60 percent of Americans believe former President Donald Trump should have been convicted in his second impeachment trial, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Monday.

While 58 percent of Americans overall believe the former president should have been convicted, the poll split largely along party lines. Eighty-eight percent of Democrats believe Trump should have been convicted, while 64 percent of independents and just 14 percent of Republicans agree.

The poll was conducted from Feb. 13 to 14 and sampled 547 adults through an online survey. Continue reading.

‘Completely unhinged’: Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan try to blame Nancy Pelosi for the Capitol attack

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Four Republican members of Congress, including Ohio’s Jim Jordan and California’s Devin Nunes, on Presidents’ Day sent Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi a three-page letter effectively blaming her for the deadly January 6 insurrection, urging her to end “this political charade.”

The sum of their letter, that the speaker – and not then-President Donald Trump – is responsible for the events of January 6 flies in the face of a mountain of facts, including those presented during last week’s impeachment trial. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell publicly agreed with at least seven other Republicans, 48 Democrats, and 2 independents, that Trump was responsible for the deadly riot.

Jordan and Nunes have been among Trump’s most ardent supporters. Trump awarded both Congressmen the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Pelosi on Monday announced she is forming a 9/11 style congressional commission to “investigate and report on the facts and causes” of the January 6 insurrection. Continue reading.

Key players to watch in minimum wage fight

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The battle over whether to keep a minimum wage hike in President Biden’s COVID-19 relief package is heating up, with key players on both sides of the issue digging in for the fight.

The debate is threatening to create deep divisions among Democrats as they move forward with an economic rescue package without GOP support.

Outside groups are also exerting pressure on progressive and moderate Democrats to boost the rate from $7.25, where it’s stood since 2009, to $15 an hour.

Pelosi says independent commission will examine Capitol riot

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that Congress will establish an independent, Sept. 11-style commission to look into the deadly insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol.

Pelosi said the commission will “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021, domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex … and relating to the interference with the peaceful transfer of power.”

In a letter to Democratic colleagues, Pelosi said the House will also put forth supplemental spending to boost security at the Capitol. Continue reading.

Trump and Kevin McCarthy battled during expletive-filled phone call while the Capitol was under siege: report

After the completion of the fourth day of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, CNN published a bombshell new report on phone call the then-president had during the January 6th insurrection.

“In an expletive-laced phone call with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy while the Capitol was under attack, then-President Donald Trump said the rioters cared more about the election results than McCarthy did. ‘Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,’ Trump said, according to lawmakers who were briefed on the call afterward by McCarthy,” CNN reported Friday.

“Trump’s comment set off what Republican lawmakers familiar with the call described as a shouting match between the two men. A furious McCarthy told the President the rioters were breaking into his office through the windows, and asked Trump, ‘Who the f*ck do you think you are talking to?’ according to a Republican lawmaker familiar with the call,” CNN reported. “The Republican members of Congress said the exchange showed Trump had no intention of calling off the rioters even as lawmakers were pleading with him to intervene. Several said it amounted to a dereliction of his presidential duty.” Continue reading.

Chuck Todd accuses Trump’s defense team of ignoring ‘the real elephants in the room’ in the trial

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During Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, his defense team has insisted that the former president never called for violence during his speech at the “Save America Rally” in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 — that he never encouraged anything other than peaceful protest. But when NBC News’ Chuck Todd discussed the trial with his colleague, Lester Holt, on Friday, he stressed that such claims ignore the totality of what Trump said the day a mob violently attacked the U.S. Capitol Building.

Todd told Holt, “They are trying to isolate the Jan. 6 speech. They are trying to ignore everything else about it. They’re trying to ignore all the tweets around it.”

Another talking point from Trump’s defenders has been that Democrats have also used heated rhetoric at times. And Todd dismissed that argument as disingenuous “whataboutism.” Continue reading.

Trump attorneys ridiculed for mind-numbing supercut video of Democrats saying ‘fight’

Former president Donald Trump’s attorney David Schoen showed a brain-pummeling supercut video of various Democrats saying the word “fight,” and viewers begged for mercy.

The nearly 10-minute video strung together brief snippets of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats using the word “fight” as a defense of Trump urging his Republican lawmakers and his supporters to challenge his election loss ahead of the deadly insurrection.

Viewers struggled to see the point — or to make it through the entire video without screaming. Continue reading.

Fox News analyst lays into Trump for how badly he betrayed the Constitution

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Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy did not mince words when he lambasted former President Donald Trump’s “indelibly stained” presidency due to the poor behavior he exhibited during the final days of his time in office. 

When McCarthy appeared for a podcast interview with Mediaite’s Aidan McLaughlin, he discussed a number of Trump’s controversies including his election fraud claims and the Capitol insurrection that opened the door for his second impeachment trial. McCarty, also a columnist at the National Review, admitted that he could not of any American president that behaved as poorly as Trump has.

“I can’t think of any other president, if you (don’t) just take January 6 by itself, but this whole continuum from November 3rd up until he left office, that’s as bad as anything I’m aware of in American history from an American president,” said McCarthy. Continue reading.

Even with acquittal, GOP sees trial ending Trump’s shot at future office

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Senate Republicans, including those who do not plan to vote to convict former President Trump, say this week’s impeachment trial has effectively ended any chance of him becoming the GOP presidential nominee in 2024.

From the viewpoint of some Republican senators, the compelling case presented by House prosecutors carries a silver lining: It means they likely won’t have to worry about Trump running for president again in three years, while at the same time eroding his influence in party politics more generally.

Several Republican senators became irate watching videos of the violence and chaos inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, including footage of police officers being called “pigs” and “traitors” and one officer screaming as he was crushed by rioters battering a police line. Continue reading.