Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is calling it quits, announcing Wednesday that he will leave Congress at the end of the month after 17 years on Capitol Hill. The decision was hardly a surprise. McCarthy’s historic ouster as Speaker in October had stripped him of power, left him with no real role in the GOP conference…
Author: Mike Lillis
House Democrats reject GOP’s immigration limits in Ukraine aid bill
House Democrats are sending a loud and early warning that they’ll oppose new restrictions on immigration as part of a Ukraine aid package, escalating the partisan fight over border security as Congress races to prop up Kyiv’s fighting forces before year’s end The Democrats — including well-placed members of the Hispanic and Progressive caucuses — argue…
Jewish Democrats won’t back GOP antisemitism resolution
Several prominent Jewish Democrats will withhold their support for a Republican-sponsored resolution condemning antisemitism, accusing GOP leaders of using the Hamas attack of Oct. 7 — and the spike in anti-Jewish hate crimes that followed — to divide Democrats for political ends. Instead, Reps. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), Jamie Raskin (Md.) and Dan Goldman (N.Y.) said they will…
Santos’s fate hangs in limbo as expulsion vote nears
For Rep. George Santos, the clock is ticking dangerously close to midnight. The House is set to vote Friday on a resolution to expel the embattled New York Republican, marking the third and most serious attempt to boot Santos from Congress amid his mounting legal and ethical troubles. The first-term Long Islander easily survived the…
Democrats won’t bail out Santos this time around, sending grim sign about fate in House
House Democrats have had it with Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.). While dozens of Democratic lawmakers had voted against the effort to expel the embattled New York Republican earlier in the month, those same lawmakers are now lining up to support Santos’s ouster when a similar resolution hits the floor later this week. “It’s pretty clear:…
Trahan wins spot on Democrats’ messaging team, replacing Phillips
House Democrats on Wednesday elected Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) to join their official messaging arm, a seat that opened up last month when Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) stepped down from party leadership to challenge President Biden in the 2024 primary. Trahan, a third-term lawmaker who currently sits on the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, defeated…
Calls for ‘conditions’ in aid to Israel add to Democrats’ divisions
The battle among Democrats over U.S. policy on Israel has found a new front this month in the form of liberal calls to set “conditions” on any new military aid delivered to Tel Aviv. A number of leading progressives in both the House and Senate have warned in recent days that they would oppose any…
Congress faces fierce battle over Israel, Ukraine aid
Congress is facing a fierce battle next month over military aid to Israel and Ukraine, which has been thrown into flux by divisions among Republicans over how to move forward. While both chambers moved quickly last week to pass bipartisan legislation averting a government shutdown, they left assistance for the two war-torn countries up in…
Democratic leaders under heightened pressure to back Israel cease-fire
Democratic leaders in Washington are facing increasing pressure to prod Israel to scale back military operations in Gaza, where rising civilian casualties have triggered human rights protests around the U.S. and sparked heightened calls for a cease-fire from Democratic lawmakers, administration officials and the party’s liberal base. Behind President Biden, Democratic leaders have pressed for…
Jeffries calls for immediate talks on ‘24 spending, insists on debt deal levels
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is calling for an immediate launch to bipartisan talks on 2024 spending, but warned that Democrats will demand the funding levels adopted in the bipartisan debt ceiling bill earlier in the year. Speaking to reporters in the Capitol, Jeffries called on the other leaders in both parties, and both…