Category: Republican

2 arrested in protest in US Sen. Grassleya s Iowa office

A news release by the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund says the arrests followed a four-hour sit-in Friday at Grassley’s office in Des Moines to protest the nomination of fellow Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions as the next attorney general by President-elect Donald Trump. The group says Hugh Espey, executive director of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund, and Reddit Hudson, regional director for the NAACP, were arrested.

House takes first step toward gutting Obamacare

Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, center, walks to the House floor where representatives voted Friday to approve a budget resolution that is the first step in repealing the Affordable Care Act in Washington, D.C. Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, center, walks to the House floor where representatives voted Friday to approve a budget resolution that is the first step in repealing the Affordable Care Act in Washington, D.C. Congress took its first step toward rolling back President Obama’s health care reform law Friday, with the House voting along party lines to pass key preliminary legislation.

Personalized IRS letters nudge uninsured to get coverage

If you haven’t signed up for health insurance, you may soon be getting a not-too-subtle nudge from the taxman. The IRS is sending personalized letters to millions of taxpayers who might be uninsured, reminding them that they could be on the hook for hundreds of dollars in fines under the federal health care law if they don’t sign up soon.

Vilsack leaving USDA early, no Trump replacement named

Secretary Tom Vilsack left the Agriculture Department a week before his tenure ends and before President-elect Donald Trump has chosen his replacement. Vilsack, who has led USDA for eight years and was President Barack Obama’s longest-serving Cabinet secretary, told employees in an email that Friday is his final day.

Lockheed Martin CEO meets with Trump, announces 1,800 more jobs coming to Fort Worth

Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson leaves after a meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida on December 21, 2016. Marillyn Hewson met with President-elect Donald Trump in New York on Friday, and emerged from the meeting promising to reduce the costs of the company’s signature fighter plane and to add 1,800 jobs at its Fort Worth facility.

Ethical failures

Obamacare has saved livesa S-a Ssomething cancer survivor Jeff Jeans knows well. But House Speaker Paul Ryan wasn’t interested in hearing from Jeans at last night’s town hall.

The misfortunes of the vice presidents from Indiana

Indiana has produced five vice presidents, but history shows that they didn’t have the best of luck once in office. “I just want to give Mike Pence an advanced warning that sometimes Hoosiers and the vice presidency do not go well together,” said Ray Boomhower, senior editor of the Indiana Historical Society Press.

House set to vote on Obamacare repeal step

The House is set to vote Friday on a resolution that will begin the process of repealing Obamacare, though disagreement continues within the Republican Party on how best to proceed. Though the GOP is mostly uniform in agreement that President Barack Obama’s health law should be rolled back, debate has been heated on the appropriate pace to do so and how to handle replacing it.

The little-known ethics director who took on Trump

It was already a frantic day in the Donald Trump presidential transition: The incoming president had attacked a reporter at a circus-like press conference, and a series of Cabinet confirmation hearings were producing fireworks. Walter M. Shaub, the director of the previously obscure Office of Government Ethics, was speaking at the staid Brookings Institution, and he lit into the incoming president for his plan to separate himself from his business empire.

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Though he says it’s not a tooth-and-nail sibling rivalry, Sen. Mike Lee does see one advantage in getting the U.S. Supreme Court nomination over his older brother. If picked for a high-court post by President-elect Donald Trump, he’d be in a position to overrule decisions made by his brother, Thomas Lee, associate chief justice on the Utah Supreme Court.

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Though he says it’s not a tooth-and-nail sibling rivalry, Sen. Mike Lee does see one advantage in getting the U.S. Supreme Court nomination over his older brother. If picked for a high-court post by President-elect Donald Trump, he’d be in a position to overrule decisions made by his brother, Thomas Lee, associate chief justice on the Utah Supreme Court.

Weird War Over Congress Pig-Cop PaintingBy Matt Laslo

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are supposed to be the grownups in the room, but a spat over a high school student’s painting is revealing their childish tendencies-and the episode could have broad implications for race relations under President Donald J. Trump . Every year high school students across the U.S. compete to get their art hung in the Capitol where it’s on display for the millions of visitors who walk through the complex annually, but this year one young artist’s work has inflamed racial tensions among lawmakers and revived a debate over police tactics.

Trump says buy LL Bean but many products are made in China

Republican President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday urged people to buy from outdoors retailer L.L. Bean – even though many of its products are made in China – as it faces calls for a boycott because of a company heiress’ donations to his candidacy. Trump, in tweeting the endorsement, garnered criticism from the nonpartisan money-in-politics watchdog Every Voice for “personally encouraging his supporters to boost the companies of his super donors.”

CIA nominee Pompeo agrees Russia behind election hacks

Donald Trump’s pick to run the CIA on Thursday sided with intelligence officials who have determined the Kremlin was behind election cyberattacks, and he took a tough stand against Russia, distancing himself from the president-elect, who wants to warm relations with Moscow. Rep. Mike Pompeo, a four-term conservative Kansas Republican, spoke at his confirmation hearing before the Senate intelligence committee amid a testy standoff between Trump and the spy community over Russian activities during the presidential election.

Pruitt an Unacceptable Choice, Ohio Scientists Tell Sen. Portman

Scientists, engineers and health professionals in Ohio have delivered a letter today to Sen. Rob Portman’s office expressing their strong opposition to President-elect Trump’s nominee to run the Environmental Protection Agency , Scott Pruitt. Portman, a Republican, will be a key vote on whether the closely-divided Senate puts Pruitt in charge of the EPA, an agency he has repeatedly tried to undermine as Oklahoma attorney general.

Will Trump Shred the Iran Nuclear Deal?

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, listens to Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, right, before resuming talks over Iran’s nuclear program in Lausanne, Switzerland, Monday, March 16, 2015. Stack up the op-eds and essays on the disasters that await the world once Donald Trump moves into the White House and you’ll have a long list of dismaying scenarios.

Rubio cannot back down now

Sen. Marco Rubio questions Rex Tillerson during his confirmation hearing for secretary of state on Wednesday in Washington. Sen. Marco Rubio was far and away the most effective questioner on the GOP side in yesterday’s confirmation hearing for Rex Tillerson for secretary of state.

Trump’s CIA choice to be questioned amid Russia hacking fury-Image1

Donald Trump’s pick to run the CIA faces a Senate confirmation hearing amid a testy standoff between the president-elect and the spy community. Rep. Mike Pompeo, a four-term conservative Kansas Republican, is a member of the House intelligence committee and also served on the partisan committee to investigate the deadly attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.

Trump’s choice for top US diplomat talks tough on China

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,, right, pats Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson , left, on the shoulder after his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, less Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,, right, pats Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson , left, on the shoulder after his testimony before the Senate Foreign … more Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. questions Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson during the committee’s confirmation hearing Tillerson, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Murkowski holds firm: Ethics review first, then hearing

No Cabinet nominee of President-elect Donald Trump’s will get a confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee without having a completed review by the Office of Government Ethics, a spokeswoman for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican who leads the committee, said.

Trumpa s CIA choice to be questioned amid Russia hacking fury

Donald Trump’s pick to run the CIA faces a Senate confirmation hearing amid a testy standoff between the president-elect and the spy community. Congressman Mike Pompeo is a member of the House intelligence committee and served on the committee to investigate the deadly attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.

Police reformers are pro-cop

At his confirmation hearing, U.S. attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions expressed sympathy for the nation’s police officers. They feel unfairly “blamed” and their “morale has suffered.”

Trump, McCain take aim at F-35 program

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a news conference at Trump Tower in New York City. In his first press conference since winning the presidential election in November, Donald Trump again took aim at Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Trump, McCain take aim at F-35 program

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a news conference at Trump Tower in New York City. In his first press conference since winning the presidential election in November, Donald Trump again took aim at Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.