House Republicans voted on Monday to cut funding for the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to crack down on tax evasion by wealthy individuals and large corporations. An estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts the bill would cost the government more than $185 billion in lost revenue over the next decade — all money that the Treasury Department is owed by individual...
Virginia GOP state Senate candidate took $250,000 from anti-abortion politicians
Kevin Adams, the Republican nominee for a competitive state Senate special election in Virginia, took a quarter of a million dollars in campaign contributions from anti-abortion lawmakers, according to a review of campaign finance records by the American Independent Foundation. The outcome of the contest could have implications for abortion rights in Virginia, as Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin...
More jobs created so far under Biden than under the last three Republican presidents
The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday released its jobs report for December 2022, showing that 223,000 jobs were added to the economy, while the unemployment rate has fallen to 3.5%. The new report shows that a total of 10.7 million jobs were added in the first two years of President Joe Biden’s term. By contrast, under the three Republican presidents who preceded Biden — Donald Trump, George...
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has an open seat. Here’s who’s running.
Four candidates so far have announced their campaigns for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, an election that has huge implications for the state. Two liberals and two conservatives are running for the seat open due to the retirement of Justice Patience D. Roggensack, who consistently voted with the court’s conservative block. Her departure has opened the opportunity for liberals...
House Republicans’ failure to elect a speaker is causing chaos for staff, constituents
The House of Representatives is at a standstill because the Republican majority hasn’t been able to elect a speaker in the new session of Congress. The gridlock is preventing members of Congress from receiving briefings, constituents are unable to get the services they need from their representatives, and thousands of congressional staffers risk not getting paid if the situation continues...
Biden will award presidential medal to Black election workers targeted by Trump
The White House announced on Thursday that President Joe Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to 12 individuals on Jan. 6, the second anniversary of the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump. The Citizens Medal is the second-highest civilian award given by the U.S. government after the Presidential Medal of Freedom and is awarded to those...
The GOP lawmakers blasting anti-Kevin McCarthy fringe helped bankroll their campaigns
House Republicans who back California Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s troubled candidacy to be speaker of the House are publicly attacking the 21 members of their own caucus who are refusing to vote for him. But many of the same people who now compare their anti-McCarthy colleagues to terrorists and hostage-takers donated to the same critics as recently as the 2022 midterm election cycle. Since the...
New Rick Scott ad promotes same plan that hindered Senate GOP in 2022
Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott announced last month that he would seek a second term rather than run for president in 2024. But rather than focus on winning reelection in Florida, on Wednesday he announced a seven-figure national cable television ad buy calling on the GOP “to be bold, speak the truth, and stop caving in.” The new 30-second “Got to Change” spot features...
‘It makes us look foolish’: Republicans admit speaker brouhaha is hurting their party
A growing number of Republican lawmakers are raising concerns that their inability to elect a House speaker is damaging their party. “As long as we’re fighting each other, we are not keeping our eye on the prize,” Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said in a Fox News appearance on Tuesday. “And I think we have to get the speakership settled and we have to...
Transportation Department allocates $2 billion to repair vital interstate bridges
The Department of Transportation announced on Wednesday that over $2 billion in federal grants will be awarded to repair bridges along the national interstate highway system. The Biden administration touted the grants as the largest investment in bridges since the creation of the highway system in 1956. Funds for the grants come from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act...