In the wake of America’s latest school massacre, House Democrats are pushing once again for tougher checks on firearms and new limits on who can own them. But as Congress returns to Washington this week following a long spring recess, even some of Capitol Hill’s most ardent gun reformers say they don’t expect last month’s tragedy…
Author: Mike Lillis
Democrats seek negotiating advantage in GOP budget turmoil
House Democrats are hoping Republicans’ internal clashes over the size and substance of their budget-cutting plans will lend President Biden a tactical boost in the looming fights over the debt ceiling and government spending. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has, for months, demanded that Biden negotiate steep spending cuts and other policy concessions as a condition…
Pelosi seeks balance in post-Speakership role
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is seeking a delicate balance in the new Congress where she’s ceded her official leadership duties but still exerts outsized influence within a caucus she piloted for 20 years. The unusual dynamics — Pelosi is the first Speaker in almost two decades to remain in Congress after stepping out of…
Dems react to Trump indictment with glee — and anxiety
House Democrats reacted with mixed emotions this week to the historic indictment of former President Trump, with some cheering the move with bald jubilation and others approaching much more cautiously ahead of Trump’s expected arraignment on Tuesday. While both camps are united behind the central premise that no one in America is above the law,…
House Democrats vent frustration after Biden reversal on COVID-19 emergency measure
House Democrats are sounding off against the White House after President Biden indicated he’ll sign legislation to lift the national emergency declaration surrounding COVID-19 — a move that came less than two months after Democrats had opposed the same measure en masse at the administration’s request. Almost 200 House Democrats had voted on Feb. 1 against the…
Squeezed by investigations, Trump escalates violent rhetoric
Under increasing pressure from state and federal investigators, former President Trump escalated his violent rhetoric this week, heightening tensions as prosecutors weigh whether to bring criminal charges and sparking sharp criticism from Democrats, who are warning of another Jan. 6. In several social media posts over the past two days, Trump appeared to threaten Manhattan District Attorney…
Jeffries warns Trump’s words may ‘get someone killed’
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) warned Friday that an escalation in violent rhetoric by former President Trump has the potential “to get someone killed.” Trump, who is under investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) related to hush money payments to an adult film actress, had written hours earlier that charges brought against…
Democrats race to Bragg’s defense: Congress ‘should stay the hell out of it’
House Democrats are racing to the defense of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) amid his criminal probe of former President Trump, saying the Republicans seeking to halt Bragg’s hush money investigation are encroaching on matters of independent law enforcement and should simply butt out. “Let’s wait to see if there are going to be…
Social Security, Medicare clash comes down to what constitutes a ‘cut’
The coming battles over the nation’s safety-net programs are beginning with an early clash over a thorny question of semantics: What constitutes a cut? In the eyes of many Democrats, any change to Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security that erodes benefits provided under current law would be considered a cut — and therefore stands as…
Democrats vow fierce fight if GOP cuts Medicaid
House Democrats are vowing a fierce fight over Medicaid as Republicans eye plans to curb spending for the low-income health care program in the name of deficit reduction. Joining President Biden, the Democrats are warning that Medicaid cuts would disproportionately impact the same vulnerable populations least able to absorb the hit, including low-income kids, seniors…