Archive for the ‘Republicans’ Category

Duck and cover – VICE News

Members of Congress are set to return to their districts this weekend for their first weeklong recess since Donald Trumps inauguration. Heading home during legislative breaks is nothing new, but this year most Republicans are foregoing a hallowed recess tradition: holding in-person town halls where lawmakers take questions from constituents in a high school gym, local restaurant, or college classroom.

After outpourings of rage at some early town halls including crowds at an event near Salt Lake City yelling Do your job! at Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight Committee many Republicans are ducking in-person events altogether. Instead theyre opting for more controlled Facebook Live or tele-town halls, where questions can be screened by press secretaries and followups are limited as are the chances of becoming the next viral meme of the Left.

For the first two months of the new Congress, the 292 Republicans have scheduled just 88 in-person town hall events and 35 of those sessions are for Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, according to a tabulation conducted by Legistorm. In the first two months of the previous Congress in 2015, by contrast, Republicans held 222 in-person town hall events.

Republicans like Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin hosted multiple in-person town halls at the beginning of 2015 but have scheduled none for the first two months of 2017. Thunes office declined to discuss this on the record and Johnsons office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Legistorm updates its list daily with software that scrapes from congressional schedules, Facebook pages, press releases, and Twitter accounts of members of congress and their staff. As a result, Legistorm said that the 88 events may not be the ultimate total because there can occasionally be a brief lag time.

For example, Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina created two town hall events on Facebook on Tuesday afternoon, and Legistorm had not listed them as of Wednesday morning. Sanford told VICE News that he thinks in-person town halls are important, particularly getting out of space you control and getting into space thats neutral.

What happens in politics is that over time, you can get increasingly insulated from people that have a strongly held point of view thats different [from yours], he said. Sessions like tele-town halls arent a good substitute, he said, because oftentimes they will screen their calls and those forums can be manipulated.

Republicans who get roughed up at their town halls have taken to dismissing the attendees as professional organizers. Chaffetz called his hostile crowd more of a paid attempt to bully and intimidate him over White House ethics issues, a sentiment echoed by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who said that recent marches and protests against Trump are a very paid, AstroTurf-type movement.

While there is no evidence of paid protesters attending town halls, it is true that Democratic activists have been organizing to manufacture viral moments of confrontation like the tea party movement did in the summer of 2009.

The Indivisible Project, a group started by former congressional aides, wrote a how-to guide for liberals looking to resist Trump. Tea partiers used these events to great effect both to directly pressure their [members of Congress] and to attract media to their cause, the co-founders wroteof town halls.

They also provide PR tips to help make the protests appear pervasive and produce made-for-TV moments:

And of course, Record everything!

Unfavorable exchanges caught on video can be devastating for [members of Congress], they write. These clips can be shared through social media and picked up by local and national media.

Tea party protesters did this in opposition to Obamacare during the 2009 summer recess. Though Obamacare passed 7 months later, the town hall protests scared many moderate members of Congress and helped fuel the movement that successfully took back the House of Representatives in the 2010 midterms and made gains in the Senate.

That experience was so jarring to Democrats that it dampened enthusiasm for in-person events for years. Democrats Skip Town Halls to Avoid Voter Rage, the New York Times reported in 2010. But Republicans appear to be embracing this strategy of avoidance with even more vigor than the Democrats ever did. Despite outnumbering Democrats in Congress 292 to 241, Republicans are holding 19 fewer in-person town hall events than their colleagues across the aisle in the first two months (54 fewer if you dont count Sensenbrenners 35).

But ultimately both parties are holding fewer in-person events to avoid unwanted viral moments. Senior Democratic lawmakers this week asked progressive favorite Sen. Bernie Sanders to reach out to activists and urge them to not protest at Democratic town halls, according to the Washington Post.

I bet if you looked at the number of members of Congress holding fundraisers next week during recess, it would be nearly 100 percent, said Ezra Levin, co-founder of the Indivisible Project. Constituents should demand that 100 percent also attend town halls, he added.

Some constituents are doing just that. One strategy for activists has been to host their own town halls and invite their representatives to attend. The office of Rep. John Carter of Texas declined such an invitation, citing safety reasons. Rep. Martha McSally of Arizona also rejected a similar overture, calling it a political ambush.

Another method has been to confront senators and representative in public places and demand they hold a town hall. Shivers went down the spines of many Republican communications directors on the Hill this week when a few dozen protesters confronted Sen. Steve Daines of Montana at the airport.

Matt Powell-Palm, one of the activists there, said the demonstration was organized by several progressive groups in Montana, including a local chapter of Indivisible.

Naturally, he filmed the whole thing.

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Duck and cover - VICE News

Flynn contact with Russia: Republicans join calls for investigation – BBC News


BBC News
Flynn contact with Russia: Republicans join calls for investigation
BBC News
Leading members of the US Republican Party have joined calls for a wide investigation into the former national security adviser's links with Russia. Michael Flynn quit on Monday over claims he discussed US sanctions with Russia before Donald Trump took ...
Congressional Republicans Resist Calls for Independent Flynn InvestigationNBCNews.com
Republicans' Muted Response to Flynn's ResignationThe Atlantic
Senators from both parties pledge to deepen probe of Russia and the 2016 electionWashington Post
Vanity Fair -Slate Magazine (blog) -VICE News -Washington Post
all 3,278 news articles »

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Flynn contact with Russia: Republicans join calls for investigation - BBC News

Sen. Rand Paul: ‘It Makes No Sense’ For Republicans To Investigate Republicans – Huffington Post

WASHINGTON Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that probing the Trump administrations ties to Russia after theresignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn would be excessive, and that Republicans shouldnt be wasting time investigating members of their own party.

Paul, speaking on Fox NewsKilmeade and Friendsradio show, took issue with calls by fellow Senate Republicans, including Sen. John McCain (Ariz.),for a thorough investigation.

You know, I think that might be excessive, Paul said. I think that it looks like the president has handled the situation, and unless theres some kind of other evidence of malfeasance, this sounds like something that was internal White House politics, and it looks like the presidents handled it.

Paul suggested Republicans ought to be looking out for members of their party.

I just dont think its useful to be doing investigation after investigation, particularly of your own party, he said. Well never even get started with doing the things we need to do like repealing Obamacare if were spending our whole time having Republicans investigate Republicans. I think it makes no sense.

Flynn resigned Monday after it was revealed that he had contactwith Russias U.S. ambassador during the presidential transition about sanctions against the Kremlin, and misled the White House about those conversations. In a briefing Tuesday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Flynns dismissal came down to an issue of trust.

Listen to Sen. Rand Pauls full Fox News interview here.

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Sen. Rand Paul: 'It Makes No Sense' For Republicans To Investigate Republicans - Huffington Post

Paul reportedly leaves meeting with House Republicans on Obamacare – Fox News

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Tuesday reportedly left a meeting with fellow Senate Republicans as House Speaker Paul Ryan worked to reassure skeptical colleagues about the next steps in taking on Obamacare.

Politico reported that Paul was unhappy with the meeting and the prospect of keeping health laws Medicaid expansion. He called creating tax credits a new entitlement program.

I hear things that are unacceptable to me, Paul told the website. If they dont seem to care what conservatives think about complete repeal of Obamacare, theyre going to be shocked when they count the votes.

Attendees reportedly said Ryan laid out a timeline that would start the repeal process by the end of February and pass it by the end of March.

President Trump, according to some in the party, has been fueling the confusion by not being specific about how he plans to take on the six-and-a-half-year-old Obamacare. He has said, during his candidacy that he would repeal and replace the law with something far better.

VIDEO: DEMOCRATS PLAN TO RALLY SUPPORT BEHIND OBAMACARE

Trump has been edging away from the promise to quickly eliminate the entire law. Still, annulling its taxes would be a partial victory and is irresistible for many GOP lawmakers and the conservative voters at the core of their support.

"We should do full repeal," said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a leading House conservative. "And full repeal means not taking the taxes" from people.

Yet voiding those levies erases a mammoth war chest Republicans would love to have - and may well need - as they try replacing Obama's law. It's a major rift GOP leaders face as they try crafting a health care package that can pass Congress.

Right now, I would say its not that easy to repeal it, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., told Politico. I dont know where the White House is. The president has said hes not going to be kicking people off the program, off the rolls. Hes not going to do that.

If the taxes are repealed and Republicans need money for their replacement plan, do they pay for it with higher federal deficits? Do they deeply cut Medicaid, which provides health care for low-income people, or carve savings from Medicare, which serves the elderly? Might they raise other taxes, something that's been anathema to the GOP for decades?

Paul came up with his own plan, which contains what he calls conservative reforms. His plan includes opening up the insurance market and allowing individuals to pool their insurance with others to secure the lowest premium.

Theres not one item in the plan that we think a Republican would object to, he told Fox News Sunday Morning Futures.

"There's going to be a temptation for policymakers to take the easy way out" and simply let deficits rise, said Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. She said for Republicans promising for decades to improve the nation's fiscal health, that choice "is going to look hypocritical."

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Edmund DeMarche is a news editor for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @EDeMarche.

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Paul reportedly leaves meeting with House Republicans on Obamacare - Fox News

Who’d Want to Limit Retirement Plans? House Republicans – New York Times


New York Times
Who'd Want to Limit Retirement Plans? House Republicans
New York Times
And yet, as early as Wednesday, House Republicans are expected to pass a measure to thwart efforts by California, Illinois and other states to establish basic retirement savings plans for employees at companies that do not offer such coverage. In ...

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Who'd Want to Limit Retirement Plans? House Republicans - New York Times