Commentary: On Her Way Out, Pelosi Threatens Year-Long Continuing Resolution of ‘Last Resort’

“[A]s an appropriator myself, left to their own devices, the Republicans and Democrats in a bipartisan way on the Appropriations Committee can reach a solution. But sadly we have no choice if they can’t that we would have to have a year-long [continuing resolution].”

Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has issued an ultimatum to House and Senate negotiators of the year-end omnibus bill that either they “reach a solution” or else the House will “have no choice” but to just pass the same omnibus bill they passed last year via a year-long continuing resolution until Sept. 30, 2023, effectively freezing federal spending.

Read the full story

Commentary: The Difference Between Free Speech and Violent Rhetoric (It’s Not What You Think)

United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) hit the airwaves to connect the recent assault on Paul Pelosi with “fascism” and “white nationalism.” She insists that both are now ubiquitous. And both prompt increasing politically motivated violence. (Ocasio-Cortez remains oblivious to the greatest sustained political violence in our recent history; the 120 days of Black Lives Matter and Antifa-fueled rioting, arson, looting, and mayhem of summer and fall 2020—often cheered on or defended by public officials and social media.)

The deplorable violent attack on Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), has been described as the logical reification of increasing bitter political discourse. Shrill accusations spread even as full details of the attack are still not known. But the general picture of the assailant is one of an unhinged conspiracy freak of all flavors. He seems to have been a lunatic, drug-crazed white supremacist and anti-Semite, a former hemp jeweler, and nudist, who was either homeless or was living in a cluttered hippie-like commune in Berkeley plastered with pride and BLM flags. 

Read the full story

Spanberger Blasts House Democratic Leadership for Intentionally Killing Congressional Trading Reform, Vega Says It’s a Stale Pre-Election Routine

Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) criticized Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12) and House Democratic leadership for moves that killed bipartisan congressional stock trading reform legislation, but her opponent in the election Yesli Vega said in a press release that the congresswoman “isn’t fooling anyone.”

“This moment marks a failure of House leadership. This moment is yet another example of why I believe that the Democratic Party needs new leaders in the halls of Capitol Hill — as I have long made known,” Spanberger said in a Friday press release.

Read the full story

Arizona Legislators Bash Biden over Student Loan Forgiveness

Following President Joe Biden’s recent announcement that his administration would forgive federal student loan debt, Arizona’s legislators quickly bashed the policy, including Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04), who called the action favoritism.

“You may ask, rightly, why you should pay your mortgage, rent or car payments? If some people get student loans written off, why can’t your mortgage or car loan be written off? I will not tolerate such inconsistent blatant favoritism. Either we all pay our debts or none do,” Gosar said. “There is no constitutional basis for any of these actions. The problem is not student loans. The problem is exorbitant college costs and useless college degrees.”

Read the full story

Rep. Wittman Again Calls to Cancel House August Recess

Representative Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) wrote a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi encouraging her to cancel the House August recess, citing legislative priorities to fund the government.

“One of Congress’ most basic duties is to fully fund the government, yet with few legislative days remaining, lawmakers have found themselves unable to get the job done. Despite Congress’ failure to even consider the twelve annual appropriation bills on the house floor, Congress is set to adjourn for 6 weeks beginning in August. With so much work left to be done, it astounds me that Members of Congress feel justified in taking a month off,” Wittman wrote in the July 6 letter.

Read the full story

Vulnerable Democrat Congressman Tom O’Halleran Receives Funding Boost from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Super PAC

Congressman Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ-01), who is facing an uphill battle to re-election in a newly-drawn congressional district, received a funding boost from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

According to financial disclosures from the Federal Election Commission, Pelosi’s superPAC, PAC to the Future, sent O’Halleran a check for $5,000. 

Read the full story

Pelosi Lays Out Dems’ Agenda After Failures on Build Back Better, Voting Bills

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Democrats would shift their focus to passing a government funding bill and legislation aimed at boosting competitiveness with China after their Build Back Better and voting bills stalled in the Senate.

Top appropriations members have already started meeting in hopes of passing a broader funding agreement before the Feb. 18 deadline. Legislators have already been forced to pass two continuing resolutions in lieu of a longer bill, essentially keeping most funding levels as they were during former President Donald Trump’s final year in office.

Read the full story

Commentary: The Twin Pillars of Biden’s Failure

Everything has gone so terribly wrong for the Biden Administration, and in the ways that were widely predicted, that it is hard to believe Joe Biden could be perceived as a successful or at least potentially successful president if only he had avoided being such a tool of the Democratic extreme Left. On the afternoon of his inauguration, he killed the Keystone XL Pipeline and curtailed fracking and offshore oil and gas exploration, and ordered the end of construction of the southern border wall. The consequences have been over 200,000 illegal migrants entering the United States across the southern border most months and the rise in the price of gasoline from approximately $2 a gallon to $5 a gallon across the country.         

As practically everyone outside his immediate entourage saw and predicted, these were disastrous errors. The excuse regularly given in the case of the wall was that Biden had inherited a “broken” immigration policy. In support of this outrageous falsehood, all that could be offered was the tear-jerking fabrication about children being separated from their parents and confined to cages that reminded that eminent authority on modern European history, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, of “Auschwitz.” 

Read the full story

Commentary: Establishment Republicans Snatch Defeat from Jaws of Victory Yet Again with the ‘Infrastructure’ Boondoggle

Adam Kinzinger

Having been in the D.C. area for over 20 years now, I’ve come to live by the maxim, “Always bank on the GOP snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.” I was proved right again this last week when 13 Republicans in the House helped pass the $1.2 trillion “Gateway to the Green New Deal” otherwise masquerading as an infrastructure bill. 

As I wrote back in August, only 23 percent of this bill is really for infrastructure. The other 77 percent is for things like the $213 billion “allocated for retrofitting two million homes and buildings to make them more “sustainable,” whatever that means. Or the $20 billion for racial equity and environmental justice. Or the mileage tax, as in yes, they want to explore taxing you for every mile you drive in your car.

In the wake of an absolutely stunning clean sweep for Republicans in Virginia from governor to House of Delegates—in a state Republicans hadn’t won statewide in a dozen years and where they’ve lost the last four presidentials—Republicans in D.C. just couldn’t find the nerve to simply say “No.” They couldn’t “Just say no,” kids. It is one of the most beautiful and underused words in the English language, but Republicans appear simply incapable of using it. 

Read the full story

Pelosi Floats Passing Infrastructure and Budget Simultaneously as Moderates and Progressives Feud

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday floated the idea of passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill and Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget simultaneously in an attempt to balance moderates and progressives’ mutually exclusive demands.

Pelosi asked the House Rules Committee to look into the possibility after nine centrist Democrats vowed to block the budget if it came up for consideration before the infrastructure bill passed.

Read the full story

Pelosi Rejects Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan From January 6 Commission

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blocked the appointment of two GOP Representatives, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) and Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN-03) to the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

The committee was originally intended to be composed of 13 members — 5 of whom the minority leader would have consultation on. However, of those 5 members, Pelosi rejected the appointment of the top two members.

Read the full story

Spanberger, Wittman Announce Bill to Allow 529 Funds to be Used for Technical Education

Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-Virginia-07) reintroduced the Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act on Tuesday. The bill, HR 2171, allows tax-advantaged 529 education savings accounts to be used to pay for tuition, exam, and supplies for technical education. Spanberger was joined by cosponsors including Congressman Rob Wittman (R-Virginia-01), Congressman Fred Upton (R-Michigan-06) and Congressman Dean Philips (D-Minnesota-03.)

Read the full story

Commentary: Does Anyone Really Think Impeachment Take Two is About Upholding the Constitution?

How precious it is to witness the same party that rejects the United States Constitution on a daily basis, now genuflects to and contorts the Constitution when it is convenient for their Democrat agenda.  The truth is the second impeachment trial of President Donald Trump has nothing to do with upholding the Constitution.

President Trump’s attorneys have clearly responded to the absurd Article of Impeachment.  Their answer on Trump’s behalf is clear and straightforward.

Read the full story

Democrats Beclowned as Rep. Emanuel Cleaver Ends Prayer Opening The 117th Congress with ‘Amen and Awoman’

Conservatives mocked a Democratic representative’s Sunday prayer opening the 117th Congress that concluded with “amen and awoman.”

“We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God, [unintelligible], and God known by many names and by many different faiths, amen, and awoman,” Democratic Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, an ordained United Methodist pastor, said during the prayer to open the 117th Congress.

Read the full story

New House Rules to Eliminate Gendered Terms Like ‘Father, Mother, Son, Daughter’

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rules Committee Chairman James P. McGovern announced new rules for the 117th Congress, which will be introduced and voted on after the new Congress convenes.

The rules include “sweeping ethics reforms, increases accountability for the American people, and makes this House of Representatives the most inclusive in history” – including eliminating the words, “father, mother, son, and daughter,” from federal code.

Read the full story

Pelosi Claims ‘Faith-Oriented’ Lawmakers Say They ‘Don’t Believe in Science’

Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said Monday that “faith-oriented” people in Congress have told her they “don’t believe in science.”

The California Democrat spoke Monday on the house floor where she discussed coronavirus relief and the recently approved vaccines, accusing the White House of spreading “quackery” notions of herd immunity.

Read the full story

Republicans Will Put PPP Funding Back on the Floor for a Vote Despite Democrats’ Efforts to Block It, Sen. Blackburn Says

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told CNBC’s SquawkBox on Wednesday that Republicans will try again to pass their bill that would provide PPP and vaccine funding despite Democrats’ attempts to block the efforts.

CNBC asked Blackburn if she would vote for a deal if the White House and the Treasury Department reached an agreement with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12).

Read the full story

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

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.

Read the full story

House Speaker Pelosi Calls on Intel Chiefs to Brief Congress on Russian Bounties Targeting US Soldiers

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday called on two top intelligence officials to provide a briefing to all members of Congress regarding reports that Russian intelligence has paid bounties to Taliban fighters to attack U.S. service members in Afghanistan.

“Congress needs to know what the intelligence community knows about this significant threat to American troops and our allies and what options are available to hold Russia accountable,” Pelosi wrote to John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence and Gina Haspel, the director of the CIA.

Read the full story

‘Pelosi Basically Lost Me:’ White House Says Checks for Illegal Aliens a No-Go for Stimulus Negotiations

White House adviser Peter Navarro swatted down the possibility that the coronavirus stimulus package passed by House Democrats would be acceptable by the Trump administration.

Navarro said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “lost” him with her party’s stimulus bill during a Sunday morning appearance on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos. The legislation includes cash assistance for eligible illegal aliens, protections for sanctuary cities and other progressive provisions.

Read the full story

Commentary: Nancy Pelosi and Her ‘Standing Committee on Impeachment’

You might think that what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the “sad” and “solemn” pre-Christmas impeachment special was a one-off. The Democrats owed it to the country, you see – they had (are you sitting down?) a “duty to the Constitution” to impeach Donald Trump, otherwise (as Representative Al Green of Texas put it) he might well be re-elected. We certainly can’t have that! Hence the show of those “sad, very sad” faces Pelosi described and the memo from headquarters with the instructions, “Don’t cheer. Keep it solemn.”

Read the full story

Commentary: Democrats’ Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

Democrats must be grateful that the Thanksgiving recess will bring to an end their horrible week. It’s not nice to laugh at other people’s misfortunes but this week has featured a smorgasbord of schadenfreude for those otherwise bored and irritated by the politics of the moment. In fact, the rigged “Schiff Show” went so badly that observers have reason to doubt that the Democrats will actually pull the trigger on passing articles of impeachment. Here are a few highlights from Adam Mill’s blooper reel.

Read the full story

Highlights from Democrats’ Insult-Fest Between Team Pelosi and Team Ocasio-Cortez

by Peter Hasson   A feud between Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has escalated into an ugly insult-fest between the two women and their respective Democratic allies. Here are 11 highlights from the intra-party clash. Pelosi Trashes Ocasio-Cortez And Her Squad Pelosi ignited this clash by taking a shot at Ocasio-Cortez and three other freshman Democrats in an interview with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd published on July 6. “All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world, but they didn’t have any following,” Pelosi said. “They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.” Ocasio-Cortez Plays The Race Card Ocasio-Cortez didn’t hesitate to frame her feud with Pelosi in racial terms. She accused the senior Democrat of being “disrespectful” toward “newly elected women of color” in Congress. “When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood. But the persistent singling out … it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful … the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color,” Ocasio-Cortez said Wednesday to The…

Read the full story

President Trump Trolls ‘Progressive Democrat Congresswomen’ on Failed Socialist-Inspired Policies, Democrats Cry ‘Racist!’ Again

by Kyle Hooten   President Donald Trump launched an attack at some Democratic congresswomen Sunday, suggesting they should fix their “corrupt and inept” homelands before legislating in the U.S. Trump’s tweets were likely directed at Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts. He also alluded to the tension between the freshman freshman representatives and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, suggesting that Pelosi would be happy to cover travel costs if they decide to leave. Pelosi and all four congresswomen involved responded to the president via twitter. “So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world … loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run,” wrote Trump. “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it’s done.” So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete…

Read the full story

Michigan’s Rep. Tlaib Says House Democrats Will ‘Demand’ Move Towards Impeachment

by Henry Rogers   Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib said Democrats are moving toward demanding President Donald Trump be impeached on Sunday. Tlaib appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and was asked about impeachment by host Chuck Todd and specifically why she could not get the majority of House Democrats to defend calls for impeachment. Tlaib responded by saying, “I think it is moving toward that. It’s going to demand that.” The Michigan Democrat came under fire just hours after being sworn into Congress in January for telling a group of left-wing supporters she would help Democrats “impeach the motherf****r,” referencing Trump. Tlaib also said “this is not about the 2020 election, it’s about doing what’s right now for our country. This is going to be a precedent that we set when we don’t hold this president accountable to the rule of the law and to the United States Constitution.” In early May, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump is “goading” Democrats to impeach him from office because he thinks it will help him fire up his base. “Don’t tell anybody I told you this: Trump is goading us to impeach him,” Pelosi said during an event hosted by Cornell University in New York City. “That’s what he’s doing. Every…

Read the full story

Commentary: Media Says Trump Caved on The Wall, but It’s Democrats in the Dark

by Jeffery Rendall   Friday started off with the blockbuster news that longtime associate and occasional Trump political advisor Roger Stone was ensnared (for process crimes, no less) in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ever-widening “Russian collusion” net, which to the liberal establishment media meant that the long-anticipated “smoking gun” had been located and House Democrats’ impeachment proceedings could commence at their earliest convenience. Later in the day word leaked out that President Trump would make a statement concerning the government shutdown, which had completed its fifth week with neither side appearing likely to concede anytime soon. At that point no one was talking about Stone anymore. Trump shocked some conservatives by announcing the government would reopen for three weeks in hopes a bipartisan congressional commission would hammer out a solution to the wall funding standoff in the meantime. The president acknowledged he was going against his vow not to throw open the government’s doors until Democrats produced money for border security – but insisted afterwards it wasn’t a concession. Caitlin Yilek reported at The Washington Examiner, “President Trump told his supporters that he was not caving to Democrats on his promised border wall after he agreed to end the partial government…

Read the full story

President Trump to Pelosi on SOTU: ‘I Will Be Honoring Your Invitation, and Fulfilling My Constitutional Duty’

President Trump sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi late Wednesday morning confirming his original acceptance of her invitation to deliver the annual State of the Union address from the U.S. House of Representatives chambers on Jan 29. “Thank you for you letter of January 3, 2019, sent to me long after the Shutdown began, inviting me to address the Nation on January 29th as to the State of the Union,” the letter begins. President Trump goes on to summarize the series of communiques between his office and Speaker Pelosi leading up to his official response to her: Therefore, I will be honoring your invitation, and fulfilling my Constitutional duty, to deliver important information to the people and Congress of the United States of America regarding the State of our Union. I look forward to seeing you on the evening on January 29th in the Chamber of the House of Representatives. It would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location! White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted a copy of the letter: President Trump’s letter to Speaker Pelosi on…

Read the full story

Liz Cheney: Pelosi ‘Commandeered The House’ on the DACA Issue She’s Now Voting Against

by Molly Prince   The third-ranking House Republican, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday for opposing proposals that she recently supported as a way to resist negotiating with President Donald Trump. “It’s very difficult to understand when you’ve got the president’s proposal that obviously includes money for the border wall, also includes an extension for the DACA folks, also includes an extension for TPS. Those are issues, DACA in particular, that Speaker Pelosi, she commandeered the floor of the House of Representatives for eight hours less than a year ago on particularly this issue of helping to ensure that people that are here, the so-called dreamers, are not deported,” Cheney told Chuck Todd while on “Meet The Press.” “For [Pelosi] now to simply reject out of hand when the president actually has said ‘okay let’s look at ways we can come closer,’ it shows you they’re just not interested in negotiating,” Cheney continued. The Republican-led House passed a stopgap funding bill on Dec. 20 that included appropriations to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. However, with a 51-seat majority, Senate Republicans fell short of the necessary 60 votes needed to send it to Trump’s desk for signature. Senate…

Read the full story