Tag Archives: US Senate

TMZ reports: Lindsey Graham is going high in response to Chelsea Handler going low, after she claimed to out him on Twitter. We got the Senator from South Carolina Friday at Reagan National Airport, and asked him about Handler’s #NationalComingOutDay tweet. Instead of blasting her — as many others have — Graham insisted Chelsea had every right to say whatever …

CBS Los Angeles reports: Authorities formally charged a 47-year-old Lancaster man with attempting to threaten the life of California Senator Dianne Feinstein. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Craig Steven Shaver faces one felony count each of attempted criminal threats and possession of a firearm — a revolver — by a felon. The case also alleges Shaver was …

The Associated Press reports: The Senate confirmed 15 more judges late Thursday and left town until after next month’s midterm elections, as Republicans chalked up more wins days after Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. Clearing the judicial nominees provided a signature walk-off for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has focused on reshaping the judiciary with more …

The Texas Tribune reports: U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, raised $38.1 million for his U.S. Senate campaign in the third quarter, a new record for the largest fundraising quarter ever in a U.S. Senate race, according to his campaign. The haul more than tripled Republican incumbent Ted Cruz’s fundraising for the past three months, which Cruz has said was …

Politico reports: Twenty Democratic senators on Thursday urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to reverse course on the “unnecessarily cruel” decision to end an Obama-era policy that granted visas to the same-sex partners of LGBTQ diplomats whose unions are not recognized by their home countries. In July, the U.S. mission to the United Nations informed foreign delegations that beginning Oct. …

Salon reports: Sen. Ted Cruz has decided to not participate in a CNN town hall event with his Democratic rival, Rep. Beto O’Rourke. So instead, O’Rourke will get a full hour on the cable news network alone. The town hall event will be held in the Texas town of McAllen and had initially been accepted by both candidates. As CNN …

The Washington Post reports: Senate Democrats fell one vote short Wednesday in a bid to overturn the Trump administration’s expansion of short-term health insurance plans that do not have to cover preexisting conditions and certain kinds of health care that the Affordable Care Act requires. By forcing a vote on what they term “junk” plans, however, Democrats managed to put …

The Washington Post recaps a new anti-Ted Cruz ad: The camera cuts to a white-haired man sitting in a dimly lit restaurant, its walls lined with Texas license plates and vintage Route 66 road signs, a bottle of red hot sauce on the table. He clutches a diner mug in one hand. “Somebody left something on my door the other …

We’ll likely see a lot of these. From the right wing Hot Air: Could Sheldon Whitehouse suddenly find himself vulnerable to a Republican challenger in deep-blue Rhode Island? Almost certainly not, but it’s certainly fun to play out this string anyway. Bob Flanders launched a new ad highlighting the most excruciatingly embarrassing five minutes in recent Senate history — Whitehouse’s …

CBS News reports: Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins on Sunday slammed opponents’ efforts to fundraise against her vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, calling them nothing more than blatant ploys to buy votes in a future election. “They are asking me to perform an official act and if I do not do what they want, $2 million …

Talking Points Memo reports: In 2016, when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced Republicans’ plan to keep the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat open until the next president took office, a year away, he issued a conclusive statement. “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy …

“Frankly, we are just less than a month away from an election. Folks who feel very strongly one way or the other about the issues in front of us should get out and vote and participate. There’s only ever been one justice that’s been impeached and I think talking about it at this point isn’t necessarily healing us and moving …

“I’m happy because the effort to railroad and humiliate and railroad a man I’ve known for 20 years, failed. I’m happy that those who destroyed his life fell short. I’ve never been more pissed in my life. I voted for Sotomayor and Kagan. I would’ve never done this to them. This was character assassination. This was wanting power too much, …

Axios reports: Sen. Susan Collins told CNN’s State of the Union Sunday that she initially thought Brett Kavanaugh would have to withdraw after hearing Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s “compelling and painful testimony,” but she changed her mind when Kavanaugh came back with a “forceful” denial. Collins said Kavanaugh “should not have taken a shot at the Clintons” during his testimony, …

The Washington Post reports: The Senate voted on Saturday afternoon to confirm Brett M. Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court justice by the narrowest margin in more than a century. Later that day, Republican lawmakers celebrated raucously — on “Saturday Night Live,” at least. “We could tell that people really wanted Kavanaugh,” Beck Bennett’s Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told …

NBC News reports: Just before 1 p.m. ET, hundreds of protesters crossed police lines to gather on the steps of the Senate, chanting, “November is coming.” Some held large red signs with black letters, stretched across several steps that read, “We believe all survivors.” Two women kneeled in front of the steps, fists raised in the air, before hundreds more …

Ted Cruz is still whining about his restaurant ordeal. The Texas senator explained to Sean Hannity on Fox News that they were going to dinner when “unfortunately somehow the protestors were waiting for us as we walked in.” “They surrounded us, they screamed at us,” he said. “They basically shut down the restaurant and made it impossible to have dinner. …

Raw Story reports: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin cited a nearly decade-old joke at her expense to warn fellow Alaskan Lisa Murkowski about her chances at re-election after the GOP senator came out against confirming Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. “I can see 2022 from my house,” the one-time vice presidential candidate tweeted, referencing Tina Fey’s Saturday Night Live impersonation …

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin waited until Susan Collins finished her diatribe to tweet that he too will vote “yes” in tomorrow’s final confirmation vote. That means a very likely 51-49 final vote. It’s over, folks. The Washington Examiner reports: Sen. Joe Manchin split with his party Friday, vowing to support Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. The stunning …

CNN reports: Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine — one of four senators who has not yet said whether they will vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court — is expected to announce her decision on the nomination at 3 p.m. ET on Friday, a Senate source told CNN. A source close to the Senate said that the …