Closing summary
Five House Republican lawmakers from New York are pressing on with their effort to expel George Santos, the congressman who admitted to lying about large parts of his résumé and who is also facing federal charges. A vote on their expulsion resolution is expected this evening, though it’s unclear if it will reach the two-thirds majority necessary for passage. The chamber’s ethics committee has meanwhile announced it will provide an update regarding its investigation into Santos by 17 November, while some worry that kicking him out of his seat before he is convicted will set a bad example.
Here’s what else happened:
The House will also consider resolutions to censure far-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and progressive Democrat Rashida Tlaib.
Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, proposed aiding Israel by cutting the IRS’s budget, but that will just make the effort even more expensive for taxpayers, Congress’s nonpartisan budget analyst found.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s Democratic leader, endorsed using an unusual procedure to get around Republican Tommy Tuberville’s blockade of military promotions.
A new analysis shows Democrats appear to have the edge in winning back control of the House next year.
The Florida judge handling Donald Trump’s trial over the classified documents charges signaled she may delay the case.
We’ve talked plenty about the resolution to expel George Santos on this blog today, so let’s dive in to the dueling efforts to censure progressive Democrat Rashida Tlaib and far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Greene introduced the resolution targeting Tlaib, one of two Muslims in the House and the only Palestinian American, accusing her of antisemitism and participating in an insurrection:
Rashida Tlaib is an anti-Semite, pro-Hamas, and led an insurrection into the Capitol complex.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) October 26, 2023
Every member of Congress will be on record. Including every Democrat.
Will they condemn Rashida Tlaib’s hatred or support her sympathy for terrorists? pic.twitter.com/vRBjGlH3Hz
Greene is an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump’s lie that he won the 2020 election, and has taken part in efforts to downplay the severity of the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The insurrection she accuses Tlaib of participating in was a protest in a House office building where hundreds of people were arrested in what organizers described as planned acts of civil disobedience. Tlaib spoke to the protesters before they entered the building, which, unlike the Capitol building that rioters stormed on January 6, is open to the public.
Tlaib, who is a vocal opponent of Israel’s government and its treatment of the Palestinians, rejected the charge of antisemitism in a statement:
My statement on Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort to censure me. pic.twitter.com/dzUNflJPh2
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) October 26, 2023
The same day Greene introduced her resolution to censure Tlaib, Vermont Democrat Becca Balint introduced a separate resolution to censure the Georgia congresswoman, accusing her of spreading racist conspiracy theories, Islamophobia and also being antisemitic:
There is no place for anti-semitic, Islamophobic, anti-LGBTQ, racist rhetoric and conspiracy theories in the House of Representatives.
— Rep. Becca Balint (@RepBeccaB) October 26, 2023
I move to censure Marjorie Taylor Greene. https://t.co/MIFuM5Ip8b
Ever since assuming the majority in the House at the start of the year, Republicans have moved to retaliate against Democrats who attracted their ire. The party censured Adam Schiff, a prominent Donald Trump antagonist, and booted Ilhan Omar, the second Muslim in the chamber and a prominent progressive, off the foreign affairs committee.
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Votes on Santos expulsion, Tlaib, Greene censure expected this evening
The House is expected to vote on whether to expel Republican congressman and admitted fabulist George Santos sometime after 6.30pm this evening, Democratic whip Katherine Clark’s office has announced.
Lawmakers will also consider resolutions to censure far-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and progressive Democrat Rashida Tlaib.
Congress’s lower chamber is currently in session, with lawmakers debating several pieces of legislation proposed in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel last month. Speaking of which, we have a separate live blog covering the latest events in the spiraling conflict, and you can follow it here:
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Judge appears willing to delay Trump classified documents case
At a hearing in Florida today, federal judge Aileen Cannon seemed open to extending legal deadlines in Donald Trump’s classified documents case, potentially delaying his trial.
Opening arguments in the case are set to start in May 2024, but Cannon noted that timetable could conflict with the former president’s trial on separate charges related to trying to overturn the 2020 election, which is scheduled to begin in March.
In addition to those federal cases, Trump has also been indicted in Georgia for trying to overturn the 2020 election there, and for falsifying business documents in Manhattan.
For more details, here’s our rundown of Trump’s legal problems:
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Donald Trump Jr may testify today in family’s fraud trial
Meanwhile in New York City, the civil fraud trial of Donald Trump and his family members is continuing. Donald Trump Jr may at some point today take the witness stand in the proceedings, in which a judge is determining what penalties to impose after finding the Trump family committed fraud in their organization’s business practices.
We have a live blog covering the latest in the case, which could potentially lead to the dismantling of the former president’s business empire. Follow along here:
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Another House Republican has decided against standing for re-election next year.
Ken Buck told MSNBC he won’t stand again to represent his eastern Colorado district:
Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) won't seek reelection.
— The Recount (@therecount) November 1, 2023
“I always have been disappointed with our inability in Congress to deal with major issues & I’m also disappointed that the Republican Party continues to rely on this lie that the 2020 election was stolen & rely on the 1/6 narrative.” pic.twitter.com/YStr3QjFy7
A member of the rightwing Freedom Caucus, Buck made waves in September when he penned a Washington Post column saying he did not believe impeaching Joe Biden was a good idea.
His district is seen as strongly Republican, and Democrats will have an uphill battle to claim the vacant seat in 2024.
In cricket – and stick with me here – the “corridor of uncertainty” is a channel just outside off stump, which bowlers try to ply and in which batsmen must decide whether to play a shot or leave the ball alone, weighing up risk in the blink of an eye.
In Congress, the corridors of uncertainty might be said to be any corridors in which Manu Raju, chief congressional correspondent for CNN, might decide to linger, thereby to catch congressmen and women and senators for a quick question about the issue of the day.
Today, Raju, a master of the form, has been asking Republican senators about the proposal from the House GOP, newly under speaker Mike Johnson, to split Israel aid from Ukraine aid and to target the Internal Revenue Service for linked cuts. Here are some results:
Rick Scott, Florida: “We have a Republican majority in the House. And so we have to listen to what they want to do.”
Josh Hawley, Missouri: “I think it’s notable that [Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell] is standing with [Democratic majority leader Chuck] Schumer against the Republicans. [It’s] a mistake.”
Lindsey Graham, South Carolina: “I like paying for things but in emergencies, we normally don’t. Democrats could put a ‘pay-for’ that I would disagree with. So when it gets over here, we’ll hopefully put a package together that includes Israel, Ukraine and border security.”
Raju, to camera: “So that last comment from Lindsey Graham is a significant one, saying he’s concerned about including those measures to suddenly pay for that Israel package, saying that typically is not done on Capitol Hill and considering the number of concerns about the precedent it would set if that were to happen time and time again. On the other side of the equation, concerns about the sky-high national debt.
“So that is the tension that is now playing out within the Republican party, but in the middle of all this is: what is the future of Israel aid? What’s the future of Ukraine [aid]? No one knows for certain how this will play out amid major concerns … both of those issues could get stalled or potentially fall by the wayside.”
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In a Guardian exclusive, Dharna Noor reveals plans for climate groups to tour the US, pushing for a Green New Deal …
One year after the passage of the much-lauded Inflation Reduction Act, a coalition of organizers and representatives are relaunching the push for a Green New Deal with a national tour.
“The Inflation Reduction Act was the largest climate investment in US history,” said John Paul Mejia, a national spokesperson for the youth-led climate justice organization the Sunrise Movement, one of the groups hosting the tour. “But for the next 10 years, we should work to make [it] the smallest by winning stuff that’s much larger.”
The tour, which kicks off with an event in Michigan this month, will aim to showcase widespread support for even bolder federal climate action, and will feature Green New Deal champions including Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and the representatives Ilhan Omar, Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush and Summer Lee alongside local advocates. It will be led by the Green New Deal Network, a coalition of progressive environmental groups that includes the Sunrise Movement, Greenpeace and Climate Justice Alliance, social justice organizations such as People’s Action and the Movement for Black Lives, and the liberal-left Working Families political party.
Supporters are calling for stronger executive action as well as the passage of a suite of proposals in Congress.
“With our Green New Deals for public schools, housing, cities and more, we can make historic investments that transform our communities by repairing damage done by the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis and giving every person the resources they need to thrive,” said Bowman.
The Green New Deal – a plan to rapidly and fairly decarbonize the US economy and create millions of jobs in the process – swept the US progressive political scene during Donald Trump’s presidency. The Sunrise Movement in 2018 held sit-ins on Capitol Hill calling for its implementation, and months later, Markey and the New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unveiled an official resolution fleshing out the proposal.
The ambitious, sweeping vision hinged on the idea that tackling the climate crisis could entail the remaking of US society to be more just, prioritizing communities most affected by inequality, climate disasters and pollution. It sharply contrasted with previous national decarbonization plans, such as the failed 2009 attempt to create a cap-and-trade system for planet-heating pollution known as Waxman-Markey.
“During that Inconvenient Truth era, climate advocacy was very technocratic in some ways,” said Kaniela Ing, the national director of the Green New Deal Network and a former Hawaii state legislator, referring to the 2006 documentary on the climate crisis by the former US vice-president Al Gore. “But the Green New Deal was about how all these things are connected, how climate is connected to schools, better infrastructure … things that people actually want.”
Read on…
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The new Republican speaker of the US House, Mike Johnson, is “dangerous”, the former Wyoming congresswoman and January 6 committee vice-chair Liz Cheney said, considering Johnson’s role in Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
“He was acting in ways that he knew to be wrong,” Cheney told Politics Is Everything, a podcast from the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “And I think that the country unfortunately will come to see the measure of his character.
“… One of the reasons why somebody like Mike Johnson is dangerous is because … you have elected Republicans who know better, elected Republicans who know the truth but yet will go along with the efforts to undermine our republic: the efforts, frankly, that Donald Trump undertook to overturn the election.”
Johnson voiced conspiracy theories about Joe Biden’s victory in 2020; authored a supreme court amicus brief as Texas sought to have results in key states thrown out, attracting 125 Republican signatures; and was one of 147 Republicans who voted to object to results in key states, even after Trump supporters attacked the Capitol on 6 January 2021, a riot linked to nine deaths and which has produced thousands of arrests and hundreds of convictions, some for seditious conspiracy.
Cheney was one of two anti-Trump Republicans on the House January 6 committee, which staged prime-time hearings and produced a report last year. She lost her seat to a pro-Trump challenger. The other January 6 committee Republican, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, chose to quit his seat.
Like Kinzinger, Cheney has written a book. She has also declined to close down speculation that she might run for president, as a representative of the Republican establishment – her father is Dick Cheney, the former defense secretary and vice-president – determined to stop Trump from seizing the White House again.
Johnson ascended to the House speakership last month, elected unanimously after three candidates failed to gain sufficient support to succeed Kevin McCarthy, who was ejected by the far-right, pro-Trump wing of his party.
Johnson’s hard-right, Christianity-inflected views and past positions have been subjected to widespread scrutiny.
Cheney told Larry Sabato, her podcast host and fellow UVA professor, that Johnson “was willing to set aside what he knew to be the rulings of the courts, the requirements of the constitution, in order to placate Donald Trump, in order to gain praise from Donald Trump, for political expedience.
“So it’s a concerning moment to have him be elected speaker of the House.”
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The day so far
Five House Republican lawmakers from New York are pressing on with their effort to expel George Santos, the congressman who admitted to lying about large parts of his résumé and is also facing federal charges. A vote on their expulsion resolution could come as soon as today, though it’s unclear if it will reach the two-thirds majority necessary for passage. The chamber’s ethics committee has meanwhile announced it will provide an update regarding its investigation into Santos by 17 November, while some worry that kicking him out of his seat before he is convicted will set a bad example.
Here’s what else is going on today:
Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, proposed aiding Israel by cutting the IRS’s budget, but that will just make the effort even more expensive for taxpayers, Congress’s non-partisan budget analyst found.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s Democratic leader, endorsed a push to use an unusual procedure to get around Republican Tommy Tuberville’s block of military promotions.
A new analysis shows Democrats appear to have the edge in winning back control of the House next year.
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Johnson 'not surprised' proposal to cut IRS would cost taxpayers more
NBC News caught up with Mike Johnson, who chalked up the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s determination that his Israel aid proposal would actually cost taxpayers money to the machinations of Washington:
.@SpeakerJohnson said he was “not surprised at all” by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office score.
— Kyle Stewart (@KyleAlexStewart) November 1, 2023
“Only in Washington when you cut spending do they call it an increase in the deficit,” Johnson said. https://t.co/4CvOtEsSdd
Punchbowl News separately caught two rightwing senators heading into Johnson’s office, and report they are expected to support his bill:
NEWS -- Sens. RON JOHNSON and RICK SCOTT are meeting with Speaker @SpeakerJohnson to discuss israel/ukraine package -- they will express their support for Johnson's bill.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 1, 2023
They will then walk to the Mansfield Room for the Senate GOP lunch
But it is the Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, who will decide whether the measure comes to the floor, and he has said he will not do that.
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Top Senate Democrat endorses effort to force military promotions despite Republican’s blockade
The Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, announced he will support deploying an unusual procedure to circumvent Republican senator Tommy Tuberville’s months-long blockade of more than 300 military promotions.
The Alabama lawmaker has since February been holding up promotions of hundreds of top officers in the armed forces in protest of a new Pentagon policy intended to help service members access abortions. Democrats and some Republican have expressed outrage at the move, saying it harms national security.
According to the Hill, Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reed is proposing a standing order resolution that will allow Congress’s upper chamber to approve military promotions as a group through the end of next year. However, it needs 60 votes to pass, and Democrats only control 51 seats in the chamber, meaning at least nine Republicans must sign on.
It’s unclear if that support exists yet, but in a speech on the chamber’s floor, Schumer said he will put the resolution up for a vote.
“Yesterday, my colleague Senator Reed, chairman of the armed services committee, introduced a resolution that will allow the Senate to quickly confirm the nominations that are currently being blocked by the Senator from Alabama,” said Schumer, adding he had moved for the Senate to hold time-consuming floor votes on three military promotions that Tuberville had been blocking.
“The resolution will be referred to the rules committee, and when the time comes, I will bring it to the floor of the Senate for consideration.”
Here’s video of his remarks:
Maj. Leader Schumer (D-NY) slams Sen. Tuberville’s (R-AL) blockade of military promotions after the Marine Corps commandant was hospitalized without a second-in-command being confirmed.
— The Recount (@therecount) November 1, 2023
“The situation...is precisely the kind of avoidable emergency Sen. Tuberville has provoked.” pic.twitter.com/ItJWI8v7J8
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And here’s Punchbowl News with some thoughts on how the Israel aid bill may turn out to be something of a missed opportunity for the newly elected House speaker, Mike Johnson.
The aid proposal is a much-paired-down response to Joe Biden’s request for $106bn to assist both Israel and Ukraine, and to improve US border security. Johnson counter-offered with aid to Israel alone offset by cuts to the IRS that are politically unpalatable to Democrats and have no chance of being enacted by the Senate – robbing him of the opportunity to get legislation passed days after taking over as House leader, and raising the likelihood the Senate will end up taking the lead on Biden’s proposal:
Here's what's quizzical about @SpeakerJohnson's strategy on the Israel funding.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 1, 2023
Had he not offset the $14B bill, he probably would've passed it with 350-400 votes and jammed the Senate. Johnson could've made law in his first week.
That would've pushed Senate Rs to try craft a…
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Democrats are wasting no time in seizing on the CBO’s analysis of the Republican Israel aid bill to argue they’re not actually interested in reining in the deficit.
From their account on the tax-writing ways and means committee:
House Republicans are prioritizing protecting wealthy tax evaders over humanitarian aid, and in shocking news to no one it will COST taxpayers money.
— Ways and Means Democrats (@WaysMeansCmte) November 1, 2023
This was never an "offset," it was a political ploy. https://t.co/02xWUSfbuy
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House GOP's Israel aid proposal would increase deficit by undermining IRS — analysis
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is out with its analysis of Republican House speaker Mike Johnson’s proposal to send $14b in aid to Israel while slashing the Internal Revenue Service’s budget, which appears to undercut the GOP’s argument that it is concerned about government spending.
Far from reining in the US’s large budget deficit, the CBO reports the measure would actually increase borrowing by $12.5bn over the 10 years from 2024, because defunding the IRS would cause revenues to fall by nearly $26.8bn. Chopping the tax authority’s budget has been a priority of conservatives ever since the Biden administration last year won an $80bn funding infusion for the agency, which has long complained of not having the resources to do its job.
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Four of the five New York Republicans looking to expel George Santos are expected to have tough re-election battles next year.
In its newly released ratings of next year’s House races, the Cook Political Report puts Mike Lawler, Anthony D’Esposito, Marcus Molinaro and Brandon Williams in the perilous Republican-held toss-up category. Nick LaLota is in a much safer likely Republican seat:
NEW: a year out, Dems likely have a better chance of retaking the House than keeping the Senate. My latest House overview for @CookPolitical, including five rating changes. https://t.co/yhsIKaps3y pic.twitter.com/LCV1BmBFPN
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) November 1, 2023
There are indeed some who argue that expelling George Santos from the House will set a bad example.
“Members have to be concerned about the precedents they’re setting,” former Republican congressman and ethics committee chair Charlie Dent told the Washington Post. “It would set quite a precedent.”
The Post’s article notes that only five members have been expelled from the House ever, three of which were booted for disloyalty during the civil war, and two of which were expelled after being convicted of federal crimes. Dent’s argument to the Post is that for all his well-documented forgeries and fabrications, Santos has not been convicted of anything, and the ethics committee’s investigation is not yet complete.
He does, however, think the congressman is unfit to serve. “He should absolutely resign,” Dent said.
Vulnerable New York Republicans restate argument for Santos's expulsion in new letter
Five Republican congressmen from New York who are seen as vulnerable to losing their seats next year have sent a letter to their House colleagues urging them to support the resolution removing George Santos from office.
“As Republican Members from the New York Delegation, we fully support Santos’ expulsion, and ask all of our colleagues to join us in voting yes,” begins the letter, which is signed by Mike Lawler, Nick LaLota, Anthony D’Esposito, Marcus Molinaro and Brandon Williams.
It then addresses some of the counterarguments to their expulsion push, including that ousting Santos would put the GOP’s four-seat majority at risk.
“To that, we say this issue is not a political one, but a moral one. Plain and simple – this is a question of right and wrong. The United States Congress must always uphold the highest standards and ensure accountability for those who have taken advantage of the American people – regardless of political party,” the congressmen write, comparing Santos’s situation to that of indicted Democratic senator Bob Menendez.
The letter also rejects arguments that expelling Santos would set a “dangerous” precedent, with the congressmen saying it would instead set “a positive one. Indeed, we should let the American people know if a candidate for Congress lies about everything about himself to get their votes, and then that false identity becomes known by his own admission or otherwise, that House Members will expel the fraudster and give voters a timely opportunity to have proper representation.”
The newly elected House speaker Mike Johnson has booked another interview with Fox News.
He has been making the rounds of conservative media ever since being elected last week, and announced a joint interview alongside Republican lawmakers with Fox News commentator Sean Hannity this evening:
Members of @HouseGOP and I will sit down with @SeanHannity for a town hall on our top priorities tonight.
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) November 1, 2023
🚨Join us LIVE at 9pm ET on @FoxNews
Beyond attracting the ire of his House colleagues, George Santos is also facing serious federal charges that could end his term as a congressman, if voters do not. Here’s the latest on his trial, from last week:
US congressman George Santos pleaded not guilty on Friday to revised charges accusing him of several frauds, including making tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges on credit cards belonging to some of his campaign donors.
The New York Republican appeared at a courthouse on Long Island to enter a plea to the new allegations. He had already pleaded not guilty to other charges, first filed in May, accusing him of lying to Congress about his wealth, applying for and receiving unemployment benefits, even though he had a job, and using campaign contributions to pay for personal expenses like designer clothing.
The court appearance came the morning after some of Santos’ Republican colleagues from New York launched an effort to expel him from Congress.
Santos’ attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf and a tentative court date of 9 September 2024 was set.
Santos has been free on bail while he awaits trial. He has denied any serious wrongdoing and blamed irregularities in his government regulatory filings on his former campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, who he claims “went rogue”.
House ethics committee announces update in Santos investigation by 17 November
In addition to the federal charges against him, George Santos is under investigation by the House ethics committee, and yesterday, the body took the unusual step of issuing a public statement on the eve of a vote on whether to expel him from the chamber.
The statement goes through all the investigative steps the panel has taken, which includes establishing an investigative subcommittee that has “contacted approximately 40 witnesses, reviewed more than 170,000 pages of documents, and authorized 37 subpoenas.
The Committee’s nonpartisan staff and the ISC Members have put countless hours into this investigation, which has been a priority for the investigative team and involved a significant amount of the Committee’s resources,” the statement continues, before concluding, “The Committee will announce its next course of action in this matter on or before November 17, 2023.”
House may consider expelling Santos and censuring Tlaib, Greene in day of rancor
Good morning, US politics blog readers. The House of Representatives will convene at 12pm eastern time today and potentially takes votes on three resolutions that underscore the bitterness coursing through Congress’s lower chamber. The first is to expel George Santos, the freshman lawmaker who admitted to lying about most of his resume and now faces federal charges. The resolution, backed by some fellow New York Republicans who occupy vulnerable seats, needs the support of two-thirds of the chamber to pass. It’s unclear if they have that margin, but the issue is likely to split Republicans, who control the House by a mere four seats and therefore cannot afford to lose Santos’s vote.
Also up for consideration today is a resolution introduced by rightwing Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene to censure Democrat Rashida Tlaib over alleged antisemitism. Tlaib is the sole Palestinian-American lawmaker in the House and one of two Muslims, and has rejected the claim from Greene. Meanwhile, Becca Balint has filed her own motion to censure Greene for rhetoric the Democrat condemns as “antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ, xenophobic, and racist”. All that could come up for a vote today, or merely some of it, as the House’s legislative agenda changes on the fly. Either way, this blog will be following what happens.
Here’s what else is going on today:
Joe Biden is heading to Minnesota to tour a family farm and hold a fundraiser in Minneapolis. The state just happens to be the home of Dean Phillips, the Democratic congressman who last week announced a primary challenge against the president.
Congress continues to weigh Biden’s request for $106b in aid to Israel and Ukraine, and to secure the US border with Mexico. House Republicans want to fund only Israel while cutting money from the Internal Revenue Service.
Kay Granger, a longtime Republican congresswoman from Texas, will not run for office again, the Fort Worth Report says.
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