Congress could go around Ethics Committee if it doesn’t release Gaetz report

(WASHINGTON) — Several House Republicans stormed out of Tuesday morning’s conference meeting furious over Speaker Mike Johnson’s handling of the government funding bill – which still isn’t ready and puts the federal government on the brink of a shutdown at the end of the week.

Republicans had initially promised to release bill text over the weekend with the aim of holding a vote early in the week, but outspoken criticism from within their ranks has continually delayed negotiators from finalizing the legislation.

Johnson denied that the evolving package amounts to a so-called “Christmas tree omnibus,” but confirmed that the measure is not a clean continuing resolution and will include a disaster relief package — reported to be more than $100 billion — as well as $10 billion for the agricultural community.

Missouri Republican Rep. Eric Burlison called the speaker’s funding plan presented at the conference meeting a “total dumpster fire.”

“I think it’s garbage,” Burlison said, adding that he has conveyed his frustrations to Johnson, who is seeking to retain the speaker’s gavel in the new year.

“I’m disappointed,” Burlison said when asked about Johnson’s future. “I think that he can do better. He can communicate better. The fact that we haven’t seen the language today and we’re supposed to vote on it this week is unacceptable.”

South Carolina Republican Rep. Ralph Norman said he is frustrated with the funding plan as well.

“I’m not voting for the CR [continuing resolution],” he said.

Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy, a frequent critic of the leadership’s spending bills, said, “This is not the way to do business right.”

“We’re just fundamentally unserious about spending. And as long as you got a blank check, you can’t shrink the government. If you can’t shrink the government, you can’t live free,” Roy said.

The Texas congressman did not respond when asked if he’ll support the speaker in January.

Georgia Republican Rep. Rich McCormick said as he left the meeting, “I’m frustrated with the whole approach to this, because I think, once again, we’re just adding to the deficit without having any clear plan forward,”

After relying on Democrats for bipartisan support to pass the past five continuing resolutions, Johnson brushed off the criticism bubbling up within his ranks, stressing that the bill has not been released.

“I got a couple of friends who will just say that about any end of year funding measure,” Johnson said. “This is not an omnibus, OK? This is a small CR that we’ve had to add things to that were out of our control. These are not manmade disasters. These are things that the federal government has an appropriate role to do.”

Despite the growing tensions, Johnson expressed optimism that his speakership will overcome the challenges to buy the conference time until Republicans have unified control over Washington next year.

“I’m not worried about the speaker’s vote. We’re governing. Everybody knows we have difficult circumstances. We’re doing the very best we can under those circumstances,” Johnson said. “These are the hard choices that lawmakers have to make, but we will get the job done, as we always do. We will. We will keep moving forward, and in January, we have a new lease on all this.”

With government funding set to lapse at the end of the week, Johnson was steadfast that the House must abide by a 72-hour rule, where the clock starts to tee up a vote once bill text is released.

“I believe in the 72-hour roll rule,” Johnson said. “We’re committed to all of that. We’re going to take care of these obligations and get this done, and then we’re going to go to work in unified government in the 119th Congress. It begins in January.”

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(MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Pa.) — With less than two weeks to Election Day, one Pennsylvania county has unveiled a new mobile voter services van that aims to make voting more accessible for residents.

The van, the first one ever for the Keystone State, offers a convenient space where individuals can register to vote, apply for a mail-in ballot, or even fill out and submit their mail-in ballots right on the spot.

Neil Makhija, Montgomery County Commissioner and Chair of the Board of Elections, said the county wanted people to recognize that voting is something to celebrate.

“We have been showing up at fall festivals, community centers, senior centers, and letting people know that their voice matters,” Makhija said.

Makhija says local residents have been excited about the convenience of the van, stating they were thrilled to be able to vote before November.

The van represents a new approach by officials in Pennsylvania to gather votes. Instead of making voters deal with complicated procedures, officials are going out to meet voters and simplifying the voting process.

Pennsylvania will once again be crucial in the upcoming presidential election in November, as the state holds a significant number of electoral votes.

“We are witnessing what could be the closest presidential election in our lifetime,” Makhija said. “In Pennsylvania, it’s all that much more important because we can be the state that decides it all. I would love to come away from election night seeing everyone who was eligible cast their ballot.”

Pennsylvania is one of seven key swing states that will determine this year’s election. Both presidential candidates, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, are looking to garner the state’s 19 Electoral College votes.

Voters in Pennsylvania can vote by mail. Montgomery County officials recommend applying online. According to the Montgomery County government website, you can return your ballot by mail, at a drop box, or in person at a satellite office.

Voters with an illness or disability who cannot pick up or drop off their mail-in ballot must fill out the Designated Agent form to allow someone else to handle it.

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(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump responded Monday to special counsel Jack Smith’s move to dismiss the two felony cases against him.

“These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought,” he wrote on his social media platform.

“It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump added.

Vice President-elect JD Vance said Trump could have “spent the rest of his life in prison” had the outcome of the 2024 race been different.

“If Donald J. Trump had lost an election, he may very well have spent the rest of his life in prison,” Vance wrote on X. “These prosecutions were always political. Now it’s time to ensure what happened to President Trump never happens in this country again.”

Smith, in back-to-back court filings, cited the Justice Department’s “categorical” policy that he said bars the prosecution of a sitting president as the reason for his request to drop the federal election interference case and the classified documents case.

Trump pleaded not guilty to four charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, brought by Smith in connection with Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden. The case was plagued with delays and developments, including a Supreme Court decision that a president is entitled to some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts during their time in office.

Trump also pleaded not guilty to the 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified material after leaving the White House. The case was dismissed by a federal judge in Florida in July, though Smith had been appealing the decision.

During his presidential campaign, Trump told supporters he was their “retribution” and that he was “being indicted for you.”

Steven Cheung, the incoming White House communications director, called Smith’s decision a “major victory for the rule of law” and said Americans want Trump to end “weaponization of our justice system.”

Some of Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill also celebrated the development.

“Huge win for America, President Trump, and the fight against the weaponization of the justice system,” House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X. “This was ALWAYS about politics and not the law.”

California Democratic Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, however, said the Justice Department and the courts “failed to uphold the principle that no one is above the law.”

Schiff was a member of the House Jan. 6 Committee that spent more than a year investigating the Capitol attack. The panel, which voted to recommend charges against Trump, identified Trump and his actions after the 2020 election as the “central cause” of what transpired on Jan. 6, 2021.

“DOJ by neglecting to promptly investigate the events of Jan 6, and the courts by willfully delaying progress of the case and providing immunity,” Schiff wrote on X. “The public deserved better.”

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