Congressional Hall Monitor

Progressive lawmakers who decried the U.S. decision to remove recognition from Venezuela’s socialist dictator piled on the criticism of Brazil’s President Jair Bolsanaro Wednesday. Bolsonaro and President Donald Trump met in Washington, D.C., Tuesday. The progressives’ position on Venezuela is very different from that of more seasoned Democratic lawmakers including Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, who agrees with the Trump administration ...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesn’t support the Green New Deal resolution that’s backed by Democratic lawmakers and presidential candidates, according to Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib. Tlaib, a Democrat and Green New Deal supporter, told Fox 2 Detroit that Pelosi’s lack of support for the Green New Deal and Medicare for All hadn’t stopped progressives from pushing those bills. “What’s incredible ...

Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee said the electoral college was “conceived in sin” and claimed it was invented to keep black people down. “This is all conceived in sin and perpetuating slavery on the American people and on the African-American people, directly,” Cohen said on “CNN Right Now” Tuesday. “We need to give the people who understand from town ...

Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz criticized a newly released United Nations report on Monday that concluded Israel committed war crimes against Palestinians during a 2018 protest despite Hamas’s use of human shields. “This U.N. report is on its face absurd and dishonest and we know because they have been doing it for a long time,” Cruz said on a telephone ...

Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar blamed President Donald Trump on Sunday after reports surfaced that members of the Minnesota Democratic Party are considering removing her from congressional office for her repeated anti-Semitic statements. “I’m sorry Mr. [Donald Trump],” Omar tweeted in response to the reports. “I am for real, you can’t #MuslimBan us from Congress!” I am sorry Mr. @realDonaldTrump ...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham pledged Thursday that he will hold hearings to get to the bottom of whether the FBI misled surveillance court judges by using the Steele dossier to obtain spy warrants against a former Trump campaign adviser. “I promise, everybody in the country, that in the Senate, we’re going to have hearings about the FISA process,” ...

The House of Representatives passed a resolution which would make Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into President Donald Trump’s campaign public when it is completed. The resolution was passed unanimously in a 420-0 vote Thursday. There were four members who voted “present.” “I’ve said to millions of Americans on television that I support releasing the Mueller report,”  Florida Republican Matt Gaetz ...

House Republican lawmakers are asking Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold hearings on the Green New Deal. “As the committees to which it has been referred, we have a responsibility to fully understand how the Green New Deal will affect the cost of living and economic mobility of hardworking,” 11 House GOP members wrote to Pelosi on Thursday. “Americans. We need ...

The U.S. Senate holds floor debate on President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on the border. Watch:

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives gathered outside the Capitol Building on Wednesday to announce the party’s strategy to bring anti-infanticide legislation to the floor after House Democrats rejected a vote 17 times. “There are some issues you really can’t believe that you have to have a debate about and this is certainly one of those,” GOP Conference Chair ...

Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green broke with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, vowing to force a vote to impeach President Donald Trump Tuesday. Green, who has previously had two bills to impeach Trump overwhelmingly rejected by the House of Representatives, said in an interview with C-SPAN that he is pushing for a third impeachment vote. This comes one day after Pelosi said ...

GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said he will stand with President Donald Trump and vote “no” on the Senate’s resolution of disapproval of his national emergency. “Look, first of all, we have a crisis at the border. And it’s clear to anybody who’s looked at the situation,” Hawley said Tuesday on “Fox & Friends.” “Congress has heard testimony on this over ...

Former FEC Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky called for an investigation into alleged campaign finance violations by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her top aide. “There seems to be enough evidence here to justify opening a criminal investigation,” von Spakovsky wrote in a Fox News op-ed Sunday. Ocasio-Cortez and her top aide Saikat Chakrabarti have since December 2017 controlled the outside PAC ...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed Saturday that former President Ronald Reagan used certain rhetoric to pit white working class Americans against brown and black working class Americans. “A perfect example of how special interests and the powerful have pitted white working class Americans against brown and black working class Americans is Reaganism in the ’80s when he started talking about welfare queens,” ...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has compiled a slew of ethics complaints during her first few months in Congress without providing much in the way of a response for any of them Watchdog groups have leveled ethics complaints at Ocasio-Cortez over her use of social media and alleged willingness to set up a million-dollar slush fund Ocasio-Cortez has not yet fully responded ...