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WASHINGTON U.S. House Republicans on Thursday last week continued to press accusations that a woke agenda is deteriorating parents rights in their local school districts.

The first hearing this Congress of the House Judiciary Committees Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government convened to examine whether a 2021 Department of Justice memo played a role in chilling parents First Amendment rights at local public school board meetings.

The GOP has for roughly 18 months targeted an Oct. 4, 2021 memo issued by Attorney General Merrick Garland instructing federal law enforcement across the U.S. to open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response on possible criminal threats to local school board members over politically charged issues that flared up during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The single-page document by Garland directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation to be on alert for a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence aimed at local school officials and teachers.

Garland has defended the memo, includingduring appearancesbefore Congress.

In the panels two-hour hearing occurring two days after a separate House Judiciary subcommittee released a 21-page report about the memo GOP lawmakers criticized the Biden administration for intimidating parents into silence by siccing federal law enforcement on them.

That (First Amendment) right has been significantly stifled over the past few years because the leftists have decided they apparently know better than parents do, said the panels chair, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, in his opening statement.

That is an outrage and the American people are rising up to say that they will no longer tolerate it as the radical leftists push this woke agenda on Americas children, he continued.

Democrats disagreed with the premise of Thursdays hearing.

Having served on school boards and having seen whats been happening across the country in recent months, in recent years, Id have to say that the real First Amendment threat that our schools, teachers, students and parents are facing is the attempt to turn classrooms into the epicenter of divisive culture wars, said ranking member Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania.

But the witnesses invited by the majority echoed Johnsons statements.

One minute youre making peanut butter and jelly, the next minute the FBI is calling you, said Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms For Liberty, a group that says one of its members was contacted by federal authorities.

No parent or caretaker has been federally prosecuted since Garland issued the directive.

Thereporton the Garland memo released on March 21 by a separate House Judiciary subcommittee cited FBI data stating 25 inquiries under the threat tag EDUOFFICIALS had been opened since the bureau began tracking the incidents. Such tags are routine labeling used by federal law enforcement to organize reports and assess trends.

The report published by the House Judiciarys Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government concluded that Biden officials colluded with school board association leaders to create a justification to use federal law-enforcement and counterterrorism resources against parents.

Correspondence between the National School Boards Association and administration officials occurred in the days before Garland issued the memo.

The NSBA hassince apologizedfor pressing for federal action during a wave of heated school board meeting interactions. A May report commissioned by the association documented the back-and-forth between its leaders and the White House.

The subcommittee cites the NSBA commissioned report and nearly 1,500 pages of documents from the Department of Justice and Department of Education it gained access to after issuing a subpoena to the agencies in February, according to the report.

Scanlon said there are different types of speech in question.

Theres a huge difference between attempts to suppress free speech based on content as weve been seeing in recent years, and addressing speech that may be criminal because it threatens violence, which we have seen directed toward educators and school board members across the country, she said. Our Republican colleagues have tried to frame these potentially criminal acts to intimidate school board officials as examples of protected free speech by caring and involved parents. They are not.

The subcommittees chairman, Johnson, promised that the hearing is surely not going to be the last on the topic.

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AUGUSTA, Maine Two runners-up from the 2022 primary season and at least one sitting lawmaker are among the Republicans eyeing a potential run against U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Maines 2nd District.

Golden represents a swing district won twice by former President Donald Trump, but the centrist Democrat has proven durable there. He ousted former U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin in 2018, beat him again in 2022 and won slightly more votes than Trump did in the region in the congressmans 2020 victory over former state Rep. Dale Crafts.

Republicans are rebuilding their bench after Poliquin and former Gov. Paul LePage failed to recapture their seats in the 2022 election. Newer faces are among those looking at a race against Golden, with party insiders signaling a desire to create a major contrast with the 40-year-old Marine veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Caratunk selectperson Liz Caruso, who was Poliquins longshot primary opponent in 2022, state Rep. Laurel Libby of Auburn and former Maine Senate candidate Robert Cross of Dedham said they were considering campaigns for the seat.

Reached Monday, Caruso said she has been asked by a lot of people to consider a run but is not close to a decision. Cross said he would make a decision by June. Libby said she was recruited by some to run last time but emphasized her work in the Legislature, particularly in organizing against recent abortion law changes proposed by Gov. Janet Mills and Democrats.

So, I havent ruled anything out, but I also am so focused there that I just am not going to commit to anything at this time, Libby said Friday.

Those may not be the only candidates. Maine Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart of Presque Isle, who ran briefly in 2021 before bowing out to back Poliquin, did not respond to messages seeking for comment but is being watched by Republicans here and in Washington.

Caruso, a Maine guide who got her start in politics in the public campaign against the Central Maine Power Co. corridor, aligned herself with Republican hardliners including U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in a shoestring campaign against Poliquin that won her 40 percent of votes but praise from the archconservative base for a fiery speech at the state convention.

Libby is the nominal leader of a strident faction of House Republicans opposed to key items in Augusta this year, including a heating aid bill passed in January. She raised nearly twice as much money for her 2022 campaign than any other House member while leading a political group that raised big sums to aid candidates but clashed with party leadership.

Cross is a mortgage broker who worked for decades for the U.S. Department of Agriculture administering housing programs and lost a 2022 primary to state Sen. Peter Lyford, R-Eddington, in a conservative district east of Bangor. His grandfather was Woodrow Cross, the founder of Cross Insurance who died at age 103 in 2020.

Both Democrats and Republicans have added the 2nd District to their list of priority seats entering the 2024 cycle. A presidential election with Trump potentially on the ballot again with President Joe Biden has Republicans optimistic that the grassroots could show up for their eventual candidate in a way that they did not for Poliquin.

Any candidate will have a stiff challenge in Golden. His party-bucking votes won him the support of a police group that also backed LePage in 2022 and kept the conservative National Rifle Association from endorsing in the race with Poliquin.

While FiveThirtyEight called Golden the House Democrat who broke most with Biden in the last Congress, Republicans have highlighted votes with Biden on major initiatives, including the Inflation Reduction Act. For now, Golden is focused on his job and spending time with his family, Bobby Reynolds, his political strategist, said.

He isnt the slightest bit concerned with who is going to run against him in 2024, Reynolds said.

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These Republicans might take on Jared Golden in 2024 - Bangor Daily News

Arizona House Republicans gave preliminary approval to a bill to give the states teachers a $10,000 pay hike.

But critics say House Bill 2800 doesnt actually provide schools enough funding to do just that.

Officials with the Arizona Education Association note the bill fails to cover other costs associated with higher pay a point echoed by Democratic Rep. Laura Terech on the House floor.

"In the Appropriations Committee, the sponsor even admitted that the bill fails to fully cover the costs associated with health insurance, retirement, and social security,"Terech said.

Republicans also amended the bill to tie the teacher pay hike to a host of other provisions, including a requirement that schools post certain lesson plans online.

An amendment to HB 2800 also ties increased teacher pay to the passage of another bill that requires schools to post certain lesson plans online.

Democrats argued the amendment violated the state constitution, which says bills must deal with a single subject at a time.

Republicans like Rep. Teresa Martinez argued that academic and financial accountability, coupled with higher teacher pay, is justified.

"I think it is incumbent upon this legislature to do all that it can to support teachers, to make sure that teachers are paid what they deserve," Martinez said.

The bill is opposed by a variety of public school organizations and advocacy groups that argue it lacks a permanent source of funding to support its $10,000 raise for teachers.

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AZ House Republicans give preliminary OK to $10000 teacher pay ... - Fronteras: The Changing America Desk

If Congress forces the United States into default, the Freedom Caucus will be the likely culprit. On March 10 it laid out its demands for raising the debt ceiling. All topline discretionary spending (i.e., spending that must be appropriated, excepting emergency spending) must be frozen at current levels, allowing for 1 percent annual growth (i.e., inflation increases that will be far below the annual level of inflation, even if the Fed achieves its target of 2 percent). All major regulations must be approved by Congress. Remove all regulations and subsidies concerning energy (i.e., kill investment in green technologies and drill, baby, drill). Stiffen work requirements for welfare. And lower nondefense discretionary spending to its 2019 level (which means the freeze on top-line discretionary spending starts domestic spending at a lower level than defense spending). There is no chance Biden will agree to this. The White House last week declared the Freedom Caucus proposal a five-alarm fire.

2. The Republican Study Committee. This is the largest of the Five Families, with 173 members. The bad news is theyre almost as nuts as the Freedom Caucus. Like the Freedom Caucus, the RSC was founded in opposition to the Republican leadership, but it was founded way back in 1973, when House Republican leaders could more plausibly be described as moderate accommodationists. Its founder was not a member of Congress but Paul Weyrich, a hard-right nutter with theocratic leanings with a fair claim to being the Johnny Appleseed of the New Right, having also co-founded the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority, and the American Legislative Exchange Council. Because of its size and age, the RSC is best compared to the Genovese family, the oldest and largest of New Yorks Five Families, founded in 1931 by Lucky Luciano. The RSCs don is Representative Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, nicknamed McCongressman for his past ownership of several McDonalds franchises. Hern is a fiscal conservative whose Tulsa-based KTAK Corporation received about $1 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans, all of it forgiven, at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a March 15 letter, Hearn demanded a reversal to recent increases in discretionary spending, deregulation of the oil sector, tax cuts, and congressional approval for all major regulations. Unlike the Freedom Caucus, Hern is bucking Trump by demanding cuts in Medicare and Social Security (phrased euphemistically as Codify procedures to ensure the federal government honors critical obligations). McCarthy is likely hoping Hearn will be as hypocritical about a debt-ceiling deal as he was about PPP. He shouldnt count on that.

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They're Not Joking: House Republicans Actually Compare ... - The New Republic

Forget about the days when lawmakers played cat-and-mouse with a governors top priorities by holding off until the waning days of the legislative session to deliver the goods.

Way back when, House and Senate leaders would string out the most controversial or pressing issues as they engaged in horse trading and made surprise moves in the weeks leading up to the end of the 60-day annual session. Such maneuvering appears to be a thing of the past as lawmakers have finished the third week of this years carefully scripted session, with Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican supermajorities in the House and Senate firmly in control.

DeSantis on Friday signed into law a far-reaching bill aimed at helping shield businesses and insurance companies from lawsuits. Supporters maintain it will rein in billboard lawyers, and opponents contend the law, which went into effect immediately, will harm consumers.

DeSantis signature came a day after the Senate gave final approval to the plan (HB 837), a priority of the governor and House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast.

Business and insurance groups have long sought the lawsuit changes, contending that Florida has been plagued by excessive litigation that drives up costs. As the heavily lobbied bill moved through the House and Senate, supporters often blamed what they called billboard lawyers.

We have a fundamental problem in Florida when you turn on your TV or your radio, and the ad says, If you have been injured, call an attorney first. Do not call your insurance. Call an attorney. That is a problem. Its not right, Senate bill sponsor Travis Hutson, R-St. Augustine, said during floor debate Thursday. Its because current laws allow this situation to happen, and people believe they won the jackpot or the litigation lottery.

But opponents argued the bill is a gift to the insurance industry without any assurances that it will lower rates for such things as auto insurance.

Instead of improving the lives of the average person, it will absolve bad actors of their duties and responsibilities, said Sen. Darryl Rouson, a St. Petersburg Democrat who is a plaintiffs attorney. After all, these large corporate entities can afford to pay their attorneys whatever they need for however long they need them. Many of our friends and neighbors and constituents back in our districts wont have such a luxury.

ZIPPING ALONG

Lawmakers also made quick work of a massive expansion of Floridas school-choice programs, sending to DeSantis a measure that would make all students eligible for taxpayer-backed vouchers.

The Senate voted along straight party lines Thursday to give final approval to the bill (HB 1), which the House passed last week. DeSantis already has pledged to sign the measure, which includes removing income-eligibility requirements that are part of current voucher programs. It has been a top priority of Renner, who was in the Senate chamber Thursday.

We are funding students in this state. Parents have spoken, Senate sponsor Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, said before the Senates 26-12 vote. Under the bill, students would be eligible to receive vouchers if they are a resident of this state and eligible to enroll in kindergarten through grade 12 in a public school.

The measure includes a tiered priority system for students to receive vouchers. Students whose household incomes are less than 185 percent of the federal poverty level, or roughly $51,000 for a family of four, would get first priority. Next would be students whose family incomes are from 185 percent of the poverty level to 400 percent of the poverty level, which is about $111,000 for a family of four.

Outnumbered Senate Democrats slammed the measure during a floor debate, characterizing it as a potential handout for wealthy people who would seek the vouchers.

Lets just face it, if you are a parent and you are paying for private school, why wouldnt you want to take advantage of this program? I mean, this is going to be corporate welfare for parents who are already paying for private schools, Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boca Raton, said.

RIGHT BACK AT YOU

Senators passed Renners vouchers priority a day before the House gave the nod to Senate President Kathleen Passidomos top-ticket item: a $711 million effort to make housing more affordable for working Floridians.

Passidomo was in the House chamber Friday as the House took up the bill, dubbed the Live Local Act. The measure (SB 102), which now will go to DeSantis, would provide incentives for private investment in affordable housing and encourage mixed-use development in struggling commercial areas, while barring local rent controls and pre-empting local government rules on zoning, density and building heights in certain circumstances.

In a statement, Passidomo, R-Naples, said the measure aims to end affordable housing stereotypes in creating options needed by the workforce. She also pointed to continued population growth and the demand for housing. It is clear that the broad appeal of the free state of Florida has impacted our population and our housing needs, Passidomo said.

House sponsor Demi Busatta Cabrera, R-Coral Gables, said innovative concepts in the proposal will allow Floridians to live close to where they work.

As our state continues to grow, we need to make sure that Floridians can live close to good jobs, schools and hospitals and other centers of their communities that fit within their household budgets, no matter their stage of life or income, Busatta Cabrera said. The Senate unanimously passed the measure on March 8.

Among other things, the bill would create tax exemptions for developments that set aside at least 70 units for affordable housing and would speed permits and development orders for affordable-housing projects.

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Florida Republicans put the governor's priorities on the fast track - WFSU