Tag: Congress

U.S. to Pay $4 Billion for Coronavirus Vaccine Distribution in Poor Countries

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Joe Biden is set to announce today that the United States will be spending $4 billion on an effort to increase distribution of the coronavirus vaccine in poor and third-world countries, as reported by ABC.

Congress had approved spending the funds on an international vaccine distribution effort back in December; half of the money will go to an organization called Gavi, an international group that focuses specifically on vaccine distribution and is backed by the United Nations. The funding will cover Gavi’s operations throughout 2021 and 2022.

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Gun Control Bills Quick to Pop up in Congress

The Center Square

Democratic congresswomen from New York and Texas each introduced several pieces of legislation that they say are aimed at curbing gun violence.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who represents New York’s 12th Congressional District, introduced a package of five bills, three of which she also tried to get passed two years ago, shortly before the third anniversary of the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida where 17 people were killed and another 17 injured by a former student.

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Democrats in Congress Renew Push for D.C. Statehood, but It Faces Uphill Climb in Senate

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Democrats in Congress are renewing their push for Washington D.C. statehood with their party in the majority in the House and Senate.

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the non-voting House member representing the District, has reintroduced the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, which has picked up 210 Democratic co-sponsors so far. Delaware Democratic Sen. Tom Carper introduced the Senate version of the bill, which has 39 Democratic co-sponsors to date.

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Commentary: Congress vs. Normal People

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In the 1960s, Moscow inaugurated special “ZiL Lanes” or “Chaika Lanes.” Named after the Soviet limousines reserved for high government officials (the ZiL was a copy of the ’63 Lincoln, the Chaika a copy of the ’56 Packard) these were roads that, like the limousines, were reserved for high government officials. ZiL Lanes allowed the Nomenklatura to whiz from the Kremlin to their country dachas in comfort, while their inferior comrades were stuck in jams on the Kutuzovsky Prospect. The Soviets built several ZiL Lanes, and the one along the Kutuzovsky Prospect is still in use today serving Putin’s pals. 

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Black Lives Matter Backs Effort to Expel over 100 GOP Members from Congress

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The official Black Lives Matter organization has announced its support for a radical effort to expel over 100 Republicans from Congress, as reported by Fox News.

The far-left group, which was responsible for burning cities all across America last summer, causing over $2 billion in damages and leading to at least 25 deaths, wrote on its website that it supported the effort led by Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-Mo.) to expel every Republican member of Congress who voted against the certification of the 2020 electoral results.

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Capitol Police Chief: Capitol Needs ‘Permanent’ Wall to Protect Congress

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Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said the U.S. Capitol needs a permanent wall to protect Congress members in the wake of the riots on Jan. 6.

“In a statement on Thursday, Pittman said the security at the Capitol building must include a “permanent fencing” barrier — a similar barrier to the one halted by President Joe Biden’s administration at the U.S.-Mexico border,” Breitbart reported. 

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Commentary: Nobody Should be Surprised by Biden’s Executive Actions—That’s the System Congress and the Courts Created

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President Joe Biden’s first day in office began with a flurry of executive orders and other actions, taking out former President Donald Trump’s travel restrictions from countries with known Islamist terrorist activity, stopping further construction of the border wall on an emergency basis, rejoining the World Health Organization, reentering the Paris Climate Accords, and halting the Remain in Mexico policy that had asylum seekers wait out their cases in Mexico before being allowed to enter in the U.S.

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Pelosi: Members of Congress May Need to be Prosecuted if They Helped Capitol Rioters

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that congressional members may have to be prosecuted if they helped the Capitol rioters.

“If in fact it is found that members of Congress were accomplices to this insurrection, if they aided and abetted the crime, there may have to be actions taken beyond the Congress in terms of prosecution for that,” Pelosi said during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol Friday.

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Rep. Steve Cohen Accuses Protesters of Attempting to ‘Murder the Congress’

Peter D'Abrosca

In a hyperbolic rant on the floor of the U.S. House, a Democrat member of Congress from Tennessee made outlandish claims about the mostly peaceful protests at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on January 6. 

“This was an assault on the Constitution, an assault on Congress, it was a felonious assault,” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) said Tuesday evening. “It was [an] attempt to murder Congress and our processes to elect our President of the United States.”

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All Four Virginia Republican Congressmen Challenge Pennsylvania’s Electors

Eric Burk

All four of Virginia Republican congressmen voted in support of objections to at least one state’s electors, joining 147 Republican representatives from across the country, according to The Washington Post. Congressmen Ben Cline (R-VA-06), Bob Good (R-VA-05), Morgan Griffith (R-VA-09), and Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) all voted to support objections to Pennsylvania’s electors. Of the four, Wittman was the only one who did not also support a challenge to Arizona’s electors. The objections for both states were defeated, and objections to other states did not have enough support in the 117th Congress to go to a vote.

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Trump Supporters Storm U.S. Capitol, Halting Ratification of Electoral College Vote by Congress

The Center Square

Supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol Building Wednesday afternoon, interrupting the congressional session that was meeting to confirm the Electoral College votes.

Hundreds of protesters were shown on television news coverage walking through Statuary Hall without having gone through any security checkpoints. Debate was halted, and lawmakers were ordered to return to their offices and shelter in place. Legislators were told they may need to hide under their chairs and to be quiet and not draw attention to themselves.

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Eleven Republican U.S. Senators and Senators-Elect Join Growing Chorus in Congress Who Say They Will Challenge Electoral College Results Wednesday

Jason M. Reynolds

Eleven more Republican U.S. senators and senators-elect from 10 states said they will contest the Electoral College results Wednesday over fraud concerns.

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), one of the 11, made the announcement Saturday. Senator-Elect Bill Hagerty (R-TN), who was endorsed by President Donald Trump in the election, is working with her in the dissent.

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Tennessee’s Congress Members Rushed to Issue Same-Day Vote on the 5600 Page Stimulus Bill

Corinne Murdock

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi scheduled a vote Monday evening for a hefty bill dropped on Congress earlier that same day. The spending bill totals nearly 5,600 pages.

The bill was unavailable prior to this afternoon, a delay reportedly caused by “computer glitch[es].” In addition to the $900 billion in pandemic stimulus spending, the bill includes $1.4 trillion for other expenditures. 

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Former State Rep Nina Turner Announces Ohio Congressional Bid

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Former state representative and Sen. Bernie Sanders ally Nina Turner officially announced her bid to succeed Ohio Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge Tuesday.

Turner, a native Ohioan who has held multiple elected offices in her home state, developed a national profile after backing Sanders during his first presidential bid. Fudge was recently nominated to serve as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in President-elect Joe Biden’s administration, and if confirmed by the Senate she will vacate her Cleveland-based congressional seat.

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Commentary: How Trump Can Make Congress Great Again

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Although at the time of this writing it is far from certain, it nevertheless seems likely that President Trump’s supporters will be robbed of all the joy from his record-smashing, poll-obliterating electoral performance in November—a performance that inexplicably lifted every “toss-up” Republican boat from sea to shining sea except his own. Despite Trump’s garnering nearly 11 million more votes than in 2016, we are supposed to believe that the country has handed the keys of the Oval Office over to a moribund, provably corrupt, mostly virtual candidate on political, if not actual, life support. 

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Commentary: A DOJ Roadblock to America’s Big Tech Beatdown?

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It’s safe to say that Big Tech hasn’t had a great month.

Google received a beating at the Supreme Court for allegedly stealing the coding needed to create Android. Congress subpoenaed Facebook and Twitter for deliberately blocking news coverage potentially damaging to one political party — a move that culminated in a high-profile hearing yesterday. And now, the Department of Justice has charged Google with illegally maintaining its search and advertising monopoly.

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Pelosi Unveils 25th Amendment Proposal to ‘Create a Process for Future Presidents’

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday unveiled legislation that would allow Congress to oust a president from office using the 25th Amendment, stressing that “this is not about President Trump,” but about creating “a process for future presidents,” meaning potentially Joe Biden.

The bill would set up a commission to assess the president’s ability to lead the country and ensure a continuity of government. It comes one year after Pelosi’s House launched impeachment proceedings against Trump. If passed by a 2/3 vote in both houses, the 25th Amendment would allow for the vice president to become acting president after it was determined that the president was “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”

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Pelosi Says No Standalone Stimulus Bills, Democrats Will Be ‘Talking’ About 25th Amendment Friday

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she won’t agree to “standalone” bills for an airline bailout, direct payments or more stimulus funding for small businesses without an agreement on a “bigger” stimulus bill.

“The only point about negotiations is there ain’t going to be no standalone bill unless there’s a bigger bill and it could be part of that or it could be in addition to that,” said Pelosi, the leader of the Democrat-controlled House, who is negotiating with the White House on another coronavirus stimulus package.

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Minnesota, Virginia Congressmen Propose Constitutional Amendment to Limit Supreme Court Size at Nine Justices

Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Reps. Collin C. Peterson (D-MN-07) and Denver Riggleman (R-VA-05) said they want to make sure that neither political party can ever pack the Supreme Court.

In a bipartisan joint press release issued Thursday, the representatives said they introduced an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to permanently set the number of U.S. Supreme Court Justices at nine.

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Pelosi Says ‘Large Number’ of Dems Wanted Her to Shut Down Government to Stop GOP Filling Court Vacancy

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she rejected calls from fellow Democrats outside of the chamber who wanted her to shut down the federal government over the Senate GOP’s handling of the Supreme Court vacancy.

“I have the privilege of being a leader in the most diverse party in every possible way including opinion. A large number of people outside, not in the House, but outside wanted me to shut down government because of what they’re doing on Justice Ginsburg. Shut down government? I’m not a big believer in shutting down government,” she

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The Supreme Court Keeps Trump Taxes Private for Now

The Associated Press

Rejecting President Donald Trump’s complaints that he’s being harassed, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in favor of a New York prosecutor’s demands for the billionaire president’s tax records. But in good political news for Trump, his taxes and other financial records almost certainly will be kept out of the public eye at least until after the November election.

In a separate case, the justices kept a hold on banking and other documents about Trump, family members and his businesses that Congress has been seeking for more than a year. The court said that while Congress has significant power to demand the president’s personal information, it is not limitless.

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Keith Ellison Stands by Omar After Strong DFL Challenger Emerges

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has endorsed Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) for a second term in Congress.

“I see U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar as a leader who is disrupting conventional wisdom and challenging 50 years of thinking that has brought us stunning inequality, weakened public institutions and an utter lack of preparedness for a global pandemic,” Ellison said in an endorsement of Omar in The Star Tribune.

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Minnesota Secretary of State Says Statewide Vote by Mail Possible for 2020 Election 

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said his office is exploring a number of “pandemic election options,” including conducting the entire presidential election by mail-in ballots.

“The current public health crisis has been a serious test for all Minnesotans. It has also been a test for our democracy. I’ve heard from many Minnesotans who wonder how, or even if, we will vote in this high-stakes election year,” Simon said in a statement released last week.

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Commentary: Our Coming Debt Crisis

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Ten to 20 years from now, we will not be talking about impeachment, and believe it or not, we won’t still be talking about Donald Trump either. We will be talking about our debt crisis. For all the good that came from this era, the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations will all be remembered as the ones that caused the crisis that will hammer our children and grandchildren. To understand where we are, it’s helpful to review the past few years of this issue’s development.

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