Category Archives: House of Representatives

Pelosi has ‘never been that impressed’ with Biden’s political operation

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Former House speaker on how she concluded the president couldn’t beat Trump and should step aside

Nancy Pelosi has “never been that impressed” with Joe Biden’s “political operation”, the former US House speaker said, discussing a judgment that helped her conclude the president could not beat Donald Trump and should step aside.

“They won the White House [in 2020]. Bravo. But my concern was: this ain’t happening, and we have to make a decision for [Biden’s withdrawal] to happen,” Pelosi told the New Yorker, in an interview published on Thursday.

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Climate change deniers make up nearly a quarter of US Congress

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Climate denialists – 23 in Senate and 100 in House – are all Republicans and make US an outlier internationally

US politics is an outlier bastion of climate denial with nearly one in four members of Congress dismissing the reality of climate change, even as alarm has grown among the American public over dangerous global heating, an analysis has found.

A total of 123 elected federal representatives – 100 in the House of Representatives and 23 US senators – deny the existence of human-caused climate change, all of them Republicans, according to a recent study of statements made by current members.

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House to form taskforce to investigate Trump assassination attempt

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Bill passes 416-0 in favor of bipartisan group to look at security failings surrounding Pennsylvania rally shooting

The House voted on Wednesday to form a taskforce to investigate the security failures surrounding the assassination attempt against Donald Trump earlier this month.

The vote underscores the bipartisan outrage over the shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump came within inches of losing his life. One rally-goer was killed and two others severely injured. Lawmakers have responded quickly with hearings and widespread calls for accountability.

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Rashida Tlaib holds up ‘war criminal’ sign during Netanyahu address

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Sole Palestinian American in Congress protests as other progressives call for Israel arms embargo and Gaza ceasefire

Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit and address to a joint session of the US Congress on Wednesday was met with a personal protest in the chamber by the sole Palestinian American member of Congress, while some lawmakers gave the Israeli prime minister a standing ovation, others stayed away, and demonstrations by thousands of protesters took place outside.

The Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib, a leading progressive Democrat and fiercely outspoken opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, held up a sign that said “war criminal” as Netanyahu was speaking. She also wore a Palestinian flag pin and a keffiyeh, the black and white scarf that has been linked with the Palestinian struggle for over half a century.

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Biden says ‘history is in your hands’ – as it happened

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This blog is now closed. You can read our full story on Biden’s address at the link below:

Kevin McCarthy, the former Republican House speaker, has described attacks by his former colleagues on Kamala Harris claiming that she was hired as part of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are “stupid and dumb”.

McCarthy, speaking to NBC News’ Meet the Press NOW last night, said:

I disagree with DEI, but she is the vice-president of the United States, she is the former US senator. These congressmen saying it, they are wrong in their own instincts.

If President Biden is committed to passing the torch to his vice president, and wants to be able to seed her campaign with the current Biden for President campaign war chest, he’ll first have to become his party’s legal nominee. After shuffling through the Democratic National Committee’s planned roll call vote he’d be free to drop out. Ms Harris could seamlessly slip into the driver’s seat.

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Bernie Sanders condemns speech to Congress by ‘war criminal’ Netanyahu

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Independent senator says in floor speech invitation to Israeli PM, due to give address on Wednesday, is ‘disgrace’

The Vermont senator Bernie Sanders has condemned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming address to the US Congress, calling him a “war criminal” presiding over a “rightwing extremist government”.

Sanders delivered his remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday as Congress expects Netanyahu to give a speech to Congress on Wednesday afternoon. The speech comes after an underwhelming arrival to the US, just after President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from November’s elections.

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Trump leads 2024 race in new poll as some Biden aides reportedly discuss how to convince him to end campaign – live

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Pew finds that Trump has a 4 percentage point lead over Biden among registered voters nationwide

Joe Biden continues to push back against those calling for him to step aside, albeit gently.

Politico reports that the president’s aides have reached out to delegates ahead of the Democratic national convention in August, and asked questions that seem geared towards making sure they remain loyal to the president ahead of his formal re-nomination.

Fearing a floor revolt against his nomination, President Biden’s aides are telephoning individual delegates to next month’s Democratic convention to gauge their loyalty to the president, according to three delegates who received a call this week.

After a round of introductory questions confirming each delegate was still planning on going to Chicago and asking if they had served as delegate before, the Biden aide making the calls got to the point, the Democratic activists recalled to me in separate interviews.

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US House to vote on bill that will require proof of citizenship for casting ballot

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Republicans to push Safeguard American Voter Eligibility bill in effort to quell unproved fraud of non-citizens voting

Congressional Republicans will vote this week on a bill to require people to show proof of citizenship to register to vote, a move that comes as they lay the groundwork for undermining election results in November.

The House will vote on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility bill, or Save bill, which would make states require, in person, documents that prove a person is a US citizen when registering to vote. This can include a Real ID, passport or other kinds of identification that show a person’s place of birth. It wouldn’t include a standard drivers license as a sole form of identification and calls for a secondary proof of place of birth alongside it, like a birth certificate.

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White House says time to ‘turn the page’ on Biden campaign questions as Democrats still appear split – live

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Party leaders have come out in support of president but rumbling continues as Tennessee Democrat says opinions are so vast they are ‘not even in the same book’

At the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, Senator Josh Hawley endorsed the idea of Christian nationalism.

“Some will say now that I am calling America a Christian nation – so I am,” said Hawley during remarks at the conference on Monday. “And some will say that I am advocating Christian nationalism – so I do.”

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Leading House Democrat Adam Smith calls on Biden to end presidential bid

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Ranking Democrat on armed services committee says debate was ‘alarming’ and urges president to stand aside

Joe Biden’s position among congressional Democrats eroded further on Monday when an influential House committee member lent his voice to calls for him to end his presidential campaign following last month’s spectacular debate failure.

Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the armed services committee in the House of Representatives, issued the plea just hours after the president emphatically rejected calls for him to step aside in a letter to the party’s congressional contingent.

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Biden insists he can reunite US as high-profile Democrats reportedly want him to quit race

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President hits trail in Pennsylvania as virtual lawmaker meeting with Hakeem Jeffries shows growing party doubt

Joe Biden insisted he was the person to reunite America in a second term in the White House and was “up for the job” as he hit the trail in Pennsylvania on Sunday – but the number of high-profile Democrats doubting his position as the presumptive party nominee only grew amid a campaign in crisis.

Pressure on the US president increased even further following his poor debate performance against Donald Trump last month and an underwhelming ABC interview last week, as a group of Democratic representatives met online with House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday.

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Top Democrats plan crisis meeting despite Biden’s vow to fight on

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House Democratic leader schedules virtual conference for Sunday as several members call for president’s withdrawal

Congressional Democrats are to hold an emergency weekend meeting to discuss Joe Biden’s tottering presidential candidacy, after a primetime television interview failed to dispel doubts triggered by last week’s debate fiasco.

Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrats’ leader in the House of Representatives, scheduled the virtual meeting for Sunday with ranking committee members, according to multiple reports, even as Biden struck a defiant posture in Friday’s interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

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Texas congressman becomes first House Democrat to call on Biden to withdraw

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Lloyd Doggett breaks ranks and says Biden should not continue presidential run after Trump debate calamity

The first congressional Democrat has broken ranks and called on Joe Biden to withdraw his presidential candidacy following last week’s calamitous debate performance against Donald Trump.

Lloyd Doggett, a House member for Texas, became the first Democrat in the House of Representative to urge the president to stop aside amid continuing signs of underlying alarm in the wider party over his electability triggered by his faltering display in Atlanta.

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Jamaal Bowman’s primary defeat leaves progressives angry at role of Aipac

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Leftwing groups write to top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries raising ‘dire concerns’ about pro-Israel lobby group

Progressive groups reacted with disappointment and anger over Jamaal Bowman’s decisive primary loss to a moderate Democrat in New York’s 16th district, calling for the party to cut ties with pro-Israel lobbying groups they blame for the result.

In a letter to the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, more than a dozen progressive organizations said they had “dire concerns” over the party’s continued association with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), “the future of the Democratic Party, the future of our multiracial democracy, and the future of our planet”.

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Progressive Jamaal Bowman loses New York House Democratic primary

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Congressman Bowman defeated by George Latimer, backed by pro-Israel groups in most expensive House primary ever

Jamaal Bowman, the progressive Democratic congressman whose criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza made him a target for pro-Israel lobbying groups, lost his primary race on Tuesday night.

The Democratic primary in New York’s 16th district became the most expensive House primary in history after Bowman was challenged by George Latimer, a pro-Israel centrist.

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Lauren Boebert, hard-right Republican, wins Colorado primary after moving districts

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Bitter intraparty fight is one of two elections that could help determine control of Congress in November

Despite a series of personal scandals, Lauren Boebert, a hard-right Colorado Republican who narrowly avoided defeat in 2022, won out over a crowded field of other Republican primary candidates in the fourth congressional district – previously led by Ken Buck – which leans more heavily Republican.

Boebert’s primary win is one of the most closely watched results of Colorado’s primary elections, which chose the winners in several bitter intra-party fights among the state’s Republicans, including in two competitive House districts that could help determine control of Congress in November.

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Accusations fly as pro-Israel groups spend big to oust progressive House Democrat

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Jamaal Bowman faces challenge from George Latimer in New York primary that has become testy – and expensive

It was one of the hottest days of the year in New York City on Saturday – but as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to the stage in the Bronx, you wouldn’t know it.

At a rally to support Jamaal Bowman, the progressive Democrat facing a primary campaign that has seen pro-Israel lobbying groups pump more than $15m into the race, Ocasio-Cortez was amped up.

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Tense wait in tight Virginia primary for House Republican who crossed Trump

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Incumbent Bob Good, chair of far-right Freedom Caucus, appeals for patience as votes counted in congressional race

The conservative US representative Bob Good is asking for “patience from the people of Virginia’s fifth district over the coming weeks” as he hopes the final ballot count from Tuesday’s primary will allow him to fend off a fellow Republican challenger endorsed by former president Donald Trump.

Good, who chairs the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, currently trails state senator John McGuire by a little more than 300 votes as elections officials finalize their vote counts and mail-in ballots continue to trickle in.

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Biden pledges citizenship pathway for spouses and children of US citizens

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President touts ‘commonsense fix’ that would provide relief for more than half a million ‘mixed-status’ families

Joe Biden on Tuesday announced an expansive new plan to provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented spouses of US citizens, calling it a “commonsense fix” that would provide relief to more than half a million “mixed-status” families in the country.

The move comes as the Democratic president tries to strike a balance before the 5 November election: confronting rising public concern over the unprecedented levels of migration at the southern border, while appeasing progressive Democrats and Hispanic leaders furious over Biden’s aggressive asylum crackdown, which they likened to Trump-era policies.

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Justice department declines to pursue Merrick Garland contempt charges

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DoJ tells Republicans it will not pursue prosecution of attorney general after House votes to hold him in contempt

The US Department of Justice on Friday told the Republican House of Representatives speaker, Mike Johnson, that it would decline to pursue criminal contempt of Congress charges against the attorney general, Merrick Garland, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

The Republican-controlled House had voted on Wednesday to hold Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over audio of Joe Biden’s interview with the special counsel investigating his retention of classified documents after he was Barack Obama’s vice-president.

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