Tag: US House of Representatives

Commentary: The Real Threat to American Democracy

RealClearWire
US Capitol

Heading into Election Day, we hear constantly that the presidential candidates are mortal threats to American democracy. Anxieties about Donald Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, rampage at the U.S. Capitol and his declaration that he would act as “dictator for a day” are countered by Elon Musk’s warning that if Harris wins, “this will be the last election,” or alarms that Harris’ designs on overhauling the Supreme Court will lead to an end to the rule the law.

The very idea that our republic’s future hangs on the outcome of a single presidential contest, however, reveals the deeper, unacknowledged, underlying danger: a Congress incapable of performing its constitutional duties as our country’s lawmaking body and the guarantor of our representative democracy.

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Vindman Running for House as a Centrist, but Using Sanders-Linked Strategy Firm

Just the News

Democratic U.S. House candidate Eugene Vindman has disbursed millions of dollars to a Bernie Sanders-linked strategy group that works with “progressive campaigns” while running on a moderate message, emphasizing local issues and the importance of rejecting extremism.

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Indiana Republican Reverses Course, Will Seek Another Term in Congress

Virginia Star Staff
Rep. Victoria Spartz

Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana announced she will seek reelection in 2024 on Monday after previously deciding to retire.

Spartz announced just months after being reelected that she would not run for a third term in the lower chamber to spend more time at home with her family. Following a wave of GOP retirements in late 2023 and early 2024, Spartz reversed her decision and intends on filing for reelection, according to a statement from the congresswoman.

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America First Candidates Lay Out 2024 Plans: Jobs, Border Security and Election Integrity

Just the News

As the 2024 election marches closer, America First GOP candidates are beginning to lay out their policy platforms in hopes of taking control of Congress and the White House.

Several talked about their plans in interviews last week on the Just the News, No Noise television show.

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Commentary: Yes, Jamaal Bowman Deserves the January 6 Treatment

Julie Kelly

Congressional Democrats are coming to the defense of their demonstrably unhinged colleague, Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York. Bowman, last seen attempting to assault Rep. Tom Massie (R-Ky.), pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon House office building as debate over a continuing resolution to fund the federal government intensified Saturday afternoon.

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Commentary: Reset, Revelation, and Retribution

Admin

The restored Bourbon dynasty is said to have “learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.” But Louis XVIII’s posse had nothing on Republican “moderates” in the recently (barely) restored House majority.

Check out this choice tidbit, in the wake of Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) bruising, begrudging battle for the speakership, from Representative Nancy Mace (R-S.C.)…

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Commentary: Lowering the Bar on the ‘New McCarthyism’

Admin

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” That seems to be Kevin McCarthy’s favorite mantra. Friday night, on the 15th vote for speaker of the House, he finally got his moist little palm around Nancy Pelosi’s still-warm gavel. Welcome to the new Republican-ish speaker of the House!

The contest was brutal, occasionally absurd, and the occasion of hilarity and consternation among the punditocracy on both the Right and the Left. The Left clucked their tongues about the “chaos” on view on the other side of the aisle. Some among the GOP agreed and wondered why “their side” could not govern as effectively as the Democrats. Would Nancy Pelosi have put up with this level of dissension among the Democratic rank and file? Others said, no, no, the 20 freedom caucus members (and others) holding up the inevitable were just giving the world a reality show, live-action look at how “democracy” (if not quite Our Democracy™) works and should work.

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Commentary: Republicans Can Thank the Federal Government’s Bungled 2020 Census for Their Razor-Thin House Majority

Admin

Republicans will soon take control of the House of Representatives, but with a margin so narrow it may prove difficult to achieve their legislative and oversight objectives. That margin might have been larger, were it not for egregious errors made by the U.S. Census Bureau in the 2020 census.

Come January, House membership will consist of 213 Democrats and 222 Republicans. A party must hold 218 of those seats to control the House. Thus, Republicans will have only a four-seat majority. That extremely narrow majority means that GOP leadership can lose any vote on any issue if only four Republicans defect and the Democrats stay united in opposition.

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Commentary: The House GOP Majority Will Be at Least 221 Seats When All of the Counting is Done

Admin

There are just a few more results coming in from the 2022 Congressional midterms, and with just one more race to call — Republican John Duarte is narrowly leading Democrat Adam Gray by just 593 votes in California’s 13th Congressional District — House Republicans will take the gavel in the U.S. House of Representatives in January with either a 222 to 213 seat majority (nine seats) or a 221 to 214 seat majority (seven seats).

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Republicans Enter Final Stretch Acutely Aware They Must Deliver Big After Election Day

Virginia Star Staff

Buoyed by rising popularity in the polls, Republican candidates for Congress are acutely aware their easiest job right now may be winning the midterm elections and that the harder work will be delivering afterwards — with Democrat Joe Biden still in the White House — on voters’ high expectations for fixing inflation, crime, insecure borders, the fentanyl crisis and crippling budget deficits.

From longtime lawmakers to first-time candidates, Republicans sounded consistent themes during a frank conversation with Just the News about what voters expect if they put the GOP in control of one or both chambers of Congress.

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Al Franken Endorses Liz Cheney, Quips It Will ‘Carry a Lot of Weight’ with Wyoming GOP

Admin

Former Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken endorsed Wyoming Republican Liz Cheney for reelection ahead of the primary this week.

“I’ve decided to endorse @RepLizCheney for the Republican nomination for the House seat In Wyoming it’s my first time endorsing in a GOP primary. But I think Al Franken’s support will carry a lot of weight with WY Republicans,” the former senator wrote Saturday in a tweet that garnered more than 100,000 likes, 12,000 retweets and 14,000 comments.

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Wyoming U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney Still Trails by Double Digits to Trump-Backed Challenger Harriet Hageman in Upcoming Republican Primary

Admin

Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney is trailing her Trump-endorsed GOP primary challenger by over 20 points, according to a poll released over the weekend.

Ahead of the Aug. 2 primary, challenger Harriet Hageman, a natural resources attorney, leads Cheney 52% to 30%, according to the Casper Star-Tribune poll.

No other Cheney challenger had more than 5% support and just 11% of voters were undecided.

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Commentary: This Is No Time for Bipartisanship

Admin

“The Left, in revolutionary fashion, has waged a sustained and unapologetic attack on constitutional norms and long-held institutions—whenever it senses they no longer prove conducive to its own radical agendas.” So begins a trenchant commentary by Victor Davis Hanson on the repeated efforts of Democratic Party leadership to overthrow America’s constitutional republic. Hanson’s remarks stand in stark contrast to a famous interview given to Salon by Dana Perino in 2018, in which the former presidential press secretary was hailed as the “voice of reason.” Perino expressed disappointment that neither party “was talking civility” and considered her own party as much to blame for this incivility as the other one. 

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Congress Affirms Biden Electoral College Votes; Trump Agrees to ‘Orderly Transition’

The Center Square

A joint session of Congress, completing its work in the early morning hours of Thursday after lawmakers had been forced to flee their chambers by a violent invasion of the Capitol, affirmed that Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States.

The proceedings concluded shortly after 3:30 a.m. EST, drawing to a close an chaotic day in the nation’s house of laws that saw one person shot dead inside the building after some rioters breached its security during a massive rally to support President Trump.

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Commentary: The Most Important Week of the Century

Virginia Star Staff

Three big things are happening this week that could decide America’s fate. First, a run-off election in Georgia on Tuesday for two U.S. Senate seats that will determine the balance of power in the Senate. Second, Congress meets for a joint session on Wednesday to formally count the votes of the electoral college. And third, Americans from across the country will rally in support of election integrity on Wednesday on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Here’s a quick look at all these moving parts and ways you can make a difference in the saving America from a Marxist-Socialist takeover.

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Congressional Leaders Receive at Least $1 Million in Pension Payouts Paid for by Taxpayers

Virginia Star Staff

As the nation struggles with record high unemployment, extended job losses, continued statewide shutdowns, and crippling national debt, a new report reveals that congressional leaders will receive an estimated $1 million each in retirement payouts on top of their lifetime pensions, fully funded by taxpayers.

First published by Forbes, OpenTheBooks.com’s report, “Why Are Taxpayers Providing Public Pensions To Millionaire Members Of Congress?” compares the financial benefits that both top leaders in Congress receive.

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Kentucky Democrats Still Looking for the Winner in Last Week’s Primary

The Associated Press

One of Kentucky’s most unpredictable political races in years is headed toward the wire Tuesday, but it’s taking a full week after the June 23 primary to sort out a possible photo finish in the Democratic U.S. Senate contest.

Absentee ballots that stacked up amid the coronavirus pandemic have delayed the vote count in the neck-and-neck race between progressive candidate Charles Booker and establishment-backed Amy McGrath. Both are vying for the chance to take on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who coasted to victory in the GOP primary in his bid for a seventh term.

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Black Candidates Tap Protest Energy to Challenge Incumbent Democrats

Virginia Star Staff

Amy McGrath and Eliot Engel live hundreds of miles apart in states with dramatically different politics.

Yet they’re the preferred candidates of the Democratic Party’s Washington establishment as voters in Kentucky and New York decide their congressional primary elections on Tuesday. And both may be in trouble.

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Commentary: Seven Specific Policy Ideas for Republican Congressional Candidates

Virginia Star Staff
Washington DC

This year, hundreds of Republican candidates for federal office will be on the ballot this fall, and many of them lack the resources to put together a strong policy team. While taxes, abortion, guns, school choice immigration, and defense are all very important issues, they have limited reach beyond the usual Republican voters. Here are seven policy ideas for House and Senate candidates who would like to expand their platform to try to appeal to more voters – without alienating key elements of the Republican base.

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Tennessee Right to Life Endorses Dr. Mark Green for Congress

Admin
Mark Green

Tennessee Right to Life announced Tuesday it has endorsed Dr. Mark Green to represent the people of Tennessee’s 7th district in the US House of Representatives. “Mark Green understands the crucial importance of protecting human life and has devoted his public and professional life to the care of the weak and…

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GOP Lawmakers in House Pass $15 Billion Spending Rescission Package

Admin
US Capitol

by Rachel del Guidice   The House of Representatives voted 210-206 Thursday night to claw back $15 billion in appropriated spending, making good on the lead of President Donald Trump, who submitted the rescission request last month. “The administration applauds today’s passage of H.R. 3, the Spending Cuts to Expired and Unnecessary Programs…

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Arizona’s Rep. Paul Gosar Introduces Appropriations Amendment to Hold Out-of-Control Federal Employee Responsible

Admin
Paul Gosar

by Printus LeBlanc   The Holman Rule allows the House of Representatives to offer amendments to appropriations legislation that reduces the salary of a specific federal employee. The rule was created in 1876 but rescinded in 1983. The 115th Congress reinstated the rule hoping to trim the federal bureaucracy of bad actors.…

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