Category: US Senate

Official reveals a right-wing militia plot to ‘blow up the Capitol’

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Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman revealed disturbing details about multiple right-wing militias that participated in U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6. Not only were they contemplating harming lawmakers but, according to Pittman, intelligence indicates that there were also plans to “blow up” the U.S. Capitol amid the State of the Union.

On Thursday, Feb. 25, Pittman delivered her testimony during a hearing with a House Appropriations subcommittee. “We know that members of the militia groups that were present on Jan. 6 have stated their desire that they want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many members as possible, with a direct nexus to the State of the Union,” Pittman said during her testimony.

She added, “Based on that information, we think it’s prudent that Capitol Police maintain its enhanced security posture until we address those issues going forward.” Continue reading.

‘No, I don’t understand’: Costco CEO stuns Lindsey Graham during disagreement over minimum wage increase

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Costco CEO Craig Jelinek clashed with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Thursday about the need for a minimum wage increase.

Graham opened his remarks at the Senate Budget Committee hearing by insisting that a minimum wage increase would hurt small businesses in his state. He argued that lawmakers would have “decades” to discuss a wage increase but said now is “not the time” because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The South Carolina Republican then directed a series of questions to Jelinek, who testified that Costco is paying its employees at least $15 per hour. Continue reading.

Here’s the most revealing thing Joe Manchin has said about his pivotal role in the Senate

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A lot of people aren’t happy with Sen. Joe Manchin.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. As soon as it became clear that President Joe Biden’s party would have the slimmest of majorities in a 50-50 Senate, the West Virginian Democrat was transformed into the most influential member of Congress. As the furthest right senator in the caucus from the reddest state of any Democrat, he is the most likely candidate to defect from any of the party’s priorities.

Now, he’s making trouble for all sides. His decision to come out against Neera Tanden, Biden’s Office of Management and Budget nominee, over past mean tweets has threatened to sink her, and many argue it displayed a sexist and perhaps racist double standard on his part. Tanden doesn’t have many friends on the left wing of the party, but Manchin has wasted no time in alienating that faction, too, by opposing raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Depending on how negotiations with the Senate parliamentarian fall out, that position could put him on a collision course with Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York in a stand-off over the COVID relief bill. Continue reading.

Politicians who hate government give government a bad name

Texas cold snap lays bare hypocrisy of GOP’s limited-government mantra

Ronald Reagan, considered a secular saint before, during and after his two presidential terms by many in the Republican Party, an actor-turned-politician who also served as California’s governor, was famous for his stated disdain of the thing he spent much of his life doing: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” 

Of course, his administration’s tax cuts were plenty helpful for high earners, but it certainly made for a catchy sound bite. And it became a guiding philosophy for his, and now Trump’s, Republican Party.

And that brings us to the culmination of the effort to paint any government acting competently with a dash of compassion as evil — Texas, the Lone Star State that went it alone. We all saw how that worked out. When a cold snap broke the state, exposing glaring failures in everything from its independent energy grid to its power and water systems, the state’s leaders were either ghosts — escaping to Mexico for a vacation, in the case of Sen. Ted Cruz, or to Utah, where state Attorney General Ken Paxton traveled — or defiant apologists. Continue reading.

Many of Biden’s nominees of color run into turbulence in the Senate

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The Biden administration has fewer top government leaders in place than other recent presidents at this point in their terms, a pace that’s been slowed by a siege at the Capitol, an impeachment trial, a plague and a series of snowstorms.

But activists who pushed Biden to nominate a diverse Cabinet are also noticing another phenomenon: Many of the president’s Black, Latino, Asian and Native American nominees are encountering more political turbulence than their White counterparts, further drawing out the process of staffing the federal government.

Controversy has centered on endangered nominee Neera Tanden, who would be the first Indian American to lead the Office of Management and Budget, typically a low-profile post. Her detractors, including Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, have seized on scores of pointed attacks that Tanden has made via social media in recent years — a line of criticism that women’s groups say is unfair because it focuses on her tone rather than her qualifications or policies. Continue reading.

Capitol Riot Costs Will Exceed $30 Million, Official Tells Congress

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The architect of the Capitol and other officials told lawmakers that the physical and psychological toll of the Jan. 6 riot — including damaged artifacts and staff trauma — will be extensive.

WASHINGTON — The top operations and maintenance official of the United States Capitol told lawmakers on Wednesday that the costs of the Jan. 6 attack will exceed $30 million, as his office works to provide mental health services, increase security and repair historical statues and other art damaged in the riot.

“The events of Jan. 6 were difficult for the American people, and extremely hard for all of us on campus to witness,” J. Brett Blanton, the architect of the Capitol, testified as he and other top officials gave their first extensive look at the damage inflicted on the House’s fine art collection and the strain on congressional employees from the assault.

Speaking to the House Appropriations Committee, where lawmakers are considering an emergency bill to cover the costs of the most violent attack on the Capitol in two centuries, Mr. Blanton described how his staff sheltered congressional aides as “the crowd began crashing through windows and prying open doors.” Continue reading.

Biden’s COVID Package Is Overwhelmingly Popular. Republicans Hate It Anyway.

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“I would be surprised if there was support in the Republican caucus if the bill comes out at $1.9 trillion,” said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.

Polls show President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package is overwhelmingly popular with the American people, but that isn’t stopping Republicans from lining up against it.

According to a survey conducted by The Economist/YouGov, 66% of Americans back Biden’s plan, which includes $1,400 stimulus checks, added unemployment assistance, an expanded child tax credit, and hundreds of billions of dollars for schools and vaccine distribution. A survey released Tuesday by Morning Consult showed the plan polling even higher, at 76% with all Americans, including 60% of Republicans. 

Congressional bills rarely see this kind of public support, especially in a political atmosphere as divided as this one. Continue reading.

What America has been waiting for: the American Rescue Plan

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In what is expected to be a historic moment for Americans, the legislation that so many people desperately need will likely be approved later this evening in the U.S. House of Representatives. President Joe Biden’s comprehensive American Rescue Plan, which includes major areas such as direct relief checks, increased unemployment aid, vaccinations and tests, schools, and more, will answer the calls of the American people and provide help during this enduring crisis.

“The need is great. The opportunity is there,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. said. “The precision of this legislation to directly address the needs of the American people, the lives of the American people and the livelihoods.”

Democrats have been listening to needs of their constituents and will be passing the American Rescue Plan through the House tonight. Americans made it clear that a coronavirus relief plan would help ease their lives while enduring the harsh effects of the pandemic. The overwhelming majority of Americans support President Biden’s coronavirus relief agenda, including strong bipartisan support.

Continue reading “What America has been waiting for: the American Rescue Plan”

Journalist pinpoints the ‘uncomfortable truth’ behind the GOP effort to sink Biden nominee Neera Tanden

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With so many Republicans railing against Neera Tanden — President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget — and centrist Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia having announced that he won’t vote to confirm her, Tanden’s chances of heading the OMB aren’t looking good. At issue, Republicans say, are tweets Tanden posted in the past that were highly critical of Republicans. Journalist Jill Filipovic slams Tanden’s opponents in an op-ed for the Washington Post, stressing that GOP senators are total hypocrites in light of all the inflammatory tweets that former President Donald Trump posted during his years in the White House.

“By wringing their hands over her supposedly mean tweets,” Filipovic argues, “congressional Republicans have attempted to don the mantle of civility while remaining stooges to Donald Trump, the most boorish president in history, on Twitter and off. Their disingenuousness, and their apparent belief that they are very special snowflakes who deserve special deference, is at the heart of the movement to prevent her confirmation. But tweets really aren’t what has put her nomination in peril — and it’s not just Republicans imperiling her. Tanden, a highly qualified candidate to be Biden’s budget director, is being swamped by a perfect storm of bipartisan hypocrisy.”

Tanden, Filipovic notes, is the “kind of bootstraps personal story that conservatives usually cheer.” She was born to immigrant parents and went on to attend Yale Law School before going on to head the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank — and Republicans, according to Filipovic, should admire Tanden’s drive and ambition despite their policy differences with her. Continue reading.

Curator estimates Capitol art damage from mob totals $25K

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The curator responsible for the House’s art collection is expected to ask lawmakers to allot $25,000 to repair artifacts displayed outside the chamber that were damaged during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Farar Elliott, the House curator, is slated to say in prepared testimony on Wednesday before the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing funding for the legislative branch that the $25,000 is needed to fix eight objects in the hallways leading to the House chamber that were covered in fire extinguisher residue during the insurrection by former President Trump‘s supporters.

The objects include marble and granite busts of former Speakers Joe Cannon, Champ Clark, Joe Martin, and Thomas Brackett Reed; portraits of former Presidents James Madison and John Quincy Adams; a bust of Chippewa leader Be shekee; and a statue of former President Thomas Jefferson. Continue reading.