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US House Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 25, 2017 13 Comments
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and top Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) have announced that the committee could not find evidence that President Donald Trump's former National Security adviser Michael Flymm reported payments for his foreign work. Chaffetz and Cummings reviewed classified military documents, which showed them that "Flynn did not ask permission or inform the government about payments he got for appearances before Russian organizations and for lobbying that helped Turkey's government.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 20, 2017 22 Comments
Wednesday, House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) make public plans to forgo reelection in 2018, an announcement that shocked most Hill watchers. Now, Rep. Chaffetz says he might not even finish his current term. "I will continue to weigh the options, but I might depart early," Chaffetz said Thursday during a radio interview.

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 19, 2017 12 Comments
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has announced he will not run for reelection. He currently serves as chairman for the House Oversight Committee. He wrote on Facebook:
After long consultation with my family and prayerful consideration, I have decided I will not be a candidate for any office in 2018.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 17, 2017 14 Comments
On the eve of the special election in Georgia's 6th district, news of President Trump's approval hitting 50% on Rasmussen's Presidential Tracking Poll is being blasted from the rafters by Drudge and retweeted by the President himself.  However, Rasmussen's appears to be an outlier, though Gallup has him up by two points at 41%. This is an important point because Georgia's 6th, Newt Gingrich's old district, only barely went for Trump last November, and the progressive Democrat, Jon Ossoff, began his campaign as a "Make Trump Furious" effort and in doing so, has intentionally made the special election a referendum on Trump.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 15, 2017 17 Comments
While losing the House seat vacated by Tom Price in Georgia's 6th district will make little immediate difference in real terms for  Republicans, doing so will provide an unwelcome boost of morale and momentum to anti-Trump regressives.   Democrats and "resist we much" activists across the country know this, understand the momentum such a victory would create, and are unleashing all of their resources on this tiny, mostly conservative district near Atlanta. Team Obama, Hollywood has-been Samuel L. Jackson, and outside volunteers and money are flooding into the district with the hopes of scoring a win on Tuesday for the anti-Trump "resistance."  To that end, they are all rallying behind progressive Democrat Jon Ossoff.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 08, 2017 6 Comments
As we learned from Scott Brown's (R-MA) supermajority-breaking special election win in January of 2010, special elections can and sometimes do serve as harbingers for midterms.  There are three upcoming special elections to replace House members who have joined President Trump's cabinet, and each is turning out to be unexpectedly challenging for the GOP, who are expecting a low turnout in the wake of the Republicans gaining control of both Congress and the White House. Kansas, Georgia, and Montana will hold special elections this spring, and if the Democrats pick up one or more of these seats, their "resist we much" campaign will get a much-needed boost.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 06, 2017 51 Comments
This is breaking news and will be updated. Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, who exposed the "unmasking" of information regarding the Trump transition team by the Obama administration, has announced he will step aside from the Russia investigation This is a major victory for Democrats, who have smeared and attacked Nunes, and comes after liberal interest groups filed ethics complaints against Nunes, leading to an ethics investigation. [Post to be updated]

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 28, 2017 7 Comments
On the heels of the failed GOP health care bill, Republicans on the Hill have two new battles: tax reform and avoiding a government shutdown. I detailed the tax reform fight Sunday. Funding for Trump's border wall could complicate the looming budget showdown. Among the options for avoiding yet another government shutdown are reeling in Democrat support to stop a filibuster in the Senate and possibly excluding border wall funding in the spending bill. Typically, the federally government is funded on a yearly basis. Current federal funding ends at the end of April and if nothing happens, a partial shutdown may occur. If a shutdown occurs, GOP lawmakers fear they'll be blamed like they were in 2013. Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) has encouraged his colleagues to stay focused:
“The government can’t shut down,’’ he said. “If you have a Republican Congress shutting down a Republican government, that’s just about as politically stupid as it gets.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 26, 2017 18 Comments
Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) has resigned from the Freedom Caucus over the GOP healthcare fiasco because he wanted to vote for the bill:
“To deliver on the conservative agenda we have promised the American people for eight years, we must come together to find solutions to move this country forward," Poe said through his congressional office. "Saying no is easy, leading is hard, but that is what we were elected to do. Leaving this caucus will allow me to be a more effective member of Congress and advocate for the people of Texas. It is time to lead."

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 20, 2017 20 Comments
FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers addressed the House Intelligence Committee today about allegations of Russian interference with our presidential election and President Donald Trump's accusations that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) told Fox News on Sunday that the wiretap never happened. Top Democrat Adam Schiff expects "Comey to rebut the president's claim" at the hearing.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 09, 2017 27 Comments
The House Oversight Committee held a hearing today over the Department of Justice Inspector General's report that showed the ATF missed numerous opportunities to arrest the two men linked to the guns used to murder ICE Agent Jaime Zapata in February 2011. However, Ronald Turk, ATF associate deputy director and chief operating officer, and William Temple, ATF's special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Division, refused to show up and testify. This left Chairman Jason Chaffetz fuming.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 03, 2017 12 Comments
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) wanted to view the House GOP Obamacare replacement bill, but could not gain access to it from a secure room. This did not please the senator, who wants to keep everything transparent:
“If you recall where Obamacare was passed in 2009, 2010, Nancy Pelosi said we’ll know what’s in it after we pass it. The Republican Party shouldn’t act in the same way," Paul said in a circus-like atmosphere outside the offices of House leaders. “This is being presented as if it were a national secret, as it if it were a plot to invade another country. … That's wrong. It should be done openly in the public. And conservatives who have objections that don't want Obamacare-lite should be able to see the bill."

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on February 04, 2017 44 Comments
The Congressional Black Caucus is facing an existential quandary: to allow a Dominican-American to join or not to allow it?  Is a Dominican-American black?  Hispanic?  Afro-Latino?  Who decides?  And what if that person tried to unseat Charlie Rangel (twice)? We might think, based on the Rachael Dolezal case that one can just identify as whatever race one wants, just as progressives expect people to pick their gender from a long (long) list of choices.  And we might be right.  Or we might be wrong.  Who knows?  Certainly not the CBC.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 22, 2017 8 Comments
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. Pete King (R-NY) laid out the details on the legislative agenda for the House for the next 100 days when they appeared on AM 790 in New York:
"We're going to be going full steam to move forward with the Trump agenda to make America great again," Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) said on John Catsimatidis' "Cats Roundtable" radio program on AM 970 in New York. "Basically Donald Trump has said it's not only a change in president or change of party, it's really a whole change of philosophy. And it's a whole new movement basically to give power back to the people," he said. "And it's going to be more assertive as far as America is concerned. It's no doubt he is determined, and he didn't back down at all … It's definitely a new era in American history."

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on September 28, 2016 17 Comments
Yesterday, I wrote about today's Senate vote expected to override Obama's veto and today they voted overwhelmingly to do just that. Fox News reports:
The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to overturn President Obama’s veto of a bill letting families of Sept. 11 victims sue the Saudi Arabian government, bringing Congress within reach of completing the first successful veto override of Obama’s presidency. The Senate voted 97-1 to reject the veto. The measure heads next to the House, where lawmakers will need to muster a two-thirds majority, as in the Senate, to override.
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