Summary
It is 4pm in Washington DC. Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
The GOP-led House voted to censure New York’s Democratic representative Jamaal Bowman with 214 yeas and 191 nays. There were also five votes of present and three Democrats out of party lines against Bowman, who pleaded guilty to setting off a fire alarm in a House office building in September.
Jamaal Bowman issued a statement in response to his censure saying: “This Republican House is unserious and unproductive.” He added: “I know that their efforts to target me are a testament to the importance of my voice in pushing back against their disingenuous rhetoric and harmful policies.”
In response to the House’s vote to censure Jamaal Bowman, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said that Maga Republicans “have nothing to show for their narrow, fading and decreasing majority”. “Extreme Maga Republicans continue to utilize tactics such as censuring Democratic members of Congress, burying their heads in the sand with respect to unlawful or unacceptable conduct by their own members,” he added.
Michigan’s Democratic representative Rashida Tlaib criticized House Republicans following the vote to censure Jamaal Bowman. In an impassioned address, she said: “You all [are] so desperate to distract from the fact that you all have nothing, nothing to improve the lives of the American people or end the ongoing genocide [in Gaza]. So now you’re trying to shift the focus by baselessly attacking Rep Bowman to score cheap political points.”
Massachusetts’s Democratic representative Ayanna Pressley also condemned the censure of Jamaal Bowman. Pressley called the censure “just the latest in this chamber’s shameful history of telling Black and brown folks they don’t belong in Congress”.
The Joe Biden administration has announced new actions to promote competition in healthcare and support lowering prescription drug costs for Americans. A statement released by the White House on Thursday revealed that the actions include the promotion of equitable access to lower-price taxpayer-funded drugs, as well as the launch of a cross-government public inquiry into corporate greed in healthcare.
The White House has pushed back against House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. In a statement released on Thursday, Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations said: “This baseless stunt is not rooted in facts or reality but in extreme House Republicans’ shameless desire to abuse their power to smear president Biden.”
CNN has announced that it will host two Republican presidential primary debates next month in Iowa and New Hampshire. The first debate will take place on 10 January at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. The second debate is scheduled for 21 January at St Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along.
Updated
Jahana Hayes, one of the three Democrats who voted to censure Jamaal Bowman, has released a statement explaining her vote:
Today, I voted YEA on a resolution to censure representative Jamaal Bowman for pulling a fire alarm in the Cannon House office building on September 30th, 2023.
While I disagree with the decision of the Republican majority to put the resolution on the House floor, and the watering down of the censure process, I believe what representative Bowman did was wrong and as members of Congress we should be held to a higher standard.
My statement on the vote to censure Representative Bowman. pic.twitter.com/cnHKnLltJq
— Jahana Hayes (@RepJahanaHayes) December 7, 2023
The other two Democrats who voted to censure Bowman are New Hampshire’s Chris Pappas and Washington’s Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
Updated
George Santos, the former New York Republican representative who was expelled from the House last weekend, has also weighed in on the censure of Jamaal Bowman.
Tweeting on Thursday, Santos said:
Republicans in the house just showed they don’t have the testicular fortitude to expel a convicted criminal from the house of reps.
Bowman got a slap on the wrist from the RINO [Republicans In Name Only] establishment and they now all feel like they accomplished something!
Republicans in the house just showed they don’t have the testicular fortitude to expele a convicted criminal from the house of reps.
— George Santos (@MrSantosNY) December 7, 2023
Bowman got a slap on the wrist from the RINO establishment and they now all feel like they accomplished something!
Updated
Jamaal Bowman on GOP-led censure: 'This Republican House is unserious and unproductive'
New York’s Democratic representative Jamaal Bowman has issued a statement in response to his censure by House Republicans, saying: “This Republican House is unserious and unproductive.”
In his statement, Bowman said:
I want to thank Democratic leadership and my countless other colleagues for standing up for me last night during the debate. Your words were so kind and I am always grateful to have you all by my side.
I have expressed deep regret, apologized for my mistake, and taken accountability for my actions. I also went through the proper investigative processes with the Republican controlled House Committee on Ethics, which decided not to open a formal investigation.
I had hoped that we could devote our time and resources to doing our jobs and addressing the issues Americans care about. Americans desperately need us to act with urgency to address the high costs of healthcare, prevent gun violence, invest in education, and so much more, but my colleagues have made it explicitly clear that they would rather relitigate already settled matters than do what we were sent here to do and legislate.
This Republican House is unserious and unproductive, and I know that their efforts to target me are a testament to the importance of my voice in pushing back against their disingenuous rhetoric and harmful policies. I look forward to continuing to serve the people of New York’s 16th district and the country.
Updated
Georgia’s state Republican lawmakers have finalized new district maps to comply with a federal judge’s order.
The Guardian’s Rachel Leingang reports:
Republican state lawmakers in Georgia have finalized new district maps to comply with a federal judge’s order, though Democrats and advocacy groups say the new maps create one majority-Black district at the expense of another diverse district.
US district judge Steve Jones ordered Georgia lawmakers to redo their redistricted maps in October after a lawsuit claimed they violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting power of Black people.
He gave lawmakers until 8 December to redraw maps to create “an additional majority-Black district” in west metro Atlanta. He warned “the state cannot remedy the section 2 violations found herein by eliminating minority opportunity districts elsewhere in the plans”.
Georgia lawmakers did not appear to heed that instruction. They created the additional majority-Black district in west Atlanta, but dismantled another district where Black voters had been joining with other racial minorities to elect the candidate of their choosing. The dismantled district is now represented by Lucy McBath, a Democrat. The plan ensures that Republicans are able to maintain a 9-5 advantage in the state’s congressional delegation.
Read the full story here:
Updated
Joe Biden announces new actions to lower healthcare and prescription drug costs
The Joe Biden administration has announced new actions to promote competition in healthcare and support lowering prescription drug costs for Americans.
A statement released by the White House on Thursday revealed that the actions include the promotion of equitable access to lower-price taxpayer-funded drugs, as well as the launch of a cross-government public inquiry into corporate greed in healthcare.
Other actions include increasing ownership transparency, as well as Medicare Advantage transparency.
In a tweet on Thursday, Biden said:
“My administration is proposing that if a drug made using taxpayer funds is not reasonably available to Americans, the government reserves the right to “march in” and license that drug to another manufacturer who could sell it for less.”
Folks, right now, 25 of the largest pharmaceutical companies in America control 70% of the market. This lack of competition drives up prices – making it harder for hardworking American families to access the health care they need.
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 7, 2023
Today, my Administration is doing something… pic.twitter.com/nvUQOIto3u
White House on House GOP impeachment inquiry resolution: 'Baseless stunt is not rooted in facts or reality'
The White House has pushed back against House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, the “baseless stunt is not rooted in facts or reality”.
In a statement released on Thursday, Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations said:
This baseless stunt is not rooted in facts or reality but in extreme House Republicans’ shameless desire to abuse their power to smear President Biden. Fox News already reported that the only reason they’re having this vote is to ‘put a GOP win on the table for the base’, which is sad, pathetic, and a waste of everyone’s time.”
Instead of doing anything to actually help people before leaving Washington for a month, these extreme House Republicans are hoping to distract from their own failed ability to govern by trying to score cheap political points in an effort to mollify Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is in open war with her own party’s Speaker. The American people are yet again going to see a clear contrast in priorities: President Biden who is focused on solving the challenges facing America and the world, and extreme House Republicans who only focus on stupid stunts to get attention for themselves.
Updated
CNN to host two Republican presidential primary debates in Iowa and New Hampshire
CNN has announced that it will host two Republican presidential primary debates next month in Iowa and New Hampshire.
The first debate will take place on 10 January at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. The second debate is scheduled for 21 January at St Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire.
CNN will host two Republican presidential primary debates next month in Iowa and New Hampshire https://t.co/9ELudckM2S
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 7, 2023
Updated
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer has criticized Republicans over their decision to block supplemental funding for Ukraine and Israel, saying that they need to “get serious and stand up for democracy”.
In a tweet following the Senate’s vote on Wednesday to block the funding, Schumer wrote:
The GOP blocked funding for Ukraine, Israel, humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza, the Indo-Pacific
We offered a golden opportunity for a border amendment vote of their choosing if it can get 60 votes – they rejected it
Republicans need to get serious and stand up for democracy
The GOP blocked funding for Ukraine, Israel, humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza, the Indo-Pacific
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) December 7, 2023
We offered a golden opportunity for a border amendment vote of their choosing if it can get 60 votes—they rejected it
Republicans need to get serious and stand up for democracy
Updated
Massachusetts’s Democratic representative Ayanna Pressley has condemned the censure of New York’s Democratic representative Jamaal Bowman.
Following the vote, Pressley addressed the House and called the censure “just the latest in this chamber’s shameful history of telling Black and brown folks they don’t belong in Congress”.
She added:
Congressman Bowman has taken accountability for his mistake and even Republicans on the [House] ethics committee agree that this is a waste of time. We’ve got 99 problems but a functional government of a Republican majority is not one of them.
Republicans are disconnected, dysfunctional, discriminating and a disappointment to the American people.
.@RepBowman is a champion for students, a lifelong educator, a duly elected member of Congress, & a strong Black man.
— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@RepPressley) December 7, 2023
This censure is just the latest in this chamber's shameful history of telling Black and brown folks they don't belong in Congress. pic.twitter.com/0VrpGiE78D
Updated
New Hampshire’s Democratic representative Chris Pappas, who voted to censure New York’s Democratic representative Jamaal Bowman, told Axios:
I voted to table this resolution because we have far more pressing issues to tackle for the country.
But at the end of the day, representative Bowman broke the law when he pulled the fire alarm during House proceedings and has since pled guilty. The resolution was a straightforward condemnation of his actions, and I voted yes.
Pappas tells @Axios of his vote to censure Bowman: "At the end of the day, Representative Bowman broke the law ... the resolution was a straightforward condemnation of his actions, and I voted yes.”
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) December 7, 2023
Full statement: https://t.co/poISx5hEq3 pic.twitter.com/XcukJoBNMH
Updated
Florida’s Democratic representative Maxwell Alejandro Frost has also hit back at Republicans following their vote to censure New York’s Democratic representative Jamaal Bowman, calling it “pathetic”.
In an tweet on Thursday, Frost wrote:
House Republicans just spent time and taxpayer money to censure one of the people’s champions, Jamaal Bowman.
They did this while they have members who aided and abetted the January 6th insurrection.
Pathetic.
House Republicans just spent time and taxpayer money to censure one of the people’s champions, @JamaalBowmanNY. They did this while they have members who aided and abetted the January 6th insurrection. Pathetic.
— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) December 7, 2023
Updated
Jeffries: Maga Republicans 'wasting so much time' targeting Democrats because they 'have nothing to show for their fading majority'
In response to the House’s vote to censure New York’s Democratic representative Jamaal Bowman, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said that Maga Republicans “have nothing to show for their narrow, fading and decreasing majority”.
He said:
Extreme Maga Republicans continue to utilize tactics such as censuring Democratic members of Congress, burying their heads in the sand with respect to unlawful or unacceptable conduct by their own members including but not limited to Marjorie Taylor Greene, and engaging in efforts to irresponsibly and illegitimately target president Joe Biden and his family.
Why are extreme Maga Republicans wasting so much time on these efforts to target Democratic members of Congress, target president Biden?… It’s because the extreme Maga Republicans have nothing to show for their narrow, fading and decreasing majority.
“Why are extreme MAGA Republicans wasting so much time on these efforts to target Democratic members of Congress, target President Biden?…Because [they] have nothing to show for their narrow, fading and decreasing majority.”
— The Recount (@therecount) December 7, 2023
— Minority Leader Jeffries on GOP censure resolutions pic.twitter.com/rChMot1oBe
Updated
Tlaib on Bowman censure: 'yet another attempt to silence a person of color'
Rashida Tlaib has criticized House Republicans following the vote to censure New York’s Democratic representative Jamaal Bowman.
In an impassioned address, she said:
“So desperate. You all [are] so desperate to distract from the fact that you all have nothing, nothing to improve the lives of the American people or end the ongoing genocide [in Gaza]. So now you’re trying to shift the focus by baselessly attacking Rep. Bowman to score cheap political points, comparing him to the white supremacists on January 6th, who were smashing windows in the Capitol, you all, and screaming ‘Hang Mike Pence!’
Your inability to govern is so obvious to the American people. You all can’t even find enough Republicans to vote to pass a budget or keep a speaker. This is yet another attempt to silence a person of color in this chamber.”
Last month, the Republican-majority House voted to censure Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, over her condemnation of Israel’s war in Gaza which has killed over 21,700 Palestinians in the last two months.
This censure of @RepBowman is yet another attempt to silence a person of color in this chamber.
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) December 7, 2023
They are obsessed with attacking Black and brown members of Congress, but do nothing to help our families thrive. They need to get a grip. pic.twitter.com/BduoDJK6Zo
Updated
Here is the moment House speaker Mike Johnson announced the votes on the censure of New York’s Democratic representative Jamaal Bowman:
214-191: The House votes to censure Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) for pulling a false fire alarm in a congressional building on September 30.
— The Recount (@therecount) December 7, 2023
Three Democrats voted with Republicans, and five lawmakers voted “present.” pic.twitter.com/Ym0q5nTmTG
House votes to censure New York Democratic representative Jamaal Bowman
The House has voted to censure Jamaal Bowman with 214 yeas and 191 nays.
There were also five votes of present.
Updated
The House is now voting on the censure of New York’s Democratic representative Jamaal Bowman.
The vote follows Bowman pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge for pulling a fire alarm in a House office building in September.
House to vote on censure of New York Democratic representative Jamaal Bowman
The House is set to vote on the censure of New York Democratic representative Jamaal Bowman who pleaded guilty to setting off a fire alarm in a House office building in September.
The expected vote follows a censure resolution introduced by Michigan’s Republican representative Lisa McClain on Tuesday over the matter.
Following Bowman’s guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge, he agreed to pay a maximum fine of $1,000 and serve three months of probation, after which the misdemeanor charge is set to be dismissed.
Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison has also called out Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, saying in a tweet:
“I’ll say it because Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis refused to.
Donald Trump admitting that he will be a dictator on day one absolutely disqualifies him from being president.”
I'll say it because Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis refused to.
— Jaime Harrison (@harrisonjaime) December 7, 2023
Donald Trump admitting that he will be a dictator on day one absolutely disqualifies him from being president.
A handful of Iowa voters told CNN that they believe Nikki Haley won last night’s Republican presidential debate.
In response to which candidate they believe won last night’s debate, one voter raised her hand for Ron DeSantis while six others raised their hands for Haley.
🏆 Iowa voters say Nikki Haley won GOP debate: pic.twitter.com/iJaAEgR0Cq
— Team Haley (@TeamHaley) December 7, 2023
According to a new Wall Street Journal poll, Haley is trailing second to Trump at 15% while the ex president dominates 59% of the vote.
Chris Christie on Republican presidential debate: 'Answer the questions. Be honest.'
In a new interview with Fox News following last night’s Republican presidential debate, Chris Christie said that he was “calling people out for not answering the questions”.
He went on to add:
“Answer the questions. Be honest. And even if people disagree with you or wind up voting for you, at least they believe you’re playing it straight.”
Answer the questions and be honest. People may not always agree with you, but they will trust and respect you if you play it straight. pic.twitter.com/8jaq1Ylf7N
— Chris Christie (@GovChristie) December 7, 2023
Updated
Vivek Ramaswamy remains defensive about his attacks against Nikki Haley last night during the Republican presidential debate.
In a tweet on Thursday, Ramaswamy criticized mainstream media, saying:
“The MSM cracks me up. At debate #2, Nikki Haley called me ‘dumb’ & the MSM coddled her. Last night, I outed Nikki for her lack of actual foreign policy knowledge & the MSM criticizes me for ‘attacking her intelligence.’”
The MSM cracks me up:
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 7, 2023
At debate #2, @NikkiHaley called me “dumb” & the MSM coddled her.
Last night, I outed Nikki for her lack of actual foreign policy knowledge & the MSM criticizes me for “attacking her intelligence.”
😀 https://t.co/LWfTbm6k5Z
Following last night’s Republican presidential debate, Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison called it “chaotic, petty and pathetic.”
Tonight's debate was a perfect metaphor for the state of the Republican Party: chaotic, petty, and pathetic.
— Jaime Harrison (@harrisonjaime) December 7, 2023
The American people deserve better.
DNC chair calls Republican debate ‘chaotic, petty and pathetic’
Good morning,
Four Republican presidential candidates went head to head last night in Alabama during the fourth Republican debate. Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy traded blows on Donald Trump, the Israel-Hamas war and conspiracy theories with each other.
According to a new Wall Street Journal poll, Haley, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, has climbed into second place behind Trump in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. While Trump maintains a stark lead with 59% of the vote, Haley has 15% of the vote while DeSantis is close behind at 14%.
Responding to last night’s debate, Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison called it a “prefect metaphor for the state of the Republican party: chaotic, petty and pathetic”.
“The American people deserve better,” he added.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the Senate blocked a major supplemental funding bill that included $106bn in financial aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Republicans have demanded for stricter border regulations in exchange for their support on the supplemental funding bill and argued that the bill did not meet their demands.
Joe Biden has accused Senate Republicans of “political blackmail, pure and simple,” adding that the “stakes are too high and the consequences are too significant for political brinksmanship”.
Here are other developments in US politics:
Updated
