All posts tagged "U S Senate"

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s threat to derail his party’s agenda until Republicans ram through new voting restrictions in an expanded SAVE America Act has some key GOP lawmakers scratching their heads.

“It's his priority. I don't know how many others share it,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) told Raw Story at the Capitol. “It's hard to see it being a top 10 issue for people. It almost never comes up, and I talk to thousands of North Dakotans.”

Even so, the president’s far-right allies are all-in on his new calls to expand the SAVE Act beyond requiring proof of citizenship and an ID to vote federally. ...

The main super PAC supporting Senate Republicans saw a “huge spike” in dark money contributions in 2025, a sign of the massive arsenal the GOP is building to protect its hold on Congress in November’s midterm elections, according to a new report from political reform group Issue One first reported by Raw Story.

As Democrats aim to capitalize on the growing unpopularity of President Donald Trump and his Republican party and regain control of Congress, the Republican-aligned Senate Leadership Fund skyrocketed dark money contributions by 581 percent in 2025 compared to 2023.

Michael Beckel, money in politics reform director at Issue One, said: “When you see an infusion of money like this, that usually means that these big money groups want to make sure that they have all of the resources they can muster to defend seats, to defend candidates, to defend their majority.”...

WASHINGTON — A debate’s raging within the Republican Party over whether or not America’s at war with Iran.

"We're in a bombing," Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told Raw Story. "We're bombing the hell out of them."

Despite the 2,000 targets reportedly hit, 17 naval ships allegedly destroyed and ongoing “24/7 strikes into Iran” — according to Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command — some of the more MAGA members of the Senate GOP refuse to use the “w” word. ...

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security remains shut down, but you wouldn’t know it from walking around the U.S. Capitol, where the Epstein files and President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address are the talk of elected officials.

The silence as the DHS shutdown drags into its third week is, in part, because House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have, once again, outsourced their constitutionally-mandated spending powers to President Trump.

“I'm getting quite used to this. Republican leadership isn't really leading,” Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA) told Raw Story. ...

WASHINGTON — On Capitol Hill, questions keep mounting about Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s 2020 election investigation and whether she’s using foreign surveillance officers and resources on U.S. soil.

Democrats demanding answers about why DNI Gabbard was present for the hugely controversial FBI raid on an election office in Fulton County, Georgia last month are eager to grill her when she publicly testifies before the Senate intelligence Committee in March.

“It raises serious questions, because it would be a violation, in some cases, of laws if our foreign intelligence service was operating in the United States,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) told Raw Story on Capitol Hill. ...

WASHINGTON — Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) would rather not be in the national spotlight because the President of the United States called for him to be hanged, but that doesn't mean he's not prepared to fight to the bitter end.

And this week, the only bitterness was emanating from the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Trump White House suffered major setbacks in its attempt to make an example out of Kelly and other veterans in Congress who cut a video calling on active-duty service members to refuse any unconstitutional orders from Trump or Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. ...