Category: US Senate

Fauci clashes with Rand Paul over masks

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The nation’s top infectious diseases doctor Anthony Fauci on Thursday clashed with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) over the need for people to continue wearing masks once they’ve already been infected with or vaccinated against COVID-19.

“You’re telling everyone to wear a mask,” Paul said. “If we’re not spreading the infection, isn’t it just theater? You have the vaccine and you’re wearing two masks, isn’t that theater?”

“Here we go again with the theater,” an exasperated Fauci responded. “Let’s get down to the facts.” Continue reading.

Latest stats on federal mooching blow up GOP lies about ‘Democrat-run states’

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States run by Republicans are far more dependent upon the help of the federal government than their Democratic-run counterparts, based on the latest annual study from Wallethub.com.

In ranking the 50 states, the financial website listed 11 red states among the 12 most dependent upon Washington D.C. No fewer than 19 of the 25 of the most-dependent states were Republican dominated. Conversely, 12 of the 14 states least dependent on the federal government were run by Democrats.

“Blue states are less dependent on federal government than red states,” the site observed, noting that in its 50-state ranking, red states ranked 20.68 in dependency to Washington DC, versus a much lower average ranking of 30.32 for blue states. Continue reading.

Fox & Friends filibuster freakout: If they end it ‘Democrats will rule o​ur country forever’

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Fox News on Wednesday seemingly made a huge admission: conservatives and their policies do not reflect the will of the majority of Americans.

That’s essentially what “Fox & Friends” telegraphed to viewers when co-host Ainsley Earhardt responded to a clip of President Joe Biden making news by merely saying he supports reforming the filibuster – not even eliminating it.

“If they end the filibuster, the Democrats will rule our country forever,” she warned. “We will become a socialist country.”

That’s by definition false. Continue reading.

Capitol Police officer’s widow presses Congress for 1/6 Commission

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Serena Liebengood is also calling for structural reforms to the Capitol Police that focus on mental health.

The widow of a Capitol Police officer who took his own life days after a mob stormed Congress and overwhelmed beleaguered officers says the agency’s failure to label her husband’s death as “in the line of duty” is a “wrong which must be rectified.”

In a letter to Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) — and circulated to colleagues by Wexton’s office — Serena Liebengood says her husband Howard’s death on Jan. 9 followed four days of nearly round-the-clock work following the attack on the Capitol.

“Although he was severely sleep-deprived, he remained on duty — as he was directed — practically around the clock from January 6th through the 9th. On the evening of the 9th, he took his life at our home,” Liebengood writes. Continue reading.

Long ignored, water systems are getting attention on Hill

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The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and the COVID-19 pandemic made water infrastructure a higher priority for lawmakers

For years, lawmakers bemoaned crumbling roads and bridges while wastewater and drinking water infrastructure crumbled largely outside the spotlight. 

Faced with outdated infrastructure and mounting federal requirements, water utilities struggled, often forced to pass the costs on to ratepayers ill-equipped to pay rapidly growing bills. And while the federal government offered aid to low-income Americans for heating assistance and food, there was no such federal aid for water bills, although utilities were reluctant to turn off the spigot.

The federal message to those facing water shutoffs was loud and clear: You’re on your own. Continue reading.

Tai confirmed as top U.S. trade negotiator

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Hill veteran will be first woman of color to hold the Cabinet-level post

Katherine Tai, a longtime congressional staff lawyer, won Senate confirmation on Wednesday as the first woman of color to serve as the top U.S. trade negotiator.

The Senate approved her nomination 98-0, marking a rare bipartisan agreement in a deeply-divided Washington.

Among her first tasks will be advising the president on what to do about existing tariffs on most imported Chinese products, presiding over enforcement of a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada, and seeking a negotiated end to a long-running commercial dispute with the European Union. Continue reading.

Bob Menendez calls Ron Johnson a ‘racist’ on the Senate floor: ‘Like rubbing salt in an open wound’

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Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) did not mince words when it came to sharing his opinion of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) and his remarks about the U.S. Capitol riots that erupted on Jan. 6. 

On Tuesday, March 16, Menendez appeared on the Senate floor where he lambasted the Republican senator for his remarks during a conservative talk show where he insisted that he was not afraid of the Capitol rioters simply because they were not members of Black Lives Matter or Antifa.

According to Menendez, the remarks suggest that he is “a racist,” reports NBC News. The senator did not hold back when he offered his opinion of Johnson’s remarks.  Continue reading.

‘I’ve got news for Mitch McConnell — he broke the Senate’: Ex-senator kills ’empty threat’ from GOP leader

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) took to the floor Tuesday to claim that if Democrats change the filibuster now that they are in charge, it would be a “scorched Earth” move. The problem with the claim, according to one former senator, is that McConnell is the one who broke the senate to begin with.

Speaking to MSNBC’s Brian Williams, former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said that McConnell’s threats at this point are empty because there’s nothing worse that he can do whether in or out of power. 

“Well, that’s what he’s trying to do, but I’ve got news for Mitch McConnell: he kind of broke the Senate,” she said. “He’s the one that has used the rules in a way they were never intended to be used. And he has done it with gleeful abandon over and over and over again. The senate has become broken. The regular order is gone. There’s not debate. There are no amendments. It is just a mere shadow of what it used to be. So, the question is, should you have to stand up and own your obstructionism?” Continue reading.

Spooked McConnell Threatens ‘Scorched Earth’ To Protect Filibuster

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As momentum grows to eliminate a tool Republicans have used over the years to kill overwhelmingly popular legislation, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday threatened to make the Senate into an unbearably slow and hostile work environment as retribution.

“Nobody serving in this chamber can even begin, can even begin to imagine what a completely scorched-earth Senate would look like,” the Kentucky senator declared in a speech on the Senate floor, referring to what he’d do if Democrats repealed the filibuster, the extended debating tactic that makes it possible for the chamber’s minority to block legislation. Invocation of cloture, a move to limit the debate, requires a total of 60 votes to be adopted.

McConnell said he’d require a quorum to be present to conduct even mundane business. That would slow down work in the Senate because it would pull lawmakers from committee hearings and take away time senators have to meet with constituents in their offices in Washington, D.C. Continue reading.

Texas Three Percenters member charged in Jan. 6 riot set up security company to circumvent gun laws, obtain high-grade weapons, U.S. alleges

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A man charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has been jailed pending trial after allegedly recruiting members to the Texas Three Percenters by telling them he had created a new security business to circumvent gun laws and obtain high-grade weapons and ammunition available to law enforcement.

Guy Reffitt, 48, of Wylie, Tex., pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three charges of obstructing an official proceeding, trespassing and witness tampering after prosecutors say he was hit by police rubber bullets and chemical spray while allegedly rushing the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Prosecutors also say he threatened his teenage children not to turn him in after he returned from Washington.

U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of the District of Columbia set the next hearing for April 19. Continue reading.