Category Archives: Republicans

Ukraine’s war effort already affected by block on $60bn US aid, says Nato chief

Posted on by

Jens Stoltenberg believes Congress will finally vote for package but meanwhile Russian forces are advancing near Avdiivka

The US failure to vote through a fresh military aid package for Ukraine is already having an impact on the battlefield, Nato’s secretary general has warned at the end of a defence ministers’ meeting.

Jens Stoltenberg said he still believed Congress would eventually approve the stalled $60bn (£50bn) package, but his cautious remarks came as Nato officials warned Russia was making “significant gains” near the frontline town of Avdiivka.

Continue reading...

Wisconsin lawmakers adopt new legislative maps that could undo gerrymandering

Posted on by

Votes by Republican-dominated state assembly and state senate signal that the years-long battle may be finally drawing to a close

Wisconsin lawmakers voted on Tuesday to adopt legislative maps drawn by the Democratic governor, Tony Evers – inching the state closer to undoing the extreme gerrymander that has ensured Republican control of the state for more than a decade.

The pair of votes in the Republican-dominated state assembly and state senate are a sign that the years-long battle over Wisconsin’s legislative maps may be finally drawing to a close, giving Democrats a chance to win control of the state legislature in upcoming elections for the first time since 2012.

Continue reading...

US Senate approves $95bn aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

Posted on by

Pre-dawn vote comes amid growing doubts about fate of legislation in Republican-controlled House of Representatives

After weeks of setbacks and delays, the US Senate gave final approval to a $95bn wartime aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other American allies early on Tuesday morning, sending the bill to the Republican-controlled House where its fate is uncertain.

In a pre-dawn vote, the Senate passed the measure 70 to 29, easily clearing the 60-vote threshold needed to pass most legislation in the chamber. Nearly all Democrats and 22 Republicans approved the bill, which exposed deep divisions within the GOP over America’s responsibility to its allies and its role on the world stage.

Continue reading...

US House impeaches Biden homeland security secretary in historic vote

Posted on by

Alejandro Mayorkas, rebuked by Republicans who voted against key immigration bill, first to face such punishment in over 150 years

The US House of Representatives has voted to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, Joe Biden’s secretary of homeland security, on explicitly political charges related to conditions at the southern border as Republicans attempt to capitalize on the issue in an election year.

The evening roll call proved tight, with speaker Mike Johnson’s threadbare Republican majority and in the face of staunch Democratic opposition to impeaching Mayorkas, the first cabinet secretary facing charges in nearly 150 years.

Continue reading...

Long Island votes on replacement for disgraced Republican George Santos

Posted on by

Democrat Tom Suozzi and Republican Mazi Pilip battle to win New York district after expulsion of fabulist congressman

The replacement for George Santos, the disgraced Republican congressman, is set to be decided on Tuesday, as New Yorkers head to the polls in what has become a closely watched election nationwide.

Voters in Long Island, east of New York City, face a choice between Tom Suozzi, a Democrat who previously spent six years in Congress, and Mazi Pilip, a relatively unknown local politician, in an election that will impact Republican’s narrow majority in the House of Representatives.

Continue reading...

Rand Paul filibusters over Senate’s $95bn foreign aid package – as it happened

Posted on by

Kentucky senator who opposes the aid package has indicated he will use every tool at his disposal to delay the final vote

The House majority leader, Republican Steve Scalise of Louisiana, will return to Capitol Hill tomorrow after undergoing cancer treatment in recent weeks.

The House speaker, Republican Mike Johnson of Louisiana, welcomed Scalise back with a tweet noting that the majority leader was now in remission.

Continue reading...

Republicans say Trump call for Russia to attack Nato allies was just fine, actually

Posted on by

Tom Cotton echoes fellow GOP senators, saying former president was ‘simply ringing the warning bell’

A leading Republican senator said Donald Trump was “simply ringing the warning bell” when he caused global alarm by declaring he would encourage Russia to attack Nato allies who did not pay enough to maintain the alliance, as Trump’s party closed ranks behind its presumptive presidential nominee.

“Nato countries that don’t spend enough on defense, like Germany, are already encouraging Russian aggression and President Trump is simply ringing the warning bell,” Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a former soldier, told the New York Times.

Continue reading...

Haley hopes to boost election bid with attacks on Trump’s and Biden’s ages

Posted on by

Candidate’s ailing campaign will use mobile billboard in her home state to highlight her opponents’ many verbal gaffes

Nikki Haley’s Republican presidential nomination campaign in South Carolina is set to parade a mobile billboard drawing attention to rival Donald Trump’s age on Saturday, as ageing and mental acuity issues continue to dominate the US’s political discourse.

The stunt, which was scheduled to pass through Myrtle Beach, comes as Trump begins campaigning in Haley’s home state ahead of its primary on 24 February. It is scheduled to make stops outside a rally for the former president, according to the Hill, and show both Trump as well as Democratic incumbent Joe Biden appearing to fall into moments of confusion during public remarks.

Continue reading...

Larry Hogan launches Republican Senate bid after saying he lacks ‘burning desire to be a senator’

Posted on by

Ex-Maryland governor who Republicans hope can win in blue state told podcast last year sitting in Senate would be ‘really frustrating’

Larry Hogan, the former Republican governor of Maryland who on Friday announced a surprise US Senate run, told an interviewer last year he did not “have a burning desire to be a senator”, would find sitting in the Senate “really frustrating”, thought being a senator was “not where my skill set lies”, and said that though he could win a seat, “the problem was I would win and I would have to go be a senator”.

Hogan made the stark remarks, which may now come to haunt him, in an interview last May with Johanna Maska, host of the Press Advance podcast and a former White House aide to Barack Obama.

Continue reading...

‘Gratuitous, inaccurate’: White House disputes special counsel report on Biden

Posted on by

Democrats launch aggressive push back and defend president against Robert Hur’s description in report

Democrats and the White House on Friday launched an aggressive push back against a special counsel report that pushed Joe Biden’s age and memory to the front and center of the presidential election campaign and spurred a series of Republican attacks on the US president.

The special counsel Robert Hur’s report on Biden’s handling of confidential documents on Thursday said the US president would not face criminal charges in the case but in a series of remarks characterized Biden as elderly and with a failing memory – triggering a political bombshell on an issue seen as a core weakness of Biden’s re-election campaign.

Continue reading...

Florida schoolkids may have to study ‘threat of communism in the US’

Posted on by

Republican bills likely to reach Governor Ron DeSantis, who has railed against indoctrination of students by ‘liberal elites’

Kindergartners in Florida might soon be compelled to balance learning their ABCs with lectures on the history of communism, if a Republican proposal moving through the state’s legislature becomes law.

House bill 1349 would also create a “history of communism taskforce”, hand-picked by the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, to recommend how the subject is presented in classrooms from elementary to high school starting in 2026.

Continue reading...

US funding failure will have serious battlefield consequences, says Ukraine

Posted on by

Zelenskiy aide says ‘foreign policy has become a hostage of internal politics’ after Republicans torpedo aid bill

The repeated failure of the Biden administration to get a funding package for Ukraine approved by the Senate will have real consequences in terms of lives on the battlefield and Kyiv’s ability to hold off Russian forces on the frontline, say Ukrainian officials.

The latest move by Senate Republicans to torpedo a bipartisan bill that would have combined $60bn (£48bn) in aid for Ukraine with aid to Israel and increased border security measures is a bitter blow for Kyiv. It could signal a very grim year ahead as the US political agenda settles into an election year with Donald Trump all but certain to be the Republican candidate.

Continue reading...

Black and Hispanic voters deserting Democratic party in large numbers, poll says

Posted on by

Gallup survey shows big drop in only three years among Black and Hispanic voters, a concern for Biden’s re-election campaign

Black and Hispanic voters are deserting the Democratic party in numbers that will present a concern for Joe Biden’s re-election effort, a poll has found.

Among Black Americans expressing a party preference, the Democratic lead over Republicans has dropped by almost 20% in only three years, according to the Gallup survey.

Continue reading...

‘Dead on arrival’: US Senate poised for procedural vote on $118bn border bill

Posted on by

Bipartisan bill, brokered by the White House and group of senators from both sides, is likely to fail due to Republican opposition

The Senate appeared ready to move forward on Wednesday with a planned procedural vote on the bipartisan border and national security bill, even as the legislation looked increasingly likely to fail due to entrenched opposition among Republicans.

The $118bn bill would grant the president a new power to shut down the border when daily crossings pass a certain limit while also expediting the asylum review process, which could lead to a quicker deportation for many migrants. The bill would provide $60bn in military assistance for Ukraine, $14bn in security assistance for Israel and $10bn in humanitarian assistance for civilians affected by war in Ukraine, Gaza and the West Bank.

Continue reading...

Republican National Committee wants Nikki Haley to drop out to boost funds

Posted on by

Exclusive: RNC reported $8m in cash to spend, less than half of what it had in 2016, as it starts preparing for the 2024 election

Top officials at the Republican National Committee want Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, to drop out of the race for the GOP nomination so it can launch a joint fundraising committee with Donald Trump to bolster its finances, according to people familiar with the situation.

The RNC last week reported $8m in cash to spend in its year-end filing, an amount less than half of what it had when Trump was running for the presidency in 2016 and below what it needs to stand up operations as it prepares to take on Joe Biden in the general election.

Continue reading...

Haley loses to ‘none of the candidates’ in Nevada primary as Biden seals easy win

Posted on by

Haley suffers embarrassing result with Trump not on ballot and contesting delegate-selecting caucuses on Thursday instead

Nikki Haley suffered an embarrassing defeat in Nevada’s Republican presidential primary contest, when she was beaten by the “none of these candidates” option, despite Donald Trump’s absence from the ballot.

Joe Biden, meanwhile, secured another primary victory after his nearest challenger, Marianne Williamson, registered only in the low single digits. The AP called the results about two hours after polls closed on a soggy and subdued election day in Nevada.

Continue reading...

Nevada primary: Biden focuses on Black and Latino voters as GOP scheme helps Trump

Posted on by

Election day off to a quiet start with no major candidates in the state and with voters slow to trickle into polling sites

Polls have closed in Nevada, which is holding its first presidential primary contest in the US west, has been damp – and oddly quiet.

None of the major candidates are in the state, and voters have been slow to trickle into polling sites. Only about 12,000 people had opted to vote at polling stations on election day. About 151,000 people voted early, the majority of them by mail.

Continue reading...

Biden blames Trump for imminent death of immigration bill – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is now closed. For more on Biden’s address, you can read our full story:

This right here is what Joe Biden, most Democrats and the apparently dwindling number of Republicans who support the immigration bill are up against.

The House speaker, Mike Johnson, is leading the campaign against the compromise legislation, which would enact hardline policies Democrats generally oppose while also sending military assistance to Ukraine and Israel. In remarks today, he expressed approval at reports that the deal is on “life support” in the Senate:

Continue reading...

South Dakota tribe bans governor from reservation over US border comments

Posted on by

Oglala Sioux tribe banishes Republican Kristi Noem after she spoke about wanting to send razor wire to Texas

A South Dakota tribe has banned the state’s Republican governor, Kristi Noem, from one of the US’s largest reservations after she spoke this week about wanting to send razor wire and security personnel to Texas to help deter immigration at the southern border with Mexico.

The Oglala Sioux tribe president said Noem’s ban from the Pine Ridge reservation resulted from the fact that many arriving at the US border with Mexico are Indigenous people from places like El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, who come “in search of jobs and a better life”.

Continue reading...

US Senate releases draft bill to toughen border measures while securing aid to Ukraine and Israel

Posted on by

Biden urges Congress to pass bill which includes measures to temporarily close border if over 5,000 undocumented people cross a day

US senators on Sunday evening released the details of a highly anticipated $118bn package that pairs federal enforcement policy on the US-Mexico border with wartime aid for Ukraine, Israel and others, launching a long-shot effort to push the bill past sceptical, hard right House Republicans – whom Democrats accuse of politicizing immigration while being in thrall to Donald Trump.

The proposal is the best chance for Joe Biden to bolster dwindling US wartime aid for Ukraine – a major foreign policy goal that is shared by both the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, and top Republican, Mitch McConnell. The Senate was expected this week to hold a key test vote on the legislation, but it faces a wall of opposition from conservatives.

Continue reading...