Tag: U.S. House

Three Republicans accused of ethics violation after they attempted to alter colleague’s votes

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Something strange happened in Congress last night (3/3/21) that may tag three Republican members with an ethics violation. 

The House held an overnight session so that they could avoid the U.S. Capitol amid the fears of another attack on the building from militia members and conspiracy theorists.

Punchbowl News’ John Bresnahn explained that during a vote for HR 1280: The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX) cast a vote for the bill. His Republican colleagues freaked out, saying that it needed to be changed. Three of them protested, attempting to change the vote in with the Tally Clerk. Continue reading.

House Democrats pass sweeping elections bill as GOP legislatures push to restrict voting

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The House late Wednesday passed expansive legislation to create uniform national voting standards, overhaul campaign finance laws and outlaw partisan redistricting, advancing a centerpiece of the Democratic voting rights agenda amid fierce Republican attacks that threaten to stop it cold in the Senate.

The bill, titled the For the People Act, was given the symbolic designation of H.R. 1 by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ­(D-Calif.), and it largely mirrors a bill passed two years ago in the early weeks of the House Democratic majority.

This year, however, the bill has taken on additional significance because of the new Democratic majority in the Senate and President Biden’s November win, as well as the efforts underway in dozens of Republican-controlled state legislatures to roll back voting access in reaction to former president Donald Trump’s loss and his subsequent campaign to question the election results. Continue reading.

House passes expansive policing overhaul bill named in honor of George Floyd

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The House on Wednesday passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, an expansive policing overhaul measure named for the 46-year-old Black man who died last Memorial Day after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against his neck for over nine minutes.

The bill passed 220 to 212 along mostly party lines, with two Democrats, Reps. Jared Golden (Maine) and Ron Kind (Wis.), voting against it, and one Republican, Rep. Lance Gooden (Tex.), accidentally voting for it.

Soon after the vote, Gooden tweeted that he had pressed the wrong button and had meant to vote “no.” He said he would submit a correction to his vote. Continue reading.

MN Prominent In U.S. House Subcommittee Hearing On Minimum Wage

Phillips chairs hearing and Minnesota reps and business leader take part in discussion on the proposed wage hike in the stimulus bill. 

WASHINGTON, DC —With the House and Senate both discussing the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, a Wednesday House subcommittee hearing on one component of that bill – the $15-an-hour-minimum wage – had a decidedly Minnesota flavor, according to reports.

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-03) is the chairman of the House Small Business Oversight, Investigations and Regulations Subcommittee, which spent two hours debating the pros and cons of the $15 minimum wage. Phillips welcomed in Minnesota business leader John Puckett, CEO of Punch Neapolitan Pizza and a founder of Caribou Coffee, to participate in the proceedings. 

Two other Minnesota politicians, Rep. Angie Craig (D-02) and Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-01), also served on the panel. Continue reading.

House passes sweeping protections for LGBTQ people

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The House on Thursday passed the Equality Act, a sweeping civil rights bill that expands protections in education, housing, employment and more to LGBT people. 

The bill would also prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in credit, jury service and public accommodations. 

Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) reintroduced the legislation, which passed the House in 2019 but never moved in the Senate. The bill, which passed the House on Thursday by a vote of 224-206, faces an uphill battle in the upper chamber, where GOP support is needed to reach the 60-vote threshold. Continue reading.

House passes $1.9 trillion COVID relief package

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The House approved President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package on a 219-212 vote early Saturday morning, sending it to the Senate for a possible rewrite before it gets to Biden’s desk.

The big picture: The vote was a critical first step for the package, which includes $1,400 cash payments for many Americans, a national vaccination program, ramped-up COVID testing and contact tracing, state and local funding and money to help schools reopen.

  • Two Democrats — Reps. Jared Golden (Maine) and Kurt Schrader (Ore.) — joined Republicans in voting against the bill.

What to watch: The bill will likely undergo an overhaul in the upper chamber after the Senate parliamentarian ruled the $15 minimum wage increase cannot be added in the relief package. Continue reading.

Bill would strip pension for president convicted of felony

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Two key House Democrats will roll out legislation Thursday that would revoke a lifetime pension and other taxpayer-funded perks from former presidents who are convicted of felonies during or after office.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), who leads the Democrats’ campaign arm, and Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) have authored the Restoring and Enforcing Accountability of Presidents (REAP) Act. It would reform the Former Presidents Act of 1958 by stripping past presidents convicted of a felony of their $219,200 annual pension, office space and a budget to pay for staff.

The legislation does not impact lifetime Secret Service protection for convicted presidents. It will formally be introduced on Thursday, when Maloney and Jayapal will begin gathering co-sponsors.  Continue reading.

Defiant Greene attacks media, dodges questions on past remarks

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A day after the House voted to remove her from committees for her previous promotion of conspiracy theories, a defiant Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene attacked the media and repeatedly refused to address her past endorsements of violence against Democrats.

In a remarkable press conference just outside the Capitol, the newly arrived Georgia Republican acknowledged that her past embrace of certain conspiracy theories — including claims that several school shooting massacres were staged to advance gun reform laws — was “wrong and offensive.” 

But when asked if she still stands by remarks accusing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of treason, which she said at the time is a “crime punishable by death,” Greene interjected and asked the reporter, “How many stories did you report on Russian collusion conspiracy lies?” Continue reading.

House votes to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from committee assignments

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The House voted 230-199 on Thursday to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from her committee assignments over her past endorsement of baseless conspiracy theories and violent rhetoric against Democrats.

Why it matters: It’s a drastic step that comes after Republican leadership declined to take action against the controversial congresswoman, prompting Democrats to take the matter into their own hands. 11 Republicans joined 219Democrats in voting to remove Greene from the Education and Budget committees.

Republicans who voted to strip Greene’s committee assignments: Continue reading.

Greene apologizes to GOP colleagues — and gets standing ovation

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) apologized for her past controversial remarks and embrace of the QAnon conspiracy theory during a heated closed-door House GOP conference meeting — and received a standing ovation at one point from a number of her colleagues.

Greene told her colleagues that she made a mistake by being curious about “Q” and said she told her children she learned a lesson about what to put on social media, according to two sources in the room.

She also denied that she knew what Jewish space lasers were and defended her comments that past school shootings were staged by stating that she had personal experience with a school shooting. Continue reading.