All posts tagged "steve scalise"

'What is happening here?' GOP leader's 'Bolshevik takeover' warning baffles onlookers

A GOP leader's recent warning about the Democratic Party and a "Bolshevik takeover" left onlookers baffled.

On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) spoke about the upcoming elections and invoked a Red Scare with his cautionary words about the Democratic Party.

"The Bolshevik takeover of the Democratic Party is in full swing," Scalise said. "Communism is on the ballot this November."

Trump has been making similar warnings ahead of the midterms. However, online critics were more confused by Scalise's choice of words than they were scared.

"What is happening here?" former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance wrote. "Seriously. Bolshevik?"

"This communism stuff comes across as so desperate," legal and political analyst Joe Patrice reacted.

"Hitler used 'Bolsheviks' and 'communists' almost interchangeably with 'the Jews,'" Canadian political commentator Jim Stewartson posted. "That was a relatively short time after the actual Bolshevik Revolution. McCarthy's red scare was during the Cold War. Scalise's excuse is Mamdani. It's so embarrassing."

"Brother we just want affordable healthcare," commented popular internet personality Jared Shult.

"If the election is about inflation, war, the economy and @realDonaldTrump, the Republicans will lose the House and, possibly, the Senate," wrote former Obama White House official David Axelrod. "So this is their mantra for fall!"

"Bolshevik? How Retro, a return to the original Fascist counter-revolutionary rhetoric and action," author Ruth Ben-Ghiat posted. "Conjuring Communism in all its forms is apparently the new MAGA propaganda theme."

"Folks, be prepared," warned political commentator and former GOP strategist Tara Setmayer. "It's starting already. This is the GOP's strategy to distract from Trump's failures and their complicity. However, do not underestimate the effectiveness of the scare tactic without a proper strategy to combat it. Remember 'they/them?'"

White House official tells Republicans to simply submit as GOP fractures

As Republicans are pushing back against Trump's attempt to control his dissent in his party, the White House is telling them to stop fighting and accept it.

Politico reported that a senior White House official essentially said Republicans needed to accept Trump's dominance over the GOP and "submit."

"The quicker they understand that President Trump is the ultimate force in politics, the quicker they'll realize it's a futile exercise to go against him," the official told Politico.

GOP lawmakers have been speaking out against Trump backing primary opponents to Republican lawmakers who have stood up to him. However, Trump's endorsement has successfully led to the ousting of his GOP rivals in Kentucky, Louisiana, and Indiana.

Republicans have continued to speak out against their president. Trump threatened to go after Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) for voting against him, and because his fiancée asks tough questions. Rep. Don Bacon, who plans to retire, described it as "dumb."

However, White House spokesperson Olivia Wales touted Trump as the "unequivocal leader, best messenger and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party," according to Politico. "Voters overwhelmingly continue to reward candidates who stand with the president and his winning movement."

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise seemed to echo the need to toe Trump's line in a veiled message that refers to GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy's loss in Louisiana.

"Just like in Louisiana Saturday, it just goes to show that the voters have the ultimate say on whether we stay or come back," he said, according to Politico. "If you break the trust with your voters, they're going to send you home."

GOP falls into disarray as some reps already regret newly proposed DHS shutdown bill

The Republican Party has been left in disarray over a recently proposed bill to finally end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) has warned that some GOP Senate lawmakers are unhappy with the recently proposed bill, outlining what could be a future regret for the party. Speaking on ABC's This Week, Scalise said, "Well we actually read their bill and, frankly, a number of senators have expressed buyer’s remorse with what they did at 3 in the morning.

"So we looked at it. One of the things that we had real concerns with is that it actually defunds over 25 percent of the baseline operations at DHS.

"We sent a bill that was short-term. It’s not exactly what we want, but at least it allows everybody to get paid — all the agencies, TSA, everybody — while we negotiate our differences. We have very big differences between the House and the Senate."

While Democrats in the House expressed their support for the newly written bill, Politico reported, it is still up to the Senate to pass it through.

Scalise said, "The House stayed later than we were scheduled to stay to take up a bill to fully fund the department and sent it back over to the Senate. So the bill is over in the Senate. The Senate’s got options. They’ve got to come back and deal with it."

Right now, the House has before them still the bill from the Senate. They could continue on,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) told host Jake Tapper on CNN’s "State of the Union," "Instead, Speaker Johnson again chose to leave town and not actually take up the bill that could get passed through."

Fellow Republican Party Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) was left embarrassed earlier today after speaking about details of the funding bill.

The South Carolina Republican was sitting on a State of the Union panel with Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) when the CNN host asked her about the competing funding bills between the House and the Senate.

MAGA Rep rips Dem's sign saying 'Black people aren't apes' at State of the Union

Majority Leader of the House Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) ripped a sign from Rep. Al Green (D-TX) that said "Black people aren't apes" just before President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address.

Trump was walking down the aisle of the House Chamber when Scalise stopped to pull down Green's sign, which was referring to the president's recent attack on former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama.

Green was later escorted out of the chambers.

'This will fall apart': Senators say government could shut down again in January

Senators are bracing themselves for yet another government shutdown, just hours after concluding a 43-day freeze.

The belief in Congress is that outstanding bills will lead to another shutdown as early as January next year. Representatives say certain amendments to proposed bills will make "the whole thing fall apart" and lead to a stall in government once more. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told Politico that certain demands would see a complete rejection of the bill from the Democrats.

He said, "If they want to add poison pills, obviously the whole thing will fall apart." It comes as Politico suggested that "any partisan demands" could "deadlock the effort" to pass the remaining nine bills. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has since said they need to "find a resolution" to get the government back in motion.

Scalise said, "We’ve got to just find a resolution to get the lights back on. But the real negotiation is going to be: Can we get an agreement on how to properly fund the government with individual appropriations bills, packages of appropriations bills?"

Trump's approval rating during the government shutdown has slumped, with pollster Nate Silver suggesting one issue is a decisive factor in this decline. RealClearPolling recorded a -8.9% drop in approval, while the Newsweek Tracker shows a 43% approval rating, down from 44% this time last month.

Silverwrote, "It seems very likely that threatening SNAP benefits was the primary cause of the big downshift in Trump's approval ratings beginning ~3 weeks ago."

Silver would also suggest Democrats had "more leverage" on the government shutdown than they first thought. He added, "You'd think that downturn, plus the elections last Tuesday, would give Democrats considerably more leverage on the shutdown. But instead, they elected to punt."

The "huge blunder" may also be a reason for recent Democrat victories in the New York mayoral election and governor races in Virginia and New Jersey. Silver suggested the fears of benefits cuts, ongoing healthcare concerns and SNAP benefits were issues that are "real enough to contribute to Democrats absolutely crushing Republicans."

Iranian mom snatched by ICE while gardening freed after Republican intervenes

An Iranian mother who was seized by ICE while gardening at her New Orleans home has been freed after a prominent Republican intervened with the Department of Homeland Security.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) told media outlet WDSU that he asked DHS to give 64-year-old Mandonna “Donna” Kashanian "a fair shake" by considering "her life's work."

That includes being a “'devoted mother and wife, a caretaker, neighbor and dedicated volunteer' with Habitat for Humanity, her local school district and other organizations," Rep. Stephanie Hilferty, a Louisiana House Republican, told The Associated Press.

Hilferty said she and Scalise shared more than 100 letters of neighborhood support for Kashanian with President Donald Trump’s administration.

Kashanian arrived in the United States in 1978 on a student visa and "unsuccessfully applied for asylum based on her father’s support of the U.S.-backed shah," according to the report. She remained in the United States for 47 years, and her husband and daughter are both U.S. citizens.

She "had been allowed to stay in the U.S. as long as she checked in regularly with immigration authorities, as she had done without fail, her family and attorney said," according to the report.

“When she was picked up, we looked at it and said, ‘Are they really looking at it the right way, objectively?’” Scalise told WDSU. “And so they took a second look at it.”

Kashanian's attorney, Ken Mayeaux, told the AP that Scalise’s intervention was “absolutely crucial” to secure her release after two weeks in custody. He added that "Kashanian’s legal status is still being worked out."

Kashanian's husband, Russell Milne, told the AP, “She’s meeting her obligations. She’s retirement age. She’s not a threat. Who picks up a grandmother?”

A spokesperson for DHS told the AP in an emailed statement that “the facts of this case have not changed.”

“Mandonna Kashanian is in this country illegally. She exhausted all her legal options," the email said.

Read the Associated Press article here.

How much access did $50,000 buy someone at the Republican National Convention?

MILWAUKEE — An open secret about national conventions: the real action is often outside the convention hall, blocks or even miles away from where a political party will formally nominate its presidential candidate.

And this week in tony restaurants, trendy bars, hotel ballrooms and entertainment venues across Milwaukee, corporate lobbyists, megadonors and conservative advocacy organizations will engage in the age-old tradition of using money to influence politics.

The more money you have, the more access you can buy.

So what does $50,000 buy you at the Republican National Convention?

ALSO READ: Trump and God: Religion raises the stakes at Republican convention

Quite a lot, according to more than two-dozen private invitations and political sponsorship offers reviewed by Raw Story.

Take the Republican Party of Arizona’s $50,000 “corporate platinum sponsorship” package. Includes the opportunity to “serve as the title sponsor” for an Arizona delegation event and an “upgraded VIP hotel room,” in addition to seemingly unlimited access to the delegation’s gatherings and activities. “Help raise WVGOP’s profile and promote your organization.”

Then there’s the $50,000 West Virginia delegation’s “Almost Heaven Convention Strategies Sponsorship Package,” which includes invitations to “all WVGOP convention receptions” — more than a dozen in all. You’ll also get a “speaking role” at two West Virginia delegation events and recognition in the delegation’s convention program and “all WVGOP convention receptions.”

“Connect with GOP leaders from across the country,” a sponsorship document reads.

The Virginia delegation offers a $50,000 “platinum supporter” package with similar perks plus such sweeteners as a “private sponsor Meet and Greet and photo op opportunity with VIP guests” and recognition as a “platinum Sponsor for all events honoring the Virginia Republicans with name/logo listed on all signs, materials, etc.”

And if you’re really loaded, you can double down and cough up $100,000 to become the “title sponsor” of Donald Trump’s home state delegation of Florida, which on Monday officially cast the delegate votes to formally put Trump over the threshold to become the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nominee.

Florida delegation title sponsors are entitled to the works: top billing at numerous delegate events, access to high-profile politicians, recognition wherever one goes.

The "Southern States Fest at the Ballpark" is also a six-figure-sponsor affair, with a "stage and band sponsor" buying themselves access to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), the Louisiana convention delegation and musician Lee Greenwood, along with 100 event tickets, "stage naming rights" and "other special benefits."

The delegations for Georgia, Missouri and Alabama also offer prospective sponsors big-time benefit packages for $50,000 contributions.

Here’s what you’ll get at other events this week, according to sponsorship documents:

“BBQ, Bikes & Blues”: The “gold supporter” “host sponsorship package” at Tuesday’s event at Milwaukee’s Harley-Davidson Museum, which honored the delegations of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming,” costs $20,000. It includes 20 tickets to the event, top billing on event signage, meet-and-greets with “VIPs,” “hotel room opportunities” and “access to official RNC Convention credentials.”
“The Lawyers Reception”: For a cool $25,000, the Republican National Lawyers Association will provide you “elite recognition of your law firm — logo featured on multiple displays at the reception” at a three-hour event at the law firm Husch Blackwell. You’ll also receive “special acknowledgment of your firm by master of ceremonies during program” and a host of other goodies, such as the “possibility of privileged access for multiple guests to RNC Convention for multiple days and one guest to delegate floor.”
“Boots and Bourbon”: Join Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) and the Kentucky delegation for top-shelf treatment, constant promotion at private events and speaking opportunities — for $20,000. You’ll also get the cool title, “Bourbon Host.”
“Red White & Brew”: Sponsored by conservative organizations Independent Women’s Voices and RightNow, a $15,000 “pilsner supporter” sponsorship will buy you access to the same beer everyone else is drinking — plus a dozen event tickets and your name plastered everywhere, among other
“Brewing a Majority Reception”: This is Milwaukee, after all, so it serves to reason there would be more than one beer-themed event. This one, at the Historic Pabst Brewery, features two powerful members of Congress — Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA). Sponsors who pay $20,000 get 15 event tickets, photos with VIPs, top listing on signage and credentials, “speakeasy access” and two tickets to a future event in Washington, D.C., with Barrasso.

As these are generally private events and closed to press, it’s not immediately evident who is shelling out top dollar to sponsor these and other events.

But there are hints.

For example, Raw Story spotted signs for ULINE, the shipping supply company founded by GOP megadonors Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, inside a private Fiserv Forum lounge for top Trump campaign and Republican National Committee supporters attending the Republican National Convention.

Spotted inside a lounge for the Republican State Leadership Committee: pillows placed on plush chairs featured logos for Lyft, the ride hailing company.

Some of these sponsorship packages are organized by Conventions2024, a company that describes itself as “a group of veteran political convention operatives who have been producing events at the GOP Convention since 2008.”

Representatives from the company did not respond to Raw Story messages.

But one government watchdog bemoaned the widespread influence peddling, which is certain to also be present next month in Chicago when the Democratic National Convention is conducted.

“Corporate lobbyists, big businesses, and special interests always see the national party conventions as yet another way of buying influence with elected officials, and as a result, party officials are often complicit in selling access during conventions,” said Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs at Common Cause.

Scherb insisted that Congress needs to pass legislation to “get big, secret money out of politics and to ensure that the voices of everyday Americans can be fully heard in government.”

NFL drafts Capitol Hill staffers for lobbying retreat

The National Football League — by far the richest sports league in the world — paid for several U.S. House of Representatives aides to attend last month’s NFL Draft.

The catch?

The aides allowed top NFL officials lobby them on issues of significant financial and political importance to the league.

“Stadium Construction and Municipal Bonds” was the first session for at least 11 aides who attended the NFL’s “Government Affairs Congressional Forum” in Detroit on April 25 and April 26.

Another session, titled “Community Relations & Economic Impact,” touted the NFL’s marquee events such as the Super Bowl and how they bring “thousands of jobs and tens of millions of dollars in economic activity to a local economy.”

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Members flew from Washington to Detroit on April 25 — the first round of the three-day NFL Draft — and went back the next day, according to the agenda.

The NFL spent about $800 to $900 per attendee on travel and lodging, according to the congressional disclosures.

The details were part of Raw Story’s review of congressional travel disclosures submitted by attendees to the House Committee on Ethics, which requires such documentation when private sources pay for lawmakers or their staff members to travel on official business.

The NFL, whose 32 franchises are worth an average of $5.1 billion each, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Political power players

Among those attending were two aides to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA): AJ Sugarman, policy adviser, and Ben Napier, floor director.

The chiefs of staff for two House Democrats attended: Jeremy Marcus for California Rep. Doris Matsui and Nicole Varner for Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas.

Others include:

Brandon Casey, staff director for the House Ways & Means Committee and staff member of Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA).

Elia Yates, members service director for the House Judiciary Committee and staff member of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).

Michael Koren, staff director of the Homeland Security Committee and staff member for Rep. Mark Green (R-TN).

James Tyler Grimm, chief counsel for the Judiciary Majority and staff member of Jordan.

Joseph Orlando, staff member of the Energy & Commerce Committee and staff member of Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ).

Waverly Gordon, deputy staff director of the Energy & Commerce Committee and staff member of Pallone.

Vivian Moeglein, staff director of the Natural Resources Committee and staff member of Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR).

Hope Goins, staff director of the Homeland Security Committee and staff member of Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS).

Some of the other sessions in the agenda — and the point of view the NFL was selling:

Illegal offshore sportsbooks “that continue to subvert the legal U.S. betting market, and how the NFL protects consumers and ensures the integrity of the game.”

Player health and safety and how “the league uses technology and resources to protect and advance player health and safety on gameday and beyond.”

Drones and stadium safety on “potential legislative framework to counter threats posed by the illicit use of unmanned aircraft systems.”

Diversity, equity, and inclusion in head coaching, general manager, and top leadership jobs. The agenda says the NFL “is constantly refining policies that give candidates from all backgrounds the ability to participate and excel on and off the field.”

Kennesaw State economics professor JC Bradbury said the general view among academics is that using public money for stadiums and sports events does not make economic sense.

But, he added, the NFL’s lobbying to use public money for those purposes makes perfect sense.

“Politicians seem willing to foot the bill, so why not ask?” Bradbury said. “As (Seinfeld television show character) George Constanza once said, ‘Why should I pay when, if I apply myself, maybe I can get it for free?’

"’Economic development’ is just a convenient justification, even though it has been long debunked by economists. Subsidizing sports to promote economic development is like taking up smoking for the health benefits.”

ALSO READ: Trump campaign allegedly took ‘excessive’ contributions by the nickel and dime

Matthew Shapiro, vice president of NFL Events Strategy, and Brad Firestone, vice president of NFL Tax and Risk Management, led the stadium construction session. An agenda described the session as “Discussion of Federal-tax-exempt bonds as a tool to promote economic development at the local level that allow state and local governments low-cost financing for community economic development projects.”

“It's interesting that they are discussing tax exemptions for municipal bonds,” Bradbury said. “The 1986 tax reform made it much more difficult for stadiums to qualify for the federal tax exemption for municipal projects. I wonder if there is a push to get rid of it.”

Another session caught Bradbuy’s eye: A discussion of the vastly lowered threshold for reporting income on tax returns from individual transactions.

“This change may affect season ticketholders and other fans who resell over $600 of tickets per year,” the agenda said. “Will include discussion of a permanent solution that would raise the threshold and reinstate a minimum level of transactions.”

Said Bradbury: “They are clearly pushing for changes to make life easier for their wealthy fans.”

‘We're wounded:’ Speaker Mike Johnson struggles to lead GOP after ‘unnecessary purging’

WASHINGTON – House Republicans are divided over what to do about their internal divisions – or even whether anything’s the matter at all.

Welcome to Speaker Mike Johnson’s Capitol.

After a string of recent tactical blunders – from a failed impeachment vote to pulling the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (or FISA) reauthorization measure he put on the floor this week – some Republicans in the House of Representatives are reassessing the successor to deposed Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Johnson, Republicans’ replacement speaker, has now been on the job 114 days. Yet the GOP still feels rudderless. He is hardly a phoenix, but the GOP is covered in plenty of ashes from the house fire that is the 118th Congress' Republican conference.

“We're wounded. I'm not saying that's because of Mike Johnson. It’s because of the situation we put ourselves in, no matter who came out of that,” Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) told Raw Story. “There's a lot of things that are out of his immediate control with the suddenness of this happening.”

ALSO READ: Uncivil war: How Speaker Mike Johnson’s dream of bipartisan decency died in his hands

The Republican unrest with Johnson (R-LA) is starting to become undeniable, even to his allies such as LaMalfa.

“It feels like there’s a little more unrest. Or that the unrest is now bubbling to the surface?” Raw Story asked.

“I think there’s some underground bubbling going on,” LaMalfa said.

The Republican Party still hasn’t healed since members ran McCarthy out of the speaker’s chair — and right out of Congress. While Johnson hasn’t had his speakership challenged by the gang of eight Republicans who ousted McCarthy, he’s constantly under pressure from every faction of his fractious conference.

“In fairness, I think the problem changes every day, depending on where he's got to focus,” Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) told Raw Story in front of the Capitol this week. “Sometimes it's just the issue of the day. It's just a tough, tough time.”

Johnson’s job is only getting more complicated now that the 2024 election has fully engulfed the U.S. Capitol. Campaign considerations helped derail a bipartisan Senate border security compromise and cast a broadly bipartisan foreign aid package – and U.S. allies Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan – in limbo.

Speaker in empty suit only?

Looming over everything, including Johnson’s speakership, is former President Donald Trump.

Trump, for example, single-handedly killed the border bill before lawmakers even finished drafting it.

That’s begged the question: Who’s running the show on Capitol Hill?

“Is Donald Trump calling the shots here, Mr. Speaker?” Meet the Press host Kristen Welker asked Johnson a couple Sunday’s ago.

“He’s not calling the shots. I am calling the shots,” a defensive Johnson replied.

The reserved speaker was animated, if not entirely believable.

ALSO READ: 11 ways Trump doesn't become president

“Certainly, Trump has influence on people. I don’t want to say he’s in charge. We do a lot of things that Trump disagrees with,” Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) told Raw Story just off the House floor.

Johnson is known as a staunchly conservative Christian nationalist, but lawmakers still don’t know how to define his leadership style.

As Raw Story revealed in January, Johnson came to Congress in 2017 with big dreams of bipartisanship and civil discourse among lawmakers. Those dreams dashed, he’s embraced the MAGA mantle, ever-evolving – or devolving – as it is.

“He’s just trying to figure out some things,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) told Raw Story Thursday.

The speaker is getting pulled in most every direction, and he doesn’t seem to tell anyone ‘No.’

That hurt Johnson last week when he stepped in a political dogpile.

Basically, Johnson backed fringe-right Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) in Montana’s U.S. Senate GOP primary. Within hours of that news dropping, the speaker reversed course. The pressure came from old guard Republicans in the House and the National Republican Senatorial Committee who, along with Trump, are backing retired Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy in the race against Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT).

Rosendale was one of the eight GOP lawmakers who ousted McCarthy, making him anathema to the majority of House Republicans who remain bitter over last year’s speaker battle. After formally announcing his Senate bid last Friday, Rosendale reversed course — and withdrew. Johnson’s highly publicized reversal seems to have led to the demise of the Freedom Caucus member’s longshot bid – the opposite of what he set out to do.

Johnson’s a leadership novice, and everyone seems to know it.

“You got some advice for Speaker Johnson?” Raw Story asked former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) – who served as House minority whip during the 1980s – as he strolled past the House floor Wednesday.

“Every now and then,” Lott, now a lobbyist, said with a laugh — and without detailing what that advice is. “I spent a little time over here in leadership. I still stay in touch with them.”

When not crying, Democrats are laughing at the dysfunction.

“Tell them to keep up the good work!” Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) told Raw Story as he was entering the Capitol on Wednesday, the day after Democrats won the special election in New York to replace expelled former Rep. George Santos (R-NY).

Despite Democratic chiding, many Republicans say there’s still time to salvage the least productive Congress in recent decades.

‘I wish we did less’

With Democrats recapturing Santos’ seat, Republicans are now down to a mere two-seat advantage on floor votes. House Republicans aren’t calling to reverse course — rather the loudest voices in the conference this week have been bemoaning the bipartisan ouster of Santos, a demonstrated liar and credibly accused fraudster who faces numerous federal charges and potential prison time.

"I voted against expelling George Santos. He wasn’t convicted of anything, and I don’t think he should have been expelled. And I think it was a very bad strategy from our conference to expel a member of Congress who hasn’t been convicted," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told Raw Story at the Capitol. “We shouldn't have lost that seat to begin with.”

Johnson was also back in the headlines this week when he pulled a FISA – think warrantless wiretapping – reauthorization from the House floor after it became clear Republicans were prepared to kill the measure.

“Pulling the FISA bill – doesn't that make y'all look like you can't govern?” Raw Story asked Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), the new head of the far-right Freedom Caucus.

“Well, what you guys call ‘not governing’ is not doing more bad stuff, not doing more of what Democrats want to do, not doing more what the D.C. swamp wants us to do, not doing more of what the status quo is,” Good said while walking through a tunnel leading to the Capitol Thursday. “What is it you want us to do more of that would show we could govern?”

“Even when it comes to unwinding the administrative state, you guys are historically a piss poor Congress,” Raw Story replied. “Like, you can't even unwind what you want to unwind, right?”

“Well, I would argue, we are historical in the sense that we have not worsened the administrative state, and we have not done more harm to the American people on the level that most congresses have done,” Good said.

“I wish we did less. Unless we had absolute control of government, and we could truly undo all the harm. At least we're not layering it on and adding to it,” Good said. “Just take FISA, if it weren't for the Freedom Caucus conservatives, FISA would already have been reformed in a way that totally trampled on and expands upon the harm being done to the citizens.”

The House has now joined the Senate on an extended President’s Day recess.

When the two chambers return to town in two weeks, they’ll have just a handful of legislative days to fund the government before federal funding starts clicking off on March 1.

Can Democrats solve Johnson’s problems?

Everything’s not fine in the GOP, and rank-and-file Republicans know it. That has some conservatives now calling on Johnson to do what’s become anathema in today’s GOP: Work across the aisle.

“He’s got a tough job. He’s got the toughest job in America, so he's got to reach out to Democrats to get things done,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) told Raw Story on his way to vote on the House floor this week. “He doesn’t really have much of a choice.”

Johnson was no one’s first choice to be speaker. In fact, he wasn’t the GOP’s second, third or fourth choice, either.

Over three long weeks last year, Republican speaker-designates Reps. Steve Scalise (R-LA), Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Tom Emmer (R-MN) all quit after failing to solidify enough GOP support to win the gavel on the House floor.

The party needed someone – anyone, really – to replace McCarthy as speaker.

In that environment, many of the party’s proven leaders refused to run, and thus Speaker Mike Johnson was born.

“This was all made difficult by the unnecessary purging of McCarthy,” LaMalfa of California told Raw Story. “In some cases, the cream of the crop of who would be the ideal leader, weren't presenting themselves – and this is not a personal knock to any individual – so Mike kind of evolved from those different pools.”

Since he was anointed, Johnson’s had to host fundraisers, travel to member’s districts and run the House. He’s proven a quick study in fundraising from GOP donors, and Republican members have been happy to host him in their districts. It’s the whole running the House of Representatives that Johnson seems to be struggling with most these days.

That’s largely because of the same far-right Republicans who seem to hijack most every measure that hits the House floor. The new boss seems to have the same problem as the old boss.

“They’re not going to be happy with anything,” LaMalfa said. “They don't give a s—. They don't care.”

'Gaslighting liar': Ex-GOP staffer slams Rep. Steve Scalise's 'nonsense' victory lap

Following the House's impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by a single vote, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) spoke to MSNBC, demanding that President Joe Biden pass the House's extremely strict anti-immigration bill rather than the bipartisan border security compromise brokered in the Senate, otherwise he supports "open borders."

This did not sit well with former Republican turned Democratic strategist Kurt Bardella, who raged against the House leader on MSNBC.

"After you heard that interview, what are your thoughts?" asked anchor Charles Coleman. "Tell me your reaction immediately not only to the vote, but to the narrative that is continuing to be pushed?"

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"What a gaslighting liar, that is what Steve Scalise is," said Bardella. "He is full of it. This idea that if you don't do what we say you want open borders, that is utter nonsense. The idea that we want to compromise, you will come to an agreement in a room and then Donald Trump would say don't make any agreement and all of a sudden it would fall apart. How many times have we seen that story play out?"

"The idea that Steve Scalise or any Republicans are going to get something done, saying we are tired of passing things that look good but don't do anything," Bardella continued. "What are you guys — did you guys just do right now? You passed an impeachment and he's never going to be removed from office. Don't give me that. He sits and talks about the American people being tired of this and that. The American people voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden, and Joe Biden appointed the Homeland Security secretary, and you are undermining the will of the people. Don't sit there and tell me what the American people want."

"By the way, I thought Donald Trump was supposed to fix the border in the first place?" added Bardella. "Wasn't Mexico supposed to pay for a border wall? Whatever happened to that? Where's the check? The amount of lying and gaslighting that we just saw from Steve Scalise is amazing."

Watch the video below or at the link.

Kurt Bardella slams Steve Scalise's post-Mayorkas impeachment interviewwww.youtube.com