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☆ Bill to Combat Antisemitism on Campuses Prompts Backlash From the Right
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Annie Karni | More About Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A bipartisan push in Congress to enact a law cracking down on antisemitic speech on college campuses has prompted a backlash from far-right lawmakers and activists, who argue it could outlaw Christian biblical teachings. The House passed the legislation, called the Antisemitism Awareness Act, overwhelmingly on Wednesday, and Senate leaders in both parties were working behind the scenes on Thursday to determine whether it would have enough backing to come to a vote in that chamber. House Republicans rolled the bill out this week as part of their efforts to condemn the pro-Palestinian protests that have surged at university campuses across the country, and to put a political squeeze on Democrats, who they have accused of tolerating antisemitism to please their liberal base. But in trying to use the issue as a political cudgel against the left, Republicans also called attention to a rift on the right. members said they firmly believe that Jews killed Jesus Christ, and argued that the bill — which includes such claims in its definition of antisemitism — would outlaw parts of the Bible.

Persons: Jesus Christ Organizations: Republicans

☆ In Bid to Oust Johnson, Greene Tries to Reclaim a Powerful Perch on the Fringe
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Annie Karni | More About Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who elevated Ms. Greene and turned her into one of his top allies during his abbreviated time in the top post, never criticized her publicly. But privately, he called Mr. Johnson and offered to intervene with her on his behalf, according to people knowledgeable about the exchange. Ms. Greene could not be controlled — even if her campaign against the speaker has left her isolated within her party. Mr. Jeffries, she said, had embraced Mr. Johnson with “a warm hug and a big, wet, sloppy kiss,” making them the joint leaders of what she refers to disdainfully as the “uniparty.”She did so knowing that her effort to depose Mr. Johnson was all but certain to fail. But Ms. Greene has never abided by the conventional rules of politics, where a loss on the House floor is considered a major defeat.

Persons: Kevin McCarthy, Greene, Johnson, Hakeem Jeffries, Jeffries, “, ”, Mr Locations: New York

☆ After Ukraine Aid Vote, Republicans Braced for Backlash Find Little
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Annie Karni | Robert Jimison | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A week after he broke with the majority of House Republicans and voted to send $60.8 billion in aid to Ukraine, Representative Max Miller took the stage at a performing arts center in his Ohio district bracing for backlash. Instead, Mr. Miller, a first-term congressman who spent four years in the White House as a top aide to former President Donald J. Trump, was greeted at a town hall-style meeting on Saturday in the city of Solon with a sustained round of applause. Several attendees stood to publicly thank him for his vote, and a line of locals queued up afterward to shake his hand. “Anything we can do to support the Ukrainian victory over the Russian invasion would be a positive thing for the world,” said Randy Manley, a retiree from Strongsville, Ohio, who said he planned to vote for Mr. Trump in November. More than 500 miles west, in Iowa City, Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a vulnerable Republican who won her district by six points in 2020, had a similar experience.

Persons: Max Miller, Mr, Miller, Donald J, Trump, ”, Randy Manley, Mariannette Miller, Meeks Organizations: House Republicans, Mr, Republican Locations: Ukraine, Ohio, Solon, Strongsville , Ohio, Iowa City

☆ House Republican Drafts Censure of Omar for ‘Pro-Genocide’ Remark
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Annie Karni | More About Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A House Republican said on Tuesday that he was drafting a resolution to formally rebuke Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, for recent comments in which she suggested that some Jewish students at Columbia University were “pro-genocide.”Representative Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska, does not yet have a timeline for releasing his censure resolution against Ms. Omar, a spokeswoman said. But Mr. Bacon said the remark amounted to antisemitism from the congresswoman, a progressive firebrand and one of two Muslim women in the House, who has drawn criticism in the past for incendiary comments. “Folks can protest Israel, but don’t blame Jewish American students for Israel,” Mr. Bacon told Axios, which earlier reported his censure plans. “That is by definition antisemitism.”

Persons: Ilhan Omar, Don Bacon, Omar, Bacon, ” Mr, Axios, ” Organizations: Republican, Columbia University, ”, Israel Locations: Minnesota, Nebraska, Israel

Dr. Shafik herself was preparing to confer with the university senate, which could censure her as soon as Friday. On Monday, police were called in to make dozens of arrests at Yale and New York University. Mr. Johnson’s visit to campus will not include a meeting with Dr. Shafik. The university senate could vote on a resolution to censure Dr. Shafik as soon as Friday — not long after the 48-hour negotiation period concludes. By calling in the police anyway, the resolution said, Dr. Shafik had endangered both the welfare and the futures of the arrested students.

Persons: Mike Johnson, Nemat Shafik, Shafik, Kathy Hochul, Emerson, Johnson’s, Columbia, —, “, ” Brendan O’Flaherty, Grayson, Kirk’s, Dr, O’Flaherty, Shafik’s, Liset Cruz, Eryn Davis, Annie Karni, Santul Nerkar, Katherine Rosman, Karla Marie Sanford, Ed Shanahan Organizations: Columbia University, New York Police Department, National Guard, Gov, Guard, Yale, New York University, Tufts, University of California, Hamas, New York City Police, Johnson’s, Republicans Locations: York, Gaza, Berkeley, Israel, ”, Washington, Columbia, New

☆ Johnson, Like Pence, Does What Passes for Brave in Today’s G.O.P.: His Job
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The accolades directed at Speaker Mike Johnson in recent days for finally defying the right wing of his party and allowing an aid bill for Ukraine to move through the House might have seemed a tad excessive. After all, a speaker’s entire job is to move legislation through the House, and as Saturday’s vote to pass the bill demonstrated, the Ukraine measure had overwhelming support. But Mr. Johnson’s feat was not so different from that of another embattled Republican who faced a difficult choice under immense pressure from hard-right Republicans and was saluted as a hero for simply doing his job: former Vice President Mike Pence. When Mr. Pence refused to accede to former President Donald J. Trump’s demands that he overturn the 2020 election results as he presided over the electoral vote count by Congress on Jan. 6, 2021 — even as an angry mob with baseball bats and pepper spray invaded the Capitol and chanted “hang Mike Pence” — the normally unremarkable act of performing the duties in a vice president’s job description was hailed as courageous. Mr. Pence and now Mr. Johnson represent the most high-profile examples of a stark political reality: In today’s Republican Party, subsumed by Mr. Trump, taking the norm-preserving, consensus-driven path can draw the ire of your constituents and spell the end of your political career.

Persons: Mike Johnson, Johnson’s, Mike Pence, Pence, Donald J, Mike Pence ”, Johnson, Trump Organizations: Republican, Republicans, Capitol, Republican Party, Mr Locations: Ukraine

☆ Ukraine Aid Bill Clears Critical Hurdle in the House as Democrats Supply the Votes
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The House took a critical step on Friday toward approving a long-stalled package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and other American allies, as Democrats supplied the crucial votes to push the legislation past Republican opposition so that it could be considered on the floor. The 316-94 vote cleared the way for the House to bring up the aid package, teeing up separate votes on Saturday on each of its parts. But passage of those measures, each of which enjoys bipartisan support from different coalitions, was not in doubt, making Friday’s action the key indicator that the legislation will have the backing needed to prevail. The rule for considering the bill — historically a straight party-line vote — passed with more Democratic than Republican support, but it also won a majority of G.O.P. votes, making it clear that despite a pocket of deep resistance from the far right, there is broad bipartisan backing for the $95.3 billion package.

Persons: —, Biden Organizations: Democratic, Republican Locations: Ukraine, Israel

☆ Johnson Needs Democrats on Ukraine, Handing Them Power to Shape Aid Plan
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Speaker Mike Johnson’s elaborate plan for pushing aid to Ukraine through the House over his own party’s objections relies on an unusual strategy: He is counting on House Democrats and their leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, to provide the votes necessary to clear the way for it to come to the floor. Given Republicans’ tiny margin of control, Mr. Johnson will need their support on the aid itself. But before he even gets to that, he will need their votes on a procedural motion, known as a rule, to even bring the legislation to the floor — an unconventional expectation of the minority party. That puts Democrats once again in a strange but strong position, wielding substantial influence over the measure, including which proposed changes, if any, are allowed to to be voted on and how the foreign aid is structured. After all, Mr. Johnson knows that if they are unsatisfied and choose to withhold their votes, the legislation risks imploding before it even comes up.

Persons: Mike Johnson’s, Hakeem Jeffries, Johnson Organizations: Democrats Locations: Ukraine, New York

☆ Trump to Meet an Embattled Johnson, Putting Their Tortured Ties on Display
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Speaker Mike Johnson may not have a functional majority in Congress, but his job is similar to the Republicans who preceded him in at least one respect: The duties include the difficult task of managing Donald J. Trump. Mr. Johnson on Friday will travel to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s Florida estate, to join him for what the speaker has billed as a “major announcement on election integrity.” No further details have been forthcoming. The two men had been planning to get together for a political meeting, but Mr. Johnson’s team suggested a joint public appearance on a topic Mr. Trump cares deeply about, according to two people familiar with the planning. It will afford Mr. Johnson the opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with Mr. Trump at a precarious moment in his speakership, as he works to corral a minuscule and deeply divided majority around a legislative agenda many of them oppose — all while facing the threat of an ouster from Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Georgia Republican and ride-or-die Trump ally. Making matters even trickier, Mr. Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is helping to undermine that agenda.

Persons: Mike Johnson, Donald J, Trump, Johnson, ”, Johnson’s, Marjorie Taylor Greene Organizations: Mr, Georgia Republican Locations: Trump’s Florida

☆ Johnson to Join Trump at Mar-a-Lago for ‘Election Integrity’ Announcement
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Speaker Mike Johnson plans on Friday to join former President Donald J. Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to make what he called a “major announcement on election integrity.”It was not immediately clear what the pair were planning to discuss at their joint appearance, though Mr. Trump has continued to insist falsely that he was the true winner of the 2020 election and groundlessly accuse Democrats of attempting to interfere in the 2024 contest. Their first public event together since Mr. Johnson was elected to the top job in the House last fall comes at an awkward moment in their relationship. The embattled speaker is facing a threat for his ouster from one of Mr. Trump’s top loyalists in Congress, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Georgia Republican. And even as Mr. Johnson has worked to show enthusiastic support for Mr. Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee is stoking G.O.P. divisions and undermining the speaker’s legislative agenda in Congress.

Persons: Mike Johnson, Donald J, Trump, groundlessly, Johnson, Trump’s, Marjorie Taylor Greene, stoking Organizations: Georgia Republican, Mr, Republican Locations: Lago, Florida

☆ Florida Court Rulings Pose Risks for House Republicans on Abortion
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a hard-right Republican from Florida, has proudly described herself as a “pro-life extremist.”“My husband is a byproduct of rape,” she told a conservative student group in 2022, explaining her support for abortion bans with no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. Now she and Representative María Elvira Salazar, another Republican whose Florida district is not solidly red, will have to defend their records of supporting anti-abortion measures at the national level, with control of the House at stake. The court’s ruling said that the six-week abortion ban could go into effect on May 1. But in a twist, it is also allowing a vote on a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee access to abortion “before viability,” around 24 weeks. The twin rulings have suddenly buoyed Democratic hopes of picking off House seats in a state that has long trended toward the right.

Persons: Anna Paulina Luna, ” “, ”, Luna, María Elvira Salazar Organizations: Republican, Florida Supreme Locations: Florida

☆ As More Members Leave, House G.O.P. Will Be Able to Spare Just 1 Vote
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-22 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Republicans in Congress continue sprinting for the exits. Representative Mike Gallagher, Republican of Wisconsin, announced on Friday afternoon that he would resign from Congress months earlier than expected on April 19, bringing the already minuscule Republican majority down to a lonely one vote. After his departure next month, Republicans will control 217 House seats to the Democrats’ 213, allowing the G.O.P. to afford only a single defection from the party line on votes when all members are present. He said simply that “after conversations with my family, I have made the decision to resign my position,” and that he had “worked closely with House Republican leadership on this timeline.”But leaders had not anticipated it.

Persons: Mike Gallagher, Gallagher, “, Mike Johnson Organizations: Republican, Chinese Communist Party Locations: Wisconsin

☆ Mainstream G.O.P. Group to Target Bob Good as It Shifts Mission and Members
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Republican Main Street Partnership, a group that supports center-leaning House Republicans, plans to direct half a million dollars into a bid to defeat Representative Bob Good, a hard-right lawmaker from Virginia, making an unusual push to oust a sitting Republican member of Congress. The move is notable not just because the group, through its campaign giving arm, is inserting itself into the kind of intramural fight against an incumbent that it typically avoids. Its Capitol Hill headquarters serve as something of a counterweight to the Conservative Partnership Institute, which operates nearby as the nerve center of the right. But as the Republican Party has veered toward the extreme right, purging itself of what was once a sizable and influential bloc of centrists, the Main Street Partnership has also shed the “moderate” label and changed the nature of its mission. The group has recently expanded its membership to include far more conservatives, and has begun focusing less on centrism and bipartisanship and more on ridding Congress of G.O.P.

Persons: Bob Good, — John J, McGuire, Donald J, Trump, ” Organizations: Republican Main Street, House Republicans, Republican, Navy SEALs, Main, Capitol, Conservative Partnership Institute, Republican Party, centrists Locations: Virginia, G.O.P

The House on Wednesday passed a bill with broad bipartisan support that would force TikTok’s Chinese owner to either sell the hugely popular video app or be banned in the United States. The move escalates a showdown between Beijing and Washington over the control of technologies that could affect national security, free speech and the social media industry. Republican leaders fast-tracked the bill through the House with limited debate, and it passed on a lopsided vote of 352-65, reflecting widespread backing for legislation that would take direct aim at China in an election year. The action came despite TikTok’s efforts to mobilize its 170 million U.S. users against the measure, and amid the Biden administration’s push to persuade lawmakers that Chinese ownership of the platform poses grave national security risks to the United States.

Organizations: Republican, Biden Locations: United States, Beijing, Washington, China

☆ Aging Bridge Is a Flashpoint in Competitive Washington State House Race
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-03 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The first thing Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez told donors gathered at a recent wine-and-cheese campaign fund-raiser was of the role she played in securing $600 million in federal funding to rebuild one of the region’s main arteries, the aging Route I-5 bridge. “Bringing that grant home was a dogfight,” said Ms. Perez, 35, a first-term Democrat from a rural, working-class district in Washington State that twice voted for former President Donald J. Trump, and who is facing one of the toughest re-election races in the country this year. “My community is going to build that bridge,” she told the roomful of gray-haired donors gathered in a packed living room in Washougal, Wash., with giant windows overlooking the Columbia River. “This is our work.”Ms. Perez considers this funding to be a major coup for her district and her re-election campaign. But the bridge in one of the country’s most competitive districts has become a political piñata in the race, which is all but certain to pit Ms. Perez against the far-right Republican Joe Kent, whom she beat in 2022 by less than 1 percentage point.

Persons: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, ”, Perez, Donald J, Trump, ” Ms, Republican Joe Kent Organizations: Republican Locations: Washington State, Washougal, Columbia

☆ Republican Opposition to Birth Control Bill Could Alienate Voters, Poll Finds
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One month after the Supreme Court struck down the right to an abortion, Democrats who then controlled the House pushed through a bill aimed to ensure access to contraception nationwide. All but eight Republicans opposed it. The risks they face became glaringly clear last week, after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children. A new national poll conducted by Americans for Contraception and obtained by The New York Times found that most voters across the political spectrum believe their access to birth control is actively at risk, and that 80 percent of voters said that protecting access to contraception was “deeply important” to them. Even among Republican voters, 72 percent said they had a favorable view of birth control.

Organizations: Republicans, Alabama, Congress, The New York Times, Republican

An Alabama Supreme Court ruling, that frozen embryos should be considered children, has created a new political nightmare for Republicans nationally, who distanced themselves from a fringe view about reproductive health that threatened to drive away voters in November. Several Republican governors and lawmakers swiftly disavowed the decision, made by a Republican-majority court, expressing support for in vitro fertilization treatments. Others declared they would not support federal restrictions on I.V.F., drawing a distinction between their support for broadly popular fertility treatments and their opposition to abortion. “The concern for years has been that I.V.F. would be taken away from women everywhere,” Representative Nancy Mace, Republican of South Carolina, said in an interview on Thursday.

Persons: Nancy Mace Organizations: Alabama Supreme, Republican Locations: Alabama, South Carolina, I.V.F

☆ House Republican Majority Shrinks Again as Congress Faces Critical Issues
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

With Democrat Tom Suozzi’s victory in a special House election in New York on Tuesday, the shrinking Republican majority in the House dwindled even further, leaving the G.O.P. able to afford only two defections from the party line on votes when all members are present. That gives them almost no cushion to deal with the inevitable absences caused by illness, travel delays, weddings, funerals and unforeseen events that could keep Republicans away from the House floor for votes. It also gives each individual House Republican even more leverage over Speaker Mike Johnson, who is already struggling to steer his unmanageable majority. “I would be constantly on defense, I would be trying to avoid defeats, and I would be very, very careful,” former Speaker Newt Gingrich said in an interview.

Persons: Tom Suozzi’s, Mike Johnson, Newt Gingrich Organizations: Republican Locations: New York, Ukraine, Israel

☆ On Capitol Hill, Republicans Use Bigoted Attacks Against Political Foes
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, stood on the House floor this month to announce her proposal to censure the only Somali-born member of Congress, she said she was seeking punishment for “Representative Ilhan Omar of Somalia — I mean Minnesota.”Earlier that same week, Representative Troy Nehls, Republican of Texas, called the Black husband of another Democratic woman of color, Representative Cori Bush of Missouri, a “thug.” He then said Ms. Bush, who is also Black, had received so many death threats because she was “so loud all the time.”At a hearing across the Capitol, Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, grilled the chief executive of TikTok, Shou Chew, about his nation of origin. Mr. Cotton repeatedly demanded to know whether Mr. Chew, who is from Singapore, was Chinese, held a Chinese passport or was a member of the Chinese Communist Party. “No, senator — again, I’m Singaporean,” Mr. Chew responded with agitation after saying several times that he was not Chinese.

Persons: Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ilhan Omar, Troy Nehls, Cori Bush of, ”, Bush, Tom Cotton, TikTok, Shou Chew, Cotton, Chew, —, Mr Organizations: Republican, Democratic, Capitol, Chinese Communist Party Locations: Georgia, Somali, Somalia, Minnesota, Texas, Cori Bush of Missouri, Arkansas, Singapore

☆ With Border Deal Doomed, Schumer Plans Test Vote on Ukraine and Israel Aid
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Senate Democrats are planning to make a last-ditch effort on Wednesday to salvage an aid bill for Ukraine and Israel, with Republicans expected to kill a version of the package that includes stringent border security measures that they had demanded be included. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, has told his Democratic colleagues that after a critical test vote set for early Wednesday afternoon, in which Republicans are expected to block the border and Ukraine package, he plans to quickly force a vote on a stand-alone bill that would send tens of billions of dollars in funding to Kyiv and Israel. A bipartisan group of senators had spent months negotiating a compromise that paired a crackdown against migration into the United States with an emergency national security spending package that has been stalled for months. But with Republicans balking at the immigration deal, the outcome of that vote was clear: It did not have the 60 votes it needed to advance. Anticipating its failure, Mr. Schumer told the White House this week that he had a Plan B: If Republicans scuttled the bipartisan agreement, he would immediately seek to push through the foreign aid without the border deal, according to a Democratic aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the discussions.

Persons: Chuck Schumer, balking, Schumer Organizations: Democratic, Republicans Locations: Ukraine, Israel, New York, Kyiv, United States

☆ With Border Deal Doomed, Schumer Pushes Republicans Into Vote on Ukraine and Israel Aid
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Annie Karni | Karoun Demirjian | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +9 min

But with Mr. Trump’s intervention persuading congressional Republicans to abandon the border deal that they themselves had demanded, Mr. Biden finally has an opportunity to shift from defense to offense. “Joe Biden blamed President Trump for the border crisis that Biden himself created,” said Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the former president. Mr. Trump made clear that he saw the deal not as a solution but a threat to his bid to reclaim his office. Image Mr. Trump ridiculed the idea that Mr. Biden could deflect blame after three years of failing to secure the border. For three years, Republicans had a clear story line when it came to the border — Mr. Biden either intentionally or incompetently opened the floodgates.

Persons: Biden, Donald J, Trump, Biden’s, “, ”, “ I’ll, MAGA, Donald Trump, ” Mr, “ Joe Biden, Karoline Leavitt, Joe Biden, John Moore, impeaching Alejandro, James Lankford, Christopher S, Murphy, Kyrsten Sinema, Don’t, Doug Mills, Geoffrey Garin, ” Margie Omero, Mark S, ” Scott Jennings, Mr, Jennings Organizations: Democratic, White, Trump, MAGA Republicans, MAGA Republican, CBS News, PBS, NPR, Marist, Republican, Democrat, Democrats, Republican Party, Border Patrol, Patrol, New York Times, Republicans, Center for Immigration Studies, Biden, ” Locations: New York, Illinois, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Arizona

☆ G.O.P. Backlash to Border Deal Reflects Vanishing Ground for a Compromise
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Monday, many of them rejected it anyway. It was the latest indication that the political ground for any agreement on immigration — particularly in an election year when it is expected to be a central issue of the presidential campaign — has vanished. With former President Donald J. Trump eager to attack President Biden’s record on the border and right-wing Republicans in Congress falling in line behind him, a compromise was always going to be a long shot. The long-awaited release on Sunday night of the text of the 370-page bill only served to inflame Republican divisions on an issue that once united them. Speaker Mike Johnson denounced the measure as “even worse than we expected” and repeated what had become his mantra about the deal — that it would be “dead on arrival” in the House.

Persons: —, Donald J, Trump, Biden’s, Mitch McConnell of, Mike Johnson Organizations: United States, Republicans, Ukraine, Republican Locations: Congress, Ukraine, United, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky

☆ A Suddenly Media-Shy Speaker Can’t Answer Questions. He’s on the Phone.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

It was his first day back in Washington after a long winter break, and Speaker Mike Johnson was under pressure to pass a short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown within days. With hard-right Republicans in full revolt over the plan, everyone in the Capitol was eager to know what the inexperienced leader would do next, and whether it might lead to his ouster. After spending less than six minutes answering questions at a news conference, Mr. Johnson shut down reporters’ shouted questions with a silent cue, like a cab light switched off, signaling he was no longer available: He held his smartphone phone to his ear and speed-walked out of sight. It is a ploy that Mr. Johnson has used frequently to dodge questions since the fall when he won the position of speaker, and with it the tricky job of governing with a deeply divided and shrinking Republican majority in the House.

Persons: Mike Johnson, Johnson, ’ Organizations: Capitol Locations: Washington

☆ How Donald Trump Divided Republicans on Immigration
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Annie Karni | More About Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

With more than half of Senate Republicans now officially backing Trump’s candidacy, those entreaties are becoming harder to ignore as mere prattle from Palm Beach. Trump and most House Republicans want to block migrants from living and working temporarily without visas in the United States while they await the outcome of their immigration claims. Speaker Mike Johnson, who talks about immigration regularly with Trump, has said that a Senate deal without those policies would be dead on arrival in the House. The collapse of a dealYesterday, Republican supporters of a border deal were livid at the notion that Trump might tank their work. “We have to have people here who support Trump, who have endorsed President Trump, go to him and tell him what a compelling case this is,” Thom Tillis, a North Carolina senator, said.

Persons: “, ”, Trump, Biden, Mike Johnson, ” Thom Tillis Organizations: Trump, Republicans, Senators, Democrats, Republican Locations: Palm Beach, United States, Mexico, North Carolina

☆ Trump Strengthens Grip on Capitol Hill as He Presses Toward Nomination
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

As former President Donald J. Trump moves closer to becoming his party’s presidential nominee and Republican lawmakers consolidate behind him, he is wielding a heavier hand than any time since leaving office over his party’s agenda in Congress. His shadow has always loomed large over the Republican-controlled House, which has opened congressional investigations to defend him, launched an impeachment inquiry into his chief rival and approved legislation to reinstate the hard-line immigration policies he imposed. But as Mr. Trump barrels toward the party’s 2024 nomination, his influence on the legislative agenda on Capitol Hill is expanding. support for sending aid to Ukraine for its war against Russian aggression, placing the fate of that money in doubt. That led Republicans to demand a border crackdown in exchange for any further funding for Kyiv, a compromise that Mr. Trump has now repudiated.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Mike Johnson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz Organizations: Republicans, Republican, Kyiv Locations: Ukraine, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Florida

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