Rep. Chip Roy stated, 'We aren't getting the job done. Part of that is because we are bound by this big, broken, fake filibuster of 60 votes. But part of it is you gotta have the willpower to do it.'
The Senate unanimously approved a bill Thursday to partially reopen the Department of Homeland Security, sending it back to the House as Washington edges closer to ending the longest-ever partial government shutdown.
Organizational filibustering refers to strategies that delay and obstruct efforts to pursue social justice in systems. These additions can stretch out the process of implementation of diversity strategic plans or multicultural programs for years. Change agents can become battle-fatigued and give up their efforts. They can also become so disheartened that they leave a group or organization altogether.
If we want to bring down the cost of housing, we've got to build a lot more. And what I love about this bill is that it has more than 40 different provisions in it, all of which aim in the same direction, which is to give a push toward building more housing.
Last week- after the Wall Street Journal broke more news about the Trump family's dodgy crypto-business dealings and before the President shared a racist video of the Obamas depicted as dancing apes-the Amazon entrepreneur Jeff Bezos decided that one of his smaller properties, the Washington Post, has proved such a drag on his two-hundred-and-thirty-billion-dollar fortune that prudence required that he obliterate much of its newsroom.
In perhaps a vain attempt to prove themselves moderate, the Democratic lawmakers helped override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's vetoes. Voters responded with the kind of ballot-box fury that should serve as a lesson to other incumbents. It wasn't just a case that the incumbents lost. They were buried, with several of them getting trounced by margins of 40 points or more.
The legislation, if passed, would also curtail other members of the executive branch from profiting on the platforms, or face fines of at least $10,000 for each violation. The bill also states that violators will have to pay back profits made in trades.
I think we know what the agenda items are. Accomplishing those is going to be hard with a small majority. The upshot is that Trump's prime-time address is unlikely to make more than a ripple in the congressional agenda over the coming months. It's the reality, Republicans acknowledged Wednesday, of life in Washington right now: Despite its trifecta, the party's legislative ambitions are being hemmed in by its barely-there majorities.
The interchamber tensions between Democrats are becoming a regular feature of funding fights in the second Trump term. Lawmakers, strategists and voters alike exploded in anger last March when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and a handful of colleagues allowed a spending package to move forward amid the Elon Musk-led DOGE assault on federal agencies. In November, tempers again flared when a handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to end a record 43-day shutdown.
The party would need to flip four seats to restore the majority it lost in 2022. (Democrats currently hold 47 seats, and with J.D. Vance's tie-breaking vote, the requisite number for control is 51.) And the 2026 map is forbidding: With only one Republican-held seat up for grabs in a blue state and two Democratic-held seats up in states Donald Trump won, the odds of the chamber switching hands have looked pretty long.
The death of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother and U.S. citizen who was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday, has the potential to shake the political landscape in ways reminiscent of George Floyd's killing in 2020. The Trump administration initially claimed Good weaponized her vehicle in an act of domestic terrorism, an account that appears to be contradicted by video evidence.
Age has long been a point of debate in American politics, but it becomes especially controversial when lawmakers remain in office well beyond traditional retirement years. As the nation grapples with issues like healthcare, technology, and economic change, questions naturally arise about how age, generation status, and experience influence leadership at the highest levels of government. For some voters, longevity in office represents wisdom; for others, it raises concerns about representation and outdated reasoning.
The legislators released a video in November as US forces carried out air strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific, and as US President Donald Trump ordered the National Guard to deploy to major US cities to crack down on undocumented migrants and crime. This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens, the lawmakers said in the video. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or Constitution, they said.
Its provisions have also boosted the number of seats in the House of Representatives filled by Black lawmakers. That's largely because in many Southern states where voting is often polarized between a Republican-supporting white majority and a Democratic-supporting Black minority political mapmakers have drawn a certain kind of district to get in line with the Voting Rights Act's Section 2 provisions.
