All posts tagged "rand paul"

'Wrong to weigh in': GOP senator condemns FCC chair's 'absolutely inappropriate' move

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) condemned Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr after he pushed Disney to take late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air.

In a Sunday interview on NBC, host Kristen Welker noted that Carr had reacted to the shooting of Charlie Kirk by threatening Disney.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr said at the time. "These companies can find ways to change conduct to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."

Paul called the remarks "absolutely inappropriate."

"Brennan Carr has got no business weighing in on this," the Republican senator insisted. "But people have to also realize that despicable comments, you have the right to say them, but you don't have the right to employment."

"You can be fired," he continued. "So the FCC should have nothing to do with it."

"The government's got no business in it, and the FCC was wrong to weigh in, and I'll fight any attempt by the government to get involved with speech."

'Wow': Onlookers stunned as Rand Paul 'takes JD Vance to school' with brutal takedown

Observers were shocked this weekend after Rand Paul, a Republican senator, delivered a brutal takedown of Vice President JD Vance.

Raw Story reported late Saturday that Paul took on Vance, who claimed he doesn't "give a s---" when someone said Vance might have been inadvertently endorsing war crimes on social media.

Paul replied to Vance's statement in part by writing, "What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial."

The attack on his own Republican ex-colleague had the internet abuzz, with New York Times journalist Glenn Thrush replying on Sunday with, "Wow."

Republicans against Trump wrote, "Thank you for your moral clarity on this. JD Vance is a despicable and cynical politician."

PatriotTakes, which purports to track right-wing extremism, asked Paul, "How do we know there were not any human trafficking victims on that boat?"

Former prosecutor Ron Filipkowski commented, "When even Rand Paul thinks you’re despicable."

Veteran John Jackson chimed in, "Getting called out by Rand Paul is a helluva thing."

"He’s totally correct," Jackson added.

Former Republican declared, "Rand Paul is right."

"The Trump administration must be held accountable for murder," they added.

Devin Duke said, "I don't usually agree with Rand Paul but he takes JD Vance to school here."

"JD has become a rabid power lusting maniac since becoming VP," Duke then added.

Conservative attorney and anti-Trump activist George Conway said, "You are absolutely correct, Senator. Thank you for speaking with such moral clarity here."

'Didn't even know': GOP lawmakers talk repeal after being shocked by Big Beautiful Bill provision

Some Republican lawmakers are starting to regret voting for President Donald Trump's megabill now that they're hearing about some of its provisions for the very first time, NBC News reported.

Sahil Kapur, NBC News senior national political reporter, said one of the problematic provisions is a "tax hike on gamblers" that one professional sports better called "potentially catastrophic for the industry."

The clause "would reduce the tax deduction on wagering losses from 100% to 90% starting in 2026," Kapur said in a report for Politics Now.

"Long story short, gamblers could be stuck with a tax bill even if they have zero net winnings in a year."

Kapur said several lawmakers who voted for the legislation now want to repeal it.

"That includes the House's top tax writer, Congressman Jason Smith (R-MO), who told me this tax hike is a mistake by the Senate and that it needs to be undone," Kapur said.

In addition, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called the provision "unfair" and claimed that "most Republicans didn't even know this was in the bill when they voted to pass it," according to the report.

The Senate passed its final version of Trump's 2026 budget legislation at the beginning of July. The vote was 50-50, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie.

Republican senators who voted against the bill were Thom Tillis (R-NC), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Susan Collins (R-ME).

Watch the clip below via NBC News.

'Never seen that happen': GOP clashes over senator's rogue move on Trump bill

Senate Republicans are bashing Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) for going rogue as they hash out changes to the House version of President Donald Trump's megabill, Politico reported.

Paul serves as chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which should give him "jurisdiction" over the section of the bill dealing with border security, according to Politico's Hailey Fuchs. But Paul's defiance over increased spending has led committee members to shut him out of negotiations.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who has a long history of opposing Paul's more conservative approach to spending, is seeking to override Paul’s jurisdiction in the budget negotiations.

"Paul has made clear repeatedly he isn’t planning to vote for the party-line tax and spending bill...giving leadership few reasons to try and play nice," Fuchs wrote, adding that "the decision by senior Senate Republicans to undermine a committee chair in such a way marks a dramatic departure from standard Senate procedure."

This week, Paul drafted his own spending proposal, which is drastically different to Graham's. Senators viewed the move as "another break with precedent," Fuchs wrote.

She added that "few of Paul’s own members on the Homeland Security panel, if any, appeared supportive of the chair’s approach or willing to back him up against leadership’s attempts to undermine him. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said it was concerning that Paul would draft his own proposal 'without any consultation of the committee.'"

Hawley said he had “never seen that happen before," Fuchs wrote.

Paul's proposal "would allocate just $6.5 billion for immigration enforcement efforts at the border. His proposal also would free up $2.5 billion for Customs and Border Protection facilities and checkpoints instead of the House’s $5 billion offering," Politico reported.

Read the Politico article here.

Picnicgate: Trump reinvites Rand Paul to party after fury over 'petty' snub

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who is vocally opposed to President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," has apparently been re-invited to the congressional picnic planned for the White House lawn.

On Wednesday, Paul said he tried to pick up his tickets to the much-anticipated event, only to be told, "You were not invited."

Paul told reporters on the Capitol steps Wednesday that whoever was behind his picnic rejection was acting in a "very petty way."

But on Thursday morning, Trump took to Truth Social to debunk picnicgate.

"Of course Senator Rand Paul and his beautiful wife and family are invited to the BIG White House Party tonight. He’s the toughest vote in the history of the U.S. Senate, but why wouldn’t he be?" Trump wrote.

"Besides, it gives me more time to get his Vote on the Great, Big, Beautiful Bill, one of the greatest and most important pieces of legislation ever put before our Senators & Congressmen/women. It will help to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! I look forward to seeing Rand. The Party will be Great!"

On Fox News Sunday, Paul said, "Somebody has to stand up and yell, the emperor has no clothes, and everybody's falling in lockstep on this, passed the big, beautiful bill, don't question anything. This is a problem we've been facing for decades now, and if we don't stand up on it, I really fear the direction the country is going."

Trump has lashed out at Paul's opposition to the funding bill, writing on social media, "Rand votes NO on everything, but never has any practical or constructive ideas," he added several minutes later. "His ideas are actually crazy (losers!). The people of Kentucky can't stand him."

Anti-Trump attorney George Conway made light of the invite debacle on X, writing, "Being uninvited from the White House caused Rand Paul to lose a lot of the respect he had for Donald Trump that Trump’s two impeachments, insurrection, four criminal indictments, criminal conviction, and sexual abuse damages verdict did not cause him to lose. Got it."

'Act of self-deception': Trump faces crisis as GOP rebels vow to dig in heels

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson need to back off — or so argue many Senate Republicans set on overhauling the House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which would turn much of Trump's campaign rhetoric into law.

After the measure squeaked out of the House by a single vote ahead of the Memorial Day recess, GOP leaders and the president are pressuring Senate Republicans to pass the bill, complete with tax and spending cuts, by July 4.

“Do you think the current timeline is unrealistic?” Raw Story asked Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) at the Capitol.

“It is,” said Johnson, one of only a few Senate Republicans Trump has called this week.

Unrealistic or not, Republican leaders are barreling ahead to meet their own self-imposed timeline of ASAP, even as an increasing number of senators call for a better bill.

‘He wants no Medicaid cuts’

A handful of key Republicans are worried less about timelines than about the substance of the bill, a measure even Trump’s former “first buddy” Elon Musk now calls a “disgusting abomination."

The White House has pushed back, arguing the measure “delivers the largest deficit reduction in nearly 30 years.” But that’s not what analysts say, and it isn’t good enough for fiscal conservatives like Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). He says raising the debt ceiling by $5 trillion as part of the package makes it impossible for him to swallow White House talking points.

f“Well, have you ever seen the debt ceiling go up when we didn't reach the debt ceiling? So we will,” Paul told reporters this week. “It means we're going to borrow $5 trillion more, probably, presumably, next year. And so it means that they're calculating spending and the deficit accumulation goes on unabated.”

On Tuesday, President Trump lashed out.

“Rand votes NO on everything, but never has any practical or constructive ideas,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “His ideas are actually crazy (losers!). The people of Kentucky can’t stand him. This is a BIG GROWTH BILL!”

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the House measure will add more than $2 trillion to budget deficits, while changes to Medicaid would result in millions losing health coverage.

Paul says that if the GOP is serious about getting federal spending under control, it must overhaul programs like Medicare and Social Security.

“If you take the entitlements off the table, which they’ve largely done, you cannot change the direction, cannot change the vast accumulation of debt,” Paul said.

Paul is far from alone. A growing number of Republicans are demanding steeper spending cuts.

Johnson, the Wisconsin senator, has been walking around the Capitol, using his phone to show reporters and fellow Republicans spending charts, arguing the House measure fails to bring federal spending back to pre-pandemic levels.

“I understand the challenges everybody faces, but we have to bend the deficit curve down,” Johnson told Raw Story, showing a chart. “We have to do that.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) shows reporters spending charts. Photo: Matt Laslo.

While Paul wants the debt limit increase stripped out of the bill, Johnson advocates making it smaller, so Congress is forced to cut spending next year.

“Right now I'm hoping to convince President Trump that it's in his best interest — he wants to bring the deficit curve down as well — to just do a debt ceiling for a year to put pressure on the process, force us to come back and do another reconciliation and get more serious about all this stuff,” Johnson said. “If I can accomplish that, I think that would be pretty good.”

“Do you think there's political will in the GOP conference to cut the deficit?" Raw Story asked.

“You have to create it,” Johnson said.

Creating political will is hard, especially in this divided Washington.

The GOP is itself divided. Some Republicans are fighting House-passed Medicaid cuts.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), no one’s idea of a moderate, has spoken to Trump and says the president sided with him and other vocal opponents of cutting Medicaid.

“He reiterated that he wants no Medicaid benefit cuts,” Hawley told reporters. “I agree with him 100 percent."

Hawley is joined by the few remaining GOP centrists, including Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME), in vowing to oppose the Big Beautiful Bill if Medicaid cuts stay in.

‘Deep uncertainty’

Such GOP infighting is bolstering Democrats who cannot derail the bill without Republican assistance. Many highlight the hypocrisy enshrined in the Republican plan.

“It’s one of the most destructive pieces of legislation in the history of the USA,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) told Raw Story. “It’s a massive act of self-deception.

“Everything that traditionally Republicans stood for. Fiscal responsibility? Gone. Investment in the future? Gone. Rule of law? Gone. This will spread the pain universally. No one's spared.”

Democrats claim that message is resonating in battleground states.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) says his voters resent even the name of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“What I hear from my constituents does not include the word ‘beautiful,’” Kelly told Raw Story. “Nobody in Arizona has used that word with this legislation.”

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) just attended the Detroit Chamber of Commerce’s annual bipartisan conference on Mackinac Island.

“It was pretty much the only talk of the island,” Slotkin told Raw Story. ”All our business leaders, all our unions, energy companies, environmental folks, every elected official — Democratic, Republican.”

“What's the mood?” Raw Story pressed.

“Deep uncertainty, especially in manufacturing,” Slotkin said.

‘I’m a maybe’

With Republican senators demanding sweeping changes to the multi-trillion-dollar package, even some of Trump’s closest allies are still on the fence.

“I’m a maybe right now,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Raw Story. “Every day something will change. If people are going out there saying, ‘I'm for it’ or ‘I'm against it’, why would you do that? Too early.”

Speaker Johnson has urged Senate Republicans not to overhaul the measure, because with every tweak he risks losing support in his own divided conference.

To make it out of the Senate, the bill needs backing from 50 Senate Republicans, given Vice President JD Vance would break a tie. As of now, the votes aren’t there. Supporters say that’s to be expected.

“It's called negotiations. We're just negotiating,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) told Raw Story. “Everybody wants their fingerprints on it, but, at the end of the day, you’ve got to get 51 on the bill. That's what we're going to do.”

ALSO READ: FBI silent as far-right podcaster demands Trump execution and Kash Patel torture

'Never forgive him!' Trump unleashes on GOP senator threatening his bill

Donald Trump on Saturday targeted a fellow Republican, Senator Rand Paul, in an online rant.

The president took to his own social media site, Truth Social, over the weekend to make a bulleted post that combined several apparent announcements, including, "THE S&P just hit an All Time High!"

Another announcement singled out Paul.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump accused of new grift that puts Qatari plane in shade

"If Senator Rand Paul votes against our Great, Big, Beautiful Bill, he is voting for, along with the Radical Left Democrats, a 68% Tax Increase and, perhaps even more importantly, a first time ever default on U.S. Debt," Trump wrote. "Rand will be playing right into the hands of the Democrats, and the GREAT people of Kentucky will never forgive him!"

Trump claimed, "The GROWTH we are experiencing, plus some cost cutting later on, will solve ALL problems."

He concluded, "America will be greater than ever before!"

Read it here.

Mitt Romney defends Donald Trump’s massive stock holdings

But what about Donald Trump’s Truth Social stock?

The former president’s massive financial assets were a primary concern of Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) during a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs debate Wednesday over whether Congress should ban federal lawmakers — and presidents — from owning and trading stocks and other investments.

“We don't want people in Congress trading stocks, playing the stock market. That's, if you will, the sheep's clothing over this wolf piece of legislation,” Romney said at the meeting. “What you're not talking about is that this has been drafted in a way that is really quite thoughtless, which is it requires divestiture for people who want to become a congressperson or president or vice president.”

Romney continued, “Have you thought about Donald Trump? For instance, under this bill, he couldn't become president. I mean, he'd have to sell all of his Truth Social stock. He'd have to sell all of his private investments. This basically would prevent Donald Trump from becoming president if he wanted to maintain his financial assets without getting completely obliterated.”

The bill in question, an amended version of the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act, ultimately passed out of committee with an eight to four vote, with Republican senators divided on how to proceed.

Raw Story found dozens of legislators who violated the STOCK Act since January 2023, and several other members of Congress have made stock trades that conflict with their official responsibilities, such as lawmakers who trade defense contractor stock while sitting on a congressional committee with defense oversight responsibilities.

But not all lawmakers believe a congressional stock ban is the answer, and Wednesday’s committee vote came after Republicans sparred over whether Congress should force key federal officials to divest of their existing stock holdings (and Trump to divest his if he becomes president again next year).

“While lots of people are going to vote for it because they want to be on record for opposing people trading in the stock market, that's not the problem with the bill, and it was not drafted in a way to focus on the real problem or potential problem,” Romney said. “It was drafted in a way to be punitive and to keep Donald Trump from being president.”

Romney — long a Trump critic who said he won’t vote for the Republican nominee — later pointed out that Trump owns 114 million shares of Trump Media and Technology Group, Corp, worth $3.776 billion, saying divesting of that would be “a massive disadvantage for him.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) called the idea of legislators divesting of their ownership in businesses with more than 1,000 employees “insane,” noting that the bill calls on that to happen. The bill, Paul added, is “criminalizing everybody who wants to own stock.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) chimed in to support Romney’s comments, saying he came into the meeting “happy to vote yes on this self-flagellation.” Johnson said he divested of his securities when running for office, considering it to be the “honorable thing to do.”

Kiersten Pels, a spokesperson for Johnson, told Raw Story via email that the senator "views the ETHICS Act as 'self-flagellation' as there are already insider trading laws in effect, and bills further limiting members’ ability, and those of their spouses and dependent children, to own securities and assets, like private business interest, are just needless punishment for serving in Congress."

Johnson believes the bill's requirements would "disincentivize potential candidates from running for office if they cannot afford to support themselves or their families on just the salary for members," which includes expenses for housing in Washington, D.C., Pels said. The salary for senators is generally $174,000 per year.

"Senator Johnson could support the bill if it was amended to target the specific problem the bill’s sponsors claim to want to address — insider stock trading by Members—which is already illegal," Pels said.

Johnson, one of the richest members of the Senate, with a net worth of more than $39 million in 2018, according to Open Secrets, voted "no" during the meeting.

“You know how much I've lost in terms of opportunity cost since that point in time,” Johnson said. “We don't want to turn Congress into a rich man's club."

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), a co-sponsor of the bill, argued with his Republican colleagues who challenged the bill, saying “there's always an excuse for why we can't do a stock trade bill. I've heard this for years.”

“Congress is a rich man's club. That's the problem. That's what we're trying to fix,” Hawley said.

Hawley expressed his “100 percent” commitment to passing a congressional stock trading ban and expressed willingness to continue working through the specifics of the bill despite committee colleagues “who have never supported and are never going to support a stock trade ban.”

“Listen, the American people look at people like the former Speaker of the House, who makes better returns than anybody in America. They look at senators who were investigated during the Covid pandemic for their miraculous stock trades, and they say, ‘how is this possible?’” Hawley said. “To think that this might become a problem in the future is, frankly, fanciful. It's a problem now.”

Indeed, numerous members of Congress continue to trade individual stocks and fail to abide by the rules contained within the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which requires members of Congress to publicly report within 45 days most purchases, sales and exchanges of stocks, bonds, commodity futures, securities and cryptocurrencies.

The 12-year-old law intended to curb insider trading, prevent conflicts of interest and provide more transparency to the public about members of Congress’ personal finances.

Former Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Richard Burr (R-NC) were all federally investigated for suspiciously timed stock trades during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, although none were charged with crimes.

Romney on Wednesday pushed to delay the committee vote on the bill by a week and presented an amendment that would remove the requirement for candidates for Congress or the White House to divest from their assets obtained before coming into office. The amendment was not adopted, with six senators voting in favor of it and nine against.

“Voting today is very awkward because I'm not going to vote for this bill the way it is with the divestiture provision,” Romney said.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) acknowledged his Republican colleagues’ concerns but expressed his continued support of the bill, expressing the desire for legislators’ spouses to immediately be banned from stock trading. Marshall was previously 17 months late in disclosing three of his dependent children’s stock trades, valued up to $45,000, Business Insider reported.

As currently written, Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act, proposes an immediate ban on members of Congress buying stocks and would prohibit them from selling stocks 90 days after enactment. Members’ spouses and dependent children would be prohibited from trading stocks starting in March 2027, which is when the president and vice president would also be required to divest from covered investments.

Covered assets include securities, commodities, futures, options and trusts. Congressional staff members would be allowed to continue trading stocks under this bill as would legislators' non-dependent children.

“I would be impacted by the current legislation and have to divest myself of companies that we own prior to getting here … but I think this is so important we need to move forward,” Marshall said.

Ahead of the committee meeting, ETHICS Act co-sponsor Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) told Raw Story in a phone interview that the timing was right to pass a ban on stock trading legislation, something he has worked at for 12 years.

“This markup showed there is strong bipartisan momentum to get legislation banning Congressional stock trading to the President’s desk," Merkley told Raw Story in a statement. "The ETHICS Act’s strength comes from the fact that it is not written to accommodate any specific circumstance that would create loopholes for any individuals. If this solution is good enough for Members of Congress, it should be good enough for any candidate for president.”

Hawley posted on X after the hearing, “Members of Congress should be focusing on the American people's business — not trading stocks for their private gain. The Homeland Security Committee got it right today by passing my bill to BAN Congress from stock trading. Now send it to the Senate Floor!”

Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), a co-sponsor of the bill, called Wednesday's vote “a historic moment in efforts to reform the ethics laws that govern Congress.”

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA). (Shutterstock)

“Georgians overwhelmingly agree that Members of Congress should not be playing the stock market while we legislate and while we have access to confidential and privileged information,” Ossoff said in a statement. “This is long overdue and necessary, and today we made historic progress passing my bipartisan bill out of Committee.”

"The people we represent deserve to have complete confidence that their federal elected officials are working in Americans’ best interests, and not their own personal financial interests,” said Chairman Gary Peters (D-MI), another co-sponsor of the latest bipartisan version of the ETHICS Act, in a press release. “By passing this legislation out of committee with bipartisan support, we have taken a monumental step towards getting this bill one step closer to becoming law and finally barring bad actors from taking advantage of their positions for their own financial gain.

Romney, Paul and Marshall also did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment, nor did a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign.

Numerous bills have been introduced in recent years to effectively ban stock trading for members of Congress or increase the penalties for violations.

None have yet gotten a floor vote, and during the past three years, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been one of the biggest obstacles to previous stock ban bills advancing.

To date, President Joe Biden has been all but silent on whether he supports such a stock ban. But Merkley said he’s confident that the president, who on Sunday announced he would no longer seek reelection, will back it.

“I cannot imagine a world in which he wouldn't sign legislation that bans stock trading,” Merkley said.

This story was updated with comments from Sens. Gary Peters (D- MI) and Ron Johnson (R-WI).

'Ridiculous,’ ‘chaos,’ ‘foolish,’ ‘turmoil’: Senate GOP smites Marjorie Taylor Greene

WASHINGTON — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is making the Republican Party look ridiculous.

That’s according to Republican senators.

In exclusive interviews with 22 Republican U.S. senators, Raw Story found a trend — ranging from annoyance to anger to alarm — over the Georgia Republican congresswoman’s plan to formally deploy her motion to vacate House Speaker Mike Johson this week.

“I think it's ridiculous, it's counterproductive, and, frankly, just foolish,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told Raw Story. “Blowing up the speakership undermines conservative principles profoundly.”

Last week, Greene told Raw Story polls showed Trump’s base is behind her. Her own party isn’t, though. And some of her own constituents aren’t, either, according to Raw Story interviews conducted last week across Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. Greene is now angling for a deal.

“It's stupid, and it's selfish on her part,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) told Raw Story. “It's either one, a political stunt [or] two, selfish on her part.”

While Democratic leaders feel they have a solid chance of recapturing the House this November, over in the United States Senate GOP leaders and rank-and-file members alike see a winnable path back to the majority in November.

‘Certain individuals tear us apart’

Greene’s antics have some senators worried they’ll cost Republicans majorities in the House and Senate.

“I’m focused on winning the Senate majority,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) – who’s chairing the National Republican Senatorial Committee this election cycle – told Raw Story. “It’s time to come together and not have certain individuals tear us apart.”

Daines isn’t alone in his refusal — Voldemort-style — to even say Greene’s name out loud.

Among the others: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s former right-hand man, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). The senior Texan in the U.S. Senate served as Republican whip under McConnell but was term limited out and replaced by Sen. John Thune (R-SD) — who Cornyn is now running against in his bid for McConnell’s gavel.

ALSO READ: ‘Lord of the Flies’: Inside MTG’s effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson

Cornyn, who’s still one of McConnell’s close confidants, dismisses MTG out of hand.

“She’s becoming more marginalized by the day,” Cornyn told Raw Story.

In the McConnell leadership retirement shakeup, Senate Republicans’ current number three, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), is running to be the party’s second in command in the Senate. Barrasso initially brushed aside Raw Story’s inquiry. Ask a House member, he said.

“But is that a distraction for the party?” Raw Story pressed.

“We need to make sure we win the presidency, win the Senate and hold the House,” Barrasso, not answering the question, told Raw Story. “And that’s where my focus is.”

'Just don't think it's helpful'

It’s not just wannabe GOP leaders.

Some of former President Donald Trump’s top Senate allies refuse to criticize Greene publicly — even though they oppose her effort.

“I just don’t think it’s helpful,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Raw Story. “About all I can say.”

Others who proudly rep the MAGA-rightwing of the Senate may not personally know Mike Johnson, but they have their alternative set of facts down.

“What do you think of Speaker Johnson?”

ALSO READ: Marjorie Taylor Greene is buying stocks again. Some picks pose a conflict of interest

“Well, you don’t get up and tell people you’re gonna do one thing and do another. You lose all integrity that way. Now, he better have a good excuse for what he did,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Raw Story, before offering. “I don’t know the guy.”

These days, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is the leading libertarian of the Senate Republican Conference. This is why it’s probably no surprise that he’s all in with Greene after she helped make his isolationist view of foreign policy more mainstream in today’s GOP.

“If you’re a Democrat, Mike Johnson’s probably done a pretty good job,” Paul told Raw Story. “He got their spending bill through – $1.5 trillion deficit this year. He worked on them to kill reform of FISA, and then he worked on them to give money we don't have to Ukraine. So I'd say, from a Democrat point of view, Mike Johnson’s a pretty good speaker. That's why they're saying they may vote to keep him.”

As for whether Greene challenging Speaker Johnson will hurt the Republican Party?

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) – who told Raw Story he’s “close to MTG” – says he’s not worried.

“She obviously has the prerogative to do it,” Vance said. “I don't think it ultimately goes anywhere, but she knows better than me because it's her chamber.”

“Do you think it's bad for the party heading into November?” Raw Story asked.

“No. I think obviously there's a lot of frustration over how the security supplemental went down,” Vance said. “Sometimes these things are necessarily messy, but I think having this debate, having this fight is not the worst thing.”

When nudged, Vance – who’s rumored to be on Trump’s vice presidential shortlist – did admit he wouldn’t be with MTG on her anti-Johnson quest if he served alongside her.

“Look, if I was in the House, do I think we should be sacking the speaker right now? No,” Vance said. “But I don't think that's going to happen. So having the debate is actually, I think, a pretty healthy thing.”

Whether it’s healthy for today’s Republican Party to again broadcast their party’s civil war across the globe isn’t — to many in the GOP — up for debate.

Senator who served in House sees ‘turmoil’ ahead

Many more senior Republicans are braced for another brawl.

“I don't think the House needs any more turmoil,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) told Raw Story. “I’m sorry to see it happen, I hope it's not successful.”

Capito is far from alone. Other former House Republicans are gently trying to dissuade Greene by gently offering lessons applicable to everyone from, say, a toddler, all the way on up to a member of the House of Representatives.

“She's within her right,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) told Raw Story. “But there are lots of things that are within your right that you don’t get.”

This is the first Senate term for Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), but she has four terms in the House under her rodeo-sized belt buckle. While there, Lummis was a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus – the same group of giddy conservative bomb throwers who booted Greene last year for publicly cursing out Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO).

Lummis didn’t overlap with Greene, but she’s buddies with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), the lead co-sponsor in Greene’s effort to oust Johnson.

“Well, I'm a huge Thomas Massie fan. That said, I think that that's ill-advised. I wish they would reconsider. There's been enough chaos around the Capitol building,” Lummis told Raw Story.

She may not be a party leader, but Lummis knows few things rally the Republican base like fighting regulatory overreach, whether real or merely perceived. That’s why she wants to keep the focus not on a fellow Republican, but the top Democrat of them all — President Joe Biden.

“This may be a better time to let the dust settle,” Lummis said. “Let's get through this absolute deluge of rules that are coming out of this administration. Let's stop this obscene rulemaking. And the way we can best do that is just to join forces, especially as Republicans, to stop the onslaught.”

Still, other former House members are almost embarrassed by the antics.

“I think it’s a waste of time,” Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) told Raw Story.

Other Republican senators agree, though they, of course, say it in their own senatorial way.

'Don't understand the dynamics over there'

Talking to many Senate Republicans, one comes away feeling as if the House and Senate inhabit different universes, as opposed to being housed in the same, historical building.

“Look, this is my 40-what … 43rd year in the Senate,” Sen. James Risch (R-ID) told Raw Story. “I’ve never served in the other House. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in those 43 years, don’t try to tell them how to do their business.”

No one – at least none of his colleagues – asked Risch. And no one’s asking his colleagues, though senators have thoughts, even the ones who tell you they don’t.

“It’s not up to me. House members will handle it,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) told Raw Story. “Now, do I think Speaker Johnson should be removed? No. But no one over there’s gonna ask our opinion, so why offer it?”

Twins.

“That’s up to the House of Representatives,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told Raw Story. “But they won’t be successful.”

Grassley’s fellow Iowan, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), feels the same way. But even though she says it’s not a matter for senators, she has … thoughts.

“House’s business, obviously,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) told Raw Story. “I just would love to see those that continually threaten Republican leadership, can they do a better job?”

“Well, they haven’t even put forward a replacement,” Raw Story noted.

“Exactly,” Ernst said.

Other senators claim utter ignorance when it comes to House matters.

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“I don’t understand the dynamics over there. I don’t have a comment on that,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) told Raw Story. “House math is very different than Senate math, so I don’t think I should weigh in on that, because I know nothing about how it works over there.”

Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) never served in the House. Nor does he ever want to. He’s running for governor of Indiana.

In fact, Braun’s locked in a six-way GOP primary. Indiana Republicans will decide his fate this Tuesday when they cast their primary ballots, which may be why he’s concerned Greene’s bomb throwing is going to result in his gubernatorial campaign getting hit with unnecessary shrapnel.

“I don't know why we’d do that. In the sense of, who would do much better?” Braun told Raw Story. “I understand some of the frustrations there, but, I think, politically that looks like you're sowing the seeds of chaos and not focusing on some of the key issues.”

‘Embarrassing herself and embarrassing the chamber’

The impulse to stay in one’s senatorial lane is strong on the northern, formerly more deliberate side of the United States Capitol, the one senators call home. Senators are senators; House members are just different, at least to senators. “The House is a mystery,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Raw Story. “I don’t know, I don’t know.”

The House may be a mystery but some Republicans say the mystery isn’t innate to the chamber. They say the problem is the person. One they won’t even discuss these days.

“I have no thoughts on Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) told Raw Story.

“Yeah?” Raw Story pressed. “But she’s going to move on the motion to vacate Speaker Johnson…”

“I got nothing on her, man,” Young – head down, avoiding eye contact – replied.

“But do you think it’s bad for the party to have another motion to vacate fight?”

“I don’t feel like offering a comment on this,” Young, his back to Raw Story, said as he entered a Senate elevator. “Thank you.”

He may be retiring at the end of his term, but Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), the former GOP standard-bearer as a 2012 presidential nominee, knows politics and hates political ploys.

“She's doing her very best to get attention and contributions,” Romney told Raw Story. “She's embarrassing herself and embarrassing the chamber, I'm afraid.”

Trump's America first agenda keeps angry Senate in session as Super Bowl plans upended

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators are doing something rare this weekend: Actually working.

Well, at least, some senators are. On Friday night only 83 of the Senate’s 100 members showed up for a late night vote, which is only compounding the tangible frustration at the Capitol as lawmakers have seen their schedules upended — including one senator who had to scrap her plan to attend the Super Bowl — over an internal GOP debate that’s now boiled over into public view.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is forcing his colleagues to stay in town this weekend and battle over a now $95.3 billion foreign aid package that includes funding for Taiwan, Israel and Gaza — a measure that included border security funding and reforms last weekend until the GOP killed that compromise measure — because Paul opposes the $60 billion in the measure earmarked for Ukraine.

Party leaders hoped to work out a time agreement to speed up debate, but Paul has employed his senatorial right to delay — a filibuster, of sorts — telling the press corps he won’t allow that until “hell freezes over.”

“So hell hasn’t frozen over yet?” Raw Story asked Paul as he left the Capitol on Friday evening.

“Nope,” Paul told Raw Story. “We're still waiting.”

“So we can expect Sunday?”

“I think it'll be Monday or Tuesday until we're finished,” Paul said. “I don't think we should easily allow people to send money to protect someone else's border when we're not willing to protect our own border.”

The Senate isn’t even scheduled to be in session this coming week — let alone this weekend — but senators' planned two-week long President’s Day recess is now delayed indefinitely because of Paul’s protest.

Paul’s last stand is a farce to many of his colleagues, including many of the 17 Republican senators who have advocated for the same isolationist — a.k.a. America first — agenda as Paul but didn’t even bother to show up to the Senate’s Friday night vote.

The Senate’s technically in session today, with some senators giving floor speeches to an empty chamber. But no votes are scheduled, so the Capitol’s quiet.

Senators are slated to come back to the Capitol Sunday afternoon for another procedural vote to keep the foreign aid measure moving, albeit slowly. It’s unclear if those 17 Republicans plan to play hooky from their duties, again, especially after at least one of the party’s private meetings this week devolved into a shouting match that left at least one senator reporting she was “pissed off.”

The GOP has been in disarray since House Speaker Mike Johnson and other prominent Republicans rejected a bipartisan border security compromise that took four grueling months to negotiate after Republicans demanded border funding be a part of any foreign assistance measure.

Johnson torpedoed the initial $118 billion measure with border funding, and on Tuesday the House defeated a $17.6 billion measure that would have only funded Israel after Johnson put it on the floor without measuring its support within his divided conference.

Since then, Speaker Johnson's failed to offer his party an alternative. That’s left his Republican allies in the Senate divided over how the party should proceed, because anything they pass has to be approved by the House eventually. That has Democratic senators all but rolling their eyes.

“We’re starting to look more like the House,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) complained to Raw Story as he was getting in his car Friday evening.

While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell supported rank-and-file Republicans' initial calls for border funding, he’s now been left overseeing an internal GOP brawl as Republican senators fight over which measures the party wants to formally offer on the Senate floor as amendments to the broader aid package.

“There’s a division there. This is not about McConnell and his grip on the leadership. This is about a faction of new Republicans who think disrupting is progress,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) told Raw Story after casting another procedural vote on the foreign aid package Friday.

Democrats complain 2024 presidential politics have now engulfed the Capitol at the behest of the party’s presumptive nominee, former President Donald Trump.

“I’m sorry that we have Republicans that are standing with Donald Trump,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) told Raw Story while walking to her car Friday evening.

“He doesn't want to make a deal on the border, but he also wants to get [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelensky. Remember his first impeachment was because of what happened with Zelensky — that ‘perfect’ phone call?” Stabenow said. “So he could get Zelensky and help his buddy [Russian President Vladmir] Putin who he wants to help him in the election, again. And he gets all of that if this bill goes down.”

“Do you think that's part of it?” Raw Story inquired.

“I think it’s not ‘part of it’ — of the people holding this up, it’s like almost all of them. Almost all of them. It really is,” Stabenow said. “Everything they’re doing is for an audience of one: Donald Trump.”

The far-right, spurred on by Trump, is now targeting GOP senators who are voting with Democrats to send more assistance to Ukraine, which is rankling congressional Republicans who support American allies in Eastern Europe.

“It's unfortunate that they are not recognizing the challenges that the United States is facing right now — and that our friends and our allies are,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) told Raw Story. “These are hard times that require, oftentimes, difficult decisions that can be complicated and complex. And so a knee jerk reaction, like calling people ‘traitors’ for trying to understand the full extent of what we have in front of us as a nation, nothing is that simple.”

Murkowski says she doesn’t personally blame Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

“I don't know. The way things have been going around here, if it wasn't Rand, it's probably gonna be somebody else,” Murkowski said. “To me, we ought to be able to figure out pathways forward on significant measures, like the one we have in front of us.”

It’s the Senate, so, of course, Paul and others have their defenders.

“Every senator’s got a right,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told Raw Story. “You don’t get far in this place if you hold bitterness.”

“Are you mad at Rand Paul at all?” Raw Story asked on the Capitol’s steps.

“Well,” Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) replied through a deep breath and slight senatorial grimace.

Rosen has been an outspoken advocate of Las Vegas tourism, including the tens of millions of dollars the city is expected to rake in from hosting this weekend’s Super Bowl, which Rosen has a ticket for.

“So if there are votes on Sunday are you coming back?”

“I’m not leaving. You can’t get to Las Vegas and come back,” Rosen told Raw Story after voting on Friday evening. “Nope. We’re here.”

“Oh, so you can't even go?”

“No,” Rosen said through a laugh. “My husband's gonna have a great time.”

“That really sucks! I’m sorry.”

“It does,” Rosen told Raw Story. “It does.”