House Dems Push to Oust Aging Committee Leaders Following Election Defeat

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez

The Democratic Party is shaking up its committee leadership in the House of Representatives following its crushing November election defeat.

Despite failing to take back a majority, Democrats have retained their top leadership in the House of Representatives, tapping House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar to stay on in their current roles. Meanwhile, the knives have come out at the committee level, with a slew of Democratic representatives launching bids against more senior panel members for top committee posts.

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Commentary: Re-Inventing Kamala in 63 Days

Kamala Harris

In theory, it should be hard for Kamala Harris to win the presidency of the United States.

Under pressure, Harris just completed her first “live interview” — a disastrous performance that was mysteriously taped, edited, and emotionally supported by her co-interviewed running mate. During the interview, she claimed that her values remain the same even though her manifestations of them have admittedly changed. Translated, that means for the next 63 days, she will advocate for popular policies antithetical to her own values, which will inevitably resurface after the election once the current façade fades away.

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House Passes Bipartisan Resolution Establishing Trump Assassination Attempt Task Force

House Speaker Mike Johnson with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (composite image)

The House passed a resolution to form a bipartisan task force on Wednesday to investigate the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on July 13.

H.R. 1367, which was spearheaded by House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, passed the House in a unanimous vote. The task force was announced in the aftermath of U.S. Secret Service (USSS) Director Kimberly Cheatle’s evasive testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, which sparked bipartisan outrage and her subsequent resignation on Tuesday.

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Analysis: Democratic Retirements Could Help the House GOP Grow Its Majority in 2024

House Republicans appear to be in a better position to capitalize off of a wave of congressional retirements, as there are more Democratic-held open seats in swing districts that pose an opportunity for the GOP to flip in 2024.

There are currently 31 House members who are not seeking another term in the lower chamber, including 20 Democrats and 11 Republicans — nearly all of whom hold seats that are considered safe for the GOP. Four Democratic-held open seats in battleground districts in Michigan, Virginia and California are most likely to flip red, while several other seats are also up for grabs by the GOP in 2024, according to political analysts and electoral rankings.

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Commentary: The Speaker We Need

It might have been embarrassing, and it might have given the enemies in the political class ample opportunities to snicker and hurl insults. But at the end of the day, the result reached when Mike Johnson won a 220–209 vote over wannabe Def Poetry Jam participant Hakeem Jeffries was the best one America could have asked for.

We have, after three weeks of infighting and paralysis, a Speaker of the House — and what we have, by all indications, is something of which we can be very proud.

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Fiscal Conservatives from Arizona and Tennessee Helped Depose Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House

U.S. Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) laid it all on the line Tuesday afternoon in supporting a motion to vacate to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23) from the post he has tenuously held for less than a year.

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House Adjourns After 11th Failed Vote to Elect McCarthy Speaker, Deal Reportedly in the Works

The House of Representatives has adjourned for the evening after California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy failed to win the speaker’s gavel for the 11th time.

The speaker election started Tuesday but McCarthy has fallen short of reaching the simple majority threshold needed to win in the 222-212 GOP-led House.

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Democrat Poised to Succeed Pelosi Repeatedly Denied Legitimacy of Trump’s 2016 Election

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the New York Democrat poised to succeed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as his party’s leader in the House, has repeatedly denied the legitimacy of Donald Trump’s 2016 election.

But his claims of a stolen election and voter suppression have hardly gotten the same treatment as Trump and other Republicans who have raised ballot integrity issues and been endlessly branded as “election deniers.”

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