Tag: GOP House

Republicans mull new punishments for dissident lawmakers

The following article by Melanie Zanona was posted on the Hill website September 6, 2018:

House Republicans are chewing over a proposal to hold members accountable for not voting along party lines or for  signing discharge petitions — two acts of rebellion that GOP leadership has had to grapple with this year.

Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) pitched the idea on Tuesday to the Republican Steering Committee, where it received a warm reception, but the panel decided to hold off on voting on the resolution until after the midterm elections, according to two GOP lawmakers who were present and a Republican source.

The resolution would require the Steering Committee to review whether changes should be made to a lawmaker’s committee assignments if they vote against a rule, which sets the stage for floor debate on legislation and is almost always passed along party lines, or if they support a discharge petition, which is a tool to force floor votes with 218 signatures and circumvent leadership.

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Legal Case to Smash Obamacare Hands the Democrats a Hammer

The following article by Abby Goodnough was posted on the New York Times website September 5, 2018:

Supporters of the Affordable Care Act rally at Burnett Park in Fort Worth, where a federal judge heard arguments on the constitutionality of the law.CreditCreditMax Faulkner/Star-Telegram, AP

FORT WORTH — More than 1,000 miles from the caustic Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Brett M. Kavanaugh, a federal judge in Texas on Wednesday listened to arguments about whether to find part or all of the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, in a case that may end up before a newly right-leaning set of justices.

The case has become not simply a threat to the landmark legislation. Democrats have sought to make it both a flash point in the battle over whether to confirm Judge Kavanaugh and a crucial prong in their strategy to retake control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections.

It has already made some Republicans jumpy, especially those in tight re-election contests, because the Trump administration explicitly said in a legal filing in June that it agreed with the argument of Texas and 19 other Republican-controlled states that the law’s protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions are not constitutional. The administration is refusing to defend those guarantees. In that sense, although the case threatens one of the Democrats’ proudest achievements, it is also proving to be something of an election-year gift to their party.

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Vulnerable Rod Blum Under House Ethics Inquiry

The following article by Katherine Tully-McManus was posted on the Roll Call website September 4, 2018:

Case was referred to panel by independent Office of Congressional Ethics

The House Ethics Committee has taken up a case against Rep. Rod Blum, R-Iowa, that was referred by the independent Office of Congressional Ethics. Credit: Bill Clark, CQ Roll Call file photo

The House Ethics Committee has taken up an inquiry into Iowa Republican Rod Blum. The case was referred from the Office of Congressional Ethics on July 19, and the Ethics Committee will announce a course of action before Dec. 17, according to a release.

Blum called the inquiry a “crusade of personal destruction” being waged against him by the “radical left.”

“In my case they scream ‘ETHICS VIOLATION!’ over a clerical error on a form. Once this minor error was brought to my attention, I immediately self-reported to the Ethics Committee and apologized,” Blum said in a statement. He said that between 30 percent and 50 percent of all reports reviewed by the Ethics Committee contain errors, data that Roll Call was not able to confirm.

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Congressman who doesn’t believe in science wants to lead science committee

The following article by Dan Desai Martin was posted on the ShareBlue.com website August 31, 2018:

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher once called climate change research ‘junk science.’ Next year, he wants to chair the House Science Committee.

Dana Rohrabacher, Credit: Paul Zinken, picture-alliance, dpa, AP Images

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) dismissed climate change research as “junk science” and sings the praises of offshore oil rigs.

Now, the Republican congressman is angling to be the chair of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee if Republicans maintain control of Congress after November, according to Roll Call.

Rohrabacher and Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) are positioning themselves to replace the retiring Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) as head of the committee. Rohrabacher’s spokesperson points to his previous experience chairing several of the Science Committee’s subcommittees as one reason the 15-term lawmaker should gain the top spot.

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Republicans ready to grill Bruce Ohr as Trump-DOJ feud escalates

The following article by Olivia Beaver was posted on the Hill website August 28, 2018:

Rep. Mark Meadows

House Republicans are sharpening their knives for an upcoming closed-door interview with Bruce Ohr, a Department of Justice (DOJ) official who has faced increasing attacks from President Trump and his allies over ties to the controversial “Steele dossier.”

Ohr, who has agreed to a voluntary interview with House investigators on Tuesday, is the latest target among Republicans who claim there is ample evidence of bias against Trump among the top brass at the DOJ and FBI during the 2016 presidential race.

Ohr has increasingly come under GOP scrutiny for his contacts with an opposition research firm and former British spy Christopher Steele, the driving forces behind the dossier containing a series of salacious allegations about Trump’s ties to Russia. Glenn Simpson, co-founder of opposition research firm Fusion GPS, hired Steele to help compile the dossier — which was bankrolled in part by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

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Republicans admit they’ll slash Medicare, Social Security to pay for their tax cuts

The following article by Rebekah Entralgo was posted on the ThinkProgress website August 21, 2018:

“I do think we need to deal with some of our spending.”

Republicans who supported the trillion dollar Trump tax bill are revealing their true motivations: Slashing Medicare and Social Ssecurity. Credit: Getty Images

Slowly but surely, Republicans that supported the trillion dollar Trump tax bill are revealing their true motivations: slashing Medicare and Social Security.

During a Sunday interview with CNBC’s John Harwood, Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH) urged entitlement reform as the deficit continues to balloon as a result of the GOP tax cuts.

“I do think we need to deal with some of our spending,” Stivers said. “We’ve got try to figure out how to spend less.”

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Pelosi seizes on anti-corruption message against GOP

The following article by Melanie Zanona was posted on the Hill website August 14, 2018:

Leader Nancy Pelosi

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) is moving full steam ahead on a Democratic strategy to paint the GOP as corrupt ahead of the midterm elections, a case that got new legs after the arrest of Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) on insider trading charges last week.

Pelosi has decided to make ethics a core pillar of House Democrats’ push for the majority this fall, seizing on Collins’s arrest in a way she hasn’t done with past GOP scandals involving Trump administration officials.

But with Collins, a sitting member of Congress and Trump’s earliest congressional backer, Pelosi believes that Democrats have a ripe opportunity to draw a connection between the president and House Republicans who are on the ballot this November.

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FBI fires Strzok after anti-Trump texts

The following article by Olivia Beavers was posted on the Hill website August 13, 2018:

Peter Strzok Credit: Jack Gruber, USA Today Network

The FBI has fired Peter Strzok, the counterintelligence agent who came under fire for sending disparaging text messages about President Trump and other political figures during the 2016 election.

Strzok’s lawyer, Aitan Goelman, confirmed the firing, which took place on Friday. He blasted the decision in a statement, saying the “Deputy Director of the FBI overruled the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and departed from established precedent by firing 21-year FBI veteran Peter Strzok.”

“The decision to fire Special Agent Strzok is not only a departure from typical Bureau practice, but also contradicts Director [Christopher] Wray’s testimony to Congress and his assurances that the FBI intended to follow its regular process in this and all personnel matters,” Goelman continued in the statement.

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Poll: Majority disapproves of Trump, GOP’s handling of deficit

The following article by Julia Manchester was posted on the Hill website August 3, 2018:

A majority of Americans say they disapprove of how Republicans and the Trump administration have handled the budget deficit, according to a new American Barometer poll.

Fifty-six percent said they disproved of the handling of the budget deficit, which is set to top $1 trillion this year under the administration’s own estimates. Just 44 percent said they approved.

The survey, a joint project of The Hill and the HarrisX polling company, found that just 21 percent of Republicans, however, disapprove of the GOP’s handling of the deficit. Seventy-nine percent of Republicans polled said they approved of the work done by the administration and Republicans on the deficit.

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