Congressional News and Discussion

effective messaging

:roll_eyes:

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Scumbags are already feeling the heat as the chickens come home to roost:

Republicans in Congress have responded to President Trumpā€™s unilateral moves to freeze federal spending, dismantle programs and fire civil servants with a collective shrug, staying mostly silent and even praising him as he circumvents the legislative branch.

But in recent days, as his slash-and-burn campaign to remake the government has begun to affect their states and districts, some Republicans have tried to push back in subtle ways. They have sought carve outs and special consideration for agriculture programs, scientific research and more, even as they cheered on Mr. Trumpā€™s overall approach.

Their swift and quiet moves to protect their own pieces of the federal spending pie without critiquing Mr. Trump are an early indication of the political realities that could pose obstacles to the presidentā€™s push. Many programs he has targeted for cost-cutting have entrenched constituencies in Congress built up by Republicans over many years. It is one reason that shrinking the size of the federal government will be a mammoth task, despite the G.O.P.ā€™s posture of maximum deference to Mr. Trump.

Senator Katie Britt was one of the first Republicans to raise concerns at home soon after the Trump administration directed the National Institutes of Health to slash $4 billion in overhead costs for medical research grantees, a move that has since been paused by a federal judge. Ms. Britt, whose state has received more than $518 million in N.I.H. grants for projects currently active there, told a local news outlet that she would press administration officials to take a ā€˜smart, targeted approachā€™ to cuts so as to ā€˜not hinder lifesaving, groundbreaking research at high-achieving institutionsā€™ such as the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

In the House, a group of Republicans from farm states and districts introduced legislation this week that aims to salvage a foreign aid program targeted for extinction by Mr. Trump as part of his effort to wipe out the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The bill would transfer oversight of the Food for Peace program, which purchases crops at market price from American farmers and distributes them to hungry people abroad, from U.S.A.I.D. to the Agriculture Department. The lawmakers argued that their legislation fulfills the spirit of what Mr. Trump calls his ā€˜mandateā€™ to slim down the federal bureaucracy and make it more efficient.

The G.O.P. lawmakers seeking reprieves from Mr. Trumpā€™s cuts are quick to embrace his message that federal spending is out of control, while arguing that their stateā€™s or districtā€™s slice of government funding is critical."

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Iā€™m tellinā€™ ya; some of those Dems have bellied up to the trough.

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More like the lot of them:

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Trump nominations loom over Senateā€™s cherished Munich trip

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/13/thune-trump-munich-security-conference

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Posted in another thread, but wanna bet this comes up?

Police said the suspect is believed to be a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker. Authorities have not yet suggested a motive or named the suspect.

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Maybe one of Elonā€™s minions can cancel their reservations?

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The body blows just keep on comingā€¦

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< Gus Fring saying Do It.gif >

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Both of my Senators voted yea. Assholes.

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Both of mine too. One is a fascist, so no surprises there. Iā€™m pissed at Baldwin though.

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Mine were split. Ughhh! :rage:

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https://www.jezebel.com/ilhan-omars-seemingly-illiterate-co-worker-is-petitioning-to-have-her-deported

:rage:

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Iā€™d have some hope if the dems were to put up Rachel Levine as a shadow HHS secretary to counter the garbage brain worm will be putting out.

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One of my Senators, Adam Schiff, voted in favor of confirmation. He spent much of Trumpā€™s first term positioning himself as one of Trumpā€™s most visible critics in Congress, but this time around he went on the record saying that he wants to be ā€œmore than just a Trump antagonist.ā€ Which is crazy because Trump antagonists are exactly what we need right now!

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