Republicans

“I watched him [Mike Johnson] make the number one priority of his Speakership funding Ukraine without any audit at all, at a time when the U.S. border was open, the United States itself was being invaded. And his priority was protecting the borders of a country whose language he doesn’t speak, he knows nothing about. It’s not the only country …

“Republican senators, we, the voters of this movement, will not accept the answer that you voted for Joe Biden’s nominees like Lloyd Austin but refuse Trump’s. “Many have asked which perch I will be fighting from next. And some of you throughout this conference have even given me a few suggestions. “My fellow Floridians have asked me to eye the …

“We have a president, we have a vice president, we have a speaker. It feels as if Elon Musk is our prime minister! And I spoke with Elon a couple of times this week. I think many of us — well, unelected – but he has a voice. And I think a large part of that voice is a reflection …

Truthout reports: After a record-breaking year for anti-trans legislation, 2025 is shaping up to be even more challenging for transgender and queer people across the United States. A legislative tracker maintained by Erin In The Morning and other volunteers has found that nearly 120 anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ bills have already been filed in states nationwide ahead of the 2025 legislative …

The Hill reports: Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio praised his son Anthony, a walk-on player for the Florida Gators, who scored his first touchdown in the school’s Gasparilla Bowl on Friday night. Anthony Rubio, a running back, scored in the waning minutes of the game against Tulane. Florida won, 33-8. The touchdown set off a frenzy among his teammates, with …

CNN reports: Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky called Speaker Mike Johnson’s handling of the situation “not that great,” saying he had a lack of “situational awareness” to know the first bill wouldn’t pass. He also expressed frustration at adding a debt limit increase into the bill, after President-elect Donald Trump demanded it on Thursday. “In some sense, there’s an institutional …

Axios reports: The MAGA-verse, with President-elect Trump and Elon Musk at the helm, continues to wield unprecedented power over Congress — but it has also found its limits. Three times now, the influential voices surrounding Trump — often organizing on X — have failed to get exactly what they want. John Thune was elected to be Senate majority leader, despite …

Cleveland’s ABC affiliate reports: Advocates condemned Ohio lawmakers for passing another anti-LGBTQ bill as the General Assembly wrapped up, urging Gov. Mike DeWine to veto the legislation, though DeWine has indicated he will sign it. The Ohio Senate passed House Bill 8 and the Ohio House concurred with changes made to the bill, sending it to DeWine’s desk. He will …

Politico reports: House Republicans voted in their closed-door conference meeting to pursue a funding plan that will require Democratic votes and strips out a debt limit measure President-elect Donald Trump is pushing, according to more than a dozen Republicans leaving the meeting. The plan will also include a one-year farm bill extension and the $110 billion disaster aid package Republicans …

The Washington Post reports: The relationship between billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and billionaire Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk is warming up, a Friday morning exchange on Musk’s social media app X suggested. Two days after the tech titans dined together with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Bezos broadcast his agreement with Musk’s opinion that it was necessary to …

“When I was speaker, we had two government shutdowns, one was pretty long, I think 20 some days. It convinced President Clinton that we were serious and it convinced the American people that we were going to keep our word even if it was hard. “I think that everybody misjudged what President Trump won when they bring in a 1,500 …

Florida Politics reports: New legislation could give the state government control over presidential libraries, in a move seemingly designed to stop local interference against a future facility for President-elect Donald Trump. Rep. Alex Andrade will carry the House version of the legislation. “I think it’s brilliant,” the Panhandle Republican told Florida Politics. Central to the legislative premise is the idea …

Amarillo’s ABC affiliate reports: The Bible is back on Canyon ISD shelves after being temporarily removed under a new state law banning sexually explicit material from school libraries. House Bill 900, known as the READER Act (Restricting Explicit and Adult Designated Educational Resources), states, “a library material vendor must perform a contextual analysis of the material to determine whether the …

CNN reports: As Christmas approaches and an expected record number of people across the country set off on their journeys, they may encounter travel trouble: winter weather combined with a possible government shutdown that could leave TSA agents and air traffic controllers working without a paycheck. More than 119 million people are expected to travel at least 50 miles from …

The Hill reports: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Republicans have arrived at a plan C to avert a shutdown and the House will vote Friday morning on the legislation. “Yeah, yeah, we have a plan,” Johnson said Friday morning as he entered the Capitol. “We’re expecting votes this morning, so you all stay tuned. We’ve got a plan.” He did …

“Look, I’ll say one thing. The Democrats just voted to shut down the government, even though we had a clean CR, because they didn’t want to give the president negotiating leverage during his first term — during the first year of his new term. And number two, because they would rather shut down the government and fight for global censorship. …

The Associated Press reports: Republicans’ decision to abandon a congressional spending plan will cost troops their paychecks over the holidays unless some agreement is reached before Friday’s deadline to prevent a government shutdown, the Pentagon warned. Even if they don’t get paid, those troops will be required to report for duty both overseas and at home, Pentagon press secretary Maj. …

New Orleans’ NPR affiliate reports: A group of high-level managers at the Louisiana Department of Health walked into a Nov. 14 meeting in Baton Rouge expecting to talk about outreach and community events. Instead, they were told by an assistant secretary in the department and another official that department leadership had a new policy: Advertising or otherwise promoting the COVID, …

CNN reports: The bill required two-thirds of the majority to pass. It failed because of opposition from conservative Republicans and almost all House Democrats. Republicans can try again to pass the bill through a simple majority, but that would also be tough and likely to fail. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told House Democrats in a closed-door meeting that he …

NPR reports: President-elect Donald Trump announced “success” in coming up with a new plan to fund the government and lift the debt ceiling a day before a government shutdown, urging Congress to swiftly pass it in votes as soon as Thursday evening. Trump’s social media post landed as Republicans said they had narrowed in on a tentative accord after grueling …