Tag: House GOP

Eyeing House majority, top Republican super PAC books $43 million in fall ads

Washington Post logoThe largest Republican super PAC focused on House races has reserved $43 million in advertising this fall, sketching out the GOP’s path for retaking the majority two years after a Democratic wave swept them from power.

The spending plan from the Congressional Leadership Fund targets about 30 Democratic incumbents in a cycle in which Republicans will need to flip 18 seats to win back the speaker’s gavel. The group, which has close ties to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and other Republican leaders, is also moving to protect as many as six vulnerable GOP members.

Among the group’s most prominent targets are Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Tex.), a freshman in a Houston-area district where the super PAC is planning to spend $3.1 million, and Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-N.Y.), whose Upstate New York district is targeted for $2.2 million of fall spending. Continue reading.

Republicans come out against Iran language they previously supported

Many House members who supported amendments on War Powers now opposed

In July, 27 Republicans voted for an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to effectively prohibit the president from using military force against Iran without congressional approval. As the House readies to vote on a similar measure Thursday, few, if any, Republicans are likely to support it.

U.S. tension with Iran has escalated since July, resulting in recent attacks from both sides. President Donald Trump’s decision to kill Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani has drawn praise from Republicans who believe the administration line about the Quds Force commander and criticism from Democrats who say the intelligence does not support that claim.

The War Powers resolution the House will vote on Thursday directing the president to terminate the use of military force in or against Iran unless Congress authorizes it or such force is needed to defend Americans does not name Trump. But the measure is a referendum on his decisions on Iran, and Republicans don’t want to support Democrats’ latest effort to reprimand the president. Continue reading.

Senate Republicans puncture House GOP dreams for impeachment trial

GOP leaders have no interest in turning the Senate into a circus with the hard-line demands of Trump’s House allies.

On Wednesday, a conservative backbencher in the House issued an explosive request to Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham: Subpoena the phone records of House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff.

On Thursday, Graham had a succinct response: “We’re not going to do that.”

The demand from Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) reflects House Republicans’ eagerness to see Democrats squirm once impeachment moves to the GOP-controlled Senate and out of the “sham” process they’ve derided in the House.

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GOP Impeachment ‘Report’ Recycles Fox News Arguments

House Republicans have released a report attempting to rebut the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump — revealing a patchwork of spin, distortions, and outright denials of reality. But more than that, the document echoes the talking points that Fox News has made throughout the entire Trump-Ukraine scandal.

From the start, of course, this story has been laundered from Fox News into Trump’s brain, beginning with the smear campaigns against Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, and other figures who have been caught up in the presidential scandal. Indeed, many of this new document’s purportedly factual (but easily debunked) claims about the impeachment inquiry can also be found in Fox host Sean Hannity’s recent “e-book” guide for talking to relatives over the holidays — though what Hannity wrote in just two-and-a-half pages, House Republicans stretched out to 123 pages.

Fundamentally, the House GOP report engages in Fox’s tried-and-true strategy of constructing an alternate reality in which the impeachment witnesses are said to have proved the exact opposite of what they actually testified about, such as claiming that “none of the Democrats’ witnesses testified to having evidence of bribery, extortion, or any high crime or misdemeanor,” even after multiple people laid out in detail the Trump administration’s quid pro quo demand that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky investigate the Bidens. (And yet still, the report claims: “The evidence does not establish that President Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate Burisma Holdings, Vice President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, or Ukrainian influence in the 2016 election for the purpose of benefiting him in the 2020 election.”)

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Nunes blasted for nonsensical opening statement at impeachment hearing: ‘Seems unlikely’ GOP knew Sondland would affirm Trump’s ‘quid pro quo’

AlterNet logoRep. Devin Nunes of California has been one of President Donald Trump’s loudest, most strident defenders during the public impeachment hearings — and with Ambassador Gordon Sondland preparing to testify Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee, Nunes was as bombastic as usual. During his opening statement, Nunes ranted about Democrats linking Trump to Russian interference in the 2016 election, insisted that Trump’s July 25 conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was perfectly innocent, declared that Sondland was “here today to be smeared” by Democrats, and even said that today’s Democrats would have impeached President George Washington if given the chance.

But Nunes’ critics have been pushing back on the congressman’s opening statements, noting that he plays hard and loose with the facts — and appeared unprepared for Sondland’s remarks.

On Wednesday morning, CNBC’s Christina Wilkie tweeted, “Nunes’ opening statement suggests Intel Republicans didn’t know (Ambassador) Sondland was flipping until the last minute, and Nunes didn’t have time to update his opening statement — to which Alex Thomas responded, “Yeah, the reaction I’m getting from everybody on the Hill right now is ‘Nunes read the wrong opening statement.’”

View the November 20 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet website here.

House GOP fears retirement wave will lead to tsunami

The Hill logoHouse Republicans plotting to win back their majority in Congress fear they are on the brink of a massive wave of retirements that could force them to play defense in a high-stakes presidential election year.

Three House Republicans said last week they would not seek another term next year, catching party strategists off guard. Those announcements came earlier than in a typical election cycle, when members who are ready to hang up their voting cards usually wait until after the August recess or after the Christmas break.

Republicans in Congress strategizing to win back the House say the rush to the exits reflects the depressing reality of life in the minority and a pessimistic view of the GOP’s chances of regaining the majority.

View the compete July 30 article by Reid Wilson on The Hill website here.

Expanding map creates tough choices for GOP

The following article by Melanie Zanona was posted on the Hill website April 4, 2018:

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin

The House GOP’s campaign arm is facing tough choices about where to shift precious resources in the midterm elections, as Republicans desperately try to stave off a potential blue wave this November.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) must decide how much focus should be placed on competitive and Democratic-leaning districts that Hillary Clinton carried — or if the party should put more energy into protecting solid GOP seats that could be in danger if a wave materializes this fall.

“Not every seat is created equal. … Ultimately, you have to decide what is the best path to holding the majority,” said Matt Mackowiak, a GOP strategist based in Texas. “You’re dealing with a chess board that has 30 or 40 pieces on it, and you’re trying to figure out how to get from here to there.”“It’s a judgment call both sides have to make,” he added. “And it’s challenging.” Continue reading “Expanding map creates tough choices for GOP”

Senate Gives House Republicans Little Cover on Health Care in 2018

The following article by Simone Pathé was posted on the Roll Call website July 31, 2017:

Some House GOP lawmakers trusted Senate to improve legislation

When Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo voted for the Republican health care bill this spring, he did so believing the Senate would make it better.

“I received strong assurances that major improvements would be made in the Senate,” the two-term congressman wrote in a May Miami Herald op-edexplaining his vote.