New York Democratic Rep. Nydia Velázquez says she won’t run for reelection in 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Rep. Nydia Velázquez — a trailblazer known by the nickname “La Luchadora” or the fighter — announced Thursday that she will retire next year after more than three decades in Congress. Velázquez, 72, is the second long-serving New York Democrat to say she’ll step aside after Rep. Jerry Nadler, 78, announced in September that he’d exit at the end of his current term. Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress, said representing the people of New York City has been the…

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What Happens When Attention Seeking Eclipses Policy Making

A junior member of Congress from Georgia announced her resignation last night, ending a brief tenure in the House that produced, well, not a whole lot. Marjorie Taylor Greene is no legislative powerhouse, and in the grand sweep of American history, her five years as a U.S. representative will be a mere blip. She wrote no major laws and had little discernible impact on national policy. (For two of those years, she did not serve on a single House committee, having been booted from her assignments in a bipartisan vote…

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Christian Persecution in Russia-Ukraine War Becomes Flashpoint for GOP

The persecution of Eastern Orthodox Christians became a flashpoint between members of Congress on social media this week as the Russo-Ukrainian war drags on. On Monday Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., publicized an email from the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist that invited recipients to take part in a “Legislative Day of Action on Capitol Hill in support of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” on November 18.  Replying to a screenshot of the email and a story in The Hill about the topic, Wilson wrote on X, “The Russian…

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MoveOn Members Celebrate Massive CA Prop 50 Victory

CALIFORNIA – Californians overwhelmingly voted for Prop 50, California’s Election Rigging Response Act, a stopgap measure to put power back in the hands of voters in response to President Trump’s allies rigging congressional seats behind closed doors. “MoveOn members and Californians resoundingly rejected the Trump administration’s attempts to cheat their way into victory in 2026,” said MoveOn Executive Director Katie Bethell. “Prop 50 blunts President Trump and Republicans’ unprecedented power grab to pick their voters in the midterms. We applaud Governor Newsom’s leadership and California voters for fighting fire with…

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Lawmakers to finalize NDAA by week’s end, bring the bill to the floor in early December

House and Senate negotiators are racing to finalize the 2026 defense policy bill by the end of the week, with all House and Senate Armed Services Committee disputes resolved and only a few Senate jurisdictional details still holding the legislation’s advancement to the House floor in early December. “I think what they’re doing is, there’s been a couple of pencils-down time frames, but it sounds like it’ll be done by the end of the week. That’s what the focus is. Get it done by the end of the week, and…

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