Republicans

Roll Call reports: When newly elected senators are sworn in Jan. 3 at the Capitol, one member won’t be there: Republican Jim Justice says he’ll serve out his term as West Virginia governor and postpone joining the Senate until his gubernatorial successor is inaugurated on Jan. 13. Justice said he wanted to avoid a scenario under which the state would …

The Parkersburg News-Sentinel reports: The West Virginia Water Development Authority approved giving $5 million to an Ohio-based Catholic-affiliated career and vocational college to expand into the state and to create a conservative think tank without a required recommendation from one of three state officials. The Water Development Authority (WDA) unanimously approved providing $5 million in Economic Enhancement Grant Fund (EEGF) …

“Unfortunately, we will not be able to deliver on President Trump’s agenda as happened in 2016 because it has to be done legislatively. If we don’t have a Speaker with the courage, vision and the plan – and if Speaker Johnson wants to be speaker – then he needs to lay out the plan and commit to that plan, not …

The Hill reports: President-elect Trump offered his complete and total endorsement of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Monday, days before a House vote on Friday to elect a new Speaker. “Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!” …

Austin’s ABC affiliate reports: Gov. Abbott’s office released a full statement on Sunday shortly after news of Jimmy Carter’s passing. In the statement, Abbott said Americans owe Carter gratitude for his service as the 39th president of the United States and extended prayers and condolences to the entire Carter family. But Abbott mistakenly extended condolences to Jimmy Carter’s late wife, …

“Here’s a reality that we have to deal with. By the end of the century, we’re projected to have a population decline. Our birth rate in the last 15 years has dropped from two children per woman to 1.66 per woman. So, the reality is we have a long-term population decline. We have a workforce shortage of doctors, nurses, engineers, …

Axios reports: If measured by the number of bills signed into law, the 118th Congress was by far the most unproductive since at least the 1980s, according to data from public affairs firm Quorum. That is not the only metric of success, but the stunning stat is a marker of how difficult the chaos of the last two years made …

The Washington Post reports: Azerbaijan demanded Sunday that Russia admit responsibility for the incident that led to the crash of a passenger plane on Christmas Day, killing 38 people, and pay compensation to the government and affected families. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in televised remarks that the national carrier’s plane, which was supposed to land in Grozny, the capital …

“The guy’s worth $450 billion as of today. So I don’t think he’s doing it for the money. He’s doing it for the bigger project and the bigger vision of America. He doesn’t need the dollars. He really doesn’t. So it’s not about, ‘If I get involved in this, I’ll get another little contract here or there.’ That’s nothing to …

“We know the movement that we have in Arizona, and I will never take that for granted. But there is a corrupt machine here that is hellbent on making sure I never hold office. So, I won’t put my family (and myself) through the torture of running again. I will go to Washington, D.C., return VOA News to its glory …

The Florida Phoenix reports: The Fifth District Court of Appeal ruled Thursday that although 83% of voters in Titusville approved a 2022 initiative establishing the right to clean water, the city in Brevard County couldn’t enact it because of a 2020 state law preventing local government from giving rights to bodies of water, plants, and animals. The City of Titusville …

Politico reports: Rep. Scott Perry said that he’s not committing to voting for Mike Johnson for speaker, adding a former Freedom Caucus chair to the conservative crowd sowing doubt over Johnson’s prospects to retake the gavel. “I think that Mike has done an admirable job under tough conditions, but I’m going to keep my options open,” Perry (R-Pa.) said today …

“You know, Congress has paid over $17 million in hush money for sexual misconduct inside of the offices in these buildings. And what’s more is that was taxpayer money. There may be some on this dais, I mean, I’m for turning loose all of these records. “Who in here has had the taxpayer pay for their misconduct charges, the hush …

The Hill reports: Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) were named the most active posters on the social platform X this year among all lawmakers in Congress. The Dec. 17 report by Quorum, a Washington-based public affairs firm, found that Roy was the most active member of Congress on X in 2024, authoring 9,799 posts. Cruz was …

Politico reports: House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris told Fox Business on Thursday that the chamber’s Republicans need to consider if current leadership “is what we need” going into unified GOP government next year. “Before the last couple of weeks, I was in his corner, but now we should consider what’s the best path forward,” Harris (R-Md.) said of Speaker …

Billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy writes on X: The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if we’re really serious about fixing the problem, we have …

Orlando’s CBS affiliate reports: Members of the former Reedy Creek Improvement District board of supervisors broke no criminal laws prior to Gov. Ron DeSantis appointing a new board to oversee Walt Disney World’s special taxing district, newly-released government records reveal. At the time, DeSantis expressed concern about a last-minute development agreement and restrictive covenants between Disney and the former RCID …

The Independent reports: GOP senator Tommy Tuberville has been mocked for claiming that Donald Trump has brought Christmas “back in America.” The Trump loyalist posted the festive message on social media platform X on Christmas Eve. “Thanks to President Trump, Christmas is back in America,” Tuberville said. But the former football coach was widely mocked in the responses. People were …

ABC News reports: Officials in Lincoln County, Oregon have received an anonymous letter urging people to report “brown folks” they suspect are undocumented immigrants, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. “The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office recently learned about a letter being circulated throughout Lincoln County which encourages community members to track and report information regarding people of color, specifically …

Tyler, Texas’s ABC affiliate reports: Senator Bob Hall of Canton has introduced Senate Bill 80, allowing Texas to declare federal actions unconstitutional. Hall has dubbed it the Texas Sovereignty Act. “We are an independent state, except for where the constitution gives the federal government specific authority to do something,” said Hall. The bill would create a bi-partisan joint committee to …