Tensions over troop pay are taking center stage as the shutdown heads into Week 4. A number of Republican lawmakers are uneasy with President Donald Trump once again sidestepping the legislative branch’s power of the purse, this time to keep paying members of the military. “While it’s a desired outcome, there’s a process that’s required […]
Category: Politics
Members of Congress say they’re happy military troops are getting paid during the shutdown — but not necessarily that President Donald Trump is claiming vast power over the federal spending process to do it. In a sweeping order last week, Trump gave both the Pentagon and the White House budget office the green light to […]
Sen. Rand Paul on Sunday questioned the wisdom and legality of President Donald Trump’s policies toward Venezuela and suspected drug dealers coming from its coast. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Kentucky Republican again raised concerns about the legality of the Trump administration’s strikes on boats that it claims are carrying drug traffickers, as […]
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday doubled down on his criticisms of millions of protesters who joined Saturday’s “No Kings” rallies across the nation, decrying the widely peaceful demonstrations as evidence of “a rise of Marxism in the Democratic Party.” In an interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week,” the Louisiana Republican said the […]
The IRS recently filed notices of a federal tax lien against Republican Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia — the latest example of ongoing financial troubles that have trailed the former governor, members of his family and their network of businesses over the years. One of the documents from the IRS — obtained by POLITICO […]
President Donald Trump granted clemency on Friday evening to George Santos, whose lies about his biography and misuse of campaign funds emerged after he won a seat in Congress from New York and ultimately landed him in prison. Santos had served less than three months of a seven-year term for wire fraud and identity theft […]
Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee took a victory lap Friday after releasing a transcript of their recent interview with former U.S. attorney Alex Acosta regarding Jeffrey Epstein, saying it provides evidence President Donald Trump was not involved in the case against the late convicted sex offender. “Acosta NEVER talked to Trump […]
Speaker Mike Johnson is brushing off escalating threats of legal action from Democrats if Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva is not sworn in during Friday afternoon’s House pro forma session. “It’s a publicity stunt by a Democrat Attorney General in Arizona who sees a national moment and wants to call me out,” Johnson told reporters Friday of […]
The ongoing debate over soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies has reopened an old wound for Republicans: What should they do about the health care law they have railed against for more than a decade but has now taken root with their own constituents? While some GOP hard-liners are again embracing repeal-and-replace rhetoric, the scars […]
Speaker Mike Johnson is working to assuage worries within his conference about his strategy of keeping the House indefinitely out of session until Senate Democrats vote to end the government shutdown. Johnson met Thursday afternoon to discuss the matter with Rep. Jay Obernolte, one House Republican who has been more vocal than most in his […]