Tag: Congressional GOP

Parties collide over police reform

The Hill logoThe partisan battle over police reform hits a critical juncture on Wednesday, when House Democrats will tee up their sweeping reform package for a floor vote and Senate Republicans unveil a similar but likely less far-reaching alternative.

Both parties are facing heavy pressure to revamp the nation’s law enforcement culture after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in police custody last month. And the competing proposals are each designed to assuage the historic public outcry that’s followed, as marchers have taken to the streets in cities across the country to demand an end to racial profiling and police brutality.

While the goals are the same, however, the partisan approaches are not. And to reach an agreement, the sides have plenty of work to do under the glaring spotlight of public scrutiny and the reluctant gaze of a president who’s been wary to police the police. Continue reading.

White House, GOP face heat after hotel and restaurant chains helped run small business program dry

Washington Post logoWith program out of money, backlash prompts executives at Shake Shack to return $10 million loan.

The federal government gave national hotel and restaurant chains millions of dollars in grants before the $349 billion program ran out of money Thursday, leading to a backlash that prompted one company to give the money back and a Republican senator to say that “millions of dollars are being wasted.”

Thousands of traditional small businesses were unable to get funding from the program before it ran dry. As Congress and the White House near a deal to add an additional $310 billion to the program, some are calling for additional oversight and rule changes to prevent bigger chains from accepting any more money.

Ruth’s Chris Steak House, a chain that has 150 locations and is valued at $250 million, reported receiving $20 million in funding from the small business portion of the economic stimulus legislation called the Paycheck Protection Program. The Potbelly chain of sandwich shops, which has more than 400 locations and a value of $89 million, reported receiving $10 million last week. Continue reading.

Republicans Silent After Trump Fires Decorated Army Officer For Testifying

Republicans have been mostly silent since Donald Trump unceremoniously fired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a decorated Army officer and National Security Council staffer, and his twin brother on Friday afternoon.

Vindman was escorted from the White House Friday afternoon, a move largely seen as retaliation for Vindman’s congressional testimony during the House impeachment investigation. Vindman testified in November 2019 that he was troubled by Trump asking the Ukrainian government to open an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and relayed his concerns to NSC lawyers.

Vindman received the Purple Heart after he was injured by an improvised explosive device while serving in Iraq in 2004. Until Friday, he served as one of the NSC’s top Ukraine experts. Continue  reading.

Why we are witnessing the death of reason among Republicans

AlterNet logoThe reviews are in for the first day of arguments in the Senate impeachment trial. For example:

Jon Ward

✔@jonward11

I sat in chamber for entire Schiff speech. That was a mauling. Trump team thought they were there to debate process and Schiff ambushed them with a full-throated case for impeachment. Republicans were visibly uncomfortable. Sekulow & Cippolone responses were rambling & bombastic

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The reviews are in for the first day of arguments in the Senate impeachment trial. For example:

Jon Ward

✔@jonward11

I sat in chamber for entire Schiff speech. That was a mauling. Trump team thought they were there to debate process and Schiff ambushed them with a full-throated case for impeachment. Republicans were visibly uncomfortable. Sekulow & Cippolone responses were rambling & bombastic

60.4K

Twitter Ads info and privacy
15K people are talking about this

GOP signals unease with Barr’s gun plan

The Hill logoSenate Republicans are treading cautiously on a background checks plan floated by Attorney General William Barr that has been decried as a “non-starter” by the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Barr floated the proposal to GOP offices on Wednesday as the Senate inches toward doing something on gun control amid growing public pressure created by a seemingly endless string of mass shootings.

But Barr was careful to tell Republicans that his memo on background checks, titled “Idea for New Unlicensed-Commercial-Sale Background Checks,” did not have the backing of President Trump. 

View the complete September 18 article by Alexander Bolton and Jordain Carney on The Hill website here.

Republicans Ready to Move on a Tax Plan Few Have Seen

The following article by Jim Tankersley was posted on the New York Times website October 19, 2017:

Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, on Thursday in Washington. Credit Al Drago for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Almost no one on or off Capitol Hill has seen the tax overhaul bill that Republicans are drafting behind closed doors. Congressional staff members have not settled on many key details. Yet party leaders are preparing to move ahead on a timeline even more aggressive than their unsuccessful attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

The swift pace to complete, release and quickly vote on a tax cut is aimed at leaving little time for the type of dissent that has scuttled previous tax proposals.

Continue reading “Republicans Ready to Move on a Tax Plan Few Have Seen”

Mercurial Trump Rattles Republican Party Ahead of Midterms

The following article by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns was posted on the New York TImes website September 8, 2017:

President Trump’s political arm has aired ads against Senator Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, while the president himself used a televised White House meeting with Mr. Heller to warn that he would be voted out if he did not back repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s mercurial politics are already rattling Republicans heading into the 2018 midterm campaign, sparking Trump-like primary challenges in two high-profile Senate races and a host of lower-profile House contests, while pushing a growing number of moderate House members to the exits.

On Thursday night, Representative Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, a leader of the House Republican moderates, announced that he had had enough, following Representatives Dave Reichert of Washington and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida to a Trump-free retirement.

Trump-inspired candidates have emerged to challenge Senators Dean Heller of Nevada and Jeff Flake of Arizona, two Republicans who have been targets of the president’s ire, as well as House members seen as insufficiently devoted to Mr. Trump, such as Representative Mark Sanford of South Carolina. Continue reading “Mercurial Trump Rattles Republican Party Ahead of Midterms”

Kansas is Very Important

The following article was posted on the TrumpAccountable.org website August 14, 2017:

With the House and Senate set to take up tax reform with Donald Trump’s White House this fall, the story of Kansas and their dramatic experiment in supply-side tax policy needs to be told and understood. Those who claim that reducing taxes will create economic growth need to be able to answer the following question: Why should we as a country adopt an economic strategy that failed spectacularly in Kansas?

To review, in 2012 Kansas governor Sam Brownback along with the Republican majority in the legislature passed enormous tax cuts for small businesses, a reduction in personal income tax, and the elimination of taxes for a variety of goods and industries. The result, Brownback promised, would be increased disposable income, more jobs, and people moving to Kansas for work and business. “It will pave the way to the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs, bring tens of thousands of people to Kansas, and help make our state the best place in America to start and grow a small business,” Brownback claimed. “It will leave more than a billion dollars in the hands of Kansans. An expanding economy and growing population will directly benefit our schools and local governments.” Continue reading “Kansas is Very Important”

Growing GOP backlash to transgender troop ban underscores Trump’s political miscalculation

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website July 27, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA: President Trump tweets first and asks questions later.

Donald Trump speaks July 26, 2017, at the White House. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

His surprise announcement Wednesday that he will ban transgender people from serving in the military in any capacity, reversing an Obama administration decision to allow them to serve openly, caught the Pentagon and Capitol Hill off guard.

— Reflecting how dramatically the national conversation on LGBTQ rights has shifted in recent years, the news drew swift rebukes from several leading Republicans in the Senate.

War hero John McCain, the preeminent Republican voice on national security, took a break from battling brain cancer to send this statement: “The President’s tweet … regarding transgender Americans in the military is yet another example of why major policy announcements should not be made via Twitter. … There is no reason to force service members who are able to fight, train, and deploy to leave the military—regardless of their gender identity. We should all be guided by the principle that any American who wants to serve our country and is able to meet the standards should have the opportunity to do so—and should be treated as the patriots they are.” Continue reading “Growing GOP backlash to transgender troop ban underscores Trump’s political miscalculation”