Tag: Senate GOP

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.

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.

Senate GOP brags about poll showing Biden is more popular than they are

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A new Politico/Morning Consult shows President Joe Biden is faring much better than Republicans.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee circulated a poll on Wednesday, suggesting it was proof that Americans are unhappy with President Joe Biden. But that survey showed him with a majority approval rating — well above their own levels of support.

The committee, which is the official campaign arm of the Senate Republican minority, put out a press release titled, “NEW POLL: Majority of Americans Disapprove of Biden’s Amnesty and Open Borders Agenda.” Citing a Politico/Morning Consult survey released Wednesday, it observed that “only 39% of voters approve of Biden’s handling of immigration and a whopping 50% disapprove.”

“As the Biden administration continues to bungle the response to the crisis they created at the Southern Border, Joe Biden’s approval rating on immigration continues to free fall,” the press release claimed. “It takes a stunning level of incompetence to have numbers this bad.” Continue reading.

Four Pinocchios for Ron Johnson’s campaign of vaccine misinformation

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“The fact of the matter is it looks like natural immunity is as strong if not stronger than vaccinated immunity. … There is a risk to the vaccine. Again, it’s very small, but there are some pretty serious side effects, including death. We are already over 5,200 deaths reported on the VAERS system. That’s a CDC, FDA’s early warning system.”

— Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), in an interview on “Hannity” on Fox News, July 14

Johnson has emerged as the leading vaccine skeptic in Congress this year.

For months, the senator has been peddling misinformation about coronavirusvaccines, undeterred by fact checkers, federal health agencies, medical experts and a growing body of scientific research.

We previously dug into two Johnson claims that resurfaced in this interview on Fox News, a network whose right-wing personalities consistently bash the Biden administration’s vaccination efforts. Continue reading.

Trump getting tougher for Senate GOP to ignore

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Senate Republican leaders have tried to put former President Trump in the rearview mirror, rarely mentioning his name and keeping focused instead on the Democratic agenda, but Trump’s iron grip on the party’s grassroots is making it tougher and tougher to keep ignoring him.

Mainstream Republicans are getting increasingly caught up in the party’s internal battle over Trump’s legacy, with even stalwart conservatives such as Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) getting called out as insufficiently loyal to Trump or “Republicans in name only.”

Trump again showed his lock on the party’s activist base over the weekend by winning the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) straw poll with 70 percent of the vote, crushing the second-place winner, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who came in a distant second with 21 percent. Continue reading.

White House official throws GOP senators’ words back in their faces after Republicans fake outrage

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The White House has agreed to a sweeping, bipartisan compromise on infrastructure with at least 11 Republican senators saying they are in favor of the deal — but already, many Republicans are complaining because of President Joe Biden’s comment that he would only sign the bill if paired with a reconciliation bill that can be passed with Democratic votes alone.

The problem for Republicans, however, is that passing a reconciliation bill alongside the bipartisan bill was always on the table — and in fact some Republicans even suggested they were fine with Biden pursuing such a strategy.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), who unsuccessfully headed up the first round of infrastructure talks, said that “we know that they have that option, we used that option in 2017,” and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) said “My advice to the White House has been, take that bipartisan win … and then if you want to force the rest of the package on Republicans in the Congress and the country, you can certainly do that.” Continue reading.

GOP senator: 690,000 DC residents can just move if they want representation

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‘No one’s compelled to actually be here,’ said Sen. James Lankford.

During a Senate hearing Tuesday on statehood for Washington, D.C., Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) argued against representation for the city’s over 690,000 residents, asserting that they can just move to neighboring states if they want voting representation in Congress.

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, of which Lankford is a member, held a hearing titled “Examining D.C. Statehood” to discuss H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, which passed the House in April and has the support of President Joe Biden.

“Obviously the founders designed a capital region to never be a state,” Lankford said while questioning witness Derek T. Muller, a law professor at the University of Iowa. “I mean, that was the design in the Constitution to say, this is uniquely so that the federal government does not exist under the authority of any state Continue reading.

Senate GOP blocks bill to combat gender pay gap

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Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked legislation aimed at addressing pay inequality, marking their second successful use of the filibuster under President Biden.

Senators voted 49-50 to try to advance the legislation, falling short of the 60 votes needed to overcome the procedural hurdle.

The bill would limit employers to “bona fide” factors such as education, training and experience when justifying pay differentials in wage discrimination claims. Continue reading.

Sen. Republicans Admit They Don’t Want Jan 6. Commission Because It Could Color Midterms

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Senate Republicans are candidly admitting their political calculus in opposing a January 6 commission: they don’t want it to encroach on the 2022 midterms, during which they worry it would be “weaponized politically.”

In other words, they don’t want voters reminded of the attack their leader and party provoked as they mull over their ballots. 

Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the Senate minority whip, told reporters that he didn’t want the probe “weaponized politically and drug into next year.” Continue reading.

Republicans embrace Trump in effort to reclaim Senate

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The top Republican candidates hoping to win back control of the Senate have embraced former President Trump as a kind of running mate in the first weeks of their campaigns, a recognition that the ousted president is still the party’s best fundraiser and most recognizable figure even from exile in Florida.

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), who has Trump’s endorsement in the race to replace retiring Sen. Richard Shelby (R), mentioned the former president seven times in a press release announcing his candidacy. His leading rival, former Ambassador Lynda Blanchard (R), recently held a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

In Missouri, former Gov. Eric Greitens (R) promised to defend Trump’s “America first policies” less than a minute into an interview on Fox News in which he announced he would run to replace retiring Sen. Roy Blunt (R). Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) mentioned Trump twice in his own announcement video. Continue reading.