Department of Interior Shuts Down Millions of Acres of Alaska to All Oil, Gas and Mining Activity

Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland

The Interior Department last Friday blocked 28 million acres of federal land in the state of Alaska from any mining or oil and gas development.

Rick Whitbeck, Alaska state director for Power The Future, said the decision on D-1 lands removes an area the size of the state of Pennsylvania from resource development, which will have severe energy impact to the nation and the state of Alaska.

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U.S. Senate to Vote on ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ as Several Groups Question its Constitutionality

Several groups argue the Respect for Marriage Act (ROMA) currently before the U.S. Senate is unconstitutional, and if enacted, will eventually be struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The bill, HR 8404, was introduced in the House by U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-NY, on July 18 and passed by a vote of 267-157 the next day. The U.S. Senate took it up on November 14.

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Jason Lewis Commentary: ‘Candidate Quality’ Doesn’t Explain the Failed Red Wave

Well, that didn’t take long.

Long before the votes were tallied on Tuesday night, the establishment went to work on the disappearing red wave. Mitch McConnell’s self-serving warning that “candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome” had long been forgotten in a wave of pollyannish polling. Once the Republican sweep failed to materialize, it was resurrected in a New York minute.

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McConnell Creates New Rift Inside GOP, Earning Censure from Alaska State Party

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who caused a stir this summer by questioning the quality of his party’s candidates, has created a new rift inside the GOP by spending millions to defeat Alaska GOP Senate nominee Kelly Tshibaka.

McConnell’s leadership PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, has been running attack ads against Tshibaka in an effort to boost moderate incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

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Commentary: America Needs a Red Flag Law For Senile Senators

America’s geriatric senators increasingly represent a threat to themselves and to others. Take Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for example. She has filed paperwork to run again in 2024, despite the fact she turns 90 next year and associates say she can’t hold a coherent conversation or remember the names of close colleagues.

This is a woman who has the power to vote to send Americans to war. Just this past spring, she helped pass legislation that sent billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, a country currently at war with a nuclear power. America’s senators have enormous power to harm the country. They have access not just to firearms but to the world’s most powerful military force and even nuclear weapons.

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Commentary: Make the Judiciary Great Again by Holding Senators Accountable

Following four days of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee in late March, the full Senate voted 53-47 last week to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as an associate justice of the Supreme Court—fulfilling Joe Biden’s campaign pledge to name a black woman to the high court. Three Republican senators joined their Democratic colleagues in voting to confirm Jackson—Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Maine’s Susan Collins, and Utah’s Mitt Romney.

Imagine a slightly different scenario: a Republican president nominates someone to serve on the Supreme Court and asks a 50-50 Senate to confirm that person. You can be absolutely sure that Democrats would force the vice president to break the tie to get that nominee on the bench. Remember when, in 2016, President Trump nominated Betsy Devos to be secretary of education   and Vice President Mike Pence had to break a tie, even without an evenly split Senate?

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Alaska GOP Governor Secures Trump Endorsement Through ‘Non-Endorsement’ of Murkowski Reelection Bid

Mike Dunleavy and Lisa Murkowski

Former President Trump is issuing a public warning to Republican incumbents and those running for office: Don’t expect my endorsement without your “non-endorsement” of perceived GOP enemies.

He endorsed Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy for reelection Thursday night after the incumbent made clear he’d uphold the quid pro quo from Trump two days earlier: not endorsing for reelection Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of seven Republicans to vote to convict Trump in his impeachment trial related to the Jan. 6 riot.

In a statement intended for Trump that the ex-president published, Dunleavy wrote: “With regard to the other issue, please tell the President he has nothing to worry about.”

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Trump: 13 GOP Incumbents Targeted for Party Challenge in 2022 Congressional Races

Donald Trump walking

There are thirteen House and Senate races targeted so far by former President Donald Trump’s revenge tour to unseat GOP incumbents who voted to impeach him in January or to support Biden administration policies.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) voted to impeach President Trump after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump was ultimately acquitted by the U.S. Senate.

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Collins, Murkowski Vote Against Going to Session to Consider Barrett Confirmation

Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted against going into an executive session to consider the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett Friday.

The United States Senate voted 51 to 46 to go into executive session to consider the confirmation of Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. Democratic senators Kamala Harris of California, Doug Jones of Alabama, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona did not vote.

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Three Senate Republicans Likely to Vote in Favor of Terminating Trump’s National Emergency

by Henry Rodgers   Three Senate Republicans are expected to vote “yes” for a resolution in an attempt to terminate President Donald Trump’s national emergency for border wall funding. The group of three Republicans expressed their concerns with Trump’s declaration for a national emergency, saying they do not believe the president should be allowed to override Congress to such a degree. In the group are Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine. “As a U.S. senator, I cannot justify providing the executive with more ways to bypass Congress,” Tillis wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post. “As a conservative, I cannot endorse a precedent that I know future left-wing presidents will exploit to advance radical policies that will erode economic and individual freedoms.” Murkowski said Tuesday she would vote for the resolution, making it clear that the bill will pass the Senate due to support from these Republicans. Collins said Wednesday she supports a lawsuit challenging Trump’s national emergency, adding that she plans to vote for the congressional resolution. Democrats in the House of Representatives introduced the resolution Friday to block Trump’s national emergency that could allow him to build…

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