All posts tagged "The Senate"

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) bemoaned Thursday that Republicans "will never catch up" with confirmation hearings for President Donald Trump's executive branch nominees due to "unprecedented obstruction" by the Democrats.

"They are still in full resistance mode," Cornyn said on Newsmax of his Democratic colleagues, "and they have yet to accept the outcome of last November's election."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) argued that Democrats have blocked the votes because “historically bad nominees deserved historic levels of scrutiny.” The Associated Press reported....

MAGA Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), who has been a fervent supporter of Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts to deport undocumented migrants, reversed course when it came to one of his constituents, according to The New York Times.

Kennedy told Fox News on July 17, “If you’re in our country illegally, you’re a criminal. Illegal immigration is illegal, duh.”

And yet, the senator's office recently asked the Department of Homeland Security to release 25-year-old Paola Clouatre after two months in a Louisiana detention center, the report said....

Samantha Handler with Punchbowl News live-tweeted as the Senate Appropriations Committee "plunged into chaos" Thursday over budget markups on the Commerce, Justice, Science bill that includes funding for NASA and the new FBI headquarters.

In an article on the debacle, Handler, John Bresnahan, and Laura Weiss wrote, "The Senate Appropriations Committee often passes each of its 12 annual spending bills on a bipartisan basis. This is what makes the Senate the Senate — and not the House.

"Yet the Senate Appropriations panel has its first FY2026 markup this morning, and senators still don’t have a deal on what they want to spend this year. There’s also no sense that they’ll be able to reach one."...

In a new article for The Bulwark, conservative writer William Kristol hypothesized how Donald Trump's late attorney and fixer, Roy Cohn, has guided the president from beyond the grave and helped him tally a spate of achievements in the White House.

Of the "big, beautiful bill" that finally landed on his desk after months of posturing, Kristol imagined Trump thinking, "The key is the $170 billion for the internal police. I saw early on—maybe it was the ghost of Roy Cohn whispering in my ear—that 'mass deportation' was the path to seizing and consolidating power."

The hypothetical Trump continued, "So, yeah, the mass deportations have started, and they’re not going to stop. We do that for the next few years, keep the issue front and center—and meanwhile get ICE built up, and get people used to using the military at home. 'Boiling the frog slowly'—that’s another great expression Roy loved to use. I guess he invented it."...

CNN's Dana Bash pressed Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, about the proposed Medicaid cuts in the mega spending bill being taken up by the House Wednesday.

The Senate passed the bill Tuesday with an 80-hour per month work requirement, as well as additional co-pays for Medicaid recipients. President Donald Trump has been pressuring House Republicans to have the bill on his desk by July 4.

Bash cited nonpartisan estimates saying that 17 million Americans would lose health coverage under the Senate's version of the bill....

Former Tea Party Republican lawmaker Joe Walsh (IL) voiced his dismay over the state of politics following the retirement announcement by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) because he refused to support the massive spending bill that's now back in the hands of the House.

On Saturday, Tillis declared he would vote against the bill over cuts to Medicaid that put his constituents "at risk." Tillis predictably drew the ire of President Donald Trump who threatened to primary him in the midterm elections. In response, Tillis announced he would not run for reelection because, "I don't bow to anybody."

Walsh said that what happened next was stunning....