Free Republic

House Republicans elected Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the chief of their campaign team,to be House majority whip in a closed-door conference vote on Tuesday, ending a closely-fought race with Reps. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.). The conference separately voted to elect Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) as majority leader by voice vote. Scalise had been serving as minority whip. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was elected Speaker-designate. A vote on the House floor will eventually determine the Speakership.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Tuesday said it is “disgraceful” for some Republicans to be mocking Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), after he was violently attacked at the couple’s San Francisco home last week. Cheney, speaking with journalist Judy Woodruff at an event put on by The City Club of Cleveland, specifically called out members of former President Trump’s family. “The fact that while Paul Pelosi was in ICU, had been brutally attacked, had a skull fracture and numerous other injuries, that there were members of my party mocking him, that there were members of President...

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) in a new interview predicts that GOP lawmakers will demand a vote to impeach President Biden “every week” if Republicans take control of the House in the midterms. Kinzinger, a frequent critic of former President Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill, compared previous efforts by congressional Republicans to what he predicts “crazies” will attempt to do under a GOP majority. “Back before we had all the crazies here — just some crazies — you know, every vote we took, we had to somehow defund ObamaCare. … You’ll remember, right when we took over it was...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) clinched a victory on Wednesday when the Senate — including 48 of the chamber’s 50 Republicans — voted overwhelmingly to admit Finland and Sweden to NATO. The resolution, which cleared the chamber in a bipartisan 95-1 vote, was a top priority for the Republican leader, who wanted to send a signal about the direction of a GOP that had drifted toward isolationism under former President Trump. Trump throughout his presidency was a critic of NATO. It was a part of the “America First” agenda that reverberated with parts of the GOP base after the...

The House passed a sweeping gun package on Wednesday in response to last month’s mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y. and Uvalde, Texas, which killed more than 30 people and reignited the push for firearm legislation on Capitol Hill. The package, dubbed the Protecting Our Kids Act, passed in a 223-204 vote. One Republican did not vote. Two Democrats, Reps. Jared Golden (Maine) and Kurt Schrader (Ore.), bucked the party in opposing the measure. Five Republicans — Reps. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Chris Jacobs (N.Y.) and Fred Upton (Mich.) — supported it.

Two years after George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer, the nation is struggling to deliver progress on a host of issues critical to race, policing and inequality in American life. Floyd’s killing reverberated throughout the country, leading to protests for change not only in how police in the nation operate, but on a range of other issues including voting rights and representation. But efforts in Washington to enact police or voting rights reform have run aground amid deep differences between Republicans and Democrats. Just more than a week ago, a lone gunman in Buffalo, N.Y., killed 10 people...

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) on Monday called on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to schedule a vote on a domestic terrorism bill this week after a gunman opened fire at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., killing 10 people in what authorities are calling a hate crime. In a statement on Monday, Schneider pushed for a vote on the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, which calls for creating domestic terrorism offices in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI that would watch for and examine domestic terrorist activity. Schneider specifically referenced several recent shootings around the country....

House Republican leaders are rebutting accusations from Democrats, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and others that their rhetoric has contributed to white supremacy in light of Saturday’s Buffalo, N.Y., shooting, in which a white shooter targeted Black victims, killing 10 people. “Same thing Cheney always does, just trying to play a political game when she knows something’s not true,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters Monday evening. Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) similarly said that those accusing Republicans of racism are “trying to promote their own political agenda.”

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) on Sunday said a national abortion ban floated by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is “inconsistent with what we’ve been fighting for.” McConnell told USA Today in an interview published on Saturday that a national ban on abortions is “possible,” as the country reacts to a drafted majority opinion from the Supreme Court that shows the bench poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. Asked by anchor Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week” if he would oppose a national ban on the medical procedure, Hutchinson said such a move may have “some constitutional issues.” “I...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Sunday said the draft Supreme Court opinion that shows a majority of justices favor overturning Roe v. Wade “slapped women in the face.” “Here we are on Mother’s Day, a week where this court has slapped women in the face in terms of disrespect for their judgment about the size and timing of their families,” Pelosi told moderator Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday targeted former President Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in a statement slamming the draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, writing that the top Republicans “have assaulted privacy, precedent and the Constitution.”

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on Sunday said he does not think COVID-19 funding and aid for Ukraine need to be combined in a single piece of legislation, as Congress considers both priorities for the Biden administration. President Biden on Thursday asked Congress to authorize $33 billion in aid to support Ukraine, with some funds going towards security assistance, weapons, military aid, humanitarian assistance and food security funding. The ask also comes as the White House is pushing for additional COVID-19 response funding.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Sunday following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv that the U.S. should “not be bullied by bullies” when asked about sending additional aid to Ukraine without provoking a response from Russia. “Let me speak for myself. … Do not be bullied by bullies. If they’re making threats, you cannot back down. That’s my view of it,” Pelosi told reporters during a press conference in Poland.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) on Sunday said millions of vaccine doses will expire if Congress does not pass additional COVID-19 funding. “We are going to lose millions of doses of vaccine that will expire,” Coons told moderator Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” when asked if vaccines will go bad should Congress not approve more funds.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Sunday suggested that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if the U.S. provided weapons to Kyiv sooner. “This is going to get stronger and rougher and what really needs to happen is, Ukraine is not asking for American men and women to fight, all they’re asking for is the weapons to defend themselves,” McCarthy told Fox News chief Washington correspondent Mike Emanuel on “Fox News Sunday.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on Sunday said Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson was under “the most outrageous of attacks” during her confirmation hearing last week. “She was bringing me a lot of emotion during the whole hearing. I mean, she, under sort of the most outrageous of attacks, she was showing who she is,” Booker said when asked on CNN's "State of the Union" about Jackson tearing up in response to the senator's emotional comments during the hearing.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on Sunday questioned why the U.S. rejected Poland’s proposal to transfer MiG-29 fighter jets to a U.S. air base in Germany, saying “I don’t understand why we’re not doing it.” Asked by co-anchor Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” if he is worried that Poland giving planes to Ukraine could trigger World War III, Portman said “I don't know why that would be true.”

Blum made headlines last March when The New York Times reported that he was eyeing an ambassadorship. The wealthy financier was reportedly interested in a position in a European capital. Blum served as the chairman of Blum Capital Partners, an equity investment management firm. Feinstein’s office said Blum’s “true passion was outside the office,” noting his involvement with the people of the Himalayas, having founded the American Himalayan Foundation. [snip]

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) in a new interview said she anticipates winning reelection despite not having the support of former President Trump. Mace on Tuesday told The State “I’m gonna win without him,” after Trump endorsed Mace's primary challenger.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Sunday said “vice presidents can't simply decide not to certify an election,” breaking with former President Trump after he suggested that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the ability to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Asked by moderator Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” if he agreed with Pence — who on Friday said he had “no right to overturn the election” — Rubio said that after examining the matter, he concluded that vice presidents do not have the power to not certify an election.