Tag: GOP congress

Trump Shutdown Would Ruin The Holidays For Hundreds Of Thousands Of Workers

Trump plans to force a government shutdown and ruin the holidays for hundreds of thousands of American workers who will be unsure of when their next paycheck will come. And Trump bears full responsibility. He said it himself: “I will be the one to shut it down.”

The Trump Shutdown would force hundreds of thousands of workers to be furloughed or work without pay right before the holidays.

  • An estimated 400,000 federal employees would work without pay.

  • An estimated 350,000 federal employees would be furloughed.

Continue reading “Trump Shutdown Would Ruin The Holidays For Hundreds Of Thousands Of Workers”

Trump vents frustration over wall funding, fueling uncertainty over shutdown

President Trump on Thursday blamed Congress for refusing his request for border-wall funding, fueling uncertainty about whether he will sign a spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown.

“When I begrudgingly signed the Omnibus Bill, I was promised the Wall and Border Security by leadership. Would be done by end of year (NOW). It didn’t happen! We foolishly fight for Border Security for other countries – but not for our beloved U.S.A. Not good!” he tweeted.

Trump also planned to meet with House Republicans at noon to discuss plans to avoid a shutdown, which have been thrown into disarray by the president’s change of heart.

View the complete December 20 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

Republicans Will Own The Trump Shutdown

Donald Trump is responsible for a government shutdown. He said it himself, “I will be the one to shut it down.” And Republicans won’t be able to try to blame Democrats. Trump himself even told Democrats, “I’m not going to blame you for it.”

Trump took away a key Republican talking point. Now they will own the Trump Shutdown:

Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler: “hmm, there goes that GOP talking point.”

CBS’s Ed O’Keefe: “‘I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck,’ President Trump tells Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, robbing Republicans of a potential talking point that it’s Democrats eager to shut down the government.”

Politico’s Jake Sherman: “THE PRESIDENT has just robbed Republicans of the ability to say Democrats are shutting down government.”

NPR’s Kelsey Snell: “To be clear, this statement makes it VERY hard for Congressional Republicans to keep saying a shutdown would be Democrats’ fault. The president is literally claiming responsibility”

Comey defends FBI and himself in interview with House panels

ormer FBI director James B. Comey arrives for a closed-door session with House lawmakers Friday on Capitol Hill. Credit: Drew Angerer, Getty Images

Former FBI director James B. Comey’s closed-door interview with House lawmakers on Friday was largely a repetition of themes and facts that have emerged in previous public sessions, according to a transcript of the six-hour session that panel leaders released on Saturday.

Republicans from the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees peppered Comey with questions about the FBI’s investigation into former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, including whether Comey would have dismissed former officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page from the probe had he known they were exchanging texts disparaging then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Comey said he probably would have. However, the former director repeatedly declined to answer questions seeking detailed answers about elements of the FBI’s Russia investigation, which Comey either could not recall — such as who prepared the document launching the bureau’s counterintelligence investigation of individuals affiliated with Trump — or thought came too close to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s ongoing investigation of Russian interference.

View the complete December 8 article by Karoun Demirjian and Matt Zapotosky on The Washington Post website here.

Clock ticks down on GOP Congress

Lawmakers are facing an end-of-the-year traffic jam with legislation piling up and a tight schedule that leaves them little wiggle room.

Leadership is juggling a backlog of must-pass bills and nominations as well as eleventh-hour requests from rank-and-file members as legislators try to cram as much as possible into the final days of the work year. Republicans, in particular, are feeling pressure to make a last-ditch effort as they prepare to cede control of the House to Democrats in January.

But the schedule got further scrambled following former President George H.W. Bush’s death, with Washington expected to dedicate days to mourning the 41st president. House Republicans announced Monday they are canceling votes for the week, while the Senate is delaying the start of its work week.

View the complete December 4 article by Jordain Carney on The Hill website here.

Senate Gears Up for Unpredictable Debate on Saudi Arabia and Yemen

Sen. Christopher urphy, D-CT., is among the chief advocates for the Yemen resolution. Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call file photo

CIA Director briefed key senators on Khashoggi killing Tuesday

The Senate is gearing up for a potentially unwieldy debate over U.S. policy regarding Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and a Tuesday briefing for key senators from the CIA chief did nothing to thwart that.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker told Roll Call Tuesday afternoon that interested parties would be meeting on Wednesday to try to find an agreement on handling the contentious Yemen resolution.

The Tennessee Republican said that with the schedule changes necessitated by the funeral of President George H.W. Bush, floor debate would most likely come up on Monday, Dec. 10.

Republicans’ hard-line stance on immigration may alienate millennials for years

President Trump is restricting the path to asylum in his quest to curb immigration into the United States. (Video: Jenny Starrs /Photo: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

In the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections, President Trump doubled down on the restrictive immigration positions that fueled his 2016 presidential campaign. The last few weeks of the campaign, he repeatedly warned Americans about the migrant caravan headed to the United States from Central America, and advocated for the repeal of birthright citizenship. Trump hoped to mobilize Republican voters, thereby helping to elect Republican candidates. Especially in the Senate, this may have helped Republicans gain two seats.

But in the long term, Trump’s anti-immigration approach may alienate millennial voters — and backfire on the Republican Party. The millennial generation, born between 1980 and 1997, is the largest and most diverse adult cohort.

In the midterms, majorities of millennials voted for Democrats. That’s a troubling sign for Republicans

Almost 7 in 10 voters (67 percent) ages 18 to 29, and nearly 6 in 10 (58 percent) of those ages 30 to 44, supported Democratic candidates. That’s mostly the millennial generation. Researchers who study party identification suggest that it’s “sticky” — that the party you vote for in your first few elections tends to harden and become your party for life.

View the complete December 3 article by Stella M. Rouse on The Washington Post website here.

270,000 fewer kids have health insurance now thanks to Trump and GOP

Credit: Evan Vuccil, AP Photo

Trump’s health care sabotage is hurting the most vulnerable members of society: children.

For the first time in a decade, the number of uninsured children in the United States increased, thanks to the cruel health care policies of Trump and fellow Republicans

After the uninsured rate for children went down steadily during President Obama’s two terms, Trump’s health care sabotage reversed the trend, according to a new study from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families reported by the L.A. Times.

The increase of more than a quarter million uninsured children is unsettling according to report author Joan Alker.

View the complete November 30 article by Dan Desai Martin on the ShareBlue.com website here.

Comey reaches agreement with Republicans for testimony

Former FBI director James Comey will testify before Congress in private this week after reaching a deal with Republicans and dropping his challenge to a House subpoena.

His lawyer, David Kelly, confirmed to The Hill that Comey had reached an agreement to testify on Friday.

Comey tweeted earlier Sunday that he had reached a deal with Republican lawmakers regarding his testimony, which he wanted to give in a public hearing.

View the complete December 2 article by Megan Keller on The Hill website here.

Trump’s Budget Director Reveals Plans to Attack Social Security and Medicare

Mick Mulvaney, Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP

Americans will not be fooled into allowing Mick Mulvaney to make what he deemed “easy” cuts to earned benefits.

Opponents of Social Security and Medicare are so eager to end these two overwhelmingly important and popular earned benefits that they can’t contain themselves. Mick Mulvaney, the Trump administration’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, is the latest to make crystal clear the longstanding plan to destroy both programs.

Speaking at a conference of state legislators hosted by the anti-government American Legislative Exchange Council (“ALEC”), Mulvaney just revealed that he plans first to go after what he sees as more politically achievable cuts. He explained that the next step, presumably after Trump is in his second term, will be for the administration not just to cut these programs but to end them as we know them.

Mulvaney is apparently so eager to go after our earned benefits that he threw the point into a speech to state legislators, even though both Social Security and Medicare are federal programs.

View the complete November 30 article by Nancy J. Altman on the Common Dreams website here.