6 Takeaways as House Republicans Accuse Homeland Security Chief of ‘Intentional’ Border Crisis

House Republicans pressed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for answers Thursday as every sign appeared to point to a rising surge of illegal immigrants trying to cross the southern border.  According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, agents last month logged over 221,000 “encounters” with illegal aliens along the border, a 33% jump from February.     In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Mayorkas argued that the situation at the border is under “operational control,” as the law requires. Republicans on the committee repeatedly rejected this claim, pointing to the huge…

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USPS continues postal banking pilot, despite House Republicans’ objections

The Postal Service is telling its regulator it has no plans yet to pull the plug on a postal banking pilot, despite a lack of customers and opposition from House Republicans. USPS told the Postal Regulatory Commission in a recent filing that it will continue the postal banking pilot “in its current form” past March 2022. “No final determinations have been reached with regard to ending the pilot, or with regard to any other potential steps that might be taken to modify the pilot,” USPS attorneys wrote. USPS spokeswoman Tatiana…

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The Last of the Establishment Republicans

On the afternoon of March 3, 2020, Governor Mike DeWine stepped to a lectern inside the Ohio statehouse to announce his most difficult pandemic decision. Ohio, the governor announced, would bar most spectators from the upcoming Arnold Classic, a bodybuilding and fitness festival hosted annually by Arnold Schwarzenegger that draws a quarter of a million people from 80 countries to Ohio’s capital city. “Everything in life is a risk,” DeWine said. “We all make calculated decisions. We don’t eliminate all risk in life. But with regard to the Arnold Classic,…

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Republicans Think They Can Win the COVID Funding Fight

If a new coronavirus variant surges in the United States this year—perhaps the one currently tearing through Europe—there’s a reasonable chance that the country will be unprepared to fight it. You can thank Congress for that. Last week, lawmakers passed a massive spending bill without any additional funding for COVID-19 relief, despite White House pleas for more. Democrats would like to fulfill the administration’s request. But Republicans have taken the position that Congress has already done enough. “We don’t need COVID funding,” GOP Representative Randy Feenstra of Iowa told me.…

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Congressional Republicans Have Found Their Red Line

It was fair, last week, to question whether Republicans in Congress would condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, because the party’s de facto leader was praising Vladimir Putin’s aggression as “genius” and “wonderful.” Yet instead of falling in line behind Donald Trump, most congressional Republicans have denounced Putin just as loudly as Democrats have. This fact would not have been surprising just a few years ago. But it’s one of the more meaningful distinctions that rank-and-file members of the party have drawn recently between themselves and the former president, a man…

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State police raid home of top Michigan Republicans amid disturbing allegations

On Tuesday, reports came out of Michigan that the home of Republican Lee Chatfield’s former chief of staff was searched by state police. Rob Minard served under Chatfield while the latter was speaker of the Michigan House. Minard’s wife, Anne Minard, was an adviser and the director of external affairs during that time. She was also the treasurer for four of Chatfield’s political action committees. State police told reporters that this search was a part of an “ongoing investigation.”  The Detroit News reports that Chatfield’s position at the top of the Michigan GOP…

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