Aid bill for Capitol security, Afghan refugees headed to Biden’s desk

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Vote of 416-11 in House came hours after 98-0 Senate vote

Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Thursday to approve a $2.1 billion spending bill meant to shore up their own safety in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, reimburse the National Guard for a monthslong activation to secure the complex and relocate Afghans who helped the U.S. government during the war.

The 416-11 House vote Thursday afternoon clears the measure for President Joe Biden’s signature with just days to spare before the Capitol Police and National Guard are expected to face funding shortfalls related to the insurrection by pro-Trump rioters.

House passage came just hours after the Senate’s 98-0 vote. Though lawmakers in that chamber gave the measure a strong bipartisan vote, House members weren’t entirely pleased with the final product or that it took the Senate about two months to approve its version after the House acted on an earlier version. Continue reading.

Trump threatened to primary GOP lawmakers who favor the bipartisan infrastructure plan. 17 Republicans just voted to advance it, including Mitch McConnell.

Former President Donald Trump left no words unspoken in his most direct attempt yet to tank President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure deal.

The GOP frontman threatened “lots of primaries” ahead for any Republican lawmakers who cooperated with Democrats to get the bipartisan deal passed.

His statement was released after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced ahead of the procedural vote in the Senate on Wednesday that he would vote to advance the measure. Seventeen Republicans — including McConnell — joined all 50 Democrats to advance the bipartisan legislation, in a major test for the bill. Continue reading.

$1.2 trillion “hard” infrastructure bill clears major procedural vote in Senate

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The Senate voted 67-32 on Wednesday to advance the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. 

Why it matters: After weeks of negotiating, portions of the bill remain unwritten, but the Senate can now start debating the legislation to resolve outstanding issues.

  • It was the second time the chamber voted to invoke cloture on the legislation after the first vote failed last week. Continue reading.

Paul Krugman: GOP ‘family values’ rhetoric is as ‘intellectually bankrupt’ now as it was in 1992

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“Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance, who is seeking the GOP nomination in Ohio’s 2022 U.S. Senate race, was cynically playing the family values card when he railed against the “childless left” during a speech on Friday night, July 23 — and he even mentioned some Democrats by name. Liberal economist Paul Krugman has responded to Vance’s speech in his July 26 column for the New York Times, stressing that Republican “family values” rhetoric is as empty and vacuous in 2021 as it was when the GOP made “family values” the theme of the 1992 Republican National Convention.

Vance was speaking at an event hosted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and the Democrats he singled out as examples of the “childless” trend in the U.S. included Vice President Kamala Harris, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York City. And Vance praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — a far-right authoritarian — for encouraging more procreation in his country. Booker and AOC, reporter Martin Pengelly noted in The Guardian, don’t have any children. Harris has two stepchildren with her husband, Doug Emhoff.

Vance’s speech, Krugman writes, brought back memories of the GOP’s “family values” rhetoric of 1992. Continue reading.

GOP ‘holds’ threaten quick action on supplemental spending bill

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Funds included for National Guard deployments, Afghan relocation

A $2.1 billion emergency spending bill to bolster Capitol Hill security, reimburse the National Guard and relocate Afghans who helped the U.S. government during two decades of war in that country stalled Wednesday after several Senate Republicans put holds on the bill.

Senate Appropriations ranking member Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., said as many as seven lawmakers have objections to the $1.1 billion the legislation would provide to help relocate Afghans to ensure their safety as U.S. troops withdraw.

“I believe we have an obligation to the Afghan people who are our allies, who helped us. We know what’s going to happen to a lot of those people,” Shelby said, adding that it would be “shameful” not to help those Afghans now. Continue reading.

Bipartisan group reaches agreement on $1.2 trillion “hard” infrastructure bill

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After weeks of long nights and endless Zoom calls, a bipartisan group of senators finally reached a deal on “the major issues” in their $1.2 trillion “hard” infrastructure package, GOP senators involved in the talks announced Wednesday.

Why it matters: It could be days before the group finishes writing the bill, but the Senate can begin debating the legislation in earnest now that they have resolved the outstanding issues. The bill needs 60 votes to advance in the Senate.

  • Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that the Senate could vote as early as Wednesday night to advance the proposal, the second time they will vote on this procedural measure. Continue reading.

‘An embarrassment and a disgrace’: McConnell faces brutal backlash after saying he didn’t watch 1/6 hearing because he ‘had to work’

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Speaking to a gaggle of reporters this Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was asked if he watched the House select committee’s first hearing in its investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

“Did you watch any of the hearing today?” a reporter asked. 

“No, I didn’t,” McConnell replied. 

“Why not?” the reporter asked. Continue reading.

New Lincoln Project ad blasts corporate donors who bankrolled ‘murderous violence on Jan. 6’

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As a House select committee begins its investigation into the Capitol insurrection, a new ad from the conservative Lincoln Project targets corporations and CEOs who allegedly “helped financed the very structure that led to the murderous violence on Jan. 6.”

“Who funds the politicians trying to cover up the assault on America’s Capitol?” the ad’s narrator asks, following a clip of former president Donald Trump falsely claiming that insurrectionists were “hugging and kissing the police.” 

The answer, according to the ad, includes “leaders of the most respected and successful companies in America,” such as Koch Industries, Cigna, AT&T, and R.J. Reynolds. Continue reading.

‘We’re screwed’: Conservative accuses Mitch McConnell of going into ‘hiding’ as Kevin McCarthy destroys the GOP

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A furious Amanda Carpenter ripped into the senior leadership of the Republican Party for tearing the GOP apart over fears of former president Donald Trump.

The conservative CNN commentator who once served as speechwriter to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was responding to a report from CNN’s Melanie Zanona that states that rank and file Republicans want Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) punished for taking part in the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6th Capitol riot.

According to the conservative commentator, Republicans are “screwed” unless someone in leadership stands up to Trump. Continue reading.

GOP sees debt ceiling as its leverage against Biden

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Senate Republicans plan to demand big spending reforms in exchange for their support of legislation to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, seeking leverage to rein in President Biden’s plan to pump trillions of dollars into the economy.

GOP senators are reviving demands they made in 2011, the last time there was a political standoff over raising the debt limit, but it’s a risky move.

The 2011 debt limit was solved at the last moment, and a subsequent downgrading of the nation’s creditworthiness by S&P triggered a stock market crash. Continue reading.