rooney, francis Rep 10%
<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/francis-rooney"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/francis-rooney</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">20/10%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h4 style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><span class="mw-headline" id="Climate_change">Climate change</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span></span></font></font></font></font></h4><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">On November 28, 2018, Rooney cointroduced the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Innovation_and_Carbon_Dividend_Act_of_2018" title="Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2018" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2018</a>, saying, "to let the free market price out coal, we should consider value pricing carbon. A revenue-neutral carbon fee is an efficient, market- driven incentive to move toward natural gas and away from coal, and to support emerging alternate sources of energy."<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[30]</a></sup> He also cosponsored the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Innovation_and_Carbon_Dividend_Act_of_2019" title="Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2019" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">2019 version of the bill</a>.</font></font></font></font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;">see below</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;">...Francis Rooney, Florida</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">: Though this Sunshine State representative’s </span><a href="https://francisrooney.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=14911" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">official site says</a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> that “no issue is more important to our District than clean water and a healthy environment,” his voting record indicates that he has other ideas.</span><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> He had exactly zero pro-environment votes last year. Yep, <a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/francis-rooney" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">zero</a>.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4 23 y mail</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-size: small; padding: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: -1px; outline: none !important;"><span style="outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hile he was in Congress, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Florida Representative Francis Rooney distinguished himself as a leading Republican on climate change. Among other things, he was an original cosponsor of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act when it was first introduced in 2018, and in 2019, he became the <b>Republican co-chair of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus.</b></span></font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-size: small; padding: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: -1px; outline: none !important;"><span style="outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">His climate credentials and bipartisan approach make him the perfect keynote speaker for CCL's upcoming conference in Washington, D.C. (June 10-13), "The 2023 Climate Lobbying Reboot."</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-size: small; padding: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: -1px; outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="outline: none !important;">Rooney’s support for climate solutions like <b>carbon pricing</b> is informed by the science. In </span><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" id="yiv6831787078ct3_0" target="blank" href="https://www2.citizensclimatelobby.org/acton/ct/17897/s-1660-2304/Bct/q-545d/l-sf-contact-0052:57897/ct3_0/1/lu?sid=TV2%3Ar3aGvKpfz" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none !important;"><span style="outline: none !important;">a past interview with CCL</span></a><span style="outline: none !important;">, he said, “I’ve always felt it’s obvious that human activity has had an impact on climate, but I didn’t know as much about it until I studied it. Life is a journey of continuous learning.”</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-size: small; padding: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: -1px; outline: none !important;"><span style="outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That learning was motivated in no small part by representing his state's 19th Congressional District in southwest Florida, a place many would consider to be ground zero for climate change. Rising sea levels, increasingly severe storms and red tides are affecting people there, and Rooney wanted to do all he could to limit the impact on his constituents and beyond.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-size: small; padding: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: -1px; outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="outline: none !important;">“It is not enough to adapt to these changes locally and move forward without looking at the root causes and working toward a broader and more preventative solution," </span><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" id="yiv6831787078ct4_0" target="blank" href="https://www2.citizensclimatelobby.org/acton/ct/17897/s-1660-2304/Bct/q-545d/l-sf-contact-0052:57897/ct4_0/1/lu?sid=TV2%3Ar3aGvKpfz" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none !important;"><span style="outline: none !important;">Rooney said in an op-ed</span></a><span style="outline: none !important;">.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-size: small; padding: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: -1px; outline: none !important;"><span style="outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At our June conference, you will hear directly from this influential voice and you can help work toward climate solutions. We hope you’ll join us!</font></span></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 6 22</font></div><div style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Former Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL) told CNN's Briana Keilar on Monday that he is fed up with hardcore <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/ballot-mules/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Trump supporters</a> who are constantly leveling death threats against the twice-impeached former president's GOP critics.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>While reacting to the death threat sent to <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/adam-kinzinger-threats/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Rep. Adam Kinzinger's (R-IL)</a> family, as well as the hostile reception given in Texas to Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Rooney did not hold back.</b></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"I've seen these people up close and personal," Rooney said. "After I wrote the op-ed after the election that the Republicans needed to accept the results and move on, I got six <b>death threats and one of them even included my daughter. </b>So these people won't stop at anything. They're maniacs."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rooney was then asked how representative these fanatical supporters were of the GOP voting base overall.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"I think it's pretty big," he said. "You guys [are] reporting figures in the 50 percent... range that adhere to Trump and deny the election. As long as that persists, the Republican Party of Reagan doesn't exist... This is the party of Trump."</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The former GOP lawmaker was also asked about what it meant to have Trump's grip on the party being seemingly unbreakable.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"It seems to be that there's a base of people that are vocal," he said. "They are fanatics, in my opinion, and fairly lawless, that will do anything to defend Trump and to defend the... chaos that they have justified like January 6."</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch the video below.</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/this-lone-house-republican-mightve-voted-for-impeachment-but-now-his-position-is-perplexing-mess/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/this-lone-house-republican-mightve-voted-for-impeachment-but-now-his-position-is-perplexing-mess/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">no lnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Inside the GOP cult: How House Republicans spied on, smeared and ambushed a dissenter within their ranks</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Francis Rooney, United States Congress</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Written by Kerry Eleveld / Daily Kos December 1, 2019</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">There was no room in the House GOP caucus for the growing doubts of Florida Rep. Francis Rooney<b>. Since taking office in 2017, Rooney had vented privately about Donald Trump’s comportment as president</b>, as is the practice of nearly all GOP lawmakers on the Hill. But Rooney was perhaps more troubled than most by the findings of the Mueller report earlier this year, and the more recent Ukraine scandal had finally pushed him into pondering a no-go zone for Republicans: impeachment.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>House Republicans, according to a frightening piece in Politico Magazine, started monitoring Rooney very closely as an enemy to their cause—which clearly had nothing to do with living up to their oaths of office</b>. Their only goal was closing ranks around Trump, but they struggled to address the impending desertion of Rooney, since he hadn’t said anything on the record yet. “Rooney could go nowhere, say nothing, without the eyes of the party on him,” writes Politico’s Tim Alberta. “House Republican leaders, having been made aware of Rooney’s agitating, deputized lawmakers to monitor the malcontent.”<b> In essence, Rooney’s colleagues started spying on him. And having caught wind of his dissent at the White House, Trump was incredulous. “Who the hell is this Rooney guy?” Trump asked during a phone call with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">House GOP leaders settled on starting a “whisper campaign” against Rooney, questioning his fealty to Trump in preparation for when he finally broke ranks. The idea was to sow the seeds of discontent in his blood-red Florida district so his constituents would be primed to go ballistic when Rooney finally aired his misgivings publicly</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. And that’s exactly what happened after Rooney appeared on<b> CNN on Oct. 18, saying he couldn’t rule out impeaching Trump</b> for his actions on the July 25 call with the Ukrainian president. He even offered up a Nixon analogy.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“I’m very mindful of the fact that back during Watergate everybody said, ‘Oh, it’s a witch hunt to get Nixon,’” he told CNN. “Turns out it wasn’t a witch hunt. It was absolutely correct.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Hoo boy. That sure unleashed the attack dogs. Just imagine being a Republican lawmaker who had to look in the mirror after one of your own finally admitted the truth everyone had been studiously ignoring. Rooney’s matter-of-fact bravery cast the others as craven opportunists by comparison. His colleagues spent the rest of the day furtively creeping around the Capitol in desperate avoidance of an unwanted encounter with a reporter. But in the Republican Party, no good deed goes unpunished, and so it was for Rep. Rooney.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The blowback from the people in Southwest Florida was something. I mean, I had people down here in the local Republican leadership mad at me, yelling at me, telling me nothing should happen to make me waver in my support of Donald Trump. Nothing,” Rooney told Politico. “<b>Now, I’m pretty immune to pressure. I’ve got a great company, a great family, I’ve done some wonderful things in my life</b>. [SOUNDS LIKE DEATH?!] So, the fact that I got criticized by some local Republican officials doesn’t bother me one bit. But still … ”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">That’s when Rooney’s voice faltered—even he was a little thrown by the fallout. The day after Rooney’s CNN appearance, he announced he wouldn’t be running for reelection. There obviously isn’t a place in the GOP for anyone who isn’t a glass-eating Trump cultist.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> That’s exactly the message GOP leadership had hoped to send: Anyone who dares stray from the party line will be unceremoniously excommunicated.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>When it came time for the procedural vote laying out the rules of engagement on Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, the entire GOP caucus had clearly gotten the memo. Not a single Republican voted with Democrats to pass the resolution,</b> while two Democrats actually joined Republicans to vote against it.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Several blocks up Pennsylvania Avenue, Trump exulted in his win, believing it to mean Republicans were all falling in line. But Rooney says he merely considered that vote procedural, not substantive.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“I’m not going to show my hand on impeachment until we get all the facts out there,” he said, insisting that he’s not the only House Republican who decided to hold their fire till a later date. “There are a lot of Republicans who feel varying levels of disquiet at the idea of using American foreign policy power to gin up domestic political investigations.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">After conducting dozens of interviews, Politico agreed with Rooney’s assessment, writing, “There is a sizable number of Republican senators and representatives who believe Trump’s actions are at least theoretically impeachable, who believe a thorough fact-finding mission is necessary, who believe his removal from office is not an altogether radical idea.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Even so, the numbers seem unlikely to add up to Trump’s impeachment from office. Nonetheless, House GOP leaders are working closely with the White House to stem the number of potential defections to as few as possible. Trump, quite frankly, can’t stand any disloyalty, even if it’s politically advantageous to a Republican trying to keep their seat.
But if you’re wondering what it’s like to speak out of turn in GOP circles these days and actually tell the truth, Rooney’s experience is telling
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/10/18/1893402/-GOP-congressman-shocked-by-Mulvaney-s-quid-pro-quo-admission-won-t-rule-out-impeachment<
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/11/08/trump-impeachment-republicans-congress-229904"
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/11/08/trump-impeachment-republicans-congress-229904...>Trump is seated at a long table in the center and flanked by members of congress including Adam Kinzinger, Cory Gardner, John Shimkus, Will Hurd, Mitt Romney, Chip Roy, Ben Sasse, Fred Upton, Francis Rooney and Lamar Alexander. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AP/Getty Images, Illustration by Zach Meyer</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE FRIDAY COVER</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Who Will Betray Trump?</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump knows there are potential traitors in his midst. His presidency could depend on keeping them at bay.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By TIM ALBERTA November 08, 2019</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tim Alberta is chief political correspondent at Politico Magazine.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>From the moment Francis Rooney expressed alarm to his House colleagues that Donald Trump might have abused presidential power in his dealings with Ukraine—and more dramatically, that an impeachment inquiry could be warranted—the Florida Republican was a marked man.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He made for a most unusual suspect. A silver-haired business tycoon, former ambassador and card-carrying member of the GOP establishment, Rooney had reliably played the role of good soldier for the party since easily winning his Naples-area congressional seat in 2016. He had kept his head down. He had dutifully gone about his business as a policymaker and a politician. He had, like so many of his fellow Republicans, muffled his trepidation over the president’s behavior, recognizing that to cross Trump was to commence the extinction of his own political career.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Venting privately about the president has become a hallowed pastime in Republican-controlled Washington, a sort of ritualistic release for those lawmakers tasked with routinely defending the indefensible, and Rooney had long indulged without consequence. Certainly, his friends noticed, the Florida congressman had grown more animated in private over the past year—railing against the improprieties detailed in the Mueller report, decrying the Trump family’s brazen attempts to enrich themselves off the presidency, wondering aloud what the president needed to do before voters would turn on him. Still, there was no real risk. To the extent GOP leaders heard echoes of Rooney’s discontent, they dismissed it as just another member blowing off steam.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Venting privately about the president has become a hallowed pastime in Republican-controlled Washington, a sort of ritualistic release for those lawmakers tasked with routinely defending the indefensible...</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But as summer turned to fall, Rooney wasn’t just bitching and complaining anymore. He was talking about impeachment. And he was talking not in a manner that was abstract or academic, but concrete and ominous. Initially in one-on-one conversations, and then in larger group settings, Rooney cautioned his colleagues that there could be no turning a blind eye to the fact pattern emerging from Trump’s relationship with<b> Ukraine. </b></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>It seemed possible, if not probable, that congressionally approved military aid to the embattled country—long a cause dear to Democrats and Republicans alike—had been held up contingent on investigations into Trump’s domestic political rivals.</b> The question, Rooney told his friends, was not whether there was clear evidence of wrongdoing, but whether the president himself was culpable—and if so, whether congressional Republicans were going to cover for him.</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">All of a sudden, the once-invisible congressman was the </font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">subject of constant surveillance. </font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rooney could go nowhere, say nothing, without the eyes of the party on him. House Republican leaders, having been made aware of Rooney’s agitating, deputized lawmakers to monitor the malcontent. The White House—both its political team and its legislative affairs shop—did likewise. Before long, the president himself was briefed on the threat from Rooney. Disturbed, Trump began calling his friends and associates, on Capitol Hill and in Florida, trying to make sense of the situation.</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Who the hell is this Rooney guy?” the president asked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during one phone call, according to sources familiar with their conversation. “What’s his deal?”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All the president’s allies agreed Rooney was a problem. But there was no obvious solution. The congressman had yet to say anything menacing about Trump in public; taking some type of punitive measure against him, be it a closed-door belittling or a presidential tweet-lashing, would be strange and possibly counterproductive. If the overarching goal was to keep Republicans unified in the face of impeachment’s advance—for the sake of immediate political advantage, if not also for the president’s legacy—keeping Rooney close made more sense than alienating him.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ultimately, Republican leaders in Washington and Florida settled on a simple course of action. They would beat Rooney at his own game, doing nothing to undermine him openly but instead orchestrating a whisper campaign aimed at sowing doubts about his devotion to the president.</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The focal point would be Florida’s 19th, Rooney’s bloody red district, which Trump had carried by 22 points. That way, if and when Rooney broke ranks, the uprising back home would appear instant and organic. The recoil wouldn’t just scare Rooney straight; it would provide a cautionary tale for any Republican tempted to follow his lead.</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The House of Representatives</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The latest impeachment resolution was starkly divided along partisan lines, but whether the Republican caucus will remain steadfast may depend on how some members weigh their support or distaste for the president against their own electoral futures, or lack thereof.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Will Hurd</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Texas 23</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elected in 2014; retiring in 2020</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Clinton won Hurd's district in 2016, 49.8% to 46.4%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Votes in line with Trump: 81.8%†</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Adam Kinzinger</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Illinois 16</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elected in 2010</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump won Kinzinger's district in 2016, 55.5% to 38.3%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Votes in line with Trump: 93.9%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Francis Rooney</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Florida 19</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elected in 2016; retiring in 2020</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump won Rooney's district in 2016, 59.6% to 37.5%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Votes in line with Trump: 89.3%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chip Roy</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Texas 21</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elected in 2018.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump won Roy's district in 2016, 52.5% to 42.5%.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Votes in line with Trump: 92.2%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Shimkus</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Illinois 15</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elected in 1996; retiring in 2020</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump won Shimkus' district in 2016, 70.7% to 24.5%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Votes in line with Trump: 97.3%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fred Upton</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michigan 6</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elected in 1986</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump won Upton's district in 2016, 51.3% to 42.9%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Votes in line with Trump: 83.1%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Daily Kos election results by congressional district †FiveThirtyEight's 'Trump Score' of how many times a Congress member has voted in line with Trump's position</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rooney knew the trap was being laid, but he didn’t bother avoiding it.</b> On Friday, October 18, the congressman appeared on CNN and said there was “clear” evidence of a quid pro quo based on acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s own description of events. Asked whether he was ruling out voting for impeachment, Rooney replied, “I don’t think you can rule anything out until you know all the facts.” He also added, “I’m very mindful of the fact that back during Watergate everybody said, ‘Oh, it’s a witch hunt to get Nixon.’ Turns out it wasn’t a witch hunt. It was absolutely correct.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rooney’s remarks—in particular, his unsolicited comparison of Trump to Nixon—left his colleagues slack-jawed.</b> House Republicans, having received hair-on-fire emails from staffers alerting them to the comments, tip-toed through the Capitol to avoid reporters asking for comment. Video of the little-known congressman’s interview rocketed around Twitter and turned official Washington on its head for a matter of hours, fueling immediate speculation that a broader revolt might be brewing. Here, at last, was a Republican lawmaker openly entertaining the prospect of impeaching a Republican president.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And sure enough, as though a switch had been flipped, Rooney found himself under siege.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The blowback from the people in Southwest Florida was something. I mean, I had people down here in the local Republican leadership mad at me, yelling at me, telling me nothing should happen to make me waver in my support of Donald Trump. Nothing,” he recalls in an interview. “Now, I’m pretty immune to pressure. I’ve got a great company, a great family, I’ve done some wonderful things in my life. So, the fact that I got criticized by some local Republican officials doesn’t bother me one bit. But still … ”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rooney’s voice trails off. The intensity of that criticism—and the threats on his career, made implicit and explicit by Florida Republicans in the hours after his CNN appearance—left him with an inescapable conclusion: There would be no coming back to Congress. He had mulled retirement in the months prior, but now the decision was being made for him. The very next day, appearing on Fox News, Rooney announced he would not seek reelection in 2020.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>It hardly could have played better for Trump. The headlines wrote themselves. As Rolling Stone declared, “GOP Congressman Open to Impeachment on Friday, Retires on Saturday.”</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The implication was clear: Any Republican who so much as flirted with impeachment would no longer have a home in the party.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Two weeks later, when the House passed a resolution advancing the impeachment inquiry, all 196 of the House Republicans on the floor voted as a bloc against the measure</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> It was a display of solidarity and a reassertion of supremacy; once again, everyone in the party had fallen in line behind Trump. To the president’s delight, as he watched the proceedings on television, the “nays” even included the troublemaker Rooney, who, Trump concluded, had tucked his tail between his legs and done as he was told. Trump basked in the sensation. That the House had moved closer toward a historic and humiliating referendum on his presidency was less important than the GOP rallying uniformly in his defense. There would be no more talk of dissension. Whatever rebellious spark Rooney once embodied had been decisively extinguished.</span></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Or so the president hoped.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In fact, Rooney says now, his vote was in disapproval of the Democrats’ process—not a display of confidence in Trump’s innocence. </b>“That was just a procedural vote,” the congressman says, explaining that he studied the House rules that governed Bill Clinton’s impeachment and was prepared to vote for similar guidelines had Speaker Nancy Pelosi brought them to the floor this time around. “I’m not going to show my hand on impeachment until we get all the facts out there.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rooney insists he’s not alone. It was only after he spoke candidly on CNN, he says, that other members began confiding in him that they, too, were losing confidence in their defense of the president. “There are a lot of Republicans who feel varying levels of disquiet at the idea of using American foreign policy power to gin up domestic political investigations,” Rooney says.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“There are a lot of Republicans who feel varying levels of disquiet at the idea of using American foreign policy power to gin up domestic political investigations.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">—REP. FRANCIS ROONEY</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, the yawning delta between what Republicans feel privately and what they say publicly has been a defining theme of the Trump era. Whether any of those lawmakers suddenly find the courage to defy him on a legacy-shaping vote will go a long way toward shaping history’s view of Trump’s presidency, his impeachment, and his stewardship of the Republican Party.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From dozens of interviews with GOP lawmakers, congressional aides and White House staffers over the past month, it’s evident that Rooney is right: There is a sizable number of Republican senators and representatives who believe Trump’s actions are at least theoretically impeachable, who believe a thorough fact-finding mission is necessary, who believe his removal from office is not an altogether radical idea.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>But it’s also evident that, barring a plain admission of guilt by the president himself—think Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men—the Republican Party will not be forsaking Trump.</b> He could lose a stray vote in the House, maybe even two, when articles of impeachment come to the floor. He could fare even worse in the Senate, knowing that more than a few of the 53 Republican jurors might be tempted etch their names in the history books at his expense. None of this will alter his standing atop the party; none of this will change the fact that he is president through January 2021 and perhaps beyond.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>And yet, Trump cannot stand to be embarrassed—and there is no greater embarrassment to a president than being impeached, much less with the abetting of his own tribe. There is an urgency, then, not only to limit defections but eliminate them.</b> The administration, working in concert with its allies on Capitol Hill, has been hard at work identifying potential turncoats in the party and monitoring their activities to catch any sign of slippage. Believing that a unified party-line vote is needed in the House to prevent any narrative of Republicans abandoning Trump when action moves to the Senate, the president’s allies are determined to stay one step ahead of any lawmaker who might be going soft, gaming out scenarios for who could desert and why.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It amounts to a preemptive game of political whodunit, with Trump’s enforcers seeking to solve a mystery of political betrayal before it occurs. Naturally, there is no bigger fan of this game than the president himself.</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">To understand Trump’s fixation on the word loyalty is to understand that his interpretation, at least in a political context, means submission, subservience, subjugation.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Having conquered the GOP with a scorched-earth primary campaign—wrecking the Bush dynasty, pillaging the party’s establishment wing, refashioning the American right in his own image—Trump continues to demand the party’s complete and total devotion to him.</b> It began after he won the Indiana primary in May 2016, eliminating Ted Cruz and John Kasich and becoming the presumptive nominee, only to be dumbfounded at hearing Paul Ryan, then the House speaker, declaring that he wasn’t ready to support the party’s new standard bearer. To Trump, who long possessed a sort of medieval, winner-take-all understanding of business and life, it had never occurred to him that this was a possibility. He was the victor; he deserved the spoils, starting with the allegiance of the subjects he now ruled.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Every day since, Trump has been preoccupied with questions of treachery within his newfound tribe. When we sat for an interview early this year for my book, American Carnage, the president returned time and again to this notion of fidelity. Because he had returned the GOP to power, Trump intimated, allowing Republicans to claim victories on all matter of policy and personnel, they owed him their unwavering support.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The Republican Party was in big trouble,” Trump told me. “I brought the party back. The Republican Party is strong. The Republican Party is strong.” He then added, “They’ve got to remain faithful. And loyal.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">People around the president say he seldom grows agitated at the conduct of Pelosi, or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, or House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, the Democrats he most enjoys lampooning on Twitter. They are the opposition party, and because Trump holds a symmetrical view of politics, he expects (and often embraces) their antagonism. It’s an entirely different story when it comes to intraparty dissent.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Republican Party was in big trouble. I brought the party back. The Republican Party is strong. The Republican Party is strong. They’ve got to remain faithful. And loyal.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">—PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rarely does the president become more wrathful, his allies say, than when he learns of a Republican criticizing him, particularly if done in a public setting.</b> And even when he hears of an internecine attack launched behind closed doors, Trump has been known to fly into a rage, calling people who were in the room to grill them for details on the alleged act of duplicity. On more than one occasion, after receiving reports of unflattering talk by his fellow Republicans, the president has resorted to blasting out angry, cryptic tweets hinting at a possible betrayal.</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The Never Trumper Republicans, though on respirators with not many left, are in certain ways worse and more dangerous for our Country than the Do Nothing Democrats,” he tweeted on October 23. “Watch out for them, they are human scum!”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The president didn’t call out anyone by name. But at the time, Republicans widely interpreted the missive to be the continuation of a recent campaign against Mitt Romney, the Utah senator and Trump’s longtime nemesis.</b> In the weeks preceding the tweet, Romney had resumed his role as Trump’s chief Republican tormentor, calling his interactions with Ukraine “wrong and appalling,” while separately skewering the president for his abandoning the Kurds in Syria. (It was also revealed, after reporting in The Atlantic and Slate, that Romney maintained a burner Twitter account from which he promoted anti-Trump commentary.) In return, the president unleashed a furious tweetstorm, calling Romney “a pompous ‘ass’” and suggesting he should be impeached. Never mind that senators are not subject to impeachment under the Constitution—Trump was livid, and he was lashing out.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[Donald Trump and Mitt Romney dine</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President-elect Donald Trump and Mitt Romney dine at Jean Georges restaurant,<b> November 29, 2016</b> in New York City. | Getty Images]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Given the history of hostilities between them, and Romney’s obvious belief that Trump has abused his power and used the office of the presidency for his personal gain, it’s easy to understand why the junior senator from Utah is universally viewed as the likeliest Republican apostate on the question of impeachment, in either chamber.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What’s harder to understand is why Trump would choose to deploy the phrase “human scum!” in describing disloyal Republicans—a rhetorical eyebrow-raiser, even for him—without making clear to whom he was referring or what specifically was provoking his fury.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Parsing the president’s tweets can be a fool’s errand. But considering the historic nature of the converging events of late October—the Ukraine quid pro quo, the forsaking of the Kurds, the decision (later reversed) to host the G-7 at Trump’s luxury golf resort in Florida—and the unprecedented outcry heard among Republicans, the “human scum!” outburst provides a valuable window into a presidency in crisis</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. That Trump was not singling out Romney, the president’s team began to sense, reflected a pair of interrelated realities: first, that the Utah senator was a lost cause; and second, that Trump suddenly had other senators to worry about.</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s doubtful that any American, whether Trump’s biggest fan or his boldest critic, is going to have their perceptions swayed by a single Republican senator voting to remove the president from office—particularly if that senator is Romney. But what about two Republican senators? Or three? Or five?</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Nobody on Capitol Hill believes the number of GOP mutineers could even remotely approach the 20 needed to convict Trump in a Senate trial. All the same, there is a recognition among the president’s allies that his reelection campaign, not to mention his place in history, could be crippled by even the smallest clique of Republicans banding together and issuing what would be an institution-defining rebuke. What would be especially damning, they know, is if those converts aren’t easily explained away as fair-weather friends like Romney.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski sit on either side of Trump while he speaks during a White House meeting</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the East Room of the White House, President Donald Trump is flanked by Republican Senators Susan Collins (left) and Lisa Murkowski (right). | AP</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oh, it wouldn’t shock anyone if Susan Collins, the centrist from Maine, turned on Trump once and for all. She has never thought highly of the president. She has exhausted the polite ways in which to articulate her belief that he is unfit for office. She, like Romney, called Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president “appalling.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nor would it surprise Republicans if Lisa Murkowski, the other quasi-independent in the GOP caucus, turned on Trump. The Alaska senator has been a chronic problem for the White House. Whether it was her vote against the GOP’s Obamacare repeal proposal, or her persistent abuse of the administration for its handling of a 35-day government shutdown, or her go-it-alone refusal to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Murkowski has shown a unique capacity for afflicting the president.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In late October, it was those three GOP senators—Romney, Collins and Murkowski—who conspicuously refused to co-sponsor Lindsey Graham’s resolution condemning the House of Representatives for its impeachment inquiry.</b> So, sure, any one of those three voting to remove Trump from office would come as less than a revelation. Heck, all three voting to remove Trump from office might not move the needle much in political circles.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then again, three is more than zero. And what if it’s more?</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Senate</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump can be impeached in the House with Democratic votes alone. But whether or not he's convicted in the Senate will be determined by Republican votes.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lamar Alexander</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tennessee</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elected in 2002; retiring in 2020</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump won Tennessee in 2016, 61.1% to 34.9%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Votes in line with Trump: 91.3%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cory Gardner</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Colorado</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elected in 2014; running for re-election in 2020</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Clinton won Colorado in 2016, 47.2% to 44.4%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Votes in line with Trump: 89.8%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mitt Romney</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Utah</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elected in 2018; up for re-election in 2024</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump won Utah in 2016, 45.9% to 27.8%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Votes in line with Trump: 81.5%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ben Sasse</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nebraska</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elected in 2014; running for re-election in 2020</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump won Nebraska in 2016, 60.3% to 34.0%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Votes in line with Trump: 86.1%</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>What if Lamar Alexander, the retiring statesman from Tennessee who has struggled to mask his disillusionment with Trump’s destruction of norms, decides to go out with a bang?</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">What if Cory Gardner, whose reelection in Colorado seems destined to be doomed by the top of the ticket, thinks his next act in politics depends on establishing distance from Trump?</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">What if Ben Sasse or Pat Toomey or Rob Portman, all thoughtful conservatives in the Burkean tradition, reach a point where they feel compelled to meet a moment on behalf of their party and their country and perhaps even their constituents, as upset as many of them might be?</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey greets President Trump at Harrisburg International Airport in April 2017.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey greets President Trump at Harrisburg International Airport in April 2017. | AP</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">None of this might seem realistic. Yet these are precisely the scenarios being bandied about by the president’s team—and on occasion, by Trump himself. According to multiple people who have been consulted by the president on the impeachment endgame, it’s not far-fetched to imagine as many as five Republican senators ultimately taking the leap together. This is because there’s a near-certain foundation of one with Romney, and a plausible foundation of three with Romney, Collins and Murkowski. Two or three more isn’t impossible to imagine; there is reassurance in numbers, a knowledge among some potential combination of defecting senators that they won’t be out on a limb by themselves. (None of the senators in question have commented with any real clarity on the impeachment proceedings, preferring for now to cloak their silence in the explanation that they will soon be jurors in America’s most important trial.)</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The good news for Trump is that there’s no Romney-esque Republican in the House GOP—no stalwart, no ringleader, no reliable fly in the ointment.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bad news? It makes his team’s sleuthing all the more difficult.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Democratic takeover of the House in November 2018 set in motion two equal and opposite outcomes that grow likelier by the day. The first is that Trump will be impeached. The second is that House Republicans will be united in opposition.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s never ideal for a party to lose control of Congress—particularly not in a hyperpartisan, zero-sum atmosphere where gridlock is guaranteed. But for Trump, the silver lining of the GOP’s drubbing in 2018 was a party, purged of many of its gadflies, that emerged looking and sounding a lot more like him. This was true in the Senate, where the president shed the baggage of Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, but even more so in the House, where, as former Congressman Mark Sanford says, “the conference got a whole lot Trumpier.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sanford would know. Having established himself as one of the president’s harshest intraparty critics, the arch-conservative lawmaker lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger who ran on a platform of fealty to the president. (She then lost the general election, fumbling away a reliably red district to the Democrats.) Given his unwillingness to reflexively defend Trump, Sanford would have been a ripe target for the Democratic majority to pick off were he still in Congress.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The same could be said for any number of Trump-allergic Republicans who lost their seats in general election last fall: Carlos Curbelo, Mike Coffman, Mia Love, Erik Paulsen, Barbara Comstock. And that’s not counting the GOP lawmakers, such as Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who simply retired rather than serving another two years under Trump.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At a May 2019 town hall forum in Grand Rapids, Rep. Justin Amash answers constituents' questions about impeachment.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At a May 2019 town hall forum in Grand Rapids, Rep. Justin Amash answers constituents' questions about impeachment. | Bill Pugliano | Getty Images</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>What the House GOP was left with, entering 2019, was a smaller, more demographically homogeneous and ideologically concentrated membership</b>. There was no longer a list of mischief-makers for the White House to track. In reality, there was one remaining voice of consistent dissent: Justin Amash. When the Michigan Republican announced his decision to leave the GOP on July 4, declaring his “independence” from Trump’s party, the president and congressional leaders celebrated. His takeover of the House GOP was all but complete.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">By contrast, when Texas Congressman Will Hurd announced his retirement a few weeks later, there was cause for concern in Trump’s orbit. The GOP’s poster boy for pragmatism and objectivity, Hurd had been strategically selective in censuring the president—but when he had, it was done with devastating effect</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. With Hurd no longer constrained by the considerations of running for reelection on the same ticket as Trump, the White House feared, he might feel liberated to step out on impeachment. The congressman has been under the administration’s microscope ever since, his public statements and private interactions parsed for clues.</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This is not voting someone off the island in Season 12 of ‘Survivor.’ It’s a serious issue and it’s going to set precedent for the future.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">—REP. WILL HURD</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In an interview, Hurd, a former CIA officer who sits on the Intelligence Committee, does not sound like a man ready to impeach the president. “This is not voting someone off the island in Season 12 of 'Survivor,’” he says. “It’s a serious issue and it’s going to set precedent for the future.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Noting how Trump can be impetuous and indelicate, Hurd stresses nonetheless that every elected official’s threshold for impeachment will vary. “For me, impeachment is a clear violation of the law,” he says. “And I haven’t seen anything—yet—that looks like a clear violation of the law.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This could prove to be Trump’s salvation. Even among those Republicans not predisposed to defending him, there is the silhouette of an emerging consensus: That the president’s dealings with Ukraine were foolish, unbecoming and unfortunate—but not impeachable.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even Sanford admits that if he were still a voting member, he wouldn’t be ready to support impeachment. “I think there’s a very weighty, complex judgment to be made here,” he says. “I object to this president on a variety of levels. But I would still say another shoe has to drop.” Sanford pauses. “Then again, this is a guy who said he could shoot somebody on 5th Avenue and get away with it, and he was pretty clairvoyant on that front. So, I don’t know what that shoe would have to look like.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mark Sanford, a former South Carolina congressman and governor, campaigns in Manchester, New Hampshire, in Sept. 2019. Sanford is running against Donald Trump for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mark Sanford, a former South Carolina congressman and governor, campaigns in Manchester, New Hampshire, in Sept. 2019. Sanford is running against Donald Trump for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination. | Elise Amendola | AP</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amash, who voted for the House inquiry to proceed, is wrestling with that same question. “I think we’ve seen plenty of evidence that the president is abusing his power, abusing the office of the presidency,” he says. The independent congressman understands that his former GOP comrades disagree, or at least say they disagree, with him on that front. What he wonders is what, if anything, could change their minds; whether even a smoking cannon of misconduct linked directly to Trump could convince them of their responsibility to impeach.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Just as we sit discussing this mystery inside Amash’s congressional office, the nearby television flickers to life with a CNN breaking news bulletin: “White House admits to quid pro quo with Ukraine.” A short while earlier, Mulvaney—one of Amash’s closest friends during their time together on Capitol Hill—had taken to the White House press podium to declare, among other things, that Ukraine’s military funding had indeed been held up at Trump’s behest and that people should “get over it.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Amash</b> shakes his head. “I mean, I’ve known Mick for a long time, but I don’t really know what his life is like at this point, and what he’s thinking, and how much just being in that world warps your view of things,” he says. “The administration’s approach with a lot of things is to put out really bad information and then pretend like it’s not bad. It’s sort of a different way of covering up. I<b>t’s gaslighting—just put out the bad stuff and then tell everyone it’s not bad, and that you’re shocked that anyone would think it’s bad</b>. ... Trump understands that. He’s figured out that he can say and do pretty much anything and people will cover for him.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The administration’s approach with a lot of things is to put out really bad information and then pretend like it’s not bad. It’s sort of a different way of covering up.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">—REP. JUSTIN AMASH</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Both Sanford and Amash, once integral players inside the conservative House Freedom Caucus, say that if the roles were reversed—if Barack Obama were asking foreign nations to investigate Mitt and Tagg Romney—that Jim Jordan, the group’s founding chairman, would be leading the charge toward impeaching the Democratic president.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Oh, no doubt,” Sanford laughs.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“100 percent,” Amash says.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>With Sanford and Amash exiled, and Trump’s alliance with the House Freedom Caucus strong and symbiotic, it’s unclear whether even a single member of the organization—one founded on the order of principles over party—will consider a vote for impeachment.</b> Jordan and Mark Meadows, his wingman and Trump’s soothsayer on the right, have so thoroughly transformed the identity of the group from feverishly independent to ferociously partisan that it’s difficult to imagine any of their lieutenants stepping outside of what’s become a Trump-topped chain of command.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">There is, however, one conservative who continues to be monitored closely: Chip Roy.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A former federal prosecutor who made a name for himself in Washington as Ted Cruz’s original Senate chief of staff, Roy is a true believer who was sharply critical of Trump throughout 2016. When Roy decided to run for Congress in 2018, in fact, he was reminded to scrub his social media of attacks on the president. With so many of his Freedom Caucus colleagues springing to the president’s defense in recent months, Roy’s silence has been a subject of growing concern. Although the freshman congressman hasn’t indicated that he’s prepared to impeach Trump, he hasn’t soothed anxieties by ruling it out, either.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Freshman Republican Rep. Chip Roy speaks at a press conference outside the Capitol.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Freshman Republican Rep. Chip Roy speaks at a press conference outside the Capitol. | Tasos Katopodis | Getty Images</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In an interview, Roy tells me he has yet to see evidence supporting a case for Trump’s impeachment. That said, he is clearly uncomfortable with the reflexive attempts by his colleague to insulate Trump at every turn, often resulting in sloppy and self-contradicting arguments.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I have not associated myself with any of the defenses of my colleagues on this issue, because I’m going to make my own assessment and frame it however the facts present themselves,” he says. “I’ve got my own views on this, and I don’t necessarily believe the arguments I’ve heard to date have been the best arguments, because people are just firing on the fly without thinking it through.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roy acknowledges his reluctance to speak on the matter. He explains that he has been marking up hundreds of pages of documents and building a prosecutor’s case file from which to draw his ultimate conclusions. Unlike some of his colleagues, Roy says, he sees “a line” that needs to be enforced as a matter of precedent. It’s just that Trump, from everything he’s gathered thus far, has not crossed it.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The president’s allies have long believed his greatest threat from within the Republican Party comes from the middle; that given the cultish devotion he enjoys on the right, a moderate with lukewarm constituents could get away with defying him before a conservative with MAGA-clad constituents could. This thinking had led Trump and his team to keep a close eye on certain individuals, such as Adam Kinzinger and John Shimkus and Fred Upton, who fit the description of the centrist, traditional, Bush-friendly Republican who have been known to voice their displeasure with the president. And indeed, both Kinzinger and Shimkus leaped off the radar in recent weeks due to their broadsides against Trump. But their invective had more to do with abandoning the Kurds than pressuring the Ukrainians.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Trump speaks with congressional Republicans during a Dec. 2017 meeting at the White House. Joining him from left: Rep. Kevin Brady, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Rep. John Shimkus and Rep. Fred Upton.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Trump speaks with congressional Republicans during a Dec. 2017 meeting at the White House. Joining him from left: Rep. Kevin Brady, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Rep. John Shimkus and Rep. Fred Upton. | Manuel Balce Ceneta | AP</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>While these sorts of members are still considered a risk—Kinzinger in particular—there is more confidence among Trump’s allies today in holding the line than there was a month ago</b>. The reason: Emotions were running hotter at that point. If disgruntled Republicans didn’t sign up for impeachment amid the swirl of betraying the Kurds, admitting a Ukrainian quid pro quo, soliciting China’s help investigating the Bidens and self-dealing to the Trump family on a scale of many millions of dollars, well, it’s tough to imagine them finding reason to do so now.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On top of all this, when factoring in complaints about Pelosi and Schiff’s process—a universal point of grievance inside the GOP, as expressed by even the most rational and respected House Republicans—it’s simply unimaginable, barring a cataclysmic development, that anyone would suddenly jump ship when articles of impeachment come to the House floor.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“If you serve 20 years in the House, this might be the most consequential vote you’ll ever cast. And normally, given the nature of that vote, members have to treat it delicately and thoughtfully,” says Patrick McHenry, who served in previous Congresses as the House GOP’s chief deputy whip. “But with how the Democrats have approached this, it no longer feels like a conscience vote. It feels like a purely partisan knife fight.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">McHenry, renowned for his read on the instincts of his fellow House Republicans, predicted that not a single one will vote for impeachment.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amash made the same prediction. So did Hurd. And Roy. And every other House Republican lawmaker interviewed for this story, including those who spoke on condition of anonymity.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I’ve got to be able to look at myself in the mirror, and I’ve got to be able to look at my kids and my friends and family, and know that what I did was right.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">—REP. FRANCIS ROONEY</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even Rooney, the retiring Florida Republican who remains on a political island all his own, admitted he doesn’t expect a single Republican defection in the House. That is, of course, unless he takes it upon himself.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The whole thing is one step removed from the president—it’s [Rudy] Giuliani, it’s [Gordon] Sondland,” Rooney says, referring to the president’s lawyer and EU ambassador, who stand accused of orchestrating a shadow foreign policy to pressure Ukraine into investigating the Bidens.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“So, the question is, is that enough of an abuse of power to remove the president from office? I don’t know. I need to think about that a lot more. I haven’t made up my mind.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He adds, “I’ve got to be able to look at myself in the mirror, and I’ve got to be able to look at my kids and my friends and family, and know that what I did was right.”</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/offshore-drilling-opposition-trump-bernhardt-11bf9f6288db/">https://thinkprogress.org/offshore-drilling-opposition-trump-bernhardt-11bf9f6288db/</a> </font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>South Carolina Rep. Joe Cunningham (D) is bringing his local fight against drilling in U.S. waters to Washington, D.C., with a bipartisan bill that would ban offshore drilling and seismic testing along both the East and West Coasts.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Cunningham’s bill introduced this week is part of an ever-growing bipartisan backlash to the Trump administration’s plans to open up the majority of U.S. waters to offshore drilling. Politicians from every single state along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts have voiced opposition to the proposal, setting up the dispute to be a dominant issue in the 2020 election.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill comes at the same time as President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Interior Department (DOI), David Bernhardt, is coming under increased scrutiny over the administration’s controversial plans to further expand offshore drilling.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Drilling has long been active off the Gulf Coast, but numerous accidents and oil spills over the years — which negatively impacted human health, local economies, and the environment — have made the issue a non-starter in other coastal states. Cunningham’s bill, the Coastal and Marine Economies Protection Act, seeks to prevent this happening on a wider scale.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It’s an honor to have the opportunity to lead this bipartisan bill across the finish line to ban offshore drilling off our coast once and for all,” said Cunningham, who slammed offshore drilling efforts as “a hand-out to the oil and gas industries.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Cunningham won his race in a major upset last November, due in no small part to his opposition to offshore drilling, which is unpopular in coastal South Carolina. And since his election, the moderate Democrat has emphasized his drilling stance, going so far <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/sc-rep-joe-cunningham-blows-air-horn-to-sound-alarm/article_aeb4efc2-40f0-11e9-bfe2-4b50821537c2.html" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">as to literally bring an air horn</a> to a subcommittee hearing earlier this month to emphasize the effects that loud seismic testing has on marine mammals.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I’ve been clear from the very beginning that our beaches, businesses, and way of life should not be for sale. South Carolinians want nothing to do with offshore drilling and the devastating threat it poses to our vibrant natural resources,” Cunningham said Thursday.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among the co-sponsors of the Coastal and Marine Economies Protection bill is Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL). His support signals the political realities of offshore drilling in coastal states, even those led by Republicans who traditionally support fossil fuels. Rooney has critiqued his party many times for failing to acknowledge climate change and push for action to address the phenomenon.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This bill deserves the support of everyone who cares about healthy oceans, marine life, our coastal economies and all they support,” said Alexandra Adams, legislative director with the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), in a statement.</span></font></p><div class="related-contentwrapper" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 2rem;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/bernhardt-interior-senate-fossil-fuels-8d43bb699ace/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><div class="related-contentimage" style="box-sizing: inherit; 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word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;"><figure class="postfigure postfigure--format-thumbnail" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><div class="postthumbnail" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><picture id="picture-1130230" class="wp-image-1130230 size-full " data-id="1130230" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/bernhardt-interior-climate-senate-hearing-fossil-fuel-conflict-interest-ethics-oil-gas.jpg?w=1024&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C683px&ssl=1" media="(min-width: 1920px)" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/bernhardt-interior-climate-senate-hearing-fossil-fuel-conflict-interest-ethics-oil-gas.jpg?w=1024&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C683px&ssl=1" media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1920px)" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/bernhardt-interior-climate-senate-hearing-fossil-fuel-conflict-interest-ethics-oil-gas.jpg?w=1024&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C683px&ssl=1" media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px)" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/bernhardt-interior-climate-senate-hearing-fossil-fuel-conflict-interest-ethics-oil-gas.jpg?w=1024&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C683px&ssl=1" media="(min-width: 512px) and (max-width: 1024px)" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/bernhardt-interior-climate-senate-hearing-fossil-fuel-conflict-interest-ethics-oil-gas.jpg?w=768&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C512px&ssl=1" media="(min-width: 512px) and (max-width: 768px)" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/bernhardt-interior-climate-senate-hearing-fossil-fuel-conflict-interest-ethics-oil-gas.jpg?w=512&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C342px&ssl=1" media="(max-width: 512px)" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/bernhardt-interior-climate-senate-hearing-fossil-fuel-conflict-interest-ethics-oil-gas.jpg?w=768&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C512px&ssl=1" media="(max-width: 768px)" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/bernhardt-interior-climate-senate-hearing-fossil-fuel-conflict-interest-ethics-oil-gas.jpg?w=1024&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C683px&ssl=1" media="all" style="box-sizing: inherit;">
</source></source></source></source></source></source></source></source></font></picture></div></figure></a></div><div class="related-contentbody" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 513px;"><h3 class="related-contenttitle" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Senators grilled Bernhardt on fossil fuel industry ties</font></h3></div></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the Trump administration isn’t in line with those sentiments. Under former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, the federal government announced plans in early 2018 to open virtually all U.S. waters up to offshore drilling. The still unreleased five-year Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program (OCS) — which would lay out the specifics of expanding offshore drilling — has been a source of controversy ever since.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That could spell trouble for Bernhardt, the former lobbyist Trump tapped to lead DOI. On Thursday during a Senate hearing on his nomination to lead the department, Bernhardt was confronted by skeptical senators on the issue.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“If a member of the New England delegation votes for your confirmation and then you move for offshore drilling, I don’t know if I can go home again,” said Sen. Angus King (I-ME).</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Maine was once the lone coastal holdout on offshore drilling under former Gov. Paul LePage (R), who supported the Trump administration’s efforts. But Gov. Janet Mills (D), who replaced LePage after the 2018 midterms, is a staunch opponent.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Can I get your personal assurance here today that the position of the state’s congressional delegation will be a major consideration in making this decision?” King asked Bernhardt about the department’s decision-making on the issue. “Absolutely, it’s required,” replied Bernhardt.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lawmakers, however, remain skeptical of DOI’s intentions. During the partial government shutdown in January, DOI <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/confusion-gulf-mexico-offshore-drilling-shutdown-trump-boem-bsee-dd6871fa49bd/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">called at least 40 employees</a> back to work at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in an effort to keep drilling plans on track. That prioritization came at a time when offshore wind projects remained stalled. The decision also rankled many Democrats and a number <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-department-offshore-drilling-national-parks-democrats-grijalva-mccollum-2c1852a72396/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">have repeatedly probed</a>Bernhardt’s moves during the shutdown.</font></p><div class="related-contentwrapper" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 2rem;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-department-offshore-drilling-national-parks-democrats-grijalva-mccollum-2c1852a72396/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><div class="related-contentimage" style="box-sizing: inherit; align-self: flex-start; margin: 0px 1rem 0px 0px; width: 171px;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-department-offshore-drilling-national-parks-democrats-grijalva-mccollum-2c1852a72396/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-department-offshore-drilling-national-parks-democrats-grijalva-mccollum-2c1852a72396/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-department-offshore-drilling-national-parks-democrats-grijalva-mccollum-2c1852a72396/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-department-offshore-drilling-national-parks-democrats-grijalva-mccollum-2c1852a72396/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-department-offshore-drilling-national-parks-democrats-grijalva-mccollum-2c1852a72396/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-department-offshore-drilling-national-parks-democrats-grijalva-mccollum-2c1852a72396/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-department-offshore-drilling-national-parks-democrats-grijalva-mccollum-2c1852a72396/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-department-offshore-drilling-national-parks-democrats-grijalva-mccollum-2c1852a72396/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-department-offshore-drilling-national-parks-democrats-grijalva-mccollum-2c1852a72396/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; 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text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;"><figure class="postfigure postfigure--format-thumbnail" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><div class="postthumbnail" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><picture id="picture-1117802" class="wp-image-1117802 size-full " data-id="1117802" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/GettyImages-1079844498.jpg?w=1920&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C1198px&ssl=1" media="(min-width: 1920px)" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/GettyImages-1079844498.jpg?w=1920&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C1198px&ssl=1" media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1920px)" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/GettyImages-1079844498.jpg?w=1024&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C639px&ssl=1" media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px)" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/GettyImages-1079844498.jpg?w=1024&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C639px&ssl=1" media="(min-width: 512px) and (max-width: 1024px)" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/GettyImages-1079844498.jpg?w=768&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C479px&ssl=1" media="(min-width: 512px) and (max-width: 768px)" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/GettyImages-1079844498.jpg?w=512&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C319px&ssl=1" media="(max-width: 512px)" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/GettyImages-1079844498.jpg?w=768&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C479px&ssl=1" media="(max-width: 768px)" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/GettyImages-1079844498.jpg?w=3900&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C2433px&ssl=1" media="all" style="box-sizing: inherit;">
</source></source></source></source></source></source></source></source></font></picture></div></figure></a></div><div class="related-contentbody" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 513px;"><h3 class="related-contenttitle" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Democrats want answers about the Interior Department’s decisions during the shutdown</font></h3></div></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With Republicans maintaining control of the Senate, lawmakers are likely to confirm Bernhardt. But the battle over offshore drilling isn’t going away — it could rear its head again in 2020, when voters head to the ballot box.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That reality could see more Republicans from coastal states following the lead of lawmakers like Rooney, who signed onto Thursday’s offshore drilling bill. Florida, for instance, approved a constitutional amendment banning offshore drilling in November and the state has sought an exemption from the Trump administration’s plans. (Zinke promised the state one, but it is unclear if that pledge still holds.)</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Meanwhile, in vulnerable South Carolina, where drilling could severely hurt tourism and wildlife, both the governor and attorney general have come out against drilling off the state’s coasts.</b> Anti-drilling activists in the state have told ThinkProgress they plan to press the issue in 2020 and target lawmakers up for re-election who support offshore drilling efforts. And the bill introduced in the House this week may serve as an opportunity to test the commitment of lawmakers to opposing drilling ambitions.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cunningham <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/joe-cunningham-files-bill-to-permanently-ban-offshore-drilling-seismic/article_ff6f3d26-5169-11e9-82da-2f3f3e2c77d3.html" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">said</a> he has spoken with both of his state’s senators, Lindsey Graham (R) and Tim Scott (R), about the issue. “Both of them realize that it’s the will of South Carolinians not to have offshore drilling,” he said, expressing that he expects them “to make the right call” if his bill advances to the Senate.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At DOI, meanwhile, the OCS program seems to have stalled. The proposed plan has largely been expected imminently, but Bernhardt appeared to backtrack on Thursday, stating that the process was at “step one, not step seven” in an abrupt about-face.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We’re at the very beginning of our process,” he said during his hearing. “I don’t know what the timing is, because it’s not done to the point where they’re bringing it to me yet.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060122773/print"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060122773/print</font></a></p><section class="content" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; counter-reset: list-header-num 0; max-width: none;"><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One has a deep background in climate and coastal adaptation. One is a good friend of the Koch political network. Two come from coal country.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Republican roster for the climate change select committee </b>reflects the party's larger variety of stances on climate change, although its most outspoken advocates for aggressive action on emissions were left off.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In short, the GOP is all over the place.</font></p><p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The roster of Republicans for the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, announced yesterday by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), will be led by Rep. Garret Graves.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Louisiana lawmaker served on his state's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, where he helped craft a massive coastal restoration and levee program after Hurricane Katrina. And he was once a staff director for the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Global Climate Change and Impacts under then-Sen. David Vitter (R-La.).</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Graves is in some ways the quintessential Republican on climate. He's concerned about the effects of sea-level rise on his district, but he's not hesitant to tout the benefits of natural gas in reducing emissions or the "all of the above" energy agenda.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I've been working in this area for a while, and Louisiana's in a unique spot just because we have both sea rise facing us and we're one of the top energy producers," he told E&E News last month. "I think it's a unique perspective."</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Graves could use his spot on the panel to push climate adaptation measures for sea-level rise, which he said is "the threat that's closest to the door." He's already worked on water infrastructure issues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and was heavily involved in the Disaster Recovery Reform Act, a major set of disaster reforms enacted last year.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>But other Republicans on the select committee have openly disputed climate science or have deeper ties to the fossil fuel industry and conservative donors who have long opposed action on climate change.</b></font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They'll sit across from a group of Democrats, led by Chairwoman Kathy Castor of Florida, who will be tasked with driving home and publicizing the party's message on climate change (<a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060119927" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; font-weight: bold;"><i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Greenwire</i></a>, Feb. 7).</font></p><h3 style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Low scores, big dollars</font></h3><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Republican roster is primarily defined by low ratings from environmental groups and big campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It also represents a mix of energy interests and could help rally around the Republican claim that natural gas and nuclear are the path forward on climate.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reps. Morgan Griffith of Virginia, Buddy Carter of Georgia, Gary Palmer of Alabama, Carol Miller of West Virginia and Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota round out the GOP roster.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While all the GOP picks are conservative, Griffith and Palmer are members of the House Freedom Caucus, the hard-right group filled with climate deniers and deep doubts about the regulatory role of EPA.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, a fierce EPA critic, recommended six members for the panel, but only Griffith made the cut. The Virginia lawmaker said he has not talked with the group about the opening.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An Energy and Commerce Committee member, Griffith has often fought EPA rules that target coal, a large economic driver in his district located in the southwestern part of the state. He has sought funding for the redevelopment of abandoned mines.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"As long as we make it clear they have to follow rules and realistic science, I am fine with it," Griffith said when asked about EPA's role in regulating greenhouse gases.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Griffith does not deny climate change but has raised concerns that other countries are doing less than the U.S. to cut global emissions, a common Republican line echoed across the Energy and Commerce panel. He's an ally of the Koch political network, which helped him oust Democrat Rick Boucher, one of the lead authors of the 2009 cap-and-trade bill.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Asked about allies on the panel, Griffith said he gets "along well" with Palmer and knows Democratic Rep. Don McEachin of Virginia from their days in the state Legislature.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since his election to Congress in 2010, Griffith has taken more than $700,000 from the fossil fuel industry and electric utilities, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He has a 5 percent lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Palmer, who sits on the Science and Transportation and Infrastructure committees, has gone further than many Republicans in questioning not only the cause, but whether climate change is even underway. He has questioned the accuracy of global warming studies and was forced to correct himself in 2017 when he said Arctic ice sheets were expanding rather than, in fact, shrinking.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Palmer has consistently argued that Congress never gave EPA the right to regulate greenhouse gases and believes the courts are wrong in backing that right. Still, he told E&E last year it's "political nonsense" to say the GOP wants to eliminate all regulations, saying it only wants "sensible" ones.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elected in 2014, Palmer has received $139,000 from energy and natural gas interests, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He has a 1 percent lifetime LCV score.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carter has a similarly abysmal record in LCV's estimation, coming in with a zero percent lifetime score, but he doesn't take as hard a stance on climate science.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I acknowledge that climate change is a problem," Carter said during his campaign last year, <a href="https://www.savannahnow.com/news/20181007/georgias-1st-congressional-district-candidates-differ-on-green-issues" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; font-weight: bold;">according</a> to the <em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Savannah Morning News</em>. "I question sometimes how much of it is man-made but I acknowledge that we need to address it and I've always done that."</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">His district runs the span of Georgia's coast and is near Plant Vogtle, currently the nation's sole nuclear power project.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The two freshmen selected for the panel hail from rural states heavily reliant on the fossil fuel industry.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Armstrong, an attorney who worked for his family oil business and owns a few hundred wells himself in North Dakota, is the sole congressman from a state with huge gas and oil holdings in the Bakken Shale.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He has argued against the United States going it alone on climate policy and prefers that states, not EPA, regulate the environment (<a href="https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1060111651" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; font-weight: bold;"><i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">E&E Daily</i></a>, Jan. 11).</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Armstrong was elected to replace Kevin Cramer (R), who is now in the Senate, and his largest source of campaign donations was the oil and gas industries, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Miller, who won an open-seat race, is certain to tout White House policies that promote and protect domestic coal, one of West Virginia's leading exports. A bison farmer who owns a car dealership, she also has expressed doubts over federal spending on the expanding use of renewable fuels. In a year that saw a large number of women elected to Congress, Miller was the only new female GOP member.</font></p><h3 style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">'I'll take that two ways'</font></h3><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While conservative and moderate climate activists praised Graves, there were also some notable omissions from the panel.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Not a single member who was on the Climate Solutions Caucus last Congress made it onto the roster, nor did Reps. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), the two most outspoken House Republicans on climate issues.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" transparent="transparent">
But Rooney suggested it might be a good thing he wasn't selected if the committee ends up being a forum for partisan bickering about established science.</span>Rooney had even asked McCarthy to be on the panel, as had Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), the former ranking member of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming from 2007 to 2011.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I'll take that two ways," Rooney told reporters yesterday. "First of all, it shows that they're not where I am yet, and it makes me feel really good about being where I am."</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Still, it's "a bit puzzling" that none of the Republicans from the Solutions Caucus made it onto the panel, said Steve Valk, spokesman for Citizens' Climate Lobby.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Graves appears to be a good pick for ranking member," Valk said in an email. "His district faces many challenges with climate change, and he's expressed the need for action."</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Flint, executive director of the Alliance for Market Solutions, a conservative carbon tax group, similarly praised the selection of Graves.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"That is a clear signal that the Republican leadership is comfortable with someone who acknowledges climate change leading Republicans on this issue," Flint said in an email.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But even Graves has just a 3 percent lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters and took more than $130,000 from oil and gas political action committees in the last election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.</font></p><h3 style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">'We're speaking for ourselves now'</font></h3><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The mix of Republican ideologies — and the tension between deniers and nominal believers — is also evident elsewhere on Capitol Hill.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Wednesday, the Congressional Western Caucus gathered reporters outside the Capitol to rail against climate science and the "Green New Deal." House Natural Resources ranking member Rob Bishop (R-Utah) ate a hamburger, saying that the "Green New Deal" would ban cows, and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) falsely suggested that carbon dioxide is not bad for the planet because plants use it for photosynthesis (<a href="https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1060122637" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; font-weight: bold;"><i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">E&E Daily</i></a>, Feb. 28).</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then, the next morning at the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change, the Republican climate evolution some activists have been claiming to see for years was on full display.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Members including Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) and full committee ranking member Greg Walden (R-Ore.) continued to rebut the legality of the Paris climate agreement, but they also called for bipartisan climate action that stresses "innovation," pleas that would have been stunning just a few years ago.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We're speaking for ourselves now," as opposed to letting Democrats control the message on climate, Walden told reporters.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"There's a lot of stuff we can work together on," he added.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What that atmosphere means for climate legislation and for debates on the select committee is still not clear, but Rooney said he's hoping to turn freshly converted Republicans into carbon tax believers.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some Republicans might even jump on board with carbon pricing to counter the progressive "Green New Deal," which would rely heavily on government spending on infrastructure, research and development, Rooney said.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I think the 'Green New Deal' may have gotten people's attention," Rooney said. "It certainly got Walden's."</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Asked about carbon pricing yesterday as he ducked back into the House chamber, Walden didn't rule it out.</font></p><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I'm not going to get into all those discussions yet," he said.</font></p></section><section class="promotion generated" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-width: 2px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-color: rgb(152, 177, 203); border-image: initial; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background: transparent; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-image: initial; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.65em; vertical-align: baseline;">Email: <a href="mailto:nsobczyk@eenews.net" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">nsobczyk@eenews.net</a></span></font></section><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><a href="https://grist.org/article/meet-6-house-republicans-who-could-get-behind-a-carbon-tax/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://grist.org/article/meet-6-house-republicans-who-could-get-behind-a-carbon-tax/</font></a></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, " droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House of Representatives <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/397848-house-votes-to-disavow-carbon-tax" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">voted to reject</a> the mere idea of a carbon tax on Thursday morning. But don’t worry — it was a non-binding resolution, meaning that it’s purely symbolic.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, " droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So why have the vote in the first place? The <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/397295-kochs-pledge-support-for-bill-fighting-carbon-taxes" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">Koch brothers-backed resolution</a>, sponsored by House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana, has popped up before to discourage the legislature from taking economic action on climate change. While <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/reversal-2016-carlos-curbelo-vote-anti-carbon-tax-resolution" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">every single House Republican</a> supported a similar measure when it came up in 2016, this time, six Republicans broke from party ranks.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, " droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to a statement by Mark Reynolds, executive director of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, the defections are “an indication that there are cracks in the wall separating Democrats and Republicans on climate change.”
zzz Scalise’s resolution stated that taxing carbon dioxide emissions would be “detrimental” to the economy. While most House Republicans buy that reasoning, it goes against the economic consensus: Two comprehensive reports out this week showed that a well-constructed carbon tax <a href="https://www.axios.com/carbon-taxes-could-be-created-without-harming-economy-4c429edc-a176-4d48-b9db-9d4ab8fbe253.html
....theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/jul/16/comprehensive-study-carbon-taxes-wont-hamper-the-economy" nearly="nearly" as="as" much="much" the="the" alternative="alternative" />— the failure to act quickly on climate change....>The six GOP members weren’t the only ones to buck their party’s trend. Seven Democratic representatives http://thehill.com/homenews/house/397848-house-votes-to-disavow-carbon-tax" ...supported Scalise’s amendment, which ended up passing 229-180. They were: Sanford Bishop (Georgia), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Vicente González (Texas), Conor Lamb (Pennsylvania), Stephanie Murphy (Florida), Tom O’Halleran (Arizona), and Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona).
...The vote came as House Republican Carlos Curbelo from Florida — who opposed the anti-tax measure — plans to bring forth <a href="https://grist.org/article/a-new-gop-carbon-tax-proposal-is-a-long-shot-but-its-a-shot-worth-taking/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">a carbon tax proposal of his own</a>. It would be the first carbon-pricing plan from a congressional Republican in nearly a decade...a Grist 50 member, is the cofounder of a group called the Climate Solutions Caucus, which has been criticized as a safe space for House Republicans <a href="https://grist.org/article/these-republican-representatives-say-theyre-ready-for-climate-action-can-we-believe-them/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">to “greenwash” their climate record without taking any real action</a>. Thursday’s vote provided further evidence for that idea. The caucus has 43 Republican members, but only four of them voted against the anti-tax resolution.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px;" droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So who are the other five Republicans who joined Curbelo in rejecting it? Some of them are solid climate champions. As for the others … well, maybe they’ve had a change of heart and will soon further denounce their anti-environment ways?</font></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px;" droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;">Brian Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania: </span>This guy voted in favor of the environment <a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/brian-fitzpatrick" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">71 percent</a> of the time in 2017 — his first year in office — according to the League of Conservation Voters. That’s the best score of any congressional Republican. He also acknowledges humans’ role in causing climate change — and he kinda speaks our language:</font></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px;" droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Washington needs independent voices now more than ever – especially when it comes to the environment and public health,” Fitzpatrick said last year <a href="https://fitzpatrick.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/fitzpatrick-recognized-environmental-leadership" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">upon receiving the Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s Climate Leadership Award</a>. “It is vital that we never politicize protecting our environment or let partisanship prevent Washington from accomplishing common goals.”</font></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px;" droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;">Trey Hollingsworth, Indiana</span>: This Hoosier representative went pro-environment just <a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/trey-hollingsworth" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">6 percent</a> of the time last year, voting to <a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/trey-hollingsworth" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">slash the EPA’s budget</a> and <a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/roll-call-vote/2017-488-methane-pollution-safeguards" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">prevent the implementation of methane pollution safeguards</a>. One glimmer of hope? He voted to <a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/roll-call-vote/2017-368-national-security-threat-climate-change" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">keep language</a> directing the Department of Defense to prepare for climate change and warming’s threats to national security.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px;" droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;">Mia Love, Utah</span>: Love is a rare kind of conservative. She’s the first black female Republican elected to Congress, and she publicly states that climate change is a problem.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px;" droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I think it would be inappropriate for any of us to say we don’t want to do anything about this,” she told <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYYgA0rwbwE" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">Utah’s KSL-TV</a>, adding that she doesn’t think climate solutions have to come “at the detriment of our economy.”</font></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px;" droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite all that, she earned a score of just <a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/mia-love" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">3 percent</a> from LCV for her anti-environment voting record last year.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px;" droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;">Francis Rooney, Florida</span>: Though this Sunshine State representative’s <a href="https://francisrooney.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=14911" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">official site says</a> that “no issue is more important to our District than clean water and a healthy environment,” his voting record indicates that he has other ideas.<b> He had exactly zero pro-environment votes last year. Yep, <a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/francis-rooney" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">zero</a>.</b></font></span></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px;" droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Oh, and he also <a href="http://www.nbc-2.com/story/35560306/rooney-talks-paris-agreement-at-bonita-town-hall" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">supported pulling out of the Paris Agreement</a></b>. Come on, Rooney. Way to watch out for your constituents in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/miami-floods-sea-level-rise-solutions-2018-4" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">soon-to-be underwater South Florida</a>!</font></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px;" droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To end on a positive note: At least he’s working to <a href="https://francisrooney.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=300" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">ban offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico</a>.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px;" droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit;">Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida</span>: A 66-year-old Cuban American and the first Latina in Congress, Ros-Lehtinen wasn’t always so sure about the established science of climate change. The representative of South Florida <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060060479" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">credits Carlos Curbelo with showing her the light</a>. Ros-Lehtinen, now a member of the Climate Solutions Caucus, earned a score of 33 percent from LCV for her environmental voting record last year.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px;" droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Sea-level rise due to climate change is a scientific reality,” <a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a12488812/ileana-ros-lehtinen-politics-lessons/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">she told Cosmo last year</a>. “People who argue that it isn’t changing, that the sea levels are the same, are just delusional.”</font></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px;" droid="Droid" serif="serif" cambria="Cambria" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" color="color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Too bad she’s <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/retiring-year-ileana-ros-lehtinen-first-latina-congress-defied-stereotypes-n864456" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(7, 96, 126); transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none !important;">retiring this year</a>. We’ll miss ya, Ros-Lehtinen!</font></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><div class="g" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 30px;"><div data-hveid="CAIQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiw1NWxv63hAhUBYawKHR3GCtoQFSgAMAR6BAgCEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><div class="r" style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.54;"><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://grist.org/article/meet-6-house-republicans-who-could-get-behind-a-carbon-tax/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://grist.org/article/meet-6-house-republicans-who-could-get-behind-a-carbon-tax/&ved=2ahUKEwiw1NWxv63hAhUBYawKHR3GCtoQFjAEegQIAhAB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Meet 6 House Republicans who could get behind a carbon tax | Grist</a></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://grist.org/article/meet-6-house-republicans-who-could-get-behind-a-carbon-tax/</font></div><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; 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text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.54; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="f" style="line-height: 1.54;">Mar 1, 2019 - </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rep</span>. Garret Graves (R-La.) will lead the Republican side of the House ... Carter has a similarly abysmal record in <span style="font-weight: bold;">LCV's</span> estimation, coming in with a ... <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rep</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Francis Rooney</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold;">R</span>-<span style="font-weight: bold;">Fla</span>.). U.S. House/Wikipedia. Rooney had even ...</font></span></a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:sd-h7fgf6lIJ:https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060122773/print+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:sd-h7fgf6lIJ:https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060122773/print%2B%26cd%3D6%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiw1NWxv63hAhUBYawKHR3GCtoQIDAFegQIARAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">=</font></span></a></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:sd-h7fgf6lIJ:https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060122773/print+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:sd-h7fgf6lIJ:https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060122773/print%2B%26cd%3D6%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiw1NWxv63hAhUBYawKHR3GCtoQIDAFegQIARAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" /></font></a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney</font></a></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">L<b style="">aurence Francis Rooney III</b> (born December 4, 1953) is an American politician and diplomat who is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="United States House of Representatives" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">U.S. Representative</a> for <span data-sort-value="Florida19 !" style=""><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida%27s_19th_congressional_district" title="Florida's 19th congressional district" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Florida's 19th congressional district</a></span>. A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican</a>, he served as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Ambassador_to_the_Holy_See" class="mw-redirect" title="United States Ambassador to the Holy See" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">United States Ambassador to the Holy See</a> from 2005 until 2008. He is the former <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_executive_officer" title="Chief executive officer" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">CEO</a> of Rooney Holdings (formerly known as Rooney Brothers Company), an investment and holding company based in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples,Florida" title="Naples, Florida" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Naples, Florida</a>.</font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></font></div><div id="toc" class="toc" style="background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="direction: ltr; position: absolute; opacity: 0; z-index: -1; display: none;" /></font></font></font><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Early_life_and_education" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Early life and education</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Business_career" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Business career</span></font></a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Activities_in_Central_America" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">2.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Activities in Central America</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Political_activities" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Political activities</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#U.S.House_of_Representatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">4</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">U.S. House of Representatives</span></font></a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#2016_campaign" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">4.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">2016 campaign</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Tenure" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">4.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Tenure</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Committee_assignments" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">4.3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Committee assignments</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Political_positions" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Political positions</span></font></a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Domestic_issues" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Domestic issues</span></font></a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Education" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.1.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Education</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Healthcare" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.1.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Healthcare</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Gun_policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.1.3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Gun policy</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Economic_issues" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Economic issues</span></font></a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Tax_reform" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.2.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Tax reform</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Environmental_issues" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Environmental issues</span></font></a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Climate_change" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.3.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Climate change</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-18" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#International_issues" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.4</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">International issues</span></font></a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-19" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Immigration_and_refugees" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.4.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Immigration and refugees</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-20" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Social_issues" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.5</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Social issues</span></font></a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-21" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Abortion" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5.5.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Abortion</span></font></a></li></ul></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-22" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Controversies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">6</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Controversies</span></font></a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-23" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Laredo_Petroleum" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">6.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Laredo Petroleum</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-24" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Deep_state_comments" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">6.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Deep state comments</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-25" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#Advocacy_of_purging_the_FBI" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">6.3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Advocacy of purging the FBI</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-26" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#See_also" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">7</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">See also</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-27" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#References" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">8</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">References</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-28" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#External_links" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">9</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">External links</span></font></a></li></ul></div><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Early_life_and_education">Early life and education</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span></span></font></font></font></font></font></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">He is a graduate of the</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_Preparatory_School" title="Georgetown Preparatory School" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Georgetown Preparatory School</a></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University" title="Georgetown University" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Georgetown University</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> (A.B. 1975) and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University_Law_Center" title="Georgetown University Law Center" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Georgetown University Law Center</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> (J.D. 1978). Rooney is the oldest of Laurence Francis and Lucy Turner Rooney's six children. His younger siblings are Patrick T. Rooney, Timothy P. Rooney, Lucy Rooney Kapples, James H. Rooney, and Rebecca Rooney. He is not related to fellow Republican representative </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Rooney(politician)" class="mw-redirect" title="Tom Rooney (politician)" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Tom Rooney</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Rooney holds honorary degrees from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Notre_Dame" title="University of Notre Dame" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">University of Notre Dame</a> (2006)<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[1]</a></sup> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Dallas" title="University of Dallas" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">University of Dallas</a> (2010).<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[2]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></font></p><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Business_career">Business career</span></font></font></font></font></font></h2><div class="thumb tright" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto;"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 142px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Francis_Rooney.jpg" class="image" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Francis_Rooney.jpg" decoding="async" width="140" height="211" class="thumbimage" data-file-width="140" data-file-height="211" style="border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); vertical-align: middle; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font></a></font></font></font></font><div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font></font><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Francis_Rooney.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="width" height="height" viewbox="%220" e="E" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h1.509z="h10.99v7.919H1.509z" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data" /></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Francis_Rooney.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="width" height="height" viewbox="%220" e="E" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h1.509z="h10.99v7.919H1.509z" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rooney as Ambassador</font></a></div></div></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Francis_Rooney.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="width" height="height" viewbox="%220" e="E" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h1.509z="h10.99v7.919H1.509z" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><font face="Times New Roman">Rooney served as the Chief Executive Officer and President at Rooney Holdings, Inc. since 1984.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;" /></font></a><font face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[3]</a> Rooney is the majority owner of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Construction_Company" title="Manhattan Construction Company" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Manhattan Construction Company</a>; he is the fourth generation of his family to own that company. Manhattan Construction built the new <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboys_Stadium" class="mw-redirect" title="Cowboys Stadium" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Cowboys Stadium</a> in Texas, the U.S. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Visitors_Center" class="mw-redirect" title="Capitol Visitors Center" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Capitol Visitors Center</a> at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Capitol" title="United States Capitol" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">United States Capitol</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_State_Capitol" title="Oklahoma State Capitol" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Oklahoma State Capitol</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bush_Presidential_Library" title="George Bush Presidential Library" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">George Bush Presidential Library</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_Institute" title="Cato Institute" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Cato Institute</a> headquarters, New Orleans Sports Arena and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliant_Stadium" class="mw-redirect" title="Reliant Stadium" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Reliant Stadium</a>. The company is working on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush_Presidential_Library" class="mw-redirect" title="George W. Bush Presidential Library" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">George W. Bush Presidential Library</a> earning it the distinction to be the only construction company to work on two presidential libraries. They have also done extensive projects for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morehouse_College" title="Morehouse College" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Morehouse College</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_University" title="George Washington University" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">George Washington University</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_State_University" class="mw-redirect" title="Oklahoma State University" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Oklahoma State University</a>, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Georgia" title="University of Georgia" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">University of Georgia</a>.</font></font></font></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Activities_in_Central_America">Activities in Central America</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=3&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Activities in Central America" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" style="" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rooney is a member of the Advisory Board of the</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Authority" title="Panama Canal Authority" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Panama Canal Authority</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[4]</a></sup> He was among the U.S. delegation led by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Powell" title="Colin Powell" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Colin Powell</a> to the inauguration of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_Panama" class="mw-redirect" title="List of Presidents of Panama" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Panamanian president</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mart%C3%ADn_Torrijos" title="Martín Torrijos" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Martín Torrijos</a>.</span></font></font></font></font></p><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Political_activities">Political activities</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=4&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Political activities" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" style="" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rooney is a major Republican donor, having contributed to the campaign of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">George W. Bush</a>.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Rooney served on the fundraising team of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connie_Mack_IV" title="Connie Mack IV" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Connie Mack IV</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><sup id="cite_ref-Sunshine_5-0" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Sunshine-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[5]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Rooney donated $1 million to </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restore_Our_Future" title="Restore Our Future" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Restore Our Future</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_Romney" title="Mitt Romney" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Mitt Romney</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">'s </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_PAC" class="mw-redirect" title="Super PAC" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Super PAC</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">,</span><sup id="cite_ref-Naples_6-0" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Naples-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[6]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> and Rooney hosted a fundraiser for Romney in Rooney's </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples,Florida" title="Naples, Florida" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Naples, Florida</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> home.</span><sup id="cite_ref-Fundraiser_7-0" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Fundraiser-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[7]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> In 2015, Rooney gave over $2 million to </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeb_Bush" title="Jeb Bush" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Jeb Bush</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">'s Super PAC.</span><sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[8]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></p><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="U.S.House_of_Representatives">U.S. House of Representatives</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=5&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: U.S. House of Representatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="2016_campaign">2016 campaign</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=6&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: 2016 campaign" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In May 2016, incumbent Republican congressman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curt_Clawson" title="Curt Clawson" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Curt Clawson</a> announced he would not run for a third full term. Soon afterward, Rooney entered the Republican primary to succeed him—the real contest in this heavily Republican district. Rooney spent $4 million of his own money and far outspent his opponents in an election that was shortened due to the timing of Clawson's late announcement.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[9]</a></sup> In the August 30 primary, he defeated Sanibel Councilman Chauncey Goss and radio personality <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Bongino" title="Dan Bongino" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Dan Bongino</a>. Rooney received an unprecedented endorsement from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Scott" title="Rick Scott" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Rick Scott</a>, who is his neighbor in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples,Florida" title="Naples, Florida" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Naples, Florida</a> Port Royal community.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[10]</a></sup> As expected, he won handily in the November general election to become only the fifth person to represent this district since its creation in 1983 (it had been the 13th District from 1983 to 1993, the 14th from 1993 to 2013, and has been the 19th since 2013).</font></font></font></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Tenure">Tenure</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=7&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Tenure" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" style="" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rooney was sworn in January 3, 2017. He is a member of the</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> conservative <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee" title="Republican Study Committee" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican Study Committee</a><sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[11]</a></sup> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_Solutions_Caucus" title="Climate Solutions Caucus" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Climate Solutions Caucus</a></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[12]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In 2017, Rooney proposed the Pell Performance Act, alongside <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Norman" title="Ralph Norman" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ralph Norman</a>, which proposes that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pell_Grant" title="Pell Grant" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Pell Grants</a> turn into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stafford_loan" class="mw-redirect" title="Stafford loan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Stafford loans</a> if students fail to graduate college within six years of being awarded the grant.<sup id="cite_ref-Fox12417_13-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Fox12417-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[13]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Committee_assignments">Committee assignments</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=8&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Committee assignments" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h3><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Education_and_the_Workforce" class="mw-redirect" title="United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Committee on Education and the Workforce</a></b><sup id="cite_ref-:0_14-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-:0-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[14]</a></sup></font></font></font></font><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: disc; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" /></font></font><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Education_Subcommittee_on_Workforce_Protections" title="United States House Education Subcommittee on Workforce Protections" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Subcommittee on Workforce Protections</a><sup id="cite_ref-:0_14-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-:0-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[14]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Education_Subcommittee_on_Health,Employment,Labor,and_Pensions" title="United States House Education Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions</a><sup id="cite_ref-:0_14-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-:0-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[14]</a></sup></font></li></ul></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Foreign_Affairs" title="United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Committee on Foreign Affairs</a></b><sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[15]</a></sup></font></font></font></font><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: disc; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" /></font></font><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Foreign_Affairs_Subcommittee_on_Europe,Eurasia_and_Emerging_Threats" class="mw-redirect" title="United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats</a><sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[16]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Foreign_Affairs_Subcommittee_on_the_Western_Hemisphere" class="mw-redirect" title="United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere</a><sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-17" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[17]</a></sup></font></li></ul></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress_Joint_Economic_Committee" title="United States Congress Joint Economic Committee" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Joint Economic Committee</a></b><sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-18" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[18]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></li></ul><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Political_positions">Political positions</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=9&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Political positions" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Domestic_issues">Domestic issues</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=10&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Domestic issues" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h3><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Education">Education</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=11&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Education" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h4><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Rooney is in favor of having Pell Grants turn into Stafford Loans if students who were awarded the grants do not graduate within six years of receiving their award.<sup id="cite_ref-Fox12417_13-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Fox12417-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[13]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></p><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Healthcare">Healthcare</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=12&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Healthcare" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h4><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Rooney wants to repeal the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordable_Care_Act" class="mw-redirect" title="Affordable Care Act" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Affordable Care Act</a> (Obamacare) and calls it "an experiment that didn't work."<sup id="cite_ref-Layden3317_19-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Layden3317-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[19]</a></sup> He voted for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Health_Care_Act_of_2017" title="American Health Care Act of 2017" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">American Health Care Act of 2017</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-20" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[20]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></p><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Gun_policy">Gun policy</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=13&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Gun policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h4><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">As of 2017, Rooney has a "B" rating from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rifle_Association" title="National Rifle Association" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">NRA</a>, indicating a voting record that generally supports gun rights.<sup id="cite_ref-ISPY_21-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-ISPY-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[21]</a></sup> As a Congressman, Rooney has voted in favor of several pieces of legislation to expand gun rights, including a yes vote on <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/38" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">H. R. 38</a> (the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concealed_Carry_Reciprocity_Act_of_2017" title="Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act</a>), which would enable <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concealed_carry_in_the_United_States#Reciprocity" title="Concealed carry in the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">concealed carry reciprocity</a> among all States if and when it is signed into law.<sup id="cite_ref-HR38_22-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-HR38-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[22]</a></sup> In March 2017, Rooney voted in favor of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1181" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act</a>, which, if signed into law, will allow <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veteran" title="Veteran" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">veterans</a> who are considered "mentally incompetent" to purchase ammunition and firearms unless declared a danger by a judge.<sup id="cite_ref-HR_1181_23-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-HR_1181-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[23]</a></sup>Rooney also voted in favor of <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-joint-resolution/40" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">H.J.Res.40</a>, which successfully used the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Review_Act" title="Congressional Review Act" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Congressional Review Act</a> to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repeal_of_the_Implementation_of_the_NICS_Improvement_Amendments_Act_of_2007" title="Repeal of the Implementation of the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">block implementation</a> of an Obama-era Amendment to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NICS_Improvement_Amendments_Act_of_2007" title="NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007</a> that was aimed at preventing the mentally-infirm from legally purchasing firearms.<sup id="cite_ref-Clerk_2017_24-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Clerk_2017-24" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[24]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Following the 2018 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoneman_Douglas_High_School_shooting" title="Stoneman Douglas High School shooting" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Stoneman Douglas High School shooting</a>, Rooney announced a proposal to limit mass shootings. The proposal includes supporting the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fix_NICS_Act_of_2017" title="Fix NICS Act of 2017" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Fix NICS Act of 2017</a>, mandating background checks for every firearm purchase, and enacting a <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/2598" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">gun violence restraining order</a> system to provide a legal justification for temporarily confiscating firearms from those deemed a threat to themselves or others. Rooney also supports a mandatory 3-day <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_period" title="Waiting period" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">waiting period</a> for all gun sales, a ban on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_fire#Bump_fire_stocks" title="Bump fire" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">bump stocks</a>, and raising the minimum age to purchase any firearm to 21. Additionally, his proposal included making schools more secure and hiring <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veteran" title="Veteran" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">veterans</a>and retired <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_officer" title="Law enforcement officer" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">law enforcement officers</a> as armed security guards for schools.<sup id="cite_ref-Derby_2018_25-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Derby_2018-25" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[25]</a></sup> Rooney has also expressed support for the controversial idea of arming teachers to confront school shooters.<sup id="cite_ref-Elias_2018_26-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Elias_2018-26" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[26]</a></sup> However, in response to questions on if he would support reinstating the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban" title="Federal Assault Weapons Ban" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Federal Assault Weapons Ban</a>, Rooney replied, "How willing are we to throw the Constitution out the window?"<sup id="cite_ref-Conley_2018_27-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Conley_2018-27" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[27]</a></sup> Rooney has stated that his support of any new gun control legislation is contingent on the inclusion of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider(legislation)" title="Rider (legislation)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">rider</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concealed_Carry_Reciprocity_Act_of_2017" title="Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Pinsker_2018_28-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Pinsker_2018-28" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[28]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Economic_issues">Economic issues</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=14&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Economic issues" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h3><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Tax_reform">Tax reform</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=15&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Tax reform" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h4><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Rooney favors <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_reform" title="Tax reform" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">tax reform</a> and voted in favor of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Cuts_and_Jobs_Act_of_2017" title="Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Almukhtar_29-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Almukhtar-29" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[29]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Environmental_issues">Environmental issues</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=16&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Environmental issues" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h3><h4 style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><span class="mw-headline" id="Climate_change" style="">Climate change</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span></span></font></font></font></font></h4><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">On November 28, 2018, Rooney cointroduced the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Innovation_and_Carbon_Dividend_Act_of_2018" title="Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2018" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2018</a>, saying, "to let the free market price out coal, we should consider value pricing carbon. A revenue-neutral carbon fee is an efficient, market- driven incentive to move toward natural gas and away from coal, and to support emerging alternate sources of energy."<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[30]</a></sup> He also cosponsored the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Innovation_and_Carbon_Dividend_Act_of_2019" title="Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2019" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">2019 version of the bill</a>.</font></font></font></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="International_issues">International issues</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=18&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: International issues" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">e</a></span></font></font></font></font></h3><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Immigration_and_refugees">Immigration and refugees</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=19&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Immigration and refugees" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h4><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Rooney is in favor of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_reform_in_the_United_States" title="Immigration reform in the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">immigration reform</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Layden3317_19-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Layden3317-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[19]</a></sup> He has spoken out against <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_Action_for_Childhood_Arrivals" title="Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-31" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[31]</a></sup> At the time of Rooney's stated position on DACA, a large majority of American citizens were in support of the program,<sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-32" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[32]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-33" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[33]</a></sup> including according to an August 31 through September 3, 2017 poll<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-34" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[34]</a></sup> where 57% of self-identified Republican voters.<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-35" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[35]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Social_issues">Social issues</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=20&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Social issues" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h3><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Abortion">Abortion</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=21&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Abortion" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h4><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Rooney is opposed to terminating an unwanted pregnancy starting as early as conception.<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-36" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[36]</a></sup> He is against using federal funding to pay for abortions and to fund <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood" title="Planned Parenthood" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Planned Parenthood</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Layden3317_19-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Layden3317-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[19]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></p><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Controversies">Controversies</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=22&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Controversies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Laredo_Petroleum">Laredo Petroleum</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=23&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Laredo Petroleum" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Rooney sat on the board of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa" class="mw-redirect" title="Tulsa" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tulsa, Oklahoma</a> based <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum" title="Petroleum" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">petroleum</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas" title="Natural gas" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">natural gas</a> exploration and production company, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laredo_Petroleum" title="Laredo Petroleum" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Laredo Petroleum</a> that was accused in 2012 of underpaying <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royalties" class="mw-redirect" title="Royalties" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">royalties</a> to landowners of property where the company was conducting operations. The lawsuit, filed by Chieftain Royalty Company, alleged that "Laredo used its position as operator and as an oil and gas working interest owner to secretly underpay royalty due plaintiff and class members on production of gas and its constituents from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma" title="Oklahoma" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Oklahoma</a> Well," and the company had been "unjustly enriched." Rooney owns 1 million shares of Laredo Petroleum and had been on the board since 2010. Despite denying the allegations made in the lawsuit, Laredo settled the claim for $6.6 million.<sup id="cite_ref-Dixon_2017_37-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Dixon_2017-37" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[37]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Laredo_Petro_2010_38-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-Laredo_Petro_2010-38" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[38]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Deep_state_comments">Deep state comments</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=24&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Deep state comments" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Rooney has made statements suggesting that he believes in the existence of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_state_in_the_United_States" title="Deep state in the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Deep state in the United States</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-39" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[39]</a></sup> In a December 26, 2017 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSNBC" title="MSNBC" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">MSNBC</a> interview, Rooney, while calling into question the integrity of the FBI and Justice department, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Counsel_investigation(2017%E2%80%93present)" class="mw-redirect" title="Special Counsel investigation (2017–present)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">who are conducting an investigation</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections" title="Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">into Russian State interference in the 2016 elections</a> and any possible collusion between Russia and the Donald Trump presidential campaign along with any related crimes, alluded to a "Deep state", presumably seeking to undermine the Trump presidency. Rooney stated there ought to be a "purge" within those departments.<sup id="cite_ref-40" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-40" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[40]</a></sup> Rooney suggested this is evidenced by the fact that there were isolated incidents among members of those agencies who were documented as having been demoted or, where relevant, removed from the Mueller probe for having expressed anti-Trump bias and/or pro-Hillary Clinton bias.</font></font></font></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Advocacy_of_purging_the_FBI">Advocacy of purging the FBI</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=25&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Advocacy of purging the FBI" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Rooney attracted national attention in December 2017 when he suggested that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation" title="Federal Bureau of Investigation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">FBI</a> be <i>purged</i> of agents that he believed were "politically compromised", and saying he felt "pretty frustrated" with FBI officials in their investigation of Trump; and by doing so, Rooney is putting himself squarely in the corner of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump" title="Donald Trump" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Donald Trump</a>, according to several sources.<sup id="cite_ref-twsCNN494_41-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-twsCNN494-41" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[41]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-twsNBC1_42-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-twsNBC1-42" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[42]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-twsPolitico44_43-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney#cite_note-twsPolitico44-43" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[43]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></p><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="See_also">See also</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francis_Rooney&action=edit§ion=26&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: See also" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></font></font></font></h2><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Building(Muskogee,Oklahoma)" title="Manhattan Building (Muskogee, Oklahoma)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Manhattan Building</font></a></font></font></font></li></ul><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07032019/carbon-tax-proposals-compare-baker-shultz-exxon-conocophillips-ccl-congress">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07032019/carbon-tax-proposals-compare-baker-shultz-exxon-conocophillips-ccl-congress</a></font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Not long ago, a carbon tax was the untouchable third rail of climate politics.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"We have done extensive polling on carbon tax. It all sucks," John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, wrote to another adviser in a memorable <a href="https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/16655" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">January 2015 email</a> from the Wikileaks stash.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But four years later, amid the political upheaval wrought by President Donald Trump, several carbon tax proposals are getting a serious look on Capitol Hill. Ironically, the president's rejection of climate science and his fossil fuel-focused agenda may have helped usher in an era when carbon taxation is politically thinkable.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">One </span><a href="https://teddeutch.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=399493" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" transparent="transparent" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" font-weight="font-weight" bold="bold">carbon fee-and-dividend</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> plan has already been introduced in Congress and more are expected. </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/want-a-green-new-deal-heres-a-better-one/2019/02/24/2d7e491c-36d2-11e9-af5b-b51b7ff322e9_story.html?utm_term=.c941f0fa334e" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" transparent="transparent" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" font-weight="font-weight" bold="bold">Editorial pages</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> and conservative </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/11/opinion/green-new-deal.html" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" transparent="transparent" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" font-weight="font-weight" bold="bold">pundits</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> are talking about carbon taxes as a pragmatic way to achieve the </span><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04032019/green-new-deal-carbon-tax-compromise-climate-policy-congress-ocasio-cortez-sunrise-ccl-economists" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" transparent="transparent" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" font-weight="font-weight" bold="bold">goals of the Green New Deal</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">. And the opinion polls look a lot different than the ones that caused Podesta to recoil.</span></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A <a href="http://www.apnorc.org/projects/Pages/Is-the-Public-Willing-to-Pay-to-Help-Fix-Climate-Change-.aspx" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">plurality of Americans</a>—44 percent—say they support a policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by taxing carbon-based fuels,</b> according to a poll conducted last November by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago and the Associated Press. (Only 29 percent said they were opposed, while 25 percent were neutral.) A <a href="https://www.clcouncil.org/media/YaleGMU-Poll-October-2018.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">survey </a>of registered voters by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and George Mason University found that 58 percent said they would favor a Republican-proposed carbon tax that would return all revenue to households in the form of monthly rebate checks.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>More and more states and local governments are jumping in with <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28112018/state-carbon-pricing-tax-fee-climate-change-washington-oregon-new-jersey-virginia-hawaii-massachusetts-new-york" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">carbon pricing plans of their own</a> to fill the climate leadership void that Trump has created.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Energy companies face the prospect of 50 different regulatory approaches on greenhouse gases in the United States—a powerful incentive for them to seek one uniform, predictable, national approach. ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips are among the oil companies backing a campaign to get their favored version of a carbon tax introduced in the Senate this year, one that would also protect them from other climate regulations and lawsuits.</span></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>There are significant differences between the carbon tax proposal backed by Big Oil and the approaches backed by environmental activists.</b> And while carbon pricing could help put the U.S. on track to zero emissions by mid-century, experts warn that a poorly designed plan could be too weak to get the job done.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A close look at two economy-wide carbon tax proposals—the oil industry-backed plan, developed by <b>former Republican Secretaries of State James Baker and George Shultz,</b> and legislation backed by a grassroots environmental group, Citizens' Climate Lobby—highlights some of the key questions that policymakers will face as they weigh competing carbon tax plans.</font></font></font></font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How High a Carbon Tax?</font></font></font></font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Baker-Shultz proposal: </strong>Although its plan has not been formally introduced yet, the framework laid out by the Climate Leadership Council, a coalition of industry and environmental groups that support the Baker-Shultz proposal, would start a carbon tax at about $40 per ton, escalating by 2 to 5 percent annually, and reaching as high as $65 per ton by 2030.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act: </strong>The bipartisan measure sponsored by <b>Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) </b>would levy a carbon tax beginning at $15 per ton, escalating by $10 annually, and reaching $115 a ton by 2030</span>. That averages out to a 24 percent annual increase—higher than any other recent climate proposal.</font></font></font></font></p><div class="media media-element-container media-image_centered_medium" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 648px; margin: 0.25em auto;"><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Investigative reporter Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News dropped a </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mueller-probe-outgrows-witch-hunt-phase-100045988.html&source=gmail&ust=1514530040235000&usg=AFQjCNFFAUeXwf1jwOvPDnusMlYE96eyDw" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mueller-probe-outgrows-witch-hunt-phase-100045988.html" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">small bombshell</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> this quiet holiday week that hasn't really exploded yet but</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> might just explain the GOP's recent full-court press to discredit the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller's team. Rep. Francis Rooney, a Florida Republican, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/27/politics/francis-rooney-fbi-russia-cnntv/index.html&source=gmail&ust=1514530040235000&usg=AFQjCNHDxTmT5QlRwe0CU2NtJMQHZ9dnDA" href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/27/politics/francis-rooney-fbi-russia-cnntv/index.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">explained:</a></span></b></font></font></font></font></div><blockquote style=""><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">I would like to see the directors of those agencies [the DOJ and FBI] purge it and say, "Look, we’ve got a lot of great agents, a lot of great lawyers here." Those are the people to see and know the good work’s being done, not these people who are kind of the deep state.</font></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On Wednesday, Rep. Ron</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> DeSantis,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> another Florida Republican, went on "Fox & Friends" and backed up his colleague's sentiments, saying, </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"You look at a guy like Peter Strzok [the FBI agent demoted for sending derogatory texts about many politicians including Trump]. If he’s gonna say that it’s his job as an FBI to prevent a certain candidate from getting elected. ... Anyone who turns up in that situation, I think they should get another line of work.”</span></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">For what it's worth, Strzok is a counterintelligence agent who appeared concerned that the "certain candidate" might be acting as an agent of a foreign adversary, which was important information the nation didn't have before the election. In any case, from what we can gather, these Republican congressmen identify nefarious "deep state" actors as those who cannot swear that they are not now and have never been a... Democrat.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">As one can imagine, the use of the word "purge" brought forth some rather unfortunate historical images. We haven't seen evidence that they plan the usual accompanying show trials, but give them time. Republicans in Congress are working feverishly to prepare hearings on the Hillary Clinton "Russian uranium email treason" hearings so there's a chance we'll see some kind of facsimile before 2018.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The hysteria that's now raging seems a bit of an outsized reaction for this particular phase of the scandal, especially considering that Mueller actually did remove the offending "deep-staters." Isikoff may have come across a different motivation than simple loyalty to President Trump. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mueller-probe-outgrows-witch-hunt-phase-100045988.html&source=gmail&ust=1514530040235000&usg=AFQjCNFFAUeXwf1jwOvPDnusMlYE96eyDw" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mueller-probe-outgrows-witch-hunt-phase-100045988.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">He wrote:</a></font></font></font></font></p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In just the last few weeks, his prosecutors have begun questioning Republican National Committee staffers about the party digital operation that worked with the Trump campaign to target voters in key swing states. They are seeking to determine if the joint effort was related to the activities of Russian trolls and bots aimed at influencing the American electorate, according to two of the sources.</font></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It would not be surprising if certain Republicans were to become a bit nervous when the investigation into Russian interference turned in that particular direction. It's flown under the radar since the election, but the </span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">fact is that it </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">wasn't only the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta's email accounts that were hacked. The intelligence community identified the same group of Russian-affiliated hackers as behind the hacking of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.</span></b></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">I've been <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.salon.com/2017/03/03/how-much-did-russian-hacking-affect-congressional-races-and-how-deeply-was-the-gop-involved/&source=gmail&ust=1514530040235000&usg=AFQjCNEjVYdm6PuM8Z8L5wLg7jlZ5cUJtg" href="https://www.salon.com/2017/03/03/how-much-did-russian-hacking-affect-congressional-races-and-how-deeply-was-the-gop-involved/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">intrigued by this aspect </a>of the Russian hacking story since the New York Times published an early report about it back in November of 2016. Recall that at first the hacker known as Guccifer 2.0 released personal information that was used to intimidate Democratic candidates, but then he/she/they suddenly became more sophisticated and targeted, dumping valuable tactical information:</font></font></font></font></p><blockquote style=""><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The seats that Guccifer 2.0 targeted in the document dumps were hardly random: They were some of the most competitive House races in the country.</b></font></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">People have wondered ever since if the hacker(s) might have gotten some expert assistance.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Perhaps it's a coincidence that <b>so much of the information in question was republished on a website called HelloFLA by <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=//www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-reg-russia-hacker-guccifer-connection-20170525-story.html&source=gmail&ust=1514530040235000&usg=AFQjCNGfRjLvcG6B93MUO5pSMJYDj7VbJg" href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-reg-russia-hacker-guccifer-connection-20170525-story.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">a Florida Republican</a> and former congressional staffer </b>named <b>Aaron Nevins, who was connected to Trump associate and longtime political operative Roger Stone.</b> It could be completely random that among the core group of Mueller antagonists, those calling the probe a "coup d'état" and demanding purges of members of the "deep state" are <b>Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.,</b> who proposed that Mueller's funding be cut off, and the aforementioned <b>Rep. Francis Rooney, who's been all over TV talking about purging the FBI.</b></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Indeed, as journalist Marcy Wheeler pointed out a while back, one of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=//www.politico.com/story/2017/08/28/mueller-investigation-republicans-russia-242108&source=gmail&ust=1514530040235000&usg=AFQjCNFVP_ItV7KdO9m3Z_QPA_ZUH2FkDg" href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/28/mueller-investigation-republicans-russia-242108" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">the ringleaders</a> of the movement to discredit the Department of Justice and Robert Mueller, Rep. DeSantis, <em>directly benefited</em> from Guccifer 2.0’s leak to Nevins after the latter published five documents regarding the DCCC’s recruitment of DeSantis’ Democratic opponent, George Pappas. </b><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-adviser-roger-stone-says-talk-with-online-entity-was-benign-1506433880&source=gmail&ust=1514530040235000&usg=AFQjCNEtNdRoHZrKO2uWsr8ZLAbcLqrtMw" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-adviser-roger-stone-says-talk-with-online-entity-was-benign-1506433880" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">According to The Wall Street Journal</a>,<b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Guccifer 2.0 even sent a link with a HelloFLA article directly to Roger Stone, who told reporters he didn’t forward the hacked material to anyone -- the answer to a question nobody asked,</span></b></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman">Donald Trump may think their vociferous attacks on Mueller are all about loyalty to him personally. After all, </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=//florida%2520reps.%2520matt%2520gaetz%2520and%2520ron%2520desantis%2520hitched%2520a%2520ride%2520on%2520air%2520force%2520one%2520with%2520president%2520trump%2520to%2520pensacola%252C%2520according%2520to%2520the%2520white%2520house./&source=gmail&ust=1514530040235000&usg=AFQjCNFMsbQmS_dIlQ1L3EuH_Xf1oAHXGQ" href="https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2017/12/08/gaetz-desantis-fly-with-trump-to-pensacola/" target="blank" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">this group all flew down to Florida together on Air Force One</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman"> earlier this month. But these guys have skin in the game now and may very well be caught up in the maw of the Russia investigation themselves.</span>If Mueller's team is looking into the digital operation and Roger Stone's interactions with Guccifer 2.0, as one would expect them to do, then these shenanigans in Florida are also coming into view. That may explain why this little circle of Sunshine State GOP congressmen are so anxious to shut him down.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">They might not be the only ones. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/us/politics/house-democrats-hacking-dccc.html?r=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">According to The New York Times</a>, material from the DCCC hack was first used by Miami-area Democrat Joe Garcia, a former congressman, to win a tight primary race. Then "the National Republican Campaign Committee and a second Republican group with ties to the House speaker, Paul Ryan, turned to the hacked material" to<b> undermine Garcia a</b>nd re-elect Rep. Carlos <b>Curbelo, </b>the Republican incumbent.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">It should be noted that there were some candidates who refused to use the hacked material against their opponents. This gang of Florida Republicans who are now so loudly attacking the FBI for its supposedly unethical behavior were not among them. As we all know, neither was Donald "I love WikiLeaks" Trump.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">digby</font></font></font></font></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-reg-russia-hacker-guccifer-connection-20170525-story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-reg-russia-hacker-guccifer-connection-20170525-story.html</a></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no link img</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></font></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>New details, and a South Florida tie, emerge in Russian hacking of Democratic Party</b></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The big hacking attack of Democrats from 2016 has a newly disclosed South Florida connection. Guccifer 2.0 supplied information to the HelloFLA website</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Anthony Man<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Anthony ManContact Reporter</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sun Sentinel</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One more sliver of information about last year’s hacking of the Democrats came into the open Thursday. And it involves a South Florida connection.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Aaron Nevins, of Plantation</b>, was the recipient of a trove of information from Guccifer 2.0, a hacker that stole information from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the national campaign organization that helps its party’s congressional candidates.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nevins, outlined in a Sun Sentinel interview how — and why — he obtained and disseminated the information. His identity was first revealed in an article by a team of reporters at The Wall Street Journal.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Like many people with an interest in politics, Nevins said, he was riveted by the hacking that afflicted the Democratic Party last year. When Guccifer 2.0 issued an open invitation to any journalist who wanted information, Nevins said he responded affirmatively through a Twitter message. He said he didn’t follow up and didn’t hear anything for 10 days.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Guccifer 2.0 responded shortly before the Florida primary contests in August, he said. Guccifer 2.0 wanted to know his email capacity, and Nevins said he set up a Dropbox account that allowed him to receive a large volume of data — which the hacker deposited there.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“So I get it. And there was a ton of stuff,” he said.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Nevins, a Republican, operates in multiple worlds. Currently, he said he primarily engages in organizing grass-roots campaigns on behalf of clients. He has worked as a registered lobbyist but said he didn’t do any lobbying in 2017. And he’s also worked as a campaign consultant, but none that would have affected by the data that came from Guccifer 2.0.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Aaron Nevins</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Aaron Nevins of <b>Plantation</b>, a political consultant-journalist-lobbyist-community organizer.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Nevins said he was acting as a journalist.</b> Until Thursday, he’d operated anonymously as “Mark Miewurd’s HelloFLA!” website. (The name is a play on “mark my words.”)</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Guccifer 2.0 is better known for the widely publicized hacking into the Democratic National Committee and providing internal party information to WikiLeaks. Internal emails that showed DNC staffers favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination led to the resignation of U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston as chairwoman of the DNC.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s been widely reported that U.S. government intelligence community believes Guccifer 2.0 was created by Russia.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">After Nevins reviewed the information about the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — not the Democratic National Committee — Nevins said he quickly realized several things</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">:</span></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The information appeared accurate, based on his knowledge of Florida politics and the details in the information. He said someone operating far away couldn’t have made up the information because there was too much local nuance.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It was too much to process with the Aug. 30 primaries for congressional, state and local offices just days away.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He needed to publish as much as he could as quickly as possible.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“I took off my [political] operative’s hat and put on my journalist’s hat,”</b> he said. He said he was receiving and publishing information, regardless of where it came from. He said he didn’t want to sit on the information, and be accused of being in possession of stolen documents. He said he didn’t supply it to any campaigns or political operatives.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Broward Politics</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@browardpolitics</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Big @WSJ story details links between Aaron Nevins @RogerJStone Gussifer2.0 Democratic hacking. https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-alleged-russian-hacker-teamed-up-with-florida-gop-operative-1495724787 …</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">9:56 AM - May 25, 2017</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alleged Russian hacker sent Democratic data to Florida GOP operative</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How Alleged Russian Hacker Teamed Up With Florida GOP Operative</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Political consultant Aaron Nevins asked for and received documents from hacker “Guccifer 2.0” and posted some on his blog, after which the hacker called the blog to the attention of Trump adviser...</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wsj.com</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Besides publishing on his own, he said he farmed out some information to reporters in other areas of Florida</b>,[did he? to?] providing information that might be interesting to news organizations where there might be upcoming congressional primaries.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s a scoop,” Nevins said.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">There was all sorts of information, including analyses of data about places and kinds of people that Democrats figured were their biggest sources of voters who could be persuaded to vote their way. And there was also research that revealed what the Democrats saw as vulnerabilities of their own candidates.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another document showed how the Democratic committee massaged information from an internal poll, eliminating information that looked bad for Clinton, before releasing a sanitized version to the news media.</font></font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">For reasons Nevins doesn’t know, the Democratic campaign committee stored much of its statewide information in a file labeled for U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, the Broward-Palm Beach County Democrat who never faces serious challenges to his re-election.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The information fit with what he said he likes to post on HelloFLA.com, which Nevins said he’s tried to style as a combination of Page Six, the well-known New York Post <b>gossip</b> page, and TMZ, the celebrity website that’s often filled with sensational stories.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“It’s true news. I think a lot of people confuse sensationalism with so called fake news. The difference is essentially it’s not the Weekly World News where Hillary Clinton is endorsed by a space alien. It’s just a grittier, more raw side of politics,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes.”</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Nevins, 36, is well known in political circles in South Florida. He has two companies, Chelsea Road Consulting and Painted Dog Productions. Nevins was the chief of staff for Ellyn Bogdanoff when she was a Republican state senator and state representatives</b>. He is also the s<b>on of former Sun Sentinel political columnist</b> Buddy Nevins.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump adviser Stone capitalizes on scandal</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Aaron Nevins wasn’t widely known as the operator of his HelloFLA.com website — until Thursday.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There’s another South Florida element.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Wall Street Journal reported that Guccifer 2.0 sent a link with a HelloFLA article to Roger Stone who told the reporters he didn’t forward the hacked material with anyone. Stone, a longtime associate of President Donald Trump whose political activities go back to former President Richard Nixon, lives in Fort Lauderdale.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Stone’s name has repeatedly cropped up in connection with investigations into Russian hacking of the U.S. election. Stone has emphatically denied any involvement with Russians or hacking. He did not respond to an email Thursday afternoon seeking comment.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Nevins said he didn’t’ have any dealings with Stone about the material. He said he had a group dinner with Stone three or four years ago and hasn’t seen or spoken to him since.</b></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nevins said he doesn’t believe he is facing any legal jeopardy over the matter, and he has not been contacted by any investigating authorities.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The way I look at it, I was acting as a journalist. And my actions would show evidence of that. I was sending it out to journalists, not to political campaigns,” he said. “I, to some extent, felt forced to publish it.”</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He said he is not concerned about getting in legal trouble or becoming the subject of an investigation.</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I’m not going to live my life concerned about that. I don’t think that I did anything illegal,” he said. “I think if I held onto the data and if I used it for a political campaign without releasing it or if I just ended up sending it to political operatives around the state we would be having a different conversation, probably from a jail cell.”</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">aman@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4550</font></font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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