A lot of people want to work for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. There were some 5,500 applicants for jobs in her Congressional office, the Washington Post reports.
Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo)
‘Here’s the system, it sucks:’ Meet the Hill staffers @AOC has tapped to upend Washington
Per @saikatc, AOC received ~5,500 job applicationshttps://t.co/7Ucs5NUvLo
February 14, 2019
The Post profiles two of the staffers who won spots, Ariel Eckblad, 31, the congresswoman’s legislative director, and Dan Riffle, 37, a legislative assistant.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says “bring it on” to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s plan to bring up the Green New Deal for a vote on the Senate floor.
Michael McAuliff (@mmcauliff)
Schumer to McConnell on bringing a vote on the #GreenNewDeal. "Bring it on."
February 14, 2019
Michael McAuliff (@mmcauliff)
Schumer is hammering McConnell's plan to hold a #GreenNewDeal vote as a political "stunt." Feels like Dem leaders are waking up (sorry @SenWhitehouse) to the power of the climate issue.
February 14, 2019
Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer)
Since Senator McConnell became @SenateMajLdr, there has not been one bill to meaningfully reduce carbon emissions.
I’m challenging @SenateGOP to agree to these 3 principles:
1. Climate change is real
February 14, 2019
2. It's caused by humans
3. Congress needs to act https://t.co/smp0YEFtPu
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Many taxpayers find themselves getting smaller refunds this year under the GOP tax bill, the Boston Globe reports.
The average 2018 refund so far is 8% smaller than last year, according to the IRS - $1,865 compared with $2,035.
Most taxpayers are paying less in income taxes overall after the legislation lowered rates. But for many that meant less money withheld from their paychecks throughout the year, as well as a smaller paycheck. Some taxpayers even found themselves owing money for the first time and complained about it online with the hashtag #trumptaxscam.
Lynne Patton, the top Housing and Urban Development official in New York and a former event planner for the Trump family, channeled Donald Trump’s comments about “shithole countries” in describing conditions in public housing apartments, NY1 reports.
Courtney Gross (@courtneycgross)
“Go on my page today, we went to a ton of shithole apartments as my boss would say,” @LynnePattonHUD tells crowd of @NYCHA tenants at Patterson Houses
February 14, 2019
Patton is spending a month living in the New York City Housing Authority to highlight troubles at the housing developments, which are about to get a federal monitor.
Several New York members of Congress are facing potential primary challenges after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez showed it is possible to knock off an entrenched incumbent there.
Among the possible primary contests, the New York Times reports:
- Some progressives are pushing to unseat Rep. Eliot Engel, the Foreign Relations Committee chair who represents the Bronx and Westchester. Sean McElwee, a co-founder of the progressive think tank Data for Progress, called finding a challenger a “top priority.” Andom Ghebreghiorgis, a Mount Vernon educator, is considering running, he told the Times.
- Rep. Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, could face a challenge from Lindsey Boylan, a former economic development adviser to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
- Bronx City Councilman Ritchie Torres may run against Rep. Jose Serrano.
- Brooklyn Rep. Yvette Clarke is likely to face a rematch against Adem Bunkeddeko, who ran against her in a close race last year.
Lawmakers are asking Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to punish an assistant secretary in her department who has refused to cooperate with an inspector general’s probe.
Three Democrats - House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings, and Senate Foreign Relations Ranking Member Bob Menendez - asked for formal discipline against Christine Ciccone, the assistant secretary for legislative affairs, Politico reported.
They released a memo from DHS’s inspector general, which says that the inspector general at the State Department has been attempting to interview Ciccone, but she has refused. The inspector general recommends disciplinary action against her.
The investigation concerns politically motivated retaliation against State Department employees when Ciccone was deputy chief of staff there.
“It is outrageous that a senior Department of Homeland Security official has not complied with requests of the Inspectors General of the Departments of State and Homeland Security,” the three lawmakers said, according to Politico. “Targeting of career government employees at the State Department, US Agency for International Development or any federal agency is unacceptable, and it is imperative that this kind of behavior not be tolerated.”
The third ranking Democrat in the House came to the defense of Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has faced accusations of anti-semitism.
“I think she’s an incredible young lady who has a tremendous future in politics,” Rep. James Clyburn, the House majority whip, said on CNN’s New Day. He urged his colleagues to “put this behind us.”
New Day (@NewDay)
"I think she's an incredible young lady who has a tremendous future in politics," says Rep. @WhipClyburn about tweets from Rep. Omar condemned by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle as anti-Semitic, adding, "I wish we would ... put this behind us" https://t.co/1HU2FpPEeF pic.twitter.com/ar6abdhRLC
February 14, 2019
The Senate is expected to vote Thursday on confirming Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, William Barr.
The vote is expected to be mostly along party lines, according to CNN. By contrast, Barr was unanimously confirmed to serve as attorney general under President George HW Bush.
In what may not be a vote of confidence in Trump’s support for the bipartisan deal to avoid a government shutdown, Chuck Grassley, the most senior Republican in the chamber, has asked the Senate to pray that he signs the legislation.
Burgess Everett (@burgessev)
Chuck Grassley asks the Senate to pray that Trump will sign the spending bill
February 14, 2019
McCabe began investigating Trump day after Comey firing
In his interview with CBS News’s Scott Pelley, former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe said he began an obstruction of justice investigation of Trump the day after the Comey firing and took steps to ensure that the Russia probe could not be shutdown.
I think the next day, I met with the team investigating the Russia cases. And I asked the team to go back and conduct an assessment to determine where are we with these efforts and what steps do we need to take going forward. I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground in an indelible fashion that were I removed quickly and reassigned or fired that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace. I wanted to make sure that our case was on solid ground. And if somebody came in behind me and closed it and tried to walk away from it, they would not be able to do that without creating a record of why they’d made that decision.
McCabe also said there were meetings at the Justice Department about whether the 25th Amendment could be invoked to remove Trump. The constitutional provision which ratified in 1967, allows the vice president to take over temporarily as acting president if he and a majority of cabinet officers declare that the President “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
One of the more unique figures in American politics passed away on Tuesday.
Lyndon LaRouche, a perennial presidential candidate, conspiracy theorist and convicted felon died at the age of 96.
LaRouche, who famously claimed that Queen Elizabeth II was a drug trafficker, built a cult of personality based out of a Northern Virginia compound. His influence peaked in the 1980s before he was convicted of mail fraud and spent seven years in federal prison.
President Donald Trump has responded on Twitter to former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe.
In excerpts of an interview with CBS that were released this morning, McCabe said Justice Department officials discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office and began investigating Trump himself for obstruction of justice after the May 2017 firing of FBI Director Jim Comey.
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a “poor little Angel” when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax - a puppet for Leakin’ James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating. Part of “insurance policy” in case I won....
February 14, 2019
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper is criticizing YouTube on the campaign trail. Hickenlooper who is in New Hampshire and considered likely to pursue a presidential bid, is going after the platform for promoting extreme content.
Dave Weigel (@daveweigel)
Hickenlooper is the first candidate I've seen to criticize YouTube for suggesting "more extreme" content if you watch political videos. "Since I learned about that, I dramatically cut down on my YouTube."
February 14, 2019
One Democratic presidential candidate is going out of his way to bash the proposed Green New Deal resolution in Congress, comparing to Trump’s pledge for Mexico to pay for a border wall.
In a statement, former Congressman John Delaney of Maryland said:
First of all, climate change is real and we need to take aggressive action to counter its effects. If we do nothing, it’s going to hurt our environment, it’s going to hurt our economy, it’s going to hurt agriculture, and it’s going to hurt our national security. And while I absolutely applaud all the enthusiasm behind the Green New Deal, because we need that energy to fight climate change, the Green New Deal as it has been proposed is about as realistic as Trump saying that Mexico is going to pay for the wall.
Mark Kelly, the former astronaut running for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Arizona, has raised over $1 million since announcing his candidacy on Tuesday.
Kelly had raised $1.1 million by the end of the day Wednesday, a figure more comparable to presidential campaigns rather than statewide campaigns.
The Democrat, who is married to former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, is hoping to face appointed incumbent Martha McSally in a November 2020 special election for the Senate seat vacated by John McCain’s death.
Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels who became a political celebrity in 2018, gave up financial control of his law firm late Wednesday.
Avenatti had faced allegations of trying to hide millions of dollars from a former law partner who had won a $10 million judgment against the firm. He settled the allegations by putting all the assets of the firm, Eagan Avenatti under the control of a court appointed receiver.
It marks another chapter in the fall from grace of Avenatti who once even considered a presidential bid.
Good morning.
Congress is poised to strike a bipartisan deal to avoid another government shutdown and fund the government through September, a federal judge ruled Paul Manafort lied to prosecutors and that Robert Mueller no longer has to honor their plea deal, and former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe said that he ordered an investigation of Donald Trump after the 2017 firing of Jim Comey.
It’s Thursday in American politics.
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