Category: US Senate

Trump demanded McConnell and McCarthy oppose Jan. 6 commission. They are dutifully complying

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Donald Trump, the former president, Tuesday night in a blog post called on the top two Congressional Republicans to put an end to “discussions” to form a commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection and attempted coup that he incited.

They are complying.

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Tuesday afternoon had expressed “surprising” opennessto a January 6 commission, several news sources reported, but by Tuesday evening the Senate Minority Leader told reporters he is “pushing the pause button.”

House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has been opposed to the commission since early Tuesday, some say due to his possible involvement in the lead up to the deadly riots that day. Continue reading.

McConnell says he opposes ‘slanted’ Jan. 6 commission bill

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that he doesn’t support legislation that would create a commission to probe the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. 

“After careful consideration, I’ve made the decision to oppose the House Democrats slanted and unbalanced proposal for another commission to study the events of Jan. 6,” McConnell said from the Senate floor. 

McConnell’s speech comes after he informed Senate Republicans of his decision during a breakfast meeting on Wednesday. Continue reading.

‘A child froze to death’: Ted Cruz smacked down after he jokes about ‘awesome’ Cancun vacation

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) faced a scolding online on Tuesday after he joked about “awesome” Cancun vacations.

Earlier this year, Cruz fled to Cancun as Texas was facing massive power outages due to a winter storm.

The senator was defiant about the vacation as he shared a tweet promoting “awesome” trips to Cancun on Tuesday. Continue reading.

GOP splits open over Jan. 6 commission vote

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The House on Wednesday is set to approve legislation to create a bipartisan investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack in a vote that will re-expose the deep divisions in the GOP over former President Trump’s role in the event and influence in the party.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday announced his opposition to the legislation, which he says puts too much focus on the Jan. 6 attack that interrupted a joint session of Congress’s count of the Electoral College and forced the evacuation of the House and Senate.

McCarthy wants the commission’s scope to be broadened so that it can take in violence in Portland, Ore., and other U.S. cities, as well as the 2017 attack by a gunman on GOP lawmakers practicing for the Congressional Baseball Game and a more recent incident where a Capitol Police officer died. Continue reading.

Feds investigating alleged illegal donations to Collins’ re-election bid

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The FBI is investigating what it describes as a massive scheme to illegally finance Sen. Susan Collins’ 2020 re-election bid, Axios has learned.

What’s happening: A recently unsealed search warrant application shows the FBI believes a Hawaii defense contractor illegally funneled $150,000 to a pro-Collins super PAC and reimbursed donations to Collins’ campaign. There’s no indication that Collins or her team were aware of any of it.

  • Collins helped the contractor at issue, then called Navatek and since renamed the Martin Defense Group, secure an $8 million Navy contract before most of the donations took place. Continue reading.

Democrats push tax hikes on wealthy over infrastructure ‘user fees’

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Hearings this week could also expose divisions within party

Top Democrats argue voters would prefer tax increases on a small group of wealthy individuals and corporations to pay for infrastructure spending over broad-based “user fees” that would take a bigger chunk out of lower-income voters’ wallets.

That’s despite Senate Republicans putting transportation fees on the table as well as new taxes on electric vehicle drivers who don’t currently pay into the Highway Trust Fund. But President Joe Biden pledged not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000, and Democratic leaders are anxious to protect vulnerable members facing tough midterm challenges.

Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., said his constituents weren’t troubled by Biden’s proposals to raise taxes on the top 1 percent of households and corporations, which would be an easier sell than increasing gasoline or other user fees. Continue reading.

Democrats confront reality on voting rights: Congress probably isn’t coming to the rescue

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Asked about the path to enact new voting-rights laws, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has repeatedly offered a pat reply: “Failure is not an option.”

Faced with a barrage of new state laws aiming to restrict voting outside Election Day — pushed by Republican legislatures egged on by former president Donald Trump’s false claims of rampant fraud — most Democrats agree with Schumer that the need for a federal backstop is essential.

But failure is very much an option — it is, in fact, the most likely one. Continue reading.

Lawmakers bicker over how to go after tax cheats

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Lawmakers are debating President Biden’s pitches to strengthen tax enforcement against high-income individuals and businesses as Congress considers different ways to pay for infrastructure legislation.

Democrats and Republicans both say they want to narrow the gap between taxes paid and the amount owed, suggesting that going after tax cheats could garner bipartisan support as a potential revenue stream.

But Republicans have become increasingly critical of the details in Biden’s proposal, a sign that hurdles remain to reaching an agreement on enforcement. Continue reading.

Capitol riot fuels debate over domestic terror laws

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The White House’s focus on rising domestic extremism has sparked a debate over whether the U.S. needs new laws to fight it, with some groups concerned that such measures could lead to over surveillance of communities of color and infringe on First Amendment rights.

The Jan. 6 riot that overran the Capitol and left multiple people dead has prompted the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress to prioritize white supremacists and various right-wing anti-government extremists as a top national security concern.

It’s still unclear how much momentum is behind any potential new domestic terrorism statute or what it would ultimately look like, but lawmakers’ focus on the issue is already prompting debate about whether such legislation is needed and if it could do more harm than good. Continue reading.

Republicans’ conflicting message: Embracing Trump election lie is key to prominence, just stop asking us about it

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The Republican Party’s contorted response to Donald Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen was on stark display as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy stood in the White House driveway.

McCarthy (R-Calif.) had helped engineer the ouster Wednesday of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as the No. 3 House Republican leader for saying former president Trump’s claim of a stolen election was a lie. Yet he insisted later that day, “I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election.”

In fact, the majority of Republicans — spurred on by Trump and party leaders who for months have been spreading falsehoods and sowing doubts — say in polls that they still question the legitimacy of the election. Trump has continued to spread his lie, writing on his blog on Tuesday that he lost in “an election rigged and stolen from us.” Continue reading.