Tag: GOP lawmakers

GOP lawmakers gloomy, back on defense after debate fiasco

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Senate Republicans, who are battling to cling to their fragile majority, were left frustrated and gloomy after Tuesday night’s chaotic debate between President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden that left them talking about controversies they had hoped to put behind them.

Tuesday night’s debate was a comedown for many Republicans who were flying high after the Senate GOP conference quickly unified behind Trump’s Supreme Court pick. Instead of spending Wednesday touting nominee Amy Coney Barrett, they spent the day fielding questions about the president’s refusal to directly rebuke white supremacist groups or to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. 

The first media question at an event Senate Republican women planned Wednesday morning to highlight Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court was about Trump’s debate performance and whether it would hurt Senate Republican candidates with female voters. Continue reading.

GOP lawmakers distance themselves from ObamaCare ruling

Republicans are keeping their distance from a recent court ruling that struck down ObamaCare, as GOP lawmakers are wary of the political backlash that could ensue from scrapping the law.

Many congressional Republicans remain silent after a federal judge on Friday struck down the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. And those who have spoken out largely steered clear of embracing the decision.

The muted response illustrates how the politics of the 2010 health law have shifted, with Democrats successfully hammering Republicans during the 2018 midterms over GOP efforts to weaken the law’s pre-existing condition protections.

View the complete December 17 article by Peter Sullivan on The Hill website here.

Republicans hammer Mueller, FBI as Russia investigation intensifies

The following article by Devlin Barrett and Sean Sullivan was posted on the Washington Post website December 6, 2017:

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is shown testifying before a 2013 Senate Intelligence Committee hearing when he was FBI director. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Republican activists and lawmakers are engaged in a multi-front attack on special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe of possible connections between associates of President Trump and Russian agents, trying to stop or curtail the investigation as it moves further into Trump’s inner circle.

For months, the president and his allies have been seizing on any whiff of possible impropriety by Mueller’s team or the FBI to argue that the Russia probe is stacked against Trump — potentially building the political support needed to dismiss the special counsel.

Several law enforcement officials said they are concerned that the constant drumbeat of conservative criticism seems designed to erode Mueller’s credibility, making it more politically palatable to remove, restrict or simply ignore his recommendations as his investigation progresses. Continue reading “Republicans hammer Mueller, FBI as Russia investigation intensifies”