‘They don’t care’: Republicans blasted for refusing to applaud for cutting child poverty in half

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In his Joint Address to Congress Wednesday night President Joe Biden worked to sell his vision for the future and for America.

Republicans refused to offer support.

Unlike years past, for Joint Addresses or State of the Union Addresses, this was a socially-distanced affair, with just 200 people in the chamber that can hold 535 lawmakers and their guests. So it was exceptionally easy to see the Republicans who did their best to defeat Biden’s goals and thwart his achievements as he shared them with the nation. Continue reading.

Senate votes to nix Trump rule limiting methane regulation

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The Senate voted Wednesday to undo a Trump administration rule that rescinded methane emissions limits and made it harder to regulate releases of the greenhouse gas from the oil and gas sector.

In the 52-42 vote, three Republicans voted with Democrats to get rid of the rule: Sens. Rob Portman (Ohio), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Susan Collins(Maine).

The methane rule is the first Trump-era rule that Democrats will take on using the Congressional Review Act (CRA), a tool that lets them eliminate regulations completed in the prior 60 legislative days with a simple majority vote. Continue reading.

Republicans embrace Trump in effort to reclaim Senate

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The top Republican candidates hoping to win back control of the Senate have embraced former President Trump as a kind of running mate in the first weeks of their campaigns, a recognition that the ousted president is still the party’s best fundraiser and most recognizable figure even from exile in Florida.

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), who has Trump’s endorsement in the race to replace retiring Sen. Richard Shelby (R), mentioned the former president seven times in a press release announcing his candidacy. His leading rival, former Ambassador Lynda Blanchard (R), recently held a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

In Missouri, former Gov. Eric Greitens (R) promised to defend Trump’s “America first policies” less than a minute into an interview on Fox News in which he announced he would run to replace retiring Sen. Roy Blunt (R). Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) mentioned Trump twice in his own announcement video. Continue reading.

Democrats demand release of secret vaccine contracts inked under Trump

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Dozens of congressional Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday urged top Biden officials to release unredacted copies of multi-billion-dollar coronavirus vaccine contracts that the Trump administration negotiated in secret with major pharmaceutical companies last year—and refused to divulge to lawmakers.

In a letter (pdf) to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, 50 lawmakers from the House and Senate argue that public knowledge of the specific terms of the vaccine contracts “has become all the more important as manufacturers talk of boosters and seasonal immunizations, while considering ‘post-pandemic’ price increases.”

“Taxpayers should know how their funds were spent and what secret deals were reached.”
—Rep. Lloyd Doggett

“Taxpayers are serving as the angel investors in Covid-19 vaccine and therapeutic development, assuming the costs and risk,” the letter reads. “It is imperative that they also receive a stake in the outcome as well as complete transparency on how billions of tax dollars have been spent and what terms were agreed to and may still be renegotiated.”

Apples to apples, the Senate GOP infrastructure proposal is smaller than it appears

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“These figures are what you would consider regular appropriations-plus. So it’s baseline-plus.”

—Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), remarks at a news conference, April 22

The headlines were almost all universally the same — some variation of “GOP Counters Biden With $568 Billion Infrastructure Plan.” Just about every news report suggested that the headline-number offered for the Senate Republican plan was comparable to President Biden’s $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan.

But toward the end of the news conference announcing the Republican counteroffer, Capito made the comment above. She added, “When you hear the $115 billion [Biden is] dedicating to roads, that’s in addition. So we are going to have to square the figures for you better.”

Long ago, The Fact Checker used to be a federal budget reporter. From experience, we learned that the numbers announced at news conferences often needed to be scrubbed carefully. Capito’s reference to “baseline-plus” made our ears perk up a bit. Continue reading.

Rick Scott Ripped After Saying He Gave Trump ‘Freedom’ Trophy Because ‘He Worked Hard’

Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott was criticized on social media Sunday after he said he gave former President Donald Trump the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s (NRSC) Champion of Freedom award because he “worked hard.”

Scott, chairman of the NRSC, bestowed Trump with the inaugural award during a GOP donor retreat at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach earlier this month. In a statement, the NRSC said the “award is presented to conservative leaders who have worked tirelessly to create good jobs, protect the values that make our country great, and stop the Democrats‘ socialist agenda.”

At the time, Democrats and critics of the divisive former president quickly took to Twitter to slam Republicans for giving Trump the award, with some calling it a “participation trophy.” Continue reading.

Lindsey Graham ignores Trump to slam Joe Biden as a ‘fraud’ and a ‘very destabilizing president’

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During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace challenged Graham, who had recently called Biden’s presidential campaign a “fraud.”

“You have said this week that you believe that Biden’s campaign was a fraud on the country,” Wallace pointed out, “because of how differently he is governing.”

Wallace went on to observe that Biden’s actions as president have mirrored his campaign rhetoric. Continue reading.

Ted Cruz maintains ties to right-wing group despite its extremist messaging

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On Aug. 4, 2019, the day after a gunman who had posted a hateful diatribe against Hispanics fatally shot 23 people at an El Paso Walmart, a leader of a tea party group in Texas said on Facebook: “You’re not going to demographically replace a once proud, strong people without getting blow-back.”

His wife, the founder of the group, in the Fort Worth suburbs of Tarrant County, added in a comment: “I don’t condone the actions, but I certainly understand where they came from.”

Ten days later, amid a brewing backlash over the comments by Fred and Julie McCarty, the Northeast Tarrant Tea Party posted an undated testimonial from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) wishing the group a happy 10th anniversary as it rebranded itself as True Texas Project. Continue reading.

Trump-loving insurrectionist couple arrested for attacking Capitol police after leaving evidence all over Facebook

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Mark and Jalise Middleton, a husband and wife from rural Texas, have been arrested on charges that include “engaging in physical violence” against police officers at the January 6 Capitol riot.

The Middletons, from Forestburg TX, are accused of having made a couples’ activity out of assaulting officers on the front line of the Capitol insurrection. Here’s some of the description from the FBI complaint, citing footage from police body cams:

“Officers begin struggling against rioters who are refusing repeated orders to step back from the barricade and are attempting to breach the police line. As the struggle ensues, a male individual wearing a red, white, and blue “Trump” beanie hat, red and white scarf, gray or silver jacket, blue jeans, red and white “Nike” shoes, and gray backpack with a red logo on the back—later identified as Mark Middleton— pushes against the barricades and the police line with his body. As officers repeatedly order (him) and other rioters to “get back,” (he) is heard yelling “fuck you!” as he continues pushing against the barricade. Continue reading.

Howard Dean: The Republicans Are Now a Neo-Fascist Party

The former presidential candidate says the Republican Party has plunged into a “crazy” abyss of “whack jobs,” “autocrats,” and “nutjobs.”

The Republican Party has suffered a total moral collapse and is now held together by a bunch of “nutcases” happy to endorse autocracy and neo-fascism, according to Howard Dean, the former presidential candidate and ex-chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

The Democratic Party grandee tells Molly Jong-Fast he won’t run for office again, so he is no longer treading on eggshells, in a fiery edition of The New Abnormal.

Dean said there are still one or two decent Republicans in Washington, D.C. but they lack the backbone to stand up to the people who have taken over the party. Continue reading.