hard right

11 22 mebbe belated but general category

4 24 new tag mtg, but generic

no merri

see troll caucus and freedom cocks

sparked by (initially insulin), bit neglectedso this was list for really terrible votes that hurt (poor POC) the most ?

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interesting to compare lists of assholes?

The legislation does name several individual officers, including Goodman, for their valor, saying “Capitol Police Officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood, Metropolitan Police Department Officer Jeffrey Smith, and those who sustained injuries, and the courage of Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, exemplify the patriotism and the commitment of Capitol Police officers, and those of other law enforcement agencies, to risk their lives in service of our country.”

The 21 Republicans who voted against the bill are:

Lauren Boebert of Colorado
John Rose of Tennessee
Andy Harris of Maryland
Thomas Massie of Kentucky
Bob Good of Virginia
Louie Gohmert of Texas
Barry Moore of Alabama
Ralph Norman of South Carolina
Matt Rosendale of Montana
Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia
Chip Roy of Texas
Paul Gosar of Arizona
Andy Biggs of Arizona
Warren Davidson of Ohio
Scott Perry of Pennsylvania
Matt Gaetz of Florida
Greg Steube of Florida
Andrew Clyde of Georgia
Jody Hice of Georgia
Mary Miller of Illinois
Michael Cloud of Texas

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AN 525 COMM DR

A letter that a group of 20 far-right House Republicans released earlier this week as part of a campaign in support of slashing Medicaid appears to have been authored by the head of a research institute with ties to the Koch network.

Politicoreported Friday that "digital metadata embedded in a PDF copy" of the letter that was circulated inside the House of Representatives "lists the author as Brian Blase, president of Paragon Health Institute."

InfluenceWatch notes that in 2021, Paragon received a nearly $2 million donation from Stand Together, "a right-libertarian funding organization that acts as the umbrella organization for the political network that is largely funded by right-leaning businessman and political donor Charles Koch."

Paragon recently urged federal policymakers to require states to conduct more frequent eligibility checks for Medicaid recipients in a purported effort to root out improper payments. Health policy advocates say such a change would make it more difficult for eligible enrollees to keep their Medicaid coverage.

The letter signed by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and other House Republicans aligns with Paragon's objectives, claiming that "political abuse" of Medicaid "is helping to bankrupt the federal government" and calling for "structural Medicaid reform" in the party's forthcoming reconciliation package.

IFrame Content

Tony Carrk, executive director of the watchdog group Accountable.US, said in a statement that "you'd be hard pressed to find a more shameless example of congressional Republicans taking their cues from special interests at the cost of the American people than Chip Roy copying and pasting a letter directly from... special interests."

"This remarkably blatant kowtowing to conservative billionaires is a sad reflection of the congressional Republicans' willingness to make devastating cuts to Americans' healthcare to pay for lower taxes for the richest," said Carrk.

The letter was released as congressional Republicans grappled internally with how and how much to cut Medicaid as they seek to offset the massive projected costs of another round of tax breaks for the rich.

Earlier this week, as Common Dreamsreported, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said he would not accept more than $500 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the next decade. Cuts of that magnitude would still be the largest in the program's history and would strip health coverage from tens of millions of people.

ref

A letter signed by 20 hard-line House Republicans calling for deep cuts to Medicaid in the GOP’s domestic policy megabill appears to be written at least in part by a conservative think tank with ties to top Republican leaders.

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas led the letter and promoted it publicly but digital metadata embedded in a PDF copy circulated inside the House and obtained by POLITICO lists the author as Brian Blase, president of Paragon Health Institute.

Blase served on the White House National Economic Council during President Donald Trump’s first term. He and other conservative health wonks launched Paragon in 2021, and it has rapidly gained influence in GOP policy circles. Former Paragon staffers are now top health aides to Speaker Mike Johnson and President Donald Trump.

According to tax records gathered by InfluenceWatch, Paragon has received seven-figure donations from groups linked to high-profile conservative activists Charles Koch and Leonard Leo.

The push from Roy and his fellow hard-liners to enact massive “structural” reforms across Medicaid comes as centrists and even some more conservative-leaning members have raised concerns about cutting too deeply into the program. Trump is also wary of slashing the program but has signaled he supports some efforts to curb spending.

The letter urges House Republicans to pursue “meaningful” reforms to the safety-net health program: “If the House budget reconciliation package does not include structural Medicaid reform that achieves desired Republican outcomes, we will be setting up massive tax increases and benefit cuts in the future,” Roy & Co. wrote. “For once, Congress should stop procrastinating, using excuses, and finally fulfill the Republican agenda.”

Asked if Blase was in fact the document’s author, Paragon spokesperson Anthony Wojtkowiak said in a statement that the group “sent a list of Medicaid reform principles to policymakers.”

“It appears that the excellent letter by Chip Roy and colleagues incorporated some of our ideas,” Wojtkowiak said, noting the group frequently works with lawmakers on policy issues.

A Roy spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

xitter https://x.com/chiproytx/status/1918039017955926054

eli crane and clyde Stutzman mary miller mark harris scot perry keith self, andy fucing ogles, eric burlison sheri biggs barry moore Byron donalds, clay higgins, gosar, any biggs, andy harris MD, josh brecheen, Michael cloud, ralph norman

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february 2025 an

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is struggling to corral rogue members of the House Republican Conference during this week's Congressional recess to support his budget resolution. But his chances of success appear to be dwindling by the day.

That's according to a Tuesday article in Politico, which reported that there are at least a dozen House Republicans on the fence about the budget bill for various philosophical reasons. And because the House Republican majority is so slim, Johnson can only afford to lose one vote if he hopes to get the bill to the Senate without any Democratic votes.

Among those opposed, seven of them are specifically worried about the bill's proposal to cut billions of dollars in support for state Medicaid programs. Even though Johnson aims to sell the bill as Republicans' opportunity to help pass Trump's legislative agenda, one Republican anonymously told Politico that they were concerned the bill would actually "undermine the basic care provided by Medicaid," and pointed to Trump's promises to not touch the program that provides health insurance for low-income residents.

The speaker's resolution would cut roughly $2 trillion in federal spending across all agencies, though some hardline Republicans like Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) have said the proposed cuts aren't steep enough. And other members of the conference are opposed to a provision in the legislation that would raise the debt ceiling.

....

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'Resign!' Marjorie Taylor Greene triggered by Mike Johnson’s release of Jan. 6 tapes - Alternet.org

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4 24 netflix doku on alt rt WWW had early mtg wingnuttery

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an 4 24

after winning back the majority in the House of Representatives following the 2022 midterms, the GOP appeared to be positioned well to pass conservative legislation and build momentum toward making further gains in 2024. Instead, the GOP has been its own worst enemy since the 118th Congress gaveled in.

That's according to a new Axios analysis published Tuesday. Authors Juliegrace Brufke and Justin Green wrote that since winning the House with a razor-thin majority, Republicans "blew years of potential authority by weak leaders surrendering to keep power."

"Never before has the party in control of the House of Representatives knowingly and willingly castrated its own power so thoroughly as today's Republicans," Brufke and Green wrote.

One unnamed former member of Republican leadership told Axios that the beginning of the end for the House GOP was when they surrendered control of the House Rules Committee to its far-right faction, and when they allowed for a single member to introduce a motion to vacate a sitting House speaker, whereas previously it required a unified vote from a party's "caucus or conference."

"The structural changes they made, made the place ungovernable," the former GOP representative said. "When you give this many nihilists ... this kind of leverage, this is what's going to happen and it was just a matter of time."

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) only managed to win the gavel after 15 separate ballots in January of 2023, and had to agree to the rule change on lowering the motion to vacate threshold — which Democrats put in place while Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California) was speaker — in order to win over enough votes. That turned out to be his undoing when Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) and seven other Republicans spearheaded an effort to oust him via a motion to vacate, which all Democrats also supported.

Additionally, Axios attributed the dysfunction in the House Republican Conference to "hardliners" like Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) sitting on the Rules Committee. This has led to multiple bills failing before even coming to the floor, as a rules package typically needs to be passed first before any actual legislation comes up for a vote by the full House.

READ MORE:[GOP rep melts down on House floor over Republican failures

"By not voting for rules, it forces suspension votes that are by definition more bipartisan," an unnamed House GOP moderate told Axios. "They are creating what they profess to hate."

Brufke and Green noted that former House Speakers John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) never once lost a rules vote, nor did Pelosi lose one during her speakership. However, both McCarthy and current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) have lost numerous rules votes when they held the gavel.

"A party unable to bring its agenda to the floor for a vote is no longer a functional majority," wrote former Boehner and Ryan staffer Brendan Buck in a recent op-ed.

Click here to read Axios' full report.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene accused of spreading foreign propaganda by former FBI official - Alternet.org

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AN 4 24

Former House Republican Ken Buck of Colorado is calling out U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) for “getting her talking points from the Kremlin” and calling her “Moscow Marjorie.”

Discussing the House’s need to pass legislation to help Ukraine fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s illegal war, Buck declared Congresswoman Greene is “on the wrong side of history.” Greene staunchly opposes any support for Ukraine, and has threatened to move to oust Speaker Johnson if he passes aid to support the embattled sovereign nation.

“We know that Russia is propagating these false statements, narratives, about what’s going on in Ukraine,” Buck, who retired from Congress last month, told CNN’s Erin Burnett Monday night (video below). “We know that she is getting her talking points from Russia. And we know that they’re false and Mike Johnson is doing the responsible thing by trying to make sure we get a vote on Ukraine funding, make sure that the Ukrainian people can fight for their freedom.”

Buck said Greene is “continuing down this false path” and he doesn’t “think many Republicans are going to support her.”

Burnett mentioned Greene’s recent interview with far-right host Tucker Carlson, who, as The Atlantic‘s Anne Applebaum wrote last year, “repeats the propaganda of foreign dictators” like Viktor Orbán and Vladimir Putin.

Speaking about Speaker Johnson’s apparent efforts to move a Ukraine aid bill to the floor, Burnett told Buck that Greene “recently suggested to Tucker Carlson something that sort of took me aback she had no evidence to back it up. But she said that the whole reason that he may be doing this is because Johnson may be being blackmailed.”

Buck called Greene’s remarks “irresponsible as so many of the statements that Marjorie has made over the years are completely irresponsible. The idea that somehow the Speaker is corrupt, because he believes that we should be supporting an ally that’s been invaded by a war criminal, Vladimir Putin, and the idea that somehow anybody who is in agreement with Ukraine and our NATO allies, is corrupt. It’s just another distraction that she uses to take away from the core arguments that are so important.”

“Moscow Marjorie is focused now on this Ukraine issue and getting her talking points from the Kremlin and making sure that that she is popular and she is getting a lot of coverage,” Buck concluded.

On Monday Congresswoman Greene did just that, falsely telling far-right host Steve Bannon Russia is “protecting” Christianity while the “Ukrainian government is attacking Christians, the Ukrainian government is executing priests. Russia is not doing that.”

Numerous credible reports detail Russia’s torture and killing of Ukrainian clergy.

Greene has supported Russia over Ukraine for years.

“Right-wing firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.),” Forbes reported in March of 2022, “suggested Ukraine bears responsibility for provoking a Russian invasion, breaking with the views of Republican leaders in her latest comments that more closely mirror Russian talking points than Western views of the conflict.”

Watch Buck’s CNN interview below or at this link.

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// bannon on god is mad?

'Repent': Marjorie Taylor Greene warns 'earthquakes and eclipses' are God’s 'signs' - Alternet.org

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'Sophomoric ranting': Conservative calls out MTG’s 'preposterous' crusade against non-MAGA Republicans - Alternet.org

'Disinformation': Greene pushes pro-Putin propaganda in 'war on Christianity' rant - Alternet.org

after two top Republican House committee chairmen said Russian propaganda has made its way into Congress and “infected” some in the GOP base, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) spread demonstrably false pro-Russia talking points about a “war on Christianity” while defending and promoting President Vladimir Putin.}:

“It is absolutely true we see, directly coming from Russia, attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor,” House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner told CNN on Sunday, as NBC News reported. Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Michael McCaul, NBC added, “told Puck News that he thinks ‘Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.”

On Monday, Congresswoman Greene, who strongly opposes any U.S. funds for military aid to Ukraine and has threatened to oust Mike Johnson as Speaker if he moves to assist Ukraine, once again praised Putin.

“Let’s talk about what this really is,” Greene said to far-right MAGA messenger Steve Bannon, the former Trump campaign CEO and White House advisor.

“This is a war on Christianity. The Ukrainian government is attacking Christians, the Ukrainian government is executing priests. Russia is not doing that,” Greene falsely declared.

“They’re not attacking Christianity. As a matter of fact, they seem to be protecting it. So that’s something else that’s clear and obvious to many people that are looking closely at what’s going on.”

Last month The Tablet, a nearly 200-year old UK-based Catholic weekly reported, “The International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance said that 30 Ukrainian priests had been killed by Russian forces.” It also detailed accounts of several Ukrainian priests who allegedly had been tortured, including one who allegedly was “Tortured to death by Russian soldiers.” The full statement from the IRFBA was published by the U.S. Dept. of State.

“Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is exterminating religious freedom, signaling a return by Moscow to Soviet-era levels of persecution of faiths, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has said,” Newsweek reported, also last month. “The Kyiv-based Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF) said in February 2023 that, in the first 12 months of the war, the Russian military had destroyed, damaged, or looted at least 494 religious buildings, theological institutions, and sacred sites, with the figure estimated to be higher today.”

Voice of America has also documented alleged killings of Ukrainian clergy by Russian forces.

Hours before Greene’s remarks to Bannon, U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), pointing to a Washington Post piece on the two GOP chairs warning about Republicans promoting Russia propaganda, said: “Even leading Republicans say Marjorie Taylor Greene is parroting Putin and Russia’s disinformation. She must be exposed and her irresponsible behavior must be stopped.”

He also said Monday, “we need to stop Marjorie Taylor Greene from repeating Putin and Russia’s talk[ing] points!!”

Last year Newsweek reported Greene “has become a Russian state media darling by mirroring some of the Kremlin’s views on the war in Ukraine,” and noted she “has featured prominently on Russian state TV and in state media publications for her remarks on the war and has been accused of parroting Kremlin propaganda.”

Watch Greene’s remarks below or at this link.rep ~ trump twt]

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an 1 24

a group of seventeen senators led by U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), among them some of the most hardline, far-right Republicans, have joined together in calling for a special conference meeting on Ukraine funding ahead of a vote that could come as soon as next week.

The move comes as Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is aligning with Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and, effectively, President Joe Biden, in calling for House and Senate Republicans to accept a border deal crafted by U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-OK).

House Republicans have tied any funding support for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan to HR2 a bill that has little to no chance of passing in the Senate. It is opposed by immigration advocates, the Biden White House, Senate Democrats and some Senate Republicans, and other groups including Catholic Bishops.

Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman was first to report the demand for the meeting, posting the letter (below) signed by Republican U.S. Senators Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, Rick Scott, Mike Braun, John Cornyn, Marsha Blackburn, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Roger Marshall, Eric Schmitt, Tommy Tuberville, Cynthia Lummis, Bill Hagerty, Marco Rubio, James Risch, J.D. Vance, and Ted Budd.

The letter calls for the special conference meeting on Ukraine funding to come next week. Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio reports that meeting will take place next Wednesday, according to Punchbowl’s Andrew Desiderio.

Pointing to that letter, Desiderio writes, “Of note — not all of these signatories are opposed to Ukraine funding. But most of them are.”

The letter also came while the top four House and Senate leaders were meeting with President Joe Biden. The Republican Speaker, Mike Johnson, quickly announced at the end of that meeting that nothing has changed.

“Johnson’s remarks show a continued hardline position on tying Ukraine funding to border restrictions,” Politico reports. “He also said he was not wedded strictly to the name of any bill being attached, a nod to the fact that many House Republicans want the deal to closely mimic the conservative border bill H.R. 2, but said the elements in any deal ‘have to be meaningful.'”

See the letter below or at this link.

===

https://www.alternet.org/house-republicans-invoke-greg-abbott/

no lnx an 8 23

twenty-two House Republicans have signed on to a motion filed in federal court requesting to be allowed to join Governor Greg Abbott in defending the Texas Republican against a federal government lawsuit alleging his 1000 feet of razor wire and floating buoys constructed of circular saw blades, designed to prevent migrants from crossing into the United States from Texas, are illegal.

They have invoked the Bible’s Book of Genesis, including Noah’s Ark, to make their case.

“In a motion filed on behalf of U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Lubbock, and other GOP members, lawyers for the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundationhave asked to be part of the case and targeted how a key law is interpreted in it,” the Houston Chronicle reports.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation is the right-wing organization The New York Times last year profiled as “The Texas Group Waging a National Crusade Against Climate Action.”

RELATED: Supreme Court in Hand, Far Right Wing Prepares to ‘Take the Reins of Government’

The buoys, deployed on the Rio Grande river, may have led to the deaths of two migrants, possibly including a child.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas called the buoys “barbaric,” and in video showed they are constructed of circular saw blades. In that video Congressman Castro also points to Governor Abbott’s razor wire fences.

Sawyer Hackett, a senior advisor to former Obama Cabinet Secretary Julián Castro, referred to the floating fences as “razor wire death trap buoys.”

“A key point to the Arrington group’s defense is whether the 1,900-mile Rio Grande should be defined as a navigable waterway despite being used by thousands of boats every year,” The Chronicle explains. “They point to a court case from 1870 that suggested that the term navigable waterway is intended to mean moving commerce from one state to another or to a different country and not just one where any small boat occasionally uses the river.”

READ MORE: Critics Blast Top US Conservative Think Tank President for Applauding Italy’s Election of ‘Neo-Fascist’ Prime Minister

That’s where the Bible and Noah’s Ark come in.

“Indeed, if one takes the Book of Genesis literally, then the entire world was once navigable by boats large enough to carry significant amounts of livestock,” the proposed amicus brief reads. “Under the federal government’s theory, these anecdotes would render any structure built anywhere in Texas an obstruction to navigationsubject to federal regulation.”

Governor Abbott has had a long partnership with theTexas Public Policy Foundation.

In 2016, as NCRM reported, Abbott while at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, unveiled a major policy plan toalter the U.S. Constitution, adding nine amendments,the result of which could have lead to same-sex marriage bans and anend of LGBTQ protections.

According to Congressman Arrington, the list of signatories to his amicus brief include: Rep. Jodey Arrington, Dr. Michael Burgess, Rep. August Pfluger, Rep. Brian Babin, Rep. Andy Biggs, Rep. Roger Williams, Rep. Lance Gooden, Rep. Beth Van Duyne, Rep. Jake Ellzey, Rep. Vern Buchanan, Rep.Chip Roy, Rep. Nathaniel Moran, Rep. David Rouzer, Rep. Pete Sessions,Rep. Ronny Jackson, Rep. Sam Graves,Rep. Clay Higgins, Rep. Michael Cloud,Rep. Keith Self, Rep. John Carter, Rep. Jeff Duncan, Rep. Kat Cammack.

https://arrington.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1063

Watch the video above or at this link.

'Very scary': Former RNC staffer dishes on the more terrifying members of GOP's right-wing

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Sewers to swamps

It seems improbable now that Perry, whose record of wide-swinging claims goes back well before 2020, could have climbed the party ranks so quickly.

Perry once recklessly suggested, on live air, that ISIS was responsible for the 2018 mass shooting in Las Vegas. On another occasion, he accused then-CNN host Chris Cuomo of fabricating the extent of devastation in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in 2017.

In a 2017 town hall meeting, Perry reportedly once blamed pollution on the almighty. While defending proposed budget cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, Perry criticized the agency's Chesapeake Bay cleanup plans, claiming only certain polluters were targeted while other culprits were unfairly ignored.

"If you are spiritual and you believe in God, one of the violators was God because the forests were providing a certain amount of nitrates and phosphates to the Chesapeake Bay," he said.

That claim, unsurprisingly, was debunked by experts who note that water-side trees provide pollution runoff protection. But his divine deflection may have been less surprising to his constituents.

Perry was running his family's business, Hydrotech Mechanical Services, in 2002 when the company was caught dumping sewage sludge onto the banks of Stony Run Creek in south-central Pennsylvania. The state charged Perry with altering chemical-monitoring documents and he narrowly avoided a felony conviction. Instead, his company paid a $5,000 fine and Perry completed the state's Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition in what he called a "last-minute, at-the-courtroom deal that was never supposed to happen, but it did."

It wouldn't be the last time Perry would face accusations of hiding evidence.

Fireside chats

In the months after Trump's 2020 electoral defeat, former chief of staff Mark Meadows kept his office fireplace well-kindled. The fire was lit first thing in the morning by staff, his former aide testified, then heaped with logs throughout the day. And every so often, Meadows would walk over to his fireplace, remove its covering, and throw a few documents into the fire.

Meadows had been the chair of the House Freedom Caucus until 2019, a post Perry now holds, and the two men knew each other well. Perry had begun having meetings with Meadows that December, the aide said, arriving with physical papers and PowerPoint presentations to discuss former Vice President Mike Pence's role in certifying the 2020 election results — and what Perry "believed could happen on Jan. 6."

Eventually, Perry brought a few others to meet with Meadows, the aide said. With the fireplace lit and a room full of warm bodies, Meadows left his office door propped open. The aide saw Perry and the others inside, and sawMeadows again burning documents.

Perry's spokesman has denied he was ever part of these discussions, citing a Jan. 6 tweet from the congressman condemning the violence at the Capitol. But just hours after the attack, Perry joined other Republicans on the House floor in a failed attempt to prevent his own state's electoral votes from being counted. Perry would then spend months parroting Trump's baseless claims of election theft, arguing that Pennsylvania's 7 million votes should be thrown out.

Ultimately, the same aide who saw Perry leave Meadows' office amid the presumed or apparent destruction of documents would testify that Perry was among several members of Congress who had asked for her help in securing a preemptive presidential pardon. Perry has denied this, although not under oath.

Perry's Democratic hall pass

Eventually, members of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 events developed a clearer picture of Perry's role in Trump's failed bid to overturn the 2020 election results.

In a trove of texts leaked in December 2022, Perry and Meadows' 2020 exchanges surfaced, illuminating an array of schemes and outlandish notions aimed at reversing Trump's defeat. Perry sent YouTube conspiracy-theory videos about election-meddling Italian satellites, asking Meadows why the Italian government couldn't help the group's cause. Perry suggested seizing voting machines with a "cyber forensic team" after the election, and putting them under lock and key.

Perry went on to urge Meadows to get Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen replaced with a Trump-friendly figure in the DOJ, Jeffrey Clark. After Trump ordered Rosen to declare the election corrupt, Rosen refused. Trump responded by threatening to replace Rosen with Clark, who'd concocted a plan to help overturn the election results, but the then-president backed down from after a fiery meeting where several DOJ officials and Trump's own White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, threatened to quit in response. Those exchanges are now part of the reason the DOJ wants access to Perry's cell phone contents.

But back in July of 2022, House Oversight Committee members knew significantly less about Perry's role.They subpoenaed Perry, who responded by denying the legitimacy of the committee he now sits on, and refused to testify.

The committee's chair at the time, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., had the authority to file contempt charges against Perry. But as CNN's Manu Raju reported, Raskin seemed to have "little appetite to refer House Republicans who defy subpoenas to DOJ on contempt charges -- saying it could lead to 'wild goose chases.'

"I don't know that Congress can take a member of Congress to court under the speech or debate clause," Raskin said, referring to Perry's defense that his cell phone conversations were immune from collection. "But our point here is not to come up with, you know, a dozen new dazzling theories to end up in a lot of wild goose chases all over the land."

"Our point is to bring back a report to the American people to Congress about what happened to us," Raskin told Raju.

Rather than facing contempt charges, Perry was referred to the House Ethics Committee, along with other members who refused to obey subpoena orders. But with a Republican majority in the House and Kevin McCarthy holding the speaker's gavel, both the Ethics Committee and the House ethics review office have become partisan chokepoints.

These days, Raskin sees Trump's indictment as imminent.

"We think there will be charges probably on some things we didn't even have, because we don't have all of the prosecutorial resources that the Department of Justice has, and so we think they probably collected a lot more evidence than we got," he told MSNBC on Friday.

Even if Raskin's prediction is correct, Perry's role in Trump's Jan. 6 plans may remain under a shroud of congressional secrecy. The party whose subpoenas he once dodged now, for its own reasons, has Perry's back in his tug-of-war with the DOJ.

On Feb. 23, the DOJ will get its chance to ask an appeals court in Washington for access to Perry's phone contents. House Democratic leaders will once again fight to keep Perry's evidence from coming out at all.

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A Super PAC Targets Greene, Gaetz, Boebert and Others on the Far Right

The bipartisan group will challenge hard-right House Republicans in their home districts, running ads that accuse the lawmakers of holding antidemocratic positions.

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From left, Representative Lauren Boebert, wearing a black top with gold dots, Representative Matt Gaetz wearing a blue suit with a purple tie, and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wearing a royal-blue top, all looking to the left of the frame.

From left, Representatives Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene. A new political action committee is targeting them and other far-right House Republicans.Credit...Pool photo by Michael Reynolds

Nick Corasaniti

By Nick Corasaniti

April 20, 2023

3 MIN READ

A bipartisan group of political operatives — spanning the ideological spectrum from former members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus to a Democrat who challenged Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — has started a political action committee aimed at “stopping MAGA” and eradicating what the operatives call an authoritarian streak among some Republican lawmakers.

The group, Mission Democracy PAC, will challenge far-right members of Congress in their often deep-red home districts, running ads and messaging campaigns that accuse the politicians of holding antidemocratic and extreme positions.

Mission Democracy PAC begins with just over $500,000 in the bank, but the advisers say they hope to raise $18 million for the coming election cycle, and plan to spend all of it within the targeted congressional districts.

Who’s behind the group? The leaders are former Representative Denver Riggleman of Virginia, who once belonged to the Freedom Caucus but has since left the Republican Party and spoke out against conspiracy theories from the House floor; Olivia Troye, a former official in Donald J. Trump’s administration who has been critical of him; and Marcus Flowers, an Army veteran and Democrat who lost heavily to Ms. Greene last year.

Continue reading the main story

“If we don’t do something now, if we don’t get these extreme MAGA members out of Congress, we stand to lose our very democracy,” Mr. Flowers said in an interview. “It’s time to hold those members accountable, take them to task, attack them in their districts.”

Politics Across the United States

A Moral Quandary: Jewish Democrats defending Israel have often spoken of the country’s democratic values. But defending the current far-right government is proving difficult.

A Challenge to the Far Right: A bipartisan group of political operatives spanning the ideological spectrum has started a political action committee aimed at eradicating what they call an authoritarian streak among some Republican lawmakers.

A Tug of War: As Democrats look toward the 2024 elections, a push and pull between progressives and moderates is shaping the party’s agenda, messaging and tactics.

Broken Legislatures: The dysfunction that drove the ousting of two lawmakers from the Tennessee House of Representatives is increasingly common across the United States, fueled by one-party control of state legislatures, hyperpartisan politics and uncompetitive races.

First shots fired. The first ad from the group, a minute-long spot that ticks through several Republican moves to restrict abortion rights, strikingly uses an F-word that is rarely wielded in political advertising.

“Our government is held hostage by a band of politicians so extreme that only the word fascist describes them,” the ad says.

The ad then lists its targets: Ms. Greene, described as “the avatar of these extremists,” as well as Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Paul Gosar of Arizona.

Only the offices of Ms. Boebert and Mr. Gaetz responded to requests for comment. In a statement, Ms. Boebert said that she had “no doubt” that Democrats would target her seat, but that “my policies are right for our district, our state, and our country.” A spokesman for Mr. Gaetz pointed to his large margins in victories in past elections and added that “special-interest PACs aren’t trusted by Floridians.”

The group has booked what it describes as a mid-five-figure buy for the ad in Ms. Greene’s district, a relatively small opening salvo.

In an interview, Ms. Troye said the group was focused on defeating “the worst of the worst,” and expected to add more officials to target in the future.

Uphill battle: All of these House members come from heavily Republican districts, and all except Ms. Boebert and Mr. Perry won re-election last year by more than 30 percentage points. (Ms. Boebert eked out victory by 546 votes.) None of them faced a serious threat in their primary elections.

In short, while many Democratic voters dream of toppling these pugilistic Republicans, it is often all but impossible.

Mr. Flowers, for example, raised nearly $17 million in his race against Ms. Greene. She crushed him by 32 points.

But the group argues that pouring money and negative advertising into such races can still weaken politicians: They are forced to spend more time defending their seats, raising money and campaigning at home instead of traveling the country and expanding their political profiles with endorsements and speeches.

There’s always money in the banana stand. In liberal politics, there are few better ways to rake in mountains of cash than by targeting far-right Republicans.

For example, the Lincoln Project, a group of former Republicans that has pumped out stinging ads attacking former President Donald J. Trump and his allies, has raised $118 million since forming in 2019.

The leaders of Mission Democracy expressed confidence in their ability to raise money.

“We’re all pretty prolific with our lists, we know a lot of people to call and we all have pretty good reputations for sticking to facts, not fantasy,” Mr. Riggleman said. “We’ve all had incredibly insane real jobs in the real world. And I just think it’s given us a unique way not only to do the mission, but also fund-raise and get the monies that we need to continue.”

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."

----

===

* = original

cosponsors who withdrew

Rep. Moore, Blake D. [R-UT-1]

01/11/2023

01/24/2023

H267

cosponsor	Date Cosponsored
Rep. Clyde, Andrew S. [R-GA-9]*	01/09/2023
Rep. Duncan, Jeff [R-SC-3]*	01/09/2023
Rep. Cammack, Kat [R-FL-3]*	01/09/2023
Rep. Perry, Scott [R-PA-10]*	01/09/2023
Rep. Good, Bob [R-VA-5]*	01/09/2023
Rep. Massie, Thomas [R-KY-4]*	01/09/2023
Rep. Norman, Ralph [R-SC-5]*	01/09/2023
Rep. Posey, Bill [R-FL-8]*	01/09/2023
Rep. Palmer, Gary J. [R-AL-6]*	01/09/2023
Rep. Banks, Jim [R-IN-3]*	01/09/2023
Rep. Loudermilk, Barry [R-GA-11]*	01/09/2023
Rep. Carter, John R. [R-TX-31]	01/11/2023
Rep. Bilirakis, Gus M. [R-FL-12]	01/11/2023
Rep. Gaetz, Matt [R-FL-1]	01/11/2023
Rep. Greene, Marjorie Taylor [R-GA-14]	01/11/2023
Rep. Rutherford, John H. [R-FL-5]	01/11/2023
Rep. Davidson, Warren [R-OH-8]	01/11/2023
Rep. Steube, W. Gregory [R-FL-17]	01/11/2023
Rep. Donalds, Byron [R-FL-19]	01/11/2023
Rep. Collins, Mike [R-GA-10]	01/13/2023
Rep. Moore, Barry [R-AL-2]	01/13/2023
Rep. Burlison, Eric [R-MO-7]	01/13/2023
Rep. Walberg, Tim [R-MI-5]	01/24/2023

===

https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-hard-right-rewarded-after-mccarthy-stance-boebert-plum-role-2023-1

no lnx

GOP Freedom Caucus is reaping its reward for holding House speaker election ransom, with even holdout Boebert given plum committee role

Sinéad Baker Jan 18, 2023,

GOP Freedom Caucus members initially held out on voting for Kevin McCarthy for House speaker.

Many have now received key appointments, including Lauren Boebert on the Oversight Committee.

McCarthy reportedly flipped members of the group by pledging committee seats for ultraconservatives.

Members of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus have benefited from holding back on supporting Rep. Kevin McCarthy's bid for House Speaker, with members, including Rep. Lauren Boebert, now receiving roles on key committees.

Boebert and several other Freedom Caucus Republicans have been given seats on the House Oversight Committee, the main oversight body in the House of Representatives.

The committee will lead any investigations that Republicans launch into President Joe Biden and his administration.

Boebert has regularly criticized Biden, both questioning his competence and suggesting that his family are a "crime family."

Reps. Byron Donalds, Paul Gosar, and Scott Perry, other members of the Freedom Caucus, were also put on the committee, Axios reported.

Members of the Freedom Caucus, which include vocal Trump supporters and 2020 election deniers, repeatedly refused to support McCarthy in his bid for House speaker.

It took 15 rounds of voting for McCarthy to eventually get the support he required. Boebert never voted for him, even in the final ballot, when she was one of six holdouts.

McCarthy's bid to become the House speaker earlier this month was one of the most drawn out votes for the position in history. Most of the holdouts were members of the Freedom Caucus, with many of those flipping to vote for McCarthy in later ballots only after he agreed to key demands.

The New York Times reported in January that among the concessions McCarthy agreed to was granting ultraconservative members of the party approval over a third of the seats on the Rules Committee, which controls which legislation reaches the House floor.

Rep. Andy Bigs, a caucus member who didn't vote for McCarthy, and Rep. Dan Bishop, a caucus member who eventually gave his support, have kept their roles on the House Judiciary Committee,NBC News reported.

Meanwhile, Rep. Josh Brecheen, who voted for McCarthy on the 12th ballot, was given a seat on the Homeland Security Committee, while Reps. Mike Cloud and Andrew Clyde, who both eventually voted for McCarthy, have been given seats on the House Appropriations Committee.

Caucus member Marjorie Taylor Greene, who supported McCarthy throughout the process, was given a seat on theHomeland Security and Oversight Committees, and pledged on Tuesday to investigate Biden.

It is still not clear how much power McCarthy had to concede to finally get the role he has long coveted, Insider's Taiyler Simone Mitchell reported earlier this month.

Republicans won control of the House in the November midterms, but only by a slim majority, meaning that internal disagreements could limit their chance of pushing ahead with stated goals, including launching investigations into the Biden administration.

Republicans have 222 seats in the House, compared with 213 for the Democrats.