Tag: Congress

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Rep. John Conyers Jr. Announces Retirement From Congress Amid Allegations Of Sexual Misconduct

Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan

Congressman John Conyers Jr. the longest-serving member of the House, announced today during a radio interview that he is retiring

Facing allegations of sexual misconduct, Conyers, who is also the longest-serving African-American in history, endorsed his son, John Conyers III, to replace him.

From The New York Times:

“I am retiring today,” Mr. Conyers said from a hospital in Michigan. “I am in the process of putting together my retirement plans. I will have more about that very soon.”

He continued to deny that he had harassed any of his former employees and said he did not know where the allegations came from.

“My legacy can’t be compromised or diminished in any way by what we are going through now,” Mr. Conyers said. “This too shall pass. My legacy will continue through my children.”

The decision sets up a battle within the Conyers family for his Detroit-area House seat. Ian Conyers, a Michigan state senator and the grandson of Mr. Conyers’s brother, said he also plans to run for the seat held by his 88-year-old great-uncle.

“His doctor advised him that the rigor of another campaign would be too much for him just in terms of his health,” Ian Conyers, 29, said.

Listen to his announcement below.

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Anti-Abortion Congressman Tim Murphy Resigns After Urging Mistress To Abort During Pregnancy Scare

Virulently anti-abortion, anti-LGBT and hypocritical pro-family values Congressman Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania has resigned after text messages revealed he had an extramarital affair.

Further, when his mistress believed she was pregnant with his child, he apparently urged her to seek an abortion.

Text messages revealed earlier this week showed the woman with whom Murphy is having an extra-marital affair told Murphy, “you have zero issue posting your pro-life stance all over the place when you had no issue asking me to abort our unborn child just last week when we thought that was one of the options,” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Responding to the message, Rep. Murphy said: “I get what you say about my March for life messages. I’ve never written them. Staff does them. I read them and winced. I told staff don’t write any more. I will.”

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan issued a statement today which read, in part, “This afternoon I received a letter of resignation from Congressman Tim Murphy, effective October 21. It was Dr. Murphy’s decision to move on to the next chapter of his life, and I support it.”

Murphy will leave office on October 21.

The governor of Pennsylvania cannot appoint a replacement, and so a special election will have to be called.

While possible, it’s highly unlikely a Democrat would win the seat since the district is considered solidly red.

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Congress Condemns White Supremacists – Will Trump Sign It?

(image via Flickr – Robert Thivierge)

From NBC News:

Congress has approved a resolution condemning white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other hate groups following a white-nationalist rally in Virginia that descended into deadly violence.

The resolution recognizes Heather Heyer, who was killed Aug. 12, and 19 other people who were injured after a car allegedly driven by a neo-Nazi slammed into a crowd of demonstrators protesting the rally in Charlottesville. It describes Heyer’s death as a “domestic terrorist attack” and acknowledges two Virginia state troopers who died in a helicopter crash while monitoring the protests.

Six senators from both parties, led by both of Virginia’s Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, introduced the measure, which the Senate approved unanimously Monday night. The House approved the joint resolution Tuesday by unanimous consent.

The measure, which now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature, urges the Trump administration to speak out against hate groups that espouse racism, extremism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and white supremacy. It also calls on the Justice Department and other federal agencies to “use all resources available” to improve data collection on hate crimes and “address the growing prevalence of those hate groups in the United States.”

I’ll be fascinated to see how Trump, who had dodged many opportunities to denounce these hate groups in the past, will handle this.

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Paul Ryan “Hopes” Congress Can Help Those “Who Have Done Nothing Wrong”

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has issued a statement regarding Donald Trump’s rescission of DACA.

Via press release:

However well-intentioned, President Obama’s DACA program was a clear abuse of executive authority, an attempt to create law out of thin air. Just as the courts have already struck down similar Obama policy, this was never a viable long-term solution to this challenge.

Congress writes laws, not the president, and ending this program fulfills a promise that President Trump made to restore the proper role of the executive and legislative branches.

But now there is more to do, and the president has called on Congress to act. The president’s announcement does not revoke permits immediately, and it is important that those affected have clarity on how this interim period will be carried out.

At the heart of this issue are young people who came to this country through no fault of their own, and for many of them it’s the only country they know. Their status is one of many immigration issues, such as border security and interior enforcement, which Congress has failed to adequately address over the years.

It is my hope that the House and Senate, with the president’s leadership, will be able to find consensus on a permanent legislative solution that includes ensuring that those who have done nothing wrong can still contribute as a valued part of this great country.

Don’t hold your breath, folks. Republicans have blocked such reforms for over a decade.

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House Republicans Vote To Gut Independent Ethics Office

In a secret, anonymous, behind closed doors vote, House Republicans made one of their very first actions in the new Congress changing the Office of Congressional Ethics, removing the entity’s independence and barring it from investigating anonymous complaints.

Via Huffington Post:

Specifically, the amendment would place the OCE under the “oversight” of the lenient Ethics Committee and rename it the Office of Congressional Complaint Review. The new group would no longer be able to release information to the public, employ anyone “for a position involving communications with the public,” or directly contact law enforcement without approval. It would also be prohibited from investigating anonymous complaints.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the change would “functionally destroy” the office.

“Republicans claim they want to ‘drain the swamp,’ but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions,” Pelosi said. “Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress.”

Republicans themselves defended the changes as necessary adjustments to protect members from political witch hunts.

Trump called for “draining the swamp” but his GOP House pals are setting up a system with which they can’t be investigated for ethical wrongdoing.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi issued a statement saying, “Republicans claim they want to ‘drain the swamp,’ but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions. Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress,” the House Democratic leader said.

See the report below from CNN.

While not commenting on the content of the vote, it appears the Trumpster thinks the timing of the backroom shenanigans wasn’t all that great:

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House Republicans Will Allow Vote On Gun Control

Perhaps the sit-in did accomplish something on the issue of common sense gun control.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has apparently agreed to allow a vote in the House on legislation designed to keep suspected terrorists from buying guns.

Now, that sounds like it makes sense, no?

Via ThinkProgress:

According to The Hill, Ryan told Republicans on a conference call “that the House will take up a terrorism package that will include measures to disrupt radicalization and recruitment, as well as a provision to prevent suspected terrorists from purchasing guns.”

Exactly which bill the House would take up was unclear from the conference call, The Hill reported. Because it’s unclear which bill will be brought to the floor, The New York Daily News noted that Ryan could “select a bill considered too weak by most Democrats.”

If the bill is too weak, there is a possibility that House Democrats will continue to protest in one way or another until a better bill is brought to a vote.

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Congressional Democrats Stage ‘Sit-In’ Demanding A Vote On Common Sense Gun Measures

From Huffington Post:

Congressional Democrats took over the House floor Wednesday in a ‘sit-in’ demonstration over Republican leaders’ refusal to hold a vote on gun legislation.

Their efforts to achieve this goal continued throughout the night, even after the Republican lawmakers snuck into the chamber at 2:30 a.m. and voted to adjourn the session until Jul. 5.”

C-SPAN broadcast the scene by using a Congressman’s Periscope feed after Congress was declared in recess. Majority Leader Paul Ryan called the move a “publicity stunt.”

Although Speaker of the House had the chamber cameras turned off, Democrats are broadcasting the ongoing sit-in via cellphone camera.

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Florida Congressional Candidate Comes Out As HIV+

Bob Poe, former state Democratic party Chair and currently running for Florida’s 10th Congressional District, shared with the public an (until now) private part of his life: that he is HIV+.

From the Orlando Sentinel reports:

Poe, 61, said he was diagnosed with the virus that causes AIDS in 1998 and is currently in good health. He revealed the diagnosis in an interview with Watermark magazine as well as a video posted to his Facebook page. “I have a motto in my life: If you want to make a difference, you have to be the difference,” Poe said in the video. “And so today, I’m trying to be that difference in this community, so that we can begin to solve this problem once and forever.”

In an interview, Poe said he felt compelled to reveal his diagnosis after encountering a recently diagnosed HIV positive woman while canvassing in District 10. “She told me that she’s recently been diagnosed with HIV and thought she had a death sentence,” Poe said. “I really just wanted to hug her and let her know that I, too, have HIV and that I’ve been able to live out all of my hopes and all of my dreams, and she could, too.”

Poe hopes to be an advocate for HIV prevention in Congress, but he has other focuses as well. He supports a $15 an hour minimum wage; job training to help Americans adapt to a changing work environment; and wants to work to change the criminal justice system to be more fair .

You can watch his “coming out” message, via Facebook, below:

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Pennsylvania State Rep. Brian Sims Drops Bid For Congress

Pennsylvania’s first openly gay State Representative has announced he will drop his bid for Congress.

From Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims (via Facebook):

I wanted to personally let you know that today I have decided to end my campaign for U.S. Congress.

When I started this campaign it was because I felt Philadelphians deserved an advocate in Congress – someone who would focus on equality for all Americans, creating more and better jobs, and ending the culture of gun violence in our streets.

Having walked the streets of the District, and spoken to thousands of neighbors and constituents, I now feel that my friend and colleague, Dwight Evans, is best equipped to take our fight for justice to Washington, DC and will serve Philadelphia well in Congress.

This was not an easy decision, but please know that I am so grateful for your help and support over these past few months.

For now, I have a re-election campaign to win and I hope that you will continue to support my efforts, especially as I work to expand civil rights and fight for justice and equality as a State Representative.