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☆ Divided U.S. House members spar over national security committee seats
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Patricia Zengerle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Reflecting the bitter divide in the newly seated House, where Republicans hold a slim majority, McCarthy on Tuesday formally rejected Representatives Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell as members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. McCarthy, who as speaker can act unilaterally appoint the members of a select committee like the intelligence panel, insists he is acting in the best security interests of the country. McCarthy and other Republican leaders also said they do not want Representative Ilhan Omar to serve on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. At least two have said they opposed her removal; Republicans have only a five-seat majority in the House. Gosar also had posted a video on social media showing him appearing to kill another House member, Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

As speaker, McCarthy has the authority to choose a chairman and Republican members of the panel. Jeffries, as minority leader, can nominate Democrats to serve on the panel, but McCarthy has the power to reject them. He has specifically targeted Schiff and Swalwell who played a major role in the impeachments of former President Donald Trump. Those actions angered McCarthy and for months he has vowed to block Schiff and Swalwell from the Intelligence panel. As recently as Jan. 12, McCarthy told reporters he would not seat Schiff and Swalwell who regularly antagonize McCarthy during cable news appearances.

☆ Hakeem Jeffries tells Kevin McCarthy that it's a 'double standard' if 'serial fraudster' George Santos serves on committees but Schiff and Swalwell get kicked off of the intelligence committee
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Hakeem Jeffries is arguing that Reps. Schiff and Swalwell should be kept on the intelligence committee. The House Democratic leader sent a letter to Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Saturday making the case. He pointed out that George Santos has been "welcomed" by the GOP despite being a "serial fraudster." "The apparent double standard risks undermining the spirit of bipartisan cooperation that is so desperately needed in Congress." "It does not serve as precedent or justification for the removal of Representatives Schiff and Swalwell, given that they have never exhibited violent thoughts or behavior," he wrote.

☆ Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar receive committee assignments after Democrats kicked them off
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Rebecca-Shabad-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Rebecca Shabad | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — House Republicans have assigned Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., to serve on committees again after Democrats stripped them of that privilege in 2021, according to a member of the GOP Steering Committee, which doles out the appointments. Greene has been assigned to the House Committee on Homeland Security, which Republicans will use to focus on border security and investigate Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Gosar, meanwhile, has been assigned to the House Committee on Natural Resources, where he had served just before his removal, the member said. The Democratic majority chose to pursue a proposal to remove Greene from her committees after House Republican leaders opted not to take action against Greene. As part of the measure, Gosar was censured, which is considered the harshest punishment against a member in the House, after expulsion.

☆ We asked House lawmakers about scandal-plagued Rep. George Santos. Most Republicans want nothing to do with him.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +18 min

But Santos is clearly a problem for House Republicans. But three days later, Miller — who actually represents Ohio's 7th district — became the eighth House Republican to publicly call for Santos to resign. said Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, who said that Santos "seems nice" even as he appeared unaware of the extent of his controversies. At a press conference on Thursday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pointedly declared that Santos was "an issue that Republicans need to handle." Santos and Ocasio-Cortez briefly spoke on the sidelines of a gaggle of GOP lawmakers on the House floor on Wednesday, January 4.

☆ How the gas vs. electric stove debate became the latest culture war, with AOC and Ted Cruz chiming in: 'Gas stoves for me but not for thee'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

It was the kind of exclamation that would feel entirely normal if only "gas stove" was replaced with another object of the culture wars. A peer-reviewed study published in December linked 12.7% of childhood asthma cases in the US to air pollutants released by gas stoves. Some researchers have also found gas stoves have a greater impact on climate change by releasing more greenhouse gas emissions. "Did you know that ongoing exposure to NO2 from gas stoves is linked to reduced cognitive performance," she wrote. "Gas stoves for me but not for thee," the tweet said alongside the photos.

☆ U.S. House Republicans who bucked McCarthy are powered by small-dollar donors
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Jason Lange | Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives Republicans who tried to block Kevin McCarthy’s leadership bid last week share more than far-right political views. That’s about twice the share reported by the rest of the Republican House conference. Trump raised massive amounts of cash from small donors, thanks to a supply of controversial statements that drew him constant media attention. Close to 60% of his funding came from small donors. Both Gaetz and Boebert were in the top 15 House Republican campaigns ranked by funds raised.

☆ House Democrats brace for Speaker McCarthy to block their committee assignments in retaliatory strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Warren Rojas | Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has pledged to bar three Democrats from sitting on two committees. Republicans are targeting Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, and Ilhan Omar. Democrats declined to speculate on next steps if McCarthy follows through on his plan. Swalwell has served on the Intelligence committee since 2015, and is also a member of the Homeland Security Committee and Judiciary Committee. Staff for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment about defending Democratic members' committee assignments.

☆ House Republicans voted to gut the House Ethics Committee, and George Santos said it was 'fantastic'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

House Republicans voted on Monday to hobble the Office of Congressional Ethics. George Santos, facing multiple investigations and ethics complaints, called the changes "fantastic." The Office of Congressional Ethics, first established in 2008, is a quasi-independent body tasked with investigating allegations of misconduct against members of Congress. It then makes a determination as to whether those allegations are worth investigating further, at which point it makes a referral to the House Ethics Committee, which is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. In 2017, House Republicans voted in conference to subsume the office under the House Ethics Committee, effectively neutering it.

☆ Matt Gaetz says he wants C-SPAN cameras back on the House floor days after they showed GOP chaos during speaker vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Matt Gaetz said he wants to bring C-SPAN cameras back to the House floor. C-SPAN cameras were able to freely capture the House speaker votes last week. The current pool view of Congress, mainly restricted to recording whichever lawmaker is speaking at the dais, is "antiquated and a little boomer-fied," Gaetz told Fox News. The four-day-long battle to elect a House speaker ended early Saturday morning with Rep. Kevin McCarthy securing the gavel. And the country doesn't get to see those," Gaetz told Fox News.

☆ Watch: Thousands of Bolsonaro Supporters Storm Brazil’s Congress Buildings
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Watch: McCarthy Cites Progress as House Speaker Bid Fails for Third Day Republican Kevin McCarthy says he’s not putting any timeline on his bid for House speaker after losing the 11th vote to lead the GOP-controlled chamber. Despite offering new concessions, he failed to win support from detractors within his party. Photo: Julio Cortez/AP

☆ Bolsonaro's Florida stay puts ball in Biden's court after Brasilia riots
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Gabriel Stargardter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/5] Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro gestures, as he meets supporters at the Alvorada Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, December 12, 2022. REUTERS/Adriano MachadoRIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The United States has a Jair Bolsonaro problem. But Bolsonaro left behind a violent movement of election-denying supporters, who on Sunday stormed Brazil's presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court. "The United States should not be a refuge for this authoritarian who has inspired domestic terrorism in Brazil. Former Panamanian President Martinelli was extradited from the United States back to Panama in 2018, three years after Panama's Supreme Court issued its arrest warrant.

☆ The House speaker battle showed a 'schism within a schism' in the GOP as MTG and Matt Gaetz were on opposite sides and even a plea from Trump couldn't sway some of his biggest supporters
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker on Friday night after a week of disarray and 15 rounds of voting. Thanks to the events of the past week, McCarthy may struggle to manage the slim GOP majority. "It's a schism within a schism," Kevin Kosar, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who studies Congress and US politics, told Insider. But during the House speaker battle this week, some of them found themselves on opposites sides, even after their would-be leader, Trump, took a stance. With new divisions and animosities on display after the House speaker battle, it's unclear how effectively McCarthy will be able to do just that.

Through the end of business hours on Friday, GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy had lost 13 straight votes for speaker of the House. Vote after vote, hour after hour, the Democratic minority cast its ballots for the conference's leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York. And as a result, Jeffries won vote after vote for speaker, though McCarthy finally pulled ahead on Friday. Democrats can vote as a block from now till this Congress is over, but they simply didn't have the numbers to elect Jeffries as speaker. With every vote in the House this week, they’ve shown that criticism to be overstated.

☆ AOC says chaos in the GOP House shows that the Squad is pretty reasonable in comparison
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addressed the ongoing chaos in the Republican Party. She said it showed the group of progressives she's a member of is reasonable in comparison. The GOP has failed to elect a House speaker during three days of voting, paralyzing Congress. "The more days that this goes on the more this truly starts to have a corrosive impact on our country," Ocasio-Cortez said. The group have regularly clashed with Democratic Party leadership on issues including the Green New Deal and expanded Medicare provisions.

☆ Behind-the-scenes C-SPAN footage from the House chamber shows chaos and frustration after nearly a dozen failed attempts to elect a Speaker
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Lauren Frias | Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

Democratic Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was seen speaking with GOP Rep.-elect Paul Gosar, who once stirred controversy for sharing a violent edited anime video of him slaying her. The edited anime, "Attack of Titan," has been co-opted by alt-right factions when discussing white supremacist narratives. Source: Insider

☆ Matt Gaetz says he'll 'resign' from Congress if the Democratic Party changes tack and elects a moderate Republican for speaker
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Matt Gaetz is sure House Democrats will not break ranks and vote for a moderate Republican for speaker. Gaetz told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that he will "resign" if that scenario occurs. These 212 Democrats are going to vote for Hakeem Jeffries every single time," Gaetz told Ingraham. "I assure you — that if Democrats joined up to elect a moderate Republican, I will resign from the House of Representatives. On Thursday, Gaetz voted for former President Donald Trump to be speaker even after McCarthy made significant concessions to the "Never Kevin" camp.

☆ Rep. Jimmy Gomez takes his baby to the Capitol during House speaker votes: ‘We have to normalize Dads'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Danielle Campoamor | Danielle Campoamor Has Been Published In Teen Vogue | Harper'S Bazaar | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., knew things could go awry during the House speaker vote on Tuesday. It was new for Gomez’s family members, who had plans to watch Gomez be sworn in for a fourth term and then tour the nation’s capital. “But that took another 30 minutes.”Gomez had planned on being on the House floor at 11:30 in the morning. “In the end, we have to normalize dads taking their kids with them, be it stay-at-home dads or working dads,” Gomez says. I mean, babywearing is cool now!”On Wednesday, Gomez and his family, along with Hodge, returned to the House floor as Republican members tried again to elect a speaker.

☆ C-SPAN is having a moment
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Usually, the House forbids independent media coverage of proceedings, meaning that networks must rely on a government feed for coverage. But when there are special events taking place in the House, such as the election for speaker, independent coverage is allowed. In this case, that translates to C-SPAN deploying multiple cameras of its own into the House chamber, giving the public a rare front row view of the high-stakes negotiations between lawmakers. For example, C-SPAN’s cameras showed Republican Rep. Paul Gosar, who has voted against Kevin McCarthy for speaker, on the floor speaking Tuesday with Democratic Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. You don’t see that during standard coverage.”O’Connell noted that C-SPAN would like to be able to do this far more often.

☆ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says Democrats would 'all be unconscious' if they took shots every time Kevin McCarthy lost a Republican vote for speaker
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

GOP Rep. Kat Cammack suggested Democrats were drinking as Republicans struggled to elect a speaker. "If Dems took a shot every time McCarthy lost a Republican, we'd all be unconscious by now," she tweeted. "If Dems took a shot every time McCarthy lost a Republican, we'd all be unconscious by now." Ocasio-Cortez was responding to a tweet from Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman about a comment from GOP Rep. Kat Cammack, of Florida, who nominated Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy for House speaker. Neither do actual members of the House of Representatives, until a House speaker can be elected and the members then sworn into office.

☆ AOC says she was telling Matt Gaetz the Democratic Party would 'absolutely not' rescue Kevin McCarthy's speakership bid when they were spotted chatting on the House floor
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Cheryl Teh | Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was spotted chatting with Matt Gaetz on the House floor on Tuesday. "McCarthy was suggesting he could get Dems to walk away to lower his threshold," Ocasio-Cortez told The Intercept. Ocasio-Cortez added to Semafor that she told Gosar the same thing she told Gaetz: that her party would not be helping McCarthy out. Rebuking both Gosar and Gaetz, Greene tweeted on Tuesday that "making plans with Democrats is not what any Republican should be doing." Representatives for Gaetz, Gosar, Greene, and Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

☆ Six battleground states will hold the key to the White House in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

AP Photo/Andrew HarnikGeorgia2012 margin: Romney +7.8%2016 margin: Trump +5.1%2020 margin: Biden +0.2%For decades, Republicans could easily depend on the Peach State's electoral votes falling into their column. Two years later, Biden won the state by roughly 12,000 votes over Trump, followed by the dual 2021 runoff victories of Sens. AP Photo/Matt RourkePennsylvania2012 margin: Obama +5.4%2016 margin: Trump +0.7%2020 margin: Biden +1.2%Biden's hometown of Scranton is dear to his heart so Pennsylvania was always going to be a key state for the party in 2024. AP Photo/Andy Manis, FileWisconsin2012 margin: Obama +6.9%2016 margin: Trump +0.8%2020 margin: Biden +0.6%Wisconsin is one of the most politically-divided states in the country. But Trump flipped Wisconsin to the GOP in 2016, the first time it had supported a Republican presidential nominee since 1984.

☆ House passes $1.7 trillion spending bill that rewrites U.S. election law, sending it to Biden to sign
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Sahil-Kapur-Headshot.Jpg | Sahil Kapur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

WASHINGTON — The House on Friday voted to finalize a massive $1.7 trillion government funding bill, sending it to President Joe Biden and marking the end of two years of Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress. It overhauls federal election law by revising the Electoral Count Act of 1887 to try to prevent another Jan. 6. The bill funds a swath of domestic programs as well, averting a shutdown and keeping the government funded through next fall. “We have a big bill here, because we have big needs for our country,” outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on the floor. The measure was negotiated by Democratic leaders and top Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

He voted against the Puerto Rico Status Act on the floor last week, calling for "letting a full and robust legislative process take place." One of the bill’s main negotiators, Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, is confident about more congressional hearings on Puerto Rico's territorial status in the new year. That’s intentional, said Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón, a Republican nonvoting member of Congress representing Puerto Rico who favors statehood and helped negotiate the Puerto Rico Status Act. What’s next for Puerto Rico’s territorial status? Excluding Puerto Rico’s territorial status also gives Wicker and others pause.

☆ Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the lone Democrat in Congress to oppose the $1.7 trillion federal spending bill
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the lone Democrat to vote against the $1.7 trillion spending bill. The bill easily passed the House. The spending plan passed the House 225-201-1, sending it to President Joe Biden's desk. Biden quickly promised to promptly sign the legislation, which would avert a government shutdown and fund the federal government through most of next year. While largely a spending bill, the omnibus package included a number of other policies, one of the more significant changes would allow Americans to save longer for retirement.

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