Matt Laslo

Based on Capitol Hill, Matt Laslo has been covering campaigns and every aspect of federal policy since 2006. In addition to his reporting for Raw Story, Matt has been a contributor at WIRED, VICE News, VICE News Tonight, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, and Playboy. He also contributes reports to NPR and more than 40 of its affiliates and numerous other publications, including The Atlantic and Billboard. He also has the The LCB — or Laslo Congressional Bureau — a Washington-based wire service. Since 2009, he’s sat on the board at the Regional Reporters Association, and in 2011, he graduated cum laude from The Johns Hopkins University MA in Government and Public Policy program. He now teaches there as an adjunct political communications professor, as well as teaching communications and/or journalism at George Washington University, Boston University and the University of Maryland.

'It's just strange': GOP senator baffled by party's urge to jump off health-care cliff

WASHINGTON — Republican leaders’ refusal to consider extending Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at year’s end is weird, according to at least one senior GOP senator, after the issue erupted and fueled high drama in the House this week.

“It's just strange,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), who sits on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, told congressional reporters.

“We had the vote last week, and … now the House passed [its own measure], and we're going to have a vote, and of course, that’s not going to go anywhere.

“There could have been a one-year extension. Maybe there was a chance to have enough votes … we need 60 votes here. I want to vote on something that can actually pass, and I don't know why that's not our plan.”

No one really knows what Republicans’ plan is — other than to craft a plan.

While swing-state Republicans have been freaking out — especially the four endangered moderates who crossed Speaker Mike Johnson when they formally crossed party lines Wednesday — GOP leaders have, basically, shrugged off widespread fears of Obamacare subsidies expiring on New Years, leaving millions of Americans bracing for brutal rate hikes.

Most Republicans remain unmoved, even after Democrats have successfully raised alarm bells about the unaffordable rate hikes for months, including by using the issue as fuel for the longest government shutdown in history.

Just last week, the GOP-led Senate failed to pass dueling health-care bills. In response to a Democratic measure to extend COVID-era insurance subsidies another three years, rank-and-file Republicans cobbled together a last-minute measure aimed at promoting health savings accounts over Obamacare exchanges.

Both failed by a vote of 51-48 in the chamber where 60 votes are needed to pass most bills.

Then the four moderate House Republicans dramatically crossed the aisle, joining a Democratic-led discharge petition to force a vote on a Democratic measure that would extend subsidies for three years.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Mike Lawler (R-NY) , Rob Bresnahan (R-PA) and Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA) were the members who chose to cross Speaker Johnson, underlining the Louisianan’s lack of control of his party ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

“We have worked for months to craft a two-party solution to address these expiring health-care credits,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement.

“Our only request was a floor vote on this compromise, so that the American People’s voice could be heard on this issue. That request was rejected ... Unfortunately, it is House leadership themselves that have forced this outcome.”

The Democratic proposal will now get a vote in the new year — but only after subsidies lapse.

Observers noted that in July, three of the four Republican rebels voted for the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” the GOP budget measure which contained massive cuts to spending on Medicaid, another key health-care resource for millions of Americans. Fitzpatrick said no then too.

This week, the picture grew more confusing still, as a separate House GOP health bill passed.

Seen as barely even a bandaid, as it doesn’t address the expiring subsidies, it has no chance of gaining 60 votes in the Senate, according to South Dakota Sen. Rounds.

‘24 million people’

Gridlock aside, it seems most everyone on Capitol Hill loves a bit of political drama — even at the end of a year of relentless chaos.

“This is huge,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) marveled to Raw Story after learning that a fourth Republican had signed off on the discharge petition.

“This is, like, huge for my district.”

The member of the progressive “Squad” of lawmakers was far from alone.

“I think it's a big victory, and it's a victory for the American people,” former House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told Raw Story.

“We need to pass that, put it over in the Senate and see whether they have the courage to do what's right.”

Securing a House vote does nothing to dislodge Republicans on the other side of the Capitol, though.

And Senate Majority Leader John Thune is insulated from House rules, including on discharge petitions.

There are Senate Republicans who like their moderate House colleagues fear the electoral repercussions of failing to extend subsidies, but nowhere near enough to buck leaders and secure an extension.

Still, with the 2026 midterms just around the corner, Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) and other Democrats are celebrating the four Republican moderates’ decision to buck Speaker Johnson and force a vote on extending health insurance subsidies.

Like Sen. Rounds, Ivey also marveled at the larger GOP’s continued opposition to helping so many Americans, however dire their need.

Despite “24 million people” facing a financial cliff when ACA subsidies expire, Ivey told Raw Story, “Republican leaders weren't listening to that.

“I don't know what they were listening to. I just don't understand what they're doing, and in the Senate they’re saying they’re not going to move something forward anyway.

“So I'm like, ‘Worst of all possible worlds, from a Republican standpoint.’

“We hit 218 so we got the votes to move [the discharge petition], but they don't want to bring it to the floor, and then the Senate Republicans want to block it. It's crazy.”

'Next AG will prosecute': Pam Bondi put on notice of legal reckoning ahead of Epstein drop

WASHINGTON — A rebel House Republican openly questioned top Trump administration officials on Thursday about their handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files after House Democrats released dozens of new photos from Epstein's estate, amid anticipation for a Justice Department file dump on Friday.

These images included disturbing quotes from Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" written on a woman's body, alongside other unclear-context photos of Epstein and redacted women. The novel contains the theme of an adult man's obsession with a 12-year-old girl, mirroring allegations against Epstein.

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Robert Garcia spoke to reporters on Thursday about the case.

"I think they will be [released]. We'll see," he said of the files expected to be released by the Justice Department on Friday. "It'll be interesting if they're not."

Fifteen days after Friday's release, the Justice Department must fork over a report to lawmakers with a list of the politicians and government officials in the files.

When asked if he thought there would be a cover-up, Massie noted that the officials appointed to review the Epstein files — namely, FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi — are not implicated in them. As such, he said there's no reason for them to be reluctant about releasing them.

"Why would they be reluctant?" he asked.

Massie warned that this is a law that "lasts forever."

"So the next attorney general will prosecute this attorney general or this FBI director if they do become involved in a cover-up by not being in compliance with this law," he said.

Massie also accused House Speaker Mike Johnson of lying about the law.

"Three federal judges cite the Transparency Act, but, more importantly, they cite that they're going to redact the victims' names, which was a lie that was told about this bill by the Speaker himself. He said that victims would be exposed by this bill… but all three judges said no, there are sufficient protections," said Massie.

When asked if Mike Johnson would remain in power long term, Massie said Johnson would remain in place as long as President Donald Trump wants him there.

"As long as he's on his good side, he's still the Speaker," said Massie.

Garcia repeated his call to reporters on Thursday to release all the files, and also put Bondi on notice.

"Let's be very clear that the Department of Justice has to release all of the files tomorrow, and I also want to remind the attorney general that she cannot use any excuse that somehow the law says that 'if there's an investigation happening, we can, you know, partially not release everything.' The subpoena that's in place, that's essentially with the law that Oversight passed, does not include that provision. They have to release everything."

Garcia threatened that Democrats will use every tool available to them, including going to the courts and taking legal action to get the files released.

"We're prepared to do that, but we're gonna see what happens tomorrow," he said.

Shocking new target floated in Trump's rebrand crusade: 'Makes Stalin look humble'

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's handpicked board of trustees voted on Thursday to add Trump's name to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, while allegedly muting the objections of Democratic members of the board and likely in violation of federal law that named the Kennedy Center by statute.

Democratic lawmakers reacted to the news with disgust and dismissal, telling Raw Story the rename will not stick and will be reversed swiftly when they retake power in Washington.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) had one of the most forceful reactions, speculating MAGA allies will eventually try to rebrand the White House.

"Well, I mean, he appointed all the sycophants to the board," she said. "So I mean, they're going to name the White House — they're going to try to name the White House after him before we're done with this, and then we're going to take the White House back and we're going to fix it all. Enjoy having two years of that."

Asked for comment, Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) mockingly claimed that the Longworth House Office Building will have his name added to it because he says so.

Boyle added, "Everything's about him, the plaques that he actually put up, plaques with his, with his nonsense" — a reference to a series of juvenile plaques installed below various former presidents' pictures written by Trump himself.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) took a similar position to Ocasio-Cortez.

"An infinite ego. You know, I mean, I just, it makes Stalin look humble. The board that he handpicked, it's embarrassing and, and it won't last very long."

‘Poor babies’: Top Senate Republican mocks Dems fuming that Trump misled Congress

WASHINGTON — Even as Democrats accuse the Trump administration of misleading Congress in the wake of the president’s announcement of an oil tanker blockade on Venezuela, Republicans are dismissing Democrats’ — and some Republicans’ — fears.

At the Capitol on Wednesday, one senior GOP senator went so far as to mock Democrats for speaking up.

“Poor babies,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told Raw Story.

Asked if he had been surprised by Trump’s announcement on Tuesday night, as senior Democrats complain they were, Cornyn said: “Not really.

“I mean [Venezuelan oil] is the lifeline for Iran and to some extent, for China, and an outlet for Russia to continue to be able to sell oil and finance its war machine against Ukraine. So I think it's not a surprise from that standpoint.”

Cornyn is a member of the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations committees.

Raw Story said, “Your Democratic colleagues are saying they wish [Secretary of Defense Pete] Hegseth and [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio would have focused on this yesterday, and they kind of feel deceived or misled a little bit.”

Rubio and Hegseth briefed both chambers of Congress during the day on Tuesday about controversial U.S. strikes on boats alleged to be carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea.

“Well,” Cornyn said. “I was in this briefing and [Democrats] were asking questions about the strikes. They weren't asking about” the blockade.

Raw Story suggested that was because the Democrats didn’t know the blockade was coming.

“Poor babies,” Cornyn said. “They just need to open their eyes.”

Most Democrats’ eyes have long been wide open to President Trump’s moves to secure regime change in Venezuela.

The administration has implemented boat strikes that have now killed nearly 100, while Trump’s regular statements on the matter have accompanied reports of both a major U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean and CIA covert action in Venezuela itself.

Most Democrats and some Republicans maintain Trump needs congressional approval for any action against the regime in Caracas, led by the left-wing authoritarian Nicolás Maduro.

On the House side of the Capitol on Wednesday, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, told Raw Story: “We heard it again from the Chief of Staff, who said that these bombings won't stop until Maduro is out” — a reference to remarks from White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in a bombshell Vanity Fair profile.

After Trump’s blockade announcement, Meeks said, it was clear Venezuela was “about oil. It's not about drugs. It's about taking oil.

“You know, I'm a former special narcotics prosecutor. If you really try to stop drugs, you don't take the little guy, kill them and then pardon the top guys and don't go after them at all.”

That was a reference to Trump’s recent pardon of a former Honduran president convicted of drug trafficking.

“You try to get the little guys to get you all the information that you can so that you can go after the big guys,” Meeks said, going on to condemn the “double tap killing” of two men on a boat hit by the U.S. on Sept. 2.

The two men survived the original strike but were killed with a second missile — by most observers’ standards, a war crime or plain murder.

Hegseth has vehemently denied the strike was illegal, while shifting responsibility to a senior military commander.

Meeks and other Democrats said they were not satisfied with Rubio and Hegseth’s briefings.

“That wasn’t a classified session,” Meeks said.

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), a House Intelligence Committee member, said: “No one has gotten an intel briefing. So that's what we're owed.”

On the other side of the Capitol, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) also lamented the absence of comprehensive briefings, telling Raw Story: “That just reflects the attitude [the Trump administration has] with Congress.

“If the Republican majority in Congress will allow it, they will continue to follow their agenda regardless.”

Among that Republican majority, not all opinions were as dismissive, or harsh, as Cornyn’s.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) voiced his continuing concern about the “double tap” boat strike.

Two months after the Sept. 2 killing, Paul said, when U.S. forces “saw people in the water, they're like, ‘Oh, you know what? Maybe we shouldn't kill helpless people in the water.’ And they plucked them out. And did they prosecute them? No, they sent them back to their country.

“There's so much that's inconsistent and wrong about this. With the video, every American should be able to see it. We should continue talking about it.”

Raw Story asked Paul for his view on Trump’s surprise announcement of an oil blockade.

“I’m opposed to it,” Paul said, bluntly.

Senator sounds dire alarm of looming 'mass unemployment' — and warns Trump is in on it

WASHINGTON — Outspoken Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders raised dire concerns Wednesday about the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and robotics, warning that the United States is unprepared for the economic disaster that such technologies will bring.

In comments to Raw Story, Sanders cited major tech figures such as Elon Musk in noting that industry leaders openly predict an ominous future in which traditional work becomes obsolete. According to Sanders, the U.S. faces the prospect of widespread unemployment, particularly among young people already grappling with a dearth of entry‑level jobs.

"He tells us that the concept of work itself, your job, may be obsolete. That means mass unemployment," Sanders warned. "Is Congress dealing with that issue?"

Sanders emphasized that while AI offers potential benefits, the nation must ensure that tech serves the broader public rather than a tiny group of billionaires. To that end, Sanders demanded a temporary "moratorium" on new data centers until lawmakers can figure out how to integrate AI responsibly and protect workers from economic ruin.

The senator also cast doubt on the motivations of tech elites, including Musk, Larry Ellison, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, suggesting that their priorities don't align with the needs of the working class.

He called President Donald Trump an "oligarch" who is "working with other oligarchs."

"Do you think he's staying up nights worrying about the working class of this country? I don't think so," said Sanders.

‘Say that’s what it is’: Dems demand answers on Trump's Venezuela regime change push

WASHINGTON — Turns out, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth aren’t very good actors.

Congress doesn’t agree on much, but when it comes to Venezuela and U.S. military strikes on purported drug smugglers, on Tuesday Congress was basically all questions, even after receiving classified briefings from the two members of the Trump cabinet.

Only after President Donald Trump took to Truth Social in the evening, to announce "a total and complete" blockade of oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, did Congress finally get the clarity lawmakers had demanded.

Now members of Congress say they know the real goal of U.S. intervention in Venezuela — and lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol are vowing to hold President Trump accountable.

‘More questions than answers’

Rubio and Hegseth, along with a phalanx of aides and security, traversed the U.S. Capitol, trying to sell Congress on President Trump’s war footing in the waters off Venezuela.

“This briefing left me with more questions than answers,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told reporters after a classified briefing.

It was the same on the other side of the Capitol, where lawmakers complained the two powerful secretaries provided “no real answers about whether or not what we’re about to enter into is a war in Venezuela,” Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters after his own chamber’s briefing.

“If this is about regime change, it seems to me that the administration should say that’s what it is, and should come to Congress to ask for that authorization, which has not taken place.”

It wasn’t just Democrats who were left confused as to what the Trump administration is trying to accomplish with regards to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

“Most Americans want to know what’s gonna happen next. I want to know what’s gonna happen next. Is it the policy to take Maduro down? It should be,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters.

“If it’s not, and if he goes, what’s gonna happen next? I’d like a better answer as to what happens when Maduro goes.”

For his part, Secretary Rubio told the congressional press corps the briefings were on the “counter-drug mission” that is “killing Americans, poisoning Americans.”

For his part, Secretary Hegseth tried to tamp down criticism as he promised to let members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees view a controversial video of a second missile strike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea, on Sept. 2.

“This is the 22nd bipartisan briefing on a highly successful mission to counter designated terrorist organizations, cartels, bringing weapons — weapons meaning drugs — to the American people and poisoning the American people for far too long,” Hegseth told reporters.

But last night, when President Trump announced a blockade of Venezuelan oil — arguing the South American nation is “completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America” — lawmakers got the clarity they’d been seeking.

And many weren’t happy.

‘Unquestionably an act of war’

While Congress is demanding answers to more questions, many members also feel lied to, if not duped.

“Trump is threatening a naval blockade of Venezuelan oil, an act of War,” Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) wrote on X.

“We have seen this playbook before. This is not about drugs or making America safer; it’s about regime change.

“Americans do not want war with Venezuela. Congress must act now and stop this.”

While the administration likened targeting alleged drug smugglers to going after pirates of old — thus evoking all the lenient maritime laws regarding marauders on the high seas — Democrats say the gig is up.

They’re demanding the administration halt intervention unless Congress explicitly grants the president war powers.

“A naval blockade is unquestionably an act of war,” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) wrote. “A war that the Congress never authorized and the American people do not want.

“On Thursday, the House will vote on Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), and my resolution directing the President to end hostilities with Venezuela.

“Every member of the House of Representatives will have the opportunity to decide if they support sending Americans into yet another regime change war.”

'Trump tells the truth': House Republicans back racist attacks on Somalia, Omar and more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump spoke the “unvarnished truth” when he openly complained about immigrants from “sh–hole” countries, one senior U.S. House Republican told Raw Story, amid outcry over the president’s spate of racist remarks.

“Trump tells the truth,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) said at the Capitol. “He tells unvarnished truth. I have no problem with what he's saying. He rallies the troops like no other.”

Asked what he thought about Trump being accused of being racist, Norman, 72, was unabashed: “People say what they want. This man has brought this country back in less than 11-and-a-half months.”

In a cabinet meeting last week, Trump, 79, attacked Somalian Americans in virulent terms, including calling Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a leading progressive, “garbage.”

This week, in a speech in Pennsylvania, Trump attacked Omar again. He also said he had “announced a permanent pause on third-world migration, including from hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia, and many other countries.”

Answering a supporter’s shout of “sh–hole”, the president said: “I didn't say sh–hole, you did.”

But referring to a scandal from 2018, in his first term, he admitted it: “Remember I said that to the senators, they came in, the Democrats, they wanted to be bipartisan.

“So they came in and they said, ‘This is totally off the record. Nothing mentioned here. We want to be honest.’ Because our country was going to hell.

“And we had a meeting. And I said, ‘Why is it we only take people from sh–hole countries?’ Right? Why can't we have some people from Norway? Sweet and just a few. Let us have a few from Denmark, ‘Do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people. Do you mind?’

“But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime. The only thing they're good at is going after ships.”

Rep. Derrick van Orden (R-WI) knows a thing or two about ships, having been a Navy Seal. Telling Raw Story he had lived in Africa, specifically Djibouti, he backed Trump too.

Asked to respond to Trump’s “sh––hole countries” remarks, Van Orden said: “Listen.

“The President of the United States is in charge of foreign policy. And the President of the United States has affected more positive changes in foreign policy than any president in my lifetime, with maybe the exception of Reagan…

“So I have the utmost confidence in the President of the United States and [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio getting foreign policy in a way when it's a benefit to America.”

It fell to Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), a former House Foreign Affairs Committee chair, to provide a more conventional GOP take on Trump’s “sh–hole countries” remarks.

“It's not a good message,” McCaul said, adding that “there are some who argue, ‘Hey, we did away with all of our soft diplomatic power’” thanks to Trump’s cost-cutting as well as his frequent racist invective.

McCaul said he was “briefed by Rubio's chief of staff yesterday about things we are doing to deal with soft power in a different model paradigm.”

“Is that hard when the president’s calling them ‘sh–hole nations’?” Raw Story pressed.

“He said that in the first term,” McCaul answered.

“But they denied it then and now he said it publicly,” Raw Story pressed again.

Choosing not to engage, McCaul continued to talk about ways to advance U.S. soft power despite crippling cuts to foreign aid via Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

‘Ignorance, racism, xenophobia’

Among Democrats, Rep. Omar lamented rising “ignorance, racism, xenophobia” and said Trump was more open in his second term about his use of racial invective because “he feels more comfortable being a racist.

“His base [is] basically raising money for a woman who gets fired for calling people the N word. What is there more to be surprised” about?

Rep. Ilhan Omar speaking in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr)

Omar was referring to a high-profile story from Wisconsin, in which a woman employed by Cinnabon was filmed subjecting a Somali couple to brutal racist abuse.

Crystal Wilsey, 43, was fired but has since benefited from crowd-funding efforts.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) is one of the longest-serving Black members of Congress. That means that when it comes to Trump deploying racist language, he’s seen it all before.

“It's par for the course,” Thompson, 77, told Raw Story when asked about Trump’s “sh–hole countries” remark. “He lies on the regular.

“He has some kind of tendency to talk about countries and people of color … and he makes no bones about it. When he apologizes for insensitive statements, he comes right back and repeats.”

Raw Story cited a recent National Parks Service decision to drop free admission on holidays dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Juneteenth, but to provide it on Trump’s birthday.

“Why are you trying to erase things that people of color have contributed to just because you disagree with them?” Thompson asked, rhetorically.

‘It’s very frightening’

Unlike Thompson, first elected in 1993, Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) is new to Congress, sworn in just last month.

“This can't be the new normal,” she said of Trump’s remarks. “That's what we're here for, fighting against it…

“I see it every day now, where people are openly discriminated against, people threatening their neighbors because they don’t like something that they're doing. It's very frightening.”

Proudly announcing herself as a “wife, daughter and sister of librarians,” Grijalva lamented “the dismantling of public education” through Republican attempts to ban books and change school courses to reflect a conservative view of U.S. history, particularly on grounds of race.

“Generations won't hear history,” Grijalva said, “because this administration is deciding that it hurts their feelings to talk about how oppressive they [white people] were and what we did too, right? Native American, indigenous people, I mean. We have to talk about that stuff.

“I'm very afraid, and I'm a mom with three kids. So [does] this country look like the one we grew up in? Right now it doesn't.”

'We get blamed for everything': GOP senators know party is running over health-care cliff

WASHINGTON — Thursday is the long-awaited health-care day in the U.S. Senate, but that doesn’t mean Congress has a plan to avert massive spikes in health premiums in the New Year.

To counter Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s proposal to extend COVID-era Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies for three years — which most Republicans say is too long — on Tuesday, Majority Leader John Thune announced the GOP would offer a new measure to replace subsidies with health savings accounts.

“We need to fix it. It's broken. It's a piece of sh––,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Raw Story of the ACA, commonly known as Obamacare.

While many in the GOP are glad the party finally has an alternative to the ACA to rally behind, more middle-of-the-road Republicans are upset with the competing messaging bills at a time when Americans are desperate for a solution.

“How are you feeling about this [new GOP] health-care measure?” Raw Story asked Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), a rare moderate in GOP ranks.

“Bad,” said Murkowski. “We haven't resolved anything, so we're going to have votes? Good deal. What have you got? What are you going to get out of it?”

With no bipartisan solution in sight, the American people aren’t expected to get anything from Thursday’s dueling health-care measures — setting up a key battle in next year’s midterm elections.

‘Not a serious proposal’

This fall, throughout the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Democrats demanded the GOP sit down and find a way to prevent the pending health insurance premium spikes.

The GOP refused, leaving rank-and-file Republicans scrambling to craft a counter offer.

“The 1.6 million people approximately that will lose their subsidy, I've got sympathy for those folks,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Raw Story. “They're going to be left paying enormous Obamacare premiums.”

“And your party might get blamed for that?” Raw Story asked

“Totally. We get blamed for everything,” Johnson said. “But Democrats should be blamed for destroying that individual insurance market with Obamacare.”

Democratic leaders say their three-year extension is essential for families struggling under the weight of inflation induced by President Donald Trump’s tariffs — but the measure is bound for defeat.

“That’s not a serious proposal, because they know there’s billions of dollars in fraud,” Sen. John Husted (R-OH) told Raw Story. “That’s not going to be tolerated.”

Earlier this year, under the guise of rooting out “fraud,” Republicans cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and SNAP benefits, or food stamps, in their “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

That’s something you only hear Democrats mention these days.

“Why not promote the changes you guys made to Medicaid in the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ as Republican health reform?” Raw Story asked Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA). “You guys just did sweeping reform, just to Medicaid.”

“Well, it's a possibility,” Kennedy told Raw Story.

“It seems like you guys don't want to own that and make that a part of the debate?” Raw Story pressed.

“No, I think your conclusion is wrong,” Kennedy said.

While the GOP scrambles to save face on the Senate floor, Republicans continue to rally around unraveling Obamacare — but not much else.

“At the end of the day, we got to get the federal government out of it,” Sen. Tuberville said. “To do that, we got to have a lot of smart minds putting it together where it'll help everybody and not only just a few.”

With little to no guidance from party leaders, four competing GOP Senate measures have emerged, including a new proposal from Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Bernie Moreno (R-OH), to extend ACA subsidies two years.

While that is likely to attract Democratic support, GOP leaders refuse to bring it to the floor and instead are promoting health savings accounts.

It’s almost as if GOP leaders don’t want to solve the pending health-care cost crisis, even as the party desperately tries to portray itself as serious about health care.

“We need to put something forward. We need to show America what we're for,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) told Raw Story.

“This is just a springboard. This bill that we're voting on now is a springboard to a hopefully bipartisan bill that truly addresses all of health care in January.”

But as the New Year quickly approaches, the clock is ticking.

“Nothing happens around here without a deadline,” Husted said.

So far, Republicans haven’t gotten much of any direction from President Trump.

“Would it be helpful for Trump to say: ‘This is the plan that I want, the one I prefer?” a reporter asked Sen. Kennedy.

“Sure,” Kennedy replied. “But I don't think the White House is going to do that, nor do I think that they're prepared to do that. I think the White House is concerned about what, if anything, the House would do, as am I.”

‘Get to 60’

Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson remain mum, even as swing-state Republicans are freaking out.

At the same time, Minority Leader Schumer’s putting forward a three-year extension despite opposition from most all Republicans.

With a mere two legislative weeks before the end of the year, it seems as if the two parties are campaigning past each other instead of trying to find a path to a filibuster-proof majority of 60 senators.

“Is that all this week is,” Raw Story asked Sen. Murkowski, “just politics on both sides?”

“That’s what it seems like,” Murkowski replied. “It takes both sides. Sixty. Neither side has 60. We need to get to 60.”

Murkowski’s one of the few senators willing to cross the aisle. While she remains undecided as to how she’ll vote Thursday, she says she knows the outcome.

“See, the thing is, how I vote doesn't matter, because either one, the public gets nothing, right?” Murkowski said. “So I can say I support the Republican agenda. I can say I support the Democrat [bill]. I can say I support either, but the results are the same.”

'Are you kidding?' Texas GOP senators scoff at challenge from Jasmine Crockett

WASHINGTON — Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) finally settled weeks of speculation on Monday by announcing her candidacy for U.S. Senate — but for the time being, at least, Texas' two Republican senators do not feel threatened by her.

Asked for comment by Raw Story, Sen. John Cornyn, the senator currently seeking reelection, said, "I welcome her to the race."

Cornyn, who faces a serious threat in his own primary by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, added that he doesn't consider her a substantive candidate.

"No, are you kidding? Has she actually passed anything?" said Cornyn. "I think that's where the Democratic Party is today. Getting a guy like Colin Allred to bow out because he's afraid of losing the primary is all you really need to see."

Sen. Ted Cruz had a similar assessment of his colleague's competition.

"The Democrat Party has decided to be the party of crazy, and I can't think of a better frontman for the job," Cruz told Raw Story. "I don't think Texas is terribly eager to be represented by a hard-left radical. And [Zohran] Mamdani may be elected in Manhattan, but I don't think that Texas is going down the same road."

Crockett, one of President Donald Trump's most outspoken detractors in Congress, has said she wants to focus on driving Democratic base voter enthusiasm, but has also speculated in a recent interview she could compete for some lower-propensity Trump voters: "We are going to be able to get people that potentially have voted for Trump, even though I obviously am one of his loudest opponents, because at the end of the day, they vote for who they believe is fighting for them. It's about moving people, and I've got a track record of doing that."

With former Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) bowing out of the Senate race to run for a congressional district in Dallas, Crockett's main primary opponent will be James Talarico, an Austin-area state representative and Presbyterian seminarian.

'Just want to kill it': Dems say Trump absence from health care talks shows true GOP aim

WASHINGTON — To end the longest government shutdown in American history, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators came together and agreed to kick the can.

The can seems to have hit a brick wall.

Unless Congress acts, massive spikes in health-care premiums are coming in the New Year for millions of Americans — the reason Democrats refused to fund the government this fall.

“This whole year we've been moving backwards on health-care because of this administration,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) told Raw Story just off the Senate floor.

While President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have yet to offer a policy solution, this week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a measure to stave off premium spikes by extending COVID-era health insurance subsidies for three years.

As part of the deal that ended the shutdown, Senate Majority Leader John Thune promised to bring Democrats’ proposal up for a formal vote. That is now scheduled for next Thursday.

But the measure’s fate is all but sealed. Many Republicans say they could stomach a one- or two-year extension but not three, which is why many in the GOP dismiss Schumer’s bill as a show vote aimed at next year’s midterm elections.

“No, not to the people in Nevada. They don't think that's a show vote. They need it,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) told Raw Story as she walked through the basement of the U.S. Capitol.

“They need us to extend those subsidies if they're going to be able to afford health care. That's what we should be doing.”

‘We got a health-care crisis’

No one in Washington was really discussing health-care until the shutdown. Now it’s the talk of the town. Cortez Masto says that’s because, unlike in 2024, Democrats are now listening to voters.

“If you just are talking to the American public, we got a health-care crisis,” Cortez Masto said. “Too costly, too high — prices are too high. People can't afford medicine when they need it, so we do need reform.”

For most of the shutdown, the mood was so bitter on Capitol Hill, party leaders refused to talk to each other. But as the shutdown stretched to a record-breaking seven weeks, rank-and-file lawmakers reported productive bipartisan talks on health reform, just way off our screens.

“I had been somewhat hopeful during the shutdown,” Kim, who served in the House until he was sworn in as a Senator in January, said. “I was engaged with a number of House Republicans that were expressing a similar sentiment of wanting to make progress, but Speaker [Mike] Johnson successfully silenced them during the shutdown.”

“Has their tune changed since the government reopened?” Raw Story inquired.

“They're still pissed,” Kim said. “… but I think that they're feeling like … Johnson's just continuing to be obstructionist.”

Kim’s not too optimistic ahead of next week’s vote to extend Obamacare subsidies, in part because the Republican whose opinion matters most has been MIA.

“We’ll see. I'm still engaged with my colleagues on both sides right now,” Kim said. “But right now, what we need to have to actually move this is for Trump to weigh in and get engaged. And so far, he's been not only unwilling but often being obstructionist as well.”

The New Jersey Democrat wonders what happened to Trump’s populist appeal, let alone heart.

“It just boggles my mind. I mean like, the majority of people that are going to be hurt by these tax credits expiring live in states that he won,” Kim said.

“And it just makes no sense. Even if they have thoughts about reforms that they could be doing, none of that can get implemented in the next month, so, like, why not extend this work to try to get some type of reform going forward? It just makes no sense to me. We're just pulling out the rug on these people.”

While the current debate centers around extending Affordable Care Act subsidies, Democrats say that’s just the start.

“That's the first step. There's more that needs to be done,” Cortez Masto said. “We've been fighting this battle against big pharma, against health companies, against PBMs [Pharmacy Benefit Managers].”

Most all small bipartisan efforts, even as health-care remains a bipartisan wedge issue, political leaders love to use to fearmonger and fundraise.

‘The people would reward us’

Many Republicans are itching to rally behind a GOP plan — most any GOP plan to “replace” Obamacare will do, as they didn’t campaign on specifics.

But they need Trump-sized cover and gold spraypainted salesmanship — they need President Trump. Otherwise, Republicans on Capitol Hill aren’t going to walk the legislative plank alone.

“The White House clearly believes that we need to have a solution,” retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told congressional reporters. “That would be very helpful for them to weigh in.”

After refusing to engage with Democrats on health-care subsidies during the shutdown, a growing number of Republicans now say the party should take the lead on health-care reform.

“It's an opportunity. Health-care really hasn't been addressed for years, for decades,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) told a gaggle of reporters on the Capitol steps.

Nehls is retiring at the end of his term — his twin brother running to replace him — but he says the GOP will be rewarded by voters if they take the lead.

They just need an actual proposal first.

“This is an opportunity for us to do it and address it, because we have a unified government. So everybody gather around President Trump. He's got smart people, very smart people around him. Come up with a good plan,” Nehls said.

“Let's get it done and then get this done in 2026. I think it'd be great. And forget about the 2026 election, it's just good for the American people. It's the right thing to do. It's the right thing to do, and I then believe that the American people would reward us.”

As with all things policy, the devil is the details. And thus far, the GOP’s all over the map.

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) speaks on Capitol Hill. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Like many on the right, freshman Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) says Democrats are just calling for a band-aid to keep health insurance premiums from spiking by extending COVID tax credits — aka “five-year subsidies,” because they were passed in 2021 with a sunset at the end of 2025 — instead of addressing cost savings.

Like many in the GOP, Moreno’s touting tax-free health savings accounts. He also wants to end free, $0.00 premium plans offered to qualifying low-income families through Medicare or Affordable Care Act marketplaces.

“We have to fix that eventually. The Democrats are talking about this very hyper-specific five-year subsidy, but I think we can go along with extending it for those two reforms,” Moreno told reporters. “I would like to see the money go into household accounts."

Demands like those have Democrats wary.

‘It really is a mess’

A part of the reason health-care politics have heated up is, the GOP already raided Medicaid to the tune of $1 trillion as a part of their GOP-only Budget Reconciliation Act — aka the One Big Beautiful Bill.

“It really is a mess,” Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) told Raw Story as he rode an elevator up to the House floor during a vote this week.

That’s why many Democrats, especially in the House, aren’t expecting any help from the other side of the aisle.

Rather, they think the issue paints a stark contrast between the parties ahead of next year’s winner-take-all midterms.

“That's our view, because even if they fix the ACA tax credit, you still got the $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid,” Ivey said.

“And so if they just extend the ACA tax credits, that's a big step in the right direction, helps millions of people, but the Medicaid cuts are putting even more people at risk. And then you're also putting medical institutions at risk, hospitals — especially in rural and urban areas, that sort of thing.”

Then there’s “repeal and replace” — the GOP’s repeated promise to eradicate Obamacare.

“They just want to kill it. They want to repeal but not replace,” Ivey said. “Going back to, like, when pregnancy was a pre-existing condition? I just can't see folks being okay with that. Or your kid, you know, not being able to stay on your insurance until he turns 26?

“I mean, why would people walk away from that?”

'Real jeopardy': Dem vets in Congress slam Trump and Hegseth for endangering U.S. troops

WASHINGTON — Democratic veterans on Capitol Hill say there’s a dangerous throughline to Pete Hegseth’s dueling scandals, over the use of an unsecured messaging app and boat bombings in the Caribbean and Pacific: The Pentagon chief is endangering US troops.

A new report from the Pentagon inspector general finds Hegseth — a former Army officer who was a Fox News weekend host before he entered government — put troops in danger this spring when he shared Yemen war plans on the commercial messaging app Signal.

"He shared information he shouldn't have in a way that he shouldn't have, and the consequences are that our military could be compromised and the safety of our men and women in uniform could be compromised,” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) told Raw Story. “That's what we know.”

“Is that the kind of person that we want to be the Secretary of Defense?" Houlahan — an Air Force veteran and member of both the House Intelligence and Armed Services Committees — said.

"No one should be using Signal in that way. Nobody should be communicating that information at all. It's just not nobody, it's the Secretary of Defense."

Details from the inspector general report on Hegseth’s use of commercial messaging app Signal — including how the then national security adviser, Mike Waltz, came to add Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat ahead of strikes in Yemen — are damning to many in Congress.

But that issue pales in comparison to allegations Hegseth signed off on unlawful military strikes in the Caribbean.

To veterans in Congress, it’s unconscionable that Secretary of Defense Hegseth and President Donald Trump, the commander-in-chief, are seemingly letting their underlings take the blame for the military strikes.

“It is incredibly offensive. And it sends a message to the troops that this President, this SecDef, is willing to throw you under the bus,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) — an Army veteran who lost her legs in Iraq — told Raw Story.

“One of the first things you learn as an Army officer, which, you know, [Hegseth] supposedly was, is that you can always delegate authority, but you never delegate responsibility. The responsibility rests with him.”

Hegseth doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo.

‘No leader worth their salt’

On Monday, the Defense Secretary took to social media to seemingly shift the blame.

“Lets make one thing crystal clear: Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100 percent support,” Hegseth wrote on X.

“I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on this September 2 mission and all others since.”

That was the mission when, the Washington Post first reported, an order was given to carry out a second strike on a boat in the Caribbean, the first having left survivors clinging to wreckage.

The Post said Hegseth ordered the second strike, which most analysts say would constitute a war crime. He denies it.

To Duckworth and many other veterans on Capitol Hill, Hegseth passing the buck is scandalous.

“I've always known that he's not qualified for the job,” Duckworth said. “I worry about the service members being put into jeopardy by this, right? We’re violating international laws of armed conflict, we are putting service members in legal jeopardy.

“My focus right now is what are we doing to our service members? We're putting them in real jeopardy, both legally and also personally. I mean, you know, if we're going to do this in international waters, what's to keep some other country from saying, ‘Hey, we're going to do this to the US’?”

Other senior members of the Armed Services Committees agreed.

"No leader worth their salt pushes responsibility off on a subordinate,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) told Raw Story.

“And if Hegseth gave a ‘kill everybody’ order — and we have to determine whether, in fact, that's true — that's a clear violation of law, whether or not he gave it before the second strike. A kill everybody order just in and of itself is a violation of the laws of war.”

Kaine says Hegseth has a bad habit of passing the buck.

"The opening salvo of ‘It's all a lie’ and ‘It's journalists who are spinning a fake narrative’ to now, ‘Well, yeah, it's true but you know, it was Adm. Bradley's call, not mine’ — I mean, you know, no,” Kaine said.

‘Legal risk’

Kaine and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) are renewing their calls for Congress to pass an AUMF — or

Authorization for Use of Military Force — before the Pentagon carries out more air strikes off the coast of Venezuela.

"We're seeing realized a lot of the fears members had that this unauthorized campaign would result in blowback to the country, to our troops," Schiff told Raw Story.

"One of the concerns I've had all along has been that we risk putting service members in physical danger, but we also risk putting them at legal risk and that's exactly what's happened."

Hegseth’s Democratic critics say it's the same with “Signalgate.”

"Secretary Hegseth has been a liability to the administration from the moment he was confirmed,” Houlahan of Pennsylvania said. “At what point does the President recognize that and ask for his resignation?"

Trump's 'mental decline' put on display with 'creepy obsession': House lawmaker

WASHINGTON — A pair of top Democrats in the House of Representatives slammed President Donald Trump's "deranged obsession" with attacking Somali-Americans on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Trump said he does not want Somalis in the United States because "they contribute nothing," the AP reported. His most recent attack follows a report by the conservative outlet City Journal that accused Somali Americans of committing fraud in Minnesota, the report added.

Speaking exclusively with Raw Story on Wednesday, Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) pushed back against the president's remarks.

"He's a bigoted fool," Omar said. "There's nothing surprising about the president using racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic rhetoric to attack an entire community."

Omar added that Trump's comments make him look weak to the Somali community she represents.

"They're all mockingly wondering if he's ok, and so am I," she said. "Even the reporters were asking, 'Why are you bringing them up?' It just seems like he has a very deranged and creepy obsession with me and, by extension, the Somali Americans, and it's really off-putting. It puts his mental decline on display in a way that I don't think he's smart enough to recognize."

The Trump administration has since stepped up its immigration enforcement activities against Somali-Americans since the president made his remarks, officials told the AP.

Ocasio-Cortez said the immigration raids show Trump is not aware of the legal complexities of his actions. She warned that his actions could leave him vulnerable to legal action.

"There are so many legal exemptions, from libel laws to slander, that, as an elected official, there are very few protections," she said.

Texas GOP senators dodge questions over ethics of Trump pardon for 'Blue Dog' bribery Dem

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump pardoned Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), a conservative Democratic congressman facing bribery, money laundering and conspiracy charges, out of disinterested concern for the politicization of the Department of Justice under Joe Biden, Republican senator Ted Cruz claimed on Wednesday.

“The Constitution gives the pardon power exclusively to the President,” Cruz told Raw Story at the Capitol, when asked about the Cuellar pardon, which Trump announced on social media. “It's his decision how to exercise it.”

Raw Story asked if Cruz was worried, given the seriousness of the charges against Cuellar, that the Trump White House was nonetheless setting “a bad example for politicians writ large?”

“The Biden Department of Justice, sadly, was weaponized and politicized,” Cruz said. “And I think President Trump is rightly concerned about the politicization of the Department of Justice.”

Trump made the same claim in his statement announcing the Cuellar pardon.

In reality, Trump has been widely criticized for politicizing the Department of Justice himself, not least through direct public orders to Attorney General Pam Bondi to indict political enemies such as former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump's use of the pardon power has also been widely criticized, from issuing pardons and other acts of clemency to more than 1,500 people charged in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on Congress to rewarding domestic and international allies — this week including a former president of Honduras convicted of drug trafficking, which Trump also claimed was a case of victimization under Joe Biden.

Cuellar has been in Congress since 2005. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Houston in May 2024, when Joe Biden was president.

According to the DoJ, Cuellar and his wife Imelda Cuellar “allegedly accepted approximately $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities: an oil and gas company wholly owned and controlled by the Government of Azerbaijan, and a bank headquartered in Mexico City.”

The DoJ alleged that the bribes were “laundered, pursuant to sham consulting contracts, through a series of front companies and middlemen into shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar,” while “Congressman Cuellar allegedly agreed to use his office to influence U.S. foreign policy in favor of Azerbaijan …and to advise and pressure high-ranking U.S. Executive Branch officials regarding measures beneficial to the bank.”

The Cuellars denied wrongdoing.

Earlier this year it was widely reported that the DoJ had decided to move forward with the case, despite Trump indicating support for the Cuellars.

On Wednesday, announcing the pardon on Truth Social, Trump said he pardoned Cuellar because he had been victimized for “bravely [speaking] out against” the Biden administration on immigration policy.

After a rambling complaint about supposed Democratic bias at the Department of Justice during the Biden administration, Trump said: “Henry, I don’t know you, but you can sleep well tonight — Your nightmare is finally over!”

Before the Cuellar pardon became public, Michael Wolff, a leading Trump biographer, described how even the disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein worried about how Trump would use the pardon power.

"Jeffrey Epstein had a kind of riff about this,” Wolff told the Daily Beast, “because even before Trump became president, [Epstein] would talk about, 'If Donald became president and he had the pardon power ... Trump … often … talked about this in a kind of wide-eyed incredulity. 'I can pardon anyone. No one can do anything about it. If I pardon them. I have absolute power.'

"Epstein had focused on this and said … he loves showing the power that he has, and he said he would do it in a childlike way.”

Trump's relationship with Epstein remains the subject of a broiling Capitol Hill scandal, concerning the release of files related to Epstein's arrest and death in 2019.

At the Capitol on Wednesday, Raw Story also caught up with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

“What do you make of this full unconditional pardon of your colleague, Mr. Cuellar?” Raw Story asked.

“It's entirely within the President's prerogative and Congress doesn't have a role,” Cornyn said.

All presidential pardons are political.

Cornyn pointed to political realities, saying: “I've known Henry a long time and had a very productive working relationship. He's I guess one of the last of the 'Blue Dogs' that are quickly becoming extinct, Democrats that actually will work with Republicans.”

“What do you make of the charges against him?” Raw Story asked, listing bribery, money laundering and conspiracy.

“That's the Department of Justice,” Cornyn said. “I don't have anything to do with that.”

‘Why people hate politicians’: Senior Dem slams GOP senators for J6 payout bid

WASHINGTON — A move by Senate Republicans to allow members of their caucus whose phone records were swept up in the Jan. 6, 2021 investigation to sue the government they are a part of “stinks like sh––”, a prominent Democrat told Raw Story.

Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and a bipartisan group of lawmakers are appalled and vow to follow the House and swiftly nix the measure.

The controversial provision directed by Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune (R-SD) was included in the bill to reopen the government after the recent record-breaking shutdown.

“It stinks like sh––. It's just stinky,” Sen. Luján told Raw Story: “It's why people across the country hate politicians.

“Because, you know, under the guise of opening up the government and [with] Republicans saying they would not allow food programs to go forward … they sneak in more than a $500,000 payoff.”

Under the Senate measure passed on Nov. 10, senators who had their phone records collected during Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol could qualify for hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation.

At the time, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), one of the senators investigated over his links to Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 defeat by Joe Biden, said: “Leader Thune inserted that in the bill to provide real teeth to the prohibition on the Department of Justice targeting senators.”

Cruz also bemoaned what he called “the abuse of power from the Biden Justice Department … the worst single instance of politicization our country has ever seen,” telling Politico: “I think it is Joe Biden’s Watergate, and the statutory prohibition needs to have real teeth and real consequences.”

But the move caused widespread outcry. Last week, the House, which is controlled by Republicans, voted unanimously to repeal the provision.

“It's $500,000 per instance, so it's arguably millions of dollars for arguably eight senators,” Sen. Lujan told Raw Story at the Capitol, ahead of lawmakers’ Thanksgiving recess.

“It's stinky. There's a reason why the House Republicans said this was garbage and they acted so quickly. So kudos to them for moving so quickly, and kudos to Sen. [Martin] Heinrich (D-NM) for offering a piece of legislation that says, ‘Take it out.’”

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) was among other Democrats who told Raw Story they expected the Senate to remove the compensation measure, “probably in one of the one of the must-passes [budgetary bills] at the end of the year.”

‘What the hell are they up to?’

Lujan did accept Republican concerns about senators’ phone records being obtained by Smith and his team.

“Whether it's Democrats or Republicans, I mean, what the hell are they up to?” Lujan asked. “Why are they doing it? Arguably, it's against the law.”

But he also demanded to know why Republican senators needed a “payout” on the issue when they “left out” of their legislation “my Republican colleague out of Pennsylvania that was also in the damn report” — a reference to either Mike Kelly or Scott Perry, the only two Key Stone State lawmakers mentioned.

“It's stupid, and it's broken all around,” Lujan said.

‘We’ll talk about it’

Republican senators are reportedly split over how to amend their measure after its rejection by the House.

At the Capitol, Sen. Cruz dodged Raw Story’s question, saying he had a call to attend to.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) said her party would be “discussing it.”

She also said she had not known about Thune’s provision when the government funding bill passed.

“I think the leaders even said, you know, maybe the process of doing it was not the best,” Capito said. “The substance of it, I don't argue with, being able to keep the separation of powers, but we'll talk about it next week.”

Democrats want to make it as uncomfortable as possible.

“It's outrageous that people would put into the bill essentially a check for themselves for up to $500,000,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) told Raw Story.

“Are you guys pressuring?” Raw Story asked.

“Oh, we're working very hard to overturn it,” Van Hollen promised.

‘Biggest mistake of her life’: GOP lawmakers dish on Marjorie Taylor Greene

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s surprise retirement announcement seems to have House Republicans breathing sighs of relief.

Before the far-right Georgia representative shocked the political world and announced her plan to retire on the eve of the next Jan. 6 anniversary, her fellow Republicans wanted nothing to do with her ongoing digital brawl with the president over the Epstein files.

Greene herself didn’t want to talk about the spat she started with Trump.

“Are you getting a divorce from Trump?” Raw Story asked last Friday morning, as Greene and her mini-entourage headed to the House floor for members’ last vote ahead of their weeklong Thanksgiving recess.

The usually talkative congresswoman just shook her head no.

“She’s not taking questions today,” her MAGA-media boyfriend, Brian Glenn of Real America’s Voice, answered for her.

Greene wasn’t the only Republican avoiding the topic of Greene.

‘No comment’

While no one outside Greene’s small circle of confidants saw her retirement coming, the MAGA darling had alienated many fellow Republicans in recent weeks.

“What have you thought of this dustup between MTG and Trump?” Raw Story asked Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), like Greene a hard-line controversy magnet on the right of the party.

“Above my pay grade on that,” said Gosar, who in 2024 was one of only 10 Republicans to join Greene’s attempt to oust Speaker Mike Johnson.

Other Republicans, especially those seeking a new office, were close-lipped too.

"That's between them, not me," Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who’s running for governor back home, told Raw Story.

"Look, I just do my deal, so I haven't really thought much about it, to be frank with you."

Awkward.

“I don’t have any thoughts,” Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) — who served in the House alongside MTG until moving to the Senate in January — told Raw Story.

“I'm glad to be a senator.”

Even members of Greene’s Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) Subcommittee refused to come to the congresswoman’s aid in her clash with Trump.

"No comment there," Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) told Raw Story Friday morning.

"It's uncomfortable, right?" Raw Story pressed.

"My fire is focused on the Democrats," Gill said. “I'll put it that way."

‘All in with the boss’

If there was any doubt lingering about who controls the GOP, doubt no more: Trump won, again.

Greene’s decision to step down rather than duke it out with a primary opponent next year reveals the power of this presidency — because Greene’s one of the most prolific fundraisers on Capitol Hill.

Since her first win in 2020, the congresswoman’s raised a staggering $26.1 million. But even she withered at the thought of taking on her former MAGA-ally-in-chief.

“Biggest mistake of her life,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) told Raw Story outside the Capitol Friday morning.

“I don't know why you get into altercations with Donald Trump, the greatest president," Nehls added. "I mean, the guy, he's done a hell of a job, why would you do it?”

While Greene has not discussed her decision, on Capitol Hill there’s been lots of chatter about her failing to garner Trump’s blessing for a Senate run.

“You hear the reports, some are saying she wanted to run for Senate and the numbers didn't look good,” Nehls said.

“A lot of people up here think they deserve to get promoted or, you know, all this other stuff. I don't know, but it's not healthy. It's not healthy.”

Just hours before Greene made her retirement announcement, Nehls predicted her downfall.

“I don’t see how Marjorie can win this battle. I just don't,” Nehls said.

“And MAGA’s MAGA. MAGA’s not moving off," he added. "The boss has his supporters and they're not leaving him. The boss is the boss, and I support the boss. I'm all in with the boss.”

’Tis the season?

Politically speaking, Thanksgiving promises to be a lonely day for Greene.

“None of you guys want to talk about her fight with Trump,” Raw Story told Arizona Congressman Gosar. “It feels like an uncomfortable Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Probably, yeah,” Gosar said, smirking. “It might be a Christmas dinner.”

“Do you think they'll heal it eventually?” Raw Story asked. “Because members of your party have already found out what happens when you cross Trump.”

“She’d be wise to” heal the breach with the president, Gosar said Friday morning, ahead of the retirement announcement.

“It's nice to see spirit, but not unless it comes with temperament. I've learned that from my family.”

In 2018, six of Gosar’s siblings disavowed him politically and cut an ad for his opponent. Seven years on, as Congress left town for the recess, it was unclear who Gosar — or MTG — would be spending Thanksgiving with.