norman, ralph Rep 0 2%

a lot of bad code here

mtg 1st a mask

FRREEEEEDUUUUUMMMB!

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RWW

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• Matthew Chapman @ Raw Story: MAGA lawmaker spews conspiracy theories when pressed on Trump slush fund

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) broke with a number of his Republican congressional colleagues to enthusiastically endorse President Donald Trump's "Anti-Weaponization Fund" to pay out $1.776 billion to his allies who believe they were unfairly persecuted by the government — but when a reporter asked him about whether January 6 rioters would be eligible, things went off the rails.

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On Thursday, August 21, conservative Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) made a major announcement: He is running for Texas attorney general, a position presently held by far-right Ken Paxton — who is challenging incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in the state's 2026 GOP U.S. Senate primary.

Roy is a prominent player in the House Freedom Caucus and is known for being a relentless budget hawk. In an article published on August 22, The Hill's Emily Brooks stresses that Bolton's announcement is a major shakeup for the Freedom Caucus and the U.S. House of Representatives' small GOP majority.

"Several other notable Freedom Caucus members are seeking higher office, too: Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Byron Donalds (Fla.), and Ralph Norman (S.C.) are running for governor; Rep. Barry Moore (Ala.) launched a Senate bid last week; and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) is interested in being appointed to the Senate if Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wins the governorship," Brooks explains. "Some members hope that the departures of those members who have often cause headaches will lead to greater GOP harmony and less chaos in Congress."

READ MORE:Trump just crossed a line no other president ever dared to

At times, Roy has butted heads with President Donald Trump over budgetary matters.

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Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisconsin) told The Hill, "The outcome of Chip leaving is a more productive Congress. He's been a contrarian, and he's been an obstructionist."

But some GOP lawmakers, according to Brooks, view Roy "as an important bridge between the Freedom Caucus and the rest of the House GOP and someone who negotiates in good faith."

Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Oklahoma) told The Hill, "My hope is that we'll have members from the Freedom Caucus step up to fill that void, because there's a need for us to continue to work together."

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norman 180? an 12 23

on Wednesday, December 13, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously voted to move forward with an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden. House Democrats, meanwhile, voted unanimously against an inquiry, many of them slamming it as devoid of merit and emphasizing that Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) and his colleagues haven't offered any proof that Biden did anything wrong.

One of the Republicans who argued in favor of the inquiry was Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina. In an opinion column published on December 14, MSNBC's Steve Benen stresses that Norman's comments were quite revealing about House Republicans — and not in a good way.

Norman, on the House floor, said of Biden, "You cannot just…. say you are innocent and not have to prove it" — a comment that, Benen laments, shows a failure to understand "how the presumption of innocence works in the United States."

"As the video clip of the GOP congressman's comments showed," Benen writes, "Norman was looking across the aisle, as if he were trying to convince Democratic members of how right he was. The trouble, of course, is that the South Carolinian flubbed the basics on burdens of proof. To hear Norman tell it, Biden says he's innocent, but that's not good enough — because, according to the far-right congressman, the Democrat has to 'prove' he's innocent."

In the U.S., Benen reminds Norman, the burden of proof is on the "accuser" — which is a "bedrock principle of our entire system."

"That said," Benen argues, "the fact that Norman got this wrong helps shed some light on his party's evidence-free impeachment crusade: It appears some Republicans expect Biden to somehow come up with even more evidence of his innocence, rather than expecting the GOP to produce evidence of wrongdoing."

READ MORE:Maria Bartiromo ripped for pushing 'conspiracy' that Hunter Biden charges are part of a 'cover up'

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the Republican majority in the House of Representatives is having difficulty focusing its efforts on who to impeach first — President Joe Biden or Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Punchbowl News reported that the House Republican Conference's divisions have come to the surface, as members have accepted that they lack the political capital to conduct two high-profile impeachment hearings in the 118th Congress. While some members want to concentrate on impeaching Biden in relation to his son Hunter's foreign business dealings, other Republicans say targeting Mayorkas over border security is an easier target.

"[Republicans] need to focus on what they can get,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) told *Punchbowl. "Mayorkas is easier than impeaching the president of the United States."

While the House Homeland Security Committee has accused Mayorkas of "dereliction of duty" in securing the Southern border, chairman Mark Green (R-Tennessee) didn't confirm whether his committee would ultimately recommend impeachment at the conclusion of its investigation.

"When my committee makes a recommendation, it’ll be substantiated by the evidence," Green said. "That’s the best I can say. I don’t want to create false hope or anything."

Meanwhile, the White House said House Republicans were "wasting time" on the impeachment resolutions and accused the majority of failing to responsibly govern.

"Secretary Mayorkas continues to be laser-focused on the safety and security of our nation,” DHS spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg said. "This baseless attack is completely without merit and a harmful distraction from our critical national security priorities."

READ MORE:'Abuse of power': Republicans admit Biden impeachment effort based more on politics than substance

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) recently stated during a press conference that the Biden impeachment effort is a major point of focus for his caucus, and said House Republicans would continue their work gathering evidence to impeach the 46th president of the United States. However, during a November meeting among the House GOP, members confided to Speaker Johnson that there might not be the political will to impeach Biden given his poll numbers. This prompted MSNBC columnist Ruth Ben-Ghiat to accuse Republicans of "abuse of power."

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why wd he comply? now?

https://www.alternet.org/meadows-2658957827/

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The massive trove of text messages turned over by Mark Meadows to the House select committee show Republican elected officials were willing to violate the U.S. Constitution on "bizarre" and obviously phony evidence.

Talking Points Memo reporter Hunter Walker obtained the messages, which show the former White House chief of staff communicating with GOP officials at all levels of government about far-fetched conspiracy theories to justify overturning Donald Trump's election loss, and he told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that their lack of sophistication was genuinely shocking.

"We're touching on something that is really a central thing here," Walker said. "I covered the Trump White House, and a big question is how many people are in on the joke and how many people are true believers. I first, you know, became familiar with the text log when i was working on my book, The Breach, which is about the Jan. 6 investigation. I co-wrote it with [former GOP lawmaker] Denver Riggleman. He knows a lot of these people, and he was shocked when he opened the text log. He led the [select committee's] phone team, it was like looking into the mouth of madness, and even with that introduction, I had a similar reaction."

RELATED:Reporter reveals 'frightening' gaps in Mark Meadows texts laying out 'broad plot' to overthrow government

"Adults in government, not only engaging in frighteningly undemocratic language, but their base intelligence is called into question," Walker continued. "You're talking about the wild Italian theory, people were taking it seriously. We see another instance where someone has a bizarre theory from a Romanian YouTube video that any of us would know not to tweet, based on stuff from 2005 that they somehow thought carried over to 2022.The information literacy of our members of Congress is called into question here, and that's part of why we thought it was more important to present more of the totality of the these texts you have seen anywhere before, and our text team made sure you can see them in a phone as they were received, because the typos, the wild links, all of this is really important."

"One last point, and this is something that shouldn't be lost in this discussion," he added. "We see the pressure, we see it in real time in these texts on people like Doug Ducey, that was on people like Brad Raffensperger, that was on people like the Arizona attorney general. Scott Perry, the same guy sending this Italian theory, is talking about lobbying to have Trump pressure the Italian government and Pennsylvania legislatures, and you know, I think one of the things we see is if these people had given into the pressure, all of this plotting just might have worked."

Watch belowor at the link

ah

Former President Donald Trump and allies’ attempted coup and the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol Building was egged on by a number of Republicans. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, in December 2021, even recommended that Trump declare martial law in order to remain in the White House. And Flynn isn’t the only Trump supporter who had martial law in mind. According to the January 6 select committee, Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina had the same idea.

In an article published by Rolling Stone on December 13, journalist Charisma Madarang reports that in late 2020 and early 2021, then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was in touch with “34 members of Congress” via text messaging about Trump’s efforts to remain in power. Meadows, according to Madarang, was forced to “hand over 2319 text messages to the House select committee.” And in one of them, dated January 17, 2021, Norman recommended martial law.

READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene tells Fox News she doesn’t even 'recall' what is being reported about her 'Marshall Law' texts

January 17, 2021 was 11 days after the January 6 insurrection and only three days before President Joe Biden’s inauguration. In that text message to Meadows, Norman wrote, “Mark, in seeing what’s happening so quickly, and reading about the Dominion law suits attempting to stop any meaningful investigation we are at a point of no return in saving our Republic !! Our LAST HOPE is invoking Marshall Law!! PLEASE URGE TO PRESIDENT TO DO SO!!”

Norman referred to martial law as “Marshall law” in his texts, and so did Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

“By January 17,” Madarang writes, “Greene told Meadows that several Republicans in Congress wanted Trump to declare martial law. She, too, appeared to think giving power to the military was named after a person named Marshall.”

Greene, in a text, told Meadows, “In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law. I don’t know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!”

READ MORE:Nothing spells 'big government' better than GOP 'Big Lie' embrace of martial law

A House GOP proposal to repeal all federal income taxes—including levies on corporations and the rich—and replace them with a whopping 30% national sales tax is drawing increasingly vocal backlash from economists, tax policy experts, and Democratic lawmakers who say the plan is yet another Republican ploy to reward the wealthy at everyone else's expense

Unveiled earlier this month by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), the Fair Tax Act is hardly a novel piece of legislation. As Steve Wamhoff of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy noted in a recent blog post, the bill has its origins in a proposal "initially pitched by an organization created by the Church of Scientology during its dispute with the IRS over whether it constituted a church and was thus tax-exempt."

"The Church of Scientology's only goal in the matter was to eliminate the agency causing it trouble, and lost interest once the IRS threw in the towel and allowed it to present itself as a church," Wamhoff explained. "But by then several politicians had bought into the idea and introduced it as legislation, which has been reintroduced in each Congress since as the Fair Tax."

Carter's legislation, which currently has nearly two dozen House GOP co-sponsors, would abolish the IRS—a major gift to wealthy tax cheats—and eliminate the payroll taxes that finance Medicare and Social Security. The bill would also nix the individual income tax, the corporate income tax, the estate tax, and other taxes, establishing in their place a sales tax of 30% for calendar year 2023.

"The GOP's so-called 'Fair Tax' proposal is one of the most regressive proposals in a generation, imposing a 30% federal sales tax on everything Americans buy from gas to food," said former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich. "There's nothing 'fair' about it. It would punish the poor and middle class while helping the rich."

In an attempt to offset the inherent regressivity of the sales tax, Carter's bill would send most U.S. households a monthly "prebate" to help families cover the costs of basic necessities—effectively replacing the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and other existing tax benefits that the measure would eliminate.

But Wamhoff argued the prebates would not be "nearly enough to offset the financial hit most Americans would face from the new national sales tax."

"Back in 2004, ITEP estimated that if the Fair Tax was enacted and the national sales tax rate was set at 45%, the poorest 80% of Americans would face net tax hikes from the proposal while most of those among the richest 20% would enjoy net tax cuts," Wamhoff wrote. "ITEP plans to re-estimate the proposal because a great deal has changed since 2004."

In a detailed of the "Fair Tax" plan, Matt Bruenig of thePeople's Policy Project that the poorest 20% of the U.S. public would pay roughly 70% of their income in taxes as a result of the bill's levy on consumption. [vid]

Democratic lawmakers and President Joe Biden have wasted no time seizing on the tax proposal as further evidence of the Republican Party's commitment to delivering huge windfalls to the rich.

"The GOP wants to scrap the income tax and replace it with a 30% sales tax," tweeted Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "In WA State, where we have no income tax and rely on sales and excise taxes, the poorest families spend 17% of their income on taxes. The wealthiest spend 3%. This effort is a tax cut for the rich, period."

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) quipped on Wednesday that "it really must be Opposite Day if Republicans are claiming that a national 30% sales tax is 'fair.'"

"In what world is it fair to slam working families with huge tax increases, while giving tax breaks to the mega-rich?" Merkley asked.

On Thursday afternoon, Biden is expected to attack the GOP tax proposal as well as the Republican push to cut Social Security and Medicare in a speech at a steamfitters union hall in Springfield, Virginia.

"The president will outline the biggest threat to our economic progress: House Republicans' MAGA economic plan," an unnamed White House official toldReuters ahead of the address.

With Democrats in control of the Senate and the White House, the Fair Tax Act has no chance of becoming law, and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) only agreed to allow hearings on the legislation as part of the speakership deal he struck with far-right GOP holdouts.

But progressives argued the proposal offers a telling glimpse into the Republican Party's extreme economic priorities at a time of skyrocketing inequality, large-scale corporate tax avoidance, and economic hardship for poor and middle-class households.

"MAGA extremists are testing the waters to see how far they can go in their backwards economic agenda written by and for wealthy special interests—starting with a staggering 30% tax hike on the middle class with a national sales tax that would immediately make necessities unaffordable while letting greedy corporations off scot-free from any tax responsibility," Liz Zelnick, director of the Economic Security and Corporate Power program at Accountable.US, said in a statement Thursday.

“That's only the beginning," Zelnick continued. “A growing chorus in the Republican House caucus is scheming to sabotage the economy and the U.S. government's full faith and credit unless they get deep cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits that keep millions of Americans out of poverty and in better health."

:{"When MAGA extremists openly threaten to push the economy off the cliff unless they can further enrich billionaires and big corporations at the expense of everyone else," she added, "believe them."

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cosponsors who withdrew

https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/witnesses-dismember-house-republican-infanticide/

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a36741995/tucker-carlson-january-6-fbi-republicans/

...Sedition Caucus within the Republican minority in the House of Representatives. Here is a good place to start if you’re formulating a roster.

Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Andy Harris (Md.),Lance Gooden (Tex.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Louie Gohmert (Tex.), Michael Cloud (Tex.), Andrew S. Clyde (Ga.), Greg Steube (Fla.), Bob Good (Va.) and John Rose (Tenn.). Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Barry Moore (Ala.), Ralph Norman (S.C.),Matthew M. Rosendale (Mont.),Chip Roy (Tex.), Paul A. Gosar (Ariz.), Warren Davidson (Ohio), Scott Perry (Pa.), Jody Hice (Ga.) and Mary Miller (Ill.).

My favorites among the bunch are the 10 Republicans who previously voted for awarding the gold medal [to capitol police?] who flipped to vote "no" on Wednesday. What a noble clutch of primates they are. And while some of the names are those of familiar space aliens, there are some newbies in there with whom I was not familiar. For example, there's Mary Miller of Illinois, who wasn’t in office for a week before she started quoting Hitler....

https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/ralph-norman

life 9%

...Climate Change, Air, Clean Energy, Environmental Justice, Transportation, Public Lands/Forests, Water, Other 

2021385Transformative Climate, Jobs, and Justice InvestmentsClimate Change, Air, Clean Energy, Drilling, Environmental Justice, Public Lands/Forests, Transportation, Water, Other 

2021379Censuring Paul GosarJustice and Democracy 

2021272Taking Action on PFAS ContaminationToxics/Public Right to Know 

2021260Restoring the Voting Rights ActJustice and Democracy 

2021247Pro-Environment Funding PackageOther, Climate Change, Clean Energy, Clean Air, Clean Water, Environmental Justice 

2021217Protecting People from PFASToxics/Public Right to Know; Water 

2021208Investing in Transportation and Water InfrastructureClimate Change, Transportation, Water, Clean Energy, Environmental Justice 

2021206Building Climate-resilient Wastewater InfrastructureWater, Climate Change 

2021201Investing in Climate-Smart and Pro-Wildlife InfrastructureTransportation, Climate Change, Wildlife 

2021196Removing Confederate Statues from the U.S. CapitolLands/Forests, Justice and Democracy 

2021185Repealing Assault on Methane Pollution SafeguardsClimate Change, Dirty Energy 

2021169Corporate Climate Risk Disclosure RequirementsClimate Change; Other 

2021145Increasing Awareness and Reporting of Hate CrimesOther, Justice and Democracy 

2021132Washington, D.C. StatehoodJustice and Democracy 

202191Protecting Dreamers and Immigrants Fleeing DisastersJustice and Democracy, Other 

202170Protecting the Rights of Workers to OrganizeOther, Justice and Democracy 

202162Voting Rights and Democracy ReformsJustice and Democracy 

202145Protecting Public Lands and Waters Across the WestPublic Lands/Forests 

202117Impeachment for Incitement of InsurrectionJustice and Democracy 

202111Certifying Pennsylvania’s Electoral VotesJustice and Democracy 

202110Certifying Arizona’s Electoral VotesJustice and Democracy 

2020242Phasing Out Harmful Fishing GearOceans, Wildlife 

2020203Increasing Funding for Renewable Energy Research & DevelopmentClean Energy, Climate 

2020182Protecting the U.S. Postal ServiceJustice and Democracy 

2020166Pro-Environment Funding PackageOther, Environmental Justice, Water, Dirty Energy, Drilling, Lands/Forests 

2020164Slashing EPA FundingOther, Water, Air, Environmental Justice 

2020163Blocking Trump’s Inadequate Soot StandardAir, Environmental Justice 

...

fossil fuel ceo comm:

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/oversight-republicans-democrats-oil-gas-investigation

fox biz [ads/stories by credible?, loan offers?]

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no lnx

House Republicans also urged Committee Democrats to hold a hearing on rising energy prices

By Audrey Conklin FOX Business

White House anti-energy policy hurting Americans: Former OMB director

Former OMB Director Russ Vought discusses rising gas prices on 'FOX Business Tonight.'

FIRST ON FOX - House Republicans on the Oversight and Reform Committee are sending a letter to Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., urging her to cease an investigation into the U.S. oil and gas industry as it relates to climate change.

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Maloney and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., on Sept. 16 launched an investigation into the fossil fuel industry and sent letters to executives at ExxonMobil, BP America, Chevron, Shell Oil, American Petroleum Institute, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and later subpoenaed documents related to the industry's role in spreading disinformation about the role fossil fuels play in climate change.

"Since its inception, Committee Democrats’ investigation has been fraught with pre-determined conclusions, reckless accusations, and an abuse of Congress’ oversight authority,"Republicans wrote in their letter. "The most egregious of these abuses is your decision to unilaterally issue subpoenas for documents that strike at the heart of protections offered by the First Amendment."

Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) speaks at a hearing with the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in the Rayburn House Office Building on November 16, 2021 in Washington, DC. The hearing was held to discuss how federal agencies are combatting cyber threats and criminal hackers. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)]

The Republican members including House Committee on Oversight and ReformRanking Member James Comer, Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member Ralph Norman and other Oversight Republicanswent on to highlight the increasing cost of gas for U.S. drivers and urged Committee Democrats to hold a hearing on rising energy prices.

INTERIOR CALLS FOR HIKING RATES ON OIL AND GAS COMPANIES TO DRILL ON FEDERAL LANDS

Republicans added that the oil and gas companies from which Democrats subpoenaed documents have already provided more than 200,000 pages of documents.

"The Committee on Oversight and Reform exists to provide the necessary oversight of federal government actions and policies to protect the American people and their taxpayer dollars," the authors of the letter wrote. "This Committee needs to act now and use its authority to address the most pressing issues facing the country. The American people look to our Committee to hold the government accountable for its actions."

Maloney said in statement to Fox News that she strongly supports "President Biden’s bold efforts to reduce gas prices and his economic policies that have led to a record 5.6 million jobs created—compared to more than 3 million jobs lost under President Trump. "

"We also must address the climate crisis, and I will not rest until we get to the bottom of the role of the fossil fuel industry in causing the crisis and promoting disinformation to block meaningful climate action," she said.

Ranking member Rep. James Comer (R-KY) speaks at a hearing with the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in the Rayburn House Office Building on November 16, 2021 in Washington, DC. The hearing was held to discuss how federal agencies are combatting cyber threats and criminal hackers. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Maloney, Khanna and other Democrats have compared the fossil fuel industry to the tobacco industry, saying it has covered up information showing how the industry has impacted a "global climate crisis" that has become "increasingly dire."

"As worsening natural disasters linked to global warming devastate communities in the United States and globally, one of Congress’s top legislative priorities is combating the increasingly urgent crisis of a changing climate," the chairs said in a Sept. 16 statement.  "To do this, Congress must address pollution caused by the fossil fuel industry and curb troubling business practices that lead to disinformation on these issues."

PENNSYLVANIA BRACES FOR HUGE ENERGY PRICE HIKES AS WINTER LOOMS

About two months after launching their investigation, President Biden on Nov. 17 called for the Federal Trade Commission to probe whether oil and gas companies are engaging in criminal conduct by profiting from artificially high prices at the pump, even as wholesale fuel costs decline.

BP, Shell, Chevron, and ExxonMobil reported nearly $2 trillion in profits over about 30 years, as Maloney and Khanna noted in a September press release.

Biden – under mounting political pressure with inflation at the highest rate in more than three decades – urged FTC Chair Lina Khan in a letter to investigate potential wrongdoing by the industry, alleging "mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior" by the companies.

BIDEN ASKED CHINA TO RELEASE OIL RESERVES TO EASE PRICES

"The bottom line is this: gasoline prices at the pump remain high, even though oil and gas companies' costs are declining," Biden said. "The Federal Trade Commission has authority to consider whether illegal conduct is costing families at the pump. I believe you should do so immediately."

Republicans have criticized a number of the president's decisions as they relate to energy and climate change, including his orders to cancel construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, increase royalty rates for oil and gas leases on federal land and waive sanctions on Russia's Nord Stream II pipeline.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

The Labor Department reported earlier this month that the consumer price index (CPI) climbed 6.2% year over year in October. The increase marked the largest annual gain since November 1990. Prices rose 0.9% month over month.

Energy prices jumped 4.8% last month, and were up 30% over the past year. The October increase was largely the result of a 6.1% rise in the cost of gasoline. [WENT NEG ON COVID?1]

FOX Business' Megan Henney contributed to this report.

https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/ralph-norman/summary?cid=N00027783

Top Industries, 2021 - 2022

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Top Industries, 2019 - 2020

The House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to cut funding from key climate protection rules and rejected an attempt to save regional offices of the Environmental Protection Agency from being closed.

But lawmakers voted against an amendment to cut $1.9 billion from the EPA's budget, which would have dealt a devastating blow to the beleaguered agency.

Offered by Rep. Ralph Norman, a Republican from South Carolina, the amendment's cuts would have come close to the 31 percent reduction sought by President Donald Trump. The House bill does cut more than $530 million from the agency's $8 billion budget, slashing it to less than the agency was spending in 2006.

The votes came as lawmakers worked their way through a broad spending package for the 2018 fiscal year, which begins in October. Final passage by the House will likely come Thursday, but any differences with a Senate version will need to be reconciled.

The bill contained hundreds of amendments, many of them "riders" of the kind attached to appropriations bills to score policy points. Dozens of these proposals have drawn criticism from environmental groups.

Hewing closely to party lines, Republicans backed two amendments sponsored by Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.). One would prevent funds from being used to enforce an Obama-era rule that limits methane pollution from new oil and gas facilities. The other effectively prohibits the EPA from factoring in future damages from climate change—a calculation known as the social cost of carbon—in weighing the costs and benefits of its rules.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to weaken the social cost of carbon requirements, and the administration has also attempted to stall or block rules limiting methane emissions. Republican support on the must-pass appropriations package backs up the administration, and, at least for the coming fiscal year, complicates any efforts by green advocacy groups to challenge the administration's rollbacks.

Lawmakers on Wednesday also voted down an amendment by Rep. Jared Polis, (D-Colo.), that sought to block the administration from closing or consolidating any of the regional offices of EPA.

Debate began on the package last week, but House leadership delayed some votes until this week so that some lawmakers could cope with the hurricane emergencies in their home districts.

Last week, during debate over these riders, lawmakers expressed their ongoing frustration that policy-related amendments are being tucked into must-pass spending legislation.

"These riders are best done in the policy committee, not on the appropriations bill," said Rep. Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, saying that Congress ought to hear from scientists and public health experts as well as the fossil fuel industry when making decisions. "I support science and I believe we should not abandon science while trying to tackle climate change."

all purpose get out of jail card for libtard assholes?

FRREEEEEDUUUUUMMMB!

an 3 22

federal judge dismissed an anti-mask lawsuit against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday, brought last year by three far-right-wing members of Congress, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.The three extremist Republicans argued that the mask mandate, instituted to protect their fellow members of Congress and their staffs, was a violation of the First and the Twenty-Seventh Amendments.

The judge disagreed:

U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Ralph Norman (R-SC) “said they were fined for entering the House to vote without wearing masks in May 2021,” Bloomberg Law reports.They were initially fined $500, but Congresswoman Greene has since racked up thousands of dollars in fines since last May.

“The representatives said they wanted to engage in a ‘protest against the double standard being enforced,’ and to demonstrate ‘the well-founded beliefs’ they shared that mask wearing ‘is not scientifically based’ and ‘not necessary for the vaccinated or naturally immune.'”

It was clear during oral arguments in December thatSenior U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, a Bush 43 appointee, disagreed.

“Maybe if we took this pandemic seriously we wouldn’t have so many Americans in the grave,” Judge Walton said at the time, admonishing the three extremists.

In his ruling, Judge Walton was also dismissive of their victimization claim of being discriminated against for what the three called, “contrary viewpoint-based symbolic speech.”

Judge Walton also rejected their false claim of “recent scientific findings that the use of face coverings has no appreciable effect on slowing or halting the spread of COVID-19.”

Walton “said the consensus within the scientific community is clear that masks—and, in particular, well-fitting, protective masks—are effective in slowing the spread of the Covid-19 virus.”

A large part of their argument was the 27th Amendment makes it unconstitutional for them to be fined, which they claimed is a reduction in salary. The judge also tossed out that argument.

Here’s Congressman Massie complaining on Fox Business last year. “We’re ready to take this all the way to the Supreme Court,” he declared.[twt vid]