U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks on House Republican debt ceiling plan (April 26, 2023)

House Republicans passed a debt ceiling hike Wednesday.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy pushed his package to raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion through the House in a close vote. But the White House continues to say that it will not negotiate on the issue.

The federal government could default as soon as early June.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted the House’s Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, calling it a “gut punch” and a “Default On America,” “This plan means fewer jobs, higher costs for the American people, particularly average middle class people, would leave police, first responders, border patrol, and our brave veterans all hanging out to dry. There are dramatic slashes with each of those very necessary functions.”

Schumer said a clean debt ceiling had been passed before in a bipartisan manner twice under President Trump and once under President Obama.

Congressman Nick Langworthy issued a statement on the plan, saying, “Today, I was proud to vote for the Limit Save Grow Act that is the first step to breaking Washington’s addiction to spending and getting our nation’s finances back on track. This plan is a responsible, reasonable framework for spending reforms that the American people are demanding. It’s time for President Biden to stop the games and come to the table to negotiate.”

Schumer said the cuts in the House’s plan are not abstract including the possibility that 2 million New York residents could lose Medicaid coverage, “It slashes federal heating assistance, LIHEAP, that upstate families and seniors use to stay safe. We lose close to a billion dollars in LIHEAP and would reduce the average benefit a household would receive by $400. New York does better with LIHEAP than any other state and it would hurt us dramatically.”

Schumer said there could be a $144 million cut in SNAP benefits for New Yorkers which would affect 53,000 residents in the state.

Moody’s analytics warned that “dramatic” cuts to government spending in the House Republican’s plan would spark a 2024 recession that costs the economy 2.6 million jobs and lifts the unemployment rate near 6%.

A nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis released Tuesday showed the Republican plan would reduce federal deficits by $4.8 trillion over the decade if the proposed changes were enacted into law.

This came after four days and 14 failed ballots, the longest the House has gone leaderless in a century.

The standoff ended with far-right Republican holdouts voting present, which dropped the tally McCarthy needed.

The tally was 216-212 with Democrats voting for leader Hakeem Jeffries, and six Republican holdouts to McCarthy simply voting present.

The agreement McCarthy presented to the holdouts from the Freedom Caucus and others centers around rules changes they have been seeking for months. Those changes would shrink the power of the speaker’s office and give rank-and-file lawmakers more influence in drafting and passing legislation.

At the core of the emerging deal was the reinstatement of a House rule that would allow a single lawmaker to make a motion to “vacate the chair,” essentially calling a vote to oust the speaker.

Other wins for the holdouts include provisions in the proposed deal to expand the number of seats available on the House Rules Committee; to mandate 72 hours for bills to be posted before votes; and to promise to try for a constitutional amendment that would impose federal limits on the number of terms a person could serve in the House and Senate.

Member-elects were finally sworn into office following the election of McCarthy as Speaker, including 23rd Congressional District Representative Nick Langworthy.

Langworthy, who supported McCarthy through the entire balloting process, issued a statement that said, “Kevin McCarthy led us to a majority and he will be an incredible leader for the House of Representatives. We will keep our Commitment to America by reducing inflation, securing our borders, taking on China and fighting for safer communities for all of us.”

Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy after first of three rounds of balloting on January 5th to elect Speaker of the House (January 5, 2023)

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives failed an 11th time to elect a House Speaker on Thursday.

The House GOP failed to come to a consensus in three rounds of voting on Thursday to elect California Republican Kevin McCarthy as the Speaker.

This has been the longest contest for speaker in 164 years.

McCarthy told reporters that while there has been progress in negotiations, there was no timeline on when he could get to 218 votes.

His bid for speaker has been stymied by about 20 fellow Republicans.

New York Democrat Hakeem Jeffries continues to have the unanimous support of his caucus.

The House will reconvene at noon today to continue balloting.

House

Conservative Republican foes have kept him from getting close to a majority in the latest round of voting for speaker that has now stretched into a third day.

The House adjourned for a few hours early Wednesday evening only to then adjourn until noon Thursday.

In the three rounds of balloting Wednesday, 20 Republicans voted for Byron Donalds as an alternative to McCarthy. Donalds is one of the few Black Republicans in Congress and has represented a Florida district since 2021. One Republican, Victoria Spartz, voted present.

Republicans will hold a narrow 222-212 majority in the House, with one current vacancy, requiring McCarthy to win at least 218 votes to claim the speakership, assuming all 434 lawmakers vote. Under a provision in the U.S. Constitution, he also would become second in line of succession to the presidency.

McCarthy, a staunch conservative himself, has sought for years to lead the House. Over the past several weeks, he has met repeatedly with his Republican foes to secure their support.

McCarthy offered to change the House’s governing rules in several ways, including to permit snap votes to declare the speakership vacant and select someone else if they did not like his policy stances or how the party caucus was conducting its promised investigations of Biden and his administration.

Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, with all 212 Democrats voting for him, led the voting for the speakership, although he has no chance of winning the job because no Republicans plan to vote for him to help him reach the 218 majority.

The 77 new House Representatives, including 23rd Congressional District member-elect Nick Langworthy, are in limbo until a House Speaker is elected. New House members cannot be sworn in until a Speaker is elected.

California Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy failed to secure the 218 votes necessary to become speaker of the House in three rounds of voting. The House cannot conduct any business, including swearing in new members, until a speaker is chosen.

This is the first time in 100 years that the speaker election went to multiple rounds of balloting.

The longest vote in U.S. history took place in 1855, lasting 133 rounds over two months, from December 1855 to February 1856.

McCarthy faces a Republican bloc of critics who want changes to the way the House operates. Although he’s given in to many of their demands, he remains short of the votes needed.

House members are expected to resume voting on a speaker today.

The new Senate also gaveled into session Tuesday. Democrat Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are back in their respective positions. Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington was elected as the new president pro tem.

Donald Trump

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has been impeached for a second time, now becoming the only U.S. President to hold that dubious distinction.

On Wednesday members of the House sped to a vote on impeachment just a week after president Trump encouraged supporters to “fight like hell” against the November election results, and then a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. The impeachment also comes just one week before his term is set to end and President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

Late Wednesday afternoon the House voted 232-197 to impeach Trump, with 10 Republicans joining the vast majority of Democrats in the effort.  During debate on the articles of impeachment, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) asked Republicans and Democrats to “search their souls” ahead of the historic afternoon vote.

“We know that we faced enemies to the Constitution. We know that we experienced the insurrections that violated the sanctity of the People’s capitol and attempted to overturn the duly recorded will of the American People. And we know that the President of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion, against our common country. He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love,” Pelosi said.

Minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) also spoke and admonished those who participated in the raid, saying violence is never a legitimate form of protest. And while he didn’t support the impeachment effort, he did acknowledge that it was the supporters of the president – and not anyone else – who was to blame for the raid.

“Some say the riots were caused by Antifa. There is absolutely no evidence of that and Conservatives should be the first to say so,” McCarthy said.

Tom Reed

While many members of the House did speak during the lengthy debate on Wednesday, local Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) did not. But he did hold a press call with regional media on Wednesday to discuss the matter.

“There have been numerous other issues that I’ve been attending to as we speak and my comments on impeachment have been widely reported and widely known, so I don’t anticipate I will be given floor comments on this issue,” he told Reporters on Wednesday, less than two hours before the impeachment vote took place.

The New York Times published an op/ed by Reed on Tuesday, where he called for the censure of the president, rather than impeachment. He said he was against impeachment because he knew it would be a rushed process with just seven days remaining in the president’s term.

“I think snap impeachment is not the way to go and not substantively the right thing to do in regards to not having an investigation, not respecting due process rights, and not respecting and debating the issues of Constitutional free speech that is involved here. And also the division and anger that is being exacerbated by this snap impeachment can not be underestimated,” Reed said.

The impeachment proceedings came one week after a violent, pro-Trump mob breached the U.S. Capitol, sending lawmakers into hiding and hindering the nation’s long history of peaceful transfers of power.  The riot has also forced a reckoning among some Republicans, who have stood by Trump throughout his presidency and largely allowed him to spread false attacks against the integrity of the 2020 election.

The impeachment in the House now leads to a trial in the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is required to remove the president from office.

Trump has been at this point before. The House impeached him in late 2019 for his pressure campaign on Ukraine and the Senate ultimately voted to acquit after quickly rushing through the trial process without calling any witnesses.  This time, the trial process is expected to be far more extensive with Democrats controlling the Senate.

Even if found guilty, the actual removal of Trump is highly unlikely before the Jan. 20 inauguration of Biden. But some say that the Senate trial – whenever it takes place – is still necessary in order to lay out all the evidence against the President and his alleged involvement in the insurrection and putting it on the public, and historic, record. A guilty verdict could also lead to Trump never being able to hold office again.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) says a large number of lawmakers in Washington are throwing their support behind an effort to increase funding for an ongoing federal diabetes research and education program.

Diabetes has been a long-time focus for Reed, who is a recovering Type 2 diabetic and whose son has also been diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic. The area congressman serves along side Colorado Democrat Diana DeGette as the co-chairs of the Congressional Diabetes Caucus. On Tuesday, Reed said they are introducing bipartisan legislation to continue funding what is known as the Special Diabetes Program for an additional five years, and increase its annual funding from $150 million to $200 million a year.

“Much of this $200 million a year goes to programs that obviously address the needs of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics overall, but in particular there is a sub component of the Special Diabetes Program specifically designated for Native Americans, which provides funding to Indian Health Services to take on the issue of Type 2 diabetes in our Native American populations across America,” Reed said.

Reed said that 378 members of the House have signed on in support of the increased funding and a letter of support has been sent to both Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Meanwhile, the cost of insulin for diabetic Americans continues to be on the rise, forcing some to make tough decisions on how to pay for insulin while also trying to make ends meet.

WRFA asked Reed if Congress is working on addressing the ongoing issue of expensive insulin, and he said that some work is underway to reign in the expensive cost of insulin and other prescription drugs.

“On the other side of the diabetes caucus, over the last year-and-a-half to two years, we have taken specific actions to highlight the cost of insulin and the ever increasing cost of insulin. If you look at the drug-pricing debate that is taking place on the hill right now in regards to biologic patent reforms, you will see that insulin is the cornerstone of that debate of overall drug prices in America,” Reed noted.

Reed also said that if anyone in the district is having difficulty getting insulin to treat diabetes, they can reach out to his office and he will help them out through a current program being offered by insulin manufacturers.

“If anyone out there is in need of insulin, [my office] will put them in contact with these manufacturers directly so they can deliver to some of them – at insulin costs no greater than $20, $25 of a supply that they need. That type of behavioral change is something  I support and applaud and want to raise awareness of so we can do that instead of always looking toward a legislative tool. This is immediate. This is in existence today,” Reed said.

Congressman Tom Reed’s local office number in Jamestown is (716) 708-6369.

National headlines have recently taken on the issue of rising insulin costs, with some stories focusing on Americans having to go to Canada in order to get affordable insulin. Meanwhile, the attorney General of Kentucky announced this week his office will sue the nation’s three largest insulin providers due to the expensive costs.

President Donald Trump on Feb. 5 during his 2019 State of the Union address before Congress (Image Courtesy of White House)

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump sought the removal of special counsel Robert Mueller, discouraged witnesses from cooperating with prosecutors and prodded aides to mislead the public on his behalf. That’s according to the redacted report from Mueller that details multiple efforts the president made to curtail an investigation into Russia meddling and possible collusion by the Trump Campaign that he feared would cripple his administration.

According to the Associated Press, Trump’s attempts to seize control of the investigation, and his effort to direct others on how to influence it, “were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests,” Mueller wrote.

The report’s bottom line largely tracked the findings revealed in Attorney General William Barr’s four-page memo released last month — no collusion with Russia but no clear verdict on obstruction. But in addition, it added new layers of detail about Trump’s efforts to thwart the investigation.

• READ THE REDACTED REPORT

Trump himself was never questioned in person, but the report’s appendix includes 12 pages of his written responses to queries from Mueller’s team.

Mueller deemed Trump’s written answers — rife with iterations of “I don’t recall” — to be “inadequate.” He considered issuing a subpoena to force the president to appear in person but decided against it after weighing the likelihood of a long legal battle.

The report also indicated that members of the presidents staff admitted to lying to the public, including press secretary Sarah Sanders – who had told the press in May 2017 that she had heard from “countless members of the FBI” who supported the firing of James Comey. She later admitted that was a “slip of the tongue,” investigators wrote in the document.

Sanders also recalled that her statement in a separate press interview that rank-and-file FBI agents had lost confidence in Comey was a comment she made “in the heat of the moment” that was not founded on anything.

As predicted by many, supporters and opponents of the President are now using the report to amplify well-rehearsed arguments about Trump’s conduct – Republicans casting him as a victim of harassment and Democrats depicting the president as stepping far over the line to derail the investigation.

A defiant Trump pronounced it “a good day” and tweeted “Game Over” in a typeface mimicking the “Game of Thrones” logo.

Top Republicans in Congress saw vindication, too.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) said it was time to move on from Democrats’ effort to “vilify a political opponent.”

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23), who represents Chautauqua County in the house, released a statement saying that the report should be celebrated.

“Today the Mueller report was released, but the result remains the same — no Russian collusion. This should be celebrated,” Reed’s statement read. “Now it is time for our country to heal because all politics all the time is tearing our country apart and hurting real people. We must end this culture of division and work together on policies to help people.”

Reed’s statement had no mention of the obstruction charges that were left primarily unanswered.

.Democrats, meanwhile, say the report revealed troubling details about Trump’s conduct in the White House. Noting that while Mueller stopped short of saying definitively that obstruction charges should be brought forward, he also indicated that such charges could be brought forward by Congress, not the Justice Department.

“The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgement,” the report said. “At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgement. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) issued a joint statement on Thursday accusing Attorney General Barr of “deliberately distorting” special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report.

“Special Counsel Mueller’s report paints a disturbing picture of a president who has been weaving a web of deceit, lies and improper behavior and acting as if the law doesn’t apply to him,” the Democratic leaders said. “But if you hadn’t read the report and listened only to Mr. Barr, you wouldn’t have known any of that because Mr. Barr has been so misleading.”

House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) added that the report “outlines disturbing evidence that President Trump engaged in obstruction of justice and other misconduct.” He sent a letter to the Justice Department requesting that Mueller himself testify before his panel “no later than May 23″ and said he’d be issuing a subpoena for the full special counsel report and the underlying materials.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) – who represents Chautauqua County in Washington – is wishing outgoing house Speaker John Boehner following his announcement Friday that he would be stepping down as speaker at the end of October.

In a prepared statement sent out to the media, Reed said he respects Boehner’s leadership and decision to step down, and he’s hoping that his party can rally around the next speaker.

“I appreciate John Boehner’s leadership over the last 5 years. He worked diligently to advance the conservative principles necessary to lead America forward. I respect his decision to step down as Speaker of the House and believe that it is only fair to allow him to depart gracefully.” Reed said.

“I am hopeful that as a party, we can rally around the next Speaker, so we can continue to fight back against the destructive agenda that is hurting job creation, causing stagnated wages and forcing the top-down regulations onto our small businesses and families. I care about the future of our nation and believe we have the opportunity for a fresh start. We must come together as a country to creatively solve our challenges and not let politics triumph over good governance and putting the people’s business first.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Boehner tried to do the right thing under almost impossible circumstances and will be missed by both Democrats and Republicans alike.

The early favorite to succeed Boehner as speaker is Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, who serves on the House Republican Steering Committee and the House committees of Agriculture, Administration and Homeland Security.