US House 7 , CD3 DFL

Why There’s Even More Pressure Now on Congress to Pass a Voting Rights Bill

Congress faces growing pressure to pass new federal voting legislation in the wake of a Supreme Court decision last week that will make it more difficult to challenge a spate of new Republican-backed state-level voting restrictions.

Democrats already wrestling with a loaded agenda on voting rights now face the additional complication of how to address the ruling, beyond a slew of strongly worded statements.

Congressional leaders say legislation to expand ballot access is their top priority in the aftermath of the 2020 election, but they have struggled to advance it. Last month, a sweeping package that would have set a new national baseline for election laws while overhauling campaign finance and government ethics provisions ran into a solid wall of Republican opposition in the closely divided Senate. Continue reading.

Toyota to stop donating to GOP lawmakers who objected to certifying Biden’s win

Toyota announced Thursday that its political action committee would no longer make donations to Republican members of Congress who objected to certifying the presidential election results in January, after uproar over newsthat the automaker’s corporate PAC had supported those lawmakers at a higher level than other PACs.

“Toyota is committed to supporting and promoting actions that further our democracy,” the company said in a statement Thursday. “We understand that the PAC decision to support select Members of Congress who contested the results troubled some stakeholders. We are actively listening to our stakeholders and, at this time, we have decided to stop contributing to those Members of Congress who contested the certification of certain states in the 2020 election.”

Supporters of President Donald Trump overran the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, in large part to protest the certification of Joe Biden’s victory because Trump asserted, and they might have believed, that the election was “stolen.” The violent siege left five people dead, including a police officer; two other officers who were on duty that day later died by suicide. Continue reading.

Opinion: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene can’t stop making Covid-Nazi comparisons

Greene’s comments are part of a history of far-right disavowal, projection and escalation intended to provide a rationale for retaliation.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., just can’t stop comparing her political enemies to the Nazis. Greene was recently forced to apologize for suggesting that mask mandates in the U.S. Capitol were similar to the Holocaust. But no sooner had she disavowed one offensive comparison than she opened her mouth and made another one.

After President Joe Biden promised to send medical personnel into some communities to offer vaccinations, Greene tweeted, “People have a choice, they don’t need your medical brown shirts showing up at their door ordering vaccinations. You can’t force people to be part of the human experiment.”

The brownshirts, of course, were a Nazi paramilitary organization. And the Nazi regime was notorious for performing nonconsensual medical experiments. Continue reading.

Rep. Dean Phillips (CD3): Delivering For Our District

Hi Neighbors,

I hope you had a joyous and restorative Fourth of July. I spent last weekend surrounded by friends and family celebrating this one-of-a-kind country and reflecting on all we must do to protect the good that it stands for. Freedom is fragile, and as we navigate unprecedented challenges and address historic injustices, we must remember that our shared love for America transcends our political divisions. There is nothing more powerful than a house united!

Those core values – unity and patriotism – guide all of my work on behalf of Minnesota’s Third District. Last week, I had the opportunity to share my principles and my vision for a more united Congress with the Star Tribune. My mission is to inspire a new era of collaboration in Washington, and I hope that the spirit of Independence Day will inspire others to do the same.

Greene Again Compares Vaccination Campaign To Nazi ‘Brownshirts’

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has once again invoked the Holocaust to attack President Joe Biden’s vaccination effort to stop preventable deaths from COVID-19. This time, she compared a proposed door-to-door effort to promote vaccines to Nazi “Brownshirts” who helped Adolf Hitler rise to power.

Biden announced on Tuesday that his administration will send people door to door to help get people vaccinated, as the vaccination rate has declined in recent weeks.

“Please get vaccinated now. It works. It’s free,” Biden said in a speech at the White House. “It’s never been easier, and it’s never been more important. Do it now for yourself and the people you care about, for your neighborhood, for your country. It sounds corny, but it’s a patriotic thing to do.” Continue reading.

Psaki dismisses MTG over Nazi comparison

“We don’t take any of our health and medical advice from Marjorie Taylor Greene,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

Press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that the White House would not “take any of our health and medical advice from Marjorie Taylor Greene,” a response to the Georgia lawmaker’s remark a day earlier comparing the Biden administration’s vaccination campaign to Nazis.

Greene (R-Ga.) on Tuesday called efforts by the Biden White House to vaccinate more Americans against Covid-19 a “political tool” and likened the administration’s on-the-ground push to a Nazi paramilitary wing, the Sturmabteilung, often referred to as “brownshirts.”

“People have a choice, they don’t need your medical brown shirts showing up at their door ordering vaccinations,” Greene wrote in response to a video of President Joe Biden describing a plan to offer vaccines door-to-door. “You can’t force people to be part of the human experiment.” Continue reading.

GOP congressman admits his party wants ‘chaos and inability to get stuff done’: leaked video

Newly leaked video footage of a recent event hosted by the right-wing group Patriot Voices shows Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas openly admitting that his party wants “18 more months of chaos and the inability to get stuff done” as President Joe Biden, a bipartisan group of senators, and congressional Democrats work to pass climate and infrastructure legislation.

“Honestly, right now, for the next 18 months, our job is to do everything we can to slow all of that down to get to December of 2022,” Roy says in the clip, referring to the month after that year’s midterm elections. Republicans need to flip just a handful of seats to take back the House and Senate.

“I don’t vote for anything in the House of Representatives right now,” Roy says in response to an audience member’s question about the sweeping infrastructure and safety-net package that Democrats are planning to pass unilaterally alongside a White House-backed bipartisan deal. Continue reading.

Ex-Florida county tax collector Joel Greenberg asks judge to delay sentencing for 90 days

ORLANDO, Fla. — Former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg has asked a judge to delay his sentencing on six federal charges, citing his ongoing cooperation with authorities as part of a plea deal he struck in May.

Greenberg’s sentencing is currently slated for Aug. 19. But in a motion filed Tuesday, his attorney, Fritz Scheller, asked to delay the hearing for 90 days.

Scheller said his client has been cooperating with the government on an ongoing basis, having already participated in “a series of” interviews, known as proffers, with federal authorities. Continue reading.

‘It’s a crime. So is insurrection’: Steve Schmidt slams anti-vax Republican’s ‘BS’ support of not vaccinating military

Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt blasted U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) for announcing he supports members of the United States military who are threatening to “quit” if they are required to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

“The Army has directed commands to prepare to administer mandatory COVID-19 vaccines as early as Sept. 1, pending full Food and Drug Administration licensure,” Army Times reported late last week.

“I’ve been contacted by members of our voluntary military who say they will quit if the COVID vaccine is mandated,” said Congressman Massie, who has degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has suggested he is a science expert while calling climate change “pseudo science.” Continue reading.

‘The anointment of God’: Rep. Boebert’s July 4 rally speech was filled with Christian nationalism

Wearing her usual holstered firearm U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) on Independence Day injected a heavy dose of Christian nationalism into her speech in Mesa County, Colorado. Rep. Boebert said sees her constituents as “an army for everything that Jesus has purchased for us and our children, and our children’s children.”

The QAnon-supporting far right Christian conservative was just back from her trip to a Trump rally in Sarasota, Florida, where the former president called her out by name, helping to fuel her brand.

On Sunday in Colorado she made sure to pack her speech “full of God references,” as the Colorado Times Recorder reports. Continue reading.

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